The session on 5th got a little more physical and offered a wide variety of activities both as individual and team perfromers. All boys arrived excited this week as it was not the unknown anymore, they knoew what to expect, FUN! FUN was had by all as they all left again with big smiles and rosey red cheeks.

32 Year 7 - 9 attended the Festival for School Sport at Marjon on Tuesday 29th March. All boys that attended the event got the opportunity to taste an activity that they have not tried before. The activities included; Futsal, football, ultimate frisbee, mountain biking, orienteering, lacrosse, street dance, tramploining, octipush (underwater hockey), table tennis, volleyball and fencing. In the morning all boys got theattended a practice session of one sport then competed in a recreational compeition in that sport. During the afternoon they every boys received 2 taster sessions for different activities of their choice. All sessions were delivered by local club coaches so that the young people could ask questions about the club and how to get involved if they wanted to continue in the future. All exit route details was provided on the back of the participation certificate. All boys received a water bottle for their enthusiasm and effort.

DHSG

The girls school used this event to reward those students that work well in PE but do not represent the school or necessarily take part in extra-curricular activities to both reward effort and encourage girls to get involved in sport of any kind. The girls got the opportunity to both compete and taste new activities through the festival. The activities that the girls got to choose to try included; Climbing, fencing, table tennis, volleyball, trampolining, street dance, Octipush (underwater hockey), lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee, mountain biking and orienteering. All the activities were facilitated by local clubs and lead by coaches or representative of the clubs. All girls left with a smile of enjoyment, a certificate and water bottle. The intention of the event is that the students have a taste of an activity, enjoy it that much that they take it up outside of school.

Congratulations all girls and boys for their hard work and enthusiasm!

In an attempt to maintain the success from the Plymouth Indoor Rowing Championships the same team was selected for the West Region Championships. All boys performed fantastically on the day with may of the boys achieving a personal best and for some an individual medal was won! Individual medals went to Jac McConaghy and Thomas James, a silver and gold respectively. The race that all competitors were waiting for was the relay race, the team had to consist of one representative from each year group 7 - 11. All team members sprint 200 metres to complete a 1000 metre team total using just one rowing machine! The battle was on between Ridgeway, Plymstock, Exmouth and DHSB. DHSB took the lead almost instantly from the off and never relinquished that lead meaning that they were crowned male team relay winners.

Congratulations to all members of the team for taking silver medal in the overall male team competition!

Although the number of girls rowing is increasing a limited number of girls were selected to represent the school in this years West Region Indoor Rowing Champs. 12 girls went to Marjon to compete against the best in the South West and came out on top! All girls performed fantastically resulting in a large number of girls finishing in the top 10 and achieving a personal best. A special congratulations goes to Pheobe Thomas and Lauren Dawe who came way with individual silver medals. The finale of the event is the team relay event and DHSG had a very strong team that had trained hard in readiness for the championships that to year 12 team captain Amber Waters. The relay team must consist of one competitor from each year group 7 - 11. The team use just one machine and have to complete a 1000 metre race hence, all members row 200 metres each so every member plays an equal part in the team performance. From the start the girls took the lead, never did the girls lose the lead meaning they were crowned the female relay champions of the West Region!

Congratulations to all team members as not only did they take the female relay team title but they were crowned ‘Female Team Champions for the West Region'. WELL DONE GIRLS!

DHSB

With table tennis being the fastest growing sport at DHSB the squad attending was stonger than ever. 

Again the U13 entry was the largest every for DHSB and all boys had made huge progress over previous 6 months so the expectations were high. The standard was expectional and all DHSB boys played fantastically, finishing  either 1st, 2nd or 3rdin their respective leagues.  Only the winner progressed to the quarter finals. Therefore, the only player to progress was A. Helliwell. He comfortably won his quarter-final taking to the semi-final to face a Devon county player!! A.Helliwell played fantastically in his semi-final but was beat by the eventual winner. Well Done A Helliwell! 

As a result of the huge number of entrees the U19 boys competition took place at the Plymouth Table Tennis headquarters in Cattedown. As a result of exams S.Wilson was our only entry,this had no impact on his performance. S. Wilson got the final last year playing a very closely fight contest but eventually coming a very close 2nd! He progressed through the league stages winning his league, the the quarter finals and finally winning is semi-final. The 2 finalist were the same as that previous year S. Wilson was there! Unfortunately it played out the same as last year and Silver as won again!! Well Done! 

Congratulations to all squad members!

DHSG

DHSG have always had a good reputation in table tennis circles and this year was no different. The number of entries for girls was again higher than ever so the standard was also high. For a number of students this was the first individual compeition so the minibus was full of nervous energy on the way to the compeition. 6 girls entered the U16 compeition and 4 out of the 6 progressed from the league stages to the finals! The semi-finals were an all DHSG affair with all 4 players were from DHSG M.Gore, T.Ansah, V.Smith and G.Hattersley all players feared being placed against V.Smith. The eventual victory was of course V.Smith.

DHSG were also presented in the U13 and both E.Lloyd and L.Bracegirlde came 2nd in their respective leagues so unfortunately did not progress into the next round but as this was their first competition they have alot of positives to take from the experience.

Congratulations to all squad members! 

DHSG and DHSB combined were crowned Plymotuh Schools Indoor Rowing Champions for the 3rd consecutive year! All the hard work and training proved to be a winning formular for many of the competitor as all members of the teams contributed to an overall fantastic performance.

Thanks to the coaching and training of Amber W, Charlotte EH and Mariella C the girls team performed brilliantly and a large number of the team acheived personal bests to help sucure victory overall. The training provided by the senior students over the past 3 weeks helped the younger girls understand some of the following; indoor rowing race tactics, the importance of stroke rate and the physiologically importance of the each body part in each stroke. Some of the particularly outstanding perfromance included; Year 7 Pheobe T and Lilly H 1st and 2nd only 12 metres seperarted the girls, Year 9 Lauren D 2nd by only 4 metres, Year 11 Alex S 2nd only by 9 metres and Amber W Year 12 1st by 13 seconds!!!! All members of the team regardless of their final position contributed to a very impressive victory.

A smaller team than in previous years represented the DHS boys this year! A large number of students also made their debut in the championships but many achieved a personal best too! Although there were a number of new members to the team the senior students Tom and Dean did a fantasitic job of caoching and advising when and were necessary during the competition. Some particularly outstanding perfromances by the boys include; Alex B the only Year 7 student 4th, Year 8 3 Jacks' 3rd,4th and 7th, Elliott R 2nd by just 3 metres, Year 10 Piran S 2nd and Tom J 1st by 263 metre. Again, an amazing team performance.

Not only did the teams provide a winning formular for competition they also assisted the successful running of the event! I special thank you on behalf of the partnership must go to year 4 year 12 CSL Level 2 students that volunteered 7 hours to man the registration desk, input data, writing certificates, help competitors, take photos and provide first aid support when necessary.

Congratulations all members of the of three teams, enjoy your victory!

The first fixture was against Plymouth College. The boys started nervously and went down to an early goal. Poor marking in the D resulted in a soft goal being conceeded at the far post. This seemed to give the boys the injection of speed and energy that they needed and within no time the boys were level. Half time arrived and the scores were level! The boys were the better side for the whole of the second half, on the attack for the majority. Consequently the boys were caught on the break and again they saw themselves down again, against the run of play. From the push back after the goal a fantastic ariel pass out right was controlled amazingly and a shot from the edge of the D nessled in the back of the net to finish a superb move. The boys were level! Final score DHSB 2 - Plymouth College 2.

Now the boys were warm and had lost the nerves that next school they faced were Lipson. This game the boys turned on the team work, and played some outstanding hockey resulting in a very comfortable win. Final score DHSB 10 - Lipson 0.

Well done all team members, good luck in the next 6 games!

The club is being run by partnership Coach Kelly Vallis for a block of 9 weeks. If there are any students interested in taking part please collect a letter from resources. The 9 week course costs £18 per person.

New to DHSB is 'etreme acrobatics'! Boys will be given the opportunity to work on tumbling and trampette work. The club will give the students the opportunity to perfect their dive forward roll from a trampette, a front summersult, rebound routines, team displays etc. The club takes place in F-block gym Friday lunchtimes for 9 weeks.

Again, if students are interested in joining the club please collect a letter from resources. The course will cost £18 per person for the 9 week block of work.

All girls arrived excited, yet nervous, as none of them have friends outside of their own tutor group and all were expected to work with people to whom they had never spoken before. 3 of the girls did not appear to find talking to strangers challenging, and naturally took the lead.

All girls worked in pairs on verbal communication, and then in small groups to practise using a variety of communication methods (e.g. gesture, listening, demonstration, visual, etc.)

90% of girls felt that they had either improved or surprised themselves positively) during this session. 1 girl felt that she could not possibly improve her communication skills, saying that she listens well and she does not find talking to new people difficult!   Of the 65% of the group who said they found this session particularly difficult, all felt that they had improved throughout the session. They all felt more confident about contributing to group discussions, but were most pleased at being able to give loud, clear instructions to a blindfolded person to complete a task; this was a major step forward for some!

2 girls, in particular, found listening to other people's instructions more challenging, but thrived when communicating verbally. Both are confident leaders and find communication easy, but they need to develop the ability to work as a team and to allow others to contribute.

The group decided on the name 'COMMUNICOOL CREW', their rationale being that they are working on communication, they are working together and are hence 'united', and that they are 'cool'!

All members of the group agreed that they had enjoyed meeting and speaking to at least one new person during this session, and that they felt more confident. For most of the group, this was a big success!

Session 2

All girls had a very clear idea of the qualities that a good leader requires. 70% of girls graded their own leadership skills (out of 10) 5 or less. Hence, this session was a challenge for most.

Girls' self assessment illustrates a lack of self belief in their ability to lead. The girls reflected at the end of the session - 80% had increased their self assessment as a leader by 1 or more, and 60% by 2 or more.

2 girls did not increase their self assessment grades, and for very different reasons. 1 of the girls appeared to have overestimated her ability, but also misunderstood what is required to lead a group successfully. The other girl already had a high opinion of her ability to lead (she is, indeed, a good leader when given the chance, if a little quiet).

All girls were asked to comment on their feelings both before and after leading a group of 5.  87.5% of the group's comments alluded to being 'nervous' or 'anxious' before leading.  After leading the response was incredibly positive; 87.5% of the group's comments included being 'proud', 'confident' and 'surprised'.

Only 2 girls experienced different feelings, citing 'disappointment' or 'reproachfulness'. From observations, both girls felt confident about leading a team and possibly believed they could complete the task on confidence alone. Both, though, failed to engage the team in group discussion before starting the task. Consequently, they attempted the task with little success. This shortcoming was addressed as a group with the teacher part way through the activity. The leaders reflected on their practice, acted on advice, and there leadership was much more successful as a result.

All girls gained a lot from the session.  They either increased their self awareness of their ability to take the lead or contribute in a small group, or they learnt that to be a successful leader you must listen and engage all members of the group.

Individual girls' self evaluations can be provided if necessary.

On average 70 boys per week play table tennis with the the two clubs, proving that the games popularity amongst all year groups. 

A massive thanks must go to Josh Pun and Olly Davies Year 12 for their continued support with the clubs through coaching and advice for players where necessary. As a reslut of their support we now have an icreasing number of boys that are playing at Plymouth's table tennis club Woolwell.

Congratulations also to former DHSB student sJack Daniels who successfully completed his level 1 Table tennis coaching award and now helps run and facilitate both club .

Good luck to all those boys that have been selected to represent the school on 2nd March in the Devon Championships!

For the first time in DHSBs history a team of 11 boys helped run the Plymouth Special Schools panathlon. The boys were given the opportunity throught the Sports Leaders Level 1 course that is being delivered within PE lessons for the first time. The intention was to provide the young leaders with the experience of helping run a large competition but also working with students that have special educational needs. 

The boys helped run activities such as: Rowing, boccia, tennis, football, dance mats and athletics. Many of the boys did not even know what boccia was at the start of the event, by the end some had run a small tournament, but all had competed against the sports leaders from Notre Dame. The sports leaders learn some valuable lessons as a leader through the event that they should take forward through their life as a leaders. The photos below illustrate how fantastic the boys were in assisting in the successful running of the event.

Not only did the students support the performers whilst in action, they also awarded the winners with medals at the presentation at the end of the event. Whilst leaving the event 2 members of staff from the special schools congratulated the boys on there support;

" What a fantasitc group of students you have, they really made the event a success. Thank  them for their support."                                                      Special school Member of staff

Congratulation to all the boys that were involved in the event!!

After an eventful journey to the venue with a slight detour we all arrived nervous yet excited. The morning involved all students working with an army of Marjon trainees practicing for the afternoons competition. The weather had held off all morning but the the time arrived to compete and the so to did the rain. The first team to leave were the Year 8 couple... off they went map in hand wanting to break records with this run. 15 minutes later they returned completed!! Excited at the speed at which they completed 'high 5s' were being offered to all that were interested. Then to their horror they were informed that they had made 2 mistakes on the first and the last check-points! At the prospect of receiving a 20 minute penalty and convinced they had not made that mistake both runs returned to the points only to discover that THEY WERE right.... the master was incorrect!!

Whilst all that was going on the 4 remaining couple left one by one leaving year 9 as the final couple!! All couples complete their course in between 15 - 25 minutes clocking up and excellent time and the first full team to return to the finish. Now all that remained was to findout if mistakes had been made to encur penalties!!

Few errors were made so DHS COMBINED were anouced as champions once again!! Well done all involved! 

Less than 24 hours to go we received notification that the U13 can now only enter as an SSP, no individual school entries and the girls were the only U16 and U19 girls team that entered the competition so were crowned champions without playing a shot. Congratulations to H.Smith, G.Covell, M.Smith and V.Smith, T.Anisah, G.Hattersley and L.McLoud, good luck in the next round ladies.

So it was left to the U 19 boys to represent the schools. Captained by Ollie Davies. The boys played fantasticallyan came runners up in the U 19s boys category. There were second only to KEVICS. Congratulation to all team members including; E.Ames. O.Davies, J.Pun and G. Farmer!

As a Regional Girls Active Hub the Partnership jointly organised a girls only sports specific leadership awards event, whereby girls received sport specific bolt on awards. The intention is that these students help run and organise clubs and events back at school for younger students to increase participation and involvement in PE and Sport within the school. 12 girls from DHSG attended the event and gained a qualification in one of the following; Table tennis, Tennis, Badminton, Netball, Indoor rowing and Dryland rowing instructors course. All girls had a fantastic experience and Gained an awful lot out of the event in terms of sports specific advice and how to lead and officiate with their chosen sport. Congratulations to all students involved in the event!

New to DHSB and to the Partnership an ‘indoor rowing academy' delivered by the ARA coach for Plymouth and the Partnership Kevin Sellar. Kev was also supported by the school indoor rowing instructors J. Fennell and S. Ellis-Hughes.

The idea of the academy was to invite all those students that have represented the school in rowing to receive expert coaching to help them improve and progress as rowers. Each student received personalised support this included; individual coaching, technical advice, stroke rate coaching and personal training programme that included strength and fitness training. Following the 6 weeks of support a number of students were selected to represent Plymouth In the British Indoor Rowing Championships at Birmingham in November. Good luck to them!!

In an attempt to progress the indoor rowing club and provision two more students successfully completed the Dryland Rowing Instructors Course on22nd October to enable them to help run the indoor rowing club at DHSG. Well done C. Ellis Hughes and M. Childe!

As a result 20 students from all years were personally invited to attend a Wednesday lunchtime Rowing Academy Session were by each student would receive individual support and fitness programme, stroke technique and stroke rating advice to help improve their performance. 10 boys accepted the invite and attended the sessions. As a result a number of the boys have been selected to represent Plymouth at the British Indoor Rowing Championships in Birmingham this year.

The sessions have been supported by D. Taylor the schools students Indoor rowing instructor, thanks to Mr D. Taylor.
In addition to D Taylor, T. James another year 11 student has successfully completed the Dryland Rowing Instructors course, so he too will support the students within the school club from this point forward. Well done Mr James!

The first event happened to be canoeing in October around Oreston Quay , this sound ominous?! The girls had lady luck on their side and had a BEAUTIFUL day for canoeing in October. All 8 girls thoroughly enjoyed the experience from start to finish, all wondered what delights could the following week bring?

Much to their initial disappointment it was mountain biking at Plymbridge woods!! Hills, hills and more hills coated in mud!! This initial groans were rapidly replaced with excited giggles as the girls peddled harder and harder up the first hill at the top they were reminded by Paul Roberts the OAA coach "What goes up must come down!!" Never was a truer word spoken! By the end of the session as the light drew in the girls confidence on a bike in mud had increased dramatically, all improved their mountain biking skills tremendously!! Next week is of a physical challenge more problem solving and logic bush craft, following the ever popular climbing.

Bush craft was a big hit with the girls shelter building, gutting fish, toasting marshmallows and making 'smalls'. What are smalls I hear you say?They are taosted marshmallows squashed between two digestive biscuits mmmmmmmmm! The girls first task was to build a shelter with just a sheet on polythene the rested needed to be provided by nature! There shelter then needed to with stand a bucket of water and they both did!! Then came the amazing science bit.. making fires with stick, bateries, wirewool and bits of old burnt cloth!! Once the fires were built the girls got to gut a fish and toast marshmallows what an evening!!!

The next activity was as a test of nerves and endurance, Mountain biking! All the boys arrived fairly confident of their own ability on a bike this was fairly rapidly test on the first hill both up and down. As the end draw near the excited chat was replaced by nervous anxiety, the boys had to decide whether the wanted to push themselves down the scary hill or take the less scary hill?! The choice was theirs!!! Regardless of their choice, all students were able to challenge their own ability. The boys still have the delights of bush craft and climbing to come.

For the first time both schools DHSG and DHSB had students that attending the Leadership Academy conference in force! In an attempt to continue growing student leadership within the school at DHSG to support intra-school competition and extra-curricular club, and to introduce and develop student leadership at DHSB both attended. The conference was attended by 6 year 10 Sports Leaders level 1 students and 8 leadership academy members from DHSG. All students had a fantastic experience at the conference and are keen to get started and implement their ideas back at schools.

Student comment:

'Thanks for that day Miss, it was brilliant I really enjoyed it! Are we going to have more of those leadership things during the year? It was really good, thanks!'

The students were introduced to the yoUR Sport resource for intra-school competition, the students tried some new and innovative activities, explored competition through yoUR Sport, multi-skills competition and the use of Step Into Sport as a nationally reward system for volunteering. Having had the conference DHSG are due to have their first Leadership Academy meeting of the year to set out their aims and objectives for the year. Good luck girls!

DHSG have seized the opportunity and have two courses running hand in hand. Those wanting to learn to row and those that want to move further in water based learn to row at an intermediate level. Kev Sellar the community rowing coach has tailor made a course that both stretches those students that have rowed before and teaching those that are new to the sport and all are making great progress.

Getting to Mount Batten for 4 is very difficult every week so sessions get longer and longer but the girls are making great progress in both virus and gig boats. As a result of the excellent work one of the students has been invited to become a Dryland Rowing Instructor for the school to pass on her understanding and knowledge of rowing to younger students within her school. The course is only two weeks in so the girls look forward to continuing to make such good progress, good luck girls!

The Young Ambassadors worked closely with Olympians to develop a stronger understanding of their role as an Ambassador. The girls have hit the ground running in their own school and have idenitified ways inwhich they can have an impact across the partnership. The girls will be attending Partnership events to help organise, present and host events for students within our partnerhip. If you have an event that you feel the Young Ambassadors could add value to please contact Jo Ricks directly.

As of this years, year 10 students  At DHSB will get the opportunity to undertake the Sports Leaders Level 1 or Level 2 course during lessons! All boys this year will receive 2 hours of PE and Sport during curriculum time, hence creating time to deliver a quality qulaification for those students that have an interest in leading and voluneering. Interested students will be offered one PE lesson that cover curricular activities and sports and the second lesson will be spent developing leadership skills through the Level 1 or 2 Sports Leaders Award.

HSLA Success!

Last year 2 students completed the Higher Sport Leaders Award Level 3. Both students have finished the award and one student J. Daniels has passed the award and is currently using the qulaification to get into the armed forces and employment. Congratulation to him on his achievement and thanks for his help in the partnership over the past 2 years. Good luck in the future.

J.Daniels assisting in the Special Schools Panathlon.

Following the great success of table tennis this year we recieved an invite to attend thie trials for the Plymouth team for table tennis in this years Devon Games to Inspire. The aim of the Devon Games is to provide those young people that are not yet representing their county the opportunity to compete in a massive competition, competing against other counties within the South West.

DHSB entered 8 students from years 7 and 8 that have been attending the table tennis club on a regular basis this year, working with the young coach Ollie from year 12. From the 8 students that attended 3 were selected to for a 5 man team! What an achievement as a school in the first year of growing table tennis at DHSB.

Good luck to the boys at the Devon Games to Inspire in July 2010.

The two groups have been trying to develop ideas at school for promoting the games around the school and with other departments. Hence, this seemed the perfect opportunity for us to get involved.

Following the mornings activities during the break the students were asked what they had learnt, the response from one student was;

" How little I know about the Olympics and Paralympics, never mind London 2010".

"Perfect", this could be the way most students at school think, how can we change that? The students worked together with other students from a number of schools in the South West to develop ideas and thoughts on how to promote the 7 values of the Olympic and Paralympic games within our school.

Just before lunchtime the students got the great pleasure of listening to the former Olympic rower Peter Gardner speak about his Olympic  journey, trials and tribulations. Peter was a great speaker and very motivational in his message for the conference. See the photo below of the group with Peter himself.

At lunch the organisers of the conference from the SSAT (Specialist Schools and Academies Trust) commented that;

" The students that you have bought from Devonport High School for Girls are lovely, exemplary and very proud of their school and the leadership work that they are doing."

Well done to all the girls that attended. We look forward to bringing their ideas back to the groups and starting to grow an understanding of the impact the London 2012 can have.

The course was designed to provide the students with an understanding of what leadership is and develop an understanding of the skills and qualities required to be a good leader. The course was also intended to develop a further understading of communication, organisation, planning and leading short activities to small groups. The students started at 9 pm and finised at 3pm so the course was intensive to ensure an basic understand of sports leadership in just one day.

All students that effectively completed the course receive a Plymstock School Sports Partnership certificate of recognised for their hard work throughout the day. The hope is that sports leaderhip within PE will be provided at Year 10 in the future through the Sports Leaders Level 1 Nationally recognised qualification and for year 12 students the Community Sports Leaders Level 2 award. Those courses are due to start during the next academic year of 2010 - 2011.

WHAT A SUCCESS for all members of the group. 5 girls from the group of 10 had either never ridden a bike or had only ridden a bike with stablisers. Consequently the course lasted for 2 days for some students and for others for various reasons only lasted 6 hours.

Tuesday saw those that had no expereince on a bike work through the day on either learn to get on a bike, start a journey and ride in a straight line unaidded. For others however, progress was more extensive so they spent the day learning to get started and completing various skills to enable them to go out on local roads to complete the  Bikeability level 2 National Standard cycle test. Two students had never ridden a bike until Tuesday and by 3pm Wednesday they had passed Bikeability level 2 . What an outstidning achivement? Well done to those girls in particual!

Wednesday was Bikeability Level 2 day. The students spent the entire day learning how to ride the local roads safely and effectively. This included; using minor roads, major roads, turning left and right at road junctions safely, U-turns etc. All students that were involved in the day successfully acheived Level 2 Bikeability National Standard of cycling.

Well done to all girls that were involved!

Photos will be posted so watch this space!!

Well done all!!

Climbing

Canoeing

Bellbaoting

All for the amzing price of £12! The sessions take place from 4 - 7pm, giving the students the opportunity to try the activities with a view to potentially continuing them with a club if they enjoy the activity. The target age group for the partnership was years 10 - 13. However, at this stage in the year this was not possible so for this trial students in year 9 were also given the opportunity.

The students targeted in year 10 were those students that work hard in PE and simply 'GET ON'  and the students in year 9 that got the opportunity were those students that have applied to do the Dof E bronze award next year. WOW ! What a response! 24 students had booked a place within 2 days of the letter being sent out, 13 more said they wanted to do it!! As there are only 12 places per course we had to try to source another course to ensure all that paid got a the oportunity.

So far the girls have completed the ballboating at Oreston Quay. Over the next 5 weeks the girls will look forward to doing the  2 canoeing sessions and 1 climing session.

Well done DHSG for filling two courses!!!!

"The thing that I enjoyed most about going to Marjons was meeting new people and the relay races. The races were really fun and interactive. The talks and quizzes with the students were really helpful, as we learned new things and it was on a 1-to-1 basis so there wasn't much awkwardness".                      Student comment

10 girls from DHSG were invited to attend the 'invite only' group in April and have undergo an exciting now programme of support for activity. 9 students worked with Year 3 Marjon trainees over a period of 6 weeks having 1 to 1 support to encourage more physical exercise and enjoyment of physical activity. All students were apprehensive before the programme started but post support they have made excellent improvements and thoroughly enjoyed the support recieved from both school and the marjon trainees. Thanks to all that have been involved!

To ensure the students continue to do more physical activity the schools leadership academy are providing a Change 4 life Club. The club is again an invite only club, but the change 4 life group can bring a friend to encourage attendance. The students quiet simply enjoy exercise through play and traditional activities such as; skipping, parachutes, space hoppers, basketball, relay races etc. All these activies are provided by Sports Leaders from the school.

In addition to this support the students have a passport to success. This is a booklet whereby students collect 'activity points' (attendance makes at clubs) to earn places on special trips arranged for the group these include; bellboating, x-biking, food and nutition sessions (delivered by food technology staff from the school). 

The students comments about the group/club include;

"When I found out that I was going to Marjons, I didn't want to go. I tried EVERYTHING to get out of going but my mum just insisted on me going. Sadly, I dragged myself into school that day with my questionnaire that we had to fill in. I struggled that night to think of something that I thought that I might enjoy but when I started going I made some really good friends with everyone else and I can now think of millions of things that I enjoyed!"        

                                                                                                           Student comment

"I loved the experience and I'd love to do it again!"

                                                                                                        Students comment

The girls completed the course with 18 other students from other partnership schools. The course was delivered by two tutors from UKCA (The UK Cheerleading Association).  Not only did the girls develop their basic cheerleading moves and techniques, develop basic choreography skills but they also had to complete a writen theory test to embed understanding and knowledge.

As the course was paid for by the school the expectation is that the students pay back in time and leadership through the club and working with the Leadership Academy to maintain the club in the future.

Congratulations to all the girls that completed the training, I look forward to seeing you at the Front on Fridays!!

The Toplink conference is a Youth Sports Trust initiative that strives to provide a conference organised by students for students. This year, year 10 candidates on the Sports Leaders Level 1 from St Lukes of Exeter organised and delivered the conference for over 100 young leaders from all over Devon. The leaders take part in a number of workshops that were designed to highlight the roles of a sports leader, the importance of leadership within sport and every day life.

All our students that attended the conference thoroughly enjoyed the event. In fact it was enjoyed that much 5 of the 8 asked " are there any more of these?". GOOD NEWS!!! There is more of this! As of Sept 2010 DHSB will offer Sports Leaders Level 1 to students in year 10 and Community Sports Leaders Level 2 in year 12. This has always applied to DHSG but they also have access to to Dance Leaders Level 1 and we have formed a Leadership Academy. The leadership academy is a committee of students from year 10 - 13 that co-ordinate leadership opportunities within the school and beyond. 

So in both school we are very much striving to have a student lead environment within PE. If you have any questions about leadership do not hesitate to contact me on joricks2001@yahoo.co.uk or catch me a school any time.

Congratulations to  all 7 students I hope to see you all on the level 1 awards next year. I would also like to see you on the leadership academy next year!?!

table tennis, boccia, indoor rowing, tennis, football and indoor athletics.

Haydn Brown and Jack Daniels both Higher Sports Leaders level 3 candiates  were both asked to run and organise table tennis and assist in the running of the boccia competition.

Haydn did an outstanding job of running the table tennis competition. Due to the low number of competitior there was a large amount of time to compete a limited number of games.As a reuslt Haydn run a table tennis practice session to help the competitior improve their schools then compete. As a result a number of spectators remarked at the improvements performance that the competitiors had made.

Jack was required to help run the very popular boccia competition. Boccia was a very new game for Jack so this required him to learn the rules of the game to enable him to officiate and coach where necessary. Those competing in the competition had varying knowledge of the game and the ablility range was vast. Hence, Jack had to support and assist in a number of way throughout the competition.

Well done gentlemen your help was essential and very much appreciated by all involved so thanks for your time!

The girls worked that hard and produced an excellent standard dance that they were entered into this years Plymstock SSP Cheerleading competition.With the music selected, the dance perfected and the outfits selected the girls made their way to the competition with Miss Booth as the school judge.

The girls performed fantastically at the competition filling the room with energy, enthusiasm and most of all excitment. As a result of their hard work and enthusiasm they WON the competition for the secondary schools competition.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL GIRLS THAT REPRESENTED THE SCHOOL!

Good luck in the dance production.

As a result of the success of the club two senior students have requested to run their own beginners club for younger students starting after the Easter half term. Thanks to those girls, we look forward to seeing more success in the future!

Congratulations in particular to R. Stannard, J. Williams for winning the Yellow course leauge, R. Martin and J. Blackford for winning the white course league and finally, congratulations to E.Ames and J.Anderson for winning the light green course leauge.

An amazing two days were had by all involved in the Plymstock SSP Indoor Rowing Team! 38 students were selected from the Regional Indoor Rowing Championships held at Marjon to represent Plymouth in the National Indoor Rowing Championships 2010. DHS had 13 students selected but only 7 could make the dates. Hopes were high for all as a result of the achievements gain in the regional competition. 

To access all the result click here.

On arrival all competitors were handed a race card which was for all members of the team a ticket to success! All 40 students performed exceptionally in their individual events which resulted in 5 individual medals as a team. In addition to these successes we have 8 teams raceing in team events. From which we left with 2 4th places and 1 team gold place.

DHS Boys

Congratulations to all 5 boys that represented Plymstock SSP and DHS boys on there outsanding performances a number of personal bests were achieved on the day. Those 5 students being;

J.James

J.McConoghy

D.Taylor

T.James

J.Reed

T.James and A. Rowe receiving medals    

Congratualtions to J.McConoghy, J.Reed and J.James as this was the first time that they have represented Plymouth at this event! All of them perfromed exceptionally!

CONGRATULATIONS T.James on winning GOLD in the Year 10 indivdual race. He rowed a fantastically tactical race from start to finish consequently beating last years winner A. Rowe. A.Rowe also rowed a great race and won silver in the same catagory. Meaning that DHSB lead the way in year 10 Indoor rowing with 1st and 2nd! Well-done boys!!

As captain of the DHSBs' rowing team D. Taylor was worked very hard with all the boys in the run up to the event so many thanks to him for his efforts. His personally performances were again excellent in both his individual race and the final boat race.

DHS Girls

Unfortunately only 2 of the 7 girls selected could attend those being C. Ellis-Hughes and M.Ball. This was evidence in itself of the importance of quality not quantity! Both perfromed fantastically throughout the event. C. Ellis-Hughes coming away from the event as an unexpected National Champion!!!! Winning gold in theYear 10 team sprint race. Seen opposite receiving her gold medal.

M.Ball was in pole position for the first one and a half minutes of her heat! As a result of all her hard work in getting to the front she was zapped of energy and ended up coming 4th! 

See Miss Ball ready and focused to take on the nations Year 9 girls!

Congratulations to all competitiors on being part on the most successful team ever to represent Plymouth and Plymstock SSP at this event! 

From this event we made the front page of The British Rowing website visit the link to see the action shot used on the website www.britishrowing.org

Although many of the rowers had attended this competition before the format had been changed and every rower was rowing as part of a team and not as an individual! The teams had to consist of one competitor from each year from years 7 to 11. Years 12 and 13 were the only year groups rowing individually. As a combined school we had the largest number of teams entering the event with 4 teams.

From this event students were due to be selected to attend the British Indoor Rowing Championships for Plymouth in London so the stakes for some were high. All members of every time worked incredibly hard and fully deserved their 3rd in the South West position by the end of the event. Congratulations to all that attended the event a great team atmosphere was felt by all members.

To view the final results for the teams click here.

To view the individual results click here.

A special congratulations to the following students that achieved a medal at within their own

race;

J. Fennell - Year 12/13

J.McConaghy - Year 7

T.James - Year 10

Male team A - Winning the team relay.

For Devonport High School for boys the event on the whole was a success seeing S.Wilson play the school tournament of his table tennis career and come 3rd in devon. Closely followed by A. Pasaad who was placed 5th in Devon. For the younger players A. Heliwell come 2nd in his league narrowly missing out on a quarter finals place. Much of the success this year has been down to O.Davies in Year 12, who was also completing in the tournament and narrowly missed out on a finals position. Thanks for all your time O.Davies it is very much appreciated.

For Devonport High School for Girls 3 of the students competing managed to get the quarter finals and beyond for some of them. Congratulations to H.Smith, V.Smith and L.Mcloud for their successes; L. McLoud lost out narrowly in the finals of the U19 competion , H.Smith this was her first ever table tennis competition and she narrowly lost in the quarter finals of the U13 and final V.Smith won the U16 competition for a number of years running.

Congratulations to all that attended the competition!!

The leauge started on 24th February for 3 week thereafter. We took a team of 14 students from all year groups from both DHSG and DHSB. The first event was based at Devonport Park and appear to introduce the students into orienteering gently, as all the teams were back to the finishline within 18 minutes. As a result as a team the teams were top of the leauge in two of the course and second in an other course.

The next league venue was at Marjon which appeared to stretch the teams much more, resulting in the league tables altering. Much movement has occured in all courses, making the final event the one to sort the winners from the runners up.

To access the results click here.

Good luck ALL team members and may the best team win!

19 girls and 22 boys from Devonport High Schools combined attended Plymstock School on 3rd February to compete in the Plymouth School Team and Individual championships. Representatives from all year groups 7 - 13 and all Plymouth schools competed. Competition was stiff as Ridgeway bought 80 competitors and Plymstock always field a strong and large squad. 287 Years 7 - 13 competitors fought for the titles of individual champion for each year and the overall title of Plymouth Indoor Rowing Schools Team Champions. 7 out of 12 records from the previous year were broken during the evening so standards were high all evening.

Congratulations to all students that attended, as every DHS student earnt points for the team regardless of their position at the end of the race. The even over ran so may students had left by the end. Finally, it was announced.................." Team Champions......... DHS Combined!"  

A Special Thanksmust go to the 3 dry land roing instructors (shown above competing) from the two schools;  J. Fennell and S. Ellis-Hughes from DHS Girls and D. Taylor from DHS boys. The 3 of them have been helping coach the students since September 2009. Thanks!!

" Many thanks to all, without the volunteers help the students would not have such an event to race in. 7 out of 12 records broken. Thanks again to all that helped for their time." 

In addition to the help from DHS Girls Haydn Brown-Williams  an HSLA Level 3 student helped with the Year 6 Championships during the day and even hosted the presentation ceremony at the end of the event. Haydn was handed the mic to celebrate the achievements of the Year 6 students. Well Done Haydn!!

For 3 days DHS boys had the great privilege of having Kev Sellar the partnership rowing coach deliver, run and organise screen rowing in all PE lesson. Hundreds of boys got the opportunity to develop their rowing technique, race fellow classmates and compete as a team using one indoor rowing machine.

As a result of these 3 days we have managed to invite previously unknow rowing talents to the Plymouth Schools Indoor Rowing Championships. In addition to this the year 10 GCSE students were informed of the potential to do water based rowing as a GCSE activity due to the fantastic performances by a number of the group. If you would like to try water based rowing please contact Miss Ricks as any time as there are always course running throughout the year.

Below: Team rowing using one urgo!!

This was the first of its kind for both schools. In an attempt to increase the involvement of students in extra-curricular leadership and coaching through the leadership academy the school thankfully supported the girls achieve this award with a view to them using the qualification to support football at school.

In order to complete the course the student must organise, officiate and run a football tournament for young people. thety have two opportunities 17th March or inter-tutor group completitions also in March.

Congratulations to all 14 girls that completed the course good luck to them when they complete their tournament organisation and delivery task. 

TOP Activty is a nationally recognised scheme initiated by the Youth Sports Trust and sponsored by Sainsbury's. The initiative aims to introduce alternative activities and sports to 7 - 11 year old children that do not activity get involved in sport and recreational activities. In intention of the training is for young leaders to offer a lunchtime club that includes the skills activities and equipment used within the training.

In addition to the TOP Activity training they had the opportunity to trial the use of dance animation. This is a resource that is aimed at KS1 children to promote the development of fundamental movements through dance. Although a little bit frightening initially the girls thoroughly enjoyed all resources dvds. Well done girls!

 All abilties have been catered for and welcomed thanks to Olly D from year 13. Olly with the assistance of Josh in year 11 have been providing Years 7 and 8 with coaching on different shots, those that simply want to come and play their own games and tournaments have done so at there leisure. Those students that regularly attended the club and showed commitment to the club were entered into the Devon Schools Team tournament in November and perfromed fantastically and were a credit to the school.

Thanks to Olly and Josh the boys in year 7 and 8 have made excellent progress since the club has started. Long may this continue! Thanks very much again to Olly and Josh!!

Basketball, Triathlon, chess, football, table tennis, cycling and indoor athletics.

Again as part of their course the HSLA Level 3 leaders organised, planning and delivered 4 of the events throughout the day. Thanks to both Jack and Haydn for all their time, effort and committment throughout the week. All their hard work was very much appreiciated by all involved. 

The weather might have been miserable but the students did a great job in making the the whole event fantastic and a success. All the activities chosen wherre intended to provide something for all students regardless of there sporting interests.

Well done year 8 for your excellent participation!

All the students under took 4 different workshops focusing on 4 of the 5 different capabilities with PE (Cognitive, Social, Physical and personal) with a view to being able to give the students a profile of there performance and readings where necessary. All profiles will be given to Mr Bunny and Miss Booth so that the school can plan further support in response to the findings. All students left the event having had both and enjoyable and educational day. Thanks to all involved! 

There will be a second climbing opportunity after February half term and before Easter. If you are interested please e-mail Miss Ricks on jorick2001@yahoo.co.uk or visit resources for more information.

On hand to help organise, run and deliver some of the event were the schools first ever Higher Sports Leaders. Jack Daniels and Haydn Brown Williams helped organise and run a number of the activities on the day.Both demonstrating an excellent standard of sports leadership, a standard that the school should be proud of! Thanks for all their time and effort with those events and the hope is that Fridays year 8 event is of the same standard, BRILLIANT!

The panathlon events on offer to the students were;

Indoor Athletics, Cycling, Chess,Table tennis,Triathlon and 6 a-side football

Although it was a cold day all the boys invovled appeared to have a fantastic experience regardless of the event that they chose to compete in. Friday sees the year 8s Mini Panathlon lets hope it is another success!

Mr Bunny demonstrating the famous race the........ Yes you got it,it is 'THE BUNNY LOOP!'

PE staff being challenged at the..... yes you got it, 'THE BUNNY LOOP'

This year the event was held at an new venue The River Dart Country Park near Ashburton. What a lovely venue!! During the morning the students received excellent teaching and coaching from the students from Marjon. The whole event was fantasitically supported by Marjon.

Although cold and a little wet under foot the weather was pretty good for the event. All schools attended and competed in a fantastic manner. In some cases students offered to run for other schools as they had students missing. Exemplary pactice by all involved. Keen and ready to go all couples completed in excellent times. 

It was very tight at the top and the students were sweating with nerves for the results. Then it was give "1st in group 1......... DHS COMBINED!" Then there was the wait for the over all winners from the 4 groups!!  It was give...

 "DHS COMBINED, AGAIN!"

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL TEAM MEMBERS!

Due to the lack of entries at U19 girls age the DHS girls team competed in the boys section. what a sight to be hold the girls giving all the teams within the group a lesson in table tennis!! The U19 boys competition was in actual fact won by DHS girls but was they were already winner by default the title was given to the second placed team. The U19 boys team finished the completition in 3rd place. The U16 boys team performed fantastically in the biggest competition on the day got through to the semi finals and faced the outstanding Great Torrington team. Unfortunately beaten in this game they finished the competition in 3rd place overall in the entire competition. The U13 teams competing for the first time and consisting of 2 year 7 and 2 year 8 players the boys finished 2nd in there group stages but failed to go through to the quarter finals. This is a great start as we have another 1 or 2 years to develop as most players within the competition were year 9!

Congratulations to all players including;

U13 - Tommy, Sam, Jacob and Llyod

U16 - Sam, Alex, Parick and Joshua

U19 Boys - Alex, Ben, Ryan and Oliver

U 19 Girls - Laura, Vicky, Tanoah and Gabriella

DHSB and G team up to take advantage of the Canadian canoeing sport unlimited activity. 11 students from the combined school are canoeing every Tuesday for 4 weeks. 2hours of canoeing each week all for £10! What a bargin!

All the students on this course have some experience of canoeing so the plan is to go on longer journeys possibly to the Hoe or the Barbican. Unfortunately, this weeks sessions (6th Oct) was cancelled due to high winds and poor weather so the session has been rescheduled for Monday 19th October Therefore, the group still have 6 hours on the water!

Good luck one and all!

In addition to this course the students will be invited onto the 'Introduction to moving water' canoeing course.  The student will canoe on white water that include small rapids and small waterfalls. This ourse will cost £35 for 1 days canoeing and instruction, again a bargin!

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT MISS RICKS!

Those students attending the conference are Haydn Brown and Jack daniels. Both completed the CSL Level 2 course last year and were outstanding role model leaders last year and helped with a number of event within the summer term.

Good luck boys!

In addition to training of students Miss Ricks will be trained as the Step Into Sport Mentor for the school!

FANTASTIC VALUE £25!!

Nicole 8 DHSG

Marcus Year 7 DHSB

If you are interested please contact Miss Ricks or collect a letter from resources.

All students attending the course must provide their own clothing and transport from Oreston quay.

DHSB The course starts Tuesday 22nd September and finishes Tuesday 13th Oct. Transport from school to Oreston Quay is provided for all students. Interested students that must collect a letter and consent form from resources and return all consent and cheques to resources.

DHSG The course start Thursday 24th Sept and finishes 15th October. Again, transport from school to Oreston quay is provided. Interested students collect a letter and a consent form from the PE office.

For further information contact Jo Ricks

P. Daykin

D.Langman

J.Shephard

N.Fennell

J. Bogart

H.Smith

L.Phare

A profile has been written for all 86 students that attended the RMSA.

The academy involved 100 of the most Able and Talented students in PE and Sport within the South West. The selection of the students to help at the event took into consideration; their perfromance within the course this year, their willingness to volunteer and lead at previous events, the qualities required for the event and the qualities that they have and the overall level of committment and interest to date. Almost all the students that completed the course this year could have been involved in the event as all students have performed at an incredibly high standard.

The RMSA was on 7th July @ The Devonshire Health and Racket Club between 9.30 - 3pm. For more information contact Jo Ricks at joricks2001@yahoo.co.uk . The students fetures below arrived at the 8.15 to help prepare!

Thanks to all JSLstudents that made the day so successful!

Having competed fantastically as a team the girls came 2nd overall Nationally. WE|LL DONE!

The very same students competed in the Devon Schools Championships and won the Under 14, 16 and 18s girls tournament meaning they represented Devon in the next round, Regional stage.

An additional CONGRATULATIONS goes to Vicky Smith who has been picked to represent England at junior table tennis this year.

Having competed the relay races the boys wnet into the final stage the free style to music in 4th place. The nerves were jangling and the boys were anxious. The time had come, it was their turn. All 6 played a part in the for DHS B 1. What a great perfromance!! they had done all that they could................

The resluts were anounced and DHS Bachieved 8th and ..........2nd, the perfromance enabled them to move up 2 places!!

Congratulations to all that took part!

Students are expected to produce a written plan for each session and lead, assist and volunteer within the club and beyond.

For the timetable of clubs and placements see a member of the PE staff or Miss Ricks.

The next 24 students start the course on 2nd June, completing the level 1 and working towards the level 2. Good luck to them and I will keep you posted!

Congratulations to all students invovled.

2 new groups have begun training. A 23 strong cohort are undertaking the training. Good luck to all those in the middle of training.

Scheduled for the course is a full day of climbing at the barn in South Molton 16th May.

Nearly there, nearly completed and what a success! The standard of climbing from the groups has been fantastic. This weekend sees the finale as the group goes to The Barn for the entire day 10 - 5.30. WELL DONE ALL!!

Over 100 competitors from both schools represented their school in exellent fashion. The final this year was a close run thing. The battle was on the stage was set! The final school achieved was 96pts. The final event saw DHS combined achieve the follwoing results:

Girls football 2nd

Boys football 2nd

Netball 2nd

Girls table tennis 1st

Boys table tennis 1st

Badminton 1st

Cycling 1st

Chess 2nd

Basketball 1st

Tack athletics 2nd

Field indoor athletics 2nd.

Thanks for all the hard work and I we look forward to next years event.

Congratulations to the 15 students that represented DHS Boys and DHS Girls! The event was held at Battersea Park in London. The team left Plymouth at 4.30 on Monday excitedly nervous and ready to take on the oppostition. Some fantastic results were acheved on the day. 27 out of 45 students beat their personal best! Jessica Fennell beat her personal best by 36 metres to acheive 2nd Nationally for year 11 girls. Alex Rowe equalled the record for year 9s set last year to take gold and the ranking of 1st Nationally.

Other results for DHS students were as follows:

Name                      Position             Metres/ time

E.Robinson               11                         522

C.Kirby                     14                         807   

T. James                   12                        1113

C.Hewitt                    25                        1083

E. Haycock               15                        7.43.2

John Evans, Dean Taylor and Dan Turner due to compete in the team event.

K.Murphy                   8                          491

C.Ellis-Hughes           9                           923

E.Hewitt                    11                         1485

L. Demaine                10                         7.58.6

L. Patten                    5                          8.04.5

DHS girls and boys attended the South West Indoor Rowing Championships with two incredibly strong teams. Regardless of their late arrival to the competition they perfromed fantaistically!! Some individual performances within a number of catagories saw both the Boys and Girls school come away from the championships as 'Female team winners 2009' and 'Male team winners 2009'.

As a result of these championships 15 students from both schools will be representing the partnership in the National Junior Indoor Championships on 17th March at Battersea Park. Good luck all of those attending the National Championships!

The schools has a very enthusistic group of 15 students that are due to compete FIRST EVER Partnership inter-schools competition. The event is due to take place 24th April at Ridgeway 3.30 - 5.30 pm. The boys have been developing their tricks and skills for the past 2 months. All students have acheived a level 9 in the Partnership competencies award. The boys are very keen to compete agains other schools at basketball and hockey. If there are any schools that are interested please contact Jo Ricks SSCo for the school on joricks@plymstockssp.com or 07979445042.