Christmas at DHSB
Thank you for supporting our collection of food items and our Christmas Jumper mufti day, held yesterday.
We’ve received a huge amount of food from families which has been taken to the Plymouth Foodbank (the Oasis Project) and the Gift of Hope, based at Hope Baptist Church.
Gift of Hope
Plymouth Foodbank
Christmas Jumper Day
This year our Christmas Jumper Day was held in aid of St Luke’s Hospice.
The hospice is an independent charity providing specialist advice and support to people with progressive life-limiting illnesses in Plymouth, South West Devon and East Cornwall.
Here’s just a selection of the festive wear seen around the school yesterday.
7N
7W
8C
8E
8N
9S
9W
Hadyn Keast 10W
Father Christmas, aka as Joe Penrith 10E, even made an appearance!
Christmas Dinner
Students and staff enjoyed a full Christmas Dinner this week.
Many thanks to Mr McConnell and the Refuel team for providing this festive treat for us all.
Excellent Work
Our excellent work today is also on a Christmas theme.
Ms Hunns has shared photos of Year 9 students decorating their Christmas cakes and an excellent example of a completed cake by William Marshall Roberts 9S.
Student News
Many congratulations to George Shaw 7E who has passed stage 3 RYA sailing.
Well done to George, who is seen here with his certificate.
Chess Update
Thank you to Mr Butland for this chess report.
Well done to four students who competed in the Devon Championships last weekend.
Fintan Pawley 12 TJK and Ayush Kunwar 11S both played well at U18 level.
Special mention must go to Devrim Phaneuf 10P who scored 4.5 to become joint county champion in the U15 category and to Caleb Caleshu 9P, aged 13, who recorded four wins and two draws to score 5/6 and become the overall junior Devon Champion (U18).
Well done also to Devrim who won the school internal pre-Christmas competition.
News just in - we’ve heard that our school A team has qualified for the regional stage of the national championships - congratulations!
Students are pictured at the school weekly chess club.
The Big Young People's Survey
The Young Minds charity aims to ensure every young person gets the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what and to stop young people's mental health reaching crisis point.
This December the charity is inviting young people aged 13 - 25 to complete a survey to use their voice to address the issues affecting their lives. Whether it is the struggles of school or work, relationships or worries about climate change, Young Minds want to know.
The survey takes ten minutes to complete and is the largest piece of research on mental health the charity has done.
Thank you.
PSHEE Activities
Our whole school assembly on Wednesday was led by Mr Huq and House Captains on the Importance of Charity.
Each house, led by their Sixth Form Captains, has been deciding which charities they would like to support this year, with most choosing a local, a national and an international organisation
On Friday this week Year 7 students had their third lesson using the STEPs workbooks, this time looking at skills for life, and also a section called ‘This is me’ where they focus on their own achievements and talents. They will be back onto their normal programme after Christmas, and each class in turn will also be having a session on First Aid during the Spring term.
The Year 8 lesson was all about Cultural Traditions and how some traditions may not actually be acceptable or even legal in this country. Discussions included different forms of marriage as well as both male and female circumcision. This is one of the new lessons we introduced to our tutorial programme last year as this is now a statutory requirement for KS3 students.
Year 9 students had a lesson on Chromebooks, using the popular site Careerpilot, which they registered on during the first half of this term. The site has areas for different age groups as well as teachers and parents, and we thoroughly recommend it to you as a first port of call for all things Careers! Students were able to complete some quizzes, submit any activities completed and research career sectors, universities and apprenticeships. www.careerpilot.org.uk
The Year 10 session was the popular and useful lesson on mock interviews. Students had all completed applications for an imaginary Saturday job which were sent to six different local employer volunteers for critique. Feedback was given and the employer selected two or three students to be interviewed in front of the rest of the class who acted as observers and also gave feedback afterwards. Finally the employer said who they would have employed, and why, after the class had given their verdict.
Some of the lessons were conducted virtually due to Covid isolations but most of the interviewers came into school, and I would like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to all of them for giving up their time and expertise.
If anyone reading this would like to support in this way next year, please let me know, thank you.
Finally, Year 11 students also had speakers, this time for the whole year group in the theatre. Scott Medical College and Access Creative College (formerly Deep Blue Sound) both spoke briefly about the possibilities for next year - all part of supporting students to make informed decisions about their Plan A - and B of course - for their future.
Next week we will hold the year group celebration assemblies on Wednesday and the DHSB Christmas Quiz for everyone on the Friday, which will be of course the last day of this term.
Ms Moreton
Sports Update
Congratulations to Harry McGlinchey 9C who has been selected for the England Men’s Under 15 Squad Training Camp to be held during the week before Christmas.
Well done Harry; we look forward to hearing all about the camp.
Football
Mr Campbell said it was a very soggy and wet end for the Year 8 football team this term.
He confirmed "An extremely solid team performance from all involved in the win v the UTC Plymouth".
Rugby
Mr Orkney reports that the 1st XV went down fighting against an excellent Mount Kelly side on Wednsday afternoon. There were some great performances from our players.
Mount Kelly said, “Thank you @DHSBoys for a great game. A match played in great spirit”.
Basketball
The Year 9 teams played two games this week with a draw against Plymstock and a two point loss to St Boniface.
Mr Anderson said the team had a great attitude throughout.
