8 November 2024
Dear Parents and Carers,
We were very happy to welcome back our students this week after the half term break fully refreshed, recharged and ready for learning. The run up to Christmas is always an action-packed half term and this year is no different. We have Remembrance Day, Year 11 mock results, Year 13 mock exams, the annual Christmas Carol service at Durham Cathedral, our first non-uniform day of the year, Christmas appeals and fundraising, a Dance show, the Christmas Music concerts and that’s in addition to all our usual array of extra-curricular clubs and activities.
Year 11 ended the week with some brilliant light-hearted fun this morning - an inter form competitive egg and spoon race on the tennis court. Some fun facts about egg and spoon races: in 1990, a runner completed the London Marathon while carrying an egg and spoon. They finished in 3 hours and 47 minutes and didn't drop the uncooked egg once. The fastest 100-m egg and spoon race was completed 16.59 seconds in Australia; despite our schools excellent reputation for sporting achievement I can report that this record was in no danger of being broken today by any students but a few of the more competitive form tutors came close!
Wishing you all an ‘egg-cellent’ weekend,
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 Assessment Calendars, and 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
Flu vaccinations for Years 7-11
A reminder that the school immunisation team with be in school on 18th November for flu vaccinations. The deadline for consent is Monday 11th November; if you wish for your child to receive this, please complete the electronic consent form linked within this letter.
Collected Books Wish List
Thank you to those who have bought books for the library from our school wish list via Collected Books in Durham; we are enormously grateful! We hope to open the library to Year 7 this half term, with other year groups following in the near future. As previously shared, our wish list will change each half term, with specially curated selections. This half term’s list is now live on the Collected Books website, should you wish to support us in this way.
Collected Books | DJCS Library Wish List
Miss Simpson
English Department
Year 10 Construction Careers Trip
Thank you to Willmott Dixon for inviting us to a Construction site visit at the Durham Light Infantry Museum and Art Gallery project renovation project. Students got to learn about a variety of Construction roles and activities from trade jobs right through to meeting the Project Manager.
Mr Corkin
Subject Lead for Design Technology
Future Business Magnates
This week our Year 8 Future Business Magnates were invited to the official lunch of the competition at Ramside Hall in Durham. We had the opportunity to network with the business partners, listen to guest speakers; including local entrepreneurs and journalists and meet our competition. A superb event run by Business Durham. We have been lucky enough to be partnered with Waterstons - a digital tech company with a base in Durham, and we look forward to visiting their offices soon.
Students were gifted treats, journals and lanyards - very professional! We're off to Beamish next week for our first challenge - the students were a credit to the school, and I am looking forward to seeing how they will meet the brief of "Reimagining the Highstreet".
Miss Forbes
Subject Lead for Business & Computing
History Department News
In the week before half term, the History department took part in a national research project entitled ‘A portrait of the teaching of the British Empire, migration and belonging in English secondary schools.’ We hosted Dr Amy Smail, a researcher working for the Institute of Education at University College London. The project aims to discover how the topics are currently being taught, by conducting focus groups with teachers, headteachers, and students of all year groups in a wide range of secondary schools across the country, including Durham Johnston. In her week with us, Dr Smail observed lessons, interviewed students and encouraged debate and discussion about how students view this aspect of the past. These findings will feed into a report which then hopes to developing programmes for teachers and schools, that will allow national best practice in teaching these topics to be spread across the country.
I’d like to thank Dr Smail for her excellent work this week, and I am looking forward to reading the final report when the project is complete. In particular, I would like to thank all of the students who took part in the focus groups and were observed in lessons. Dr Smail was enormously impressed with their thoughtfulness, sophistication and openness, and was extremely complimentary about the wider school as well. I would also like to thank all the staff who have helped support this project in school for their patience and support.
Mr Doyle
Subject Leader for History
House System News – Year 11 Competition
They had one job...
The egg and spoon race - the Year 11 edit. I feel it's a skill many underestimate. The right degree of steady, versus speed! And it's fair to say some Year 11s hadn't warmed up or taken this seriously! Lessons were learned from the Year 7 race and we had wooden eggs - far less mess. 25 shuttle runs, ending with tutors running the last leg, Mrs Banner came prepared in her flats, but it was Mrs Hardwick who was crowned the fastest tutor!
A great year group – well done Year 11! Wakenshaw took first place this time, with Heaviside and Kenny close behind.
Miss Forbes
Senior Teacher, the House System
Drama Notices
A reminder that due to year 13 mock examinations in the main hall next week (beginning 11th November) there will be no extra-curricular drama activities. They will resume the following week beginning 18th November. Students have been informed in this week's sessions.
Ms Ayrey
Subject Leader for Drama
PE News
Wednesday was a successful night for our boys’ football teams. Our Year 7 & Year 9 teams were both in Tyneside Cup action against Whickham. We dominated both games with our Year 7s winning 12-0 to reach the semi-finals. Every player was awarded POM. It was also a comfortable victory for our Year 9s as they secured a 5-0 win. Tom W was POM.
Our Year 10 team hosted St Leonard's in the County Cup. We started slowly and only led 1-0 at half-time. However, we took control in the second half going on to win 5-0. Joe S was POM.
Also on Wednesday, our Year 7 girls’ futsal team took part in the area tournament. They won all their games, without conceding a goal, including a 6-0 victory against Woodham to reach the next round.
Yesterday, five of our cross-country teams travelled to Stewart Park, Middlesbrough to compete in the North East regional round of the English Schools Cup. Both our Junior girls’ and Senior girls’ teams produced excellent performances to qualify for the National Finals which takes place at Leeds Grammar School on Saturday 7th December. The best performance of the day was by our Senior girls who won their event, scoring an outstanding 14 points with 4 runners in the top six. Our three boys’ teams ran well, but all just missed out on reaching the National Finals. Our Senior boys in particular were very unlucky, missing out by only 2 points.
Also yesterday, our VIth form football team travelled to Prudhoe in the English Schools Cup. This was an excellent game in which we were leading 2-1 with only 7 minutes to go. Unfortunately, we conceded two late goals to lose 3-2. Cole C and Harry C were joint POMs.
Finally yesterday, our Year 7 & 8 rugby teams were at Maiden Castle for a friendly CVL. This tournament was well attended with all teams playing four games. We won two matches and gained some excellent match practice.
Good luck tonight to our Year 8 basketball team who are in Newcastle playing Dame Allan's in a friendly.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE
A reminder of our weekly sports bulletin:
Sports Bulletin