On Monday, we were delighted to welcome back into school Sarah Schofield from Tyne and Wear Fire & Rescue Service. Sarah will be delivering a workshop to all of our Year 7 students over this half term during PD lessons about ‘Choices & Consequences’ particularly of the act of arson. Students were given information on the consequences of deliberately setting fires with the intent to cause damage which is a serious offence.

Students had the opportunity to explore peer pressure and how to handle a situation when others are trying to make you do something that you know is wrong. Students also had the chance to look at a case study and give their reaction to this. Sarah will continue to deliver this workshop to all remaining Year 7 PD classes over the next few weeks and next half term we have the Fire Service returning to deliver workshops on Water Safety.

Our Sixth Form Sports Ambassador students hosted a mini olympic sports day last Friday with our Year classes. They took to the responsibility brilliantly, leading sessions for our students through various olympic themed activities – even giving them a go at archery with our school archery boards! This allowed are A-Level sports students to gain some useful work experience for themselves in arranging, delivering and managing sporting events for their course. The weather was even kind enough to allow our Year 7 students to fully enjoy the outdoor events. Well done to everyone involved!

On Thursday 28th March, students from Southmoor played their part in a national celebration of the work of William Shakespeare. They performed the comedy Twelfth Night at Norhtern Stage Newcastle. Their performance was commended as excellent, and they were praised for their command of Shakespear’s language and their comic timing. Students enjoyed performing in a professional theatre with professional sound and lighting technicians, doing technical and dress rehearsal before wowing family and friends that evening.

The annual Year 11 group photograph, to celebrate moving toward the end of Key Stage 4, took place last Tuesday. Our class of 2024 came together, looking immaculate in their uniforms to help us capture some great shots of students together as a year group in our main yard. Photographs will be available to purchase later this term.

Last Wednesday, ten of our Student Council members visited City Hall to take part in the State of the City debate, hosted by Sunderland Youth Parliament.  After hearing keynote speeches by members, our students actively engaged in debates centred upon the themes of Crime and Safety, Culture, Media & Sport and Health & Wellbeing.  Following this, the students participated in a vote, where the area of Culture, Media & Sport was selected, with the majority of 50% of the vote.  This theme will now form the campaign for the local Youth Parliament this year.  The students acted as impressive ambassadors for Southmoor, demonstrating confidence, when communicating their views and contributing to shaping the future for their peers city-wide.

We are excited to announce an incredible once in a lifetime opportunity for our students in our current Year 10, 11 and 12.

We are partnering with Camps International to offer students the opportunity to go on a life-changing, 4-week expedition to Kenya, during the summer of 2025. Students will work on a variety of meaningful and sustainable projects, having a lasting, positive impact on the local communities, as well as heading out on safari.

Save the date to come along and find out more:
THURSDAY 2ND MAY AT 6:30PM IN THE SCHOOL HALL  

During our Parents Presentation you and your son/daughter will be able to hear more about Camps, the expedition and fundraising, as well as how to join the team.

In the meantime, to get an insight into the expedition, you can see photos from previous teams

As students are encouraged to raise the funds for this expedition themselves, why not get started straight away with some helpful tips and advice

We look forward to letting you know more about the expedition soon.

Last week was our annual Raising & Giving Week. This is a major event in the school calendar and is an opportunity for our school community to support a local charity by having some fun! For the second year, we chose Red Sky Foundation as our charity, to support the great work of Sergio and the team in providing life-saving defibrillators in the community and raising money to support the work of the NHS. During the week, each tutor group in Years 7 – 10 raised money at breaktime with a variety of stalls, ranging from cake sales to throwing wet sponges at teachers!

On Thursday evening, we held our annual Southmoor’s Got Talent show featuring a range of amazing acts from singers to dancers and much more. The winning act on the night was Amy Statham Anderson with her amazing performance of ’99 Red Balloons’, featuring an appearance from an actual 99 red balloons. It wasn’t just students showing their talents either. Mrs Brown showed us her amazing singing voice with a rendition of ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ and a very talented team of staff performed an unbelievable medley from Barbie. On Friday, the sixth form washed staff cars and everyone was encouraged to wear red for our Wear Red Day. With the money still be counting, we have so far raised £1700.

On Friday 22^nd March staff had the pleasure of  spending time with the year 10 students on a day out at York. The students were a credit to the school as their behaviour was impeccable throughout. The sun was shining as the  students interacted with members of the public whilst visiting the Castle Museum, Shambles, Minster and Walls. Well done to all that attended and made the day positive and successful.

As part of National Careers Week in early March, we had two exciting competitions:

Our first competition was our National Careers Week Treasure Hunt where students had to take note of all the things happening in school during the week and all the information displayed around school. They could then enter the competition to say what they had learned. Katelyn Dowling was the overall winner of this competition, and she wins a £10 Amazon voucher.

Our second challenge was an exciting competition between our school in the UK and Kawungeera Primary School in Uganda. This involved a virtual assembly live between the two schools and students were encouraged to enter the competition by producing a poster or a leaflet about the top careers in the UK which will inform our colleagues in Uganda about the types of careers that young people in the UK might move on to. Students in Uganda judged the competition (see photos of the students judging the entries in Uganda) and they have chosen their winning entries based on a number of criteria. We are delighted to announce the following results. Winners of a £10 Amazon voucher are: Lily Donaldson (Year 9) and Adelaide Wood (Year 7). Runners-up who receive a certificate are: Isla Lakeman (Year 7), Jenny Alderson (Year 7), Saran Camara (Year 7), Darcy Usher (Year 7), Aiden Worrell (Year 7), Ryan Tate (Year 9), ´¡³¾±ð¾±±ô¾±²¹Ìý´¡±ô±ô²¹²Ô (Year 7) and Thomas Kent (Year 7). Well done to all of these students!

In return, our Student Council have judged the winners of the same competition from Uganda. Students at Kawungeera Primary School created some exciting posters about the types of careers available in Uganda and we have notified the school of the winning entries. It has been great to see this exciting project between our schools develop over the last 12 months.