This year’s Summer School at St John’s School And Sixth Form College, Bishop Auckland took on a whole new dimension. More than 120 students were challenged with the unusual task of trying to train dragons.  The Summer School was based entirely around the popular Cressida Cowell book series and movie, “How to Train Your Dragon.”  How to Train Your Year 7 was packed with exciting and interactive activities based on Vikings and dragons, with something to suit everyone. Some favourites included Viking Egg Boat Valhalla, Dragon arts and crafts, Knattleikr on our brand new 3G pitch, a Viking Scavenger Hunt around school, iPad movie trailers, Celebrity Vikings and Dragons and even a movie, complete with Viking popcorn! The week of activities culminated in a huge Viking Battle complete with battle shields, tug of war and Viking Knattleikr, or rounders!  This was followed by a celebratory awards ceremony and the school hall was filled with students, parents, carers, dragons and Viking shields. How to Train Your Year 7 provided a great opportunity for our new Year 7s to get to know each other and supported the transition from primary school to St John’s. It helped them become familiar with our school and some of our staff, whilst increasing their confidence and making them feel more at ease with the whole transition process. We are delighted to say that our Year 7s were all successfully trained, and we don’t have any dragons or Vikings with us at the start of the new school year!