13 December 2024
Dear Parents and Carers,
The festive atmosphere has continued in school this week with Christmas lunch on Thursday (the gravy was good again!), final preparations for next Thursday’s carol service in Durham Cathedral, our annual charity Santa Runs and the remaining collections for our House Christmas appeal. It has been lovely to see so many students from all year groups bringing in contributions, and taking the time to think of others at this busy time of year. The enthusiasm of Year 7 and 8 in the Santa Run was particularly impressive, as they donated over £750 to charity for the chance to run the course in fairly freezing conditions! We are proud of our students all year round, but it is especially good to see such strong evidence of two of our core values, public service and social justice, in action.
We are looking forward to the carol service next week, which is always a celebratory way to end the term, and the only occasion when we are able to have the majority of the school in one space. In assemblies this week, Mrs Bell has spoken to all students about the privilege of being the only state secondary school to have a service at the cathedral and we are pleased to invite our Year 7 parents and carers to celebrate with us, marking the end of a fabulous first term.
We have also launched our Autumn parental survey this week (details below). Your feedback is important and supports our school improvement planning, so thank you in advance for taking the time to complete. However, if you have a specific concern, please contact the school directly via the school email address; we cannot respond to anonymous communication.
Finally, we are looking ahead to the new term, which has a number of significant milestones for different year groups, including beginning the Options process with Year 9. Before that, however, we hope that all members of our school community will have time to rest and re-charge during the holidays. We will be in contact next week with a wellbeing update and links to sources of support over the break should they be needed.
As ever, thank you for all your support, and have a lovely 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
Have your say!
As a school we are very grateful for the ongoing support of parents and carers and your engagement with the life of the school. We would like to remind you that there are currently two opportunities to ‘have your say’. Our parent governor election is still open, and closes on Monday at 9am. You can click on this link to complete your ballot, and click here to find out more about the process.
Secondly, we have launched our Autumn parental survey this week. This will be available until Thursday 19th December at 6.00pm; the link has been emailed directly. 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. As those of you who joined us for the Parental Information Presentations last half term are aware, we use the surveys to inform our planning and the feedback has a direct impact on what we do in school.
Examination Certificates
A reminder for students who sat GCSEs this summer that examination certificates are ready to collect from reception between the hours of 9am and 3pm.
Former Year 13 students who left Durham Johnston in Summer 2024 are warmly invited to collect their A Level certificates from the 6th Form Area on 17th December 4-5pm. Refreshments available!
Future Business Magnates
The FBM team spent some time getting to know each other last week - building relationships and finding out each other’s strengths and weaknesses - which is key in any organisation. We learnt lots about each other. My favourite moment had to be a discussion about "what is your favourite meal" (Sunday lunch for me - always) and one student said…grapes! Grapes! Anyway, a great session and our report has been submitted to the competition. Excellent as always Year 8.
Miss Forbes
Subject Lead for Business & Computing
House System News – Christmas Appeal
At the time of writing this we have received hundreds of items for Durham Foodbank and Feeding Families, which a team of Year 13 students set to work to share and sort equally between the two. We were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of donations, which included some incredibly special items which we know will make things a little easier this Christmas
I am genuinely humbled by the generosity and kindness shown - the thought and care that has gone into this is truly magic!
Thank you to everyone who has donated, wrapped, sorted and collected - you really have done something special! Special thanks goes to the Year 13 House Leads, an amazing group of young people whose work on this has gone above and beyond. They are a credit to themselves, their families, and the school.
We will also be sending monetary donations to our chosen charities to support the amazing work they do all year round.
Miss Forbes
Senior Teacher, the House System
PE News
Good news from last Friday as our Year 8 basketball team won all of their matches in the first round of the Junior NBA competition. They are now top of the group going into the second half of the season. Brodie S was POM. Also last Friday, our Year 7 boys’ football team had a comfortable 8-3 victory against Emmanuel College in the County Cup. Harry F-H scored a hattrick, but POM went to Scarlett G.
Our rugby teams were also in action last Friday as we hosted St John’s. Our Year 8s christened our new rugby pitch with a 10-6 win. Our U13 girls played out an exciting 11-11 draw. Finally, our Year 9 girls lost 10-7 to a Year 10 team from St John’s.
To complete a busy Friday, we also had a very festive and sparkly house netball tournament! All houses were well represented, and the standard was very high. The result came down to goal difference, with Heaviside emerging victorious.
On Monday afternoon, our Year 9 boys basketball team travelled to York to face Queen Ethelburga’s College in the National Cup. We started well but faded in the second half, eventually losing 81-55.
Later on Monday we hosted the Tyneside Schools Year 11 basketball tournament. This was an excellent evening of high-quality basketball played in a great spirit. We finished runners up after losing only one match to the winners from NSB.
Finally on Monday our Year 11 girls’ futsal team played their final game as they lost the area final to Bishop Barrington.
On Tuesday our VIth form basketball team were in National Cup action as we made the short journey to Durham School. We started strongly and controlled the game throughout eventuality winning 70-42. A great team performance. We also hosted Durham School at netball on Tuesday. Honours ended even as we lost the Year 9 match but won at Year 10. Cherry LH and Harriet H were POMs.
Our Year 9 boys’ futsal team were at King James for the area finals. They won 3 games and drew 2 to become champions and move into the next round.
Finally, to complete a busy Tuesday, our Year 7 & 8 girls’ football teams were at St John’s for a CVL. After a great evening of football, our Year 7s are top of the group going into the Christmas break.
Basketball continued on Wednesday as we hosted the Year 9 Tyneside tournament. It was a similar story to Monday as we finished runners up after only losing one game to the eventual champions from Kings School. Angelos K was POT.
Our VIth form football team were also due to play Whickham but they conceded the game.
Another busy day yesterday. Our U16 girls’ basketball team travelled to Manchester to take on Trinity High School. They are the current national champions in three different age groups for girls’ basketball and have several England players in the squad. Despite scoring 20 points and never giving up, they were too strong for us.
Our Year 11 boys’ football were also competing in the National Cup as they took on English Martyrs. We played some outstanding football in the first half but missed a few chances as the half ended 1-1. We unfortunately conceded three second half goals to lose 4-1. Special mention to Year 10s Zack S and POM Will H, who stepped up into the Year 11 team.
Our Year 7 and Year 8 netball teams were in league action away at Durham School. Our Year 7s dominated the game eventually winning 20-1 with Katriona R POM. Our Year 8s played some excellent netball and never gave up against a strong team, eventually losing 7-23. Lizzy W was POM.
Finally, our Year 9 girls football team took part in a CVL at Parkside School. We played some fantastic football winning 3 games and drawing one to remain top of the league. Grace C was POM for keeping a clean sheet.
Today our Year 10 boys’ basketball team were due to play in their Tyneside tournament, but it has now been postponed until after Christmas.
Also this week, over 400 of our students have taken part in festive fun-runs raising money for some excellent causes including St Cuthbert’s Hospice. Everyone had a great time wearing some amazing fancy dress.
Finally, children have been finding out this week if they have secured a place on this summer’s Malaga trips and the 2026 ski trips. Incredibly over 250 children have applied for the trips, showing how popular they are. Thank you for parental support with this and apologies to those who are on the reserve lists.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE
A reminder of our weekly sports bulletin:
Sports Bulletin