Should all have gone well, this headteacher update should be reaching you in a different format to the others we’ve shared since the beginning of the year. We have changed aspects of our website so that these updates should appear there each week with you receiving a link via email. We’ve made these changes for a few reasons. Firstly, the new website is more cost effective and I’m always conscious that any money the school spends is public money and therefore we must maximise what we get. The new website also gives us much more flexibility in terms of the information we share and the quality of what we share

However, if I’m being truly honest, looking to ensure that the school website is both cost efficient and a showcase for all that is happening here in our community isn’t why I became a teacher. Schools are required to have a website and indeed they act as a good shop window for families, but to me, like many of the changes technology has wrought on society, they are a form of communication but not conversation. All of us will have felt the burden of constant communication and that sense that we can’t escape either work emails or social media updates but how many of these are simply transactional, forms of communication where someone says to us “do this, know this” and not something where we can talk and build a shared understanding about something? Email may be part of modern life, but I ask all our staff where possible to avoid using it and try to talk to people either in person or on the phone. In the short term this might seem like more effort but having actual conversations with people tends to reduce misunderstandings, builds true relationships and therefore allows the school to operate more efficiently in the long term.

These principles also apply to our students. The highlight of my day is always the conversations I have with students, be that the Year 7 girl who tells me about the progress of the girls' football team, the 6th former who asks my opinion on their friend’s recent experiment with hair dye, the Year 9 “couple” who, outwardly at least, politely accept my mocking as one of them waits for the other at the school gates each morning so they can walk into school holding hands. I could claim that these conversations are about ensuring our value of each student being known and valued is being met by me, and to an extent that’s true, but the reality is a little simpler: this is just about people talking to people and I would never want to lead an organisation where that wasn’t seen as the best way to communicate. To that end, please do enjoy the new website and let us have any feedback on how we might improve it, but please also keep remembering to talk to us where that’s possible as it’s these conversations that form the heart of our community.

Many thanks for your continued support of the school; I hope you all have a good weekend. 

Michael Wright

Headteacher 

 

Please find this week's key messages below.  

Training Update

This week we again met as a whole staff body to look at practical strategies we might implement in the classroom to help students on the autistic spectrum.

Calculators

A reminder that all students need a scientific calculator to complete their maths work. Year 11 mock exams this week have highlighted the fact that not all students bring them to school as a matter of course. Using one now in Year 7 gets students into good habits for their GCSE exams and relying on the school to provide one in an exam situation can cause distress and upset during exams themselves. Thanks for your support with this issue.

New Build Update

The designs for the exterior of the new school are now complete therefore the next stage is to go through the public planning process. We’ll be sharing more details soon but on the evening of 26th March 3.00-7.00pm there will be an opportunity for people to come and look at the proposed design as the Sjøvoll Centre here at school followed by the true public consultation opening on 12th April. I’d encourage as many interested people as possible to join us on the 26th to look at the plans themselves.

Hyper Bots Success

The Hyper Bots brilliantly represented the school in a thrilling UK National Championship VEX V5 Robotics Competition at the Telford International Centre this weekend, after showing incredible commitment and dedication over the past 12 months and after forming a winning alliance with Durham Johnston School's team 54732B Team 1 at Tanfield in January to qualify for the Nationals in only our second year competing in the VEX tournament. I would particularly like to thank the parents of all 14 team members at the competition who gave up their time over the half term holiday to give the children the opportunity to take part, and to everyone who has been kind enough to make donations to Framwellgate School Durham's robotics teams. Their success this year would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support of parents, carers, families and friends, and of the Reece Foundation who generously provided the essential VEX V5 equipment to get us started.

Over the 2-day competition in Telford, team 10042F Hyper Bots competed in 12 hard-fought qualifying matches in the Middle School competition - which is for students in Year 10 or younger - winning 7 of their 12 High Stakes matches and ranking an incredible 10th out of the 30 participating teams.

Following an unpredictable, highly tactical and extremely stressful (!) alliance selection process, the Hyper Bots chose to partner with team 6493B T-ROB2 from Tanfield School, forming a Durham alliance to compete in the knock-out rounds which determined the tournament finalists and ultimate champions.

The Hyper Bots / T-ROB2 alliance triumphed in the first knock-out round, winning an exciting nail-biting match by 18 points to 17 and becoming one of only 8 Middle School teams to reach the quarter finals. This meant experiencing the excitement of competition on a main-stage game arena in front of a large audience and live-stream cameras alongside the High School finals matches! Although the Durham alliance were ultimately beaten in their quarter final match by the eventual UK National Championship runners up, the Hyper Bots were proud to be awarded a trophy for one of only two Judges’ Awards in recognition of their outstanding team spirit, hard work and determination to overcome obstacles, including their efforts to raise funds in order to help them to compete at the highest level possible. I think that the judges were also impressed by the sheer number of students involved in the Hyper Bots team and present at the event - by far the largest team there!

Planning starts this week for next year's robotics competitions. Current Year 8 students moving up from First LEGO League to VEX V5 to work with current Year 9s, and current Year 7 students will begin to prepare for the 2025/26 First LEGO League robotics challenge. We are also hoping to be able secure funding for a second VEX V5 robot to support a Year 12 (High School) team and an additional LEGO Spike Prime robotics set to enable more students to benefit from the life-changing and memorable experience of working as a team to develop strategies, design solutions and overcome obstacles to compete against teams from schools across the UK and beyond. The 2025/26 VEX V5 competition game will be revealed at the VEX World Championships in Dallas, Texas in May... maybe next year?!

Thank you again for all your support. It means a lot to the students, and it makes a difference.

Mr Earnshaw, Teacher of Computer Science

Fram robotics equipment fundraising links:

https://justgiving.com/campaign/firstlegoleaguerobotics to support Year 7 and Year 8 LEGO Robotics

https://justgiving.com/campaign/vexv5robotics to support Year 9, Year 10 and Year 12 VEX V5 Robotics

Ski trip

Before half term, a group of 35 students in Years 8, 9 and 10, travelled to Bormio in Italy, for a week’s skiing. All the beginners had been offered five hours of tuition at Silksworth dry ski slope before they went on the trip, and this made a huge difference to how quickly they began moving around the mountain. The instructors were all very impressed with how quickly the students progressed. Some of the Year 10 students had chosen skiing as their sport for GCSE PE, so the week away created great opportunities for the students to generate a bank of video evidence. After skiing, the students completed an hour of schoolwork before dinner, then participated in the evening activities which included karaoke, bingo and a quiz. The students were an absolute pleasure to be with and their impeccable behaviour was a credit to themselves, their parents and the school. Look out for information about next year’s ski trip which will be sent out next week via Class Charts to students currently in Years 7, 8 and 9

Mrs Forrest, SENCO

 

Safer Internet Day

As part of Safer Internet Day last term, our students took part in a survey with regard to their online activity.

Although the online world can be an amazing platform when used correctly, the results from the student survey did raise some concerns about the amount of time young people spend online.

What the survey told us;

  • 37% of students who completed the survey spend more than 4 hours online each day.
  • 34% of students who completed the survey chat to people online who they have never met.
  • 38% of students who completed the survey accepted friend requests from people they have never met in person.
  • 97% of students who completed the survey know who they could talk to if they were worried about anything that was happening online.
  • 95% of students who completed the survey know the legal age restrictions on social media platforms.
  • 99% of students who completed the survey knew what being respectful online meant.
  • With the increase and use of Artificial Intelligence in this digital age, it was positive to know that 89% of our students who completed the survey knew that AI can be harmful if not used correctly and 86% of students know about the positives and negatives of Artificial Intelligence within education.

We would like to encourage all parents and carers to discuss these results with their child and ensure that parents/carers regularly check in with their child about their online activities.

To support parents and carers navigate their way through understanding AI, the NSPCC have published a short article to look at AI tools and AI generated content. I hope you find this useful.

Artificial intelligence safety tips for parents | NSPCC

Google have also released some guidance to support families and teenagers online. Here is the attached link to access this guidance:

Google Families | Empowering children to safely connect, play and learn online

 

Department Spotlight – Art

Before half term, we spent time exploring the excellent work of our artists by spending time in the Art Department. I refer to all the students as artists here because that is how they are treated and the expectations of their teachers are such that they are considered artists. The view of our art teachers is that every student can be successful in art and we saw this in action. Students spoke to us with real pride when showing us their pieces and the processes they had used to achieve this - whether that be 3D pieces, textiles, mark making, tonal drawing, digital art using photography, pop-art inspired pieces or their own creations using various mediums as part of their homework projects. We saw Year 8 presenting their 'Food' themed pieces that they had been working on independently for homework and Year 9 researching and being inspired by the word of Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana. Year 10 students have impressive work inspired by Luke Dixon. Year 13 students spoke about their journey as artists and one student explained to me how her passion for politics has influenced the evolution of her creative ideas and her latest piece where she is using politicians in her brief on 'creatures' was fascinating. The art rooms are a showcase for so much wonderful work and we look forward to the annual exhibition of Year 12 work in the summer.

Mrs Machin, Deputy Headteacher