It has been another exciting and eventful week at DHSB. I can’t believe October has arrived already. Reflecting on September we already have much to celebrate.

By now you will all know the name of our new School Captain. I was delighted to appoint Henry Spencer to this role on Tuesday.

Henry will work with Joe Weeks this term during a period of handover.

Our new parents enjoyed the Year 7 tea parties earlier this week with one parent saying, “Thanks DHSB for hosting a great parents tea party for yr7 boys tonight. Brilliant to know channels of communication are open.”

Student Digital Leaders

Student Digital Leaders have been busy this week supporting the launch of the ePlymouth Employability Passport (read more in Ms Moreton’s Blog on Monday) and the new Homeworky App.

Mr Forte said, “The first release of the official Homeworky iOS App is now available on the AppStore. The app was created by Joe Edwards, one of our Digital Leaders. We encourage students and parents to download by using this link.

New updates will be added soon and your feedback/feature requests are always appreciated.

National Poetry Day

We all enjoyed National Poetry Day and responded to the challenges set by the English Department.

You can see our poems pictured here. The winning poet will be announced in our whole school assembly on Wednesday.

Outdoor Education

DHSB Ten Tors Training got off to a great start on Sunday with 12 of our students completing the 23 mile Abbot’s Way Walk from Buckfast Abbey to Tavistock. This annual challenge attracted over 400 walkers and our 45 mile Ten Tors team put in a fantastic performance to finish first overall in a time of 6 hours 5 minutes.

Pictured at the start outside Buckfast Abbey are L-R 45 mile Ten Tors team Peter Clifford, Adam Bruce, Jamie Williams, Luke Goldstone, Jacob Woodbridge Harris, Michael Moore, Sam Cade 55 mile Ten Tors team Dan Harris, Jack Adams, Isabel Browne, Tom Foreman and Sam Cox.

Thanks to Mr Ames who organised and walked with the teams and to Mrs Heighway who drove the minibus.

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award participants will be completing their practice expeditions over the next two weekends. We wish them all a safe and enjoyable time.

Training in school earlier this week

A reminder from Mrs Edwards about our Prevent poster competition. Students are being asked to raise awareness of Prevent and anti-radicalisation in their designs. The closing date is Friday 14 October.

Sports News

Kickboxing and Karate

Congratulations to Emilio Moreno-Chamorro 9N who is just back from Orlando where he won two silver medals in his categories (U13 and 13-17) at the World Kickboxing and Karate Union World Championships.

Football

An excellent 3-1 win against Plymouth Dukes for DHSB ‘A’ on Wednesday afternoon.

Well done also to our Year 9 football team.

Mr Bunney said, “It was an epic Schools Football cup match against Callington. Won 7-6 AET but 5-2 down at one point”.

Rugby

Mr Bunney also reports that the Year 7 Rugby team had two convincing wins against Plympton Academy and Stoke in front of Chairman of Rugby.

Events Update

Wednesday 12 October at 18.00

PTFA AGM

Monday 17 October at 18.00

Emotional Logic Session for Parents