Duke’s ‘World Book Day’ celebrations

7th April 2022Louise Gatti

Wednesday 6th April

 

World Book Day was celebrated in Duke’s on Wednesday 6th April. Across all lessons students heard staff reading a ‘squashed’ version of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne. Additionally, there were lots of tutor-time activities such as quizzes and staff sharing what they are currently reading. There were also games such as guess the staff ‘shelfie’ and desert island book pile.

All students have access to a bespoke Duke’s World Book Day activity sheet through their English Google Classroom – this has links to two competitions, all the resources shared across the day, recommended reads and masterclasses from authors and illustrators.

 

Finally, Duke’s English hosted two reading reward tea parties – for students who have demonstrated excellent reading habits this year. Some of these are: reading over a million words on Accelerated Reader, withdrawing the most books in their year group (both from Duke’s library and eplatform), reading challenging texts, engaging in extra reading every day in the library or at home and sharing. Parents were invited to the KS3 event and both groups spent an hour exploring the library, chatting about books and enjoying an afternoon tea.

 

Easter Celebrations

6th April 2022Louise Gatti

Well done to our Easter Lucky Dip winners

Sally, our Chaplin, pulled names out of a hat for the top Classchart points winners for this term to win a chocolate egg.

Also Sally dashed off to judge our Easter Egg Virtual Competition and see our winners below.

Fish In Schools Hero Programme

6th April 2022Louise Gatti

Students at Duke’s got the fantastic opportunity to take part in an initiative “Fish In Schools Hero programme”

PLATE EXPECTATIONS: A delicious salmon creation

CATCH OF THE DAY: Students at Duke’s Secondary participate in an educational first courtesy of the Fish In Schools Hero (FISH) programme

Students at Duke’s are the lucky recipients of Alaska salmon to upskill their fish cookery.

Run by the Food Teachers Centre, in partnership with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute
#fishheroes and tag us in @FoodTCentre @fish.heroes

Hospitality and Catering students hooked on new educational fish promotion project

Students at Duke’s Secondary have been involved in a groundbreaking project as part of their Hospitality and Catering courses. In a national first, Duke’s were the recipients of a special delivery of wild Alaska pink salmon to use in their classrooms, in a bid to improve their fish cookery skills.

Fish in Schools Hero (FISH) programme devised by The Food Teachers Centre, in partnership with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Together, they will deliver 20,000 fillets of wild Alaska salmon to schools for cookery students to prepare up and down the country.

The programme aims to ensure that every child gets a chance to prepare, cook and eat fish before they leave school. It teaches students about sustainability and nutrition as well as developing delicious dishes with the Alaska salmon in their practical classes.

Students watched teacher and online demonstrations attentively observing before tackling the complex dishes and flavours. Many of our students had not tasted or cooked salmon before so this was an amazing opportunity for them.

Jayne Fitzsimmons Hospitality and Catering teacher “We are thrilled that we have been selected to receive the wild salmon from Alaska. It means that our students can not only learn about wild fisheries and the different tastes, textures and usages, but also cook with the fish themselves.”

To support teachers, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and Food Teachers Centre have also developed sample lesson plans, a training workshop and video recipes by chef and former MasterChef winner Dhruv Baker.

Both teachers and students are completing the online Alaska seafood training course, which is a deep dive into the Alaskan fishing industry and the different species available from Alaska.

We have been working with the Fish In Schools Hero programme since the beginning of the year to get the Alaska salmon into students’ hands and we are pleased that students will finally get the opportunity to cook with it.

Pupils get creative to fundraise for Ukraine

5th April 2022Leanne Tonks

Pupils at Duke’s Secondary School recently held a fundraising day to raise money for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

Staff and pupils got really creative with their fundraising ideas! We had a nail bar where staff could have their nails painted, this raised £100. We had cakes on sale the kitchen had kindly made and staff sponsored the sales to raise extra funds. Students and staff were encouraged to wear yellow and blue and thanks to a last minute donation of £45, we have managed to raise a grand total of £1,000!

It was a truly inclusive day with staff and students encouraged to write messages of support or prayers onto paper doves. These doves will be on display in the Atrium for everyone to see and there were lots of heartwarming and thoughtful messages written. All money will go to the DEC appeal which will provide valuable support to the organisations which are helping the people of Ukraine. A huge thank you to everyone involved!

A spotlight on creativity at Duke’s

4th April 2022Leanne Tonks

We recently spoke to Culture Bridge North East to tell them all about our Duke’s DNA (Differentiated for support and challenge; New and exciting learning opportunities; Active Learning) Creativity Symbols project.

Our DNA is embedded throughout school life at Duke’s, it’s in our curriculum, teaching & learning, and CPD structures and creativity plays a central role in this. Check out the fabulous case study the team put together about our project below.

Supporting children to deal with upsetting content

24th March 2022Leanne Tonks

Raising children in the digital age seems to be getting tougher. With the world currently experiencing so many uncertainties, from the continuing impact of Covid-19 to the war in Ukraine, right now children across the globe can scarcely go online without being exposed to unsettling stories, images and ideas. Reassuring a concerned child can be difficult, especially when bad news feels omnipresent. We’ve put together some advice to help you in discussing upsetting events with young ones.

In the guide below, you’ll find tips on a number of tips such as encouraging your child to ask questions, setting limits and to emphasise hope.

Wink – Tinder for children?

17th February 2022Leanne Tonks

Please see below a copy of this week’s National Online Safety Guide to parents. The focus this week is an app called ‘Wink’, which has raised a number of concerns.

Wink is a messaging app which allows children to connect and communicate with other users. In a similar style to the popular online dating platform Tinder, Wink uses the ‘swipe’ method for browsing profiles and accepting or declining them. Once two users have accepted each other by swiping on each other’s profile, they can then communicate and play games online together. The fact that Wink allows children to share photos, personal information and their location with other users has caused significant concern.

In the guide below, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as grooming, cyberbullying and inappropriate content.

Duke’s announces major new partnership with national housebuilder

14th February 2022Leanne Tonks

As up and down the country employers and educators alike celebrated National Apprenticeship Week, Duke’s Secondary School in South East Northumberland announced an exciting new partnership with UK housebuilding giant, Bellway.

The partnership will see a range of opportunities become available to pupils throughout the school, including employer masterclasses, careers guidance and field visits.

The partnership is multi-faceted. As well as supporting Duke’s Secondary School to deliver the National Career Ready programme, it also forms part of a regional pilot project for Bellway to help introduce young people to the wide variety of career opportunities available in the construction sector, including apprenticeships. If successful in the North East, Bellway intends to roll out its school outreach programme across all 22 of its housebuilding divisions nationwide.

To celebrate the official launch of the project, a cohort of Year 12 students from Duke’s Secondary School’s Sixth Form provision took part in a Career Ready Masterclass on ‘preparation for work experience’. Students were encouraged to think about what skills they already have, what skills employers might look for in job candidates and how they can make themselves a model employee.

The full-day visit also included a tour around Bellway’s North East headquarters in Woolsington and also one of its prestigious new build sites near Ponteland.

Danielle Towers, Head of Sixth Form and Careers Lead at Duke’s Secondary School (part of NCEA Trust), commented:

“We are honoured to be working alongside Bellway at the cutting edge of its new school outreach programme.

“At Duke’s and indeed, across all of the schools within the wider NCEA Trust, we are committed to providing pupils with high-quality careers education covering a wide variety of industry sectors to help them make informed decisions about their futures.

“What our pupils have been most surprised by since we first established contact with Bellway is the scope of the career opportunities available, beyond traditional trades and construction. For many of them, it has been a real eye-opener into a sector which they might not otherwise have considered.”

Employing over 3,000 people across the UK alongside several thousand additional sub-contractors, Bellway has come a long way from its humble North East beginnings just over 75 years ago. The five-star rated homebuilder now offers its own in-house apprenticeship opportunities and graduate schemes covering everything from bricklaying right through to architecture and sales.

Laura Bell, Group HR & OD Manager at Bellway, commented:

“We are absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to partner with Duke’s Secondary School. As we strive to help meet the need for more high-quality homes, it is vital that we continue to attract more people to the industry from a diverse range of backgrounds and that we offer them the support and training they need to succeed.

“By showcasing the range of roles available at Bellway and offering opportunities where people can earn while they learn, we hope to open up the possibility of a career in construction to those who may not have previously considered working in the industry.”

For more information about Duke’s Secondary School and Sixth Form, visit www.dukes.ncea.org.uk or for more information about careers at Bellway, visit www.bellwaycareers.co.uk.