Each Friday I share our theme of the week to give an opportunity for you to discuss this at home as a family with your child.
This week our theme is ‘making choices’.
Mr Adams led our whole school assembly on Wednesday and many students spoke about choices they have made to get involved and to lead school activities.
Climate Change
During the assembly Year 12 students spoke to us all about a whole school campaign they have organised to raise awareness on climate change and deforestation.
Firstly, the group has invited as many students as possible to send pictures of themselves with a tree. The pictures will be put together to form a giant collage of the Amazon rainforest.
This activity was chosen because of the variety and abundance of magnificent trees on the school site which can be used as a symbol against deforestation.
Also, the great tree on the Year 7 playground can be thought of as a symbol of the school community as most of our students have sat beneath it at important times of their life (like their first day at school).
Students suggested we take group photos there today to help everyone recognise and remember the importance of trees. The pictures will be used to disseminate information about deforestation and build press attention.
Mr Macleod
We work in partnership with Torquay Girls’ Grammar School and students there have launched a Parliamentary petition asking the government to create a mechanism that considers the voices of under 18s when making decisions related to climate change.
The petition urges parliament to consult with groups of students before creating climate change policy and to organise a National Youth climate summit much like the UN.
Green Flag Award Eco-School
As we mentioned at the start of the year, we have signed up to the journey to become an international Green Flag Award Eco-School. The programme is designed to raise environmental awareness among young people and is run by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy. Internationally, the programme is the largest educational programme in the world present in 67 countries and 52,000 schools. Our school is now part of this global community working to create environmental change for the benefit of future generations.
The Eco-School programme empowers students and staff, raises environmental awareness, improves the school environment and can also lead to financial savings for schools. Being an active member of the programme will be something our students will remember for the rest of their lives.
We have finished recruiting for our new student Eco-School Committee which will meet for the first time in the next couple of weeks to begin our self-review; we will share more details in the future.
Greenpower Competition
Last weekend Team Avanti Travelled to Dunsfold Park in Surrey. This was the first time the team had raced at this location which is well known for being the test track for the BBC ‘Top Gear’ programme.
Our first race was disappointing with the batteries dying early. However, in the afternoon, having changed gear and fixed some soldering and with a new strategy of starting slowly and building up our speed, we did much better. We were all getting very excited because we thought we might break the distance record for our car. In the end we were about a mile short.
We were placed 7th out of 75 cars in the second race and the distance of 33.85 miles puts us 40th in the national F24 league table. With the top 45 cars being invited to the final at Silverstone we are hoping that not too many cars beat our distance over the next two weekends in Liverpool and East Lothian.
The team was well supported by members of the Wilkinson and Coulson families and thanks go to Mr Ames and Mrs Flack who accompanied the trip.
Mr Ames
Devonport Voice
We had our first Devonport Voice meeting of the year this morning and it was fantastic to listen and work with our tutor representatives during p1. As a group we used the time to establish our purpose, protocols and to discuss our communication strategy, for example we have agreed the purpose below:
To play an integral role in improving all areas of the school
To provide a formal representation of all student voice at DHSB
We then spent time discussing in small groups about the our school curriculum offer, exploring questions such as:
What do students think about our curriculum vision?
Is our curriculum broad and balanced?
Is there equity?
Is there anything that we don’t teach or have in the curriculum that you think we should?
Student Success
Congratulations to James Chadwick 8N who was the runner up in the U14 Plymouth Singles Closed Tournament in the summer holidays.
James is pictured with his coach.
Sports Update
The football season kicked off this week with the Sixth Form second team playing Plymouth Kurds in the Devon Wednesday League.
Sports clubs and activities have made a good start this year with many students attending. Here are just a few photos and comments from the members of staff supporting the clubs.
‘31 out for hockey club last night making use of the great facilities and weather’
‘Great numbers and weather for track, field and cross-country club today, boys getting work done with Oregon Circuits looking for some fast times this year’
‘Golf club in full swing tonight, perfect evening but sadly no new puns to describe’
‘Messy and heavy but some good waves to start surf club 2019/20 off this evening’
Future Events
21 September 2019
11+ session two
24 September 2019
Year 7 parents and students event – 7C and 7P
25 September 2019
Year 7 parents and students event – 7E and 7S
26 September 2019
Year 7 parents and students event – 7N and 7W