Pastoral Care at Durham Johnston Comprehensive School
The pastoral care we offer our students is central to everything we do at Durham Johnston Comprehensive School. This section of our website provides an overview and key information about this vital part of life at DJCS.
Our ethos and success is based upon students, parents and staff working closely together and forming good relationships. Our comprehensive nature is found in the wide range of backgrounds from which our students are drawn, but also in the wide range of curricular, extra-curricular, and cultural opportunities that we provide.
Academic excellence and success are part of our values, but we have always thought carefully about the broader quality of education that we offer, aiming to provide our students with diverse opportunities beyond the classroom. We recognise the importance of school societies and clubs, art, music, sport and drama. This is something that has always characterised Durham Johnston and is as important to the curriculum as any subject or external judgement. Students need time and space to grow up and to try as many things as possible.
At Durham Johnston we recognise that a student with additional barriers to learning outside of school may be predisposed to additional vulnerabilities and we work collaboratively with colleagues and external partners to identify and address these barriers at the earliest possible stage.
Durham Johnston Comprehensive School has very high expectations in terms of behaviour, attendance, and punctuality, that we communicate on a weekly basis with students and parents and carers. These expectations can be found on our website, in school policies, and are shared with students in assemblies, in form time and in how we engage positively with all members of our school community. We regularly survey parents to get their perspectives. We also listen carefully to student voice and celebrate positive behaviour via our House system, school reports, year group newsletters, parents’ evenings, and annual celebrations evenings.
Central to our ethos is a strong belief in social justice and a zero-tolerance approach to any form of prejudice. Both student behaviour and attendance are outstanding
This section of our website contains lots of information about the day-to-day practicalities of attending DJCS, as well as information about how we support our students.