Lifelong Learning Award Kingsmeadow School was recently honoured at Gateshead Council’s Lifelong Learning Awards. At a ceremony held in the Dryden Centre, Kingsmeadow won the “Best Extended School Award”. The prestigious award was given to recognise the school’s valuable contribution to Adult Learning in the Borough.

Kingsmeadow’s Got Loads of Talent
Over 20 acts auditioned for a place in the Kingsmeadow Talentstar Roadshow. Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne were unavailable, so Mrs Robinson, Colin McLelland and Ashleigh-Jo Prince chose the final contestants!
The talent show was held in the main hall, where performers excelled themselves in front of an audience of over 150 people.
Four acts were chosen on the evening to go on to the semi-final heat – The Steel Band, Gymnastics Display Team, Nicola Graham and Emma Sweeney.
The semi-final was held at the Lamplight Arts Centre in Stanley, and although none of our acts were chosen to go on to the final, they all performed magnificently, had a great time and were a great credit to the school.
Thank you to everyone who took part from the auditions through to the semi-final. You were all stars!

Cookery Club
A grant of £200 enabled us to run an out of school hours cookery club which was attended by 12 enthusiastic students.
The club, which ran over 6 weeks, taught our young people about healthy cooking and eating by preparing healthy snacks, meals and drinks such as wraps, sandwiches, fruit smoothies, fruit desserts and pizzas.
The cookery club was great fun and proved to be very popular. Hopefully the club will be repeated next year.

Adult Education News
Our summer term was very successful. Another 7 courses were held and student numbers were up. In addition we ran 2 Wider Family Learning courses in Guitar and Spanish

Easter Holiday Active Kidz
Once again Kingsmeadow played host to Gateshead Council’s “Active Kidz” Easter playscheme. The scheme ran over 10 days of the Easter Holidays, and was very busy and popular.
We will also be hosting a Summer Playscheme for children aged 8-14. The scheme will be held over the first 5 weeks of the summer holidays at a cost of £30 per week or £8 per day. Various discounts are available for additional siblings and for people in receipt of selected benefits.
Bookings for the Playscheme can be made in person at Gateshead Civic Centre or by telephoning 0191 433 7117.

Easter Holiday Activities
 Easter activities were held for Kingsmeadow students who have attended “The Centre” during the year. A trip to Whitley Bay Ice Rink was organised one day, and a drop-in youth club was also organised including cookery, craft and games activities.
Meanwhile booster sessions in Maths ,English and Science were held for Year 9 and 11 students, over 2 mornings in the LLC.

Students Questioned
With the help of Lee Dines, a Youth and Community Work student on placement with us from Sunderland University, we have recently carried out a survey into after school activities. Students were asked what kind of activities they were interested in, when they would like to do them, how much they were willing to pay, and what prevented them from taking part. Results of the survey will be available soon , and will enable us to plan out of school hour activities in the future.
School Council members were asked to a consultation event to pilot the questionnaire. 8 council members took part. And as a thank you to them, an after school Archery activity was organised at Whickham Thorns.

ESOL Course for Parents
 An” English for Speakers of Other Languages” course for parents of our EAL students has recently been organised. We have started with 6 people attending a 2 hour class on Thursday evenings. The course will run initially for 7 weeks up to the summer holidays, and hopefully continue again in September.
The course will help adults improve their English language, and help with everyday living and working skills as well as enabling them to help with their children’s school work.

Children’s Centre
Work is well under way to refurbish the LLC to welcome Dunston Children’s Centre.
When complete, the Children’s Centre will have a nursery room offering Wraparound Childcare, an Early Years activity/meeting room, an information hub and office space.
Having the children’s centre on-site will offer lots of opportunities for joint activities with the school.

Senior Citizens Club
Our Senior Citizens Club continues to meet every Thursday afternoon, with one of the highlights being a trip to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Tynemouth.
In July we are organising a grand day out to Alnwick Gardens. This will be a community event with pensioners from Lobley Hill, Dunston and Teams being invited along.

Adults – Improve your Maths and English!
Do you lack confidence in your reading and writing skills? Do you find numbers confusing? You are not alone. Kingsmeadow School have teamed up with Gateshead Council’s Skills for Life Team, to offer adults help with their maths and English.  
The Basic Skills course will be small, friendly and informal, and could lead to an accredited qualification. Sessions will be held in the Community Room at the Lifelong Learning Centre, Kingsmeadow School.
For more information, or to sign up for the course please contact Marie Harrison on: 0191 433 8708

Business and Enterprise in the Community
A number of initiatives are underway as part of the community aspect of the Business and Enterprise Specialism.
Enterprise projects organised with local Primaries include: a community garden/allotment at Lobley Hill Primary, a talent show at St. Aidan’s and a DVD project to mark the closure of the present Dunston Hill Primary site.

A transition course for school leavers about to go into the world of work, education or training, is being organised for alternative curriculum students at Lobley Hill Community Centre and Dunston Drop-in.

A website is being created for a local group of Social Enterprises – “Teamworks”, and we have been able to offer support to small local businesses including “Lullabies Sleep Consultancy” and a local driving school.
If you are a community organisation or local business, and would like to know more about our Business and Enterprise Specialism, please contact Colin McLelland at the school.