13 November 2026
Dear Parents and Carers,
Along with the rest of the country, we have marked Remembrance Day in school this week. Durham Johnston has a long tradition of remembering those who gave their lives in armed conflicts, and during our whole school virtual assembly, Mr Patterson reflected on that history whilst talking about our school war memorial. It was first proposed in 1920, after 35 former pupils and one member of staff, Mr Crawshaw, had died in action during the First World War. Former pupils, parents and governors all came together, and the memorial was unveiled in the assembly hall just six months later. It was added to in 1948, with two further panels containing the names of 72 pupils and staff who died during the Second World War. The memorial has stayed with the school over three buildings and more than 100 years, and Mr Patterson highlighted that, amongst other things, that it tells us that generations have valued remembering and respecting those brave men that left home to be part of something bigger than themselves.
This theme was continued by Mr Doyle and our students in the assembly, as they shared the stories of some of the Old Johnstonians who are remembered on the memorial. At the heart of our ethos is our challenge to students to ‘dare to belong’ – when we ask this of them, we are talking about being part of something bigger than us. Mr Doyle spoke about the fact that, although we cannot know exactly what made our Old Boys choose to fight, we do know that these were educated men who believed in something bigger than themselves, and who believed in giving something back. In remembering them, we see the very best of the qualities we hope for in our current students.
The whole school observed the two-minute silence, led by Michael M in Year 13 and Isaac B in Year 9 playing the Last Post, whilst wreaths were laid in the hall by senior students and cadets on behalf of the whole community and our local Councillor Elizabeth Scott. All students involved in both this and the assembly did superbly.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McFadden
Dates for your diary
A reminder of some upcoming events in school:
Monday 23rd November
Year 11 Parents’ Evening
Tuesday 24th November, 6.00pm
Ski Trip Parents’ Meeting
Friday 27th November
INSET - school closed
Monday 7th November
Year 13 Parents’ Evening
Flu Vaccination Catch-Up Session – Wednesday 2 December
A Flu Vaccination catch-up session will take place in school on Wednesday 2nd December.
Parents/carers of students who missed the previous vaccination session will receive an email from Intrahealth or the NHS giving them another opportunity to provide consent for the catch-up session.
If you would prefer your child to receive their flu vaccination sooner, you can contact IntraHealth directly on 03333 583 397, option 3.
Public Lecture Series
This Wednesday we had the pleasure of hearing about the limits of AI. Mr O'Connor explained how programmers use bees to find heuristic solutions to intractable problems. Coders imitate the behaviour of bees searching for pollen to find 'good enough' solutions when computers would take years to find the best solution. There was much sympathy for the teachers attempting to find a 'good enough' timetable for all our staff and students!
Visit from Mary Foy MP
Last week our Sixth Formers taking History, Politics and/or Economics were privileged to hear from City of Durham MP, Mary Foy. Mary spoke to our students about her route into Parliament via Gateshead council and how she has worked on legislation such as the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026. Students asked interesting questions about her experience as a woman in politics and the impact of the US midterms on our politics. We are very grateful to her for taking the time to come and speak to our students.
Mr Patterson
Associate Assistant Headteacher
Lexia
Lexia, particularly Lexia PowerUp Literacy, provides personalised, adaptive literacy learning that identifies gaps in students’ knowledge and provides targeted activities to address them.
The benefits extend beyond English lessons, as literacy is fundamental to success across all subject areas.
At Durham Johnston, we started to use Lexia across Years 7-11 in October to improve reading and comprehension skills and help students to achieve their best possible results. We are now starting to see positive and impactful results. A number of our students have officially ‘levelled up’ in their reading or literacy strand, and parents and carers have had certificates emailed to them to celebrate their success. Congratulations!
Ms Hill
Learning Support
TechFirst Girls Competition
The TechFirst girls’ competition is officially open!
Year 8 girls in teams of up to 4 are completing a series of online challenges for points. Unfortunately, we can't give details of the challenges as they are top secret!
Many teams have been working their way through the challenges at lunchtime and it's been amazing to see their determination.
The competition closes on Friday 20th November and the top-scoring team in the North East will be declared the champions.
Mr O'Connor
Lead Teacher of KS4/5 Computer Science
Music Notices
Tickets for our two Christmas Concerts are now on sale via www.ticketsource.co.uk/durhamjohnston. We look forward to seeing parents, carers and friends there!
Concerts are as follows:
Wednesday 9th December: Instrumental Concert, 7pm
Featuring Training Orchestra, Senior Orchestra, Wind Band, Jazz Band, and Soloists.
Friday 11th December: Vocal Concert, 7pm
Featuring Training Choir, Senior Choir, Chamber Choir, the cast of the 2027 musical, and Soloists.
We are also preparing for joint endeavours with Durham Choral Society, and Gabrielli Roar – watch this space for more news – as well as, of course, the annual school Carol Service at Durham Cathedral at the end of term.
Mr Haworth
Subject Leader for Music
PE News
On Tuesday our Year 9 boys’ basketball team travelled to Jesmond Park Academy in the English Schools Cup. We produced our best performance of the season playing some outstanding basketball on our way to a comfortable 72-48. It was a great team performance, but Isaac T was POM. Our Year 9 girls’ basketball team also had a match as they hosted High Tunstall in a friendly. Again, we dominated the game going on to secure a 20 point win.
Also on on Tuesday, a group of our Year 7 students were at the Durham Fives Club for a taster session. They had a great time learning some new skills and playing some exciting games. Hopefully some of them will now go on and join the club.
On Wednesday we hosted the U12, U14 and U16 girls’ County rugby tournaments. This was an outstanding afternoon of high-quality rugby as over 150 girls took part across the three age groups. All the competitions were competitive, and after a fantastic performance our Year 7 girls won the final to be crowned County Champions. Also on Wednesday, a group of our Year 9 students were at True Padel Durham taking part in the first session of the Jason Manford Padel Academy. They had an excellent afternoon learning some new skills and playing some matches. They have four more sessions over the coming weeks before taking part in a County tournament in December.
Yesterday our Year 8 netball team hosted Newcastle HS in the National Cup. This was an outstanding game played in a great spirit. We started slowly and the score was close in the first half. However, once we settled into our rhythm, we controlled the game going on to reach the next round with a 27-15 win. We are now into the northern quarter finals.
Also last night, our Year 7 netball team travelled to Consett Academy for a league match. We dominated the game playing some excellent netball as we won 25-1. POM was Pippa B.
Good luck tonight to our Year 10 boys football team who host Acklam Grange in the English Schools Cup, and also our Year 11 boys football team who travel to Wolsingham in the County Cup.
Outside of school, Year 11 Luigi F competed in the Durham Long Distance Scull last weekend. This is a yearly event attracting the best rowers from the North of England and beyond. Luigi not only came first in the Junior 16 category, but also beat all other single scullers in J17 and J18 bar one. His time was third best in the whole competition including all age categories in the single scull.
Finally advanced notice the parents meeting for those students going on the school ski-trips in January 2027 is taking place on Tuesday 24th November starting at 6.00pm in the James Hall. We look forward to welcoming everyone, where you will receive important final details in preparation for the trips.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE
A reminder of our weekly sports bulletin: