18 October 2024
Dear Parents and Carers,
Every time you shuffle a pack of 52 playing cards, it is incredibly likely that that combination has never before been in existence. That’s because there are 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000 different combinations for a standard pack of playing cards; put simply, 8 with 67 zeros after it. (For those of you interested in the maths, you can click here to see my working – but equally, feel free to take my word for it!). It never ceases to amaze me that from such a small number of inputs, the sheer number of possible outcomes is so incredibly vast. In much the same way, the choices we make growing up create an incredibly diverse population of adults. As I grow older, I find myself during quiet moments reflecting on the many choices I have made during my life that led me to where I am now – and even sometimes wondering how different my life would be if I had made different choices.
We have 1696 children who attend Durham Johnston and, during their 5-, 7-, or 2-year journey here, it is important that they recognise the profound impact that every choice they make can have on their lives. Every day they make choices that, big or small, contribute to shaping their character, values, and future opportunities.
Little decisions matter. For our Year 11 students doing their mock exams this week, it might be the choice to revise their flashcards for an hour instead of playing on their Xbox. For our new Year 7 students, it might be choosing to participate in an extracurricular club for the first time. These positive choices build habits and skills that will serve them throughout life.
Choices help define a student's values and personality. For a Year 9 student, it might be choosing to be kind to someone, help someone in class or standing up for a friend. These moments contribute to their character development. Choices teach our children about responsibility, integrity, and empathy. The more they practice making positive decisions, the more these traits will become ingrained in their character.
Students who engage positively in their education create a strong foundation for their future. For our Year 12 students this might be seeking help when needed, making the most of their private study periods, participating in discussions, or pursuing leadership roles. Students who prioritise their education by making positive choices are more likely to excel and open doors for future opportunities.
The way students interact with peers and teachers can influence their social skills and relationships. School staff always encourage students to make choices that promote kindness, respect, and tolerance, to create a supportive environment where everyone has the chance to flourish. At school we always try to acknowledge and celebrate positive decisions children make to reinforce the value of those actions. We do this by awarding house points, phone calls home, rewards assemblies and end of year events. We work hard in school to guide students to make positive choices, and equally, to support them when sometimes they make choices that don’t align with the values and ethos of the school community.
Much like the deck of cards, even though all students have access to the same opportunities here at Durham Johnston, it is ultimately up to them how they choose to stack their deck, every choice summing up to the character they will become. It is so important that we, school and home, work in partnership to guide and support our students, your children, in understanding the significance of their decisions. Working together, we can nurture responsible, thoughtful individuals ready to seize opportunities and build themselves the best possible future.
Mrs McFadden
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
For KS3 these pages have now also been updated to include Assessment Calendars.
Year 9 RSE Sessions
Wayne Stevenson will be delivering a series of RSE workshops to our Year 9 students as part of wraparound support on Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd October 2024. The sessions will focus on the law concerning consent, contraceptives and STI's. The session links to the current statutory guidance for RSHE which you can find at this link.
Please click here to be taken to the relevant page on our website for more information about what the session will involve.
Miss Robson
Assistant Head, Personal Development
Lésigny 2024
40 Year 8 students went to Lésigny last week. They were outstanding and are a credit to the school and their parents. Once again, a huge well done to you all who participated to the trip!
LUNDI: It was long way to go by coach and ferry, but all went smoothly. We arrived at the centre on the Monday afternoon, explored our home for the next few days and had a quiz to finish the day, glad to find a good bed!
MARDI: we went to Brie-Comte Robert, where we used the phrases learnt in the morning to purchase items at the market. After our picnic, we had a trail around the town and went back to the centre to prepare our evening Dragon Den. We discovered some real talents!
MERCREDI was very wet but we enjoyed Montmartre and “le Sacré Coeur” in the morning. We then had our picnic on a “bateau mouche” to discover Paris from the river Seine. We ended our Parisian day with a visit of “la Tour Eiffel”.
JEUDI was our last day at the centre; we visited “le Château de Fontainebleau” with audio guides, we learnt a lot!
To conclude our time together, we ate some “escargots” and had a disco.
Despite the weather, we had a great study visit! Well done everyone!
Mr Rooney, Mr Urwin, Mme Venet, and Miss Wright
Sixth Form Societies
An important part of Sixth Form life are the student societies. These societies are led by students, for students, and are a great way to demonstrate leadership and organisational skills as well as developing interest in an area and meeting new people.
This year we have an impressive array of societies that are well attended. From academic societies, including chemistry society, psychology society, history society, politics society and maths society, to well-being societies including young minds society, and general interest societies including table tennis and ballet societies.
To show Year 12 and Year 13 students the societies on offer we have been holding a societies fayre. Students were able to showcase their society and invite sixth formers to attend. It proved to be a successful event with increased numbers turning up to societies this week!
Mrs Nixon
Sixth Form Support
After School Art
Unfortunately, next week’s after school art club on Tuesday 22nd October is cancelled.
The club will resume after half term.
Mr Devlin
Subject Leader for Art
PE News
Last Friday our Year 7 boys' football team travelled to Wellfield School in the County Cup. They continued an excellent start to the season with a 6-3 victory. This included a hattrick from POM Euan P.
Also last Friday, our Year 7 basketball team secured another comfortable victory with a 47-23 win against Emmanuel College. Joint POMs were Isaac T and Luke B.
Our Monday, our Year 11 boys' football team earned a hard fought 2-1 win at Cardinal Hume in the County Cup. Finlay F was POM.
Our netball teams were also due to play St Leonard's in league matches on Monday but they had to postpone - hopefully they will get played next week.
On Tuesday. our U13 girls' football team hosted High Tunstall in the County Cup. We played some excellent football to reach the next round with a 6-1 win. Ellie R was POM.
Also on Tuesday night, some of our Year 7 students attended a taster session at the Durham Fives club. This is an exciting game played on a squash type court where players hit the ball with their hands and not a racquet. They all had a great experience and are now keen to join the club.
Wednesday was a very busy and successful day with cross-country, football and rugby.
All our cross-country teams were at Preston Park for the first round of the English Schools Cup. It was another outstanding afternoon for all our teams. Incredibly our Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Inter Boys, Senior Boys and Senior Girls all won their races. Our Inter Girls were 8th. This means that those five teams now qualify for the North-East regional round which takes place after half-term. If any finish in the top three schools there, they will qualify for the National Finals in December.
Our U16 rugby team were in Yarm taking on Egglescliffe School in the National Cup. We started strongly and took a big lead into half-time. They fought back in the second half but we held on to win by 7 points, and now progress to the next round.
Our boys' football teams were in League action against St John's. The Year 7 game was 0-0 at half-time but three second half goals saw us win 3-1 with Scarlett G POM. Our Year 8 team secured a hard fought 3-2 win after a late goal from Charlie R. Sam G was POM with an excellent display and a goal. It was more straightforward for our Year 9s who recorded a comfortable 9-2 win. Henry B scored 4 and Oliver T 3 goals but POM was awarded to Myles A. To complete the clean sweep, our Year 10s won 5-0 in a League and Cup double game. Joint POMs were Ethan M and Isaiah M.
Yesterday, our Year 7-9 netball teams travelled to Hermitage for League games. Our Year 7s continued their impressive start to the season with a comprehensive 21-0 win. Katriona R was POM. Our Year 8s lost 7-15 with Elizabeth C POM. Unfortunately, our Year 9s fielded a much-depleted team, and despite their best efforts lost 21-1. Caitlin H was POM.
Also yesterday, our Year 7 and 8 rugby teams were at Maiden Castle for a mini-tournament. This was an excellent evening of rugby as many of the boys played their first competitive matches. Everyone did very well and are now keen for more competition in the coming weeks.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE
A reminder of our weekly sports bulletin:
Sports Bulletin
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