27 January 2023
Dear Parents & Carers,
This week has been dominated by the realisation that the industrial action that has been prevalent across the country since the summer of 2022 has finally arrived in schools. We have very detailed contingency plans in place and shared them with you earlier today so that you have time to plan accordingly. That letter was sent via email today and can be found here:
Whilst contingency planning has quite obviously been our main priority this week, there have also been some excellent developments that have made me very proud of our students and fortunate to be Durham Johnston’s Headteacher. We have been recognised by School Sport Magazine as the 69th best school for sport in the UK. Up until 2022 the magazine had separate lists for state and independent schools but has a combined school list for this year’s top performing 200. We are thrilled to be so high on the list and, when considering state schools only, we are 8th. This is a phenomenal achievement for our students and highlights the opportunities for personal development that are offered by our wonderful PE Department. Whilst that high level of achievement is fantastic, I am equally proud of their work in encouraging social sport for all those who just want to take part too. Sport is for everyone and everyone should give something sporting a go.
Our students have also commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day very respectfully this morning. One of the school’s extremely brave former students, Isidore Newman, was murdered in Mauthausen Death Camp in September 1944 and we regularly use his life story as an example of bravery and terrible consequences of prejudice. We have zero-tolerance for anti-Semitism and that was evident in the assembly delivered today by a small number of our 6th form students. They visited Auschwitz with Mr Wilbraham in November as part of the Lessons from Auschwitz national programme and shared their experiences with younger students today. Other current and former students have received recognition this week due to their obvious talent. Hayden Gilliland had his performance of John William’s theme from Schindler’s List played in the Gala Theatre as part of a Durham County school collaboration to commemorate the Holocaust and 100 of our Year 9 students attended that event and had the opportunity to engage with a variety of performances by other children from County Durham.
Former student Will Curry, has also recently achieved musical success, being featured in The Chronicle newspaper, with one of his songs being playlisted by BBC Tees and Bishop FM’s Feel-Good Fridays. Will left school in 2020 and we are proud of how quickly his career has developed. You can read the article featuring Will at this link. Music is for everyone too.
In a strange week for those working in schools, the achievements and actions of our students and the support offered by their teachers is a source of encouragement.
Have a good weekend.
Mr O’Sullivan
What is my child learning?
In the Learning section of our website you can find guidance on what every student at the school is studying. As well as an overview of our curriculum and principles behind it, you can find an overview of each subject area. You can also find a guide to the content being covered in every subject and how you can support your child for each half term here: Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 | Year 11 | Year 12 | Year 13
Latin & Greek News
Eight students from Years 11-13 visited Newcastle University on Wednesday to attend their Sixth Form Classics Conference - held live for the first time since 2019. It was great to be able to listen in person to a range of speakers, have a guided tour of the Hadrian's Wall Gallery in the Hancock Museum and get together with other Latin & Classics students from across the region. We particularly enjoyed an expert analysis of our A-level set text - Cicero's speech on behalf of Cluentius - as well as an introduction to historical linguistics and talks on Greek religion and Classics in film.
Greek Club continues to meet on Mondays after school in LA7 (not on 30th Jan as there is Y9 Parents' Evening) - new starters are always welcome!
Mrs Bothwell
Languages Department
Vex Robotics Competition
The Year 9 Vex Robotics club competed in their first competition this week, having been working on designing, building, and programming robots for the Vex IQ competition. This international competition is one of several which aims to promote STEM subjects to a variety of different age groups.
This year’s competition was called Slapshot and held at Nissan in Sunderland, where students had to develop their robot to complete a range of tasks both manually and automatically. The teams were marked on a range of activities on the day which led to the overall final position.
The team did well, working together to achieve the highest points they could, including modifying the robot and program mid competition to gain additional points.
Although they were not overall winners, they won a design award, which was an excellent result in their first ever competition.
Mr Glover
Technology Department
D of E News
A reminder that all three activity sections need to be completed in order for students to take part in the DofE expeditions later this year. For Years 9 and 10, the expedition is taking place on 17th May 2023, which means that your 6 month section should have been started by 16th December 2022, and the latest date to begin your 3 month section is 16th February 2023.
Please do not worry if you have not started your 6 month section yet, as you can defer your expedition until the next academic year and you will be automatically transferred into next years cohort.
Mrs Gibb
DofE Coordinator
Sixth Form Notices
Please click the link below to read the weekly digest of news and information for Sixth Form Students.
Careers and Guidance Department Notices
Please click here to view this week’s Careers Notices.
Mr Kennedy
Subject Leader, Guidance
Music Notices
Evensong
On Monday evening Chamber Choir sang the service of Evensong in Durham Cathedral. We would like to thank parents/ carers and colleagues who attended this service and we have been pleased to receive many appreciative comments about the standard of their musical performance. Edmund in Year 13 played the organ at the end of the service and it you would like to hear any of the service it can be viewed at this link. The Choir starts singing just after 10.45.
Musical Examinations
Quite a few pupils will be sitting performance examinations over the coming weeks. In order to leave site for these assessments they need a note in their planner, which either I, or their form tutor can sign, and then they can collect an off-site pass from reception. If this is the case for your child, you should also expect to be hearing a little more practice over the coming weeks!
Mr Holmes
Subject Leader for Music
PE News
I would like to start this week by celebrating the outstanding news for the PE Department. The annual list of the top 200 sports schools has just been released. This list includes all private and state schools in the country. We have been placed in 69th position. However, when you filter the list for co-educational state schools, we are 8th in the country - an amazing achievement and recognition of the dedication and talent of our students and staff.
On Monday, our Year 8 boys’ football team took on St Bede's Peterlee in the county cup. We produced an outstanding performance to win a one-sided game 9 - 1 with Zack Smith player of the match.
On Tuesday, our Year 11 boys’ team were in county cup action as the travelled to Hartlepool to take on English Martyrs. They are an excellent team and proved too strong for us, eventually winning 7 - 0.
Also, on Tuesday our Year 9 boys’ rugby team made the short journey to Durham School for a friendly. This was a close game throughout; however, we ran out of steam in the last 10 minutes, eventually losing 30 - 15.
It was the turn of the Year 7 & 10 boys’ football teams to be in cup action on Wednesday. In the County Cup our Year 10 team hosted Carmel School. We dominated possession and were 4 - 1 ahead with only 2 minutes to play. Two late Carmel goals weren't enough as we reached the quarterfinals with a 4- 3 win. Cole Carter was player of the match. It was success in the Tyneside Cup for our Year 7s as they played Kings Priory. We dominated the game winning 5 - 1 with Chialuka Nwudoh player of the match.
It was a busy Thursday, with cross-country, basketball and netball. In the morning our cross-country teams were at Emmanuel College for the Tyneside Championships. We were hit with illness and injury but still produced some excellent performances. Our senior team dominated the race becoming Tyneside Champions with all 5 of our runners in the top 8. The other two races were much closer. Our Inter team also became Tyneside Champions winning by 1 point. Unfortunately, it was the opposite for our junior team who finished runners-up, losing to RGS by 1 point.
During the afternoon, our Year 8 netball team were at Louisa Centre taking part in the Area tournament. This was an excellent afternoon of high-quality netball. We finished well deserved runners up to Durham High. Winning matches comfortably, and losing by only small margins meant that our hugely positive goal difference put us ahead of other schools. This squad is so strong that there were different players of the match each game!
After school our Year 8 boys’ basketball team took part in the junior NBA tournament. We started with a 4 - 0 victory over St Roberts. We continued to win all our games easily including a 16 - 0 win against Lord Lawson to remain unbeaten and win the tournament. We now go forward to the play-offs.
Good luck tonight to our Year 7 & 8 boys’ rugby teams who are at Emmanuel College for friendly matches.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE