It’s been a fabulous few days at DHSB.
Many congratulations to students who completed the Ten Tors Challenge at the weekend and to the Year 9 and Year 10 football teams who became Devon champions on Wednesday.
Thank you to all the staff who have supported these teams by coaching and supporting them through training as well as at the actual event and matches.
Thank you also to our PTFA and members of staff who led a successful trip to Alton Towers last weekend
At Ten Tors, our 35 mile team were the first students back out of 261 teams, and our two 45 mile teams finished third and fifth out of 110 teams.
This comment from a parent sums up how we feel, “Just stunning. Amazing groups of lads, awesome teachers. Thank you so much”.
35 team - Zeb Fellows 10W, Jacob Long 10N, Doug Richardson 10W, Tom Robbins 10P, James Rostron 10S, Tai Barrett 10N
45A team Tom Brown 11N, Ben Carty 11S, Ben Richardson 11S, Schaefer Mann 11S, Rick de Wilde 11S, Solly Hunter 11S
45B team Will Goldstone 12RNC, James Parsons 12RFP, Rhys Cunningham 11S, Isaac Reid 11S, Archie Chalk 11S, Frank Poynton-Duke 11N
Mr Clifford’s final Ten Tors report this year
Well after six months and hundreds of hours arduous training in all weathers on Dartmoor our three teams took part in Ten Tors 2022. Teams left Okehampton under the direction of a military gunfire start in low cloud base and poor visibility but this soon burnt off and gave way to clear skies and sapping temperatures. Our three teams produced performances that could only have been dreamed about at the start of the season.
All three of our teams were all on point across both days and their performances merely re confirmed their abilities and capabilities that appeared throughout the training walks.
The school has a long and well respected reputation in terms of Ten Tors and our teams only added to that this year. Congratulations to everybody involved there is no doubt you gave 110% effort and left every ounce of energy out on Dartmoor. Even the event coordinator Colonel Mcdade wanted to know what training our teams had been doing. He was very impressed - fine praise indeed.
You should be rightly proud of your performances as are your families, friends and of course your own DHSB community.
Mr Clifford
Ten Tors Extra
Equally impressive is the number of students who took part in the Ten Tors Challenge with organisations outside school. I invited them all to a special breakfast this morning so I could congratulate them and catch up with their stories from the weekend.
Antony Bartolini 11S, Ben Wagstaff 10W, Billy Carlton 11N, Braden Toms 11N, Bruno Blake 10W, Daniel Keyes 10P, Giles Padhi 9N, Haydn Keast 10W, Jack Benzie 9E, James Rostron 10S, Joseph McDermott 10W, Matthew Chapman 12RWO, Patrick Dunne 10W, Reece Goffin 11P, Sam Coates 10S, Seb White 9C, Tom Brown 11N.
The organisations include Truro Explorer Scouts, 187 Air Cadets, East Devon Explorer Scouts, Tavistock and District Youth Forum, River Teign Sea Scouts, Plymouth Explorer Scouts, 197 Air Cadets Plymouth, Air Cadets - Plymouth and Cornwall Wing.
Well done everyone!
Devon Cup
We were delighted to take the trophy in two Devon Cup finals this week - well done to the Year 9 and Year 10 teams.
Mr Bunney said, “Huge congratulations and well done to the DHSB Year 9 football team - they have been a pleasure to work with this season and what a great way to end it”.
Mr Manley said, “I’m extremely proud of the Year 10 boys who beat Torquay Academy 1 - 0 in the Devon Cup Final”.
Whole School Assembly
This week’s House Assembly was led by Mr Huq.
He said, “This week's assembly shared the Fantasy Premier League update before celebrating the DofE awards achieved in the last three months. There was also an update on the House Competition before a musical interlude by Elliott Mair. Finally, a brief video for mental health awareness week is included followed by slides on social responsibility from the House Captains”.
Shekinah Art Exhibition
Shekinah is an organisation that provides opportunities for people who are experiencing all forms of homelessness and support for other challenges they may be currently facing.
Students in 8C and 8W have recently exhibited images at the Shekinah Art Competition to help them celebrate their 30th year.
Mrs Burdon said, “The theme of homelessness was asked to be explored through visual imagery and Year 8 students developed mixed media images starting with their own photography. These images were then edited to create stencils which were inspired by the work of street artist Banksy. Selected work was by Owen O’Brien 8C, Lennon Way 8W, Jianyu Wang 8W, Charlie Borrill 8W and Joseph Dennis 8W and we are delighted that Owen was the winner of the secondary section. His work and others will go on auction to raise money for the incredible work done by Shekinah. The work produced by Year 8 was skillful and reflected the theme with sensitivity and impact”.
Owen's winning image with judge Steve Evans
Excellent Work
Our Excellent Work this week is from Miss Nally who said, !I would like to put the whole of 8P forward and let you see the amazing results of the six week homework project they presented in their gallery lesson at the end of last term. In connection with the topic of Protest Poetry, their homework challenge was to investigate an area of protest and respond in two ways: one written piece and one creative piece. The projects were wide-ranging and the outcomes outstanding as you can see in the photographs”.
Sixth Form Enrichment
KS5 students explored useful tips on how to manage exam anxiety last Friday in tutorial time followed by superb advice from Owen Weymouth (recent leaver and GB Red bull cliff diving champion) on 'Facing Fear' and how to channel this successfully.
Owen advised students to 'choose good people and keep an open mind', to allow failure and to take risks to illuminate opportunity.
This week in enrichment tiome, students in Year 13 had their exam briefing and Year 12 students who were not in exams were introduced to their assigned Eton X online course. This is called ‘Making a Difference’ and the aims are to become more assertive and learn how to be confident and persuasive.
Ms Davidson
PSHEE Activities
This week it was Mental Health Awareness week, and whilst we have not had any specific lessons on the theme this week, this continues to be a major focus in school, with links to so many other areas of school life. The theme this year was loneliness - can you think of a way to help someone you know out of loneliness?
It was also Year 7's turn to think about their upcoming exams, as they had a study skills and revision lesson in preparation for their exam week w/b 6/6/22. They went through a revision guide booklet with sections for each subject, and began to plan their revision for the next few weeks.
Year 7 students also had a presentation from Mr Coombes regarding the Curriculum Enrichment Week bushcraft trip.
Year 8 students are still on the subject of money, with their lesson getting them to think about budgets. As Dickens tells us in David Copperfield :
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”
A timely lesson, and one I still haven't quite got the hang of...which brings us neatly to the Year 9 lesson ‘Money through life’. This asks students to consider not just their own financial affairs but to project into the future for potential financial issues, and to discuss a variety of scenarios for a variety of people at different life stages.
Year 10 students learned about blood and stem cell donation. What is involved, when it can happen, who is eligible and how someone might benefit, and finally Year 11 continued with either revision or the ETONX course on Critical Thinking.
I also took a group of Year 9 students, all potentially interested in a career within construction (Architecture, Quantity Surveying; Structural Engineering etc), to visit the Barratt homes site in Treleden, Saltash. This was part of the Building Plymouth initiative Open Sites, where construction projects around the city are encouraged to host guided tours to showcase the potential career opportunities.
There was lots of interest so the students were chosen by ballot and hopefully had a visit that was not only enjoyable but also a valuable way to research future careers.
Last but not least, good luck to all those taking exams - GCSE and A levels officially start next week. Keep going - those long summer holidays are on the horizon!
Ms Moreton
Sports Update
As well as the excitement of the Devon Cup football finals this week, students have participated in Athletics and Cricket fixtures.
Athletics
The Year 7 team did really well in the Super 8s event this week with the results pending.
Mr Campbell said, “Enormous commitment from our Young Ambassadors who attended the athletics CPD training. This was all in preparation for the athletic events held at Brickfields on Wednesday. All the very best of luck”.
Cricket
A great performance this week from the Year 10 cricket team who beat Kingsbridge by 91 runs in the Devon Cup. Great batting from Shrenik (50 ret) and Tom T (45).
Unfortunately the U14 team lost to Mount Kelly in the Devon Cup on Thursday - we wish the Mount Kelly team all the best in the next round.