TagMag Winter 2011

Winter 2011

Saving the planet, one switch at a time

What if…?

Du Du Tucci Bangs the drums What is ‘Makaton’?

e m o c l We chool

mary S to Benton Dene Pri

Benton Dene Primary School is a cheerful place to come to.

When you first walk through the door it is welcoming and it makes you feel at home.

We have a brand new building which is very eye-catching.

Our school has a lot of friendly people. All of the teachers are kind and funny! In our school, we have colourful zones for different year groups. Foundation stage is colour coded yellow, years 1 and 2 are green, years 3 and 4 are red and 5 and 6 are blue.

Two schools – Goathland Primary and Glebe School – share the newly-built inclusive Benton Dene School building in Longbenton (completed in June 2010). They are also part of the Longbenton Learning Community, including Longbenton College. We are very lucky to be in the school because of the lovely head teachers and the quality of the school.

We also have a brilliant after-school club that provides child care and fantastic fresh food to eat. Hopping around, children also can play with our outside equipment!

In and after school, we have a range of clubs for all ages!

Each year goes on lots of fun trips about their lessons. We are expecting a fabulous trip to France next year. Year 5 and 6 have been on a great trip to London to see Wicked and The Wizard of Oz . They also enjoyed workshops about the shows. www.bentondeneschools.org.uk

By Chloe Whitesmith and Jessica Dawson 2

Contents When we started the magazine, we talked about what a community was, and we all had very different answers.

Communities can mean different things to different people.

Our school is probably a little different to yours, and we want to share our school community with you. We love our school community, and feel like everyone here are part of a different kind of family.

We really enjoyed writing our magazine, and we hope you enjoy reading it!

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Introduction to school Introduction to theme The Heads Why our school is brilliant Tooting trumpets Saving the planet one switch at a time

Turner Prize Gorgeous graffiti Du Du Tucci bangs the drums Our community jigsaw Doing our bit Benton Dene School What is ‘Makaton’?

Perfect parks Get on your bike!

Different communities in North Tyneside Agents for change Our school council The sporting community Little ones do it, too Special school What if?

Credits

This publication was produced by a team from Benton Dene Primary School, Published by: Children, Young People and Learning Directorate, North Tyneside Council, Quadrant, The Silverlink, North Cobalt Business Park, North Tyneside NE27 0BY

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Heads The

By Jasmine Paterson and Zoe Willcock

In Benton Dene Primary School, we are lucky enough to have two head teachers and we got to interview one of them.

Mrs Turner works with children who have different problems. We interviewed her to see what she thought about the school and why she wanted to be a head teacher.

In our school there are two schools put together – we have a school with pupils who have some additional needs. Whereas the other school, which Zoe and I are in, don’t have additional needs.

Mrs Turner was very glad that there was a Tag-Mag because she thinks it is important for children to be heard and to know more about our community.

We asked Mrs Turner:

Q: A: Q: A:

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to Why did you want her? become a head teac to I wanted to be able it make a school how en a should be. I have be at teacher before, so th inspired me more to her. become a head teac

Do you lik e the idea of the new schoo l?

Yes, I do b ecause of the buildin g and the environm ent and it ’s really exciting to work with Mrs Forster.

Why our school is

! t n a i l l i r b

Why didn’t th cross the ro e skeleton ad?

Because he

had no guts

!

Occupational Therapist:

As we said earlier, our school is a bit different because we have two parts… really it’s like two schools, but we work together a lot.

Helps children be able to do everyday things like eating, writing, walking.

There is the ‘primary’ and the ‘school’. The ‘primary’ used to be Goathland in Longbenton, and the ‘school’ used to be Glebe. One part of our school is for children who have problems with learning and need to have special support from teachers.

We have lots of different adults in the school who work with different pupils who have different problems. These are some of them…

School Nurse:

alth problems, Helps us with any hes us! weighs and measure

Learning Mentor:

Play Therapist: Helps children in school understand their feelings while playing.

Works with children to help them in school.

Speech & Language Therapist:

Helps children with problems they have with talking.

5

Tooting

! s t e p m u r T

By Jack Welsh and Jack McNeil

Some of us are learning to play the trumpet in school.

It is lots of fun and a bit tricky but we are getting the hang of it!

Here are some photographs of us playing, and some sound ‘bytes’ you can listen to!

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Pupil: Sir, w o someone fo uld you punish r something they didn’t do?

Teacher: Of co Pupil: Oh go urse not. od, because didn’t do m I y homework .

Saving the planet, one switch at a time

By Ellen O’Brien, Chloe Whitesmith and Jessica Dawson

Looking after our environment is important. If we don’t look after our parks and fields they will get full of rubbish and we will not be able to play in them. We need to respect where we live.

We are an Eco-School. We have won two awards from the Eco-Schools project – a Bronze and a Silver award so far. This means we make sure that our school is environmentally friendly. We re-cycle paper and plastic. We turn lights off and don’t leave computers on standby. We only use the water we need.

after Top tips for looking OUR environment: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

ead of a bath.

Have a shower inst n bi e Put rubbish in th Don’t waste paper.

Recycle s on when they Don’t leave the light are not needed. puter on standby.

Don’t leave the com

oking Five top tips formlo ity: after OUR com un

• • • • •

e bin Put all rubbish in th t days os m ol ho Cycle to sc Pick up dog poo t Use public transpor of using the car, d ea Try to walk inst those which sends out all . es nasty fum

By Ellen O’Brien

We interviewed Mrs. Cairns because she is in charge of Eco-Schools.

Our Tag Mag is Eco-friendly too. We have done it online to save paper!

Q: A:

How long have we been an Eco-School?

We have been an EcoSchool for thre e years.

Q:

Has the School Council ever been involved in Eco-Schools?

A:

Yes, every year. They help to do the new action plans.

Q: A:

Why did we become an Eco-School?

It was something I was interested in, so I asked the people that run it how to go about being an eco-school. We started from there.

Think of something Eco-friendly you can do today.

l witch trave Why did the ? on a broom afford a She couldn’t er. n vacuum clea

7

e z i r P r e n r Tu

The

By Martha Wylie and Meghan Ritchie

The Turner Prize is modern art that is sometimes very wacky! It is a prize given to an artist and is named after the painter J M W Turner. It is very thoughtprovoking. The Turner Prize, which has been running for 27 years, has arrived to the North East.

We visited the Baltic and saw some of the art work being constructed. They taught us all about the four artists entering the Turner Prize this year. One of them uses powder, make-up, soap and even soil as she loves the textures. Another takes pictures of things and paints them with aeroplane modelling paint. As they’re not meant to be used for painting pictures, it makes it shiny, more realistic and 3D. The third artist uses everyday furniture and dismantles them to create something not as ordinary. He likes to write poems and little messages on his sculptures, giving you a clue to the story behind it. The fourth takes pictures but doesn’t hide the wires or the projectors. She includes many of the other electrics you wouldn’t normally expect to see.

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We got an exclusive interview with Godfrey Worsdale, the director of the Baltic. We asked him some questions.

Q: A:

How did t he Turner Prize come to t he Baltic?

The prize has been g oing on for 27 years at t he Tate. It ha s only onc e been out of London and that w as to the Tate in Liv erpool. It is a national prize and is good that it is trave lling to somew here else and allowing o ther peop le to enjoy it.

Q: A:

Q: A:

What is it like to be the Director of the Baltic?

Great, fantastic , exciting but also scary!

I get to travel all over the world, meet lots of im portant people, go to g reat events and wo rk in an amazing place.

Who can enter the Turner Prize?

No one can enter. The gallery chooses four people as judges who put together a list of six artists each. They d then meet together an narrow the list down to e four artists in total. Th four artists then put together exhibits and a couple of months later, the four judges come back and make their choice. ing To have a chance of be , selected as a competitor you would need to go to art school, practise art afterwards and maybe one of the judges would see your work and add you to their list.

He told us all about how art is important to the community.

“Art is critical to people and it means different things to different people. To me, it means being able to see the world through someone else’s eyes,” he said. “Art makes a community more knowledgeable and more open minded. Strong communities learn and think together.”

Here at Benton Dene, we are holding our own Turner prize. We will be having artists in school and Godfrey Worsdale is coming to our school.

We have three ‘Turners’ in our school and they are going to choose the winning entries for every two year groups. Entries will be shown and there will be a Turner Prize coffee morning! www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize

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Gorgeous

Graffiti?

By George McKenna

George loves graffiti art, especially the artist Banksy.

We saw some children doing Graffiti art on our visit to the Baltic. We found out about a Graffiti company that does projects in North Tyneside.

They are New Line Graffiti Company. George asked Rob some questions about what they do.

How do you learn to be good at graffiti art?

Like anything else in life you need to practise and try hard.If you want to play football, be a scientist or a graffiti artist you have to try hard, practise and be passionate about whatever you do.

Why do you think graffiti art is special?

Tricky to answer this one. I feel that all art is special as it is an expression of something, it is a person trying to communicate something to an audience.

For me personally graffiti captured my attention as I liked the style and the freedom that one can have whilst painting something. I also like the fact that it is the largest modern art movement ever and it was all started by young people with a shared passion to create something new.

Are you allowed to do graffiti in the community if you’re a professional?

You can only do graffiti where you have permission this doesn’t change if you are just starting out or an old pro, always get permission from the owner of the land or building.

Do you have a role model?

Not as such but I do have people who I find inspire me to try new things or sometimes just to paint for fun!

What’s your inspiration for your art?

Everything, the world, other art, sign writing, comics, photography. I have always thought that you should be able to find inspiration anywhere, and you shouldn’t only look for it in one place.

What are the most interesting projects you have done?

I have been interested in them all, but I like the ones which look at local history as you get to meet the locals from the area and hear all their stories about how life used to be in our local areas.

If you had to do another genre of art, what would it be?

Photography and film making, I studied photography at college and university and have since started trying to make some short graffiti films.

Remember that if you do graffiti without permission, or not as part of an organised project, you could be breaking the law and could get into very serious trouble. If this is something you are interested in, look out for projects like those run through New Line Graffiti.

You can find the new line website at www.newlinegraffiti.com

This image shows some Whitley Bay.

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graffiti art at the Panama

skatepark in

from the Play and s Development Officer me Ga n ba Ur , lor Tay s rked with ‘Real Ro rth Tyneside Council, wo Urban Games team in No th children and young people about how wi rley, who works Art Projects’ to consult ark to look. Andrew Mo work based on tep ska ir the like uld wo art they eative Ginger, created the for a company called Cr ans that the artwork was very much what this consultation. This me rk. children wanted in the pa

s m u r d e h t s Bang

Du Du Tucci

By George McKenna and Zoe Willcock

On Sunday 25th September, a group of pupils and staff went to Grey’s Monument to see one of their teachers and a famous Brazilian samba drummer perform with local samba teachers.

The performance was very loud and energetic. It was very exciting!

After the performance, George asked Du Du Tucci some very intelligent questions.

Du Du said that he was born in Brazil and started to have an interest in samba at the age of eight. He banged on his desk and his teacher would say “Do not bang on the desk!” while pulling at his ear.

He could not say anything about England as he does not live here and he said if he could say anything he said it would be a lie, but the English treat him well.

He said he played a variety of instruments – like the flute, the drum, the piano and lots more. His favourite samba instrument was the ‘Repanique drum’, the one he was playing.

Miss Gallagher is a teacher from Benton Dene Primary School. She is a samba drummer and she runs a samba club for the Year 6 pupils at Benton Dene. We interviewed her to find out a bit more about samba drumming.

Q: A:

d What got you starte ing? with samba drumm e I started to play th drums when I was little and my school ical got a grant for mus cided instruments so I de to start a samba drumming club.

Q: A:

What other things have the samba club done?

The samba band has performed at the City Hall, Whitley Bay Playhouse, the ‘Make Poverty History’ concert, school celebrations and at the Mouth of the Tyne Festival.

Q: tWo hbaetasksaills do you need mba drum mer?

A good se A: and go nse of timing od listenin g. You should wo rk well in a team, hav e big mus cles and a goo d sense of fun.

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w a s Jig

Our Community

When we first started this magazine we were told the topic would be about ‘community’. When we sat down as a group and talked about what community was, we all had different ideas.

Teacher

Grandma

School

It’s a really difficult word to explain! So we wanted to show you some of the different people we came up with that make our community whole.

What better way to do it than a jigsaw!

Lollipop warden

Mam Friend

Aunty Family

Granddad

F

Church

School

Youth clubs

Shopkeeper

Cousin

Uncles

Dad 12

Niece

Dinner staff

By Zoe Willcock and Jasmine Paterson

Nephew

Occupational therapist

Support staff

Bus driver

Policeman Speech therapist

Speech therapist

Pet

Families

Community

Fireman

Cleaner

Counsellor

Friend

Clubs 13

Doing our bit Why is charity important in a community?

Charities are important in a community. People raise money to help other people who are not as fortunate as them. We like to see happy faces and help people, so in school we support charities. We support a range of charities.

The Gambia Fund

r new school and When we moved into ou Dene we got new became part of Benton land uniforms were uniforms. Our old Goath African school. They donated to children in an were thrilled with them. children in Africa too!

We recycled and helped

Mrs Taylor works a lot with the school in Africa that we support. Mrs Taylor did an assembly about the work they do to help the children in Africa. She told us that in Africa some of the children are really poor and don’t go to school. They have to go to work instead. Some of the children who do go to school don’t receive a good education because the school can’t afford books, stationery and food and their classrooms are small and dirty. The children often have to walk a long way to school and the school finds it difficult to raise enough money to give them dinner. Their dinner is important at school because it might be their only meal.

We raise money to give the school so they can feed the children and buy books and stationery.

Harvest Festival

d at harvest time and Each year we collect foo munity who might give it to people in the com need it.

Diabetes

One of our Tag Mag team has a sister with diabetes. Her family does fundraising for diabetes. Diabetes is a com mon life-long health condition. There are 2.8 million people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK.

illan ene Mac30m er Benton D th Septemb Mrs

On Friday e morning. nged a coffe proud of school arra she was very at th id sa as lping her Dickinson h lass), for he (c .

5 e lu B in orning. Mrs the children the coffee m port r fo s ke ca p to make the wanted to su id that she urses do sa n e ad ri h u C ck o ie St the Mar se u ca e b le f peop .

Macmillan king care o ta b jo d o a very go

14

Children with diabetes organized a fundraiser on 14th November 2011. All donations go to buying new equipment for the diabetes department in the hospital.

Each year the hospital holds a world diabetes day on the 14th November. Diabetes is a lifelong health condition which can’t be cured. There was also a fundraising day on the 12th of November 2011 at the St Andrews church. The money went to the hospital to buy new equipment for the diabetes department.

Benton Dene

School

By pupils at Benton Dene School

Every Friday afternoon in Benton Dene School, key stage 2 pupils have ‘clubs’. During the last hour of school we all get to choose a club that we are interested in. Some of the clubs are multi-skills, trampolining, Capoeira and football.

. I swim very fast.

“I go in the big pool water.”

I like jumping in the

We have recorded some interviews to let you know about our clubs.

We go swimming every week to the Lakeside Centre in Killingworth. This is what some of us think about it. rted to swim in “I have only just sta ve it.” the big pool and I lo

“My favourite thing is swimming underwat er. A shark fin helps keep me safe in the water in the bi g pool. I am trying to learn to sw im. I have fun and I like it.”

“I like the big pool.

I swam without a woggle in the big pool after two week s. I used to go in the little po ol. I don’t like going underwater .”

“I like swimming and I am a good swimmer. I do not like it when swimming is finished. I always want to stay in for more.”

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? n o t a k a M

What is

By Zoe Willcock and Jasmine Paterson

Makaton is a different way to communicate. It is used with a wide range of children as well as adults who have learning difficulties and communication problems. They use signs and symbols alongside speech, they also use hand gestures.

News On Friday 7th October, Zoe and Jasm ine went to a class in Benton Dene Sch ool to learn a bit of Makaton. In the lesson they made cakes, played hairdressers, doc tors and vets. They also learned a few signs suc h as: cake, biscuit, beautiful, sign, airplane, disco, play and many.

This sign means thankyou

Info

This sign means biscuit

of In Benton Dene, we also have a lot nt ways ere diff children who communicate in y use because they have different needs. The useful lly rea Makaton to communicate, so it is e of the for us in Benton Dene to know som use signs, so we can talk to children who Makaton alongside speech.

To find out more about Makaton, you could look on the website www.makaton.org

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This sign means hello

Perfect

Parks

By David Nelson and Luke Edgar

We are lucky in our local area to have lots of nice parks. Longbenton Park has big play equipment, Rising Sun has walks and nature, Killingworth Park is great because you can feed the swans and ducks, Springfield Park has climbing frames and the Oval Park has outstanding play equipment.

The Rising Sun is very important because it is a conservational park with loads of interesting facilities. No builders are allowed on it so it will be there forever. There will always be green land there and there will always be loads of formidable things to do there.

Children can make dens and fires, they can play in the park, there is a café , you can go fishing, you can fly kites, go orienteering and biking and go climbing.

There is also a visitor centre and restaurant.You can also go on walks and visit the park wildlife and go sledging down the hills in the winter.

We asked some people in our school what they thought of the Rising Sun Country Park and everyone had positive things to say about it.

Locky Vodden said that he thought it was “ very relaxing !”

Jonathan Bryant thinks it’s good that there’s green fields to play on. Me and Thomas Birdsey said “I just like the park.”

You can find out about the park at www.northtyneside.gov.uk or could call the park on (0191) 643 2241.

We asked staff who work for North Tyneside Council about what they do to help in their community. Some work in parks, others work elsewhere.

.

Knock Knock ?

Who’s there Thumping. ho?

Thumping w en and re g Thumping ur awled up yo scary just cr trousers! difference What’s the remen and a between a fi a soldier? a firemen in You can’t dip boiled egg!

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! e k i b r u o y n o Get

By Luke Forster

We are so lucky in North Tyneside to have the Waggonways. The network is huge and means you can get nearly everywhere in the borough on foot or on a bike!

We asked Paul Adams (who works for the Transportation team in North Tyneside Council) about cycling in the borough: The number of people travelling by bicycle in North Tyneside has more than doubled over the last few years!

So why are so many people taking to two wheels?

And why might it be time for you to get the bike out of the garage and join them?

One reason is the attraction of our traffic-free cycle paths. A number of years ago now, the council received funding to transform our network of old train routes (used for transporting coal in the 19th Century) into better routes for cyclists.

In the Longbenton area, for example, cyclists can enjoy routes (that mostly miss roads!) up through Killingworth and on to the Weetslade Country Park, or in another direction you can ride through the Rising Sun Country Park and down to the Tyne where the route connects the Newcastle Quayside to Tynemouth and the Coast!

Wherever you want to go in North Tyneside – be it school, work, shopping, or leisure trips to our many attractions – there is a great route to get you there by bike.

All the routes are available to explore using the FREE North Tyneside Cycle Map, which you can download from the council website

(http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/browse.shtml?p_subjectCategory=588)

or you can get a paper copy by contacting the Transportation Team on (0191) 643 6125 or emailing cycling@northtyneside.gov.uk

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Why is cycling important in a community?

Cycling is important in the community because it keeps you healthy, and it reduces pollution. Cycling training is good because it helps people ride safely on the road and helps to prevent accidents.

The ‘Bikeability’ course is headed by Graham Keefe, the coach. It is designed to help people to ride safely on a bike.

The ‘Bike ability’ course Level 1 First we learnt how to do the ‘M’ check, to make sure our bike is safe to ride. Then we practised having one hand on the handle bar so we can indicate.

Level 2 Then we headed out onto the road to practise left turns so we cycled out of school and got to a junction. Later we did some U turns. Finally we practised the hardest turn, the left turn, on the main road.

The year 4 cycle path campaign In year 4 we did a cycle campaign protesting for a new cycle route down Hailsham Avenue. We walked down to the shops and back waking up everyone still asleep. We succeeded and got a new cycle path down Hailsham Avenue.

Here is one of the letters we wrote to the Governors of Longbenton Community College, which is right next to our school. We were asking them for their support.

Dear Governors of Lo ngbenton Community College, Campaign for a cycle

lane

Benton Dene Primar y School is a new school. Leading to ou r school is a new road and in front of our sc hool is a huge car park .To keep cyclist s safe in our school grounds there is a cy cle lane on the new road and in the car pa rk but this does not go up the busy street outside our school road. This is dangerou s for children cycling and people walking.

We think that both cy clist and pedestrians will be safer if the cy cle lane was extended.

We think you could he lp us. We would like you to send us a letter of support.

We look forward to yo ur reply, Amelia Armstrong an d Sophie Paton From year 4 in Benton Dene Primary School

ut the two o b a r a e h u Did yo stealing r o f d e t s e r men ar fireworks? d n a s ie r e t bat but the d e g r a h c s a One w t off ! other was le

19

Different Communities in

e d i s e n y T h t r o N

There are lots of things to do and places to go for children and young people who live in North Tyneside.

We are really lucky! Because we talked about ‘communities’ and what they mean to us, we though we would look at some of the things in our community and see how the people who work there feel they are part of the local community.

Dar ren Greco

Officer s 4 Spor t Project

Widening Horizon

up “North Tyneside Council has teamed ity mun com l loca and with Sport England Tyneside. organisations to create Sport North residents side Tyne th Nor help This initiative will munities. get fit and healthy in their local com ening Wid s ncil’ cou the This forms part of me. ram prog rt Spo 4 s izon Hor get involved Sport North Tyneside can help you our website Visit s. way rent diffe y man in t in spor you can and k rg.u ide.o www.sportnorthtynes is for ity activ re leisu or t spor h whic find out or find club ts spor a ing join you, make friends by ity.” mun com your in s nitie ortu opp ring voluntee

Keith Hardy

Play and Urban Games Manager

“We provide a range of safe, enjoyable and exciting places to play close to where children live. We involve children and their communities in the planning and design of playsites and parks, meaning they are valued and that they are what children and young people want and need in their own community. We are also writing a new ‘policy’ which will mean North Tyneside Council (and others, called partners) are promising to develop a play friendly borough, where there are lots of things to do and places to go for all children and young people.”

an Carl McCle Manager Wallsend Parks

tie Pixie Beleopamten t Officer Parks Dev

20

the community for “Parks are at the heart of living and play. It is y leisure, recreation, health ple take an active role important that young peo ped and developed in how these areas are sha both a fun and safe m to continue to make the Anyone who wants . ne ryo eve for n destinatio k group, or give their to get involved with a par can look at the parks k, views on a particular par !” age site on the council webp

“Parks are a special place where the community can meet and enjoy the natural surroundings.

They are a place to play with your friends and make new ones.You can also learn about the variety of nature that lives so close to your house, but you often don’t see unless you explore. In parks you can learn about the history of a town, as many of them are very old.

Richardson Dees Park was built in 1900 from an old pit – mining used to be the main income for many families in Wallsend around that time.

Parks are a great place to hold events. The open spaces and, of course the sun, make them great for summer fairs or winter snowball fights and sledging. The community can volunteer at parks to learn new skills and plant new flowers, helping each other to improve one big garden for everyone to enjoy. Maybe that is the best way to describe a park, like a big community garden where you can play, relax, walk, learn and get out of the house to be with your friends and nature.”

e g n a h C

Agents for

By Luke Forster and Oli Edgar

Agents of change is a programme about taking an interest in our community. The organisers are trying to make it better and letting people know what they do makes a difference. They started the scheme because lots of people in the community have been doing really good things and we want to recognise it. We interviewed Karen Brown, the leader of the scheme, to find out some more.

e h t s i t a h W t? u o b a e m e h sc

m or! I think I’ Doctor! Doct shrinking. ese tablets Well take th ave to be a but you’ll h t. little patien

A great example…

Being a good member of the commun about doing kind things for other peo ity is all ple.

Three of the boys from our school, Loc Vodden, Lee Robson and Jack Thomps ky been excellent members of the com on have munity.

Lee and Jack found a ferret outside Lon shops so they went into the shop and gbenton asked for a cardboard box. They the they n put the ferret in the box. They went to the flats to ask if it belonged to anyone. When they didn’t have any luck they returned to the shop, with ferret. A woman was standing outside the and said she’d take the ferret in until the shop was found. The next day Jack and Lee the owner talking about what had happened at were sch Their friend, Locky Vodden, said he tho ool. knew who the owner was. He asked ught he a teacher from Benton Dene Primary.and it was very, very happy. She gave each of the She was chocolate as a reward for their help boys a .

. It’s about We are starting in foundation stage Trying to taking an interest in the community. w what to make it better and letting people kno do to make a difference.

What will you do to encourage pupils to make a change?

We’ve come up with an award per yea r group that children can work towards. It’s to do with raising money and inviting people into the school and we’re working together.

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l i c n u o C

Our school

By Diya Martin

At Benton Dene we have a school council. School councillors organise events for the school and think about what the school needs.

School councillors help look after the equipment at break times. They organise events and find out what their class needs. They discuss any school issues in their meetings and help run the shoe box appeal.

Every year, each class has a class vote. The school councillors in Year 6 had been chosen by presenting a speech about what they would do if they were a school councillor. They would be picked if they were popular, but most of all they would be picked if they set a good example to the whole school and if the teachers trust them to be good role models, being responsible and sensible.

School councillors are really important because the children should be involved in having a say. They organise things and give feedback in meetings and discuss this with the others.

School councillors teach us to be a member of the community by helping people to understand the importance of making the right choices and being responsible.

22

r about the Did you hea -bug? d pregnant be in g her babies She is havin the spring!

y t i n u m com

The sporting

ie

a Wylie and Meghan Ritch

lson, Marth

By Luke Edgar, David Ne

Why is sport important in a community?

Sport is important because it helps you get fit. It teaches you about a healthy lifestyle. You meet new friends and learn about good sportsmanship.

Spor ts in school We enjoy lots of sports in school. We do football, karate, skipping, dancing, netball, zumba, rugby, gymnastics, trampolining, athletics and a whole range of other sports.

Football Football is good in our community because it’s good fun to watch and it keeps you fit .

Olympics Chris Kirk is a young, talented long jumper with an outstanding personal best of 7m 93, set in 2008. He has been involved in many different competitions, including world and European under-23 championships . Fortunately for us, he comes every Monday to deliver a fitness class for teachers at Benton Dene and Luke Edgar and David Nelson were able to interview him . He wants to take part in the 2012 Olympics. We interviewed Sam, aged 10, a gold medallist who does karate in our school. He loves karate and goes every Tuesday morning.

Karate Sam thinks karate is important in our community so we can defend ourselves and enjoy competitions in later life.

Sam has also won a silver trophy.

Since karate started, three years ago, a lot of children in our school have been trying to take on karate. The Sensei Lee and Hannah have brought children on visits and trips and taken Sam with them. Sam says he has been from Newcastle to Whickham High School. We asked him if he would recommend karate and he said yes, as it could be a good hobby for anyone in their spare time. His favourite thing about karate is being with his friends and travelling with the club.

Sam goes to Kensho Karate Club at school and has become very good.

We asked Sensei Lee how he got started with karate and he said his mum encouraged him to start at school. Since then he has travelled all over the world, entering competitions and teaching children.

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Agents for

Change

By Martha Wylie and Della Murray

We wanted to find out how children in ‘early years’ learn about their community.

Grandparents’ Day Foundation Stage were finding out about older people in the community. They had a Grandparents’ Day where they invited their grandparents into school to show them around and ask them what life was like when they were little.

The children told us how they learnt that school wasn’t much fun for them and if they were naughty they would get whacked with a ruler (or even a cane)!

They were very surprised there was no ASDA in those days and they didn’t like the fact that there was no Pizza Hut either!

The children were disgusted by the fact there was no TV! They soon got over it when they realized their grandparents had to wash themselves in metal baths outside! In those days there were old-fashioned radiators and it was always rather cold in the winter.

Walks around the local area Foundation Stage have been on walks around the local area. They went to look at their houses and other places in the community.

I went down to Mrs. Stapleton’s class and Year 1 to find out what they thought about the community.

These are their comments: “I like drawing at school and I have lots of friends to play with.”

“The park is great fun as there is a climbing frame and the swings.”

Our Metro is good for travelling in a fast and cheap way. It’s also good for people who don’t have a car or a bus stop nearby.

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They said there was quite a lot of rubbish and it really needed a clean because they couldn’t play in their garden because people dropped rubbish in it.

Our community needs a clean!

The children stated that there were quite a lot of shops and there was a big chance to buy sweets and ice-creams.

Lots of the cars they saw all made smelly fumes. This was not a very good smell!

What makes our school

Special?

What makes our school special?

“Our school is special because there are windows on the roof” Cole Caven, age 5

“Our school is special because we have houses” Zorah, age 6

“The new areas like the pond, it’s very relaxing” Jack, age 11

“Lots of different areas, two schools, zones” Holly, age 8

By Luke Forster, Ellen O’Brien and Della Murray

What does community mean to you?

“Being with people I know” Mrs Rooney

“Everybody living together comes together” Mrs Smith

“Where people learn things” Aaron, age 8

“It’s where you are and the things around you, like houses, parks, shopping centres” Luke Devlin, age 8

“The local area” Pawan, age 8

“It has lots of clubs” Charlotte, age 7

“The local area” Emily B, age 9

“The ICT suite” Emily B, age 9

“The schools” Harvey H, age 8

“The space we get” Evie P, age 8

“The local area” Sophie Briggs, age 8

“I like the fobs”

Matthew O’Brien, age 8

“The public” Evie P, age 8

“Lots of rooms” Esme, age 8

“The local area” Catleyn, age 7

“All of the play equipment” Jamie, age 8

“We are linked with another school” Emily Rooney, age 9

“Because it is colourful, it’s like a rainbow” Luke Devlin, age 8

“Fun clubs” James, age 8

What do you like about where you live?

“On trips in Year 5 and 6, you can stay overnight” Pawan, age 8

“Lots of competions” Maddie, age 9

“The great education” Evie P, age 8

“The teachers” Catleyn, age 7

“Having a cookery room”

“I like where I live because it’s quiet, my children can play out safely, good neighbourhood watch” Mrs Batey

“It’s handy for everything, next to family” Mrs Rooney

Emily B, age 9

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Now for something

Si l l y

ula so Why is Drac unpopular? a pain in the ’s e h e s u a c e B neck!

Cows went on holiday…

By Martha Wylie

What if...

There were no babies…

We had no vitamin C…

Monkeys were normal pets...

Everything was free and money meant nothing…

There was no such word as NO…

Miley Cyrus was a gorilla...

There was no number 1…

There were no baddies in the world…

Walls could talk…

oke Animals sp…

English

Your hands were on your back…

what was You could see en… going on in heav

How do you do!

Space was a normal holiday place…

Monsters were real…

Children didn’t have to go to school…

Time didn’t exist…

You could travel to space by car, train,

You cou ld be an y age yo be, for u wante howeve d to r long y ou wan ted…

There was no government…

bus, cycle or by foot in 20 minutes…

Try to come up with some answers! They will be really funny, so jot them down and you can remember the funny things!

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Credits North Tyneside Council would like to thank each and every member of the editorial team at Benton Dene Primary School.

Thanks to Meghan, David, Sam, Martha, Oliver, Zoe, Jasmine, Chloe, Jessica, George, Luke E, Luke F, Fae, Ellis C, Leo, Ellen, Diya, Jack Mc, Jack W and Della.

Well done! You all worked extremely hard and should be very proud!

The editorial team would like to thank Mrs Lindsay, Mrs McCallister and Mrs Rutherford for all of their support and encouragement throughout the creation of the magazine.

Special thanks go to the staff and pupils at the school, and the staff across North Tyneside who contributed to the magazine.

Games

By Jasmine Paterson and Ellen O’Brien

Can you work out what words these muddled up letters make? yonitmm

cu

.....................

ports

..................... olacl

..................... shoocl

.....................

And now for something a little Christmas-y!

A wordsearch!

Santa, Christmas, Jesus, Angel, Baubles Tinsel, Chocolate, Presents, Stocking Elves, Snow, Gloves

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