School Leaders

December 2022 Updates

Our Student Leaders team continues to work very hard, both in school, and in the local community. Our anti-bullying ambassadors hold a weekly drop-in session for anyone who wants help or advice, and they have helped several students so far. They launched this during anti-bullying week last term, along with information on our website, and an email address for anyone to seek support, or if they want to report a bullying incident. We held a “wear odd socks day” to promote the message that bullying will not be tolerated in our school.

Student Leaders also organised the “Show Racism the Red Card” day in school, and helped out with an assembly for all year groups. We raised money for the local foodbank by collecting donations. They are currently working hard on their designs for a t-shirt as part of a national competition.

The leadership team also wanted to do our bit to help the local community. They have carried out a “walkabout” in the Broom area of Ferryhill, along with members of the community, the police, and council officers, to highlight issues with fly-tipping, derelict houses and other issues. The Community Team helped organise a collection of food, pet food, and other necessary items to donate to the food bank, and a group will be helping to pack bags for local families in a few weeks. Year 10 Student Leaders also volunteered at “That Bread and Butter Thing” in Spennymoor, a charity that collects fresh fruit, vegetables and other items to give to local families. For £7.50, bags worth £30 can be collected, and our team helped sort the produce and pack the bags ready to be collected. We have also volunteered at Tenlands care home, with pupils meeting residents for a chat, and then also visiting again to sing Christmas carols and give a Christmas present to each resident. Student Leaders have also helped with the launch of a new initiative from the Durham Police and Crime Commissioner to help reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. Volunteers also too part in the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Town Hall, laying poppies on behalf of the school, and the switching on of the Christmas lights.

October 2022 Updates

This term, Sports Leaders have refereed a Primary School football league, and a Go Wells girls’ football festival. We’ve also had a Go Well primary cross-country event, and a girls’ football tournament at St. John’s.

Community Leaders have also continued to strive to improve the school and local area. Last term they met with the Chief Constable and Crime Commissioner for Durham police, and helped to secure funding for the “Safer Streets” project. They organised a Show Racism the Red Card day in school, where pupils were encouraged to wear something red to demonstrate that racism is not accepted by our community. We raised money for the local food bank with donations on the day. Student Leaders took part in a “walkabout” with police officers, councillors and officers from the County Council in the Broom area of Ferryhill, where they highlighted issues such as fly tipping and empty houses where anti-social behaviour was occurring. We will take part in the Armistice Day commemorations in November, and the ceremony to switch on the Christmas lights. The team have also begun to work with Tenlands residential home on a project to bring together the generations. Several of the team have also applied to be members of the Durham Youth Council.

Our Communications Team played a key role during our recent open evening, where they helped guide prospective pupils and their parents around, and talked to them about what it is like to be a pupil at Ferryhill School. Many parents also chose to have an extra tour of the school, and team members helped with those too. They are currently busy designing a YouTube channel for the school. The Aspirations Team assist with careers, STEAM and extracurricular activities. They will also be selling poppies for Remembrance Day.

Finally a huge thanks to our Well-Being Team for their work in helping students around the school. Ten of them recently took part in training with the Diana Award to become anti-bullying ambassadors, and have subsequently trained others to help out. They are planning lots of events for the national anti-bullying week in November, and drop-in sessions for anyone who is worried about bullying. They were praised by the organisers of the training event for their enthusiasm during the day, and I know they will make a big difference.

Summer 2022 Updates

Our fantastic student leadership team have had an excellent year and continue to help improve our school and local community. The team has continued to grow throughout the year, with 105 student leaders. In May our senior leaders handed over the reins to a new senior team, in order to concentrate on their exams. After a rigorous application process, Lucas, Sophie, Erin and Hope were chosen to lead their teams and represent the school.

Our peer mentors have been working with Year 7 students, focusing on social skills, dealing with issues, and forging friendships. A big thanks to all of the peer mentors for their hard work this year, and we look forward to working with the new Year 7 students in the new academic year. Our mental health ambassadors have received their training, and will organise drop-in sessions for pupils in September. Our anti-bullying ambassadors will travel to Newcastle in September for some training by the Diana Award team. These groups will provide vital help and support to our school community, and thanks to everyone who has taken part.

Our Sports Leaders have organised and taken part in a huge number of events this year. These have ranged from netball tournaments, athletics events, and the Dash, where they helped PE apprentices and Go Well staff. Some of our Sports Leaders attended a Euros foot ball for girls from our local primaries, plus a Year 7&8 girls 5-a-side tournament. They learnt new skills at the Snozone dry ski slope, and officiated at a Football Cup and Shield event. For more details, check out our fantastic Facebook page, “FS sports and leadership”. A huge thanks to all the Sports Leaders and Miss Storey and the PE staff.

Our Aspirations team have helped out with our new Aspire days this year, and are helping to redesign our careers and PD website. The Communications team are busy designing a YouTube page for the school, as well as showing visitors around the school.

Our Community team have continued to try and play their part in improving our local area. They met the Chief Constable of Durham Police, and Joy Allen, the Police and Crime Commissioner to highlight local issues and ask what the police and PCC were planning to do to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. They also promoted the Ferryhill crime survey, which helped add weight to a successful Safer Streets application by the local community. This funding will help with the upgrade of CCTV cameras, purchasing security equipment for local homes and an educational programme in local schools. Ambassadors secure Ferryhill safer streets funding | South West Durham News (swd.news) We have also signed up to the Neighbourhood Watch Community Charter.

We look forward to continuing to make a difference in the new term, and welcoming our new Year 7s to the team.

April 2022 Updates

Our five senior student leaders and their teams have been working incredibly hard over the last few months. They are a key part of our student voice in school, and have taken part in the first ever student leaders meeting, with ideas on improving our school and community. We now have well over a hundred student leaders in our five teams.

They have organised an assembly in school with the manager of the Solan Connor Fawcett Family Cancer Trust, and we are continuing to raise money for them this term.

We have also begun to collect donations for our local food bank, given the pressure that families are facing with the rise in cost of living.

A number of our student leaders have volunteered to help with a project on anti-social behaviour, they have given their views on this via a survey, and will be handing out safety and crime prevention information to local people in the next few weeks. One of the issues highlighted in the survey was the speed of vehicles on local roads; our student leaders worked with the police and local residents to carry out speed checks outside the school.

Our Aspirations team have spoken to departments regarding extracurricular activities and a large number have been booked, including our very exciting trips to France, Canada and the Seychelles.

Our peer mentors have now been trained and are beginning to work with Year 7 students.

Our sports leaders have organised a netball tournament for local primary schools, and have received training from Craig Hampton from County Durham Sport to promote physical activity, and signed the Active 30 pledge.

Our Year 11 student leaders have done a great job in setting up the student leadership team, and are about to hand over to the younger year groups as they prepare for their exams.

The school would like to thank them all for their hard work, integrity and creative ideas shown this year and wish them all the best for their results.

February 2022 Updates

Our five senior student leaders have been busy establishing their teams and are making a real difference to our school and community. We now have a team of nearly 100 student leaders, from all year groups.

They have raised £200 for Stray Aid, and their chosen charity for this term is the Solan Connor Fawcett Family Cancer Trust. They are also collecting for the Ferryhill foodbank.

After half term, our peer mentors will receive training from the school counsellor so we can restart this important project, which was not able to go ahead during the height of the pandemic.

We have plans for mental health ambassadors and anti-bullying ambassadors very soon.

Sports leaders have been involved in a primary school event, and a cricket event very soon.

Our Aspirations team are surveying school departments to see what other exciting adventures we can offer in the future, as well as a project on learning styles.

Our student leaders have also had various suggestions to improve the school, which have been acted upon, or are in the pipeline. They told us that we lacked acting and drama as an extracurricular activity; our new drama club begins after February half term, and hopes to put on a show in the summer term. Student leaders have also met with Mr Pinkney to discuss our school rewards system, and how we can improve it.

Mental health was an issue our student leaders felt very strongly about, and so we are restarting our peer mentor scheme, training mental health ambassadors, and looking to expand our counselling service for pupils.

The Breakfast club, offering tasty snacks and free toast, was not available during the pandemic-our student leaders told us this should reopen, and it is now available for students from all year groups. The cost of living has increased for all families, and so our student leaders wanted to collect for our local foodbank.

December 2021 Updates

Ferryhill’s inaugural Student Leadership Team have been meeting over the last couple of weeks to determine their Action Plans and next steps for future developments in our school community.

Our five Senior Leaders (Harry, Olivia, Declan, Lydia and Isabelle) were appointed based on a rigorous application process which included formal interviews and a presentation.

They now lead a team of over 50 student leaders from all year groups. The community team are focusing on raising money for charities, and have already raised £190 for Stray Aid. They are taking the money raised to a stray animal shelter on Friday.

Our communication team are meeting this week to decide their next steps, and will look at producing a student newsletter, as well as supporting open evenings and conducting school tours for visitors.

Sports leaders are already well- established in the school, and working with the PE department, they lead on sporting events and work with our local primary schools.

The Aspirations leaders are buzzing with ideas that will support students learning, enrich their curriculum with educational visits and experiences and provide links with workplaces to inspire future progression. They will also be getting in touch with our Alumni after Christmas!

Finally our well-being team includes our peer mentors, and will receive training to become mental health and anti-bullying ambassadors.