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4 October 2019

I am delighted to announce the name of the DHSB School Captain for the coming year.

Joe Watkinson accepted the post yesterday and I am sure he will be very successful in his new leadership role.

Toby will provide support in a handover period over the next few weeks and later this term there will be time to thank him for his extensive contribution to the life of the school community.


191003 School Captain

Senior Prefects are taking up their roles this week too and they met together for the first time this morning with Ms Davidson, Mrs Edwards and Mr Mitchell.

Students who have applied for the position of House Captain are currently being interviewed as part of the selection process.


191004 Senior prefects

The new role of Junior Prefect has been created this year to ensure developmental leadership opportunities continue to be on offer for students throughout key stage 4. Students in Year 10 and 11 were eligible to apply and have been selected on merit and a willingness to contribute positively to the school community.

We expect Junior Prefects to be ready to take the next step towards being leadership figures in the school and wider community in every respect, setting a clear example to other students and being active ambassadors.

The Junior Prefects have already provided support at the three Year 7 Parents in Partnership events and the Year 11 parents evening so far serving tea and coffee, directing parents, providing hospitality for teachers and setting up and tidying venues as well as supporting individuals.

Mrs Edwards says their support is ‘invaluable’.

Theme of the Week

This week our theme is ‘eSafety’ and this was explored with Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 in student-led year group assemblies on Wednesday and through our tutorial programme.

In September 2018 DHSB took six students to Plympton Academy for the Be Strong Online Ambassador training which is part of The Diana Award. Later that year The Be Strong Online Ambassadors took an assembly for Years 7,8 and 9.

This week Reuben Jones and George Cleeland-Smith led an assembly on Social Media for Years 7,8,9 and 10. This was focusing on not rushing into social media for Years 7 and 8 and how to report unwanted attention online for all years.

Students v Extinction

New School Captain Joe Watkinson has sent this update on the Climate Change whole-school campaign and the photos which were taken on Friday 20 September.

“The Amazon mosaic (pictured below) shows that, as a school community, we are passionate about the environment. Created by Students vs Extinction (a climate action group started by DHSB students), it was devised to act as a mandate to demonstrate support for climate change legislation and to help spread information about climate issues. I am delighted to announce that it has been a huge success. Over a two-week campaign, the group received over 170 images and has gained cross-party support from Luke Pollard MP, Tudor Evans, and was mentioned at the Conservative Party Conference by Rebecca Smith. To conclude, I am sure that you will join me in congratulating Reuben, Ellie, and Kianu (the founders of Students vs Extinction) for their spectacular achievement”.

Well done and thank you to Reuben Jones for creating the mosaic.


191004 Amazon

KS5 Enrichment

On Friday 27 Sept Rich Evans came and delivered a very powerful training to Year 12 and 13 students to become Ambassadors of Hope. This is a project wholly supported by the charity ‘Chasing the Stigma’ which was set up to help spread this message:

‘Everybody in the world has mental health. Everyone. Yet the fear of being judged is preventing many people from talking about it’.

The charity has created an app called The Hub of Hope and shares the message #notokisok on social media so that more people will talk. The Hub of Hope is a first of its kind, national mental health database which brings together organisations and charities, large and small, from across the country who offer mental health advice and support, together in one place.

They actively train people in all sorts of workspaces from big business, to youth groups. We are hugely grateful for their input into training and encouraging our students, particularly the boys, to talk but also to be ready to listen. If you are interested in knowing more please click on this link.


191004 Hope

Volunteering Opportunities for Students

Several students have signed up to work with Ms Nally on Partnership Projects with local primary schools. Additionally, there are further opportunities to work with children and young people in this area.

Jonathon Clitheroe from the Real Ideas Organisation (which many of you will know is a social enterprise organisation based in Devonport) also shared details of these three fantastic volunteering opportunities (with KS5 students in the first place, though these are all open to 14-19-year olds).

Students will contribute but will also gain networking opportunities through contacts in business, testimonials to support their CVs, skills and likely new friends too!

Ms Davidson said, “We are very proud of the contributions the community at DHSB makes to people in our locality and fortunate in being offered so many opportunities to enhance our city. Thank you for all you do to support these efforts”.


191004 Rio

Erasmus Project

In addition to the wonderful opportunities on offer for Sixth Form students, this week a group travelled to Prague to take part in an Erasmus Project.

Mr Berryman has sent this report.

We set off from DHSB to begin our trip to Prague, Czech Republic and to meet our team (a school in Opava) who we would be presenting our Erasmus project to the Czech parliament with. Our first day took us on a sightseeing trip around the city, a river cruise and showed us our first glance at the building we would be presenting in the following day.

In the morning of our second day we accompanied our teammates in a table discussion with the Speaker of the Czech Parliament, this consisted of talking through our part of the project, this being light pollution, what effect it has as well as how it can be reduced.

After this we headed into a conference room with parliamentary deputies to further present the Erasmus project. Each school (DHSB and Opava) gave a brief overview of their school environment and the situation on pollution in each of the cities (Plymouth and Opava). Next we went on to discuss pollution and the Erasmus project alongside our Czech teammates.

The following day we returned to the Czech Parliament to have a tour of the Senate and learn about the history of Bohemia. On our final day we headed to Prague Observatory to learn further about the effects of light pollution and how it can affect astronomy and our view of deep space. This project will continue with the partner schools visiting each other. The next mobility will see the Czech school visit us in Plymouth around April 2020.


191004 Erasmus

191004 Erasmus (2)

191004 Erasmus 3

PTFA Events


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Sports Update

Tennis

Congratulations to Will Heard who was runner up in the Men’s Open Singles Senior County Championships last weekend. He was their youngest finalist ever. Will played right through the draw as he was unseeded with all players in the quarter finals onwards being not only older but better rated and ranked. He battled incredibly hard throughout defeating the fourth and second seeds on his way to the final. He took the final to a tiebreak against the number one seed after losing the first set and winning the second set. The score was 10 – 7 in the tiebreak.

The Director of Devon Tennis commented not only on his exceptional level of play but also a maturity way beyond his years.

Also, at the Plymouth and District Tennis Awards he not only won the league cup with his doubles partner for the Men’s First Team at the Nuffield Devonshire, he was also awarded Top Player in the whole league.


191004 Will Heard

Football

Mr Bunney said there was unbelievable commitment from Year 7 footballers this week with 49 students at training in the pouring rain.


191004 Year 7 football

It was another great result in tough conditions for our Year 8 team beating Callington 4 – 1 in the Schools Cup, but a disappointing result for the first XI this week losing 3 – 2 to Dartmouth BRNC.


191004 Year 8 football

191004 1st XI

Rugby

The Year 8 central venue rugby was held in the dry this week with a win against Stoke and defeat to Plymstock. The team’s next match is against Ivybridge away on Monday.

Well done to the DHSB U15 rugby side which beat Mount Kelly in a well contested game in round one of the NatWest Cup this week.



Future Events

Sunday 6 October

Abbots Way Walk

Tuesday 8 October

Year 13 Parents Evening

Thursday 10 October

Choices Evening for Years 10, 11, 12 (Ms Moreton)

Monday 14 October

Strategies for Success Event (Mrs Edwards)

Wednesday 16 October

Sixth Form Parents Information Event

Thursday 17 October

Year 10 Report

Final day of Autumn term one

Friday 18 October

Non-pupil day

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