17th January 2025

Welcome to our weekly bulletin,

Another week has flown over at Durham Academy, filled with STAR student points and confident, ambitious and respectful learners.

We have been enjoying our new rota of library lessons in key stage 3, competed in sports competitions and...

Getting the invites ready for our new build public consultation meeting.

Our meeting has now been confirmed as Tuesday 28th January at 2.30pm-7pm .

Our new build meetings with the DfE have moved to a Monday starting next week and exact details of the event will be shared with you in next week's bulletin. We can't wait to show you the plans!

Summarising what your child will be learning this term.

Knowing what your child is learning is a great way to support them at home. Many of the topics relate to things you can build in to everyday tasks and conversation such as reading food labels, discussing news feeds, visiting local landmarks or historical building, calculating the cost of the weekly shop or asking questions about the topics in our curriculum summaries.

Click to expand the document and you will see a page for each year group. It is also useful to look back and ahead so you can see how units are built upon over time.

As usual, your child is expected to complete all homework tasks that relate to each topic and read for 20 minutes per day.

Spring Term 25 Curriculum Summary.pdf

Completing Trial Exams

Year 11 are now in their final weeks of learning new content and the content they have learnt is being assessed in trial exams.

All students have been given a copy of their timetable and we are very proud of how they have conducted themselves in exam conditions. You can find a copy below.

It is vital that they are thoroughly prepared and have revised content appropriately. If they have missed any days at school, they must attend the catch up exam.

In the Autumn Term, we shared learning summaries for year 11 with questions you could ask at home to check their learning and understanding. You can still access these by selecting the home tab above and as another reminder, we have also given all students access to Pearson Revision Online which provides free revision guides and materials.

Reminding students of ACCESS opportunities

Lessons are the foundation of school but the extra-curricular opportunities we provide are often the things students remember the most. Our ACCESS programme includes a huge variety of activities, challenges and experiences to enhance their school experience ad prepare them for adulthood.

Our extra-curricular timetable will be re-shared next week and we expect students to attend at least one club every week.

Celebrating World Religion Day

Assembly this week has been focused on tolerance, understanding and respect. Each tutor group has investigated world religions and celebrated the diverse world we live in.

They have considered the ultimate questions associated with being a human; our purpose and place in society and compared our answers with those from major religions.

We have reflected on differences and discussed reasons for them and developed our knowledge as global citizens.

Forming a partnership with Hargreaves Services

Our year 7 students will take part in The race to the line STEM Challenge 24/25 thanks to the STEM Skills Partnership we have developed. This will no doubt provide a whole host of unforgettable experiences in the year ahead so look out for more updates soon.

Scheduling our SEN Coffee Afternoons

Our SENCO has been booking in professionals this week to include a sleep clinic, a dealing with anxiety session, how to support with handwriting and a range of other SEND specialists.

Due to timetable changes, our coffee afternoon will now take place on a Tuesday, every other week, with the next drop in scheduled for Tuesday 21st at 1.30pm.

Please contact reception on 01913730336 if you would like to attend.