Congratulations to Maisy in Year 6 on achieving her Half Millionaire award. Maisy won this last year also, along with her Word Millionaire award and she is off to a great start towards achieving her Millionaire status yet again.
Some of our Y5 and Y6 girls had a very exciting opportunity today to visit Dance City in Newcastle as part of South Tyneside’s School Sport Network. The girls learned a dance routine and then they had the opportunity to choreograph their own routine and perform it. It was a fantastic morning!
Please see the links for a range of children’s activities that are happening in South Tyneside Libraries during February Half Term.
Board Games | The Word, National Centre for the Written Word, South Shields
Lego Time | The Word, National Centre for the Written Word, South Shields
Harton Choir were randomly selected on Friday 14th February, to be a part of the ‘Choir Of The Year Competition 2025’ at Durham Cathedral.
They had to sing alongside 5 other schools in front of 2 judges.
The children sang ‘Rule The World’ by Take That and they were AMAZING!
Unfortunately, they did not win the competition but they were given some valuable feedback about how they could improve in the future and there were a lot of positive comments about their performance.
Well done, Harton Choir!
According to Ofcom’s most recent Media Use and Attitudes Report, roughly 55% of 3-17-year-olds in the UK are using WhatsApp as their primary messaging service 
Not only does that make WhatsApp the most popular messaging platform among children and young people in the UK; it also means that of the app’s approximately three billion users, over seven million of them are British youngsters – keeping in touch with friends and family, but also being exposed to its various risks 
As parents and educators, it’s our responsibility to stay up-to-date on the safety concerns around this highly popular app, and know how to protect children and young people who are on the platform 
That’s why we’ve put together this expert-led free guide, breaking down WhatsApp’s most prominent risks and advising you on how best to safeguard the app’s younger users.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps available and, as of 2024, has been made accessible to users as young as thirteen. With end-to-end encryption preventing even the platform itself from viewing any messages that users send on it, this app has been regularly utilised by those looking to keep their conversations private.
Unfortunately, the service poses several risks to its younger users – from misinformation and bullying to potential criminal exploitation – and it’s vital that parents and educators understand these concerns and how to address them. This free guide delves into the online safety risks of WhatsApp and offers expert advice on how to safeguard any young people who use the platform.
Harton Mini Police received an exciting visit from the Northumbria Police Speed Van! They explored the equipment inside and learned about the important role the speed van plays in keeping roads safe. To top off the experience, they had fun testing out the speed camera to see just how fast they could run. Even Toffee got involved! https://www.northumbria.police.uk/
We are delighted to be working with Kaye and Danielle from Williby Rocs. Last week, some of our Year 6 pupils began to draw up designs for our allotment site, and made a planting timetable for different vegetable seeds. In Year 2 this week, Y2A started with a quiz on the different parts of a flower, and also thought about what our seeds would need to grow. We began to discuss the importance of attracting butterflies and bees into our garden. We then planted some onion, broad bean and pea seeds after looking at the plan from year 6. We learnt that sowing means planting a seed when it is very small. We loved getting our hands dirty! Bobby even made links to our morning maths work – noticing that the seeds were planted in 3s! Over the coming weeks, we are looking forward to observing and caring for our seeds. We even started to design scarecrows to place in the allotment and hopefully protect our growing plants! Thank you Kaye and Danielle!
‘Fake news’ is a widespread issue in the digital world, and it’s overwhelmingly likely that both children and adults will be exposed to it online 
In fact, a study from the Alan Turing Institute has found that 94% of people in the UK have encountered misinformation on social media and that’s only the ones who were aware of it!
However, while some fake news is shared mistakenly by well-meaning individuals, it’s also shared by scammers and other cyber-criminals to lend legitimacy to their con. While this presents a clear risk to children and young people online, the question remains as to how we can protect them against such tactics This week’s free guide offers expert advice on the specific ways scammers use misinformation and how to safeguard younger users against these techniques.
While misinformation and ‘fake news’ are well-known concerns online, it’s also the case that scammers and other cyber-criminals can try to utilise this phony material to manipulate, frighten or otherwise persuade their victims into cooperating.
With constantly evolving scams and such a high volume of misinformation online, it’s vital that parents and educators know how to safeguard the children in their care against these kinds of tactics. Our guide breaks down the most prominent ways in which scammers attempt to use ‘fake news’ to their advantage, as well as how to protect youngsters from being manipulated by such techniques.
Congratulations to two of our Sophies who are now Half Millionaires: Sophie in Year 4 and Sophie in Year 6. The girls are now aiming for that Word Millionaire award. Keep up the amazing reading!
Year 6 have all had the opportunity to visit Harton Academy recently to take part in a DT workshop where they used computer software to design a keyring and they also saw the laser cutter which created their designs. They all had a great afternoon.
