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We live in interesting political times.  Amidst all of the turbulence this week in Westminster, a new Secretary of State for Education was briefly appointed after Nadhim Zahawi’s promotion to Chancellor. Michelle Donelan, who was previously the universities minister became the third Education Secretary this academic year.  But her tenure lasted a short time, resigning after less than three days.

Students at Seaton Sluice Middle School have had their hard work celebrated by the school at their ‘Press Celebration’, last week.

MPs held a Westminster Hall debate on Monday, considering a petition relating to the school week. The petition required schools to make Friday a part of the school weekend, arguing that children can have lots of stress at school due to exams and homework and with a 3 day weekend, children could have a longer time to relax. The petition received nearly 150,000 signatures.

Pupils at Rosa Street Primary School in Spennymoor took part in a ‘Careers Day’ recently where their eyes were opened to a variety of potential options for their futures.

Attendance figures released this week show slight increases in school absences in June, according to the DfE’s latest attendance data released earlier this week.

Beech Hill Primary School, in West Denton, is hosting a course of ‘Experience Days’ to help teachers with professional development for those who would like to improve or develop their planning and teaching practices.

Monkton Infants School, in South Shields, was recently awarded the Bronze Mental Health Award by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools.

Schools in the region have been taking part in the School Streets Initiative wherein Local Authorities work together with educators to restrict roads surrounding schools in order to tackle traffic, air pollution, road danger and poor health.

The impact of the cost of living crisis is being felt all over the North East by families, schools and teachers. Schools report struggling to recruit and retain staff due to the financial stress felt across the country as inflation and costs soar.

Brougham Primary School, in Hartlepool, recognised the achievements of a student this week, by naming a star after her. The CEO of Ad Astra Trust, Andy Brown, dropped into the school to give the student a certificate announcing the naming of star ‘Imogen’ to celebrate and reward her accomplishments.

Teachers and students from Astley Community High School, Whytrig Middle School and Seaton Sluice Middle School took a trip to Valencia, after 3 years of delays due to the pandemic.

Over the last five days, schools in the region took part in the British Nutrition Foundation’s Healthy Eating Week (HEW). Meanwhile, the government released their Food Strategy White Paper on Monday, with little mention of any immediate intention to change their Free School Meals (FSM) plan despite last week’s worrying data.