23 January 2026
Dear Parents and Carers,
As we end week three of this term there are a few key messages to share with parents and carers.
Over the past year, we have been putting systems and processes in place to significantly reduce the amount of cash used in school with the long-term goal of becoming cashless. Consequently, we will no longer be accepting cash in school after February half term. The only exception to this will be non-uniform days. As the vast majority of parents are already making all payments online via our safe payment platform ParentPay, we anticipate that this will be a smooth transition. There are however a very small number of parents who are not on ParentPay and we will contacting these parents prior to half term to support or provide an alternative.
I would also like to share an important update regarding collecting students from the school site that will be implemented immediately following February half term. As a school, we have received an increasing number of requests for access to the car park to collect students for a variety of reasons. Up until now, we have been able to accommodate these requests safely. However, due to the significant rise in numbers, the car park is becoming extremely congested and poses potential safety risks for our school community. Therefore, to ensure the safety of students, staff, and visitors, we are reviewing our current arrangements and will be implementing a more consistent approach. Our priority is to maintain a safe environment during busy periods, particularly at the end of the school day whilst meeting the needs of your child. Therefore, from after half term we kindly ask those parents and carers with passes to collect their child at 3:00 pm when the site is quieter. The students may wait in the atrium until this time. This change will begin from Monday 2nd March 2026 and new parking permits will be issued. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we work together to keep our school community safe. We would like to remind you that parents and carers without permits should not be driving on to the school site at the end of the usual school day.
And finally, Wednesday was the deadline to vote in the parent governor election and we would like to thank all the parents and carers who nominated themselves to give up their time to support our school and all those who voted. We are pleased to announce that Mrs Charlotte Ferguson, Mr Martin Hopps and Mr Jonathan Moore were the successful candidates, and we look forward to welcoming them at the next governing body meeting in February. The results were very close, and we would like to thank all parents and carers who voted.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McFadden
Key Dates
A reminder that you can find all the dates of our parents’ evenings and parental information presentations (PIPs) on the website under ‘News and Events’ – click here for the direct link.
Year 9 Options Evening is on Monday 26th January. The relevant section of the website has now been updated and is live under Learning > Year 9 Options – click here for the direct link.
Year 9 Vaccinations are on 2nd & 3rd February. A letter from the School Immunisation Team has been emailed directly to parents and carers; the deadline for completing the consent form is Monday 26th January.
SEND Clinics
We will be holding SEND online clinics every month for parents to meet with a member of the learning support team to discuss any area of their child's learning or development. The aim of the clinic to identify the most appropriate support which may be signposting to external support. The first clinic will be held online 30th January between 8.30-11am. If you would like to make an appointment to talk with a member of school staff, please contact learningsupport@durhamjohnston.org.uk to arrange this.
Year 8 CyberFirst Winners 2026
Congratulations to Sophie H, Izzy S, Jessica S and Elisha W, and who are this year's North-East winners of the CyberFirst girls’ competition!
This the third time we have won this prestigious competition. The girls have won a new laptop each and are invited to the winner’s weekend to receive their trophy and prize.
Thank you to all the DJ teams that took part this year, house points were awarded to the top 3 teams.
If you are a girl in Year 7 and are interested in the world of cyber security (and the chance to win a laptop) then keep an eye out for the CyberFirst competition which starts in the first term of Year 8!
Mr O'Connor
Lead Teacher of KS4/5 Computer Science
World Challenge Fitness Fundraiser
Mozambique 2027
This month the World Challenge students are completing a sponsored event where they are running, walking and swimming 100km each to cover the total length of the coastline of Mozambique between them and the staff. They have been making excellent progress towards the total and continue to push themselves to cover the distance. Some of the screenshots they've been logging are shown below.
If anyone would like to show the team support the link for sponsorship is below.
Click here to contribute to the World Challenge Fitness Fundraiser
Mrs Hardwick
World Challenge Coordinator
Future Business Magnates
The Year 8's FBM journey continues - last week they were invited along to the Riverside Cricket ground in Chester-Le-Street. An excellent event hosted by Business Durham - the guest speakers taught the team about the intricacies of finance and raising capital for their start-up. They were given several challenges which required some serious brain power and teamwork. As always, they excelled and produced some super ideas. This team goes from strength to strength and their business idea is developing well!
Miss Forbes
Subject Lead for Business & Computing
PE News
Last Sunday over 30 of our cross-country runners were at Barnard Castle School representing Durham Central at the County Championships. Despite the very poor weather conditions and visibility, all our runners produced excellent performances with many of them finishing in the top 16 places and therefore qualifying to represent the county at the Northern County Championships at Sedbergh School on Saturday 7th February. Special congratulations to Hattie S who won the senior girls race to become County Champion.
On Monday our U13 A & B boys’ table tennis teams were at Framwellgate for the Tyneside Schools final. After a fantastic evening of high-quality table tennis both our A & B teams came away as winners of their matches. Special mention to Rory B for being placed top of the A league and Timon I and Jessie F top of the B league.
On a busy Tuesday our Year 9 & 10 netball teams were at Maiden Castle playing league matches against Durham School. Our Year 10 team remain unbeaten and top of the league after an excellent 19-13 victory. Ellie R was POM. Our Year 9 team struggled against a strong Durham School side eventually losing 19-6. POM was Elizabeth C. They are both back in league action next week as we host St Bede's.
It was the turn of our U16 A & B boys’ table tennis teams to travel to Framwellgate for their Tyneside final. Congratulations to both teams who won their matches to become champions. Overall, it was a dominant performance by our teams but played in a great spirit.
Our Year 9 boys football team were also in action as we hosted High Tunstall in the quarter-final of the County Cup. We trailed 1-0 at half-time but we scored through Malek A in the first minute of the second half. This proved to be the last goal of a close and tense game which had to be settled by penalties. Unfortunately, we missed two attempts as we lost 4-1. Dylan F was POM.
Our Wednesday our VIth Form boys’ football team were due to play St Joseph's but they had to postpone. However, our Year 7's did play as they took on Houghton Kepier in the county cup. This was an incredibly close game which looked certain to end 0-0 until the last minute when Dan J converted a Will T cross to give us a 1-0 win. POM was Ben S for a solid defensive display.
Thank you to Durham University handball team who kindly gave up their time this morning to offer some free coaching to our U13 boys’ team. It was a great experience for our students and will certainly help them in preparation for the county finals in a couple of weeks’ time. Our U13 girls’ team are getting the same opportunity next Friday.
Finally, good luck tonight to our Year 9 boys’ basketball team who are hosting Dame Allan's in the Tyneside final. They are a very strong team but hopefully we can produce some excellent basketball and claim the trophy.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE
A reminder of our weekly sports bulletin: