It’s been another busy and successful week at DHSB and I’m delighted to share lots of competition news with you.
Maths Feast
Well done to our team of four Year 10 students who took part in the Maths Feast organised by the Further Maths Support Programme this week. This is a one off competition for maths enthusiasts from the region. It comprises of five different rounds of challenging maths problems. The students (Robert Liu, Patrick Cope, Matthew Hutchinson and Theo Smith) won three out of five rounds and were placed first overall.
Ms Cunningham said, “Great teamwork shown on the day and they all enjoyed the experience”.
The Big Bang Fair, National Science and Engineering Competition Finals
Also participating in a competition this week were the following students.
Preet Pradeep, Isaac Lee, Finn Coles, Jacek Schmidt, Jeremy Prichard and Joshua Dibb.
Way back in February 2016 these students entered the Go4Set engineering competition. As a result of excellent team work and hard work, the boys were successful in winning the award for the most innovative design for their Underwater Hotel. This meant that the team qualified for the National Science and Engineering competition finals and the Big Bang Fair at the NEC in Birmingham. Since May 2016 the team have been working on different solutions to find a clean and self-sustaining way to provide energy for their underwater hotel. The result of their research was to create an electrical generator that only used sea water to provide electricity for their hotel.
Once they had tested and refined their designs they put together a presentation and exhibition stand to display their work at the Big Bang fair to up to 100,000 visitors.
If you would like to see more details of their project please click on this link.
Photography
Mrs Burdon writes, “The three age groups in the Rotary Young Photographer competition were required to produce a portfolio of three photographs based on the theme Reflection. The selection of entries from the Plymouth area heat will be exhibited in the Plympton Rotary Young Artist and Photographer Exhibition at Brittany Ferries in April 2017. Students from our photography club with work selected for exhibition are Daniel Tomkinson 8W, Cameron Williams 8E, Archie Bevan 7N and Thomas Harrison-French 7N”.
Excellent Work
This is an excellent example of homework from Felix Wood 10S.
Mr Berryman asked his Year 10 group to outline how one business motivates its workers. Felix was creative in his work and it clearly stood out that he had thought about the task. His submission was excellent and met all the criteria set.
Whole School Assembly
Thank you to Mr Coombes for leading an interesting whole school assembly on the Nobel Prize Winners this week.
We have shared his slides and videos here so you can discuss this at home.
Staff News
During half term Mr Gomez visited some Polish schools as part of a study tour.
He says, “The main purpose of the study visit was to look at Polish schools and draw conclusions for the UK on education and social inclusion. Something I found particularly impressive was that the budget for special needs schools (in the region I visited) was almost as much as for the rest of all other schools combined; there is also generous regional funding for adult education. Both of these measures seem to me to show a serious commitment to facilitating access to the workplace for people who might otherwise be severely disadvantaged in terms of social inclusion.
“The Liceum Ogolnokstal (where I was based) has approximately 800 students and within the town of Ostrow Wielkopolski and the wider region has an outstanding reputation for providing its mixed (16 – 18) intake with the academic background students need to enter university and, more than likely, a profession in the traditional sense”.
You will be able to read more from Mr Gomez in the next edition of DHSB Today.
Alumni News
I met with Nick Murray this week to hear about his exciting new business venture that will be trying to help solve the national teacher recruitment crisis. If you are involved in education or know people that are please let them know about the new site he has developed.
Sports Update
Hockey
Congratulations to Alex Mitchell who has recently completed and passed the level 1 hockey coaching course. Alex has become a Plymouth Hockey coach for the under 8 age group.
Swimming
Tom Chilton 9E, Ben Harding 8W and Rhys King 8E represented Devonport Royal Swimming Association in the Water Polo Devon Cup Final (U15s) recently and won Gold. All three boys played exceptionally well. Congratulations!
Basketball
Well done to our Year 9 Basketball team who took third place in the Devon Finals.
Mr Strang said, “Well done all”.
Football
Our A team are through to the Devon Wednesday League Premier Cup Final after beating Plymouth Dukes A 1 – 0 with a team of nine.
Future Events
21 March at 19.00 The Tempest
22 March Year 12 UCAS HE Convention
23 March at 19.00 The Tempest
27 March Oxbridge Information Day
27 March PTFA Easter Raffle
29 March Year 7 Parents Assessment Meeting
31 March Final Day of the Spring Term
17 April Bank Holiday Monday
18 April First Day of the Summer Term – A week
And finally
Rehearsals are going well for our production of The Tempest. Call 01752 208787 to reserve your tickets.
Pictured are Director Tom Showell and Henry Spencer who plays Prospero.
