On Wednesday this week we held House Assemblies which were led by student House Captains on the theme of Embracing Challenge.
Mr Huq shared an introduction including news of the DHSB House Championship and music from Tarka Liddle 9N which you can watch here.
Challenges were definitely set and embraced at DHSB at the end of last term when students, staff and families got involved in fundraising and thinking of others just before Christmas.
I’m really pleased to be able to share this set of messages and images from the Gift of Hope, the Plymouth Foodbank, St Luke’s Hospice and the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal..
Well done and thank you to everyone for making a difference.
To all at Devonport High School for Boys
On behalf of Hope Baptist Church and the Gift of Hope team, I would like to thank you for your continued support and the generous donation you made to the Gift of Hope project.
This year’s Gift of Hope was a real success. 300 families received a ‘gift’ hamper full of treats and essentials on the Sunday before Christmas. This also included a Christmas decoration and a small gift for the children!
We would like to thank you for your generosity to enable this to happen! Each year sadly the need for parcels increases (as many of the families are still feeling the effects of the pandemic) but simultaneously so does the support, donations and finance!
Please be assured of the difference you have made!
Letty Jones
Office Administrator, on behalf of the Gift of Hope Team
Thanks from the Plymouth Foodbank
Wayne Marshall, Partnerships Lead, St Luke's Hospice is pictured with
School Captain Ellis Foale and Mr Manley
Thanks from the RBL Poppy Appeal
Community Tree Planting
This week Sixth Form students took up the challenge to support community tree planting taking place in the local Paradise Road Field.
Thanks are due to Archie Bevan 12TJK, Archie West 12SDO and Noah Struthers 12ALG.
Sue Willis, on behalf of the Friends of Paradise Road Field said, "Thank you for helping to create a new wildlife friendly hedge and plant fruit trees this week".
Well done to everyone involved.
Half Term Holiday Club
Bookings for the February half term holiday club are now open!
Mr Campbell says that all in the wider community aged between 8 - 12yrs old are welcome and confirms a breakfast club has been added to the extensive programme of activities.
Please use this link for more information.
PTFA Meeting
Our next DHSB PTFA meeting will be held on Tuesday 25 January 2022 at 6.00pm at Refuel.
Our new Chair Josanne extends a warm welcome to all to attend.
Student News
Many congratulations to Harry Bedford-Smith 7P who was presented with a player of the month trophy and is top goal scorer so far for his team, Mayflower Rangers, all whilst playing up a year.
Well done Harry.
If you have any student news to share please email my PA Mrs Nicholson at sarah.nicholson@dhsb.org.
PSHEE Activities
Another chilly week, but I did see some daffodils in Devonport Park which was cheering! Also another busy week for Careers/PSHEE tutorial time, with 7E having their turn for a virtual first aid session with the Red Cross whilst the remainder of the year group had a lesson about dealing with disability. They discussed general attitudes to disability, and also how we could potentially assist both in school and out.
The Year 8 lesson was with Mr Adams this week as he was going over all the information about choosing GCSE options. Students are selecting these at the moment and have already had guidance from Year 9 students who obviously had the same decisions to make last year.
Our independent careers adviser, Judy Kay from CSW group, will also be answering more general careers email enquiries on Friday 28 January. Options selections must be returned to Mr Adams by Friday 4 February so that he can begin to plan the timetables for next year.
Year 9 students had their second relationships and sex education lesson based on pornography. They discussed different sources of information, how to deal with peer pressure, and the legalities of various scenarios.
Year 10 students completed the national health survey that was answered by Year 8 students last week. Information gathered will be shared with school to enable us to improve our practice where necessary, as well as contributing to national statistics.
And finally, Year 11 students revisited the Prevent agenda around terrorism, specifically looking at forms of radicalisation and potential risks. We also held an optional apprenticeship workshop for students who are looking at this route for next year as a plan A or plan B, led by our careers adviser Judy Kay, and with support from the apprenticeship team at Babcock, usually one of the most popular employers to whom our students apply.
I also want to mention that in the next couple of weeks we are introducing all Year 7 and 8 students, as part of their digital enterprise lessons, to the platform iDEA, which provides opportunities to work towards digital badges in a huge variety of areas.
We will follow this up within tutorial sessions, and hopefully other curriculum subjects where appropriate. Parents and carers may also be interested in registering and gaining a portfolio of badges! https://idea.org.uk/
Ms Moreton
Sports Update
Table Tennis
After finishing first at the County Schools Table Tennis Championships in November, Hugo and Leo Nguyen, Lucas Ceasar and Oliver Cunningham, all 8N, made it through to the Zone finals in the Butterfly National School Team Championships on Sunday hosted at Eggbuckland CC.
In the U13 group were Millfields, Bournemouth and Taunton schools.
Every game was hard fought but the DHSB team finished top of their group with three wins from three.
Mr Campbell said this was a great team effort with some amazing fight backs along the way.
He added, “This means we are South-West Team table tennis champions and will now compete in the regional finals at Bristol Academy on Saturday 5 February”.
Many congratulations to Hugo, Leo, Lucas and Oliver, pictured here.
Cross Country
Well done also to all the students who took part in the Devon Schools Cross Country Championships at Exeter over the weekend.
Mr Carpenter said there were lots of good performances in the Year 7, junior and intermediate competitions as well as a fourth placed finish for Kristyna in the senior girls event.
Well done all.
Football
It was a close game for the Year 7 football team in the Devon Cup against Lipson, writes Mr Carpenter.
The match was 2 - 2 after normal time and 3 - 3 after extra time. The team just edged it 5 - 4 on penalties to progress to the next round - congratulations!
After a thrilling, end to end game of football the Year 8 team unfortunately lost 3 - 4 to Paignton Academy in the Devon Cup
Mr Campbell said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the team; some of the football they played today was outstanding”.
The Year 9 football team played at the central venue competition on Tuesday, losing to Tor Bridge but taking a win against Eggbuckland.
Well played!
Earlier in the week the 1st XV played away against the City College team in the Wednesday League. Mr Manley said this was an entertaining game which finished 5 - 5.
Basketball
The U14 basketball team was in action on Wednesday, beating Lipson and losing narrowly to Plympton Academy.
