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23rdMay 2025
23rdMay 2025
Welcome to our weekly bulletin,
It's hard to believe that we are approaching the end of another half term. This year is flying by at great speed and we hope that all of our families have a safe and happy week away from school. Year 11 of course will not have a week away from learning as they are at a crucial time in their exams. We always see some fatigue towards the end of the first set of exams and then students come back rested and ready after a week of revision and relaxation. Please make sure that your child finds the right balance and uses all of their time wisely during half term. The rest of the school have also been very busy...
Making changes to car parking
Making changes to car parking
We are very hopeful that building work will commence during the Summer Term and so we need to make changes to the car parking arrangements in and around school. This is to ensure student safety.
From Monday 2nd June only cars with a car parking permit (issued by reception) will be allowed to enter the school car park.
The gates to the car park will be closed to all vehicles with the exception of school buses and taxis at the start and end of the school day.
School buses and taxis will enter the site in a staggered formation and so no parent or carer should park on the road outside of school. It is vital that parents and carers follow these instructions for the safety of all students who are walking in and out of the site. Please see the map below for further clarification.
Preparing for 'Big Tests'
Preparing for 'Big Tests'
Years 7 and 8 will have their own 'Big Tests' in the week after half term and Mrs Anderson has shared a letter with all parents and carers to help you to support your child in preparation for them.
These tests will inform setting next year and alert us to any intervention needs so your child makes the maximum amount of progress during their time at Durham Academy.
Each child will be given guidance by each Head of Faculty about the content and skills they should revise and they will also receive knowledge organisers via Google Classroom.
Your child should spend at least 30 minutes revising for each subject during half term and English Tassomi will not be set during the holidays.
Please ensure your child checks their Google Classroom for important infromation.
Big Test Letter and Schedule .pdf
Meeting David Walliams
Meeting David Walliams
Year 7 were treated to a special online live session on Thursday with bestselling author and comedian David Walliams. The exciting session gave pupils the chance to hear Walliams speak about his journey as a writer, his much-loved older novels such as Gangsta Granny and A Boy in a Dress, and his latest release, The World's Worst Superheroes.
During the event, Walliams shared the inspiration behind his characters and talked about how he combines humour with important life lessons in his books.
The interactive session also included a Q&A with 50,000 students across the country. It was an inspiring and entertaining experience for all involved, encouraging a love of reading for pleasure and storytelling across the year group.
Our school library has some of Walliams' books available for students to borrow.
Year 7 student Jasper said, "It was inspirational to young people because David explained how he started writing. I also liked that he answered questions about his books".
Saying thank you to Virgin Money
Saying thank you to Virgin Money
Dr Atwal is saying a massive thank you to 'Virgin Money Foundation' for offering a grant for our students to start their project to build their very own racing kart.
Our students will embark on an exciting journey in engineering, designing and racing their kart against other schools across the country.
We are extremely thankful to Virgin Money Foundation for their help and support and have some budding racers who we believe could be the future of Formula 1!
We will keep you posted on our journey.
#Virgin money foundation
Learning about Cyber-crime
Learning about Cyber-crime
Our assemblies this week have focused on not being a cyber victim or villain and covered both the risks of being targeted and ways to stay safe and the consequences of illegal use of technology.
Students are kept safe and secure via our filtering and monitoring of school devices but parents and carers should be aware that anything your child does on their mobile phone is linked to the person who pays the bill and therefore your bank accounts and data could also be at risk if your child does not keep that device safe.
We are sharing some top tips with you to protect your home from Cyber crime and over the next few weeks we will be offering parenting drop ins to share other useful help and guidance on navigating the world as a parent of a teenager.
Please look out for more details in the next bulletin issue.
Booking end of term rewards
Booking end of term rewards
As you know, we believe in rewarding students for getting it right and so the end of each term always includes a series of reward trips and opportunities. This is our ACCESS programme as it gives students experiences outside of school which challenge and educate them.
Whilst we try to make these as free as possible, the cost of transport has increased exponentially over the last few years and so we now ask for a parental contribution to help us cover some of these costs.
ACCESS to all area trips will be advertised via classcharts after half term and students will need to have enough achievement points in order to qualify.
If do not not already have the classcharts app, please download it today as it shows you how many points your child has.
Want to know more?
Want to know more?
Telephone: 0191 3730336
Email: contact@durhamacademy.org.uk
For the most up to date information about what is going on in our school, please visit our website at:
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