Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. The theme this year is ’Ordinary People’. Ordinary people were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in the genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Ordinary people were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses, and ordinary people were victims. Together, we bear witness for those who endured genocide, and honour the survivors and all those whose lives changed beyond recognition.
Senior Sport Update
A huge congratulations to the U13 Netball team, who were winners of the Durham Area and District Tournament this week. They recorded wins against Durham School, Durham Johnston, St. Leonard’s and St. Bede’s to take home the trophy.
There was also a great win for the U18 Netball side, who won 42-24 against Whitburn Academy. In Hockey, the U14 Hockey team played against Egglescliffe School. Despite creating many opportunities to score in a very close game, they lost 2-1.
Prep Sport Update
The U9 Netball teams played against RGS on Wednesday, there was some very good netball on display from all teams. Some pupils from the U8 team also played against the RGS U9 teams. Well done to all the pupils that played.
The U10 teams hosted RGS on Thursday afternoon. There were some very close matches and exciting game play. Both teams made huge improvements throughout their games. Heidi scored some fantastic goals leading the U10A team to victory. Well done to both teams.
Eco Schools
The Senior Eco Schools team met again this week to finalise their action plan for this year. The three areas they have chosen to focus on are:
- Reducing waste
- Improving biodiversity of the school grounds
- Global citizenship – sponsoring endangered animals.
The Eco Schools reps also joined STEM club this week where they met an engineering student from Durham University. By looking at the average paper use per student per week, they were able to calculate the whole school’s paper consumption per year, and the annual carbon emissions generated from this. The Eco Schools Team will now be looking at how this amount can be reduced, and what steps we can take to offset these emissions.
Safer Internet Gaming Webinar
As part of Safer Internet Day, the Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM) are offering a free gaming and gambling awareness and information session for parents, grandparents and guardians.
Tuesday 7 February 6pm – 7.15pm – Book a place
Thursday 9 February 10am – 11.15am – Book a place
Each session will cover:
- Understand Gambling: Exploring the influences on children and young people
- Recognise the blurred lines between gaming and gambling
- Understand the benefits and concerns in relation to gaming, including microtransactions
- Recognise the signs of harm and where to get further help and support
How to help improve your child’s memory
Elevate Education will be hosting another free webinar for parents on Tuesday 7 February. Elevate Education works with our students, delivering high impact workshops on study skills, motivation, wellbeing, and exam preparation. By tuning into their webinar series, you will learn how you can help better support your children at home through reinforcing the skills they learn at school.
The next webinar is called ‘How to help improve your child’s memory’ and will take place on Tuesday 7 February at 6pm. In this webinar Elevate will be showing parents how memory actually works and how it has nothing to do with brain capacity, the most effective environments to assist in memorisation and 3 techniques you can implement overnight to improve revision. You can register a place by clicking here.
Gala Production – March
We are delighted to be returning to the Gala Durham in 2023 for our annual performance, which this year will be the vibrant, energetic and heart-warming musical School of Rock. The stage show is based on the hit film and features 14 new songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber, as well as all the original songs that you may remember from the movie.
There will be evening performances from Thursday 2 March to Saturday 4 March at 7.30pm, with a matinee performance also on the Saturday afternoon at 2.30pm. Tickets are £15 for adults and £12 for concessions, with a £48 family ticket also available. You can purchase your tickets now from the Gala Durham website. We hope to see you there.
