The planning stage is very much underway; with weekly meetings to discuss design, room layouts, fixtures and fittings. Every decision being made has our students and our community at the heart of it. Our students deserve the best and our new building will provide them with just that. With a performing arts space, dedicated outside sports and recreation facilities, fully equipped science labs and a learning resource centre to be proud of, we can not wait for the designs to be released into the public domain. 

Each week we will give you an update on progress from  the meetings held and once the building work starts, we will have a live stream showing it in action. 

This week marks the start of focused preparation for our next set of year 11 trial exams and we have received many requests from parents and carers about additional ways to help your child at home. To support home learning we have created a series of curriculum summaries that tell you exactly what your child will be studying in the next half term, critical content they must remember and examples of questions they might be asked so you can quiz them in between lessons. Your child will bring paper copies of these home but you can also access an electronic copies below. Simply click on them and they will expand. You will also find a calendar for Year 11 which shows each week with key dates and deadlines. 

Everyone knows that reading is the most important skill developed at school because, as Barak Obama rightly said, "it is the gateway that makes all other learning possible".  It also connects us to each other and the outside world. We are passionate about reading at DUA and so Tutor Time every Thursday now includes reading the news of the day and an in-depth class discussion about the issue at hand. In addition to this, we are currently hosting a book fair in the library until Wednesday 13th of November. All students can browse the books and can create a wish list for purchases after discussing it with you at home. Our Year 10 and 11 reading ambassadors will also be selecting some books to read to younger students during library time- more on our reading ambassadors to follow next week.

Our year 7 students have settled in well and are really showing their confidence, ambition and respect. They have been very excited to learn that their Chromebooks will be issued this week, following their E-Safety training and introduction to our school systems. 

Chromebooks enable our students to complete their home learning tasks, including SPARX Maths (which is set every week), access Google Classroom (where all their lesson work is shared) and complete student voice and personal development tasks. They also allow students to manage their own reward points and track their attendance and notifications. We expect them to treat the devices and each other with respect. 

We also expect that they are fully charged at the start of each day. We understand the pressures around the cost of living and so your child can charge these devices at school overnight if necessary. As a reminder, all students must have their Chromebook, charger, planner, pen, pencil and ruler with them every day. 

Everything a student does on a school chrome book is monitored but as a parent or carer it is sometimes difficult to keep up new technology and the dangers associated with apps and unsupervised phone use. We want to trust our children and give them age appropriate freedom but without parental controls and checking, we can not guarantee their safety and so we urge you to do the following:

1. Ensure your child has appropriate access and restrictions- parental controls are there for a reason and if you pay for your child's phone, whatever they do on it is linked to your name.

2. Do not allow children under the age of 13 or children who are over the age of 13 but not yet ready to have access to social media. The apps are not designed for children below 13 and they often do not understand how to use them safely.

3. Check your child's phone at random intervals- if they don't want you to see what they have been doing you probably need to know why.

4. Make sure their phone is out of their bedroom at night. Having a group chat which notifies your child during the night has a direct impact on the their quality of sleep and their mental health and wellbeing. 

5. Insist that they turn if off sometimes or don't have it near them during TV or family time. Their brains really need a break from screens. 

All students were welcomed back this half term with a reminder of our core values of being confident, ambitious and respectful. This includes how we walk around school (which is single file, on the left, calm and quiet). This helps all students to feel safe and ensures they get to their next lesson on time. For the minority of students who have not met our expectations despite being clearly reminded, we have introduced a whole school detention system which runs after school. 

The biggest influence on your child's success at GCSE is their attendance to school. We know that a child who attends DUA more than 96% of the time does better than other students nationally. They also learn so much more than the content of their GCSE subject curriculum. Our personal development programme prepares them for real life and our PSHCE lessons teach them valuable life skills to keep themselves safe, healthy and happy. As the winter approaches coughs and sneezes become more prevalent and so we urge you to take up the offer of free flu vaccination if your child is eligible and send them into school unless they really aren't well enough to attend. If they are unwell in school we will send them home. If they are ill, we will share work with them so that when better, they can catch up. Learning is like a tower of jenga blocks. If there are too many pieces missing in the lower levels, the learning will be unstable at the top. Every lesson is one of those blocks and so evey lesson missed has a destabling effect on your child's learning and progress. 

We want each and every one of our students to feel special and so we have started to celebrate birthdays during lunchtimes. If your child has a birthday and they wish celebrate it, they are given an invitation for themselves and a friend to have an early lunch in the week of their birthday. It has been lovely to speak to all those with birthdays this week and share their excitement for their special day. 

Wednesday lunchtimes are very exciting at DUA. Each teacher can nominate students who produce the best work of the week and we reward them with an early lunch and goodies. This week has been dominated by the Maths department and some excellent work from Alisha, Michelle, Jake, Charlie and Rebecca. Well done everyone- their work will be displayed in the Cafe for eveyone to see. 

Year 11 students have had one to one mock interviews with Durham Works to prepare them for their next stage, following their individual guidance sessions where they created an action plan for their Post 16 destinations. Year 8 have been learning about job descriptions and person specifications in English and our career of the week this week has been a journalist. Students have considered the skills and qualifications required in the role and have researched opportunities in this field during personal development time. 

We all like a treat but we also understand the importance of a balanced, healthy diet. This week sees the start of our healthier choices campaign and we will no longer sell individual treat items in the Café unless they are as addition to a main meal or packed lunch. We also request that you remind your child that sweets, bars of chocolates, fizzy drinks and family sized bags/tubes of crisps are strictly banned and will be confiscated if seen. They will be returned for your child to take home but they will not be allowed to consume them during the day. We would also ask that you do not allow them to consume energy drinks before school. Most energy drinks contain a large number of additives, caffeine and or sugar and are not suitable for children. 

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:

https://durhamacademy.org.uk