At the end of another academic year I want to thank all our parents and carers for the fantastic support we have received over the last twelve months.
Once again we have had an excellent year and have so much to celebrate.
We value the relationship the school has with our families as we work together to do the best for all our students.
As always, if you have any concerns or questions during the summer break don’t hesitate to contact us at headteacher@dhsb.org. This email address will be checked regularly but please note you may not receive an immediate response.
We hope that you all stay safe and enjoy a good break over the holidays and we look forward to welcoming your children back to school in September.
Sports Day
This year's annual Sports Day took place on Wednesday of this week and we were blessed with glorious weather.
It was an excellent event with a high standard of competition and record numbers of students participating in events.
The most notable successes came in the U14 100m and 200m where Bryan Oldfield broke both school records. He ran the 100m in 11.15s. The previous record was held by Lewis Andrews with 11.41s.
Bryan ran the 200m in 23.13s and the previous record was again held by Lewis Andrews with 23.17s.
This is not necessarily a surprise as Bryan finished sixth in the English School's Athletics championships last weekend in Birmingham.
Well done to everyone who participated and made this a very memorable DHSB whole school event.
Mr Orkney
Very well done to Bryan, pictured here in first place
House Competitions
The St Levan Shield was fiercely contested this year after Smeaton dominated in 2022/23.
The House Captains were determined from the start and there was plenty of friendly competition along the way.
Across the school year, there are many ways for all students to contribute towards the house competition. The Community Cup is based on the participation in community duty across the year and the scoring for the house notice boards.
This year it was won by Newton.
Extra Curricular competitions are a great way for students to get involved and generate house points. This category was won by Campbell.
The Merit Shield tallies the commendations from each house and this was won by Priestley.
The Competition Cup reflects participation in house sport across the year and also the results of Sports Day, this year won by Campbell.
Pictured is Bobby Li, one of Campbell's winning athletes with the Sports day trophy.
And now for the overall award - one house led from the start, but the final scores saw it closer than anticipated. Our winning house for the St Levan Shield 2023/24 is ... PRIESTLEY!
Priestley was expertly captained this year by George Pike and Tom Robbins, with Vice Captains Jia Wei Chen and Mali Sanders.
Perez Godleman accepted the trophies on behalf of Priestley House.
Congratulations and well done!
Miss Cunningham
Student News
Congratulations to Maxim Smith 10C who competed at the annual Rotax Festival in Dorchester in the Junior Rotax and got his first podium in a Motorsport UK event.
Maxim finished in third place on a very competitive grid; he was very happy with this and the team were impressed with his lap times and consistency.
Well done to Dylan Gould 7W who has successfully auditioned to play an Urchin in 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' when the show tours to Torquay's Princess Theatre in August.
Dylan is a member of Plymouth Performing Arts Academy and is excited about his first professional theatre role.
Congratulations to Barnaby Clark 10C who is involved with Cornish pilot gig rowing. Barnaby rows for River Fowey Gig Club and competed in two events last weekend.
Firstly was the mixed championships hosted by Caradon Gig Club at Saltash on Saturday where the Fowey A junior crew came first place.
Barnaby then rowed again at the U16 County Championships hosted by Newquay Gig Club.
The Fowey A crew had an absolutely incredible row and were delighted to finish in second place to the crew from St Mary’s on the Scilly Isles, making Fowey the fastest U16 crew on the mainland!
They had an incredible final race, with the most impressive overtake and were highly commended in both events by the commentators on their impressive style and technique.
Well done!
Exellent Work
Thank you to Mrs Hicks who has shared these photos from her Year 7 Science classes.
She said, “Students have been looking at the properties of light and applying this to designing and making solar ovens. Everyone did a fantastic job”.
Thomas, Austin and Charlie
Thomas and Harry
Thorley and Liam
Osian and Charlie
Samson, Antos and Finn
Jake and Dlanyl
Ethan and Blake
Jude and Dylan
James
Edward and Josh
Arthur
Performing and Creative Arts News
Junior Theatre Company
Well done to the Junior Theatre Company of DHSB!
Our lower years theatre company has just produced and performed extracts from ‘Joseph’.
Directed and run completely by our older students with Year 13 student Rudi Gibbs at the helm, the show was a demonstration of skills in musical theatre, and will continue next year with our Year 11 directing team taking over.
The company is designed to train and showcase theatre skills in our younger years and trains Years 7, 8 and 9. The students were an example of our school values, showing resilience, collaboration, perseverance and highly motivated attitudes.
Our Year 10 and 12 directing team were role models in their mentoring, guidance and direction of the company. The production was supported by returning Year 11 Music students Elliot Mair, Tom Jane, and James Hallett who learnt the show in 24 hours!
Rudi has been immediately snapped up by the Theatre Royal Plymouth as a director on his Summer break, before he pursues his degree studies in theatre and works full time in the Arts sector.
Music results
Well done to the following students on their music exam results with Mr Mapps:
Tarka Liddle 11N - Drums Grade 6 - Merit
Frazer Dalton 8E - Drums Grade 2 - Distinction
Tommy Bentley-Bonsey 12ALG - Drums Grade 8 - Distinction
Ben Hanvey 8N - Guitar Grade 1 - Merit
Alex McKenzie 8E - Bass Grade 1 - Pass
Hugo Nguyen 10N - Guitar Grade 3 - Merit
Victor Topor 9C - Guitar Grade 1 - Merit
Pictured is Frazer.
Summer Festival
A big well done to all those that played live at the Summer Festival last week.
We had a huge range of performance talent and were so proud this was from Year 7 to Year 12.
We featured a Year 12 student who played at both Open Evening and Summer Festival, using electronica as his musical platform. James Young is a highly talented electronic music writer and has shared his soundcloud link for any one interested:-
Mrs Luing-Holmes
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.
Well done!
Sixth Form Enrichment and Tutorial
Thank you to Ms Wilkinson for a super final assembly in which she shared summer fun facts but a very serious message about staying safe whilst having fun in the sun. We hope and encourage our students to look out for each other in all manner of ways: at festivals, with their new found freedoms via cars, travel and all sorts!
It was wonderful to celebrate their progress in learning, commitment to studies and achievement in end of year exams as well as the fabulous contributions made by several individual Year 12 students including Eve Wilkinson, Rebecca Chapman (music), Oli Pannell (Eco council work and music), Stavya Dubey (House Captain and Med soc), as well as the invaluable contributions given by the House Captains (Stavya, Hayden, John, Ewan, Isaac, Hayden, Holly, Penny, Orla, Jayden, Morgan and Gwen,Tom, George, Jai Wei and Mali, Henry, Onyi, Elliot and Elsa, Amelie, Lucas, Will and Tahla).
The ever reliable prefect team, Subject Ambassadors, Coachee2coach group (Will Connett, Will Cooper, Stavya D, Talha D, Reuben H, Elliot J, Menula M, Ewan P), Primary Scholar leaders (Holly Cooper, Penny Jones, Amelia Lim, Sophie Widdecombe, Will Wooller, Isaac Dent, Joe McDermott, Patrick Dunne, Freddie Bridgett, Mali Sanders, Isabella Schlussas, Hans Francis, Seth Stevens, Rowan Perry) and finally the Year 12 students who were kind enough to come in and help make Sports Day a great success! (Onyi, Yaseen K, Isaac A , Seth S, Declan J, Will W, Maddie B, Eliott J, Ruby C, Dan OF, Oli P, Lucas O).
Year 12 as a whole have impressed us with their focus and spirit, their academic growth and willingness to invest in the school community. They have set a high bar for the incoming Year 12 to follow and add to this strong group of young people. We appreciate all of the care given by form tutors and support staff involved in the Sixth Form.
A special thank you to Mrs Burdon and Mr Burt for their many years of investment in us and to parents for being supportive partners in the Sixth Form community too.
Ms Davidson
PTFA Photography Competition
We are delighted to announce the winners of our popular photography competition.
In third place is this stunning photo of snow on Dartmoor by Edward Eastwood 8P.
Khushaal Dev Mittapalli's 10W photo of beautiful flowers takes second place.
First place goes to Tarka Liddle 11N for his great photo of a robin.
Runners up who will also have their photos on the calendar are:
Jack Jago 7N
James Tantam 9W
Albert Chevin 10P
Thomas Hind 8C
Oliver Elford 8P
Rowan Perry 12ACB
Edward Eastwood 8P (as well as third place)
Joseph Dennis 10W (two runner up photos)
Congratulations to all of our winners. As always the standard was incredible. Our thanks to Mrs Burdon as she had the difficult task of judging the entries.
The academic calendar featuring all of these fantastic winning photos can be purchased online now at:
The calendar contains useful term dates and will have the A and B weeks printed. Orders will be distributed during the first week of term.
Please follow us on our social media for updates and forthcoming events:
X (formerly Twitter) @DHSBPTFA
We hope you have a lovely summer and we look forward to meeting you next term - our first meeting is on Wednesday 25 September at 6.30pm, in the Conference Room (directly behind the Visitor Reception). Refreshments will be provided.
Mrs Kinsella
Excellent Work
Mr Guy-Fierens and Mrs Cairns have shared these photos from Year 10 Physics.
Pictured are Year 10 students testing out their end of year projects - get the egg to the target without breaking it!
Well done to all involved.
And finally
This year we are saying farewell to the following members of staff.
Mr Ellicott, Mr Richards, Mrs Boaden, Mr Burt, Mrs Burdon and Mrs Ward.
We wish them all the very best in the future.
