We have been involved with ProjectFront Foot which supplies donatedcricket kit to children in slums andrefugee camps. It also arrangescoaching sessions and matches.We have recently donated several

bags of old cricket kit which will goto Afghan refugees in Germanyand to slums in Mumbai. ProjectFront Foot believes that sport is akey component of children’s education and can help to break

down barriers, improve disciplineand respect, offer leadership opportunities and offer an escapefor a while for these children. This isan excellent cause and we are delighted to support it.

DigestD A M E A L L A N ’ S

A P R I L 2 0 17

This newsletter comes to you atthe end of a varied and successfulterm at Dame Allan’s.Aside from the routine business ofschool life, we were delighted to hosta business breakfast which sawbusinesses based both regionallyand nationally meet representativesfrom North East schools and universities to discuss the careersagenda and how we can work together to help our young peopleprepare for the world of work. It’s been a busy time at the JuniorSchool. As well as our complianceinspection - the official outcome ofwhich we shall share when itreaches us - this month has seen avery successful Open Morning.Many thanks to all of our studentswho helped to guide prospectivefamilies around the school, theyshowed perfectly how happy, politeand confident children at DameAllan’s are. Children in Years 3 – 5have also performed an excellentversion of Mary Poppins, which notonly showcased their talents in music,drama and dance but also madeuse of the Junior School’s latesttechnology such as the GreenScreen. Similar artistic strengthswere on display in the recent SpringConcert which featured excellentperformances by choral groups fromthe Senior and Junior Schools andby several hugely talented soloists.The evening was also notable for thefirst performance by Dame Allan’ssymphony orchestra, an exciting newdeparture in the recent history of theSchools. I was also very pleased topresent one of our Sixth Form studentswith a gold certificate for her successin the UK Chemistry Olympiad.This is the first gold certificate in theSchools’ history of taking part in thenotoriously difficult competition. I hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable Easter holiday. We lookforward to seeing you at the startof our summer term.

A welcome from the Principal

We had a brilliant time raisingmoney for Comic Relief again thisyear. We had a non-uniform dayacross the Junior and SeniorSchools and held a students vs.staff volleyball match whichhelped us to raise over £1000 forthe charity. Even the JuniorSchool building joined in!

Our Spring Concert was an excellent event again this year.Over 100 students from acrossDame Allan’s took part in the

performance at St James’ and St Basil’s Church with the JuniorChoir and African style music provingespecially popular. The new Dame

Allan’s Symphony Orchestra premiered at the concert with over45 members coming together toperform some beautiful music.

Red nosebuilding

Best foot forward

The Sound of Spring

We were delighted to host abusiness breakfast which sawover 150 representatives frombusinesses in the region meetwith over 20 North East schoolsand colleges and the region’s fiveuniversities to discuss the NorthEast’s careers advice agenda. The morning, which focussed onthe Good Career GuidanceBenchmarks pilot, was deliveredby the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) andfunded by the Gatsby CharitableFoundation. The pilot aims tooffer solutions to ensure thatyoung people have the skills tomeet the needs of employersand, therefore, support theeconomy.

The breakfast event wasarranged by Head of CareersMrs Whitehouse alongside theLEP and Ryan Gibson, National Facilitator for the Good CareerGuidance Benchmarks pilot. Mrs Whitehouse was nominatedfor the UK Career Educator ofthe Year at the Career DevelopmentInstitute awards. Dr Hind said: ‘It was a privilegeto host this event which will goon to shape the future of careersguidance across the region. We were delighted to welcomerepresentatives from such a largerange of businesses to work collaboratively with schools fromacross the North East for thebenefit of our young people.’

Well done to our Year 12 and 13students who took part in the BritishBiology, Chemistry and PhysicsOlympiads. These internationalcompetitions consist of examinationquestions taken under exam conditions which push and stretchstudents’ knowledge beyond whatthey are taught in their A Levelstudies. Lots of our pupils achievedsilver, bronze and highly commendedcertificates which is a brilliantachievement. Hannah is one studentwho took part in the ChemistryOlympiad and she achieved thefirst ever gold certificate in theSchools’ history. Over 5000 peopletook part in the competition andonly 419 were awarded a gold,which puts Hannah in the top 7.8 per cent nationally. We arereally proud of everyone whotook part. Well done!

Children in our Junior School tookpart in a Parliament Outreachprogramme this term where theylearned about how Parliamentworks and how laws are made.

They then thought about laws thatthey would like to introduce(such as banning homework!) anddebated them. The children werejoined by Chi Onwurah, MP for

Newcastle Central, for some of thesession and they were able to askher questions about her job andabout life as an MP. The children hada brilliant time and learned a lot!

Business breakfast

Our Year 3, 4 and 5 children put on an excellent performanceof Mary Poppins at the Combined Arts Afternoons atthe end of term. They includedsong, dance and drama – plus

Green Screen technology – toput on a brilliant show whichhelped our children to learnabout how to put a show together and also to practisetheir performance skills.

Banning homework?

Olympiad

Willthe Kid

We are delighted for our Year 10student Will who has been cast inthe National Youth Music Theatreproduction of ‘Billy the Kid’. Will had to attend an audition in Manchester and then a secondaudition in London, before beingselected as a member of cast inthe musical which is an adventurestory and comedy, set in a colourfulworld of cowboys and bandits,cactus trees and caballeros. Alumni of the National YouthMusic Theatre include Eddie Redmayne, Matt Lucas, SuePerkins, Sheridan Smith and TomChambers to name just a few.The production will be performedin August at the Curve theatre inLeicester.

Chim Chim Cheroo

Huge congratulations to our students Zoe, Charlotte, Legendand Jonathon who won the inter-schools Maths Challenge competitionthis term. The event saw 16 teamswork on different rounds of mathschallenges which required them to

work together. Our team did particularly well on the relayround in which they scored fullmarks, they had been training forthe event since January and weare delighted that their hard workpaid off. Well done!

Mathstastic!

Netball

Double double

Holly, Abigail and Kieron

Jolly hockey umpires

Congratulations to our Under 19netball team for competing in theNational Schools Final this March.The competition is the biggestschools competition in the netballcalendar and this year the finalswere held in Welwyn Garden City.It was a fantastic opportunity forthe girls to compete amongst thebest school netball teams in thecountry. Well done!

Well done to 11 of our Year 11boys who recently representedNorthumberland County in theUnder 16 rugby squad. The teamplayed Cumbria and Durham twice,winning three of their four gamesagainst Cumbria and Durham anda number of the boys have nowbeen put forward for the Newcastle Falcons Academy.

The Under 18 and U16 rugbyteams have had a brilliant season,resulting in a ‘double double’ withboth teams winning the CountyCup XV aside and seven aside Cupsfor their age group. The Under 18sevens team had a particularlyfantastic season and are undefeated,winning all 15 of their matches whichsaw them also win the Keswickand NSB Sevens tournaments.

Congratulations to our studentsToby May and Max Forster whohave been awarded NewcastleRising Stars of Sport awards atSport Newcastle’s annual dinner atthe Newcastle Civic Centre. Tobywas recognised for his success infencing; he represented GreatBritain four times at Under 17 levelin 2016, was North East Under14 epee champion and will represent England at the ChallengeWratsilava competition in Polandin March alongside another ofour students Poppy Chennells. Max has been given the awardfor his success on the squashcourt. He is the NorthumbriaJunior champion at Under 15 andUnder 17 level, was British Under 15champion and Irish Junior Opentitle winner at Under 15 level in2016. Huge congratulations toboth boys, this is an excellentachievement that takes a lot ofhard work and dedication.

We are very proud of a group of our Year 9 Girls’ School studentswho have been training to become hockey umpires. The girlseach completed training in howto be an umpire and have been

overseeing some of our JuniorSchool matches. They also umpired at inter-county quick-sticks matches and the final ofthe competition.Well done!

Well done Holly in Year 6 whorepresented Tyne and Wear in theNational Cross country competition, competing againstcounties from across England.Abigail in Year 5 also representedTyne and Wear at the Regional Indoor Athletics Championshipsand won the Under 11 standing

triple jump with an impressive jumpof 5m 98cm. The Tyne and Wearteam were overall winners of theUnder 11 competition. Our squash teams have also beenbusy with the Under 15 girls comingrunners up in the national trophycompetition, the Under 15 boyscame 5th in the main national

event and the girls came 4th. LauraNeill, in Year 12, won the Girls Under17 category of the Scottish Open.Year 8 student Kieron was namedthe Under 13 Biathlon GB champion at the National SchoolsBiathlon Championships whichwas held at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in March.

Sport

Rising stars

Rugby stars

b u i l d i n g t h e f u t u r eDA M E A L L A N ’ S S C H O O L S

Lively conversation filled the roomat our recent informal alumnievent, held at the NorthernCounties Club in Newcastle on16th March. Retired and currentteachers mingled with Allanians,exchanging stories and memoriesof their time at Dame Allan’sSchools over drinks and canapés.

Many of the attendees had notbeen back to school since leavingand they enjoyed the event somuch that they promised tocontact their old school friendsfor the event next year. Thanksto all those who joined us andwe hope to welcome more ofour alumni in 2018.

Monday 10 – Monday 24 April – HolidayTuesday 25 April – School resumesMonday 1 May – May Day holidayWednesday 3 May – Jazz concert, NewsomHall, 6pmSaturday 6 May – Leavers’ dance show at

Dance City, 7.30pmMonday 8 May – Leavers’ music concert,Lumsden Music Centre, 6pmSaturday 13 May – DASPA Junior summer fairWednesday 17 – Friday 19 May – Year 5residential activity days at Wastwater

Saturday 20 – Sunday 21 May – Year 9 Expedition Award qualifying weekendThursday 25 May – Choral Evensong, St James’ and St Basil’s Church, 5pmMonday 29 May – Friday 2 June – Half termholiday

t: 0191 275 1500 e: news@dameallans.co.uk www.dameallans.co.uk

Networking Event

Allanian friends

Rory for PM

Looking to the future...

DASPAStudents have been enjoying thebenefits of some of our past fundingsuch as the solar telescope andthe beautiful spring weather hasallowed the Girls to be out in theDASPA Garden. This term ourcommittee begins advance planningfor next year. We have now set thedate for our 2018 DASPA SpringBall Saturday, 12 May 2018. Savethe date and more details will beout in the coming months.

After the success of our secondhand uniform stall at the ChristmasBazaar, we are very pleased to saythat we are planning to hold moresales throughout the year, as ourstocks permit. Any donations ofuniform would therefore be verymuch appreciated!

DASPA JuniorDASPA Junior is in full preparationfor the Summer Fair which will beon 13th May, between 12 noon and2pm at Dame Allan’s Junior School.

Everyone is warmly invited to attend this fun afternoon, whichincludes family activities, fantastictombola stalls, an amazing raffleand delicious refreshments. We are currently collecting raffleprizes (gift vouchers, hampers,etc.) and will be collectingtombola prizes after Easter.

Many thanks to Rachel BoweyBland who has updated our noticeboard next to the flagpole, whereparents will find lots of usefulDASPA J information such asforthcoming events, uniformsales and contact information.

Recently we were contacted bytwo Allanians who have just celebrated 60 years of friendship.Lyn Browne (nee Oxborough) andJudy Norman (nee Jackson) madefriends on their first day at DameAllan’s in 1956 after discoveringthat they shared the same birthday.Lyn and Judy’s lives have followedvery similar paths, for example bothhave lived in South Africa and theyeven have children who share thesame birthday! When they wereboth back in the UK they got

together to celebrate theirfriendship and had a brilliant timeremembering their time at DameAllan’s, including their teachersand other friends. It is alwayswonderful to hear from our Allanians and this story in particularwas lovely for us to hear.

Safeguarding at Dame Allan’sThe Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) at Dame Allan’s are Mrs P. Ferguson (EYFS); Mrs D. Farren (JuniorSchool); Mrs E. Fiddaman (DAGS) and Mr P. Wildsmith (DABS). Any concern about any child should be passedto the DSLs without delay. You can also call social services to report any concerns. The important message toremember is that concern for a child must lead to help for that child.

We are always impressed by theactive role many of our studentstake in the community beyondDame Allan’s Schools. Rory inYear12 has recently been elected tothe Youth Parliament, a nationalelected body which representsyoung people in the UK. Only twocandidates are elected to theYouth Parliament so this is a hugeachievement for Rory. Part of therole includes going to the Houseof Commons in July where he willtake part in a televised debate onissues that have an impact onyoung people. Representing theNorth East, Rory will raise issuessuch as transport, mental healthand work experience during histime on the Youth Parliament.