Described as 'amazing' and 'magical' we're delighted to share photos from our musical theatre production of Into the Woods, staged this week in the Edgcumbe Theatre.
A huge well done to all staff and students involved in the cast, crew, stage band and technical team, led by Mrs Luing-Holmes.
Tonight's show is sold out and the audience of over 200 guests are keenly looking forward to seeing the performance.
Again, many congratuations to all.
Photo credit: Mikaela Blows
A big thank you to Beverley, Isa, Joanna and Rachel who served refreshments at Thursday evening's performance. We're looking forward to seeing the PTFA team again tonight.
UK Youth Parliament
We are incredibly proud to announce that Year 9 student William (Bill) Higginson has been elected as a Member of the UK Youth Parliament (MYP) for Plymouth.
Bill won the 2025 election, securing his place as a representative for young people across the city.
This year’s election saw 22 schools take part, with an impressive 8,067 ballots cast - highlighting the strong engagement of Plymouth’s students in shaping their future. Bill’s campaign focused on reducing homework levels, particularly in light of its impact on mental health, a topic that clearly resonated with young voters.
As an MYP, Bill will have the opportunity to work alongside other youth representatives, speaking on key issues and advocating for change at both local and national levels. We look forward to seeing the positive impact he will make. Congratulations Bill!
Mr Scott
Debating Society
The first meeting of the KS3 Debating Society took place on Tuesday lunchtime with the topical motion 'This House believes that smartphones should be banned for all students under the age of 16'.
Speaking for the motion were Zak Adams and Ralph Hayden-Davies and opposed were Harry Quinn and Mattei Padineanu.
The standard of debating was excellent, especially as for some students this was the first time they had spoken in a public debate. The proponents of the motion concentrated on the issues of mental and physical health caused by phones leading to changes in behaviour, including as a result of bullying, as well as suggesting that young people should be encouraged to lead a more active life rather than be staring at their phones all day.
The opposition questioned these conclusions and suggested that phones helped rather than hindered school work, were much quicker to use and helped to prepare for life beyond school where phones are in continual use
The small but lively audience added many well thought out arguments for both sides until the debate was cut short by the end of lunch. A vote was taken and it was decided that, on balance, smart phones should be allowed in school.
It was tremendous to see the level of preparation and skill of all those who attended and spoke so well. The next meeting will be in two weeks.
However next Tuesday sees the inaugural meeting of the school Amnesty Group, all are welcome and more information to follow. A big thanks to Jacob Evans for taking notes of contributions through the debate
Mr Macleod
Student News
Thank you to Josiah and Seth for these contributions.
"Josiah Gallagher 7S is half American, so as a family we always celebrate Thanksgiving in the last week of November by sharing a huge roast dinner with friends. Different families eat different foods depending on which state they are from. Our meal included chicken, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, devilled eggs and sweet potato mash with marshmallows. After dinner we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade on television and played board games, which led to a very animated debate about whether the word 'orange' has one syllable or two. The answer is, it depends which side of the pond you're from".
"Seth Greentree 7F took part in the Armada Cup, a diving competition hosted at home in the Life Centre over half term that saw over 250 divers from clubs around the UK take part.
Seth levelled up and trialled in the junior elite category where he successfully claimed the bronze medal for 3m springboard and a silver medal with his synchro partner for their efforts on 1m springboard".
We are looking for more students and families to contribute to the Head's Blog over the next few weeks.
If you have tried a new activity or challenge then we'd love to hear about it. We also want to hear about student achievements.
Examples include sports, photography, new pets or new hobbies. We would also like to hear your book recommendations.
Please complete the Google Form at this link to let me know what you’ve been doing.
Year 12 Biology Visit
Year 12 Biology students visited Plymouth University's anatomy department last Wednesday. They used high definition iPad apps to virtually dissect the heart, examining the different tissues and structures. They were then able to use the state of the art Anatomage tables that have replaced cadavers in many medical schools to explore the anatomy of the heart, and other organs and systems, within the body.
The technology was breathtaking, as was the knowledge of the Year 12s students - having recently studied the heart, they impressed the surgeons facilitating with their understanding of its anatomy and physiology. The students came away really inspired, with some already set on following medical careers.
Dr Little
Excellent Work
Year 7 English
Thank you to Mrs McConnell for sharing these examples of Excellent Work from her Year 7 class.
She said, “This work was produced by students in 7A in response to the creative homework menu tasks based on Shakespeare's play 'The Tempest'.
High levels of creativity and engagement with the play were shown in the work completed.
Well done to 7A!
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!
World Book Day - The Shelfie Competition
As part of our World Book Day celebrations at DHSB students have had the chance to participate in various competitions around sharing our love of reading and books. The first competition to close was the tutor group challenge of matching the bookcase to the teacher.
Many of us sneakily added some clues onto our bookcase and each tutor group had a chance to identify the owner of each bookcase. It got students looking closely at the titles on the shelves as well to see if they could spot the clues; unsurprisingly it was deliberately challenging and some teachers’ book choices were unexpected. Who is the teacher who has mixed scholarly texts on business with books about cycling? Which teacher enjoys travel…and Dishoom ? Who is it who has a passion for Pokemon?
Two tutor groups managed to excel in this task, amazingly matching 12 out of 14 teachers to their bookcase so a well earned congratulations to 7S and 10T.
Dr Downes
PTFA News
Please come and join us at our next meeting on Wednesday 19 March at 6:30pm.
We’d love to meet you!
The Conference Room is directly behind the Visitor Reception.
Mrs Kinsella
Sports Update
U15 Indoor Cricket County Champions!
Many congratulations to the U15 indoor cricket team who went unbeaten all day and finished as champions at the county finals day.
Well done to everyone involved and thanks to Devon Cricket for organising the competition.
Cross Country
The final race of the Cross Country season took place on Monday evening at Eggbuckland Community College, showcasing some outstanding performances.
Sebby Travers 7A claimed victory in the Year 7 race, while Zac Adams 8S secured an impressive third-place finish in the combined Year 8 and 9 race.
In the team competition, the DHSB Year 8 squad delivered a dominant performance, emerging as clear winners with 21 points, ahead of Torbridge High, who finished with 29 points.
Well done to all the runners who took part.
Football
The Year 8 B team was in action in a match against St Boniface earlier in the week.. The team battled all the way until the end and narrowly lost 2 - 0 with some quality football on display.
It was a great effort from the team at the Year 8 central venue this week, winning one game and losing one game. Some fantastic football on show from the team.
The Year 7 A team had two wins from two games at the Plymouth Schools Central Venue League - well done to those who played!
The Sixth Form 2nd XI team was back in action against Plymouth College on Wednesday. The school lost by three goals to one in a well contested game.
Netball
Mr Orkney says the Sixth Form Cheetahs netball team has cemented their reputation as the greatest DHSB netball team of all time with an 11 - 10 victory against Plymouth College. The match was played on Wednesday afternoon.
