Children's Book Award - book testing launch Year 7 and Year 8.

Students in Year 7 and Year 8 have been volunteering to read a selection of new fiction as part of the Children's Book Award testing. We have been lucky enough to partner with Libby Allman, of Plymouth Children's Book Group, for many years to bring this opportunity to our KS3 students. Students volunteer to read a title from a selection for book testing and submit a brief review of the book (without telling their friends what they think!). The feedback from students then informs the final selection for the winner of the book award. This is the only national prize given in the UK where the award is decided by readers, from start to finish. Organised by the Federation of Children's Book Groups, it's a great award which allows children to express their views and also connect with the authors by giving them feedback on their work. DHSB contributes to books in the 'Books for Older Readers' category and as you can see, 7F are delighted to be taking part and are reading furiously!

Year 11 Information Evening: Key Takeaways and Next Steps

It was fantastic to welcome so many families to our Year 11 Information Evening. The event was a valuable opportunity to discuss the road ahead—not only addressing the challenges students face as they navigate their GCSE year, but also offering guidance for parents supporting their children through what can be a demanding time.

During the evening, we outlined the roadmap for the academic year, highlighted key sources of support within school, and shared details about upcoming revision seminars. Our core subject leadership teams also provided practical hints and tips tailored to individual subjects.

A special mention must go to our Year 12 speakers, Vinnie and Raef, who spoke so eloquently and passionately about their own experiences. Their insights provided truly powerful and inspiring messages for our Year 11 cohort.

You can access the full presentation slideshow linked here.

Mr Winstone

Deputy Headteacher - Teaching & Learning

Weekly Kindness at DHSB: Celebrating the Difference Our Students Make

At DHSB, we know that kindness can make a bigger difference than we sometimes realise. A friendly word, helping someone who is struggling, including others, showing patience or simply taking the time to look out for someone else can have a lasting impact.

That is why we have launched our Weekly Kindness initiative — a chance for staff and students to recognise and celebrate the everyday acts of kindness taking place across our school community.

Each week, staff and students are invited to nominate a student who they have seen carrying out an act of kindness.

The nomination doesn’t need to be for something extraordinary. In fact, we want to celebrate the small things that happen every day.

Perhaps a student:

• helped a classmate who was finding something difficult;

• made sure someone was included;

• supported a younger student;

• offered encouragement to someone having a difficult day;

• helped a member of staff or another student without being asked;

• stood up for someone or showed compassion;

• shared their time, knowledge or resources;

• or simply noticed that someone needed a little help and did something about it.

  
  

These moments are easy to overlook, but they are exactly the behaviours that help create a positive and supportive school community.

Our Weekly Kindness board provides a visible way of saying thank you.

Each week, a student will be awarded for their act of kindness and this will be displayed on our kindness board, celebrating the positive contribution they have made to the lives of others. It is not about competition or choosing who is “the kindest”. Instead, it is about creating a culture where kindness is noticed, valued and encouraged.

We hope that seeing students recognised will also inspire others to think about the difference they can make through their own actions.

Kindness doesn’t require a special position, particular talent or grand gesture. It can happen in a corridor, classroom, playground, lunch queue, sports field or on the journey home.

Sometimes the simplest actions matter most.

By encouraging both staff and students to nominate others, we can shine a light on the many positive things happening at DHSB every week — including the acts of kindness that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Because at DHSB, we want to make sure that kindness doesn’t just happen — it gets recognised, celebrated and passed on. 

Mr Manley, Deputy Headteacher, and

Mrs McGowan, Success Hub Manager

Celebrating National Poetry Day 2026 at DHSB 

National Poetry Day is an annual event aiming to inspire a love of poetry. It has been celebrated since 1994 and is a fantastic opportunity to explore and celebrate poetry. Whether we are engaging with familiar poems we love or engaging in the creativity of crafting new poetry, the English Department at DHSB always participates in this special day. We have had students in various years working on their own Wonder Walk poems celebrating how wonder and awe can be seen in the smallest objects. 

However, as this is our Year of Reading at DHSB we decided that wider celebrations were needed this year and, as always, the DHSB staff have risen to the challenge. Our students have heard poetry in all areas of the school as teachers have either shared a poem that is special to them or shared a poem related to their subject. Some highlights include: 

• A Level physicists writing poetry on the theme of Wonder, 

• Drama students completing a workshop on ‘I wish I was Sammy’ from ‘Blood Brothers’

• Year 11 students being inspired by the poem ‘Rewards or Roses’

• Computing Department sharing an AI generated computer

  
  

Students had the chance to nominate teachers who impressed them with their poetic efforts. Mr Bee  was thought to have shared the funniest poem and Mrs Webb won the vote on the most thought provoking poem. The third award of the day was for the teacher who most surprised their class in their choice or delivery of a poem. This final category was won by Dr Colville who shared a series of humorous poems with a Science theme with KS3. These seem to have inspired much mirth and merriment. Students seemed to have enjoyed the day and some are hopefully feeling inspired to try poetry as a creative endeavour. 

A special mention goes to Mr Gibson for writing a staff email in poetry!

Dr Downes 

Head of English

Sharing our Reading

This week’s reviewers are Mrs Wright, (Design and Technology Teacher) and Reehan in Year 9. Reehan’s choice of novel is much a modern classic and is a bestselling mystery novel. He has done incredible well to avoid giving spoilers in his review. Mrs Wright’s review reveals the challenge of feeling invested in a series of books and the anticipation of whether the new novel fulfils our expectations. If you have read a book recently which has entertained, inspired or challenged you why not share this with others? Book reviews can be shared with Dr Downes - tracey.downes@DHSB.org.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

In my opinion, this book which I read over the summer holidays was phenomenal and it was intriguing until the very end. I really loved the way the author portrayed Christopher as an intelligent boy yet he reacts differently in certain situations. This book was really amazing. The book started with a very sad scene where Christopher was holding the dog in his arms and he saw there was a pitchfork stabbed in the dog's body; this caught my attention from the very start. This book portrays a message that people who struggle can always find a way out of it and even in different scenarios there is always a better option to take.

There were a few parts of the novel that could have made more sense like how Christopher hid from the police on the train and then finding his way around London.

Overall, the book was absolutely worth my time and had so many good twists from start to end. However, I wouldn’t suggest this for little children due to the strong language used in it.

This is why I gave this book a rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Reehan (Year 9)

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Decades before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is simply an ambitious Capitol student trying to restore his family’s fading status. His opportunity arrives with the 10th annual Hunger Games, where mentors are introduced for the very first time. Assigned to the female tribute from impoverished District 12, a charismatic performer named Lucy Gray Baird, Coriolanus must use his wits, charm, and strategic instincts to help her survive the arena, forcing him to navigate a dangerous web of Capitol politics, personal affection, and cold self-preservation.

What I liked:

Getting inside Coriolanus's head is deeply fascinating. Rather than painting him as a simple villain, the book shows his gradual psychological evolution, making you constantly root for his better instincts even while watching his dark ambitions win.

Reading about how Panem looked long before it became the ultra-glamorous, high-tech empire of the original trilogy adds incredible depth. Watching the raw, unpolished early Hunger Games evolve into the televised spectacle we know brings fascinating context to the entire franchise.

What didn't work:

The novel is divided into three distinct parts, and the shift in setting and momentum in the third act feels noticeably slower and more drawn-out compared to the high-stakes tension of the middle section.

Overall, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a super engaging read that gives you a totally new way to look at Panem. Even if the ending drags a bit, watching Snow turn from a desperate teen into a cold-hearted villain keeps you hooked the whole time. If you loved the original Hunger Games books or movies, this prequel is definitely worth picking up. It adds so much depth to the story and really makes you question what you would do in Coriolanus's shoes.

Mr Webb, Teacher of English, shared "Students in my year 8 and 9 classes have been exploring writer's maps in connection to the respective novels they are studying: Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies.

Students made a real effort to produce accurate drawings and annotations of the farm and the island. A sense of place is vital to both stories, and these maps help the students to visualise these worlds as we read."

Work shown is from Year 8 students Robert, Toby, Freddie and Ellis and Year 9 students Cayde, Harvey, Alfie and Noah.

In Year 13 Economics we have been studying the theory of monopsony. So far we have considered some reasons behind shortages that can exist in shops and supermarkets and reasons why that may happen. We now understand that this may not be just down to demand and supply but the influence some suppliers have on buyers. For example, the influence and power of Sainsbury's on dairy farmers. The students are now considering costs and benefits of monopsony power, in pairs, before discussing and debating which effect has the biggest influence on - i.e. the buyer (monopsonist), the consumer or employees. This task led into a useful structure in preparation for a 25 mark question once we evaluate using different perspectives such as magnitude, time and the level of impact. 

Mrs Pyle

Teacher of Business, Economics and Digital Enterprise

Mr Bee shared some excellent work by Year 13 student, Emelia. Well done!

This week year 7's investigated chemical reactions and how to know when a chemical reaction occurs. 7S expertly recorded their observations with a series of chemical reactions, including fizzing, colour changes, smell changes and solids forming. The class carried out the experiment brilliantly and saw lots of cool chemical reactions, all in a single test tube!

Mr Spencer

Teacher of Science

Dr Colvile, Head of Physics, shared this photo of students completing one of our quieter Physics competitions: Round 0 of the British Physics Olympiad - a one-hour multiple-choice exam of challenging and "interesting" physics problems. He also shared that "This is the qualifying round for the sequence of individual exams of increasing length and difficulty ultimately leading to possible selection of year-13 students for the National Team in the International Physics Olympiad Competition over the summer. Ten year-13 students opted to enter this week, plus four year-12 students who haven't been taught the expected A-level content yet but were allowed to have a go to see how much they could do."

Watch this space for the results!

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 students deserve a special mention.

Congratulations!

Former student Elliot, has been named as a finalist in a competition run by Devon Music Education Hub, in partnership with Dorset Music Service, acclaimed chamber-jazz ensemble Superlocrian and celebrated composers Dr Elfyn Jones, Laura Rossi, and Tom Green.

Designed to inspire the next generation of musical talent, this exciting opportunity invited young composers aged 11–19 across the region to create an original 3-to-4-minute seven-piece instrumentation drawing inspiration from the rich natural landscapes and vibrant life of the South West.

Participants submitted full scores and parts in traditional sheet music notation alongside audio mock-ups, demonstrating exceptional creativity and technical skill.

The winning works will receive their official world premiere when they are performed by Superlocrian on Sunday 4 October during a special celebratory concert at the Bridport Arts Centre.

You can find out more about the event by following this link.

Well done, Elliot!

Former student Jonah has been working hard in rehearsals for the upcoming BOOM Theatre production of Wonderland the Musical by Frank Wildhorn and Jack Murphy, taking place in Truro this October. Jonah is playing a principal role as Jack / The White Knight in the production, working alongside other young performers and an experienced creative team with credits across local and regional theatre, the West End, and internationally.

Wonderland the Musical runs from 24–27 October at Truro School Concert Hall. For more information, please follow this link.

Well done, Jonah, and break a leg!

PTFA News

DHSB Flag Flies Proudly

With thanks to DHSB staff member and former Royal Navy submariner, Darrell Savory, and the DHSB PTFA, we now have a DHSB flag flying!

Darrell shared "I was a little sad to see the school flagpole standing empty and looking rather lonely. Having served in the Royal Navy, seeing an empty flagpole just didn’t seem right to me. Flags have always represented pride, identity, and belonging. With the kind support and funding from the PTFA, we have had a school flag made, which is flying proudly for the pupils, staff, and visitors to see. I would especially like to say a big thank you to Beverley Kinsella for her help and support in making this possible, and also to everyone at the PTFA for providing the funds. I hope everyone enjoys seeing our school flag flying proudly."

Last week, the U18 rugby team played Plymouth College and, despite losing, played some really good rugby. The U15 team played Kingsbridge, who were a very strong side. It was another loss for DHSB, but for both teams, there is still everything to play for as we move into the Bowl competition.

This week, the Y8 rugby team maintained their unbeaten start to the Central Venue season with a victory against Coombe Dean, followed by a brilliant comeback from 3 tries down to secure a draw against a strong Ivybridge side.

Also this week, the Y7 team kicked off their Central Venue fixtures last night at Coombe Dean School, securing impressive wins against both St Boniface and Coombe Dean.

Great rugby was played by all—well done!