The Time Travel Education visit will transport Year 7 students into the heart of World War One trench life through immersive 360-degree technology. Led by a man with 24 years of experience in the Royal Medical Corps, the session will offer pupils authentic insight into the realities of life on the front line. As part of their English study of Private Peaceful, students will make meaningful connections between fiction and real-life history, deepening their empathy for the characters and enriching their understanding of Michael Morpurgo’s powerful portrayal of courage, sacrifice, and brotherhood during the war.

Mental Health Matters! We showed our support as an academy

for mental health by wearing a yellow accessory in support of Young Minds and World Mental Health Day. This allowed our students and staff to show support and show young people they are not alone with their mental health! Lots of our students supported this by adding a touch of yellow to their day showing our sense of community as part of #TeamDVA.

We have had an amazing half term in sport at DVA. There are so many sporting opportunities as part of our after school enrichment programme and we have had multiple teams out representing us with some fantastic results!

Some of the results:

It is also great to see our students working hard outside of school to play in community teams. Some of our Year 7, 8 & 9 girls recently represented Bentley ARLFC U12s in the Wakefield Cup. The team secured an impressive 24-10 victory against Fryston . Special mention to Mylie who was awarded Player of the match. Also a huge well done to Millie, Esme, Elsa and Pixie .

Our Y9 Graduation celebrates the  fantastic journey that these students have come on since starting in Year 7. We as a staff are very proud of all the students and their graduation from KS3 to KS4 is a testament to their resilience and dedication.

This graduation shows the step up for our Y9 students into their GCSEs and shows they are ready to make their way through education and life beyond the academy. They will be presented with many different choices, choices that will sometimes be difficult to make, and yet we’re confident that with their maturity, our guidance and the love and support of their families, we know they will continue to be a very successful year group.

Creative Arts Exhibition – 10th July 2025

This year we hosted our first annual Creative Arts Exhibition which was a phenomenal event that was well attended by parents and students who proudly wanted to show off their work. The event showcased a range of artwork from our Y7 and 8 students through to our Y10 and Y11 GCSE Art and Design and Art Photography students. A fabulous display of talent from all within the academy beautifully presented to showcase their work to the community.

We are proud of how hard our students work and want to thank the creative arts team for putting on this event -we are already excited to see what next year will bring!

Another fantastic experience at the end of the year for our Y7 cohort. We took 167 students to Scarborough for a day at the seaside and even treated them all to an ice cream from the famous Harbour Bar Ice Cream Shop! Lots of fun was had by all staff and students with time to enjoy a game of cricket and rounders on the beach, free time to enjoy the souvenir shops and grab some fish and chips by the sea and a nice walk to get some fresh sea air! Already looking forward to next year …

Our Y10 students were asked to write an application to be able to attend Wimbledon this year and have the opportunity to watch some world class tennis. The PE department then reviewed the applications, and all the successful candidates received a ticket to attend.

This was an incredible experience for our students and is the second year we have taken students from Don Valley Academy. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for any tennis fan or sport lover and our students visited centre court as well as sitting on Court 1 to watch a match. Students were very grateful to the staff who facilitated this and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Thank you to all staff who helped this to happen for our students and giving up their time to offer such fabulous opportunities as part of our life of a student. Here’s to Wimbledon 2026!

This year we trialled a new experience for our Y9 students and took them to Warner Bros Studio Tour of Harry Potter in London. We took 50 students and 4 staff to this incredible experience and lots of fun was had by all. They had the opportunity to visit all elements of the tour and see how the movies were brought to life as well as experiencing the culture of a large tourist attraction with many different visitors and nationalities all excited to see the magic! They rode on the Hogwarts Express and even got to make their own Howler as part of the Mischief Managed Exhibition. We look forward to recreating this trip again in future years and hopefully with even more students!

From the queue to the Royal Box, Wimbledon’s traditions are as much a part of the experience as the actual tennis. The championships began in 1877 and have become one of the world’s most famous tennis tournaments. They’re one of four Grand Slam competitions, alongside the Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open, and the only one of the four played on grass courts.

On Wednesday 10^th July, 8 students had the chance to experience the history and traditions of The Championships at Wimbledon. They were able to visit the iconic grass courts to witness world class players in action and got up close to the famous trophies.

This was an amazing experience for both students and accompanying staff and a fabulous time was had by all!

we took 11 of or Y9 girls who have chosen Triple Science and/or Engineering for their GCSEs to The University of Sheffield for a Girls into STEM day.

We were very lucky to learn about lots of different careers within STEM as well as how new technologies are being developed to support in medicine. Below is a brief overview of the day.

There were 4 mini lectures:

On Tuesday 2^nd July we held our annual Celebration Evening to celebrate the achievements of our Y7, Y8 and Y10 students. This event marks a lovely occasion as we come together to celebrate the achievements of our students throughout their journey at DVA. It is a testament to their hard work, dedication, and growth. The ceremony is a wonderful opportunity for parents and carers to join us in commemorating this milestone in your child’s education. We acknowledge their accomplishments so far as part of their Don Valley Academy journey.

The night was a great success and a pleasure to host. It was great to see so many students, parents and carers attending and seeing many leave the event with the widest smiles on their faces. Well done to all and we look forward to seeing you again next year!

Our cohort of Y10 students spent 2 nights away in the Peak District to complete their expedition as part of their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award. The aim of the Expedition section is  to inspire young people to develop initiative and a spirit of adventure and discovery by planning, training for and completing an adventurous self-sufficient journey as part of a team.

In preparation for this they had spent enrichment sessions planning their routes, learning how to pitch tents and pack their bags effectively as well as cooking on Trangia’s. This is because expeditions must be unaccompanied and self-sufficient.

Year 10 had their mock interviews today with over 20 external providers, providing a meaningful employer encounter that really helped with employability skills. Thank you to all employers who helped out.

We have been running athletics as an enrichment throughout the summer term and our athletics teams represented Don Valley Academy at the Doncaster Schools Athletics Championships with the following results:

Out all 19 schools that attended!! Amazing results!!

There was an outstanding effort on the day from all students who showed great sportsmanship throughout the day. Well done to our Year 7 boys with a phenomenal win taking home the trophy for 2024! #TeamDVA

As part of the experiences we offer at DVA, this week over 50 of our Y10 students had the opportunity to visit Production Park at South Kirkby. Production Park is a network of everything in live production and entertainment – technical innovation, engineering, stage production, digital display technology, audio visual integration and 3D visual control ‐ all in one place.

After signing our non-disclosure agreements, students and staff had a tour of the park showcasing the arena size studios, workspaces including workshops, offices and , art studios and also part of the Academy for Live Technology. They were then given a short talk about degrees offered at the Academy for Live Technology as post 18 options and where these led on to for career opportunities including working at festivals, singer tours, cruise ships and Disney! It showcased multiple opportunities, and it was great to see our students’ asking lots of questions and really taking an interest in life after DVA.

Thank you to Production Park for allowing our students to visit and offering such an enriching experience.

In Arts Award, students are preparing a showcase production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Students are working hard with lots going on in rehearsals which are taking place now, on Monday and Wednesday evenings, as part of our enrichment programme. We look forward to seeing the results of the students and Mrs Threapletons hard work when we open our doors for the production on the evening of Thursday 4^th July 2024. Entry will be free, so we look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible!

As part of the experiences we offer at DVA, this week a small cohort of our Y10 students had the opportunity to visit Volker Rail, an engineering company based in Doncaster, to learn about different sectors within engineering and the career opportunities on offer.

They had a tour of the company showcasing the offices, workspaces, different units, and workshop and training facilities. They were then given a short talk about apprenticeships offered by the company and the benefits of going down this route for further education. It showcased multiple opportunities, and it was great to see our students’ asking lots of questions and really taking an interest in life after DVA. The students were then given a chance to take part in a mechanical engineering challenge to build a car out of KNEX using a small motor and they thoroughly enjoyed racing these as part of the experience!

Thank you to Volker Rail for allowing our students to visit and offering such an enriching experience.

As part of the experiences we offer at DVA, this week our Y9 students had the opportunity to visit Cadbury World to see what is on offer as an experience in a bigger city. They had a tour about the history of chocolate and how Dairy Milk is made, they watched tempering of chocolate and then got to taste test their own flavour combination. As part of the tour they enjoyed a short ride where they got to collect cocoa beans and milk as part of a game to then make the chocolate. We ended the day watching a 4D chocolate adventure. Good fun was had by all!

Our Year 8 Netball Team played a tournament in the Doncaster Schools Netball Tournament this week.

The girls won every game meaning they are the overall winners of the tournament.

Scores were:

They all played their absolute socks off and worked so well as a team! We are very proud of them all!

In Pride Club this week students have looked at steps to be a more inclusive school. They looked at NEU discussion points and reviewed whether the DVA uniform was gendered. They have each decided on 3 points to focus on moving forward and will be writing a paragraph to Mr Brooke about their number 1 choice to implement as part of student voice.

Students from Speak Up enrichment had the best time working with DJ Ian Byatt to explore new skills. We cannot wait for next week!

In Arts Award, students are preparing for the acting festival they will be taking part in in the duologue section. They are having lots of fun completing an improvised paired challenge. We also have three design students looking at lighting, hair and costume.

Students in Speak Up had the exciting opportunity to meet Nessietessimal the amazing animator last week. They talked through different types of animation and did a fun design task linking to creating ideas for basic animation. Students will be working with Nessie over the next few weeks to think about how they can combine art forms of drama with animation to create work they want to ‘speak up’ about.

In Science Club students were having fun with static electricity and trying out the Van de Graaff generator! When the Van de Graaff generator starts charging, it transfers the charge to the person who is touching it. Since the person’s hair follicles are getting charged to the same potential, they try to repel each other. This is why the hair actually stands up.

Our newly formed singing group were working together on harmonies to practice a range of songs they are rehearsing ready for our next performing arts showcase. A beautiful rendition of Mad World to warm up this week.