14 November 2025
Dear Parents and Carers,
Earlier in the week a colleague in the maths department and I were discussing strategies for improving the resilience of students in our Year 11 classes. There had been a moment in my lesson that day where I had watched a student reach a difficult problem; I had seen their shoulders slump, and I saw the exact moment they gave up. It is one of my greatest frustrations as a teacher that this happens not due to a lack of ability, but a failure of resilience. I have written about resilience in this bulletin before as I very strongly believe it is one of the most valuable traits that we can instil in the next generation. I often find myself pondering what exactly is resilience and can I actually teach it?
So, let us start with the question of what exactly is resilience? In human terms, the definition varies but is often described as the ability to “bounce back” from adversity, stress or failure. Being faced with discouraging mistakes yet persevering without giving in to frustration; a mental toughness. However, as an engineer, that’s a bit vague for me! I like to deal in facts, formulas and precision, and in the engineering world resilience has a very precise and indeed very relevant meaning. In reference to a material, resilience is the measure of how much energy a material can absorb without undergoing permanent deformation. A resilient material, like a spring steel or rubber, can be stressed (bent, pulled, or compressed) and will return to its original shape once that stress is removed. It can absorb the energy of an impact and then release it. The opposite of resilient materials are brittle materials like glass or ceramic. These are very rigid, lack flexibility, can absorb very little energy before fracturing, and break easily and suddenly under stress.
Given there is a clear correlation between these properties of materials and our students, the question then becomes can we use engineering principals to measure and improve the resilience in our students? We want our students to be the spring steel, not the glass. We want them to absorb the mental energy of a challenge and return to a productive state without being permanently "deformed" by self-doubt or defeat.
In engineering, material resilience is measured precisely using the modulus of resilience, which measures the maximum energy a material can absorb without permanent deformation ( 
for anyone who is interested). In this context we have an absolute, measurable value for how much “bouncing back power” the material possesses. So, how do we measure student resilience? We can't put a student in a material testing machine(!) but we can look at quantifiable behaviours in the classroom: how long a student works on a difficult problem before giving up; the number of attempts made after the first mistake before the problem is solved; the difference between the number of times they ask "What's the answer?" (low resilience) and "I tried X and Y, but they didn't work. Can you help me find my mistake?" (high resilience).
Finally, can we use all this to create a recipe for resilience? (The reason I started this slightly bizarre thought process in the first place.) Imagine if we could actually quantify these factors, if we could define the inputs—the "yield strength" of a student's prior knowledge, the "stress" of the problem, and the resulting "strain" of their emotional response and combine them into a predictive formula that measured a human modulus of resilience e.g.
If such a formula existed, it wouldn't just be an academic exercise, it would give us the recipe for creating resilience in our students. We would know exactly which input variable to manipulate to achieve the desired outcome and improvement in resilience. If Failure Tolerance is the weakest component, we could design low-stakes, high-repetition tasks. If Self Efficacy is low, we could focus on building scaffolded, incremental success and providing specific, encouraging feedback.
The engineer's world offers a thought-provoking model. Improving resilience can often seem like an intangible process but in truth it's a measurable, predictable property that can be reinforced by design. In the maths classroom, we achieve this by praising the process students use, their persistence and the strategies they employ above getting the correct answer. We try to normalise struggle and emphasise that this is normal and necessary to “grow their brains”. We celebrate mistakes and encourage students to unpick them and learn from them. We scaffold complex problems and remove the support gradually to build their confidence and their success. When confronted with long multi step questions, we encourage them to break it down and “just do one thing” and “now one more thing…”. All of these strategies help to build mathematical resilience, and the same is true in other (less cool) subjects.
So, the logical next step is to turn my thoughts to applying this engineering mindset to my pedagogy, and try to determine the factors that will maximise the ability of this year's class of Year 11 to continually absorb the stress and return to their optimal state, in the hope of subtly engineering them into resilient, effective, independent learners.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs McFadden
SEND Clinics
We will be holding SEND online clinics every month for parents to meet with a member of the learning support team to discuss any area of their child's learning or development. The aim of the clinic to identify the most appropriate support which may be signposting to external support. The next clinic will be held online on Thursday 20th November between 10-12. If you would like to make an appointment to talk with a member of school staff please contact Mrs Sangster who will arrange this for you, via learningsupport@durhamjohnston.org.uk
Dracula & Daughters Book Event
Last Friday, we were incredibly excited to host Emma Carroll to discuss her new book 'Dracula & Daughters' with Year 7. Emma shared her inspiration for this story and her process for writing. It was great to hear from Emma, as a published author, and learn top tips for writing engaging stories! Having completed a lesson on 'Dracula & Daughters' in English during the week, students impressed Emma with their knowledge of Vampires and Dracula in an interactive quiz and were a credit to the school. Students then had the opportunity to meet Emma and buy a copy of her book to be signed. Thank you to Emma Carroll and Collected Books for visiting us!
Any student who ordered a copy via ParentPay, but did not collect it, can see Miss Bailey in EN9 on Monday to collect.
Happy reading Year 7... and keep your garlic close!
Miss Bailey
English Department
Year 11 Mock Interviews
On Thursday this week, we were delighted to be able to give our Year 11 students the chance to undergo a formal mock interview, with the help of 22 fantastic external volunteers from diverse professional industries. This event is a key part of our careers programme, which is built around the eight Gatsby Benchmarks for Good Career Guidance. This event specifically addressed key benchmarks:
- Gatsby Benchmark 5: Encounters with employers and employees: Providing vital, real-world interactions.
- Gatsby Benchmark 8: Personal guidance: Offering tailored, one-on-one feedback to every student.
The positive atmosphere and the sight of many students returning to their lessons with smiles on their faces created a real buzz around the school; it was lovely to see the significant boost in student confidence as they honed these essential soft skills. We were also pleased to hear positive feedback from the external volunteers:
"Thanks for inviting me again this year - it is a privilege to be involved and spend time with your amazing Year 11s.
You organise the day so well to get the best out of your students and us too.
Talking to others, we were impressed by the capability and confidence of the students and how they had been prepared for their first interviews.
I thought it was a great event and think this is a great opportunity for your Year 11s to be interviewed by unknown adults as a practice towards their real interviews in the coming year."
We’re extremely grateful to all those who gave so willingly of their time to help support our students. Many of our visitors were so impressed they have already signed up for next year! If you or a contact you know might be interested in volunteering for this rewarding experience, please contact us careers@durhamjohnston.org.uk.
We encourage parents and carers to discuss the interview experience with your child. Ask them about the feedback they received, what they learned, and how they plan to apply these skills in their future studies or careers.
Thank you once again for your support in preparing our students for their futures.
Mr Kennedy
Careers Leader
Miss Robson
Assistant Headteacher – Personal Development
PE News
On Monday our Year 10 boys’ football team travelled to Dyke House School in the County Cup. We started strongly and dominated the game eventually reaching the next round with a 4-2 victory.
Also on Monday, our Year 7 girls’ football team were at Valley Gardens in the English Schools Cup. We took an early lead but an injury to our captain meant we had to reshuffle the team. Despite a battling performance we eventually lost 4-1. POM was Ellicia B.
Finally on Monday, our Year 7 boys’ basketball team hosted a very strong Whickham team in a friendly. Despite only being 6 points behind at the start of the final quarter we eventually lost 52-30. A great team performance and good preparation for the Junior NBA competition which will be starting soon.
On Tuesday, our netball teams hosted Parkview. Our unbeaten start to the season continued as our Year 7 team secured a comfortable 11-2 win with Elodie VW POM. The Year 8 game was closer, but we held on for a 18-15 victory with Kat R POM. Finally, our Year 10 team played some outstanding netball on their way to a 27-10 win. Grace C was POM.
Our Year 8 boys’ football team faced the reigning county champions High Tunstall in the County Cup. Despite going 2-0 behind the team showed great resilience fighting back to lead 3-2 with only minutes to play. Unfortunately, they equalised to take the game to penalties which we lost 5-4. Joint POMs were Rory H and Will S.
Wednesday was a busy day. During the afternoon our U19 netball team travelled to the Beacon of Light for the County tournament. We started with a hard-fought victory against Gateshead College. We followed that with a comfortable 25-5 win over Whitburn. We secured the County title with a 9-9 draw against Durham School in our final match. Libby C was voted POT. They now go on to the regional finals which take place in Newcastle on Sunday 1st February.
Also, during the afternoon, our U19 boys’ football team hosted Emmanuel College in a League and Cup double. We scored early and dominated possession, but several missed chances cost us as the game ended 1-1. A penalty shoot-out decided the game which we won 5-4 after a Jack D save. POM was Fin F.
Our U13 girls’ football team made the journey to Hebburn to face St Joseph's in the 3rd round of the English Schools Cup. They have a football academy attached to the school and are a very strong side. Despite that we played some outstanding football. The score was 1-1 with only 15 minutes to play. Unfortunately, we just ran out of steam eventually losing 4-1. Molly C was POM.
On Thursday, waterlogged pitches meant the Year 7 boys County rugby tournament had to be postponed. However, our Year 10 boys football team were in action as the hosted Ashington in the English Schools Cup. We played some excellent football on the way to a 3-2 victory. Joint POMs were Harry S and Louis B.
Good luck today to our U19 boys’ football team who face Whitley Bay High in the English Schools Cup and also to our U13 girls’ football teams who are in Sunderland for a football festival.
Finally, our Inter and Senior boys swimming teams have travelled down to Birmingham today to prepare to compete in the English Schools National Finals at Sandwell Aquatics Centre on Saturday. They are swimming in both the Freestyle and Medley relays. An amazing achievement to reach the finals - we are one of only a small number of state schools who have qualified. The event is livestreamed and can be watched via this link.
Mr Hopper
Subject Leader for PE
A reminder of our weekly sports bulletin:
Sports Bulletin