Congratulations to our table tennis team who competed at the English Schools National Finals last weekend.
Mr Callicott said, “The team supported each other and fought hard to win games finishing in fourth place”.
Very well done!
And many congratulations to our Year 11 football team - Devon Cup Champions again! This makes it three years in a row.
Well done and thanks to Mr Bunney.
Special thanks also to Torquay Boys Grammar School for all their efforts to get the game on and for their battling to make it a tight match.
Crowdfunder Day at DHSB
The whole school community has come together to raise money for our Sport for All crowdfunder campaign.
Today the school is in mufti to raise money for our gym upgrade. We also enjoyed fundraising activities in the lunchtime sun including a penalty shootout and a crossbar challenge.
Money raised will be used to transform the space into an up-to-date fit-for-purpose gym which will be used not only by the school but also teams, clubs and the community.
We will provide new equipment, and decorate and make cosmetic changes to bring the space up to standard.
Well done to staff, students and families at the school who today have managed to raise just over £1,300 which is an excellent amount. All our fundraising will be match funded so every £1 = £2.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.
Our target to hit by Monday is £5,000 and we currently have £3,726. Please consider helping us to achieve our target over the weekend - follow this link to our Crowdfunder page:-
Student News
Well done to Euan Greenfield 7P who has been competing for the past two weeks in the south west regional swimming championships in Bristol and Millfield with his swimming club Plymouth Leander.
Euan qualified for nine events, and achieved a bronze medal in the 200 Butterfly, an amazing achievement coming third in his age group across the south west.
Fantastic!
Also congratulations to Maxim Smith 10C who competed at the Clay Pigeon Raceway where he finished in third place on the day, and with the points from previous rounds he was placed third out of 46 drivers in the whole IKR Winter Championship 2024 which had been run over the last few months.
Maxim then switched tracks and headed to the Mansell Raceway where he competed and came fifth on the day and received a cash prize.
Well done!
STEAM News
Ms Davarian and Mrs Corboy have shared this photo of three students who were recognised in the Year 7 assembly this week for taking part in a poster competition which celebrated British Science Week back in March.
The theme of the week was Time.
Well done to George Glencross and Jude Tilley 7W and Pablo Shortcook 7E.
George and Jude collaborated and Pablo submitted an individual entry - congratulations!
UKMT Junior Maths Challenge 2024
Well done to all Year 7 and Year 8 students who participated in this year’s Junior Maths Challenge.
Mrs Wills has shared these highlights with us.
Year 7
Cojoc Vicenzo gained Gold and Best in Year.
Arlo Morgan, Ollie Sargeant, Jacob Rafati, Zachary Adams all gained Gold.
Year 8
Andrew Banciu gained Gold and Best in School.
Alex Duddy, Angues Fielding, Joseph Wotton, Mihail Juganaru, Gabriel Juganaru all gained Gold.
Eight students scored so highly that they have been invited to take part in the next round of the competition, the Junior Kangaroo, in June.
Mrs Wills said, "We are really proud of all 45 students who took part".
Plymouth Half Marathon
We were pleased to hear that Daniel Boyns 13CLJ competed in the Plymouth Half Marathon on Sunday in aid of St Luke’s Hospice.
This was Daniel’s first half marathon and he finished in a very respectable 1:58:33, but more importantly between him and the team they have raised over £5,400 for St Luke's Hospice.
In addition to this, Daniel is going to a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Friday 10 May to receive his Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award - a big well done!
We are also very proud of our colleague Mrs Luing-Holmes who completed the half marathon despite her saying that running is not her thing!
Mrs LH ran in support of the Mustard Tree Cancer Support Centre and she'd like to thank all who sponsored her, and especially the students of DHSB who cheered her on.
If you'd like to support this charity here is a link to her fundraising page.
Ms Davidson
Excellent Work
Thank you to Mrs Green who has shared this example of excellent work from her Year 9 Gerography class.
She said, “Year 9 students have been preparing for their mid-unit assessment and we have been working on mind maps as a revision tool. This is an example from Luke Chubb 9W”.
DofE Practice Expedition
Another eight teams completed their Bronze practice expedition last weekend. Congratulations to them all.
Mrs Wills said, “Well done to them all for their speedy walking and accurate navigation”.
The assessed weekends take place in May and June.
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 six students deserve a special mention.
Well done!
Sixth Form Enrichment and Tutorial
This week Year 12 students were on study leave for their mock exams. Whilst the mocks are significant in terms of indicating potential and what works for individuals in terms of revision at DHSB, the exam practice 'proces started with a few teething problems such as students not checking individual timetables and not knowing their candidate numbers, which we are pleased they resolved with swift response!
Year 13 students were able to explore the steps they should take on results day to secure their next steps. For those going on to university, tutors were able to run through the results day checklist and also a presentation from UCAS on confirmation and clearing.
These documents are also shared in the Year 13 2023-24 letters and documents area of the school website for further access.
Time has flown once again as we will be saying our formal farewells and wishing a steady head and safe hands for the exam period to Year 13 at 11:10 am on Wednesday 8 May.
A reminder too to encourage students to get their tickets for the Prom on 28 June, organised by their peers and to keep the evening of 11 September in the diary for what will be a wonderful school celebration for leavers together with their families.
Ms Davidson
PTFA News
Wow what a full and productive meeting we had this week!
Obviously top of the agenda for discussion was our forthcoming Alton Towers trip. Unfortunately we are still sort of volunteers. Please get in touch if your child is going and you are willing to be a coach supervisor. Travel and your entry ticket will be at no cost and you will be free to enjoy the park all day. Sadly the trip won't be able to go ahead if we do not have enough volunteers.
We also chose our shortlist for the calendar photography competition. The standard of photos was fantastic! Our thanks to everyone who has entered. It won't be easy to choose the final 12 photos out of the 72 received.
Summer disco news!
Save the date - Sunday 9 June - for Years 7, 8 and 9 students from DHSB, DHSG and PHSG, and their guests. Tickets will go on sale during the second week of May so please keep an eye on our social media. Please note that we will not be able to respond to any disco enquiries until after the Alton Towers trip, apologies for this.
I must also mention our VIP visitor to the Parent, Teacher, Feline Association. Local celebrity Mischief, who even has his own Facebook page, was desperate to join us! He sauntered in but fell asleep on a chair before we could sign him up for any volunteering!
Our final meeting of the year is on the 25 June 2024 at 6.30pm in the Conference Room (directly behind the Visitor Reception) - please come along, we'd love to meet you. Refreshments provided.
Please follow our social media for updates on forthcoming events:
X (formerly Twitter) @DHSBPTFA
Mrs Kinsella
PTFA Liaison
Sports Update
As mentioned above, this week we are congratulating the Year 11 football team who finished the season as Devon Champions yesterday, making it three years in a row that they have lifted the trophy, and the Table Tennis team who competed at the English Schools national finals last weekend, finishing in fourth place.
Well done and congratulations to both teams.
Read more at the top of the Head's Blog!