Gardening is a great way to relax between lessons and Sixth Form students are welcome to join our Sixth Form Mentor, Linda Dixon, pictured here with Brooke M, in the Common Room garden.

Each year we celebrate the successes of our Sixth Form students as they achieve excellent results and progress onto university, apprenticeship programmes or into the workforce. Despite the many challenges of 2020-21, this year is no exception.

Year 8 students have been learning techniques to relax and look after their own mental health in a series of fun 'mindfulness' workshops with Student Support Worker, Mrs Bainbridge.

15 year old Alexi has raised £530 for the Little Princess Trust by cutting her waist length hair and donating it to The Little Princess Trust. This charity makes custom wigs from real hair for children and young people who have lost their hair to cancer.

A plot of land on our Academy site has been developed into an exciting new learning environment which takes a unique hands-on approach to teaching subjects such as Maths, Science, Geography, Enterprise and Art. At ˜Forest School', students learn through a wide range of innovative projects which are all linked to gardening and the environment.

Three of our Sixth Form Media students have been collaborating on a range of projects featuring Year 13 student, Sam H transformed into a modern interpretation of iconic comic book villain, The Joker!

Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 were both surprised and delighted to see Gallone's Ice Cream van pull into the King James quad this week, especially when they discovered it was there to deliver free ice cream cones as a reward to the winning classes in our "Secret Student" challenge.

Year 9 have been learning about international 'Street food' and creating their own recipes in a fun practical challenge in Food and Nutrition.

A group of Year 10 students have spent the day at Bishop Auckland College trying out a variety of specialist trade-based courses ranging from joinery and bricklaying to hair dressing and catering. Students were able to opt in to two sessions each and take part in mini tasks to help them decide if they might like to discover more once they have completed their GCSEs.

The King James Eco-Agents are a group of students who are passionate about environmental issues and dedicated to making a difference in both their local community and their school environment.