- May 18, 2018

18 May 2018

As I am sure you are aware, last weekend saw the annual Ten Tors Challenge.

The conditions were good and we had three teams out in addition to the many students who also took part through their community groups.

Although it isn’t a race the DHSB teams did incredibly well and finished very quickly. Once again I want to highlight the considerable efforts that our staff go to in supporting our students taking part in this and other activities. They go above and beyond what other schools and community groups do, they are brilliant!

A special thanks to Mr Ames for leading on the school’s participation in the Ten Tors Challenge.

35 mile team finish at 9.14 Sam O’Connell, Gregory Robinson, Oscar Schumann, Samuel Wilcox, Josh Yates, Carlo Zanetti

45 mile team finish at 9.53 William Coulson, Angus Dixon, Joseph Mackey, Josh Moyse, Harry Richardson, Tom Scott

55 mile team finish at 11.28 Sam Burston, Peter Clifford, Luke Goldstone, Michael Moore, Jamie Williams, Jacob Woodbridge-Harris

This message is typical of many we have received from families.

“Huge congratulations to [Mr Ames] and your helpers and teams, not only for the weekend but for the whole season. Many thanks for the time and effort you have all put in to get the lads up to the incredibly high standard they have attained. The results speak for themselves”.

I’ve included some images from the Ten Tors camp which show something of the scale of the challenge and commitment at the foot of this Blog.

We’re also very proud of the students who took part in the challenge with organisations outside school including:-

35 mile route Samarth Basavapatna – Plymouth and Cornwall Wing ATC Tom Doyle – Tavistock and District Youth Forum Alex Luscombe – Devon ACF Mawgan Moxham – Tavistock and District Youth Forum Fred Williams – Tavistock and District Youth Forum

45 mile route Angus Cotton – Dartmoor Plodders Katie Harvey – Torpoint Community College Fenn Leppard – Plymouth Explorers

55 mile route Robin Bickley – Tavistock and District Youth Forum Georgie Clarke – Tavistock and District Youth Forum Erin Eastman – Tavistock and District Youth Forum James Gregory – Dartmoor Plodders Evie Kettlewell – Tavistock and District Youth Forum Fintan Kinsella – Dartmoor Plodders Alex Sutton – Tavistock and District Youth Forum

Sport For All Update

Our sincerest thanks to all of the families that have been able to contribute to our fundraising project so far. We have been delighted with the generosity so thank you. If you are considering supporting this campaign then can I please encourage you to complete the forms and return these to us as soon as it is convenient. We will update you with how the fundraising is going as we go along in the Head’s Blog.

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Examination Results – Spring 2018

Congratulations to the following students who took exams with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) recently.

George Cleeland-Smith – Grade 1 Solo Acting – Pass with Distinction Harry Bentley-Bonsey – Grade 3 Verse and Prose Speaking – Pass with Merit Eeshan Anunt Dhulkotia – Grade 2 Combined Acting – Pass with Distinction Lalit Kathiresan – Grade 6 (Bronze Medal) Verse & Prose speaking – Pass with Distinction

Excellent Work

Our Excellent Work this week includes examples from the Year 8 Spanish writing assessment (8E).

The task was to write about free time, including what you usually like doing at weekends, what you don’t like doing, what you would like to do this afternoon, what you have to do at home to help and what you are going to do this weekend.

Ms Gilbey said, “I was particularly pleased with both pieces of work as they included a range of tenses, were very accurate and answered the questions in great detail”.

Henry Murphy

Read Henry’s full piece of work here

Edward Warren

Read Edward’s full piece of work here

Fundraising for Sam’s House

We’ve been supporting Year 11 student Simon Gerry’s new fund raising project this week by running a competition around the finish times of teaching staff who are taking part in the Plymouth Half Marathon on Sunday and by bringing and buying cakes in the staff room. Simon is raising funds to support Sam’s House, a home for patients and their families near the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.

Alumni News

Well done to talented cricketer and old boy Joe Hagan-Burt who has been called up for Devon’s 12-man squad for Sunday’s tie against Wiltshire, due to be played in Sidmouth.

We’ve received messages of thanks from a group of old boys, the class of 1974, who visited DHSB last week.

Nick Fewings (who arranged the reunion) said, “At 4.00pm we gathered in the Conference Room, to be met by Geoff Davis, Business Manager and Dan Roberts, the current Headteacher. Mr Roberts warmly welcomed us and gave us an overview of what had changed in the 30+ years since we had left”.

The group enjoyed an extensive tour of the school site and concluded with a final photograph on the colonnade to re-enact one taken in a similar position while we were at school.

Sports Update

Football

Firstly, good luck to the Year 9 football team playing in the Plymouth Cup final this afternoon. We’ll bring you the result on Twitter later this evening.

Athletics

A long day of Athletics at the Plymouth and West Devon competition this week resulted in a second place finish for Year 7 and a win for the Year 8 and Year 9 team.

Well done to all!

Cricket

It was a tough afternoon on Tuesday for the U12 cricket team who ran into a very good Exeter School team in the Devon Cup first round.

Exeter (159 – 2) beat DHSB (50 a/o) by 109 runs.

The Year 10 team is also out of the Devon Cup after a defeat against Plymouth College.

The Year 9 Devon Cup team were also beaten by a Plymouth College side (165-5, 82-9). Mr Burt said, “Good luck in the next round”.

On Wednesday the U12 softball team played Plympton Academy and after 16 overs the teams couldn’t be separated. Plympton (58) tied with DHSB (58).

Tag Rugby Primary Festival

Mr Carpenter shared this photo saying, “All underway in the primary tag rugby warm up event on the Astro. Students from DHSB, Heles and Plymstock are now qualified leaders and are running the show”.