Over 30 of our Year 9 students, accompanied by eight Year 11's, visited Northumbria University this month as part of our "Aim Higher' programme, which aims to inspire young people to progress on to higher education. This programme includes a number of trips each year to universities across the UK.

This year, our BTEC Creative Media courses were further developed to include print-based media units alongside our already popular film studies. This allows students to develop additional skills in commercial graphic design, publishing, journalism, promotion and marketing.

In September, new Year 11 Media students will be filming at Auckland Castle, thanks to a brand new education-meets-business link.

A group of students in Years 7 and 8 have competed in the County Durham Level 3 Sainsbury's School Games.

Our Future Business Magnates (FBM) team have won a special award at a prestigious presentation evening held at the Xcel Centre in Newton Aycliffe.

The Year 11 Prom 2013 was a glittering event enjoyed by all. Our young ladies and gentlemen turned out in style to celebrate at Rockliffe Hall in Darlington with a three course dinner and dancing.

Year 12 students have been put through their paces in a "boot camp' style training session held by the Royal Marines, who were invited to King James by our Health and Social Care department.

Three of our students have returned from the 4th Annual Legacy Games at Monkton Stadium in Jarrow with a host of medals.

Each year, some of our most promising Maths students from each year group are entered into the prestigious United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Individual Challenges with consistent success. This year is no exception and our students have, yet again, proved that they are talented mathematicians.

Three young golfers from King James I Academy have recently triumphed at the regional level of the British Heart Foundation Golf Competition, which was held at Castle Eden Golf Club in Hartlepool.