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Fantasy was the theme when Sacred Heart Catholic High School celebrated this year’s World Book Day on Thursday 5 March.   Staff and students alike drew inspiration from the magical worlds of books including The Lord of the Rings , Alice in Wonderland , and the Harry Potter  series, dressing as their favourite characters for the annual event.   “The theme was ‘fantasy genre’,” explained English Teacher Mrs Floyd, who helped organise the celebrations.   “Staff dressed up for th

Year 11 Food Preparation and Nutrition students recently visited Grainger Market and the Fenwick's Pop-Up Restaurants as part of their preparation for the Non-Exam Assessment (NEA). The purpose of the visit was to conduct primary research into pop-up restaurant menus, helping students develop their own menu ideas for the NEA. Students explored how successful pop-up food businesses design menus that are creative, commercially realistic, and suited to their target customers. At

We believe that one of the reasons Sacred Heart is so successful at helping students maximise achievement is through the way we do our practice examinations, or Diagnostic Assessments. Our examination week is geared towards helping your daughter’s teachers best target their efforts in the remaining teaching weeks of the year. Through this diagnostic approach, your daughter will be able to see the areas where she should focus her effort; removing the ‘revise everything from th

The examination boards will continue to make very limited adjustments to the normal operation of assessment for the 2026 Summer session  Exam boards will:  Provide extended formula sheets for Mathematics, Trilogy Science and Physics  The Summer 2026 grade boundaries will remain at pre-Covid, 2019 levels.      The final date for your diary is 24 th June: this is known as a ‘contingency day’.  No matter when your daughter’s examinations finish, she needs to be available on thi

As the Spring Term gets fully underway and your daughter understandably begins to think about the forthcoming summer exams, we would like to share with you the support on offer to her this year.  Although Sacred Heart students have a fantastic record in GCSE results, each year we remind the girls in Year 11 that this comes from sustained work and a desire to achieve. As your daughter’s teachers, we pledge to do all we can to support her. In turn, we ask her to commit to work

This term, our Year 7 and 8 Goals Ambassador students have been taking part in an exciting Pen Pal Project focused on the Sacred Heart Goal of Community. Each student has been paired with another student from St Catherine's College, Armagh, Northern Ireland. At the heart of this project is a simple but powerful idea: community extends beyond the walls of our school. By writing thoughtful letters to students in another school, our pupils are learning how to introduce themselve

On Thursday 12th February at lunchtime, students gathered in the Chapel for our Galentine’s Event – a special opportunity to pause, reflect, and show appreciation for women who make a difference in our lives. The event focused on gratitude and kindness, encouraging students to thank friends, family members, staff, or anyone they felt deserved recognition. In a world that can often feel busy and demanding, it was wonderful to see so many students take time to express heartfelt

From Monday 2nd March to Wednesday 1st April, we will be holding a food bank collection in support of Feeding Families as part of living out our Goal of Community. The Goal of Community calls us to build relationships of compassion and service. It reminds us that we belong to one another — especially those who may be struggling. As a Sacred Heart school, outreach and service is central to who we are. This Easter, we are asking our community to show practical kindness by donat

Forty Year 8 students recently visited SafetyWorks in Newcastle to learn practical ways to stay safe in their local area. The visit included participation in four interactive workshops designed to raise awareness about everyday safety challenges. These sessions helped students understand risks and how to respond confidently in different situations. The workshops covered topics such as fire safety, road awareness, personal security, and emergency response. Thanks to the suppor

Before half term we welcomed two of the members of our wonderful school nursing team into school to host a pop-up information and advice table focussed on relationships and wellbeing.  The information included the key characteristics of mutual respect, risk management around healthy and unhealthy relationships, how to recognise manipulation and coercive control, and how alcohol can impact upon decision making.  The visit provided students with a valuable opportunity to access

The chapel will be open at lunchtime on the following days during Lent: •Wednesday 25th February (This Wednesday in the Chapel!) •Wednesday 11th March •Wednesday 18th March Students from the Mustard Seed Club have created some wonderful interactive prayer stations that students can come and experience at lunchtime in the Chapel.  These prayer stations invite you on a journey of renewal and hope, a chance to lay down burdens, and make some space for peace and reflection. These

At 2.45pm on Thursday 5th March (P5) the whole school will ‘drop everything and read’ together! Every class in school will be given copies of the short story, ‘The Veldt’ by Ray Bradbury You will either listen to a reading of the story, or your teacher will read the story to you Have a look at these pictures taken from different front covers of the story: what predictions could you make about it?

•Watch out for teachers around school dressed up as characters from some well-loved stories!  (Teacher quiz competition sheets available at English office!) •Join in the fun by coming to school with a book themed/character themed accessory* : a mask? A hat? A prop which represents your favourite character from a book?  *normal school uniform still applies!

Twenty of our Year 9 students enjoyed a fantastic visit to the Glamorous Owl jewellery making studio in Newcastle last month.  In just under 2 hours, they had all created their own beautiful silver rings.  Students worked with a range of silver smithing hand tools and were taught how to file their silver and shape it round a mandrel before using the blow torch to solder a perfect seamless join.  After the rings had been cleaned in jewellers' pickle (an acid bath!), students s

Year 10 and Year 12 Drama students travelled to the Sunderland Empire to see the award-winning musical Matilda this month. For our Year 10 GCSE Drama students, the visit offered a valuable opportunity to analyse live performance in action, from ensemble physicality and characterisation to the use of staging, lighting and sound to create mood and meaning. Year 12 students were able to look even more closely at directorial intention and design concepts, considering how set tran

Our Sixth Form is a diverse community, with students representing over thirty different countries. Every year we celebrate this in school by hosting a Culture Week. This year, the week was as busy as ever with dance and language workshops; an afternoon filled with students demonstrating their traditional dress and fashion; henna art application; live music performances; and educational context regarding customs and cultures. Our community is one of equality, diversity and inc

On Wednesday 25th February, 9R had the first of three sessions led by local author Lisette Auton. They were given a range of creative writing tasks to warm up their creative muscles, before starting to think about what element of society they wanted to change.   Lisette spoke about her own writing career: she is a novelist, poet, essayist and lyricist, and as an Autistic, disabled woman, she writes characters into her work that she didn't read about as a child and young adult

We are delighted that five of our Year 13 students have received offers from either Oxford or Cambridge University to read History, Medicine, Experimental Psychology and Law.  Competitive application preparation starts in early Year 12 with in-school talks from both university outreach ambassadors.  Our students take part in a full day workshop looking at personal statements and interview techniques in early April, so they are fully prepared for the application process to beg

Our Year 10 GCSE Drama students welcomed Matt Woodhead from LUNG Theatre and Paul Ainsworth from the Royal Shakespeare Company for a thought-provoking verbatim workshop. LUNG Theatre is a nationally-renowned company specialising in verbatim theatre — a creative form that uses real people’s words and testimonies to tell powerful, socially relevant stories. Their work often tours theatres across the UK, from cultural venues to school halls, and they are known for engaging commu

Do you speak another language at home? Would you like to share your language and culture with more people? ENTER THE MOTHER TONGUE COMPETITION! What do I have to do? 1. Write an original poem in your language OR Write out a poem or song that is special to you in your language-this could be one that people in your family recite or sing. 2. Decorate your text with drawings (not images from the internet) 3. Write a paragraph in ENGLISH explaining what the text is and, importantl