This week I am delighted to share photos from our school production of The Addams Family.

Many congratulations to staff and students who have worked together to bring this show to the Edgcumbe Theatre in such spectacular style.

The cast, stage band and technical crew have enjoyed very appreciate audiences each evening. Thanks are due to all those who have supported them.

Tonight’s show is almost sold out; there will be just a few tickets available on the door from 19.00.

Well done everyone.

Each Friday I also share our theme of the week to give an opportunity for you to discuss this at home as a family with your child.

This week our theme is ‘solidarity’ and this was explored in our house assemblies on Wednesday.

Students of the Week

Well done to the following students who have all been recognised as a ‘Student of the Week’. You will see from this list that they were nominated for a variety of reasons, all worthy of recognition. I found out more about their stories when I met them for ‘Lunch with the Head’ today.

Jamie Pillar for being extremely supportive of new students in the school.

Ben Bowden, Ben Adams and Jackson Spry for leading the peer mentor team brilliantly in supporting the Year 7 transition and induction.

Jacob Liney for his outstanding contribution to a PSHE lesson.

Alfie Godfree for his success in publishing a section of his work in a book.

Luke Phillips for being a great help with the visit from Marine Academy Primary.

Jack Ivey for showing kindness and compassion for another student who had become distressed in a lesson due to losing something of significant sentimental value.

Reece Goffin and Samarth Basavapatna for attending and participating in the Year 8 Air Cadets recruitment talk.

Fundraising News

This morning we received a visit from Wayne Marshall, St Luke’s Hospice, who commended a group of our students for completing the ‘Tour de Moor’ challenge and raising £805.00 in sponsorship for St Luke’s Hospice.

The students are all in 8E – Luke Chapman, Dan Sawle, Lawrence Bowes, Ellis Foale, Will Marshall.

Also in the team was Ethan Brown who attends Plymstock School.

Ellis was elected as spokesperson for the group and said they chose to support St Luke’s as it is such a worthy charity and that they wanted to challenge themselves to take part in the Tour de Moor which is a great event.

Mr Marshall said the funds will be used to support patients at the hospice.

‘Day of the Dead’

Thank you to Mrs Brooking who has been leading a project with pupils from Marine Academy Primary,

Mrs Booking said, “On Monday, a group of 30 students from Years 3, 4 and 5 visited DHSB for a Day of the Dead project. The students have been learning Spanish at their school and were very excited to come to DHSB in order to learn about this Mexican tradition. First of all, we learnt about how the festival is celebrated, then Year 3 made a mini book with their new vocabulary, Year 4 produced some 3D ‘calaveras’ (skulls) to decorate their Spanish board at MAP and Year 5 created some pop-up ‘ofrendas’ (altars), which Mexican people traditionally have in their home at this time. The students’ work was vibrantly colourful and they couldn’t wait to take it home to show their classmates and family”.

Excellent Work

Our Excellent Work this week has been submitted by Mrs Boon in Food Technology.

She said, ‘These photos are of some fantastic scones made by my Year 7 students. Their brief was British cuisine and they had to incorporate traditional flavours into a batch of scones. Some of the most interesting scones were traditional English breakfast (bacon, sausage, baked beans and cheese), Cornish pasty (steak, parsnip, carrot) and lemon zest with raisins soaked in Earl Grey tea with a vanilla icing.

International News

Mr Berryman is currently in China following an invitation from the British Council to build links with schools there. Only seven English schools have been approached and the aim is that we will be taking students to our chosen link school before May 2020.

These are three of his photos; he will have more information to share next week.

Information for Parents and Carers

We have received information about ‘money mules’ from Devon and Cornwall Policy to share with all parents and carers.

A money mule is someone who transfers stolen money through their own bank account on behalf of someone else and is paid for doing so. The information we are sharing seeks to warn young people and their families about the dangers and consequences of becoming a money mule.

Please read more here.

And finally

If you are going to be on our school site in the next week please visit our poppy installation which is displayed in the tree on the Year 7 playground.

We will talk about this more in the Head’s Blog next week when our theme will be Remembrance.

Sports Update

Basketball

There were two defeats for the U13 Basketball team tonight but the boys played quite well against stronger opposition.

Football

At the Year 7 football practice this week 34 goals were scored in the 7-a-side tournament – we are getting good at scoring now!

Well done to Team 2 who won every game.

Unfortunately the Year 11 team is out of the National Cup after losing 4 – 3 on penalties.

The 2nd XI couldn’t secure a win either this week, the team lost 2 – 1 to the Medics team in the Devon Wednesday League. It was a good game of football, we took the lead and had chances to win the game but couldn’t make it happen.

Ultimate Frisbee

A team of boys from the school’s Ultimate Frisbee club entered a two day tournament hosted at Marjon by Plymouth University’s Ultimate Frisbee team. The team was organised and captained impressively by Alfie Al-Moosawi and consisted of students from Years 10 – 12.

The opposition were university and adult teams with our students securing wins against the University of West England, Swansea University, Falmouth University and a draw against Plymouth University alongside defeating other adult teams. After two days of tough competition they finished in 11th out of 18 teams which is a great result against much older players.

Well done to all!

Cross Country

Well done to students who competed in the Plymouth and West Devon Cross Country Championships at Staddiscombe playing fields this week. Highlights included Sam Pearson 7C, third in the Year 7 race and Gregor Norster 9E, fourth in the junior boys race.

Well done to all who took part.

Table Tennis

Congratulations to two school teams who were in action in the Devon Schools table tennis championships earlier this week.

The U16 team finished in fifth place and the U13 team took the bronze position.