Talking About Communication

5th June 2025Leanne Johnston

Many of our Year 10 students are out of school completing face to face work placements during our Enrichment Week. For those that are in school, the programme is focussing on employer enagement with Northumberland County Council and developing effective transferrable skills that would be useful in the workplace. As part of this we have partnered with Talk the Talk.

Expert trainers from Talk The Talk are in school on 5 June 2025 to work with students. This is to help them prepar for thier presentations at NCC County Hall on Friday.

The Talk About Communication workshop is an exciting and engaging master class developing speaking and listening skills within a creative learning environment. The workshop provides numerous speaking opportunities and students are coached and supported throughout the day to deliver a structured two minute presentation, on a topic for which they have a genuine passion, to their peers.

‘We demonstrate that speaking out should be an experience that we CAN do – and one that is nowhere near as daunting as we might think. One of the keys to the success of the Talk The Talk programme is creating an environment of mutual respect with a supportive ethos so that when students stand up and voice their opinions, share their thoughts and present their ideas – their skills and confidence grow.’

Mike, Talk The Talk

Talk The Talk’s mission is to develop students’ oracy skills and their communication confidence to support positive interaction in all life situations and improved social outcomes. This will be the third occassion KEVI have worked with Talk the Talk and student feedback has always been really positive.

Career Insights: Animation

23rd May 2025Leanne Johnston
The King Edward VI School Animation Club was delighted to welcome animator Callum Boyd to its meeting this week to share his industry experience with our students.
Callum of Atomhawk, an award winning studio that provides creative support to the games industry, delivered an informative talk where he outlined his route into animation as a career and shared some of the expertise he gained along the way.

Jeff Bridgewood who created the club to kindle creativity in our students commented.  “Our hardworking students were delighted to hear first hand from an industry expert and I am excited to see how they will be using his insights to inform their future projects.”

Northumberland School’s County Golf Champions

12th May 2025Leanne Johnston
Two of KEVI’s golfers became Northumberland school’s county champions yesterday at Longhirst Hall Golf Club. Max Paterson (left) and Alan Young (right) both play competitively at Morpeth Golf Club for the junior team. Yesterday they challenged themselves against the finest young golfers the county has to offer and both came out on-top. Max won the Under 16 title scoring the lowest score of the day across all male golfers and Alan won the Under 18 title.
In the Under 16 category, Max progresses onto national level where he competes next weekend in the 33rd English Schools National Final at Wilmslow Golf Club, Cheshire and later in May down at Stoke Rochford Golf Club in the Northen Schools Regional Final. Both players have also been selected today to represent Northumberland Under 18 against Yorkshire County at Dunstanburgh Golf Club on Tuesday 27th May. Another KEVI sixth form student, Charlie Thompson has also been selected for this fixture. Well done and congratulations to all players involved.

Cutting the Sod

17th March 2025Leanne Johnston
Subject Leader for PE Rachel Shaw and students joined local councillors and representatives from Robertsons construction for the “cutting the sod” ceremony on Friday.  We are delighted that work has finally started on the new Sports Hall and 3G facility.
Rachel Shaw commented
“The PE department would like to thank everyone for supporting the new sports hall development and making this vision a reality. This will greatly enhance all of our students’ experience of PE and promote overall well-being in the community. We are excited for the opportunities it will bring our students, who truly deserve a modern and inspiring environment. Our students strive for excellence and need improved facilities if they are going to continue to excel. This is a very exciting time for us all and we can’t wait to see the impact it will have on our students and local community in the future.“

Ski Trip

6th March 2025Leanne Johnston

60 Students had an awesome week skiing in the French resort of Serre Chevalier. With over half the group having never skied on snow before, some excellent progress was made.

Groups experienced ski school and demonstrated a great deal of resilience, learning a new skill and overcoming challenges, especially when tired! The group of students represented KEVI well and were supportive and encourgaing of one another with ski instructors praising their attitude.

Night time activities included visiting the local town and a torchlight descent with aerial show and fireworks. There was some friendly rivalry at quiz night, followed up with games and movie night. A week early, the group celebrated pancake day with a feast of crepes!

Parental comments:

Thank you for organising such an amazing ski trip this year.  He had an absolutely fantastic time.  Sadly, he’s not impressed by any of our holiday suggestions now and only wants to go skiing again!

We just wanted to say thank you so much to you and all the staff for organising the ski trip. He had a fantastic time. We really appreciate all the time and commitment it takes to provide these opportunities. He’s had an incredible week so many thanks from us both

European Youth Parliament Regional Event

3rd March 2025Leanne Johnston
A group of 8 KEVI students in Year 11 and Year 12 represented the school at a European Youth Parliament Regional Event.  Staff accompanying the students were immensely proud; the students were a real credit to themselves and, the school competing against eight other schools.
They prepared on a complex topic (farming, strikes and taxation) thoroughly with extremely short notice and, whilst, we did not get through to the next round, the judges had this to say:
In terms of more specific feedback we would really like to commend your team’s consistent enthusiasm from the very start, and their incredibly strong teamwork. We would also draw attention to their use of post-it notes and other forms of active communication during debates as a particular strength. 
It is great to see students taking advantage of the many additional opportunities at KEVI and developing their Accomplished Student characteristics.

KEVI VI Form Reading Ambassadors Celebrate

17th February 2025Leanne Johnston

At King Edward’s, we are proud to celebrate the dedication of our VI Form Reading Ambassadors, who have made a real difference in supporting lower school students with their reading progress. Since September, these mentors have met with younger students once a week, applying their training to model effective reading strategies that improve fluency, automaticity, and confidence.

To mark the success of the programme, our final session included a celebratory breakfast, where lower school students expressed their gratitude by writing heartfelt thank-you cards for their mentors. One Year 9 student shared how much he had enjoyed working with his VI Form mentor, highlighting that the dedicated reading time each week had boosted his confidence in lessons and helped him make greater academic progress.

King Edward’s encourages VI Form students to give back to our school community while developing valuable skills such as organisation, resilience, and interpersonal communication—qualities that will serve them well in the future. We’re proud of the dedication and hard work shown by both our lower school students and their VI Form Mentors!

Spirit of the Season

20th December 2024Leanne Johnston

Students and staff have given generousy over this week, in the spitit of Christmas. We had a fantastic collection for Wansbeck Valley Foodbank and were overwhelemed by the volume of donations.

This continued with our annual Christmas Jumper non-uniform day on Thursday 19 December. Students enjoyed a festive lunch and raised over £400 for Save the Children. Donations can still be made via MCAS.

Year 9 School Council members organised their very own bake sale; the students coordinated volunteers from across the year group to bake, donate and sell cakes. The Year 9 students raised over £100 for their nominated charity; Christian Aid.

Christmas Communion

19th December 2024Leanne Johnston

The RE department took 38 students to Durham Cathedral on Wednesday 18 December. The students were welcomed into the Cathedral and had the opportunity to explore a major place of Christian worship and pilgrimage, learning about the story of St Cuthbert and the origins of Christianity in the North-East, as well as seeing the practices they have been learning about including attending the service. A really good and valuable day for all involved.