Hempstalls are Newcastle-under-Lyme in Bloom winners! We are absolutely delighted to announce that Hempstalls won Silver in the Community Projects – Schools category and were awarded Best Eco School at Newcastle-under-Lyme in Bloom 2026! On Saturday, Mrs Ball and Mrs Armstrong took four of our amazing children along to the awards ceremony at the New Vic Theatre, where they proudly represented Hempstalls. We are incredibly proud of everything we have achieved in our Forest School and of all the hard work our Hempstalls champions have put in to make our site a haven for biodiversity and pollinators. From planting wildflowers and trees, creating habitats and dead hedges, to caring for our Forest School and learning about the importance of pollinators our children have been fantastic! A huge well done to everyone at Hempstalls who has helped make this achievement possible. Thank you for helping our Forest School grow and flourish! Judges' comments: Hempstalls Primary School – Silver A wonderful space with many zones for various forest school activities. The pupils can benefit from using this space for self-regulation, education and entertainment. We loved hearing about future plans to include a water feature with solar panels. Hopefully, we get the chance to see this on our next visit. Well done. Hempstalls Primary School – Best Eco School It was great to see just what Hempstalls Primary School have achieved with Forest school education being at the core of their outdoor learning experience. The school has a very hands-on approach with pupils taking part in a whole range of environmental activities such as wildflower, bulb and tree planting, dead hedge construction, bee hotel building and pollinator observation sessions. It's always nice to see such enthusiasm from the children who clearly take great pride in their environment. Keep up the good wor #Hempstalls #NewcastleInBloom2026 #BestEcoSchool #ForestSchool #Biodiversity #Pollinators #ProudSchool #HempstallsChampions

What an amazing day we had at Chesterton Community Sports College! The children enjoyed taking part in Spanish, PE, History and Science lessons, embracing every opportunity with enthusiasm. They were a credit to our school, demonstrating excellent maturity, respect and positive attitudes throughout the day. We are incredibly proud of them!