I hope that you enjoyed some time together as a family over half term.
We have enjoyed welcoming back our students this week.
Following the announcements on 31 October I have written to parents and carers regarding a few minor updates so please do read the letter sent home today.
I am pleased to say that the majority of the new guidance relates to the control measures that we put into place in September. I know I have said this many times over the last couple of months but thank you to you and your families for helping us all keep safe by following our rules and guidance. We must continue to work together to ensure that this continues.
Our theme of the week this week is ‘Solidarity’ and on Wednesday students participated in a house assembly, led by Mr Huq, Head of Campbell.
Next week we will focus on Remembrance with a virtual whole school assembly led by Mrs Edwards.
DofE Award Update
Two teams were able to do two wet but successful walks on Saturday 24 October and Sunday 25 October. However, the second weekend in which four teams were scheduled to walk was cancelled at the last minute by Dynamic Adventure due to poor weather conditions.
We have now suspended all the bronze expeditions until the New Year.
However, we are hoping to start enrolling the next cohort for Bronze and Silver before the end of the year as the more flexible rules from DofE will allow a participant to enrol on the next level before he has finished the previous level and even use their silver practice expedition as their bronze assessed expedition.
Mr Huq
Cyber Security
The Computer Science Department has been working with students to develop their skills in the field of cyber security with HM Government's online extracurricular programme "Cyber Discovery". 52% of those entered from DHSB have been invited through to the next level having shown a proficiency in problem solving.
They join a community of over 70,000 13 - 18 year olds training to become the next leaders in cyber security by playing a vast online training game.
Cyber Discovery is the most effective way to master technical skills and security concepts, as a gateway to the industry or just to up digital skills. As students embarked upon their journey, they became an agent for the virtual Cyber Protection Agency, where they stopped criminal gangs who were using their cyber skills to do damage online. The following students were taken through to the next level of the programme (others will be announced next week):
Congratulations to the following students, Alan Kraszewski, Ben Wotton, Benjamin Saberi, Benjamin Wagstaff, Charlie Matthews, Gabriel Baktys, Harry Pickard, Harvey Brown, Henry Whitwell, Hugh Lettington, Jamie Anderson, Josh Newman, Rob Derry, Sakthivelan Pandy, Sam Hibbert, Scott Howley, Talha Durrani, Toby Watts, Tristan de Rochefort-Roper and Will Francis.
Mr Scott
Student News
Well done to Belle Jackson who has been awarded the Arkwright Scholarship which provides the following opportunities.
Industry led engineering Connect Days arranged by Arkwright.
A scholarship financial award to assist technical studies and wider experience of engineering.
The support of a mentor who can share technical and personal experience, as well as set projects and help achieve goals.
Congratulations also to Braden Toms 10N who has trained in Tae Kwon Do for many years.
After achieving all coloured belt ranks, he took his 1st Degree Black Belt Grading earlier this year. He passed the grading but due to Covid 19, the official presentation of his belt had to be delayed. Braden finally received the belt at a presentation during half term.
Parent, Teacher and Friends Association
This week the PTFA are sharing three ways in which parents and carers can help to fundraise for the school. The first is our weekly school lottery. Tickets cost £1.00 of which 76p goes on the prizes and to DHSB (24p covers admin and VAT).
There is a DHSB local winner every week and a chance to win the £25,000 jackpot.
It really is very easy to sign up, just follow this link
The lottery is open to everyone in the UK so please tell your family and friends. The PTFA has already raised over £2,000 for the school since 2019.
The second way to help raise funds is to sign up to Easyfundraising. Again this is very straightforward to do. As we approach Christmas this is an effective way of gaining money for the school. The first step is to create an account making sure to choose DHSB PTFA as your cause.
Once you have set up your account you shop via the links on the Easyfundraising website. There are 4063 retailers to choose from, such as EBay, Amazon, John Lewis, M & S, Argos, Sainsbury’s and Debenhams. There are 117 food and drink companies, (including Waitrose, Asda, Tesco, Morrison's and Ocado), 262 travel companies (including TUI, Expedia, Travelodge, Booking.com, Travel Supermarket and Lastminute.com), 119 insurance companies and more than 750 fashion retailers.
Easyfundraising is an entirely free service. Every time a purchase is made through their link a donation is made to the PTFA which we receive every three months.
Thirdly, all parents and carers will receive an email from the PTFA about this year’s AGM (to be held via a Zoom link).
Please support them if you can.
Thank you.
Mrs Kinsella
eSafety Advice
You may or may not be aware but the end of 2020 is an exciting time for gamers, with the release of the much anticipated PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles. Ahead of the new releases of the Xbox Microsoft has officially released a new app to give parents more control by remotely monitoring your child’s gaming activity on consoles.
Dave McCarthy, Corporate Vice President, Xbox Operations, said: “We know that especially right now, families are facing new challenges in the wake of school closures, working from home and social distancing due to COVID-19. In my own family, we’ve had to navigate this ‘new normal’ and how our existing rules for screen time might need to be adjusted to better reflect our reality. With the Xbox Family Settings app, parents can easily relax screen time on Xbox so kids have more time to play, or create a new schedule to help balance time for remote learning.”
What are the features of the Xbox Family Settings app?
The app which is now available to download for free has the following features:
Screen time limits – set specific times during the day or week of who long you want them to play
Review and manage friends lists – The app allows parents to accept or decline new friends requests, and also review their existing friends list
Content filters – Choose age-appropriate levels for rate games and apps
Play and communication settings – Choose who they interact with in the Xbox community from “no access” to “friends only” or to “everyone”
Activity report – A detailed summary of your child’s activity online and on their Xbox
Where can I download Xbox Family Settings app?
You can download the app free of charge via the Apple App Store for iOS and the Google Play Store for Android devices.
Ms Buckler