Tomorrow is Founder’s Day and this year we are set to commemorate the school’s 125th anniversary.
Devonport High School for Boys was founded by Alonzo J Rider and ‘opened for education’ on 16 January 1896.
We plan to run some celebratory events although the plans for these have inevitably been paused by the current crises. However they will take place even if it means deferring until much later this year or even to next year.
Please register your interest in receiving more information about our plans by using the following link and if you are able to please also share this link with former students with whom you may have contact.
Around the World in 40 Days
As a way of keeping physically and mentally fit and staying connected our PE Department is organising a fun activity to see how far we can collectively ‘travel’ around the globe in 40 days.
Students can run, walk, cycle, swim, row, kayak, paddle board, horse ride etc but the distance travelled and recorded has to be using a physical form of transport.
Each time any exercise has been completed please ask your child to submit the distance travelled using this link. Family members can participate too so if a family of four go for a one mile walk, please record a total distance of four miles.
Don’t forget to follow all government national lockdown guidelines for exercise when you are taking part.
We're delighted to confirm we've already completed 1,071 miles. This means that today we have reached Milan in Italy!
Excellent Work
Mrs Wardle has sent two examples of Excellent Work this week.
She said, “We are studying ethics this term. Today's focus was on whether or not we are truly free. The Truman Show film is a good case study for this. Students were shown a trailer for the film to help them understand the premise of the show and then shown the end where Truman has to make a life changing decision ... should he stay or should he go? We had lots of discussion in class in our virtual lesson and students even completed a poll of their votes. This culminated in a chance to write a letter in 15 minutes to the producer of the show, empathising with Truman, explaining their decision. The arguments developed in these two examples are written with conviction and sophistication. I'm delighted with the standard of this work”.
As Truman, I would set my heart to escaping from the artificial, staged world. This is because the real world gives so many opportunities and memories as well as real choices and real friendships that simply don’t exist as he lives now. Truman has a free will to live as he wishes and those rights have already been pushed far over the limit by the show director.
Otto Malm 8S
If i was Truman i would probably stay, this is for a number of reasons. Firstly, i would have little to no knowledge of the outside world and learning from scratch especially as an adult would be extremely difficult. Another reason is that my personality would have been shaped in a way that I kind of like the type of world I live in.
Ben Saberi 8S
Student News
Very well done to Ed Fox 6RFP who has recently received acknowledgment of his achievement in qualifying for the British modern pentathlon championships.
Sadly the championships haven’t been able to take place due to Covid-19 restrictions but we still offer Ed our congratulations on his selection. Last year Ed was placed 18th in the country.
eSafety Advice
The new lockdown is a good opportunity for us to retouch on advice that was given last time as a refresher and also to reach out to our new year 7 parents.
Being inside, inevitably means more device time. Here is a short guide on parental controls and how to use them for some peace of mind.
Parental Controls
Parental controls are software and tools that allow you to set controls on all kinds of internet enabled device, there are many available and these can be summarised as:
Network level controls are set on the hub or router and apply to all devices connected to that hub or router (covering your whole household.)
Device level controls are set on the device itself, such as a smartphone, and will apply regardless of how and where the device is connected to the internet.
Application controls are set on the platform or application that is being used. Examples of this would be the settings applied to Google or YouTube. Check they are set on each device your child has access to.
Most internet providers offer free filters giving you control over what internet content comes into your home. This means that any device that connects to your home broadband is subject to the controls that you have set on your home router or hub.
All major games consoles come with controls as do the majority of internet enabled devices.
Internetmatters.org is a website that allows you to find and get how to guides to see all of these up. Please visit: https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/ and use the search feature to find out how to set these up.
Internetmatters.org not-for-profit organisation that has a simple purpose – to empower parents and carers to keep children safe in the digital world.
Ms Buckler
PSHEE Activities
Tutorial lessons, which cover Careers, PSHEE and Citizenship resume for all year groups this Friday, and are available in your child’s year group tutorial google classroom. The codes for these classrooms (which your child should already be accessing) are on the careers area of the school website: https://sites.google.com/a/dhsb.org/iag/home
Lessons do not generate homework or marks but often form part of statutorily required subject areas, and all would greatly benefit from discussion whenever this is possible.
The lessons this week, 15 January are as follows.
Year 7
The Year 7 lesson is about disability, with students asked to consider various disabilities, what issues those concerned might experience (especially in school) and what others may be able to do to help. They will use some of the "creature discomforts" videos to suggest ideas.
Year 8
Year 8 students have a lesson about career "families", and are beginning to think about job availability in their local area - does this necessarily tie in with what you want to do?
They are also asked to complete a brief google form about their career intentions which will be used to target opportunities/advice which may arise in the future, and can use the Panjango online resources, a game-like exploration of different careers.
Year 9
Year 9 students are beginning to work on their employer challenge. This was originally an opportunity to visit a local employer for a guided tour and a chance to work on a work related project set by the company.
This obviously had to change as we were not able to visit, but three local companies, Babcock, Princess Yachts and Bailey Architects agreed to work with us by setting a project the boys could do in school, which was introduced and explained to each class just before Christmas. We have now had to adjust further due to the current lockdown but are hoping that students can at least begin planning their group project from home. They should all have been advised of their groups (generally five students) by their tutor. There will be a chance to continue with this in a couple of weeks, although of course they won't be able to complete until we are all back in school.
Year 10 and Year 11
Year 10 and Year 11 students have the same lesson, all about surviving stress which I'm sure you'll agree is very topical. Younger year groups will have a similar lesson next week. They will learn about sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, how stress manifests itself, and try some potential solutions.
Ms Moreton
Student News
We’d like to share something of what students are doing at home during this period of national lockdown.
If you have taken up a new hobby or activity or are continuing with something you enjoy then please complete this Google Form to let us know what you are doing.
Milo Woods 8C and Thomas Sweeting 7S both have new puppies and are using some of their time at home for puppy training.
Samuel Shotter 11S has also been going on lots of dog walks.
This is Kingsley who belongs to Milo
This is Fergus who belongs to Thomas
Alumni News
Former student Jackson Spry is studying Medicine at Brasenose College, Oxford. He’s writte a blog about his first term called ‘Studying medicine during a plague’.
Well done Jackson.
