Stannington First scoops School ‘Northumbie’ Award for 2023

Headteacher Alexandra Palmer was presented with the very special ‘Northumbie’ Award, created to a completely bespoke design by local glass artist Helen Grierson, at a school assembly at which all pupils were gathered.

The whole school got involved with a week of Northumberland Day celebrations. Activities included dressing in red and yellow, inviting Northumbrian pipers Ann and Dorothy from Piper’s Fancy into school, singing Northumberland ballads and painting a 100-year-old bike red and yellow.

With the Northumberland Day mascot Northumbear’s writing competition, most of the 150 children in the school submitting drawings or stories for the contest.

All work was beautifully presented on red and yellow card, carrying the pride in Northumberland right through to even this level of detail.

The work was outstanding, resulting in seven pupils receiving special awards before Mrs Palmer proudly took possession of the Northumbie.

Georgia and Chloe won Gold trophies and £25 vouchers for their beautiful drawing of a red squirrel – the emblem of the school – and writing about bees respectively. Silver awards went to Thomas and Matthew and Purple awards were presented to Logan, Reja and Flynn for their descriptions of Northumberlandia and wildlife.

Mrs Palmer said: “We are so thrilled to win the Northumbie, which is an absolutely stunning (glass trophy) award.

“We had long thought about entering the school for this, as Northumberland Day fits so well into the school curriculum in many different ways. This was the first year we did, however, and we are so proud of our achievement, which is thanks to the enthusiasm and hard work of all the pupils and staff.”

One special part of the activities involved children in every class using red or yellow paint, combined with either black or white, to create shades and tones of both colours.

They created monochrome paintings of animals or places found in Northumberland, which were then combined to create one huge Northumberland flag.