Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) Celebrations

On Thursday, DHSB celebrated VE Day and commemorated 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe.

On 8 May 1945, people in Britain and across the world celebrated VE Day, which marked the unconditional surrender of Germany.  Winston Churchill, Statesman and war time Prime Minister, declared the 8 May 1945 a public holiday and villages, towns, and cities were decorated with flags and bunting, parties were held on the streets and servicemen, servicewomen and civilians celebrated together in a day of unity. 

To begin the day’s events, during morning registration, students watched Winston Churchill’s 1945 address to the Country. Bunting was strung, picnic benches were decorated, cakes were sold which raised £194.80 for Royal British Legion, and our talented DHSB musicians played 1940’s music for students to enjoy at lunchtime. Students who are members of the cadets wore their uniform with pride and a special slideshow of community stories was shared on the screens around the school.

Thank you Miss Cunningham, for putting together this special event and thank you to the students and their families, who embraced the opportunity to participate by creating bunting, baking cakes, playing music, sharing their family stories, wearing their military uniforms and joining in the celebrations.

Please follow this link to view the DHSB Community Stories slideshow and look out for a special VE Day edition of the student magazine, the Spectator, which Dr Downes is busy editing.

VE Day Historical Perspective

In conjunction with the music, cake and bunting competition organised to commemorate VE Day this week History Club organised a presentation for students on the background to the 8th May 1945 from a historical perspective and spoke about how the day was celebrated in other countries as well as more locally in Plymouth. Mr Manning led the informative presentation to students in the theatre.

Y7 Bunting Competition

Our Y7 students all created a bunting flag and their tutor groups' efforts were judged by our Head of History, Mrs Mintoft. The results were:

1st Place: Scott

2nd Place: Turing

3rd Place: Windsor

A special mention must also go to Harrison Ashmore 8A and Henry Stevenson 8T who produced some outstanding bunting in their own time. Well done boys!

Ten Tors 2025

Ten Tors is an annual challenge held by the Army on Dartmoor and open to the teenagers of the South West of England. The Ten Tors Challenge sees four hundred teams of six teenagers (that’s 2400!) hiking 35, 45 or 55 miles over the rough terrain of Dartmoor in  under two days. They must be self-sufficient and carry all that they need to complete their route and stay out overnight safely, and visit ten nominated tors / check points. The weather can be very changeable and to be successful, the team will have to work together and put into practice all they have learnt during their training. 

Here are the names of students in the DHSB teams, along with details of their route to enable supporters to track their progress online at https://www.tentors.org.uk/page/results.

AF: 35-mile team A - Team F on Route A

1. Fletcher Coster, 10A Team Leader

2. Stan Kingdom, 10A

3. Isaac Peters, 10W

4. Oak Conway, 9A

5. Harry Harris, 9T

6. William Longdon, 9T

7. Reserve: Ed Lee, 9S - if not required by DHSB, will be in Tavistock Outdoor Education Forum Team P on the same route A

   
   

BW: 35-mile team B - Team W on Route B (n.b. this is the same as Route A, but in reverse)

1. Felix Brook, 9S Team Leader

2. Jamie Cain, 10A

3. Dan Morley, 10W

4. Samson Evans, 9A

5. Jack Fisher, 9A

6. Will Hicks, 9S

7. Reserve: Ed Lee, 9S

   
   

 WH: 45-mile team - Team H on Route W

1. Neel Shivane, 10S Team Leader

2. Victor Malm, 10A

3. Dan Moulding, 10T

4. Dom Stone, 10F

5. Vinnie Timbrell, 10S

6. Evan Walker, 10T

7. Reserve: Charlie Jaques, 10A

   
   

YL: 55-mile team A - Team L on Route Y

1. Seb White, 12KRB Team Leader

2. Seb Brook, 12KRB

3. Leo Grieve, 12TGF

4. Otto Malm, 12CMC

5. Noah Reid, 12TGF

6. Iwan Sanders, 12TGF

   
   

XX: 55-mile team B - Team X on Route X

1. Will Wooller, 13ALG Team Leader

2. Esme Dunne 12NGW

3. Euan Leitch, 13ESM

4. Jenna Mabey, 12NGW

5. Shaugh Parker, 12KRB

6. Tom Robbins, 13DR

   
   

Special mention should be made of the Reserves who complete all of the training and see the team at the start but, as only six team members are allowed to start the challenge and substitutions are not allowed thereafter, don’t get to take part. 

To everyone mentioned above and those current and former DHSB students that are in TOE teams AP, RI, XF, Dartmoor Plodders ZZ or participating with their Scout and Cadet groups, we wish you good luck and hope that you enjoy the experience. 

Goodbye and Good Luck

Today, we said farewell to Year 13, who attended in good spirit for their final assembly and a photo, shirt signing/pasty munch party in the sixth form centre. We were thrilled that two of our wonderful students were kind enough to perform. A huge thank you to Rebecca Chapman for singing and playing 'Wonder' a song she had written herself and also to Oli Pannell for his gorgeous performance, for which he received a standing ovation from his peers.

Parting words from Ms Davidson in the assembly:

"Of course for those of us in the bubble of the school universe, the Sixth Form is the pinnacle of your childhood years before the beginning of the rest. You expect so much of yourselves: such perfection, such completeness and enlightenment, but you’ll soon find out what we have always known: that you are now really just the end of a beginning; there are so many thrills and spills to be had, nobody is perfect and all youth is beautiful!  

Good luck to you all!  Have the wisdom to hear the inner voice that says ‘you can’. Remember to drink water and go outside, in a time of AI and virtual reality, embrace being human with your own way of seeing the world. (Science and facts can be amazing but don’t  let it explain the magic away!) Remember your friends, believe 'you can', and tell your family you love them. We have loved you too! 

We will miss each one of you for the individual and unique human you are and for all you have brought to our small universe. It will be a delight to see you at the Prom (free of exams) and again in September (when you will likely know where your next step will take you). Hooray for all the work you’ve been doing and good luck for the coming weeks of May and June."

STEM Faraday Challenge

On Monday 28th April, we competed in the Faraday Challenge, a STEM competition held against local schools. We were up against stiff competition in DHSG, PHSG, Ivybridge, Kingsbridge and Brixham. Whilst the boys didn’t win, they submitted and presented their brilliant, personal safety distress beacon prototype.

Music Exam Success

Mrs Luing Holmes wished to congratulate the following students for taking and passing their music exams:

Benjamin Urbans – Guitar Grade 4 Merit

Arlo Morgan – Guitar Grade 2 Merit

Daniel McInerney – Guitar Grade 1 Merit

Frazer Dalton – Drums Grade 3 Distinction

Frazer Dalton – Drums Grade 4 Distinction

Frazer Dalton – Drums Grade 5 Merit

Max Roberts – Drums Grade 1 Merit

Gabriel Siney – Drums Grade 3 Distinction

Gabriel Siney – Guitar Grade 3 Distinction

Gabriel Siney – Drums Grade 5 Merit

James Hallett – Drums Grade 8 Merit

Alex Weemys – Guitar Grade 1 Pass

Jake Shipp – Drums Grade 2 Merit

Alex McKenzie – Bass Grade 2 Merit

Gabriel & Frazer have been busy! Well done to all of you.

Conservative Party Visit

Mr Macleod shared that Lydia Stone, a young conservative, was one of a small group selected to visit the Conservative Party's campaign Headquarters in Westminster on Wednesday 7 May. She met with Lords, Ministers and Advisors to discuss policy initiatives. Lydia made a number of suggestions to Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride, Chris Philps, Kevin Hollinrake and Andrew Griffith and met Kemi Badenoch, the Leader of the opposition, and Nigel Huddleston, MP and co-chair of the Conservative Party. She also discussed a potential change to the structure of the NHS with Lord Johnson, co-chair of the Conservative Party and is in contact with an MP to follow-up on her policy ideas which focus on agriculture, with government officials.

Well done, Lydia!

Sparx Maths and Sparx Reader

Each week we celebrate our highest performers in both Sparx Maths and Sparx Reader, two of our core homework platforms. We are proud of all of our students who complete their homework each week to such a high standard but these students deserve a special mention.

Congratulations!

PTFA News

Please join us for our PTFA meeting on Wednesday - we’d love to meet you! The Conference Room is directly behind the Visitor Reception.

Sports News and Results

Premier Cup Semi-Final

Our first XI lost 4-1 in the semi-final of the Premier Cup against the HMS Drake Naval Base. After dominating the early part of the game, DHSB found themselves 2-0 down after two quick goals from the Naval Base. Bailey Miles scored a great header just before half-time, and there were plenty of chances for both teams to score more. In the second half, goalkeeper James Morely made some terrific saves to keep DHSB in the game, and there were plenty of chances for DHSB to draw level. Late goals put the Naval Base out of sight, but DHSB can be proud of their performance.

Softball Cricket - Thursday 1 May

The U13 softball cricket A and B teams played their first games at Plymstock School last Thursday. Both sides won all of their games. Well done!