Takeover Day

While I’ve been busy writing this blog, checking up on lessons and meeting students throughout the day, the rest of the staff ‘doubles’ all of them students here in Year 10 and 11, have been enjoying carrying out their various duties around the school in a very successful Takeover Day 2014!

New School Captain

I am delighted to introduce Vikram Thirupathirajan as School Captain for 2014/15.

Mr Earley said, “I’m confident Vikram’s appointment will lead to an outstanding year as we develop and strengthen our student leadership roles.”

Christmas Card Competition

I met with the winners of the DHSB Christmas Card Competition this morning, whose three brilliant entries will go on to be professionally printed for the festive season. They each took their given theme, the wise men, and put their own spin on it to create the winning designs. I look forward to seeing the finished products in school!

Pictured are Owen King and Elias Klockars. Rory Cameron also takes the shared first place in the competition.

Mock Trial

A team of Year 12 students were fortunate enough to test their wits in the courtroom last Saturday, as the Bar Asssociation took over Truro Crown Court for the National Mock Trial Competition. Although the DHSB team was unfortunate not to get into the next round, all students involved performed admirably and showed great confidence, regardless of which side of the law they were on!

Special congratulations to River Noden, who got some extraordinary feedback from the leaders of the other teams at the competition. They identified her as a natural presence in the courtroom, showing the type of confidence that suggests that she could have a real future ahead of her as an advocate.

In addition, Charlie Daulton took to the witness stand in the guise of a police officer and gave his evidence with effective authority. The group as a whole were indebted to Mrs Daulton who used her experience as a barrister to give advice during the day as well as visiting the school on a number of occasions to talk about the role of lawyers and helping to practice cases for the competition.

Enterprise and Education

There was a strong DHSB presence at the Real Ideas Organisation Enterprise and Education Conference at the Devonport Guildhall yesterday.

Students, Daniel Lowe, George Irving, Yasin Soliman, Alfie Carlisle and Jeehoon Kang were there to make a presentation on behalf of the school.

Parliament Education Service Event

Four voice captains from DHSB had the pleasure of representing the school at the Parliament’s Education Service Event on Wednesday. The event took place in the Plymouth City Council Chambers and students from across Plymouth represented their schools’ councils. The day consisted of various workshops and focused on skills relevant to the captains’ positions.

‘Overall, the day was invaluable for all of those involved and it definitely helped us to improve on our skills to become even more effective in our new roles’ – Ali Awan, Priestley Voice Captain.

Student Success

Well done to Edward Rescorl, who won an amazing array of awards at the Plymouth Music Festival last week.

This was the 100th anniversary of the competition, and Edward took first place in the 14 and under category and third in the 13 and under for his piano pieces.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Edward also performed in four violin categories, winning the 14 and under in which he achieved the highest mark in the festival for a performance of his own choosing. For a set piece, Edward achieved second place in the 14 and under and first in the 17 and under. To top it all, he also achieved first in the 15 and under for a recital piece.

Well done!

One might think twice before getting on the wrong side of Michael Nutbrown; he recently beat Scotland in the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships! He came up against even tougher competition in the semi-finals and lost to the eventual winner, Australia. Michael ended up taking home the bronze medal for 3rd place in the Commonwealth cadet -45kg category. An incredible achievement; congratulations to him!

Gold DofE

Thank you and a big well done to all who participated in the Gold DofE walk last weekend!

That’s all from me on Takeover Day 2014. It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable day for me and the other ‘teachers’!

Joe Weeks – Takeover Day Headteacher

Sports News in brief

Well done to our Year 9 team who took gold in the West Devon Rugby Tournament this week.

Also to the Year 11 football team who beat Ridgeway School 3 – 0 to take up their place in the Plymouth Cup Final.

Many congratulations to our U13 Basketball team who won their third consecutive match.