17 January 2025
Dear Parents and Carers,
As we come to the end of the second week of term, the school is back in full swing. We had a brilliant performance delivered to Year 8 and 9 by NHS staff, Year 11 were very excited to receive their hoodies, and lots of students have been engaging in our updated extracurricular offer.
It has been a big week for Year 9 as they embark on their Options journey. As I said on the evening, the Options period is my favourite point in the academic year. There is always a real buzz as for students, it is often the first time they get to make a choice and take ownership of their education. For many it is the first time they start to think about life after school and what career, interests and passions they might want to pursue post 16. Over this period there is often a shift in their attitude as students start to mature and engage with staff in meaningful conversations. They assess their strengths and weaknesses and start to think about what their future might look like, and the contributions they might make to society. It is a time when all of our core values really are live and applicable to their choices.
Staff in school are here to support students and parents through this process. We encourage students to take their time with the decision and think carefully which subjects would be best for them. A reminder that further information about the options process is on the website, and if you need any additional support or have any questions you can email the options team at school via options@durhamjohnston.org.uk.
It wouldn’t be a Friday bulletin if I didn't mention maths at least once (other subjects are available!). A lovely end to the week was in Year 11 assembly this morning where I presented three headteacher awards to students in recognition of their outstanding performance in the international maths challenge against global competition. Further details are below.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McFadden
School Social Media
We have taken the decision to move away from X/Twitter as our social media presence as a school. You can now find us on Instagram @durham_johnston; follow us for the latest school news! The PE department have now also migrated there - @djcspe - and as you can imagine, already have a very busy feed!
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
These have been updated for the current half term.
International Maths Challenge Success
The International Maths Challenge is a prestigious https://international-maths-challenge.com/ mathematical competition, in which Durham Johnston was selected to participate. Students were invited to sign up and enter in the 2024 Olympiad, which concluded last month, and we were delighted to hear that some of them have performed at an incredibly high level.
Five of our students have achieved accolades from the challenge:
Daniel F in Year 11, Chenchen N in Year 8 and Jessica S in Year 7 were all recognised as Elitists (High Performers) – this means that they scored in the 80-95th percentile for their age level. Will C and Toby R finished as ‘Champions’ – placing them in the top 5% of entries globally. To provide some context, there were over 250,000 entries worldwide!
We are incredibly proud of all of them – congratulations!
Mrs Urwin
Subject Lead for Mathematics
Music Notices
All ensembles have made a good start to rehearsals this term and we are pleased to say that a new ensemble has started to create an extra opportunity for DJ strings players. The Baroque Ensemble will rehearse on a Friday after school. Any interested strings players (they probably need to be grade 4+ standard) should see Dr Fleming for more information.
Lunchtime activities also continue as last term, and it would be very helpful if those members of year 9 who are intending to take GCSE Music next year could attend the Wednesday lunchtime 'Theory Club'.
The full weekly programme of events is as follows and it may be useful for carers and parents to be reminded that Years 7,8, 12 &13 have 1st lunch and Years 9 - 11 have 2nd lunch.
|
Day |
Lunchtime |
2.45-3.45pm |
|
|
Mon |
1st |
Theory Club |
X |
|
2nd |
X |
||
|
Tue |
1st |
Chamber Choir |
Junior Orchestra - MU1 Wind Band - Hall |
|
2nd |
GCSE Support |
||
|
Wed |
1st |
X |
Junior Choir - MU1 Senior Choir - Hall |
|
2nd |
Theory Club |
||
|
Thur |
1st |
Keyboard Club |
Senior Orchestra - Hall |
|
2nd |
Aural Training |
||
|
Fri |
1st |
Aural Training |
Baroque Ensemble - MU2 |
And finally, a plea for parents and carers to support pupils in only bringing in their instrument on the day it is needed in school. We do have suitable storage, but there are over 150 instruments that are brought to school each week, so it is extremely helpful if they are taken home on the day of their lesson if at all possible.
Mr Holmes
Subject Leader for Music
PE News
We have had confirmation this week that Wilf B, Evie K, Lucy R, Oscar S, Freyja R and Katriona R have all qualified for the National Schools biathlon finals which take place at Bath Uni on Saturday / Sunday 22nd - 23rd March. Congratulations to them on a great achievement.
On Tuesday our Year 10 girls’ basketball team hosted Trinity High School, Manchester in the English Schools Cup. This was an excellent game which was close throughout. We always managed to keep ahead and eventually won 47-39. Harriet H gave an excellent defensive display, but top scorer Lily G was POM. This result means we finish runners-up in the north of England group.
Also on Tuesday, our U15 rugby team took on Durham School at Maiden Castle in a friendly match. This was a very competitive game played in a great spirit. Durham School got the better of us this time, but the boys can be proud of their performance.
On Wednesday we hosted the Year 7 Durham and Chester-Le-Street basketball tournament. We had two teams entered. Our A team comfortably won all their games including a 18-0 victory against Framwellgate to become champions. Our B team also performed very well, eventually finishing joint runners-up. POT was Roan P.
Also on Wednesday, our U15 boys table tennis team travelled to Newcastle School to compete in the Tyneside championships. The standard was extremely high, but we reached the final where we met a very strong team from Kings School. Despite our best efforts they beat us, and we finished runners-up.
Yesterday our U19 boys’ and girls’ basketball teams both travelled to York to take on Queen Ethelburga's in the English Schools Cup. Both were high quality games. Our boys started strongly and coped with a physical team to maintain a comfortable lead throughout the game eventually winning 62-47. POM was Alex H. They have finished runners up in the North East League and now go on to the national knockout stage. Our girls also played some outstanding basketball in a very noisy atmosphere to comfortably win their match 75-26. Libby C was POM. The girls are now Northern Schools champions and into the last 16 schools in the country.
Rugby also continued yesterday as our Year 7 & 8 boys’ teams were at Maiden Castle for friendly matches against Durham School. Both games were high quality matches. Our Year 7s showed great progress and only lost by one try. They were outstanding. Our Year 8s also lost but never gave up and battled right to the end against a physical team. Great preparation for both teams for the second half of the season.
Good luck today to our U16 boys’ table tennis team who have travelled to Bradford Grammar School to compete in the English Schools northern regional finals. If they win this event, they qualify for the national finals.
Also good luck to our Year 10 boys basketball team who are at Emmanuel College for the Tyneside Championships.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE
A reminder of our weekly sports bulletin:
Sports Bulletin