14 S The Dunelmian M C A H H O R O U L D 14 The Dunelmian The Magazine of Durham School 2017-18 Edition Floreat Dunelmia The Magazine of Durham School, 2017-18 Edition The Magazine Durham School Advert_265 19/07/2017 07:42 Page 1 Durham's only silver awarded AA rated and 4 star hotel. Set in a unique location, surrounded by 350 acres of private grounds with two 18 hole Championship golf courses, a purpose built luxury on site spa complex, four bars and award winning restaurants. This stunning combination of superb facilities make Ramside Hall the number one choice for a business event or relaxing overnight stay. www.ramsidehallhotel.co.uk | 0191 386 5282 Ramside Hall Hotel Golf & Spa | Carrville | Durham | DH1 1TD Durham School Advert_265 19/07/2017 07:42 Page 1 INDEX Speech6 Day 2018 A celebration of Durham School’s achievements in the 2017/18 Academic Year. Pastoral20 Academic33 If a child lives with Durham School offers a wide encouragement, he or range of academic subjects she learns to be taught inside and outside confident. the classroom. Durham's only silver awarded AA rated and 4 star hotel. Set in a unique location, surrounded by Creative45 350 acres of private grounds with two 18 hole Championship golf courses, a purpose built Durham School is a hub of luxury on site spa complex, four bars and award winning restaurants. creativity, both in terms of This stunning combination of superb facilities make Ramside Hall the number one choice for performing arts, literature, art, a business event or relaxing overnight stay. design and technology. Durham65 School Co-Curricular59 Community Our co-curricular activities Parents, ODs, and the wider School help develop the skills that Community come together through give pupils confidence the Development Office. for life. 84Sport Our School has a well deserved reputation for sports, participation, individual www.ramsidehallhotel.co.uk | 0191 386 5282 competition and teamwork. Ramside Hall Hotel Golf & Spa | Carrville | Durham | DH1 1TD 2017-2018 3 WELCOME Welcome Welcome from Headmaster Kieran McLaughlin An education at Durham School helps develop Confidence for Life. Our pupils put down strong roots through our House system, and flourish as young people thanks to the mix of pastoral care, co-curricular activity and academic excellence. All these areas of school life are showcased in this edition of the Dunelmian. The academic life of the School continues to go from strength to strength and at the end of the 2017-18 year, we were able to record our best A level results in living memory. Behind this headline sits a complex web of endeavour from pupils, tireless work from a talented staff, a raft of student led academic societies and huge amount of curricular enrichment from Y7 Contemporary Studies through to Extended Project Qualifications (EPQs) for the Big enough for big business. Sixth Form. Outside the classroom, our co-curricular programmes Small enough to care about you. greatly extend our pupils potential. Whether through lunchtime clubs and activities, or large-scale events such as Activities Week, these additional elements add exponentially to help shape and round the individual. All of this activity is supported from afar by the wider School Community. Our careers programme, boosted by the publication Confidence for Life, is one meaningful way parents and ODs can support current pupils. Another is through the philanthropy of the School community which Kieran McLaughlin, Headmaster also underpins much of the sporting and co-curricular activities we undertake, and I would specifically like to thank those ODs and Parents who have funded such a We’ve grown a lot over the last few years from our base here in Durham City. wide array of projects across our School. The Dunelmian, We believe our success has been helped by giving our clients ‘Legal solutions that fit’. Editor: Andrew Beales distributed to over 4,000 ODs around the world rightfully Produced by: Remember Media pays tribute to their contributions to School life. What we mean by this is that we give clients what they really need. We don’t give them Photography: Various sources including KG Photography - www.kgphotography.co.uk/ Finally, if you pick up this edition and flip it over it contains flannel, over complication and quite frankly, stuff they don’t need. Mark Wilkinson Photography - markwilkinsonphotography. 24 more exciting pages about the future of Durham. Our smugmug.com pupils down at Bow start at age 3, and by the time they Being big has its benefits, however, we realise that size isn’t everything. To our family Chris Lishman - www.chrislishman.com join the senior school, they have already begun to develop and private client teams, it’s all about personal relationships; empathy and care for Peter Vassallo the many skills and interests that will make them shine at Durham School - www.durhamschool.co.uk Durham and beyond. Music, Drama, Sport, Science and the individual. The team photographs in the Sport Section of The Dunelmian Languages are all-important parts of our junior curriculum have been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman that pay dividends later in their educational career, and it & Soame photographers and can be ordered online at is a fabulous way to conclude The Dunelmian by focusing www.gsimagebank.co.uk/durham-school/t/durhamschool2018 on this bright future for Durham School. The Dunelmian Magazine Floreat Dunelmia Quarryheads Lane, Durham City, DH1 4SZ 0191 386 4783 Mr Kieran McLaughlin Venture House, Aykley Heads Business Centre, Reg Charity Number 1023407 Headmaster Durham DH1 5TS Tel: 0191 384 2441 swinburnemaddison.co.uk 4 2017-2018 64904 KH SM Dunelmian Ad 297x210.indd 1 26/11/2018 3:18 pm Big enough for big business. Small enough to care about you. We’ve grown a lot over the last few years from our base here in Durham City. We believe our success has been helped by giving our clients ‘Legal solutions that fit’. What we mean by this is that we give clients what they really need. We don’t give them flannel, over complication and quite frankly, stuff they don’t need. Being big has its benefits, however, we realise that size isn’t everything. To our family and private client teams, it’s all about personal relationships; empathy and care for the individual. Venture House, Aykley Heads Business Centre, Durham DH1 5TS Tel: 0191 384 2441 swinburnemaddison.co.uk 64904 KH SM Dunelmian Ad 297x210.indd 1 26/11/2018 3:18 pm SPEECH DAY Speech Day Headmaster’s review of the year Mr Chairman, distinguished guests, ladies, gentlemen, ODs What a start to the year it was. Our A Level results were by and current pupils, many thanks and welcome to this year’s some margin the best ever recorded at the school, with our Speech Day. A particular welcome goes to our Chief Guest A*-B percentage finishing at 69.7% once the dust of marking Mr Chris Elliott, OD, who will talk to us shortly. I do not wish reviews had settled. This is a fine achievement; well over two to steal Chris’s thunder so I will keep my remarks brief, though thirds of the grades needed to attend the top Russell Group you will get a hint of what is to come if you look at his post- universities. We also recorded, for the fourth year in a row, nominals on our Speech Day programme. a 100% pass rate for all of the examinations taken. Some of you may have a head start too, as you may have seen Statistics are all very well, but what matters are the amazing Chris already in our wonderful “Confidence for Life” book individual success stories amongst those results too. Four pupils produced earlier in the year; there are copies in Big School for managed to score two A* grades and an A in their A Levels – any of you who haven’t. That book is a fascinating record of Fraser Gaines, Miranda Li, Chris Page and Dominic Scott. A some of our younger ODs – well, younger than me anyway – further six scored all A or A* grades. Louis Dinsdale took up his and the lives they have lived in the years since they sat in this place to read History and Politics at Cambridge, Anu Krishna very marquee with the same mix of excitement and trepidation and Emma Reed their places to study Medicine and Dan Jukes that the current leavers are no doubt feeling right now. went off to study Law. This year saw the highest percentage of pupils going on to study at Russell Group universities, The good news is, as you can see from the book, there is a with universities and courses from Exeter to St Andrews and huge variety of careers and opportunities which await all of Countryside Management to Ancient History. you. Doctors, lawyers, actors, sportswomen, jockeys, the list goes on and on. So many different destinations, and yet one Impressive though these achievements are, what is really common starting point: Durham School, from where you gratifying to me and indeed to all the staff at school is our now begin the next stage of your lives. value-added performance. A Levels aren’t easy, and for some pupils three C grades are as much an achievement as three One of the joys of my job is meeting ODs of every different As would be for others. Whatever the target though, it is clear age and stage; whether it be at Durham City rugby club or the that as a school we add value to every one of our pupils.