Wildflower garden project scoops CEO’s Leadership Award

6th May 2022Leanne Tonks

Inspired by last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, NCEAT CEO, Alan Hardie, set pupils across the Trust challenge in the form of a competition to come up with an idea for an ‘eco project’ which their school could complete independently to supplement the work already being done by the Trust to operate more sustainably.

The winning concept submitted by Duke’s Secondary School came from the Year 9 class, ‘Oswald 2’, who suggested the creation of a wildflower garden to help encourage bees and other wildlife into the school grounds.

In recognition of their achievement, earlier this week, Year 9 were treated to a special assembly hosted by visitors from Northumberland National Park Authority who talked to pupils about the important role of National Parks across the UK and why we all need to do our bit to protect the natural environment.

During the assembly, pupils from Oswald 2 were presented with a special ‘CEO’s Leadership Award’ by Principal, Mr Atkinson, before heading off to take part in a workshop with the representatives from the National Park where they took a closer look at exactly what would be involved in creating the wildflower garden and what kind of wildlife they could expect to see benefit from it.

The wildflower garden project will form part of a Trust-wide initiative to help NCEAT reduce its carbon footprint. Other projects already underway at schools across the Trust include a beach cleaning initiative at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea by pupils from Bishop’s Primary School and the expansion and redevelopment of the vegetable garden at NCEA Warkworth C of E Primary School to help supplement the school kitchen.

Alan Hardie, CEO at Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust, commented:

“We were blown away by some of the entries we received to the COP26 competition. The level of thought that the pupils had put into their ideas and their consideration of both the long and short term benefits of their proposed projects was really impressive.

“We’re delighted with the diversity of the winning projects as a collective and we hope that the children will learn a great deal about the importance of protecting our natural world through their varied experiences.”

A parent’s guide to group chats

4th May 2022Leanne Tonks

Occurring through messaging apps, on social media and in online games, group chats are among the most popular ways that young people engage with their peers online. Involving, by definition, three or more individuals, these groups allow users to send messages, images and videos to everyone in one place. While they are useful for helping friends, people with shared interests or members of a club to communicate and coordinate activities, they can also leave young people feeling excluded and bullied – as well as providing opportunities for inappropriate content to be shared and viewed.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as bullying, inappropriate content and unknown members.

Students go behind the scenes of region’s employers during Industry Insight event

4th May 2022Leanne Tonks

Pupils at a secondary school in Northumberland have been gaining valuable insight into what goes on behind the scenes at some of our region’s biggest employers as part of an ‘Industry Insight’ event.

The Year 11 and 12 students from Duke’s Secondary School in Ashington visited employers such as AkzoNobel, Bernicia, ORE Catapult, Northumberland Fire and Rescue and the Centre for Life to help them broaden their understanding of the wide range of career paths available to them in the local area.

The event comes just months after the school, which operates as part of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust, announced its pilot programme with North East house builder, Bellway, which also has its roots in helping pupils to raise their aspirations and explore career opportunities in sectors they might not otherwise have considered.

Danielle Towers, Head of Sixth Form and Careers at Duke’s Secondary School, explained:

“The pupils of today are the workforce of tomorrow, so it’s absolutely vital that while children and young people are still at school that they have the opportunity to explore as many different employment opportunities as possible, to help them make informed decisions about their futures.

“As part of the Industry Insight event, all of our Year 11 pupils had the opportunity to visit an employer which specialises in a subject area which was relevant to their current studies ahead of their exams in the summer.

“We were incredibly fortunate to gain support from so many fantastic local businesses so a big thank you goes out to everyone who got involved. The pupils all thoroughly enjoyed their experiences and took a lot away from them.”

Amongst the list of employers who took part in hosting visits for the event was not-for-profit organisation, Smart Works Newcastle.

An exclusive service for women, Smart Works Newcastle is a local branch of a national organisation which supports unemployed women aged 16 plus and from all backgrounds to build their confidence and skills to help them secure work.

Offering a range of services for those attending job interviews, including a high quality interview outfit (free and theirs to keep) and interview coaching, the charity also supports with CV writing and general careers advice. Smart Works Newcastle has supported hundreds and hundreds of women across the North East into successful employment.

A cohort of Year 11 and 12 students who had expressed an interest in careers that involved helping others took part in a full day’s work experience at Smart Works’ headquarters in Newcastle, supporting staff and volunteers with tasks such as stock taking, styling and dressing mannequins.

As part of the day, the students also got to participate in some career coaching and enjoyed a ‘working lunch’ with employees from the charity who shared their own experiences and varying routes into working in the sector.

Helen Boyd, Centre Manager at Smart Works Newcastle, commented:

“It was a pleasure to welcome the group from Duke’s Secondary School into Smart Works Newcastle for a Volunteer Experience day.

“The students helped us with stock sorting, visual merchandising, displays and mock client dressing. Throughout the day the students had a 1:1 next steps planning session with our experienced coaches to offer guidance for their career choices. It was great to hear their plans for the future and we hope they got as much out of the day as we did.”

For more information about Duke’s Secondary School and Sixth Form, visit www.dukes.ncea.org.uk or to find out more about Smart Works Newcastle, visit https://newcastle.smartworks.org.uk/.

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 ÂŁ100. 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 ÂŁ45, we have managed to raise a grand total of ÂŁ1,000!

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.