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West Sleekburn Middle School: Key Stage 2 (2009)

For links to reports for other schools in the area including High Schools, see the Schools sections on the Journal's Bedlington, Blyth, Cramlington and Ashington sites.

View comparative tables for Northumberland schools: Key Stage 2, GCSE, Post-16.

About 1,500 school pupils in Wansbeck are joining forces with local companies of all sizes, who are investing thousands of pounds in the project.

Make £5 Grow is the brainchild of the Wansbeck Education Enterprise Network (WEEN).

Years five and six pupils at the school raised the case in a non-uniform day when they were all asked to wear something pink.

Bedlingtonshire Community High School and West Sleekburn Middle School, which are joined together in a formal federation, are the winners of the Wansbeck Enterprising Schools award for secondary schools.

Ross Thain and Sonia Burdis from West Sleekburn Middle School with the Wansbeck Enterprise Trophy

Presenting the award, Robin Casson, director of children's services for the county council, said the schools had "embedded an enterprising culture" and had shared the leadership role across staff and students alike.

The enterprise centres have been developed at Bedlingtonshire Community High School and Guide Post Middle School.

They are part of the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) running in Wansbeck - a Government-backed scheme aimed tackling the district's poor record in new business development.

Guide Post Middle has been awarded an Anti-bullying Accreditation and a Healthy Schools national certificate, as well as achieving Specialist School status.

Working with Bedlingtonshire Community High School and the town's Meadowdale Middle, Guide Post is a member of the first partnership in Northumberland to achieve Specialist School status in mathematics and computing.

The event was attended by 189 pupils from first schools in the area, including St. Bede's, Bedlington Station, Stead Lane, Stakeford, Whitley Memorial and Choppington.

Some 35 leadership students from the high school volunteered their time.They were a mixture of Year 7 and 8 students who have completed their Sports Leaders UK Young Leaders Certificate, Sports Council members and Year 10 BTEC Young Apprenticeship course members, who have just completed their Sports Leaders UK Level 1 Award in Sports Leadership.

Activities included football, rugby, tennis, cricket, parachute, multi-skills and playground games.

Goosehill Nursery of Morpeth has achieved the highest rating possible from government Ofsted inspectors, who declared it "outstanding in all areas".

Children from Goosehill Nursery do a spot of gardening at their allotment to celebrate their latest Ofsted report

The nursery is delighted with the accolade as it follows a difficult time for both the staff and children.

Pupils from Guidepost Ringway First School at Ford Castle: L-R: Matthew Drysdale (9), Caitlin Shepard (9) and Cameron Thompson (8)

Students from four Northumberland schools - Ringway First School, Guidepost Middle School, Ashington High School and Northumberland College - have been working with multimedia designers to come up with new ideas for the 14th Century castle, which is used as an outdoor centre.

Harry Dobson, 70, died after getting into difficulties while swimming in the sea during a summer break with wife Susan.

The couple, who had visited Sri Lanka before, were due to return to their home in High Stobhill, Morpeth, next week.

The pupils from West Sleekburn Middle School held a competition to design a logo for water bottles.

It was won by Connor McCarthy and Danny McClements, who designed an H20 logo with a red face next to it.

The school was put into special measures by education inspectors Ofsted last year after being judged inadequate in every category.

But since then, the school has taken advantage of a federation formed with Bedlington High School to improve its teaching, the relationships between staff and pupils and many other parts of school life.

West Sleekburn Middle School is on the up after improving sufficiently to be taken out of special measures.

The school was handed the good news in a report this week after two years of huge efforts by staff and students and regular monitoring inspections.

The dancers had been rehearsing for weeks to perfect the complicated interwoven patterns for the display.