I am delighted to announce the name of our new School Captain.
This morning Henry Spencer accepted the position and I am positive he will be very successful in his new leadership role.
There will be a period of handover during this term and we will set aside time to thank Joe Weeks for the skills, commitment and energy he has shown this year.
‘Mindset not Magic’
Mrs Edwards introduced the school community to the concept of ‘Growth Mindset’ in our whole school assembly on Wednesday. This concept celebrates a love of learning alongside resilience.
You can read and see more in Mrs Edwards’ slides and linked videos. Whole school assembly slides
Choice Event
Sue Moreton, our Information, Advice and Guidance Coordinator, arranged an evening this week for Year 9 –Year 13 parents to learn more about the options after GCSE or A level exams including information on apprenticeships. Ms Moreton said, “We had speakers from the National Careers Service, a local training provider (Focus Training), a local college (Duchy College), a local employer and former DHSB student (Wrigleys) and the Devon Collaborative Outreach Network based at the University of Plymouth demonstrating Careerpilot, a web based resource that covers HE and other options”. Further information will be available on Ms Moreton’s Blog early next week.
Student Achievements
Congratulations this week to a group of students who took part in the Greenpower Education Trust competition at the Castle Combe Motor Racing Circuit. Ben Adams 10E has written this report. We have participated in two events this year: our first ever race was at Newquay airport and the second at Castle Combe Motor Racing Circuit. At Castle Combe we beat our distance from Newquay airport, setting our race distance record at 32.14 miles in 1.5 hours on two 12V batteries. This placed us 44th out of 223 cars nationally and this was enough to qualify for the International Final at Rockingham Speedway in only our first year racing. Thank you to Mr Ames for coordinating the project and Ms Davidson for transporting the car.
Well done also to two students who achieved high marks in the recent LAMDA exams. Lalit Kathiresan 9W Grade 4 verse and prose speaking with Distinction 90% Preet Pradeep 10P Grade 4 Solo acting with Distinction 91%
Community News
On Wednesday two of our students, Kai Benjamin 9S and Oliver Kehoe 8P performed at George Street in Devonport as part of a community event called ‘Every Good Yarn Deserves Another’. The day built upon the community cohesion created as a result of the city’s response to the Clowance Street fire in June 2015. As part of this both students performed a range of show, classical and pop pieces to an audience who were full of praise. Mr Newton said, “Oliver’s rendition of ‘Any Dream Will Do’ was so beautiful it even reduced one of the audience to tears while Kai had a following of fans by the end. Fantastic performances from both students. Well done”. Read more here
Oliver
Kai
Mrs Green and Miss Walker set themselves the challenge of running a marathon distance during September. This morning, to add to their fundraising, they hosted a coffee morning for MacMillan Cancer Support.
Mrs Green and Miss Walker said, “We were set the challenge, by a family member currently undergoing treatment for cancer, of running the distance of a marathon over September for Macmillan. We undertook this and have completed the 26.2 miles in rain, wind and occasionally sunshine! We thought that the best way to celebrate completing this was to eat cake! So at DHSB the staff took part in ‘The Worlds Largest Coffee Morning’ today at break time. The students have also played their part by buying the remaining cake during lunchtime. In total we have raised £228, a little short of our target of £250 to fund a Macmillan nurse for a day, but still a fantastic success! Thank you to all at DHSB”.
Erasmus Update
We were in Geneva and France last week to finalise the next steps of our Erasmus project working in partnership with six other schools and organisations from five different European Countries. The project is called SMART and is around the teaching of Science, Maths and Technology. Over the next few years our teachers and students will be collaborating and taking part in study visits to the other countries and schools and also collaborating with organisations such as CERN. It is a wonderful opportunity for both our students and staff and we look forward to sharing more of the outcomes in the forseeable future.
Miss Middleton is pictured at one of our partner schools
Alumni News
We were delighted to see George Greenlees representing the University of Birmingham on University Challenge and leading his team to victory. It’s the second appearance in this series for former DHSB students as Joe Meethan competed for the University of Nottingham earlier this year. We’re very proud of both students; George is reading Medicine at Birmingham and Joe has just graduated from Nottingham with a first class degree in Viking Studies.
Sports Update
Karate
Congratulations to Reuben Jones 9E who has achieved his Karate Blackbelt 1st Dan. Well done Reuben!
Football
The Year 11 team kicked off their Schools Football National Cup season with a 9 – 1 victory over Ridgeway School (Plympton Academy).
Mr Orkney also reported a credible 4 – 4 draw for the 2nd XI v Plymouth University on Wednesday.
Rugby
The Year 7 team secured one win and two draws at the Central Venue competition this week. Mr Bunney said, “This was the first ever game of proper Rugby for many so very well done”. Also celebrating success, Mr Orkney added, “Good 65 – 15 win for the U15 Rugby team beating Truro School in Round 1 of the NatWest Cup
Events Update
Monday 3 October 16.30
Year 7 Parents Tea Party (CEN)
Tuesday 4 October 16.30
Year 7 Parents Tea Party (PSW)
Wednesday 12 October 18.00
PTFA AGM