Turing Tour 

The Turing Scheme offers grant funding to education providers to support their students or apprentices to pursue study and work placements around the world.

Funding is open to UK and British overseas territories organisations from across the education and training sector, including schools and further and higher education providers.  

This funding allows education providers to:

• give their students the chance to develop new skills

• gain international experience

• boost their employability

  
  

On their tour, the students attended Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play the Mariners, saw the Eugene Emeralds play and met the team, the mascot Sluggo bear, and the amazing Emeralds staff. They took a guided walking tour following the Freedom Trail through Boston, visited the coastal town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, which is the site of the first Pilgrim settlement, founded in 1620. They saw Plymouth Rock which marks the place where settlers are thought to have landed on shore and went on a 1:1 scale replica of the original Mayflower that carried the Pilgrims across the Atlantic, the Mayflower II. The students travelled to Cambridge and spent time at Harvard University and their art museum, visited the University of Oregon where they discussed admissions and had the opportunity to meet student athletes and visit the Hayward Field museum. 

I believe the students have had an amazing time and it has been an experience that they will never forget!

Pearson Teaching Award 

This week, members of our dedicated staff and student body presented Devonport High School's digital transformation journey to judges, for our Pearson Teaching Award nomination.

The session highlighted the incredible strides we've made in using technology to enhance every aspect of school life.  

Judges heard specific examples of technology in action from our dedicated staff but it was really our students who stole the show, highlighting their positive experiences, explaining how technology benefits them and how our 1:1 scheme has many benefits, including:

• easier access to learning resources and improved organisation.   

• enhanced collaborative learning with their peers. 

• instant assessment and feedback

• up to date communication

• preparation for the world of work and future careers

• improved digital skills

  
  

Students also showcased impressive projects using online tools like Onshape for design, Canva for graphic design, trinket for coding and music composition tools like noteflight. They wanted to highlight the transition from school to home as being a real strength of the 1:1 chromebook scheme.

We are incredibly proud of the team who represented Devonport and demonstrated the positive, tangible impact our digital strategy is having on our students' education and opportunities. We will keep you updated on the outcome of the award process.

UKMT Junior Maths Challenge

The UKMT Junior Maths Challenge took place this week and we were impressed by the number of students who signed up to take part! Almost 90 students from y7 and y8 sat the challenge, which is a 60 minute paper full of maths problem solving questions. "It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency to make students think." A great opportunity for our students to test their maths skills. The results will be out in a few weeks but well done to everyone who took part.

Primary Scholars

Building on our long-standing commitment to fairer access to Devonport High School for Boys, we developed our Primary Scholars support programme this year.

This initiative provides valuable on-site support and enrichment at DHSB for Year 4 and 5  students (priority places are given to students who qualify for Pupil Premium). The programme aims to bolster their Key Stage 2 skills in Maths, English and Science and/or provide preparation for the 11+ admission tests.

Each participating child, along with a parent or carer, is invited to DHSB for a series of sessions, typically on Mondays, throughout the academic year.

During these sessions, students benefit from individualised attention from a dedicated DHSB student mentor, typically one of our Y12 students. They utilise the Atom Learning Online Platform, which offers a comprehensive range of resources for KS2 Maths, English, and Science, as well as 11+ preparation materials. Thanks to a special partnership between DHSB and Atom Learning, this valuable platform (normally £575.90 per year) is provided to all participating Pupil Premium students at no cost. All necessary equipment and learning materials are also supplied. 

Parents and carers of students attending, enjoy complimentary refreshments during each session. Furthermore, during one session within each block, students and parents/carers will have the opportunity to take a tour of the school led by the Headteacher, Dan Roberts, or another member of our Leadership Group, who will be able to answer any questions you may have.

We have seen a high level of interest in this programme so far this year and we do try to ensure that students who are not allocated a place in the first block are prioritised for future opportunities.

This week our usual Y12 mentors were busy with exams so we had some amazing Year 8 and Year 10 students help out. They were awesome!

If you are interested in this scheme for your child please complete this form and if you have a friend or relative that may be interested, please share this with them.

DofE

The first five of our Bronze DofE teams completed their practice expedition last weekend. Well done!

Excellent Work

Connor Monteith in 7S shared an amazing presentation last Friday in Classics Club. There were approximately 30 students in attendance and they were all engaged, listening to his really well researched and delivered presentation.

Please follow this link to see his presentation.

Sparx Maths and Sparx Reader

Each week we celebrate our highest performers in both Sparx Maths and Sparx Reader, two of our core homework platforms. We are proud of all of our students who complete their homework each week to such a high standard but these students deserve a special mention.

Congratulations!

Sports News and Results

Y10 Cricket vs. Mt Kelly - Thursday 1 May

Y10 cricket team bow out of the Devon Cup after an 83 run defeat yesterday at Mount Kelly

Year 7 Cricket Vs Plymouth College - Friday 2 May

Year 7 are through to the next round of the Devon Cup after beating Plymouth College by five wickets this afternoon. Howzat!