Staff and students are working extremely hard at the moment in the build up to the examination season.
Somehow they have all still found the time to achieve considerable success outside the curriculum.
My blog this week celebrates a diverse range of wonderful achievements. Enjoy!
German Exchange
We were pleased to welcome our German Exchange friends to school this morning, with blue skies once again. Staff and students at Kopernikus Gymnasium believe it never rains in Plymouth! We’ll be sharing photos and news of their visit on Twitter and in my blog next Friday.
Jack and Robin, representing our two schools
National Careers Week
We also welcomed 36 visiting speakers this morning, all co-ordinated by Sue Moreton, for National Careers Week 2016. You will be able to read more in Ms Moreton’s blog on Monday.
Room 101
The Devonport Spectator recently ran a writing competition open to all Year 7 students. Called ‘Room 101’ the idea was to see what really annoys our students and what they would like to lock away for good. Several students entered the competition submitting some amusing and humorous work.
The competition winner is Tom Hyndman 7E and taking the runners up places are Robert Derry 7W and Yousif Bahr 7S.
You can read the winning entries here.
Robert, Tom and Yousif
The editorial team plan to run more competitions such as this to encourage all forms of writing and journalism, and to share great work with the whole school community so watch this space!
Sir Joshua Reynolds Devonport Schools Photography Project
With support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (as part of the Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Journey to Genius project), Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery launched a targeted schools project in Devonport to help develop the skills and creativity of children in the area.
The project intention was to celebrate Reynolds’ achievements in portraiture while based in Devonport, through creative photography workshops.
The project began in November 2015, working in three schools in the area, DHSB, Mount Wise Primary School and St Joseph’s RC Primary School.
Over 50 rolls of 35mm film were used, taking 739 photographs.
Chess Update
Very well done to Robert Liu who took part in the English Youth Grand Prix & Ian Cowen Memorial Prix Championships (incorporating West of England U14 & Girls U14 and Wiltshire U14) in Swindon where he won a Grading Prize.
Robert also represented Devon in the U14 team of 12 players at the West of England and South Wales Inter County Jamboree in Churchill, North Somerset.
The team won the runners-up prize (helped to this place by Robert who won 1.5 points for the team (1 win, 1 draw, and 1 loss).
Big Bang Fair Finals
Looking forward to next week we’re proud to let you know a team of six boys will be travelling to Birmingham to compete at the national finals of the National Science Engineering Competition.
The best projects from across the UK are invited to the finals which are held in March each year at The Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair.
Cameron Hart, Tom and Ben Payne, Alex Photiou, Sam Gray and Stuart Foxcroft will be showcasing their project which explores the idea of using less fossil fuels in school.
We wish them all luck and will keep in touch with them on Twitter at #dhsbbigbangfair
Sports Update
Students receive national call up!
Well done to Ben Charlton who has been selected for the Wales U16 basketball team.
Toby Leung, aged 13 has been selected to represent England in the U15 Home Countries Quandrangular International event in April. He is one of five boys selected from all over UK. Toby’s coach said, “He has great talent and will have a great future in badminton”.
Thomas Ringrose has been selected for the Great Britain U20 squad going to the World Junior Ultimate Championships in Poland in July/August 2016. This is a fantastic achievement by Thomas especially considering he is eligible to play in this U20 age category for another three years!
Hockey
Our U13 Hockey A team took the Devon County championship title this week.
Next stop regional finals!
Congratulations!
National Indoor Rowing
We’re very proud of the following students who have been selected to represent the Plymouth School Sports Partnership at the National Junior Indoor Rowing event in London today.
Jack Adams 11W Jonathan Christie 6C1 Dylan Tomkins 10S
Mr Carpenter said, “This is a national level representative sport and a great opportunity for the boys to experience a superior level of competition, which they have earned through qualification”.
Football
Mr Manley said there were another 13 Year 7 boys participating at the Plymouth central venue competition this week.
He added, “That’s more than 50 boys who have represented Year 7 this year”.
Events Update
15 March 2016 – The Learning Commons – An Introduction
16 March at 7.00pm – PTFA Meeting
21 March – Oxbridge Information Event for Students
23 March – Year 7 Parents Assessment Evening
24 March – Final day of the Spring term
11 April – First day of the Summer term (A week)