Many congratulations to our U13 team who took the national table tennis title last weekend at the Butterfly Schools Team Championships in Wolverhampton.
A fantastic achievement.
The team defeated Wade Deacon High from Widnes 8 - 0 and both Reading School and Altrincham Grammar School for Boys 6 - 2.
Team members are Oliver Cunningham 8N , Leo Nguyen 8N, Lucas Ceasar 8N and Hugo Nguyen 8C.
Mr Campbell, Enrichment Coordinator, said: “From the very start of our journey to the final, the team conducted themselves incredibly well and are a true credit to the school. The standard of table tennis they played throughout this tournament has been a joy to watch”.
Hugo added, “I feel extraordinary and very rewarded about winning. We were quite nervous at the start and we kept fighting and started playing better.”
I invited the team to Lunch with the Head today so I could congratulate them and find out more about the championships.
Mr Mitchell Receives a Special Award
It’s been a busy day today as this morning I was delighted to welcome Commodore Coulson, Commander of the Devonport Naval Base, to school.
Commodore Coulson joined students at one of our regular armed forces family breakfasts and, as a surprise, presented a special Naval Base commendation to Mr Mitchell who has organised and led the breakfasts for several years.
He said, “It’s a real pleasure to present this commendation today. Being a Service parent away from your children is often difficult but it is just as challenging for the parents and children left at home. I have seen at first hand the contribution that Mr Mitchell makes to the welfare of Service children. Knowing there is someone looking out for their welfare is a huge help. This commendation is just a small way to say a very big thank you on behalf of Service children and parents at DHSB".
Around 100 DHSB students have a close family member who is currently serving or who has recently served in the Armed Forces and the breakfasts, arranged each half term by Ms Taylor our Family Support Advisor, are a great way to make connections and provide support for the students.
The breakfasts are informal and provide an oppotunity for Mr Mitchell to talk to the students, welcome any newcomers and ask if anyone has a parent who is away at the moment. He usually includes a quiz and other activities that will bond the group and get students talking with others in the same situation.
This is light touch and is offered over and above the pastoral support provided by the school to all our students.
Our service family students value the support that Mr Mitchell gives; many who have moved through the school have commented that they appreciated the guidance that he offered during their time, and always knew that if they needed anything then he wouldn’t hesitate to help.
Very well done Mr Mitchell!
School Development Plan
This week I am pleased to publish our termly update on the progress we’re making towards our school development plan priorities.
The update covers the following areas and is available at the link below.
Students achieve the highest academic standards
All staff seek to become even better
Leadership at all levels
Collaboration and community
Creative & entrepreneurial spirit
Celebration Assemblies
On Wednesday our Heads of Year delivered our termly celebration assemblies. This was an opportunity to recognise and celebrate outstanding behaviour, committed and attendance.
Each form group also had a student of the term, who were all given an Easter Egg to recognise their efforts.
Mr Manley said,"There was a wonderful atmosphere and it was great to see so many smiling faces".
Excellent Work
This week Mr Redfern has shared a piece of work from Charlie McKeever 12SDO.
Charlie wrote a short magazine article on corporate social responsibility and ethical business practices as a piece of classwork.
Mr Redfern said, “This is a taut and succinct piece of writing that gets to the point”.
Physics News
Well done to members of the DHSB Physics Society pictured here receiving their certificates for the British Physics Olympiad Senior Physics Challenge.
The challenge involved opting to sit an additional exam of challenging multi-step problems in physics.
Our Physics Ambassadors led preparation sessions during recent Physics Society meetings and 6,900 of the country's best Year 12 physics students entered the competition.
Dr Colvile said, “Tom Dobby's Gold Award places him in the top 9%, while Ronald Buckingham's Silver Award places him in the top 19%. The next stage in the competition is round one of the team selection for the International Physics Olympiad which is taken by Year 13 students in November”.
Congratulations to all taking part.
Wildflower Seeds
We’re grateful to Pollenize CIC who successfully raised £75,000 to equip every school child in the city with a packet of wildflower seeds.
Our seed packets were delivered to school this week and were distributed to students in tutorial time on Wednesday.
We’re also hoping to sow a few seeds around the school site which will not only grow into beautiful flowers but also attract more bees and other wildlife.
This link gives more information about the project, activities during the Easter holidays and how best to plant the seeds.
Ten Tors Training
Our teams undertook their first of two weekend training exercises this week. Fundamentally this was about mirroring the event itself in terms of base camp routine and a slightly earlier reveille followed by a long second day in terms of banking a few last miles.
Teams arrived in good time on day one to set up their tents and prepare an evening meal before a small amount of snow fell on the ground.
Temperatures during the evening plummeted to a rather chilly -5 degrees in still air making it baltic by anyone’s standards.
By morning the ground was white and everything including the tents was frozen.
The conditions really tested some of the teams whilst others rose to the challenge and were all packed away, fed and hydrated in just over an hour.