Dear Families
Our students have returned well after the half term break and quickly got back into the swing of things, working hard and enjoying the learning opportunities they have had this week. We’ve had some great expert sessions in school which continue to feed into current expedition work supporting our students in their response to their guiding questions.
Working with experts
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G32 – What does it mean to be human?
Students in G32 have this week had a workshop session with experts from The Dialogue Society, connected to our curricular seam of cultivating diversity and belonging, through the unique perspective of the Life of a Chickpea.
They have also had input from our partners at North East Humanist: John Sargent and Les Milne, who each gave their views and humanist teachings about the nature of and importance of life and our shared humanity.
G31 Enterprise
Student Leaders from G31 spent a day at Redhills Mining Institute in Durham working with business leaders and entrepreneurs as part of the launch of a pilot scheme aimed at developing enterprise capability in students.
Our students were filmed and interviewed during the course of the day. There is potentially a slot on BBC Look North this Monday 9th at 6.30pm. The scheme has already been in the local news this week, and we are delighted to be one of the pilot schools.
G33 Fieldwork to Beamish
Students in G33 had a fantastic day at Beamish this week, working with experts to bring the past to life in an immersive learning experience, which supported students’ studies of the Industrial Revolution and the importance of coal in shaping life in the Northeast.
Beautiful work
G32 Students’ Creative Writing Broadcast in Honour of WWI Sacrifice
I think that the biggest highlight of the week though must be our G32’s final product from their 7.2 expedition ‘Do your bit‘ radio broadcast. This was played on Memory Lane Radio today as part of a programme of their Remembrance programme.
This segment features excerpts from students’ creative writing on the theme of unheard voices from World War I. This year, the excerpts are taken from letters written by students either to those on the front line or to loved ones back home accompanied by music produced by the students. Their work explores and responds to the guiding question: ‘Why is it important that we honour all who sacrificed in WWI?’
The opportunity for our students to share their work with the community and a listenership of over 100,000 people is a wonderful one. Now in its fourth consecutive year, the broadcast has become a valued tradition, proudly showcasing our students’ work on this station. A huge thanks must go to our dedicated Digital Leaders for carrying out the recordings and Paul Wappat at Memory Lane Radio for organising this being played and supporting our students to honour all those who sacrificed in WW1.
You can listen here.
Our week ahead
PE sessions this week
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
- All G33 students (Year 7) have PE on Wednesday.
- All G32 students (Year 8) have PE on Thursday.
- All G31 students (Year 9) have PE on Tuesday.
- All G30 students (Year 10) have PE on Wednesday.
- All G29 students (Year 11) have PE on Wednesday.
Extended Study and Clubs
Our clubs will all run this week (see schedule below) along with extended study sessions every day except Friday.
New Mandarin Club
We are delighted that our partnership with The Confucius Institute is continuing this year. We have a Mandarin Club, ran by a native Mandarin Speaker expert, Shanshan Li, which runs each Tuesday after school. We would love to see lots of students there – the Year 7s that attended last week had a great time learning language through engaging games.
As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].
