Our students work hard throughout the year and achieve great things through dedication and effort. Our Reward Day recognises students with an excellent attitude to their studies and homework, alongside a good attendance and behaviour record.

Last term, two of our Year 9 students, supported by two of our former Sixth Formers worked on an exciting primary outreach project called "Picnic in the Park' in partnership with the Auckland Project. The activity took place in the beautiful grounds of Auckland Castle.

Over 300 people from our local community came to King James to see our latest Dance Show, entitled Novo Começa, which is Portuguese for "New Beginnings'.

We celebrated a grand total of seven nominations at the Bishop Auckland Town Team Youth Awards 2018, which recognises the achievements of young people in our area.

Year 11 GCSE Geography students have enjoyed a field trip to Keswick as part of their studies. The town, which was devastated by floods in both 2005 and 2009, now has a £6 million flood protection scheme, which makes it the perfect location to study flood defences.

This month, eight of our Year 10 girls travelled to London to take part in our Girls Active Wimbledon trip. The two-day trip is organised each year by our PE Department to promote female participation in sport and to reward students who show dedication in their lessons.

Each year, students on our Art and Photography courses produce a diverse range of innovative pieces which demonstrate exceptional imagination and skill. This year was no exception.

This year, 191 different schools from across the world took part in the 2018 Language Perfect global linguistic competition and we placed ninth overall!

Our Year 8 Nurture Group has been studying Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Shakespeare can be quite challenging but the group has been learning about the characters, themes and the historical context of the play through art, drama and music.

Five of our Year 8 boys have recently travelled to London to take part in the National Final of the "Solutions for the Planet' competition, which was one of the many learning activities that made up last year's extensive STEM programme.