Oct 2, 2015

2 October 2015

It has been another exciting week at DHSB. I can’t believe that October has arrived already and as a school community we have already packed in so much success.

We have had some very special international visitors in school this week (See the update below from Mrs Pearson).

We also received the fantastic news that we have been awarded a part in an Erasmus project. This is an exciting opportunity for our staff and students to form links with partner schools in Sweden, Spain, Lithuania and France where we will be developing projects in Science, Maths and Technology over the next three years. The additional funding will enable several students and staff to visit the partner schools as part of the experience.

It has been another phenomenal week of sport so please check out all the achievements below

New School Record

Following our September Sports Day, Mr Orkney and Mr Huq led the awards and presentations in our whole school assembly on Wednesday.

Congratulations to Ayrton Sneyd who set a new school record of 1.68 in the U14 High Jump.

The previous holder, Lee Russell, who left DHSB in 2004 sent Ayrton a message when he heard his record had been broken.

He said, “My name’s Lee Russell. I left DHSB to join the Royal Navy. I’m now an engineering manager at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

“Since I left school I’ve sailed the world with the Royal Navy, built luxury boats with Princess Yachts in Plymouth, kept your money safe working as a systems engineer for Visa Europe and now I make sure the hospital runs smoothly and uninterrupted here in London and look after a team of my own guys.

“Yesterday I heard a rumour that a bright young talent called Ayrton has literally raised the bar and set a new goal for the next generation to aim for. I am very proud to have held a record for so long and am not at all sad to see it get broken.

“Hearing about your sports day brought back great memories of my time at DHSB and of breaking that record myself.

I’d like to congratulate everyone who took part in all events but special congratulations go to Ayrton.”

Ayrton receives his medal from Mr Orkney

This year, for the first time, all the events were captured in photos (well done to Mrs Burdon and her team of photographers). We enjoyed seeing the photos during the presentations and I’m pleased to share the images at this link.

The Sports Day cup was won by Smeaton and Vikram Thirupathirajan is pictured collecting the award.

Stop Press

We’ve just heard that we have been awarded the prestigious School Games Gold Award (an improvement on the Silver which we achieved last year). Well done to all students and staff involved in the application.

International Links

This week DHSB welcomed teachers from its two Afritwin partner schools, Xolelwa from Zimasa School in Cape Town, South Africa, and Nic from Chaplin High School in Gweru, Zimbabwe.

Mrs Pearson writes, the two teachers have spent the week observing lessons, working with both students and staff, developing future projects and exploring the local area.

It was fascinating to speak to Xolelwa and Nic about our daily lives, education systems and perspectives on key issues and hear their views on our school. They were impressed with the student centric environment and how teachers guide and support learners.

There may be many differences between our three schools but we all very quickly came to the realisation that our students are ultimately very similar! The highlights were taking part in lively question times with Ms Lilley’s Economics class and Mr Macleod’s politics class where various insightful and intriguing questions were poised!

This visit has further strengthened the partnership that has been in place for several years, and we will continue to work together on projects to increase student awareness of the wider world, and to develop appreciation of differing perspectives.

Nic and Xolelwa were interviewed by students from the Devonport Spectator

Tom Showell

Well done to Thomas Showell on achieving 98% in his recent exam with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.

Tom passed his Grade 5 Verse and Prose Speaking with Distinction (98%)

Mrs Pick, our Speech and Drama teacher said, “Well done Thomas”.

He is now working towards Grade 5 Solo Acting.

Individual Sports Achievements

We have several individual achievements to share this week and I was pleased to invite these boys to have lunch with me today.

Archie Hill 9P has been selected for Exeter Chief’s Elite Development Programme.

This is a fantastic achievement as only two students have been selected from the whole of Devon in the last two years.

Samuel Lawrence 7S is a member of Tavistock Golf Club and with his partner won the Devon County Golf Junior/Adult foursomes competition.

Well done to Reuben Jones 8E who has gained his Black Belt in Karate.

Owen Weymouth 6W1 attended a three day cliff diving/high diving camp in Tyrol, Austria over the summer.

He said, “The camp was run by cliff diving world champion Orlando Duque and I dived from heights of up to 20 metres. I had never dived above 15 metres before so pushing myself to dive higher was frightening but rewarding. At the end of the camp I was given the prize of a GoPro Hero 4 for the diver who had made the most progress at the end of the week.

“Recently I’ve been in touch with Red Bull and they have watched my progress and are encouraging me to keep improving. My ambition is to get a place on the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in the next few years and dive from the famous 27 metre platforms.”