7 June 2019
Dates for your Diary – Summer Term 2019
- Year 8 Parents' Consultation Evening, Monday 17 June 3.30 p.m. - 6.00 p.m.
- Durham Johnston Music Festival – Friday 28th June, James Hall
- Music for a Summer Evening – Friday 5th July, Atrium Café
- KS3 Celebrations Evening – Monday 8th July, James Hall
Enrichment Week
As you may know the last week of summer term is an opportunity for pupils In Years 7, 8 and 9 to experience a wide variety of extra-curricular activities during Enrichment Week.
Attendance during this week is compulsory and since 1 September 2013, Headteachers are not able to grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. This is because of a change in the regulations. Please click on the following link for further information.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you require any further information.
Mrs J Coady - Attendance and Welfare Manager
Year 7 English Entrepreneurs
As part of their work on persuasive writing with Mrs Dench this week, one English class were rather entrepreneurial and had a Dragon's Den. The class produced their own tasty goodies. The student had to promote their wares via a persuasive advertisement, jingle and television commercial. I was very impressed with the results, hard work and creativity of the students involved!
Mrs Walton - English Department
Music Notices
Music for a Summer Evening – Friday 5th July, Atrium Café, 19.00
Year 13 musicians, along with their families and friends are warmly invited to this informal ‘cabaret–style’ event which will take place in the Atrium Café. If you would like to attend, tickets are available from the Music Department at a cost of £7.00. This includes food and your first drink and please note that performers still also need to purchase a ticket to cover refreshment costs.
Big Band Information
The Johnston Stompers will rehearse on Friday 21st June 2:45 – 4pm in MU1 in preparation for their performance in the Atrium on Monday 3rd July at 6pm.
On the afternoon of Friday 12th July, there will be a Big Band workshop at the Gala Theatre. If you child plays trumpet, cornet, trombone, alto / tenor / baritone saxophone, guitar, electric bass, acoustic bass, drums or piano, at Grade 5 or above, please do read the following invitation letter and registration information.
Folk Music Workshop
In partnership with Durham Johnston School, The English Folk Dance and Song Society held a folk music workshop on Saturday 1st June. Several Durham Johnston pupils were joined by interested pupils from other schools across the region for a series of practical workshops which resulted in confident stylistic performances in a range of folk idioms. All pupils who attended the event were also given the opportunity to audition for the National Youth Folk Ensemble.
National Youth Orchestra Inspire success
Congratulations to Naomi Erlebach (year 11), who as a trombonist has been selected to take part in the 2019 NYO Inspire Orchestra alongside 70 other teenage musicians from across the UK. Following rehearsals in early July, she will take part in a four day tour and repertoire will include Bartok’s five movement Concerto for Orchestra, which was composed in 1943 and takes the traditional idea of the orchestral concerto and uses and highlights each orchestral family in a rather virtuosic way. We wish Naomi good luck with this challenging and no doubt rewarding experience.
Musical Auditions
Spennymoor Stage and Song (an amateur operatic society) are staging the musical production of ‘Annie’ in April 2020 and they are looking for girls who have a strong interest in singing, dancing and acting, and who are aged between 7 – 13. Open auditions will take place in Spennymoor on 13th and 14th of July. For more information, please email Stacey Thompson at the following address. staceythompson96@outlook.com
Mr Holmes – Subject Leader for Music
Bonjour Les Corres
On Saturday the 25th of May, 60 students from a secondary school situated in Sains Richaumont (Department of Aisne, France) came to Durham. Some of them were our pen pals and we had the opportunity to spend the day with them. We showed them around the school and realised how different our two schools are, it was very interesting. Their school is pictured below.
.png)
Then, we had a dry picnic in Wharton Park. The rain started during our visit to Durham, just to complete their experience!
We had a great day!
PE Department News
A quiet week for extra-curricular sport as the PE department have been accompanying 60 Year 7 students on our sports trip to Malaga.
It was an outstanding five days with the students being divided into 6 teams (each representing a country) and competing in a variety of sports and other activities using the excellent facilities of the Melia Atalaya Park Hotel, Estepona. The winning country was announced at a presentation yesterday with Argentina claiming victory with an impressive 101 points, led by Year 10 sports leader Charlie Phillips. All the children were a credit to the school and their families as their behaviour around the airports and hotel received many compliments. We are now preparing for our July Malaga trip when a mixed Year 7 & 8 trip will travel back to Malaga for a similar competition.
The only fixtures this week were boys and girls tennis matches against Yarm School on Wednesday. They always have outstanding teams and this year proved no exception as the defeated us in both boys and girls matches.
Good luck tomorrow to our athletes who are at Monkton Stadium representing Durham City at the County championships.
Mr Hopper - Subject Leader for PE
Word of the Week
