Supporting with the hard stuff

We know that the cost of living is creating additional challenges for many of our families and so for a while now we have been working with Feeding Families. 

This fantastic charity believes, as we do, that no family should feel hunger in the UK and that people have the right to feed themselves and their children. 

Mr Milligan travelled to the warehouse this week to collect 50 boxes. Please call into reception if you would like to collect one. 

The boxes contain tinned goods, pasta, treats and other ingredients for main meals. 

We also have some bags that contain cleaning products and sanitary items which can also be collected from reception. 

Securing scholarships

We are proud to announce that we are official partners with Smallpiece trust's Arkwright Engineering scholarship program for 2025-2026.

The aim is to identify, inspire and support Durham Academy's most promising future engineers. 

These scholarships are some of the most prestigious of their kind in the UK, supporting students through their A Levels, and encouraging them to pursue engineering at university or through higher-level apprenticeships.    

We will be rolling out the programme for our year 11s in September 2025. 

A huge thank you to Dr Atwal for working very hard to secure this amazing opportunity for students. It will change the course of their lives. 

Promoting opportunities

Do you, or do you know somebody, who feels as if they are being left behind in the digital world?

If so, DurhamLearn are running their popular Digital Skills courses starting week of the 16 June 2025, to help you catch up. All you need is 1.5 hours a week, for four weeks.

The course will take you through all of the steps of setting up a device, getting onto the internet, accessing public services, banking, shopping, and entertainment safely.

DurhamLearn will work with you to increase your skills and confidence so you can access the digital world safely and confidently.

You will also get a free tablet with internet access when you complete the course.

From June 16 we have courses running at venues throughout County Durham including:

- Annfield Plain

- Bowburn

- Chester le Street

- Consett

- Ferryhill

- Newton Aycliffe

- Peterlee

- Seaham

- Shildon

- Spennymoor

For more information visit: https://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamlearncourses

or read the attached guide. 

Preparing for our Battlefields visit

Mrs Anderson rarely stops at the best of times but this last week she has been extremely busy finalising documentation and plans for our ACCESS visit to Belgium. 

Students will experience life long learning by visiting war graves and other significant sites and we will be commemorating someone dear to one of our families during the visit. 

Oliver's family in Year 8 have shared with us the memorial documents for his Great-Great Uncle and we will be laying a wreath on behalf of the family and our Academy during the trip. 

Charlie in Year 9 has written a beautiful piece of poetry which will be read out and Marsden in Year 8 has prepared a speech which he will read as the students show their respect at the memorial. Thank you to Oliver and his family for sharing this with our community. 

Learning about TikTok

Our assembly theme this week has focused on the dangers of Tik Tok and students have learnt how to keep themselves safe. 

Social media is directly linked to low self esteem and an increasing number of mental health issues in young people and has been scientifically proven to lead to addiction. 

Please ensure that your child does not have any access to social media if they are under 13 and if they are over 13, you have filters and checks in place to monitor what they are viewing. You can do this by selecting that your child has a restricted account. 

The app works on an algorithm which feeds children with content based on what they have already seen. Over time this often includes harmful content which no child should see. Please check your child's phone and report anything harmful. 

We will be sharing more parent/carer help guides over the coming months.

Getting excited about darts

Our Year 10 Sports Leaders have requested a Darts club as part of ACCESS so we have purchased a darts board, carried out a very in-depth risk assessment and planned installation. 

We are hopeful that this will lead to an ALP tournament (and us winning it) which will bring together students from across our Trust. 

Building a robot

Mr Heppell did not expect to get involved with robotics when he entered his career as a PE teacher but this week has seen him building a badminton robot (yet to be given a real name), which is going to assist students in PE lessons and ACCESS activities. 

Learning about careers 

As you already know, we are beyond excitement about being part of the Lumiere festival again. 

Our students are privileged to have been selected to work with artists, engineers and producers over the coming months and they met two of them on Tuesday. 

Both years 9 and 10 met Beth from Artichoke (who travelled from London to meet the students) and John from Kromec (an engineering company in Sedgefield) during a careers assembly. 

We can't thank Beth and John enough for giving up their time to educate and inspire our students. We learnt about their career paths, what their jobs actually involve and how to prepare for future decision making. 

Beth and John will be crucial when it comes to our students designing their Lumiere artwork and it is vital that we show students what brilliant careers are available to them in Art and STEM. 

The Lumiere festival is about so much more than the individual pieces produced; it brings together people from all different backgrounds, shares stories and makes them, gives our students a voice and a place in their community and shows them that anything is possible if you dare to dream it. 

Another life long learning experience at Durham Academy. 

Recognising great attendance

Mr Jackson's tutor group are jubilant this week as having the best attendance in school means they received an early and therefore extended lunchtime today. 

With 98% attendance they took the gold medal, beating the excellent 95% of Mrs Davidson and 93% of Miss Chapman's groups. 

Another early lunch is up for grabs next Friday so please ensure your child is in it to win it by attending every day. 

Tracking ACCESS participation

Around a third of students have been involved in something outside of the classroom this week (that doesn't include Year 10 and 11 revision sessions) and we want to see this number increase even further before the Summer holidays. Not only will darts and lacrosse be starting next week but we also have some amazing new outdoor table tennis tables that will be popping up for students to use during break and lunchtime. We expect all students to be ambitious when it comes to developing new skills and talents so please encourage your child to take part. The current ACCESS timetable can be seen below and will be updated again next week.