End of week bulletin – 23 June

As rapidly head towards the end of term, there are still many events and activities taking place in school. Below you will find some of the key events taking place:

Non-Uniform Day and Fundraising

We will be holding a non-uniform day on Friday 30 June in return for a minimum donation of £1.00. On that day, there will be a Staff vs Sixth Form rounders match at lunchtime, and pupils will be able to purchase ice lollies while spectating.

From Monday, there will also be a raffle to which pupils can buy tickets for, with the draw made on Friday after the rounders match. On Wednesday at Sports Day, pupils will also be able to purchase ice lollies. All of the money raised from these activities will be split equally between the Great North Air Ambulance and to help towards the Sixth Form Philippines project taking place in the Summer.

Ice Cream Van – Friday 30 June

On Friday next week, there will be an ice cream van in the playground as part of ‘Muck Up’ Day. The cost for a ‘99’ ice cream is £1.80 and if your child would like to have one, please make sure they bring the money in with them on this day.

Nearly New Uniform Sale

We will be holding a Nearly New Uniform Sale in school, for current and new parents, on Tuesday 27 June from 3.00pm-5.00pm in the Dining Room. We would be grateful for volunteers to help with either the set up or helping to run the sale. Please contact Mrs Steel on [email protected] if you are able to help. All support is greatly appreciated.

Eco School Sunflower Competition

Well done to all the Tutor Groups that took part in the Sunflower Competition. There were some impressive entries on display. The tallest sunflower was undoubtedly the Sixth Form’s entry, but special mention must also go to 9H and 7D.

The Eco School committee elected to keep the sunflowers as a class plant, with a member of the group taking them home over the holidays to continue to nurture them.

Engineering Pathway Courses.

The Smallpeice Trust is committed to creating new pathways into engineering and helping young people fulfil their potential. These fun courses are for students aged 12 to 17 and cover a variety of fascinating engineering topics.

There are both residential and virtual courses, so if you have a passion for science, technology, engineering or maths or think of yourself as a creative problem solver, you can find out more and register at https://www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/timetable.

Fiver Challenge

Senior Department pupils are taking part in the Fiver Challenge, where they are given a £5 initial investment to create and manage their own business with the intention of making money for charity.

The groups will be selling their products next week on Monday, Thursday and Friday in the Main Hall at break and lunch, and on Tuesday in the Main Hall at break and in the quad at lunchtime.

• Sweet a Holic – Yasmeen and Liza will be selling sweet treats
• Lucky Lollies -Freya and Christina will be offering a lucky dip game with home baked prizes
• Smeared Canvases – Hollie W and her friends will be selling customised drawings
• Lucky Bags – Ohmle and Harriet will be selling mystery bags with toys and origami inside and
  the chance to an extra prize
• Paradise Punch – Arabella and her friends will be selling body products and accessories
• Bead Boutique – Holly C and her friend will be selling personalised and pre-made bracelets

Prices range between 30p and £3.00 so please ensure your daughter brings in some money next week if she would like to purchase anything or take part in any of the games.

Prep Sport

Pupils in Year 4 played a cricket fixture against Durham School on Monday and the whole team played extremely well. The batting was especially great, with lots of 4’s and 6’s scored. The final result was 104-70 to Durham High School. Well done to everyone who took part.

Netball Camps at Durham High School

We are delighted to be offering another Netball camp to Prep pupils this Summer. The camps provide high quality Netball coaching to girls aged 8-11, regardless of their ability. Miss Cartwright will be running these sessions at Durham High School for both internal and external girls.

Activities will include games, group drills, individual player development and plenty of match play. The emphasis will be on fun and player game understanding. The sessions will run on the following date:

• Thursday 20 and Friday 21 July
• Thursday 27 and Friday 28 July
• Monday 31 July and Tuesday 1 August
• Tuesday 29 August and Wednesday 30 August

For more information and to book please email [email protected].

Senior Sport

A brilliant display by our Year 7 and Year 8 Athletics teams at the Durham and District Area Championships yesterday. There were many excellent individual performances, and two super speedy relay runs. On Wednesday, there were two cricket fixtures against Newcastle High School for Girls. There was a superb win for the U13’s and a narrow loss for the U12’s. Well done to all involved.

Pupil Information Forms

The Pupil Information Forms for the next academic year have been sent home with your child this week. Please can you check the forms, sign and return them to school by next Friday, 30 June. Please sign and return forms to school even if all of the information is correct. Thank you in advance.

Diversity and Inclusion

This week is Diversity and Inclusion Week in school, with various activities taking place across Senior Department. Activities included guided running and computing accessibility, with lesson themes including women in Physics, laws, ethics and discrimination, and inspirational female speakers. As part of the week, Senior pupils have learning sign language as part of a House Signing Competition. You can see them signing the lyrics to Avicii’s Hey Brother by clicking here.

Parent-Child Tennis

A group of Prep girls and their parents had a brilliant time at our annual Parent-Child Tennis Tournament yesterday evening. Well done to everyone who took part, with special mentions to Heidi (3rd), Katie (2nd) and Mariam (1st) for placing.

Volunteering opportunities at Durham University

Team Durham Holiday Camps are looking for volunteers aged 14+ to join their team this summer to help support their programme of sport and dance camps that they will be running. Volunteers can volunteer anything from 1 day to 4 weeks and can opt into the new Sports Volunteering Academy which will include both development and recognition for academy members. More information, pre-training and confirmation of hours will follow by the end of June/early July. You can sign up here.

Communication over the holidays

A reminder that the school breaks up for the Summer holidays from Friday, 7 July. Please be aware that there will be nobody monitoring telephone calls from 6pm on that evening until the middle of August, and phone messages will only be checked sporadically. If you have any reason for which you need to contact the school, please email [email protected], but please be aware that you may not receive an immediate response.