Dear Parents, Carers and Families,

If I encouraged all parents and carers this weekend to allow their children to talk to strangers, you’d think me mad. And yet, almost without exception, almost all of you will. The overwhelming majority of students this weekend will engage in activities that are addictive and designed to be so, allowing them to talk with people they don’t know and never will, and carry the risk of creating feelings of depression and anxiety, increase the risk of them developing eating disorders, leave them open to the risk of sextortion and will actively reduce their attention span. No sane person can think this is good, but this will be true for every child who uses Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok. In the interests of full disclosure, as a parent my own child will inevitably be using at least two of these apps and I don’t think any parent who is letting their child engage with these social media apps is doing something wrong, or at least not doing what millions of others are.

Around one million children fall victim to sextortion via Snapchat every year. The company will say they’re working hard to stop this from happening, but they could just stop children from being able to talk to people they don’t know. Meta, the company behind Instagram, talks about how they remove content that encourages an unhealthy approach to food or is actively pro-suicide. Again, they could just stop children from being able to access any of this in the first place. TikTok has been in the news for its algorithms encouraging all manner of hate speech, packaged in gobbets of video that discourage the sort of meaningful engagement that comes from more ‘old-fashioned’ media like a book or a film. They know this. I’d be beyond embarrassed and deeply ashamed if something I did led to children accessing hate speech or pornography, but they hide behind free speech. Most of our children will spend more time in this online world this weekend than with actual real-life friends and, if they follow the pattern of people currently in their 20s who also grew up in this world, they’ll regret doing so. They might even feel that now, but be unable to stop themselves due to peer pressure, a sense that all their friends are doing it and they’ll miss out if they don’t, and of course because these apps are specifically designed to encourage them to do this, and they’ll feel they’re missing the dopamine hit they need if they don’t log on.

I always try and avoid these updates being negative or having the tone of ‘old man shouts at sky’ and as always there is much to be cheerful about when I’m in school surrounded by actual children who are not on their phones. When I ask students what they’re looking forward to this weekend they will talk about seeing their friends, they’ll talk about going out to see things, specifically this week Sam Fender at St James’ Park, playing sport and a host of other things. No child says they’re looking forward to spending time on social media, and while maybe all of them will do this, it shouldn’t be the highlight of anyone's weekend. I’d support anyone who pressured the government to make this all a little easier for parents by legislating around this, perhaps passing laws like the ones in Australia on this very issue, as I don’t believe we can rely on these tech companies to make the changes needed. As a parent myself, this weekend I’ll make the time to ensure my son spends at least a little less time on his phone and a little more time in the company of actual people he truly knows, maybe even me. I know already he might not thank me for this at first, but I also know he’ll benefit from it then and in the future. Perhaps we all might do the same.

Many thanks for your continued support of the school; I hope you all have a good weekend.

Michael Wright

Headteacher

Training Update

Whole School Training this week focused on closing the loop on all the various training we’ve looked at as a staff since January, focusing on how to best support SEND students in their lessons.

Local Road Works

We received the email below this week which may be of some interest to local residents.

Works on the B6532 to complete the corridor improvements between Durham city centre via Durham Station for people travelling by foot or cycle to major employment sites around Aykley Heads will start on Monday 23rd June 2025.

The temporary measures in place for the duration of the works are:

  • All northbound traffic will be diverted to the A691, Southfield Way for approximately 7 weeks.
  • The northbound bus stops will be suspended and a temporary bus stop will be located between the Land Registry roundabout and University Hospital North Durham roundabout to access Accident & Emergency and other services.
  • Diversions for pedestrians/cyclists and vehicular traffic will be signed on site.
  • The southbound lane of B6532 will continue to be in operation throughout the works.
  • Pedestrian access will be maintained to the hospital from the B6532.

The Contractor, working on behalf of Durham County Council, is BCE Northern. Standard working hours will be 07:30–16:30 Monday to Friday.

To assist the Contractor in carrying out these works your co-operation and goodwill would be appreciated, as inevitably some inconvenience will occur, though we hope this will be kept to a minimum.

For further information regarding the scheme or if you would like to discuss any particular problems contact 03000 260000 or email TransportProjects@durham.gov.uk or visit www.durham.gov.uk/roadworks.

Rewards Evenings

To celebrate the progress and achievement of students we will be having two rewards evenings. These will be on 3rd July for Key Stage 4 and 14th July for Key Stage 3.

Miss O’Neill, Assistant Headteacher

Sports Presentation Evening

The annual Sports Awards presentation evening is on Tuesday 17th June at the Gala Theatre. During this event we gather to celebrate the many impressive sporting achievements inside and outside of school. Students have been invited so please check Class Charts for announcements. Ticket sales on Parentpay have now closed but if your child has been invited and you missed the opportunity to purchase tickets, please contact Miss Vickers who may be able to help.

Mr Sands, Curriculum Leader for PE, Sport and Health

Screen Time Advice

We know that young people are using mobile phones and computers more than they ever have. Although this has its benefits, we know it can sometimes be difficult to have healthy boundaries and limit screen times.

It has been reported that the amount of time spent on digital technology is directly linked with the likelihood of developing depression and anxiety later on in life.

A report has been published by the Education Committee that expresses serious concerns about the effects of excessive screen time on mental health, social development and sleep for young people.

To read the full report you can access this here: Screen Time: impacts on education and wellbeing - Committees - UK Parliament

For tips and advice on how to minimise risks from spending too much time online, please access this link: Managing children’s screen time - Parent advice | Internet Matters

Mrs Osborne, Director of Safeguarding