Four of our talented Year 10 mathematicians, Thomas M, Iwan M, Niamh E and Emelia E recently took part in the Further Maths Support Programme team challenge at Teesside University and came seventh overall out of 22 participating schools.

Our ICT department recently ran a workshop for primary school teachers to investigate the use of the Raspberry Pi and Python programming in education. The event was well attended and support from our Computer Science Champions ensured it was a success.

Year 12 Law students enjoyed a Q&A session with Helen Goodman MP recently as part of their A Level studies. The visit was organised by our Teacher of Law, Miss Grieveson as a follow-up to an initial meeting which took place in November in London.

Year 12 Photography student, Adam B has received a commendation in the national competition, Social Sciences for Schools.

A number of students from years 7 to 10 recently visited Newton Aycliffe's "Planet Leisure", where as a reward they enjoyed an afternoon Ten Pin Bowling.

Four of our Year 7 students have been the first to don hard hats and safety jackets to visit the construction site to see how work is progressing.

Our newly refurbished library, complete with a large selection of new books including best sellers and non-fiction, is now open to students and it is proving to be a big hit.

Students in Music and Media were given an insight into the television industry when Dialogue Editor, Tom Williams visited King James. He spoke in both departments about his job, having worked for over seven years on shows such as Whitechapel, The Musketeers and Golden Globe winning Downton Abbey.

Last year, a group of students travelled to France with Mrs Pethybridge, our Director of Learning for Languages, to establish a new link with young people in our partner school, Collège Béranger. The trip resulted in firm friendships, which have since been nurtured through emails and social networking.

ICT students in Years 11,12 and 13 have visited Sunderland University School of Computing to see the excellent facilities and to find out about the options available for further education in the field.