14 March 2025
Dear Parents and Carers,
Last night was our Full Governing Body meeting in school and our excellent Year Leaders (7-11) shared updates on their cohorts. All year leaders referenced how supportive parents and carers are of the school and the ethos that we continually promote. They said some lovely things about your children too, so I thought it was only right to share some highlights here with you.
Enjoy reading, and have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McFadden
Mrs Ward, Year 7 Leader:
The Year 7 students have made an excellent start to their time with us at Durham Johnston. Together they have accumulated an amazing 12,504 house points and 97% of Year 7 students have a positive Class Charts behaviour point total. Uniform is excellent across the year group, we continue to work closely with the students and parents / carers to ensure this remains the case. 86% of Year 7 parents have accessed their Class Charts account which is extremely pleasing to see.Students have taken part in many great actives so far this year, Spooktacular was the first of these events where students took part in some spooky activities (the favourite being hide and seek around the school building!). We had some great costumes created and worn during the evening. We ran a Christmas movie night where students brought in their onesies, snacks and enjoyed a screening of ‘A boy called Christmas’ in James Hall together after school. Students also enjoyed a trip to Beamish Museum before the spring half term holiday, the entire Year group had the chance to attend, the students represented our school community extremely well and had an amazing time.
During form time we ran a ‘Random acts of kindness week’. Students were encouraged to think about how they could be kind to each other in our school community and beyond. Some students wrote heart-felt letters of kindness to elderly residents at one of our local care homes. These letters are being hand delivered to the residents this week!
We already have and continue to, support our students in so many different ways. It’s been a real privilege to work with the year group and to observe how new friendships have been formed and how many of them continue to grow in confidence and throw themselves fully into all life at Durham Johnston has to offer.
Mr Digby, Year 8 Leader:
Year 8 is a fantastic cohort! We have gold medallists and national champions, we have students that have competed in European level events and also achieved high praise nationally for their academic excellence. This cohort is a pleasure to support. We have accrued 5,536 achievement points and contributed to whole school events and donated to the community driven collections.
Miss Stannard, Year 9 Leader:
In Year 9 everyone has been busy making options choices ahead of beginning GCSEs next year. It has been lovely to see so many students engaging positively with their futures and what they want to study. There has been a real sense of maturity developing in students through this process. Alongside this, students have been engaging with wider school life through their charity work and coming up with ideas to raise money for the wider community. They are planning some Easter goods to sell and are doing the Yorkshire three peaks challenge to raise even more.
Mr Blake, Year 10 Leader:
Our Year 10s have had a fantastic first half of the year, filled with achievements and exciting opportunities. They are gearing up to participate in our work experience program that promises to provide valuable insights into various career paths. We are immensely proud of our VEX Robotics and F1 in Schools teams, who have both reached the national finals, showcasing their innovation and teamwork. Additionally, our sports stars are shining on the world stage, representing the country in ice hockey, dancing, boxing and gymnastics. We also have talented footballers signed to Sunderland AFC and playing for the district, runners representing the county, swimmers who are setting national records and rowers out pulling their competition! Their academic successes have been numerous too, with many students showing fantastic attitude to learning, and achieving amazing results. Some students were so impressed by their peers they were inspired to write poetry about it!Our Year 10s have also shown tremendous community spirit and generosity. Recently, our house team raised over £300 for charity by selling Valentine's lollipops, a testament to their creativity and commitment to helping others. During the Christmas season, our students collected food to create hampers, which were delivered to families in our community who needed it most. These efforts highlight the compassion and leadership of our students, making us incredibly proud of their accomplishments and contributions.
Our students are committed to kindness to others and are an absolute pleasure to work with. As we move towards mock exams, work experience and as Year 11 approaches, I am sure we will all be ready to meet any challenges head on!
Mrs Banner, Year 11 Leader:
Year 11 have had a fantastic year so far. Several students have represented the school at regional and national level in cross country and swimming, cheerleading, gymnastics and acro-gym. We also have a team of F1 in schools who are doing amazing things and touring across the country to compete. They are a very talented year group in football, rugby and cricket, both boys and girls with ongoing success across the county area. Earlier in the year we had a concert in school from our in-year band, who will also be making an appearance at Prom; we have many talented musicians and drama students who are active contributing to school life.Fundraising initiatives, requested and organised by the year group, have included the Year 10 Colour run in July and the Year 11 Santa Run. We also contributed to the Christmas Foodbank appeal. We are the first year to have nominated a Year 11 committee to help organise not only the Prom and year book but also support various academic initiatives across the curriculum and represent the student voice.
A number of Year 11 students have gained offers of employment and apprenticeships from their Year 10 work experience placements, which emphasises their dedication and maturity, we are very proud of them. The uptake for revision sessions ahead of GCSE’s has been phenomenal, with students attending from very early in the year.
We hope that the successes in Year 11 will continue to grow, and that their GCSE results and next steps will reflect their efforts.
Year 11 Study Support
As we approach Year 11 Mock Exams and the preparation for final exams in the summer, there is a wide range of support on offer from staff. Please click here to see the full range of sessions.
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
CyberFirst Celebrations Day
The top-scoring Year 8 team in the school was treated to a CyberFirst Celebrations Day on Tuesday, a reward for finishing 2nd overall in the North-East.
Huge congratulations to Chenchen, Evie, Finja, and Maria who had an amazing time as they solved a series of puzzles and challenges all themed around cyber security (and were even treated to a free Dominoes!). A special thanks to Mr Digby for assisting the girls during the event (and also partaking in the free Dominoes!).
Here are some quotes from the girls about their experience on the day:
"Yesterday was really fun! My favourite part was the bomb defusal challenge — it was really fun. And the pizza was a good addition as well!" - Evie
"It was amazing! I learnt new things and had lots of fun. My favourite part was definitely the bomb defusal challenge although they were all really good." - Chenchen
Are you in Year 7 and interested in Cyber Security? Keep an eye out next year for the CyberFirst Girls Competition! If you are the highest-scoring team in the North East you could win prizes such as a laptop, AirPods and more!
Mr O'Connor
Random Acts of Kindness Week
Just before half term Year 7 took part in ‘Random Acts of Kindness Week’. Although we promote kindness for all students at all times, we had a particular focus for two weeks where they completed various tasks:
Challenge 1 - Write an acrostic poem using the word "kindness"
Challenge 2 - Write a letter, make a card or draw a picture to send to someone living in Lindisfarne Care Home
Challenge 3 - Pay it forward : Donate a small old or unwanted toy to a child who needs it at Durham Family Hub in Gilesgate.
The students really bought into this challenge and donated toys/completed their challenges with the support of Mrs Walton and their form tutors. At the end of the challenge, I dropped the letters off at the care home; the residents are currently writing replies to the questions the students have asked, it really was lovely to project to be part of. I cannot wait to share the replies with Year 7 next week!
Mrs Cummings
Assistant Year Leader for Year 7
Music Notices
Spring Concerts
Our two concerts this term will take place on Wednesday 2nd April (Wind Band, Junior Orchestra, Junior Choir & Soloists), and Thursday 3rd April (Senior Choir, Senior Orchestra, Chamber Choir & Soloists). The theme is 'Greatest Hits' so prepare to hear top tunes from the past five centuries!
Tickets will be on sale from Monday 10th March at the usual inflation-proof prices of £4 and £2 (concessions). Payment in cash or cheque (payable to Durham Johnston School).
Please note that these will be the final large-scale performances of the year, with all ensembles having a break in the summer term, therefore, it would be great to have full attendance at rehearsals over the coming weeks. This ensures a quality performance, but for Year 13 pupils it is important to make the most of your final musical experiences at Durham Johnston.
Rehearsal patterns on the week of the concert will be slightly different from our normal schedule. Rehearsals that week will follow a different pattern, with those performers involved in the Wednesday concert rehearsing 2.45-4.00pm on Monday 31st March, and those involved in the Thursday concert rehearsing on Tuesday 1st April 2.45-4.00pm. More details about will follow in the coming weeks.
Many thanks as ever for your support.
Mr Holmes
Subject Leader for Music
PE News
On Monday our Year 7, 8 and 9 girls’ futsal teams were at the Beacon of Light competing in the County Finals. Our Year 7 team started with a comprehensive 11-2 victory against Houghton Kepier. This put us into the final against St Joseph's. This was a close game throughout but unfortunately, they just edged it in the end winning 10-7. A great achievement to be runners-up. It was a similar story for our Year 8 team who also lost a close game to St Joseph's. They eventually finished 3rd after their final game against Tanfield finished 7-5. Incredibly, it was virtually the same situation for our Year 9 girls who also finished 3rd after defeat to St Joseph's. An outstanding achievement for all our teams to finish in the top 3 schools in the county.
On Tuesday our Year 7 basketball team had an excellent 44-20 victory against Dame Allan’s in a friendly match.
On Wednesday, our Year 8 boys’ football team faced Tanfield School in the County Cup semi-final. It just wasn’t our night as we missed several chances eventually losing 3-1. Joint POMs were Sam G and Louie H.
Also, on Wednesday we hosted the U18 County Sevens rugby tournament. This was an excellent afternoon of high-quality rugby. We finished in 6th place after a last second defeat to Durham School in our final game.
Yesterday our Year 7 boys’ football team produced a dominant display to cruise into the Tyneside cup final with a 12-2 victory against Kings Priory. This included a hattrick from Harry F-H.
It was also good news for our Year 10 boys’ football team who reached the County Cup semi-final with an excellent 4-0 win away at Manor School. Will H was POM. They meet Mortimer School in the semi-final, hoping to make a bit of history as Durham Johnston has never won this competition which was first played for in 1907!
Finally, good luck this weekend to 11 of our cross country runners who are travelling to West Sussex to compete in the English Schools national championships. It is an amazing achievement to have so many runners from one school competing at this level.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE
A reminder of our weekly sports bulletin:
Sports Bulletin
We have also been asked to share the following:
Year 8 HPV Vaccinations
The school age immunisation team will be delivering the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine at your child’s school on 30 April 2025 to both boys and girls in Year 8.
Please use the link below to complete either the consent form or a refusal for the vaccination. The link contains the consent forms and additional information such as FAQs regarding the vaccination. The link will close on 23 April 2025.
Click here for more information.
If you have any problems accessing the link, please telephone 0333 358 3397.
IntraHealth Immunisation Team