End of week bulletin – 1 April

Durham High School became a film set this week, as we welcomed film education specialists Affixxius into school to produce our new school film. Our thanks to all the pupils involved, who were tremendous ambassadors for DHS. We look forward to sharing the final piece with you in the Summer Term.

Netball Success

Our U12 Netball Team delivered a fantastic set of performances at the Jesmond Invitational Tournament last weekend. They produced wins against Dame Allan’s, NHSFG, RGS and St. Peter’s to secure first place in the tournament. Well done girls!

Ukraine Appeal

The response across the school to the Ukraine appeal has been tremendous and extremely heart-warming. Firstly, Mrs McElrue would like to pass on his sincerest gratitude to everyone who has donated to her Poland excursion appeal. They have been overwhelmed with the response from the school community and are struggling to fit everything in their van ahead of them setting off this evening. A reminder that you can still donate on their JustGiving page and you will be able to follow their journey to Poland on Facebook.

Pupils across the school have all responded to the crisis in such an empathetic way, either sending in donations or becoming entrepreneurs and making and selling their own goods. Across Junior House, various pupil-led activities raised over £510 for the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. Reception, Year 1 and 2 made and sold biscuits, Year 3 sold homemade books, jewellery, cakes and bookmarks, Year 4 made and sold bracelets, Year 5 held a jumble sale with toys, books and DVDs, and Year 6 sold bracelets, hair scrunchies, blue and yellow badges and cakes.

In Senior House, a bake sale organised by our Interact Club yesterday raised a tremendous £417. Thank you to everyone for your generosity and support for this fantastic cause.

Sports Presentation Evening

It was wonderful to welcome so many of you to Ramside Hall on Monday evening to celebrate the sporting achievements of our pupils over this last year. This was the first Sports Presentation Evening to take place in-person since 2019, and we were delighted to finally welcome football commentator and sports journalist Vicki Sparks as our keynote speaker. Vicky presented awards to all our winners, as we celebrated some fantastic individual and team successes. Well done to everyone who received an award on the evening. A gallery of photos is now available to view on our Facebook page.

School Communication

A reminder that we break up for the Easter Holidays after school today. Please be aware that there will be nobody monitoring telephone calls after 6pm this evening until we return on Monday 25 April 2022. If you have an emergency for which you need to contact the school, please email [email protected] and somebody will get back to you as soon as they can.

School Ball

The Parents & Friends are delighted to see the return of the Durham High School Ball after Easter. The rainforest-themed event will be taking place on Saturday 7 May from 7pm in The Bishops Suite at Ramside Hall. The Ball is for all members of the school community, with parents from all year groups invited, as well as Year 12 and 13 pupils, staff, Governors and Old Girls who are aged 17 years old and above.

The annual event, which was last able to take place in May 2019, is a wonderful occasion which will allow us to finally come together as an entire school community and celebrate the wonderful efforts of our pupils, staff and parents throughout the last two years. The aim of the evening is to raise money for the Parents & Friends, who do fabulous work for the benefit of all pupils at Durham High School. To book, please visit bit.ly/dhsrainforestball where you can choose your menu options and pay for your tickets. We really do hope to see you there.

Raffle Tickets

All pupils have been given a set of raffle tickets ahead of the School Ball, prices at £1 each. Anyone can purchase a raffle ticket, even if they are not attending the ball and there are some fantastic prizes to win. Please return raffle tickets both sold and unsold with ticket money in an envelope marked ‘RAFFLE TICKETS’ to school by Friday 29 April. The raffle will be drawn on Saturday 7 May.

Suubi Africa 60 Mile Challenge

Are you ready to take on a challenge and change a child’s life at the same time? Join a virtual challenge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Participants will be following the Northern Circuit Route and the Lemosho Route, which is a 60-mile journey to the top and back. Complete your 60 miles in 6 weeks, starting on 1 May, by walking, running, cycling and/or rowing. Every penny will go towards supporting the children and families of Suubi Africa Village, Uganda. Sign up at suubi.link/60miles or visit facebook.com/60mileschallenge.

COVID-19 Update – 1 April

Free COVID-19 testing for the general public ended today as part of the ‘Living with COVID’ plan, which last month set out the Government’s strategy to live with and manage the virus. As of today, most of the specific COVID-19 guidance for education and childcare settings was withdrawn and new isolation guidance has been published.

The new isolation guidance for symptomatic children and adults is as follows:

• Adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have a high temperature.
• Children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. They can go back to school, college or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend.
• Adults with a positive COVID-19 test result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days, which is when they are most infectious.
• For children and young people aged 18 and under, the advice is 3 days.

More information on the symptoms to look out for, what you can do to help stop the spread of infection, what you should do if you need to leave your home when you have Covid-19 and what to do if you are a close contact of someone with a positive test result are available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/people-with-symptoms-of-a-respiratory-infection-including-covid-19.

Job Vacancies

We currently have a number of exciting roles available at Durham High School:

• Co-ordinator of Junior House PE (part-time)
• Sports Graduate (fixed term)
• Artist-in-Residence (part-time and fixed term)

Find out more about each role, and details of how to apply, on the school website.

We wish you a peaceful and enjoyable Easter break.