Thank you to all of the families who supported our fundraising for 'Comic Relief' on Friday! It was lovely to see the children in their bright colours! Thank you to everyone who made, donated and bought cakes throughout the day. All proceeds from the cake sale and the red nose sales will be heading to the charity this week. A total of £489.25 was raised! Well done everyone!

Year 4 had a great day exploring the life of an Anglo-Saxon at Jarrow Hall. They visited the farm, village and Bede museum where there were some sights (and smells!) to show them what life was really like in the time of the Anglo-Saxons.

Year 3 enjoyed a trip to Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle to explore the concepts of 'art' and 'sculpture'. They took part in some great workshops, saw some fabulous pieces of art and were even allowed to touch some famous pieces! The children were complimented on their behaviour and attitude in the workshops and everyone had a great day!

On Monday, KS2 had a visit from BigFoot Arts who talked to us all about internet safety during their fun filled assembly! It made us think about words that we use online, how consent works, the dangers of online bullying and ‘protecting your reputation’. This was all part of our work around Safer Internet Day.

It’s been an egg-citing week at St Columba’s with the arrival of 10 baby chicks! The children have loved watching them hatch on our live stream – the roar of excitement when the final chick was born was like the winning goal of a football match! We’ve got one more week with the chicks before they go to their new home next Friday so the children are looking forward to being able to handle them next week.

We were also lucky enough to have Bishop Stephen visit St Columba’s on Thursday 13th February. Bishop Stephen is fulfilling his pledge to visit all Catholic schools in the Diocese, following his appointment as bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. This week, he has been visiting all three Catholic schools within the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes and will be in attendance at the weekend masses at St Columba’s, St Aidan’s and St Bernadette’s. The children all got the chance to ask him questions and there were some great ones, including: Do you like being the Bishop?          What is your favourite part of your job? Is it nerve wracking to be the Bishop?  How did you feel when you got the job?  Can you do miracles, like Jesus did? The children also all received a special blessing; they thoroughly enjoyed his visit!

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