Netherhall School

23/10/2026

23/10/2026

Year 7 Halloween Disco

What a fantastic night we had at our Year 7 Halloween Disco.

Over 90 students attended the evening, and I must say, the ones who arrived in fancy dress looked absolutely amazing! From inflatable dinosaurs to scary Halloween faces, every single one of them looked fantastic!

Throughout the evening we played numerous games, including; eyeball race (egg and spoon race), dance offs, blindfold bowling, Frankenstein needs a brain, pass the parcel, find the fingers (blindfold Jelly game), and to top the evening off we had the best dancer and the best Halloween costume…prizes galore for the winners!
When the students were asked on Wednesday morning if they had enjoyed their evening, this is what they said:

“It’s been the best Halloween Disco I have ever been to”.

“Can we have another one next year? I didn’t think I would like it, but it was fun”.
“10/10 for DJ Lawson”.

“It was fun being able to dance with all my new friends”.

“Can we please have a Christmas Disco because last night was so much fun”.

Now, I’m not sure I’ve recovered from the Halloween disco, never mind a Christmas disco.….but due to the excellent behaviour from all students throughout the evening….Santa could be coming to town!

I would also like to thank the following staff members for their support throughout the evening because it simply wouldn’t have happened without them!
Ms Lawson, Mr Gebbie, Mrs Mumberson, Miss Mason-Lowe, Mrs Bradley, Mrs Kett, Miss Fell, Miss Smithson-Tourney, Miss Beasley, and Mrs Barber.

And last, but certainly not least…we need to give a “mega shoutout” to our 2 fantastic Year 8 students, Darcey J & Darci T, who spent many hours behind the scenes to make this a memorable event for Year 7. The girls also worked tirelessly on the evening, making sure everyone was having a fun time! From myself and the Year 7 team…thank you!

Regards
Mrs Irving
Head of Year 7

22/10/2026

Ariana N-L – Year 8 Rugby Union Ambassador

Congratulations to year 8 star student Ariana N-L who is flourishing in her rugby union career having joined the Wigton Rugby Union Football Club, where she has been playing for the last year as a prop forward, firstly with the U12 team and now as a member of the U14 team.

When I caught up with Ariana at school this week, she told me how she is absolutely loving her time with the club. Ariana told me that training takes place twice weekly, on Sunday mornings for an hour from 9.30am and also on Monday evenings from 6.30pm. Ariana told me how she absolutely loves the game and also told me that the Wigton RUFC are currently having a recruitment drive to encourage girls in years 7, 8 and 9 who would be interested in playing the game to come along to one of the practices at the club and try the game out. Further details can be found on Wigton RUFC’s page, but Ariana has told me that she would definitely encourage girls in years 7-9 at Netherhall School to take up the opportunity!

Ariana is a fabulous student who is a great ambassador for Netherhall School, as she is for Wigton RUFC; she can always be relied upon to give of her best and shows the same dedication to excellence in her extracurricular activities as she does in her school work, where her favourite subjects are PE and French. In addition to her love of rugby union, Ariana also has a passion for Cumberland Wrestling, where she represented her country in last year’s Brittany Championships in France. Ariana is an excellent sportswoman and it is her future ambition to become either a professional rugby union player or a teacher of PE, and I am sure with her ambition and commitment to the highest standards that she will most certainly go on to fulfil her dream. When I spoke to Ariana, she was quick to thank her parents Steve, who is a governor at Netherhall School, and Anne-Marie for their excellent support with both her academic and extracurricular activities and told me how they always encourage her to get involved and be the best she can be and that she is truly grateful for all her parents do to support her.

I am sure you will join me in congratulating Ariana in her rugby union career and in her ambassadorial role in encouraging girls in years 7, 8 and 9 to consider giving rugby union a try with the Wigton RUFC girls’ U12 and U14 teams. Well done once again on your consistently fantastic attitude to both your schoolwork and your extracurricular activities Ariana and keep up the excellent work!

Mr M D Bailey
Deputy Headteacher

16/10/2026

U13 Cumbria County Cup Round 1 - Workington Academy 0-2 Netherhall School

Netherhall School’s year 8 boys kicked off their Cumbria County Cup campaign with a tough away fixture against the Workington Academy. We have faced Workington a number of times and they have always been a well drilled, technical football team and we knew going into this game that we would have to be at our best to progress.

The boys started the game brilliantly, with lots of good football being played. A few chances were created and it was clear to see they were up for the game. After the first 10 minutes, Workington grew into the game and started to play the better football. We had to defend as a unit and weather the storm, which the boys did superbly, showing great togetherness.

Towards the end of the first half, Noah Moore decided to shoot from the corner and it flew right in off the back post. The lads then saw out the first half strongly and took confidence going in at the break 1-0 up.

Coming out for the second half, Workington Academy put us under massive pressure, which we expected and had talked about during our half time team-talk; we knew we had to dig in and fight for each other to make sure we would go through to the next round. Workington Academy made things very difficult and they were now playing the more attacking football and creating the better chances.
On the counter attack, Brody Blair harassed their back line, leading them into a mistake from which he tapped home into an empty net to double our advantage at 2-0. From then on, the boys defended superbly, with every single member of the team representing the school brilliantly. Everything the school stands for in terms of attitude, togetherness and resilience was displayed in bucket loads by every student.

Congratulations to the year 8 boys on an excellent victory and we now look forward to the second round of this year’s Cumbria County Cup, where we will play the Nelson Thomlinson School. Very well done once again boys, and good luck for the next round!

Mr O Woods
Teacher of PE

15/10/2026

Our Year 10 Photography students have made a fantastic start to their GCSE Photography course and are already producing work of an incredibly high standard!

This week, students have been exploring the work of Bruce Boyd, focusing on composition during a class photoshoot. They have then begun digitally editing their images in Photoshop, enhancing and refining their photographs using a range of creative techniques.

The outcomes so far have been outstanding, with many students creating images that look truly professional. We are incredibly proud of their creativity, enthusiasm, and dedication to developing their photography skills.

Well done, Year 10! Keep up the fantastic work!

13/10/2026

Year 9 and 10 Maryport ARLFC U14s are West Cumbria Youth League Cup Winners 2026

A huge congratulations to the year 9 and 10 star students of Netherhall School who represent the Maryport ARFLC U14 team and who are celebrating having been crowned West Cumbria Youth League Cup rugby league champions of 2026, following a superb 28-8 victory over Seaton ARFLC on Sunday, 11th October.
An excellent performance by the U14s in the showpiece final was graced by 4 tries from Freddie G, 1 try by Joey P and 4 conversions from Olly L. When I caught up with the boys at school this week following their fine performance at the weekend, they told me they were “absolutely buzzing” with the victory, which tops off an excellent league campaign which began back in March. Year 10 star student and captain of the U14 Maryport ARLFC team Noah B spoke for the entire team, when he told me how all of the boys were delighted that all of their hard work over the season had paid off in the final. Noah was also quick to pay tribute to the coaches that have helped to guide the boys over the last few years, with the coaches for the U14 champions being Mr David Bowness, Mr Craig Ivison and Mr Andy Leyland. Noah told me that the boys are really grateful for the excellent support they have received over the years and that they are proud to be able to reward their coaches’ dedication with silverware this season.

I am sure you will join me in congratulating the boys on an excellent achievement and to wish them all the best for their future rugby league careers as they begin preparations ahead of the new season. On behalf of all at Netherhall School, congratulations to you all boys!

Mr M D Bailey
Deputy Headteacher

12/10/2026

Archie A – Year 7 Motocross Champion

A huge congratulations to year 7 star student Archie A who has recently had the opportunity to compete in the Northern Team Challenge at the Sherwood Motocross Circuit, Mansfield, Nottingham as part of the Team Cumbria squad. The event saw around 350 riders competing across 8 classes, with 8 teams battling out to be the overall winners, and for the second year running, it was Team Cumbria who were crowned the overall winners.

When I caught up with Archie this week following his fantastic achievement, he told me how proud he is to have been selected for Team Cumbria and that he feels all of the time, effort and commitment he puts into the sport is really paying off. Archie has been racing motocross since the age of 7 years old and dedicates most of his weekends to the sport, whether training, competing or travelling to races; he is dedicated to giving his full effort to the sport he loves so he makes the absolute most of his considerable talent.

While interviewing Archie, he told me how much he has enjoyed his first half term with us at Netherhall School, and that PE has been his favourite subject so far. In terms of his future career plans, Archie told me he was focused on becoming a professional motocross racer or a car mechanic, but he hopes to become a professional racer as he says he feels at home on his motorbike and would love this to lead into a future career. Archie also told me how grateful he is to his parents, Emma and Stuart, who support him with both his school work and his racing career, dedicating countless hours to taking Archie to practice and races and encouraging his every step of the way, Archie told me they have been absolutely superb and he can’t thank them enough!

I am sure you will join me in congratulating Archie on a fine achievement in representing his county and on helping Team Cumbria retain the Northern Team Challenge Trophy, and to wish him all the very best for his future academic and racing career. Archie has made an excellent start to his time with us at Netherhall School and we look forward to the many achievements that will come his way over the coming years. Well done and congratulations once again, Archie!

Mr M D Bailey
Deputy Headteacher

09/10/2026

Year 7 Top Achievers

Year 7 are now thriving with their studies at Netherhall School. In total, they have received 9,270 achievement points since September, which is truly amazing!

Due to Mr Bailey addressing our assembly last week, unfortunately, we didn’t have time to do our rewards. Please see our achievements below for both weeks.

Our individual top achievers are:

Adair: Zeb N, Chloe K, Edie-Mai S
Christian: Georgie G, Amelia D, Ella McE, Lily-Mai M
Fleming: Freddie R-B
Ismay: Ella Mae B, Billy Th, Soffia C
Lister: Thalia R X 2, Evie S
Senhouse: Jacob G, Heidi G, Zac W
Harrison: Seth R X 2

Our weekly tutor group winners are Fleming and Adair. Great effort everyone!

Our quiz winners for this week are:

Adair: Zeb, Ava, Dayton, Chloe
Christian: Scarlett C, Hollie, Ryan, Mitchell, Alexis
Fleming: Rowan, Jake
Ismay: Soffia, Analise, Ella
Lister: Evie, Ronnie, Olivia, Thalia
Senhouse: Heidi, Faith, Sienna and Kayra
Harrison: Bodhi, Luke

Year 7 Halloween Disco

Just a reminder that we are holding a Halloween Disco for Year 7 on Tuesday 20th Oct from 6-8pm. An email has been sent to all parents/carers with full details.
Tickets are available to purchase via Parent Pay. If you can’t find a link on your Parent Pay account, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

Regards
Mrs B Irving
Head of Year 7

09/10/2026

Abigail S – Year 11 Published Author

Congratulations to year 11 star student Abigail S who has recently published her very first book, entitled Dragonflew, a story which follows the adventures of Bridget, a promising young journalist who travels to London, finding friendship alongside an undiscovered London she had never imagined.

The idea for the story began in early 2025 when Abigail and her father Joseph decided to write a novel together one night, with the story developing from that day onwards. Abigail, who writes under the pen name of Phasma, has written novels before but these have not yet been published.

Abigail is a fantastic student who is on course for a superb set of GCSE results next summer, her favourite subjects are art, English and history and it is her ambition to study these subjects at our excellent Netherhall School Sixth Form before going on to read for a degree in architecture at university.

When I recently interviewed Abigail following the publication of her debut novel, she told me how much she has been enjoying year 11 so far this year, and that she is really looking forward to sitting her GCSEs next summer. She also told me how grateful she was to her parents for their assistance in the creation of Dragonflew, with father Joseph being a terrific support in the writing of the novel and mother Lyndsey proofreading the text and arranging for its publication.

On behalf of everyone at Netherhall School, I am sure you will join me in congratulating Abigail on her fantastic achievement in publishing her first novel, and for anyone who would be interested in purchasing a copy of Abigail’s debut, this can be arranged through Abigail at school.

Mr M D Bailey
Deputy Headteacher

09/10/2026

Growing for the Future at Camp Farm!

On Thursday 8th October a group of nine students enjoyed a fantastic afternoon at Camp Farm with Sue from the Cultura Trust and Lochlan from Cumbria Woodlands.
The students got hands-on with nature, checking the trees for any that had died and recording those that will need replacing.

They also learnt lots about the natural environment, local wildlife and the importance of protecting and caring for our countryside.

They’re already looking forward to returning to help plant new saplings! It’s a wonderful opportunity to be part of something that will last for years to come, watching the trees grow and seeing the positive impact of their efforts on the environment.

A huge thank you to Sue and Lochlan for providing such a valuable and engaging learning experience for our students!