The DHSB Ski Trip 2026

During the Easter holiday, 43 students and 6 members of staff travelled to Pila, Italy for fun on the slopes.

The group spent 26 hours travelling to Pila which has a bewitching natural landscape with a magnificent view sweeping the Alps, from Mont Blanc to monte Rosa and the Matterhorn. The alpine ski-resort in the Aosta Valley region of northern Italy has more than 24 pistes, including 4 blue runs, 29 red runs and 4 black runs. They had an amazing week of skiing and fun and were praised by all who met them which is a superb reflection on DHSB.

Gold Duke of Edinburgh Easter practice expeditions

During the Easter holidays, four teams of Year 12 students completed their Gold Duke of Edinburgh practice expeditions. Later this summer, 24 students will complete their qualifying expeditions by canoe on the River Wye, with a further 22 students walking either in the mountains of North Wales, or on a section of the Tour de Mont Blanc in the Alps. 

Gold D of E is a test of resilience, consisting of five sections (physical activity, volunteering, skills, expedition and a 5 day residential) and specifically, the expedition phase is where plenty of character-building weather is often encountered. 

Dartmoor is beautiful, but it’s also notoriously unforgiving. The route from Ivybridge to Widecombe in the Moor cuts through some of the most remote terrain in the South West and although the teams started with a long, mostly sunny day, the rain soon set in to stay. The teams can be proud of what they accomplished, carrying a 65 litre pack in a test of physical and mental endurance, quickly learning that their bag’s ‘rain cover’ is a misnomer. The teams practiced their navigation and campcraft skills in proper Dartmoor weather.

Canoeing the River Dart offers a completely different perspective of the landscape. While the walking is about endurance, the paddling is about synchronicity and mastering a new skill. Navigating a loaded open canoe requires communication. If the pair in the boat isn't talking, they’re likely spinning in circles. This mostly stopped by day two, with the groups making their way on a journey towards Dartmouth, battling through all of rain, wind and a lack of shade.

Y12 student Ben said “I had a lot of fun watching my friends fall in during the capsize drills. It wasn’t so fun when it was my turn though.” Seb said: “We learned a lot about ourselves and about resilience as a group by walking for days through the rain, some of our team even enjoyed it!”

Thank you to Y12 D of E Young Leaders Rohan and Kenzou for their support this week as well as Y13 Young Leaders Noah and Tom, with a special mention to Mr Watling for coordinating the Y9 equipment issue ahead of their Bronze practice expedition this week.

Thank you to families for helping to facilitate a quick turnaround for borrowed equipment, to every student who returned equipment dry and on time, as the next expeditions are taking place this coming weekend. 

Mr Guy-Fierens

Duke of Edinburgh Award Manager

Tamar Bridge Project Launch for KS3 WEX

We’re excited to be launching an incredible new opportunity for our Year 8 students at Devonport High School for Boys!

As part of our Digital Enterprise unit, we are proud to be working in partnership with Tamar Crossings and Bridging the Tamar to bring learning to life through a real-world challenge.  Students will be working in teams of three to tackle a genuine problem faced by the organisation - developing their creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills along the way.

The project will culminate in a fantastic Dragon’s Den-style pitch this June, where students will present their ideas to a panel of professionals.  An amazing chance to build confidence and experience what the world of work is really like!

This initiative also contributes to the new requirement for Key Stage 3 students to complete 5 days of work experience activities, with this project counting as one full day - an exciting step forward in embedding meaningful careers education at an earlier stage.

A huge thank you to Jane Cooper and Katherine Peberdy for delivering such an engaging launch in today’s Year 8 assembly - we can’t wait to see the innovative ideas our students come up with!

Mr Scott

Leader of Careers & PSHE

Intermediate Maths Challenge (follow on rounds)

Recently, a number of our students participated in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Intermediate Maths Challenge. This is a highly respected, fiercely competitive national competition that tests problem-solving skills, logical reasoning, and mathematical agility under time pressure.

Achieving a strong score in the initial challenge is a phenomenal accomplishment in its own right, but only the absolute highest-scoring students across the country are invited to participate in the prestigious follow-on rounds. Today, we are specifically celebrating the students who qualified for and competed in the highly challenging Kangaroo papers and the exceptionally demanding Maclaurin Olympiad.

It takes an immense amount of talent, perseverance and resilience to reach this level. Therefore, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to the following students for their outstanding results:

Maclaurin Olympiad Achievements

• Arley Walker – Qualification and Best in School

Pink Kangaroo Achievements

• Neel Shivane – Gold and Best in School

• Miles Beech – Gold and Best in Year

• Daniel Bott – Silver

• Ayaan Chatterjee – Silver

• Otto Gibbs – Bronze

• Alex Duddy – Qualification

• Jia long Wu – Qualification

Grey Kangaroo Achievements

• Ollie Sargeant – Bronze and Best in School

  
  

To even sit these advanced papers requires a level of mathematical maturity that is wonderful to see in students of this age. They have demonstrated an outstanding ability to tackle complex, unfamiliar problems with confidence and creativity. To have so many medal certificates across these highly competitive papers is a remarkable testament to the depth of talent we have here.

A special thank you must also go to our dedicated Mathematics department for their ongoing support and encouragement as well as giving their time to allow these challenges to take place.

Well done to all of the students mentioned on their phenomenal success!

Mrs Green

Deputy Head of Maths / KS4 Maths Coordinator

Taking Flight: Careers in Aviation Talk with Alex Rapson

We were delighted to welcome back former student Alex Rapson, who returned to DHSB to share his inspiring journey from our classrooms to the cockpit of a commercial airliner.  

Speaking to a packed room of 30 aspiring pilots, Alex delivered an engaging “Piloting 101” session, offering students a clear and realistic guide to pursuing a career in aviation.

Alex outlined the two main training routes available to prospective pilots:

• Integrated route - a fast-track, full-time course lasting around 18-36 months

• Modular route -a more flexible pathway completed in stages over 24-60 months, allowing trainees to work alongside their studies

He emphasised that both routes require significant commitment, resilience, and financial investment.  To begin flight training, students typically need at least five GCSEs at grade 5 or above, including: Maths, English, Science.  Alex also highlighted how several subjects offered at DHSB provide an excellent foundation:

• Mathematics & Physics - essential for understanding aerodynamics, navigation, and fuel planning

• Computer Science - increasingly important in modern “glass cockpit” environments, where pilots manage advanced automated systems

• Geography - valuable for meteorology and global navigation

This visit was a strong example of Gatsby Benchmark 5: Encounters with Employers and Employees, giving students first-hand insight into the profession.

Alex spoke candidly about:

• The reality of training costs (£100,000-£130,000 for integrated courses)

• The importance of soft skills such as leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving

• What a typical day in the life of a pilot looks like

Key Takeaways for Aspiring Pilots:

• Medical fitness - a Class 1 medical certificate is essential

• Age requirement - you must be at least 18 to begin commercial training

• Resilience – staying calm under pressure and maintaining motivation are crucial

Alex recommended students explore opportunities such as:

• Pilot Careers Live at Heathrow

• Open days at flight schools including Skyborne and Leading Edge Aviation

• The British Young Pilots scheme at DHSB - starting September 2026

• Exploring aviation careers on Unifrog

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Alex for his time and for providing such honest, practical advice to our students.

The British Young Pilots scheme at DHSB will offer aspiring aviators a unique platform to develop their skills and passion for flight - and have the opportunity to actually fly planes as part of the course.  Full details and application information will be shared soon.

Mr Scott

Leader of Careers & PSHE

DHSB eSafety Hub

The pace of technological change can feel absolutely relentless sometimes. It is a lot for any parent to manage, so I want to remind you about our e-safety hub.

One of the most useful features on the Hub is our guide to Securly for Parents. Because your child uses a school-managed Chromebook, the Securly app is a brilliant tool for managing their screen time at home. It allows you to monitor web activity, pause internet access when it's time to disconnect (like at bedtime or dinner), and it will flag any concerning searches. If you haven't set it up yet, I'd encourage you to do so.  Securly have recently released some updates and are constantly improving this product, please see here for more information.

Just a quick note: Securly only monitors your child's DHSB school account. If you are looking to manage their phone or personal accounts on the chromebook, we’ve also included guides on the Hub for tools like Google Family Link and Apple Parental Controls.

It is practically impossible to stay on top of everything teenagers look at these days. To save you time, the eSafety Hub is filled with quick, bite-sized guides on the real issues facing our children right now—from navigating the chaos of large WhatsApp group chats to understanding the latest games and online influencers. We’ve designed it to give you a solid starting point for having those sometimes tricky conversations at home.

Finally, I want to touch on screen time in school. We were incredibly proud to have our digital strategy recognised recently at the Pearson National Teaching Awards. However, I want to be clear: digital success does not mean our students are using Chromebooks all day. At DHSB, technology is an enhancement to learning, not a replacement for traditional teaching. Their use in lessons is entirely at the teacher's discretion. We believe in a sensible, balanced approach—using technology when it actually adds value and shutting the lids when it doesn't. After all, our goal is to prepare our young people for the modern workplace, and that requires both digital fluency and essential qualities like empathy, creativity, humility, and the belief that 'Everyone Succeeds'.

Please do take five minutes this week to bookmark the DHSB eSafety Hub and have a look around the resources we’ve put together for you.

Mrs Parkes

Director of Learning Commons & Initial Teacher Training

Over the past couple of lessons, Year 7 have been learning about the structure of plants and how they reproduce. This week in lessons, they have had the opportunity to dissect a flower, more specifically tulips. The students dissected the tulips and laid out the parts, using their knowledge from previous lessons, they labelled each component, described its function and identified the male and female reproductive parts of a tulip. Here is some of the wonderful work that was produced.

Mr Watling

Teacher of Science

In Food Preparation and Nutrition this week, Sebastien Miskiewicz Y10 baked some wonderful souffles!

Miss Franklin

Teacher of Food Preparation and Nutrition

Year 10 Titration Excellence

This week, Year 10 demonstrated exceptional discipline during their Titration Required Practical. Moving beyond simple reactions, students mastered the art of analytical chemistry—a field where high precision is everything.

The practical required intense focus as students operated complex volumetric apparatus, including pipettes and burettes. Success relied on meticulous preparation and technique to identify the exact color change at the reaction's endpoint.

Beyond the technical handling, students showcased strong mathematical competency in the calculating of the concentration. Their safety awareness and ability to produce consistent, concordant results reflect a professional standard of lab work. Well done, Year 10!

Mr Winstone

Deputy Headteacher, Teaching & Learning

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!

Year 8 student Seth Greentree, travelled to Edinburgh during the Easter holidays to take part in Aquatics GB's Next Generation National Championships.

Seth came away with two personal best scores that enabled him to claim the silver medal for the 3m springboard and the gold medal for the 7.5m platform.

Well done Seth!

Year 7 Student Wins Creative Careers Competition

Earlier this year, we launched the Creative Careers Competition from Digital Schoolhouse at Devonport High School for Boys, inviting students to explore the exciting world of creative digital careers.  The competition encourages young people to think like game designers, developers, and storytellers, and to consider the wide range of opportunities available within the UK’s growing games and creative industries.

Students were invited to enter one of five categories, each designed to showcase different aspects of creativity and digital skills - from game concept design and storytelling to art, animation, and coding.  The competition not only celebrates creativity, but also helps students develop key skills such as problem-solving, resilience, and pitching ideas - skills that are highly valued in both education and future careers.

We were delighted to learn that Year 7 student Harrison Waterhouse was shortlisted as a UK finalist and invited to the awards ceremony in London to find out if he had won.  This is an outstanding achievement, particularly given the national scale of the competition and the high standard of entries from across the country.

His game design pitch, “A Card’s Adventure”, is a platform game which follows the primary character, the Ace of Spades, as it battles through a series of imaginative levels and challenging bosses in a quest to defeat The Joker.  The concept demonstrates a strong understanding of gameplay design and player engagement.  Harrison drew inspiration from Cuphead, particularly its fast-paced, “bullet curtain”-style mechanics, resulting in a game aimed at players who enjoy a demanding and rewarding gaming experience.

The judges were particularly impressed by the clarity of Harrison’s idea, the originality of his concept, and his ability to communicate his vision - skills that are central to success in the creative industries.  Competitions like this highlight how digital creativity can be a powerful outlet for students to express ideas, tell stories, and engage with technology in meaningful ways.

At DHSB, we are proud to support initiatives like Digital Schoolhouse, which bridge the gap between education and industry - and the resources are used in both Digital Enterprise and Computer Science.  By giving students real-world contexts for their learning, we aim to inspire the next generation of designers, developers, and innovators.

We look forward to continuing to celebrate and nurture the creativity of our students - and we congratulate Harrison on his fantastic achievement.

Mr Scott

Head of Computer Science

Leader of Careers & PSHE