16 October 2026
Dear Parents and Carers,
This week has seen another cohort of Sixth Form students apply through UCAS for study at university courses that require an earlier application – Medicine degrees, Oxford or Cambridge being the most popular of these options. The application process requires the students to write about why they have applied for their chosen courses, asking them to say why their subject is the one above all others they are asking to devote at least three more years of their life to (much longer if it’s Medicine courses). Further to this, there needs to be sense of the reading they have undertaken in their spare time and what they have learned from it along the way. When supporting some of these students this week, I was struck by how fantastic it was to see so many of them reading for themselves, for pleasure, beyond the motivation of expedience (‘this will help my application’). Students have so many distractions these days such as Netflix, social media and the internet and there is also a wealth of academic reading online that was not so readily available to previous cohorts of applicants. Nevertheless, what I was most impressed with was that so many of our students still read books. Their personal statements spoke of books that had impacted their learning, their thinking and their engagement with their subjects. Most important of all, the students could communicate the sense of enjoyment and reward for having undertaken the reading they had.
I enjoy reading and I ask my dad to keep a record of the books I have read, hoping to achieve a ratio of reading a book a week. I have never achieved that – the best I have managed is an average of a book a fortnight. When reflecting on the UCAS process, I thought about the books I had read and which, if any, I might talk about if I was applying to university now. One book jumped out at me when I thought about this – not necessarily because it is a history book (it isn’t academic history, it’s fiction, although history does feature), but rather because of the enjoyment I’d experienced when reading it. Stoner by John Williams is about a young man who leaves rural USA for study in Higher Education and discovers a love for literature. What follows is an endlessly moving story of a man whose ‘ordinary’ professional and personal experiences are lived against the backdrop of an enduring love for the subject he teaches – English Literature. The book is very sad, even tragic, in places, contextualised by the American experience of WW1 and the Great Depression that followed. Like Stoner, Butcher’s Crossing by the same author is also an incredibly moving story, with a strong central character, vital female figures providing emotional depth to the plot, set against important historical context in the creation of modern America (themes of greed and exploitation in 1870s America dominate, especially focused on the suffering of buffalo in their being killed and the subsequent trade of their hides).
I hope that when half term break comes, all Durham Johnston students enjoy their holiday and can find some time to read a book for their own fulfilment. Whether or not they are avid readers already, it is really worth turning off ‘Fifa’ or social media and to focus on reading something, for the joy of reading. I will read a book by Graham Greene (one of my favourite authors) and hope to feel both excitement and reward along the way. I might not be applying to UCAS, but I think it is important that as a teacher, I reflect on what I read, why I am reading it and what I have learned from it. It is also important to read because I want to, it is enjoyable and life is a bit better because the book I’m engaged with, exists.
Perhaps it’s the latter message that’s most important to share with our students?
Mr Wilbraham
Deputy Headteacher
Dates for your diary
A reminder of some upcoming events in school:
Monday 18th – Friday 23rd October
Year 11 Mock Exams
Thursday 22nd October
Year 7 ‘Spooktacular’, 5-7pm
Friday 23rd October
School closes for half term
Monday 2nd November
School opens.
Year 13 Mock Exams begin
National School Travel Awards
A final reminder that voting for the ‘School Travel Champion 2026’ awards closes this weekend, so if you have not yet voted for our very own Mrs Hardwick (Geography Department and Educational Visits Coordinator), we would very much welcome your vote.
The winning school receives a cash prize to be used to support disadvantaged students in attending future trips with us, which would make an enormous difference in our ability to continue offering these opportunities to all our students.
School Trip Champion Award 2026: Meet the Finalists | School Travel Organiser
Year 9 RSE Sessions
Wayne Stevenson will be delivering a series of RSE workshops to our Year 9 students On Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th October Year 9 will attend their RSE event with Wayne Stevenson. The focus in the session is contraception.
Please click here to be taken to the relevant page on our website for more information about what the session will involve.
Year 7 Newby Wiske Trip
Between Friday 2nd and Sunday 4th October, our newest cohort of Year 7s attended an outdoor activity weekend at Newby Wiske. 160 students took part in an unforgettable weekend of challenge, teamwork and adventure. From the moment we arrived on Friday afternoon, there was a real sense of excitement, and after dinner students enjoyed an evening of games, including the ever-popular "Ambush" - a giant game of hide and seek around the woods and site grounds. Throughout Saturday and Sunday, students threw themselves into a wide range of activities, from archery tag and raft building to climbing, problem-solving challenges and much more. The students were a credit to the school, displaying excellent behaviour, resilience and enthusiasm throughout. They worked hard, supported one another, made new friendships, conquered fears and showed remarkable bravery at times, especially when tackling the Big Swing and Vertical Challenge. By the end of Sunday, there were certainly some tired faces, but also plenty of smiles and a huge sense of achievement. A fantastic time was had by all, including the staff! Thank you to all the students who embraced new challenges and mixed together so positively, to the staff who gave up their weekend to make the trip possible, and to the parents for encouraging their children to take part in such a rewarding experience.
Mr Blake
Year Leader for Year 7
Public Lecture Series
Last term, our expert subject teachers began offering talks on specialist areas of interest. I am pleased that we can continue to offer these lectures this year. The aim is to provide a model of enthusiasm and expertise in a super-curricular area for our pupils of all ages, and to show off the depth of knowledge at Durham Johnston. All students are warmly invited to attend.
Dr Scull will be delivering the first in the series for this year, on Wednesday 21st October at 3pm, discussing Zooarchaeology: The Behaviour Behind Bones.
Mr Patterson
Associate Assistant Headteacher
Extra-Curricular Drama
The drama studio is unavailable after school on Wednesdays and Thursday for the next two school weeks due to Year 11 and 13 mock exams, and therefore there will be no Year 7/8 Drama Club (Wed) and Technical Theatre Club (Tues).
Unfortunately, as the club numbers are big there is no alternative venue so drama club will be postponed until Wed 11th November, and technical theatre club will be postponed until Tuesday 10th November.
Ms Ayrey
Lead Teacher of Drama
PE News
On Monday our VIth Form boys’ football team hosted St Leonard's in a local derby. Despite going 1-0 down the team showed why they are top of the league as they responded with 3 goals to secure a 3-2 victory. Our goals came from Ben H, James O and POM Aaron G.
On Tuesday our Year 7 & 8 boys’ football teams both travelled to Bishop Barrington for league games. Our Year 7 team started slowly and went 1-0 behind. We improved as the game went on eventually winning 8-1. This included 4 goals from POM Harrison. The Year 8 game was much closer. We conceded first but battled back into the game before unfortunately losing 2-1.
Also on Tuesday, our Year 10 boys’ football team made the long journey to Guisborough to take on Laurence Jackson school in the English Schools Cup. The was a high scoring 12 goal thriller which we controlled for much of the game, eventually reaching the next round with an 8-4 win. We had 7 different goal scorers, but Harry D was POM.
Finally on Tuesday our U13 girls’ team were in Sunderland playing Monkwearmouth in the English Schools Cup. This was another close game which ended 2-2. Extra time was needed and unfortunately, we ran out of steam conceding two late goals to lose 4-2.
On Tuesday evening our Year 9 boys’ basketball team were in Chester-Le-Street taking on the Chester Vipers who are a Junior National League team. This was an excellent game of high-quality basketball. Despite a strong finish we lost 63-59. A great team performance from our 16 players but POM was Luke B. Great preparation for our English Schools matches next week.
On Wednesday our cross country teams were at Preston Park Stockton competing in the 1st round of the English Schools Cup. All our runners produced amazing performances as we dominated the competition with all six of our teams qualifying for the North East regional round in November. We are the only school in the North East and Yorkshire to achieve this. The highlight was our junior girls’ team, who had 4 runners in the top 6 places putting them as favourites from the North East to reach the national finals.
After school on Wednesday we hosted the U16 Area netball tournament. We finished runners-up after losing only 1 game - a tense 16-15 defeat to the eventual winners from Parkview. POT was Grace C. Also on Wednesday, our U13 boys’ rugby team travelled to Consett RFC for a tournament. The team improved with every game and enjoyed two well deserved victories against St Leonard's and Woodham.
Netball continued last night as our Year 9 & 10 teams travelled to Hermitage for league matches. Our Year 9 team dominated the game leading from the start and eventually securing a comfortable victory. Our Year 10 team never gave up against a very strong Hermitage side but lost in the end.
Also last night, our Year 10 boys football team were in Darlington taking on High Tunstall in the County Cup. We produced another excellent performance against a strong team. We took a 2-0 lead at half time with a wonder goal from Levi G. They levelled the game at 2-2 in the second half, but we stepped up our performance, eventually reaching the next round with a 4-2 win. Sam G and Brodie S were joint POMs.
Good luck tonight to our Year 7 boys’ basketball team who are playing their first match for the school - a friendly away at Dame Allan's School.
Outstanding news to finish as we have now had confirmation of the results from the North East regional swimming gala which took place a couple of weeks ago. The results of all our teams are below but huge congratulations to our Inter and Senior boys’ teams who have both qualified for the English Schools National finals which take place in Birmingham on Saturday 21st November. Inter boys are ranked 10th in the country in both Medley & Freestyle relays. Senior boys are ranked 14th & 17th. The top 24 fastest teams in the country qualify so to be well up in the rankings is just outstanding; there were over 200 schools entered in every event. We are one of only a few state schools to have qualified.
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4x50m Freestyle relay |
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Junior Girls A = 7th, |
out of 15 teams |
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Junior Girls B = 12th |
out of 15 teams |
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Junior Boys = 4th |
out of 12 teams |
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Inter girls A = 8th |
out of 15 teams |
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Inter girls B = 12th |
out of 15 teams |
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Inter boys = 1st |
out of 15 teams |
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Snr girls = 12th |
out of 13 teams |
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Snr boys = 2nd |
out of 13 teams |
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4 x 50m Medley relay |
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Junior girls A = DQ |
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Junior girls B = 9th |
out of 14 |
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Junior boys = 5th |
out of 11 |
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Inter girls A = 11th |
out of 16 |
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Inter girls B = DQ |
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Inter boys = 1st |
out of 14 - won by 4 seconds! |
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Senior girls =10th |
out of 13 |
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Senior boys = 3rd |
out of 12 |
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE
A reminder of our weekly sports bulletin: