28 June 2024
Dear Parents and Carers,
As there are only three weeks remaining and several exciting events taking place across those 15 days, I wanted to share an overview of important parental updates that are scheduled before the end of term.
Our annual end of term letter will be shared via email and posted on the school website in the week beginning 8th July. That letter outlines changes to school staffing, key dates for the summer and the start of term in September 2024, important safeguarding information and our usual reminders about uniform, mobile phone use and any other significant changes for 2024-25.
We will also offer a detailed and specific update for the parents of Year 11 and Year 13 students in relation to results days. We will outline the support that we offer and how we support decision making and next steps to sixth form, university, an apprenticeship, or employment. We will also share that information on the school website, so that it can be accessed at any point prior to the A Level and GCSE results days. We always want students and parents to fully understand how that important process works.
Year Leaders are running a range of celebration events for their cohorts, and we will have our final Headteacher assemblies of the academic year. Similarly, I will write to all parents and carers for the final time of the year on Friday 12th July and Mrs McFadden, the school’s experienced Deputy Headteacher and Acting Headteacher from September 2024, will introduce herself as part of that final Friday bulletin.
We will also republish the end of year letter in late August 2024 and will write to all Year 6 parents and carers to welcome them to Durham Johnston.
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
Parental Survey
A reminder that our second parental survey of the year closes today, Friday 28th June at 6pm. Many thanks to those of you who have already completed it.
The link to the survey was emailed directly to parents and carers earlier this week; if you did not receive it, please contact the school via school@durhamjohnston.org.uk.
If you have multiple children in the school, please feel free to complete the survey for each child.
The survey is a really valuable tool to let us know what you think about the school as parents or carers and helps us to understand how we need to continue to develop and improve to best serve you and your children. It is also helpful in identifying what we are doing successfully. We thank you in advance for sharing your views. This year, we ran parental focus groups as a direct response to the autumn survey and are continuing to work on the feedback we received from those. Responses from this survey will be used to inform our planning for the next academic year, and you will be able to hear more about this during the Parental Information Presentations in the first term.
Individual responses to questions are not possible when completing the survey and we would encourage anyone with a specific question or concern to contact the school directly via the school email address.
As previously, we use an outside organisation to carry out the survey who will then analyse the responses for us. However, this organisation has had no access to anyone's personal data at any point, nor will they share your responses with anyone other than us.
UCAS Parental Information Presentation
Year 12 parents are invited to our annual UCAS Parental Information Presentation to be held 5.30-6.30pm in James Hall on 3rd July. Guests from local universities will also be in attendance.
The main presentation will focus on the UCAS system in 2024 and how we as a school, and you as parents, can support your children/our students next Autumn.
We look forward to welcoming you next Wednesday!
Mr Wilbraham
Head of Sixth Form
Music Notices
We have been contacted by two organisations who have asked that we share musical opportunities that they are currently offering.
The first is Durham Cathedral. They are recruiting for their Junior Consort which rehearses on a Wednesday evening and is open to singers aged 13 to 18. Please click here for more information.
The second is an invitation from Band Sergeant Major Matthew Roberts to any woodwind, brass and percussion players aged between 12 and 17. He directs the Bugles of Durham Army Cadet Force and they have a number of open rehearsals over the Summer to which any interested pupils are invited. Please click here for more information.
Mr Holmes
Subject Leader for Music
PE News
We have just returned from an amazing week in Malaga with our Year 7s. They were competing in five countries and took part in a variety of sports and activities with England victorious. They were outstanding throughout the week and received lots of praise from everyone we met. They were a credit to their parents and the school and were a pleasure to take away.
There were also two big sporting competitions closer to home this week.
On Tuesday our Year 7 basketball team were at Maiden Castle for the North-East Junior NBA finals. Unfortunately, half of our team were in Malaga! However, we still performed very well beating St Cuthbert's in our final game to finish 3rd in the North-East.
On Thursday, our Year 10 cricket team travelled to Netherfield CC, Kendal to compete in the English Schools northern regional finals. We were representing County Durham in the last 16 schools in the country. We faced Sedbergh School in the semi-final and produced an outstanding bowling and fielding display to restrict them to 79 in their 20 overs. We reached their target with 6 overs to spare to reach the final. Ethan Hill top scored on 50 not out. We took on Scarborough College in the final. This time they reached an impressive 179 in their 20 overs. Unfortunately, we lost early wickets and didn't recover eventually losing by 41 runs. This time Eric Meek top scored on 51. An amazing achievement to finish in the top 8 schools in the country and the best state school.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE