Category : Front Page News

Activities Week 2024

We’ve had an incredibly busy week at Duke’s this week. Our Activities Week has seen students engaging in a huge variety of activities, trips, workshops and our very first Culture Day!

 

We’ve had trips out to Horizon 22, the Science Museum, the Bank of England, Harry Potter Studios, Microsoft, Cineworld, London Zoo and a walking tour of London (to name but a few).  

 

Students have also been engaging in lots of fun and exciting activities in school with Dance workshops, website building, clay modelling, willow artwork, maths challenges, charity drives, protest writing workshops and escape rooms all happening on site.

 

The week ended with our first ever ‘Culture Day’ – which was a chance for our students to celebrate culture and diversity – it was amazing to see such wonderfully vibrant clothes and costumes around the school. Our students have been wanting a day to celebrate culture for some time and this was a real chance for us to celebrate together as a community.

 

Duke’s Election 

In line with the General Election this week our students took to the polls for their own exercise in democracy. We held a student election at Duke’s ably organised by Ms Tuptuk and the humanities department.

 

Students submitted manifestos and campaigned amongst the student body with five candidates standing on their own policies in our mock election. 

 

On Thursday 4th July – the same day as the UK General Election our students were able to cast their votes at the ballot boxes in the Purple Diner and gain a real insight into the process of democracy – a real world example of British Values at work!

Year 8 Athletic Success

This week Cavalli in year 8 competed at the Middlesex Athletics Championships representing Haringey in the 200m and finished in an impressive 3rd place. He was competing against some of the strongest athletes in London so we’re very proud of his achievement. Well done Cavalli!

 

Museum of London Project 

This week our group of year 8 students involved in the Museum of London project, ‘My London Story’ had the next workshop as part of the project. The exciting multi year project aims to capture the voice of young people in London for the future – we’re very pleased that some of our students are able to take part in the project. 

 

Year 11 Leavers Prom 2024

On Friday 21st June our year 11 students said a final goodbye to Duke’s with their leavers assembly and prom. This year the prom was held onsite and all students arrived looking spick and span and danced the night away to our own resident DJ – Joel in year 11! A fantastic time was had by all and we wish all year 11 students the best of luck for their exam results and future endeavours. 

 

A huge shout out to the facilitates, catering and staff teams who attended the prom to ensure our students had a night to remember – a real team effort. Well done all!

Bright Futures – Residential Trip to North Wales

This week a lucky group of year 9 students got to travel to North Wales as part of the Bright Futures programme. The member of staff accompanying the group wrote up this report:

 

Last week eight students from Duke’s took part in the Bright Futures Residential Trip to North Wales. After a long morning of travelling the students were quickly thrown straight into the deep end of outdoor activity – being guided in a gorge-scramble up a rushing river, navigating slippery rocks, jumping into rock pools and navigating through rushing waterfalls. Whilst there was some initial trepidation, all got thoroughly involved and I was pleased to see them bravely entering the chilly, as well as being helpful and caring towards their fellow (and newly encountered) students.

 

Our second day consisted of a number of outdoor activities; a long walk through the mountains, canoeing races, wild swimming and orienteering in the evening. Exhausting! What I was most pleased to see was how friendly our students were to their peers from the other Aldridge schools. We had students from Brighton, Manchester and London. The outdoor activities and mealtimes were a great opportunity for everyone to mix and get to know each other and learn about each other’s cultures. Some of the Duke’s students informed me that they’ve exchanged contact details with those from other schools and intend to stay in touch.

 

Before heading back to London on the last day, the students all took part in climbing activities and zip wiring. It was no surprise that everyone fell into a deep sleep on the train back to London. I really feel like the whole experience was memorable for all and that everyone has learnt new skills, especially how to be more independent. Overall, I was very proud of how everyone acted and got involved in everything, they definitely made Duke’s school proud in North Wales!

We can’t thank the Bright Futures team and the Aldridge Foundation enough for their amazing organisation and help over the three days.