14th February 2025

Welcome to our weekly bulletin,

Lots to report on this week with sports, science and the new build meeting creating excitement around school. We have been very busy...

Planning fixtures and fittings for the new Café

The new build meeting this week focused on flooring, servery and maximising on space in our new build Café.

This is such an important area of school and the largest in-door social area on the site that we want to make sure students have the right environment to enjoy their lunchtime, without unnecessary queues.

You can see the draft plans in reception following our public consultation and we are hopeful that our virtual tour of the new build will be ready for sharing soon.

Being praised by the Altitude Foundation

We had a Theodora from the Altitude Foundation came to observe our code cooperative club, they wrote:

"Had an incredible session at the Code cooperative club at Durham Academy last week! Watching these young minds dive into coding and come with creative solutions was nothing short of inspiring, helping them realise that the possibilities are endless when they have the tools and confidence to create"

Raising the profile of School Council

Our school council take their role in school very seriously and on Monday afternoon they reviewed and agreed their School Council Charter. They will share this with Tutor groups next week before finalising the development plan for the rest of the year.

They also surveyed the school on their school food preferences and as a result, have created a 'You said, We did' notice for the student bulletin. Students asked for an all-day breakfast to be included on the lunch service and it was served for the first time on Thursday. 65 students chose this for their lunch and the school council will survey them again on Monday to determine whether it is going to stay.

It was a privilege to work with the students as they agreed their charter. They showed great maturity, confidence and leadership. Elected members will now feedback to the extended leadership team on a Friday morning to ensure that they really do have a say in school life.

Enjoying a good roast lunch

A record number of plates were emptied on Wednesday with our roast chicken lunch proving very popular with students in all year groups.

A well balanced meal is always on offer with vegetarian and halal options and this is the best value option available as it comes with a dessert.

Please encourage your child to eat well.

Preparing for blast off!

After completing their workshop with the UK Space agency and The Big Ideas Team (if you missed this you can read previous bulletins by selecting the tabs at the top of this screen), our Year 9 impressed them so much that we received a rather lovely surprise in the post in the form of some rockets!

Students will now apply Newton's Law to launch them and we can't wait to see this in action.

Thank you UK Space Agency & The Big Ideas Team!

Sharing individual raising achievement plans

It was fantastic to see so many parents and carers join us on Thursday to discuss the progress being made by Year 11 students. Every child has now been given a copy of their examination entries, a calendar for the rest of the year, a copy of their attendance certificate and a raising achievement plan for each of their subject areas to secure even more progress. Every class teacher has planned specific tuition and intervention for every child following their mock exams and we are sharing this with them on a three week basis. This will enable them to prioritise revision and achieve SMART targets.

If you were unable to attend, we know you will still want to support your child and so members of staff will be contacting you to discuss their progress and revision needs.

You will find an explanation of their report on the reverse of their mock exam results.