11 July 2019
Dates for your Diary – Summer Term 2019
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KS3 Production of Joseph - Friday 12 July - 6.30 p.m.
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School breaks for the summer holidays on Friday 19 July - at the earlier time of 12.30 p.m.
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School re-opens for the Autumn Term on Thursday 5 September for students in Years 7 - 11
Head's Letter to Parents and Carers
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are reaching the end of another busy and successful year at Durham Johnston. This is reflected at this time of year in various ways. In the final four weeks of term the following have taken place or are scheduled to do so: public speaking and music competitions; the sports presentation and KS3 celebration evenings; Visits to New College and Durham University; induction days for Year 6 and 12; a performance of Joseph and the Year 11 Prom; The A Level Art Exhibition and enterprise and career days; visits to the school by Durham Foodbank and other local charities that we have supported; the annual Colours Run to awareness of cancer and its impact upon families.’ 6th form students have been to Oxford and Cambridge. There are visits scheduled for the battlefields of France and Belgium: Naples, Malaga and Austria. Good schools are measured in a number of ways, but in terms of extracurricular opportunities this has been a very successful year. We offer a wide range of cultural opportunities and this will continue during the next school year Our teachers give their time in a variety of ways outside the classroom and it is wonderful when that commitment is acknowledged. School life is about much more than what goes on in the classroom and we do a lot to help our students to develop.
To read a full copy of the letter please click on the link below.
Head's Letter to Parents and Carers - July 2019
A printed copy of the letter was issued to students to bring home this afternoon, or posted home if a student was not in form period.
Enrichment Week 15 -19 July
Students will be completing a wide variety of activities as part of enrichment week. The school day is as normal between Monday and Thursday, but we would like to remind parents and carers that the school day finishes at 12.30 p.m. on Friday 19th July. School buses have been booked to collect students at this time.
CPD for Computer Scientists
Our Y12 Computer Scientists spent a very informative day at Newcastle University this week looking at Object Oriented Programming concepts.
The day, which was organised by the Isaac Computer Science Project, saw students coding Arduino robots using a variety of coding techniques.
Spending time in the University also impresses upon the students what fantastic facilities are available.
Mr Digby, Computing Department
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme 2019
Just a reminder that the deadline for those students in Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 who would like to sign up to take part in either the Bronze or Silver Duke of Edinburgh's Awards 2019 is Thursday 18 July.
Duke of Edinburgh Award Team
Examination Results 2019
Collecting your results
Please note that for reasons of security the school is not able to give out examination results over the telephone or by email.
Examination results will be available for you to collect on the dates published below. If for any reason you are unable to collect your results in person you may either leave an A5 stamped addressed envelope with Ms Gillham, Examinations Officer or your may authorise a representative to collect the results on your behalf.
The person you nominate must bring with them a letter of authorisation, signed by you, before we will release your results to them.
Examination results will be available for collection as follows:
Thursday 15 August 2019
A Level results can be collect from 8.00 a.m.
AS Level results can be collected from 10.00 a.m.
Thursday 22 August 2019
GCSE results can be collected from 10.00 a.m.
Please click on the link below for a copy of information regarding exam certificates, coursework and post-results services deadlines.
Maths Department News
Mathsplosion
On Thursday 4th July ten students from Year 9 and 10 travelled to Centre for Life to take part in the Mathsplosion event. Along with students from other schools they visited the Planetarium to learn about Astro-Navigation and encoded pictures as numbers and “transmitted” them so other students could recreate the picture. They also learned how to cut a bagel so it only had one surface, before eating the evidence, and learned how to perform magic tricks using an ordinary deck of cards. Students enjoyed the various activities that they took part in during the day, as well as their lunchtime where they got to use computer games and equipment from the last 50 years in the Centre for Life’s Game on 2.0 exhibition.
Durham School Maths Challenge Victory
On Wednesday a team of four students; Lina van Hunen, Matthew Cartmell, Raymond Geng and John Phillips, travelled to Wingfield School to compete in the Durham School Maths Challenge with teams from other local schools. Following multiple rounds, including solving mathematical puzzles, playing mathematical games, creating a poster about maths and the arts, a team challenge and a relay challenge, we are pleased to say that they won the Durham Schools Mathematics Challenge Trophy for the third consecutive year, as well as bringing back the trophy for the best poster. Congratulations to all of the students involved, and to team coach Mr Smith.
Mr Patterson, Maths Department
PE Department News
Our final sporting competition of the year took place yesterday as our U13, U15 and U19 boys tennis teams took part in the Durham / Cleveland play-off finals. As county champions we were representing Durham at this event. It was a fitting end to an excellent year of sport as both our U13 and U19 teams won to become north-east champions. The U19 competition was a straight-forward win as we beat Egglescliffe 5 – 1 in the final. The U13 final was much closer as we also took on Egglescliffe. We were 3 – 1 ahead but lost both doubles match to end the game 3 – 3. We therefore needed a tense tie-break in which we held our nerve to win 7 – 3 to become champions.
Can I say a huge thank-you to all the parents and children who attended our 25th Sports presentation evening at the Ramside Hall on Wednesday. It was an excellent evening in which we looked back across an amazing year of success for the students of Durham Johnston. Congratulations to our Junior girls cross-country team who were crowned “Team of the Year” after their outstanding achievement of finishing 3rd at the National Finals.
We are now looking forward to our second Malaga sports trip and an early start as we meet at school at 2.45 am on Sunday morning.
Can I wish everyone a great summer and look forward to September and the start of another successful year of sport for Durham Johnston.
Mr Hopper, Subject Leader for PE