This week we are highlighting students who are working towards their Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award.
We’re also celebrating Volunteers’ Week and we’re delighted to share with you a certificate we have received which celebrates the impact of our students’ volunteering placements.
Mrs Wills, our Dof E Coordinator, said, “The 2,977 hours represent the efforts of all our Duke of Edinburgh participants who have completed an hour a week of volunteering for three, six, 12 or 18 months depending on which award they are working towards. Examples of where they have made a positive difference are the Four Greens Community Trust, Moments Cafe, Dartmoor Rangers, Friends of Radford Woods, and Peverell Library. There are also students helping with younger sports teams, including football, hockey, tennis, horse-riding etc, and those that help at Park Run, Cubs, Beavers, or take part in litter picking in their local area, or help elderly neighbours”.
It’s lovely to read the student assessor reports at the end of their volunteering time, with so many positive and grateful comments. All the participants really are making a difference to their community, and should be proud of what they have achieved.
Here is just some of the feedback we have received, with a link to read more.
Voluntary placements feedback
Four Greens Community Trust
Highly recommend this student to any future voluntary placement and he is welcome back to Four Greens Community Trust at any time.
Drake Colts U9s Manager
This student has shown great commitment by always being present on both training and match days, giving up his own time to aid the U9s in their first steps into football. He has shown great leadership when coaching and supporting/ volunteering, being able to use his own experience to help better the progress and development of all players.
This student has been a great help and support to myself and the team. Showing great life values such as punctuality, kindness and a can-do attitude.
Moments Cafe
A Social Enterprise where all our profits go towards supporting Memory Matters, a local charity that helps people with dementia.
While here this student has grown so much in this time as a young adult and his social skills have grown exponentially during this time as well, so much so we have offered him a part time job here at moments cafe.
Primary Scholars
We are proud to be open to students from all backgrounds and the Primary Scholars programme is just one example of the support we offer to primary school students.
Miss Cunningham said, “Lots of fantastic maths happening with some brilliant conversations between the fab Year 5 students and our wonderful DHSB students”.
Summer Recital
Don't forget that tickets for our Summer Recital at Stoke Damerel Church on 20 June 2024 at 19:00 are now available.
The doors will open at 18:00 and tickets include canapes and a glass of fizz.
Mrs Luing-Holmes says this is a concert which will celebrate our students who practise and perform music of classical and jazz genres, of around ABRSM grade 6 and up.
She added, "The high calibre of our musicians in both ensembles and solos is a gift to the senses, and we are so proud of our students that work so hard to achieve this level of performance".
Student News
Congratulations to Mason Seward 8C who is Yelverton Golf Club’s youngest winner of the Rowse Cup.
He has been a member of the club since the age of five - well done on your recent achievement Mason!
Excellent Work
Our examples of Excellent Work this week are from Mr Webb and his Year 7 English class.
Mr Webb said, “I was so impressed by some of my Year 7 students who made excellent pieces of music as homework - inspired by some of the texts we've been working on. A good example of cross-curricular work”.
Thomas Leary - The Holocaust
Gabriel Siney - Back in Time
Houses Update
This week saw the culmination of our search for seven new house figureheads when our House Captains made the announcements in house assemblies.
There has been much discussion around the topic and students were eagerly anticipating the results.
The vote saw an overwhelming turnout with current students casting their votes for up to seven new figureheads. In addition staff and our new Year 7 students were able to vote.
Our House Captains had been fittingly entrusted with the results and the responsibility of the big reveal. The house assembles were big occasions for our student leaders as standing up in front of over 100 peers can be daunting. They all demonstrated confidence and skill with their preparation and delivery.
All houses took a moment to acknowledge their current house figurehead, before delivering the news about the successor.
Smeaton --> Attenborough
Winstanley --> Fleming
New seventh house --> Johnson
Edison --> Leslie
Priestley --> Scott
Campbell --> Turing
Newton --> Windsor
We will say goodbye to our existing house names at the end of this academic year when the St Levan Shield is awarded and we are very excited about the house system moving forward in September.
Miss Cunningham
Team Enterprise
Team Enterprise enjoyed trading at The Plot on Union Street on Tuesday. We were able to trade with the local community (and in the sun)!
We also enjoyed a tour around The Plot which hosts small enterprises and businesses with many community-driven objectives.
We particularly enjoyed listening to 'The Jam Squad' who don't trade with money but raw materials in exchange for jams or chutneys. I would strongly recommend a visit!
Mrs Pyle
Sixth Form Enrichment and Tutorial
This week our Year 12 students have been busy getting started on their personal statements. Their tutors have given them guidance and students also have access to Unifrog which has a fantastic personal statement tool that will take them through it step by step.
They are now expected to continue their work on this in their personal time and it's especially important for those who are thinking of applying to Oxford, Cambridge or other competitive courses as the deadline for these applications are the beginning of October (much sooner than others).
Please encourage your child to discuss and share their personal statements with you.
Even those who aren't thinking about going straight to university at the end of Year 13 will find the process helpful for apprenticeships, volunteering, work experience or job applications - being able to write about themselves and their achievements in a professional way is such a powerful tool and the task of doing so also highlights gaps that could be filled this summer.
Ms Davidson
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 six students deserve a special mention.
Well done!
PTFA Update
It's been a very busy week for the PTFA!
We had our popular summer disco on Sunday - over 600 students filled the night club 'Fever' and what a fantastic time they had!
A big thank you to everyone who helped to make it happen, our PTFA members and parent volunteers - we really can't put on these events without you.
A big thank you to Fever too for hosting us. They regularly run family events, keep an eye on their Facebook page if you are interested.
On Wednesday and Thursday we provided the refreshments for the 11+ familiarisation tests. Our British weather meant that chilled drinks of Pepsi were our biggest seller on Wednesday, and hot chocolate was very popular on Thursday.
A big thank you to Joanna, Lianne and Sarah for helping out.
We are always looking for more volunteers so please get in touch if you'd be able to help at an event - it can be as little as an hour and just ad hoc.
We have our final meeting of the school year on Tuesday 25 June at 6.30pm in the Conference Room (just behind the Visitor Reception). Please come along if you can, we'd love to see you. Refreshments provided.
Please also follow us on our social media for details of forthcoming events:
X (formerly Twitter) @DHSBPTFA
Mrs Kinsella
PTFA Liaison
Sports Update
Goal of the Season
Year 12 student Joel Sullivan is in contention for the League Football Education Goal of the Season after winning the February competition.
Please help Joel by voting at this link
Thank you!
Cricket
Mr Callicott says it was a cracking day of cricket for the U13 teams at the West Devon School softball tournament on Monday. The Year 7 team came top of their group and the Year 8 team finished undefeated.
A special mention for the Year 8 students who have qualified for the Devon Finals.
Also this week, congratulations again to the Year 8 team who totalled 139 runs in 16 overs during their match against Plymstock School.
In central venue news, well done to the Year 7 team who won two out of two games at the competition and to the Year 8 team who won one game and lost a game.
Athletics
Mr Carpenter said, “Congratulations to students Bryan (100m, 200m) and Gregor (800m) who have been selected to represent Devon Schools at the South West Schools Athletics Championships.
Well done - we look forward to hearing more.
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