Newly-arrived music teacher Joanne Kemp has launched St Aidan’s Church of England Academy’s first Folk Club to help students share her passion for music.

Joanne, who joined the Darlington Academy in January, loves music and was for nine years a member of the Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, a TA band in Newcastle, as well as being a regular folk performer for years.

A rewards scheme which is being run at St Aidan’s Church of England Academy in Darlington is proving a real success. 

The Model Student scheme, which was launched last year, rewards students for displaying the attributes of the core values, care, respect and responsibility along with good attendance, positive attitude and hard work. 

Financial Adviser Carterbar is celebrating after every member of staff completed new qualifications demanded by the industry’s governing body. Team members at the company, which is based in Billingham, Teesside, have been steadily accumulating their qualifications to fit in with a programme introduced by the Financial Services Authority to substantially raise standards in the industry.

North-East Financial Adviser Carterbar has expanded the service it offers ahead of major changes that will require businesses to establish pension funds for their employees.

The Teesside company has taken the step to counter a ‘deeply disturbing’ lack of awareness among employers and their staff about the dramatic changes that the legislation will make to their lives.

St Aidan’s Church of England Academy in Darlington has strengthened its language teaching with the arrival of a Foreign Language Assistant from France.

A group of teenagers helped spruce up the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas in Newcastle when they took part in a day-long challenge. The volunteers, aged between 16 and 22, were from the Tyneside branch of Tomorrow’s People, a national employment charity that works to help young people secure jobs by giving them as wide an experience as possible.

Teesside recruitment company TechConsult UK, which has just marked its fifth birthday, has announced the appointment of energy specialist Dawn Smith to further strengthen its team.

Students from St Aidan’s Church of England Academy, in Darlington, were honoured at their annual awards ceremony and pride of place went to thirteen-year-old Courtney England.

Financial Planner Rachel Storey is taking up a time challenge to raise money for Teesside Hospice in memory of her fitness instructor’s mother, who died recently.

St Aidan’s Church of England Academy, in Darlington, has teamed up with Star Radio to sponsor an award for County Durham’s outstanding young business person. The Academy, which is a business and enterprise specialist, is sponsoring the ‘Outstanding Young Person’ Award in the awards run by the Darlington based radio station.