STUDENTS and staff at Durham’s first Free School have celebrated a successful first term at a special Christmas carol service.
The Durham Free School opened in September with 30 children in Year 7, following a successful, three-year campaign by parents and local educationalists.
The school is based on the site of the former Durham Gilesgate Sports College, but is free of local authority control.
The Christmas celebration took place close to the school at St Giles Parish Church and was conducted by the Reverend Canon Dr Alan Bartlett.
Headteacher Peter Cantley and students Naomi Denning, Owen Mahaffey, Elize Smith and Kitty Tilder gave readings, while prayers were spoken by Alyssa Findlay and Jamie Crampton.
From learning Mandarin to climbing Lakeland peaks, the first term has been packed with new experiences for the children.
On their first cross-curricular day they visited The Chorister School, Cathedral and Tower, St John’s College and the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition.
A second day out focused on science and the students visited the Tullie House Mueum in Carlisle to learn about the wildlife of the region and follow historical and geological developments through the ages.
Headteacher Peter Cantley said: “We have had a tremendous first term, and it has been a joy to work with the children and to see the progress they have made in such a short space of time.
“Our first priority has been, and will always be, to provide high quality teaching and learning, through the delivery of the National Curriculum and an exciting extracurricular programme, led by experienced and very well qualified staff.
“Given the quality of the staff team and the way in which the students have risen to meet the challenges of the term, we have been able to provide an excellent educational experience for all the children.”
Mr Cantley said there were numerous opportunities for extracurricular sport, with children able to pursue an additional four hours of sporting activities per week, on top of their two hours of PE. Popular after school sports clubs include football, trampoline, archery and netball.
Other clubs which have been developed include an art club, swing band and choir, young engineers’ club, eco club, scrabble, origami and film club, as well as a daily homework support club and musical instrument lessons.
The children have also done charitable work, including making Christmas gift boxes to be distributed to some of the poorest children in the world, and raising money for Children In Need.
Rehearsals are underway for the school’s performance at the Young Voices concert at the MEN Arena in Manchester, on February 5.
The Free School will be rounding off its first term with a carol service at St Giles Parish Church on Friday (December 20) and will begin the new term with a special Cathedral Service on January 9 to mark the opening of the school.
