It is always heart-warming to see the compassion and care of our students as they work hard to support others.
Our newly appointed House teams have been planning their fundraising activities for the year so watch this space!
Also this week I’m happy to share some personal fundraising stories.
On Sunday, Tobias Leung 11E completed his first run when he took part in the Plymouth 10K. Toby raised just over £200 for two charities, Make a Wish and Cancer Research UK.
If you are in the Keyham area tomorrow then please support the Handmade Hearts Bake Sale organised by Noah Evans 7C.
Due to be held at the Keyham Methodist Community Centre from 13.00 on Saturday 14 October, the bake sale will raise funds for ‘Little Hearts Matter’ a charity supporting families and children with heart conditions.
Greenpower International Final
Well done to staff and students who travelled to the Greenpower racing international final at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby last weekend.
Thanks to Ben Adams for this full report.
We qualified for this event in 24th with our distances at Newquay Airport and Castle Combe earlier in the year writes Ben. The weekend started with two practice sessions on the Saturday where we tested a new gear ratio. Although this resulted in our top speed increasing to over 30 mph, we ran out of battery well before the end of the race, so the decision was made to revert back to the old ratio. These two practice sessions were invaluable in allowing us to adjust the car to the track.
The final short practice session during Sunday morning allowed us to fully refine the car and make sure our drivers knew the circuit well before the car competed in the first of the two finals. We completed 32.3 miles in this first final, placing us 26th, a slightly disappointing result as in previous races we had driven more than 35 miles. Some modifications we made before the second final and in this, our distance driven increased to 33.81 miles.
Although 33.81 miles is still short of our record distance, it still beat our distance last year at the International Final and placed us joint 26th internationally, a fantastic improvement from the previous year’s position of joint 36th.
Thanks goes to Mr Ames for coordinating and leading the team, Mrs Flack for accompanying us to Rockingham and Mr Hexter for once again transporting the car.
Ben Adams 11E
Excellent Work
Mrs Huq has shared this presentation by Kai Benjamin 10S.
She said, “Kai was part of a team who completed their assessed bronze DofE expedition during September. Each member of the team has to produce a presentation of their aim during the expedition. Kai chose to write about team moral. I think the writing is witty, tidy and deserves to be more widely read”.
Well done also to Dan Harris Year 13 who used his entrepreneurial initiative to create and grow his business called Junior Job Finder.
Dan said, “The website has been designed to give teenagers one single place to look when searching for apprenticeships, courses, part-time work and work experience. Over the recent months, the site has gone from strength to strength, building its membership size up to over 1450 members”.
Junior Job Finder is looking to carry forward the current momentum and grow to 2,000 members in the next few weeks.
Please check out the website and sign up as a parent, teenager or employer by using this link.
You can also find Dan’s business on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @JuniorJobFinder
Make your Mark
Well done to our representative Alizeh Abdul Rahman MYP who is seen helping to count the votes which will decide the UK Youth Parliament priorities for the coming year.
Plymouth City Council participation unit said, “1112 votes from @DHSBoys for Make your Mark. Well done”.
Events for Parents and Carers
Thank you to our Information, Advice and Guidance Coordinator, Ms Moreton, who organised a very successful evening last night on future choices.
Mr Martin has sent out information about the popular and informative Strategies for Success event due to be held on Tuesday 17 October.
Mrs Moore, our Family Support Advisor, will be advertising a ‘Parenting Teenagers’ evening on 9 November run by Care for the Family. You should receive more details from her soon!
Sports Update
Plymouth 10K
I’ve already highlighted Toby Leung but well done also to all students and staff who completed the Plymouth 10K on Sunday.
These include a group of students who completed the School Challenge. They ran 5K over several weeks in school and finished with a 5K run over part of the course last weekend. Thanks to Mr Manley, Mr Bunney, Mrs Green and Miss Walker who completed the course with the boys.
Mrs Weaver is pictured here at the start of the event. She took part to raise funds for ‘Friends for Families Plymouth’.
Hockey
Students are seen here getting their final instructions (as referees and coaches) at the Quicksticks Hockey event at MarJon today.
The Plymouth School Sports Partnership said, “Thank you as always for your support; great to see so many young officials.”
Rugby
It was a challenging game this week for the U13 rugby team who suffered a 35 – 10 defeat to Kingsbridge. Mr Bunney said, “Competitive play from both teams and good efforts all round”.
Football
A good week for football in the school with a fantastic performance by the U12 team who beat South Dartmoor 2 – 0 in the national cup.
It was a good performance too from the U13 team who are also through to the next round in the national cup after a 6 – 0 win v Callington.
The U14 team are through to the next round of the Plymouth cup after an 8 – 1 victory over TorBridge High reports Mr Manley.
Mr Orkney said the U16 team did well and finished 4 – 0 up v Satash.net in the national cup.
And to round off the football results Mr Manley said he was extremely proud of the 1st XI who were magnificent in their 3- 2 victory over the Police in their mid-week Devon Wednesday League match.
Future Events
17 October at 17.45 – Strategies for Success Evening (Mr Martin)
19 October – Final day of autumn term one
20 October – Non pupil day
30 October – First day of autumn term two
1 November at 18.00 – Drinks Reception and PTFA AGM
1 – 3 November School Production – School of Rock
9 November – Parenting Teenagers with Care for the Family
Amanda Moore will be emailing details about this event to all parents and carers next week.