Emma Gerrard has been officially announced as part of the U18 Women’s Squad for the Rugby Six Nations Festival 2023. This is an unbelievable achievement and Emma has worked tirelessly even through injury to achieve this.
Well done Emma!
Congratulations to Dylan Sneddon (Year 11) and Lara Patterson (Year 10) for their success at The Lit and Phil Young Writers Awards on Wednesday evening. Both were winners in the poetry section. Both poems are listed below.
The Sun and Moon’s Fate
There is an old belief in the Philippines
Of the Sun and the Moon’s heartbreaking love.
When they got married their love was like a dream.
They spent their minutes and hours together,
Until they decided to embark on their next adventure.
They had many beautiful stars
whose skin would shine as they were the perfect mix of bright and unseen.
Unfortunately, the Sun would burn the children when he held them
so the moon would demand him to stop.
One day, the Moon left to collect vegetables from the jungle.
She asked the Sun to guard their sleeping children.
The Sun’s eyes shone brighter than ever as he watched his wonderful stars sleep.
He dreamed more than ever to kiss them goodnight
And disregarding the Moon’s wishes he did just that.
However, the Sun was far too bright
and, as he kissed each of them goodnight,
they tragically melted away into the night.
The Sun felt instant regret and chose to stay hidden.
When the Moon returned to an empty house
she wept at the thought something had taken her dearly beloved.
After some time, the Sun shamefully returned
and revealed the heartbreaking truth to his wife.
Then he and the Moon had a terrible fight.
The Moon got angry and blamed the Sun for their star’s demise,
But the Sun said he just wanted to spread his love.
Yet the Moon still left for good.
The Sun still chases her to this day,
Following her around explaining how he was misunderstood.
But the Moon never stops to listen,
As their love is gone and forgotten.
But if you are to look into the dark sky far away,
You will see the Sun and Moon’s lost-children shining on display.
Lara Patterson
POETRY WINNER – Older Category
The Friends in the Ashes
My friends don’t remember my birthday//no, my friends just smile through birthday cake
covered grins and frosting smeared teeth//my friends don’t own my shade of foundation
nor wear shoes my size//no, my friends wait for me to make more concessions than the
stand at that park they won’t visit anymore//my friends don’t get caught with me
suspended over the porcelain throne, a futile attempt to seem as snatched as they say//no,
my friends whine in jealousy at my concave vessel with their convex personality, their
screams would hurt more inside my warped throat//my friends don’t herd themselves to
the door when i’m not there to show the way//no, my friends consult the map we carved
deep into my arm, just in case//my friends don’t change my cassette tape they’ll listen to
the same story again and again//no, my friends see me as a broken record player humming
the same dulled anthem day after day – too sentimental (or inconvenient) to throw
away//my friends don’t question the skeletons stored in the cellar where you’d expect
wine//no, my friends just drink what they can find and drunkenly disclose my bones in the
corner of a hot pink night club weaselling their way closer to a drug dealer fantasy//my
friends don’t advocate for my place in line when i miss the train home struggling to tear
each strand of hair from my leg in a McDonald’s bathroom//no, my friends forge fist-fights
to decide who funds the next round of vodka//my friends don’t look like friends//no, my
friends are pillows to scream into on nights where the dark is my punching bag and i don’t
want an echo//my friends don’t hear me and i don’t make a sound.
Dylan Sneddon
POETRY RUNNER UP – Older Category
The Mid Northumberland Chorus are putting on a fantastic concert at St James Church, Morpeth on Sunday 26 March 2023, starting at 7.30pm which has a wonderful mix of mainly Italian and Norwegian music! Please come along, it will be a great night!
The programme includes the hugely varied and dramatic Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus RV595 accompanied by a professional string orchestra and featuring two fabulous soloists: Jane Burnell (Soprano) and Sophie Clarke (Mezzo-Soprano). In the second half we will be performing: ‘The Rose’ and ‘The Ground’ by Ola Gjeilo, the string orchestra will be performing Two Movements from the Peer Gynt Suite and there will be four solo Grieg songs sung by Jane and Sophie. The final item, with all performers taking part, will be the famous Barcarolle from ‘Les contes d’Hoffmann’ by Offenbach. What could be better! Many tickets are already sold, so please buy yours soon!
Hope to see you there.
Robin Forbes (ex-Head of Music at KEVI)
Sunday 26th March 2023
7:30pm
St. James Church, Morpeth
Tickets £10 each from:
Chorus members
or 01670 788 869
or on the door
We love reading at King Edward’s and we are celebrating World Book Day all week with a range of activities for students and staff. There are lots of prizes to be won.
Student and Staff Book Quiz
Staff and students will be
competing in our annual WBD Quiz. Mrs Sibbald is our current WBD Quiz Staff Champion – who will be the one to knock her off the top spot? All students and staff can enter here: QUIZ HERE.
Shelfie Quiz
Tutor groups will be having a go at completing the SHELFIE quiz – staff have taken pictures of their bookcases showing what they love to read and students have to guess which bookshelf belongs to which staff member.
Book in a Jar Hunt
There are lots of jam-jars containing excerpts from popular books on teachers desks. Students will be given response sheets to complete – they need to find the jars, identify the book and submit their form to the LRC by lunchtime on Friday 3 March.
What’s that Quote?
Around A-Floor there are lots of quotes from the set texts in Englishhanging on the walls. Students need to hunt them out and identify the book and character. Entry forms handed in to the LRC by Lunchtime on Friday 3 March. More student prizes available!
Potato Character Competition for Staff & Students
Get creative and have a go at giving a spud a makeover – select any character from any book and decorate a potato to reflect the character. Entries to the LRC by lunchtime on Friday 3 March. Staff and student prizes up for grabs!
Congratulations to Seb Parreira in Year 10 who returned to school this week as the British Prokart Endurance Championship Winter Series Clubman Class Champion along with his team mate, Max.
The youngest team on the grid, competing against some of the country’s top Prokart drivers, Seb and Max competed in two endurance races in Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire. They won both races in their kart class, and were also voted Drivers of the Day in the first race. The overall Championship win means the team have won the option to wear the O plate in place of their usual race number for the 2023 season which starts next month.
Well done Seb!
A huge thank you to our Tech Crew for their hard work and determination through 10 days of rehearsals and performances for Morpeth Pantomime last week.
This has been the first year that Lee has directed for Morpeth,who has a significant level of experience working at other theatres and with other groups in the North East. He was incredibly complimentary about their performance and professionalism.
In addition the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA), had their regional representative to watch the Saturday Matinee and reported that “The colourful backcloths and stage props were very well managed by Beth Marriott and the crew; seamlessly and effortlessly done. Furthermore, a big shout-out to the technical team from King Edwards for superb effects which contributed to the success of this show. “
Congratulations to all involved!
Mia Simpson, a Year 11 student, made it through to the 2023 Scottish Open Judo Championships in Glasgow last week. Mia fought extremely well, just loosing out in the final to the number one British Cadet in her category. Mia was the youngest, least experienced and lowest grade belt at 12th which is green (almost blue) and fought candidates from Scotland, Wales, France and England and a achieved a Silver Medal coming second.
Mia’s coach has now confirmed that she will be invited to fight in the other open tournaments this year including the English, Welsh and Irish Open and is even showing potential for the England Development Team.
Congratulations to Mia, we are very proud of her achievements.
We are delighted to share with you our Enrichment Week offer for Year 9 and Year 12. (Year 10 students will undertake Work Experience during this week) The week aims to challenge students beyond the confines of the classroom, build new relationships and develop essential transferable skills in a fun and enjoyable setting.
During the week, all students will participate in activities they have chosen; some students may choose to complete one activity across the whole week or opt for five separate daily activities.
The letter can be read in full here
Congratulations to Emma Gerrard who has recently been selected for the England U18’s Women’s Rugby Squad.
Emma who has played for Morpeth RFC since U13 and has represented and captained Northumberland County Rugby, was selected for The North East and Cumbria Centre of Excellence which led to a series of North Camps over the past 6 months with the DTG programme.
We wish her well as she embarks on this next training programme as part of the England U18’s Women’s Rugby Squad!
As you may well have heard in the media, the National Education Union (NEU) has announced that its ballot of teacher members in England has met the thresholds required to commence industrial action. Planned dates for planned strike action in our region have been announced as:
- Wednesday 1 February
- Tuesday 28 February
- Wednesday 15 March
- Thursday 16 March
We are currently awaiting further information to identify what impact this will have on our ability to continue to remain open fully to all students. We will obviously endeavour for this to be the case, however, we wanted to give you as much notice as possible so that, should you need to, alternative arrangements can be made for your child.
We will contact you as soon as we have any further information.
Ms Clare Savage
