Devonport High School for Boys

The School Crest

Devonport High School for Boys (DHSB) is a selective grammar school in Plymouth, United Kingdom. It has an intake of approximately 900 boys in the lower school (UK School years 7-11) and about 200 in the VI Form (UK School years 12 and 13). There are about 70 teaching staff.

Founded in 1896, its catchment area includes southwest Devon and southeast Cornwall as well as Plymouth. Pupils are accepted on the basis of academic aptitude. In 2002, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) designated the school as one of the first four Specialist Engineering Colleges of the UK.

The school is currently housed in Stoke Military Hospital which was built in 1797. At the end of World War II the school returned from evacuation to Penzance, Cornwall and took over the premises from the British Army.

Student achievements

Pupils' technical achievements include building the fastest CO2-powered model formula one car in the South West England heats of "F1 team in schools" 2004-2005. Cars in this competition are designed with Computer Aided Design software and built from balsa wood using Computer Aided Manufacture. DHSB's "Team Odyssey" entered the lower 11-14 age group, and their vehicle traveled 20 metres in 1.187 seconds, averaging over 60 kilometres per hour. Despite being the fastest in both age groups they did not qualify for the national finals, losing marks in the presentation section. The school is a designated Arkwright Scholarship School, as of 2005 there had been 3 Arkwright Scholars- Tim Morris, who is in the current Year 12, George Zhao and William Liu who are currently in year 11.

School houses

The school's pupils are split equally in to 4 houses. The four houses compete for the St. Levan's Shield. The four houses are named after famous Plymouthians. The colours specified are the colours of the house, members have the coloured stripes on their ties. They are:

Drake, named after Sir Francis Drake; the red house.
Gilbert, named after Sir Humphrey Gilbert; the yellow house.
Grenville, named after Sir Richard Grenville ; the blue house.
Raleigh, named after Sir Walter Raleigh; the green house

The current holder of the St. Levan Shield is Raleigh, retaining it for a second year.

School history

File:Dhsbcolonade.jpg

Looking West along the colonnade

The school was founded in Albert Road, Devonport, by Alonzo Rider in January 1896 to meet the needs of boys in Plymouth and district seeking a career in the Navy, as engineers and civil servants. It was popular and successful, the boys gaining swift National recognition. In 1906 the Devonport Borough Council took over the school and over the next thirty years it continued to provide an individual and challenging curriculum for its boys who came from the city and in by train from the Tamar Valley and Cornwall. Old Boys went on to good careers both locally and nationally – and especially in the MoD. In 1939 the school was evacuated to Penzance because of World War Two and in 1945 returned to the present site, the former Stoke Military Hospital in Paradise Road - magnificent Georgian buildings that have proved to meet all the needs of a 21st Century School as we have provided specialist facilities in the five main blocks and in new purpose-built buildings.

DHSB Headteachers

1896-1906 AJ Rider FCS
1906-1932 AF Treseder MA
1933-1941 HAT Simmonds MA
1942-1948 WH Buckley BA BSc FREconS
1949-1953 SB Barker MA LLB
1953-1974 JL Cresswell MA DPhil
1975-1993 JGW Peck MA
1993-Pres NM Pettit BSc PhD

Uzel House

The school also has a residential centre in the French town of Uzel in Brittany. This offers pupils the opportunity for work experience with local companies as well as the chance to improve their French and enjoy activities like horseriding and canoeing. The house was bought for the token amount of 1 Franc in 1991, from the Mayor of Uzel. During this year, it was refurbished from a derelict mansion, to its current state. Since its opening in 1992, annually over 250 boys visit the house.

Notable Alumni and Old Boys Association

Notable alumni include Sir Austin Pearce CBE (1921–2004), former chairman of British Aerospace and chairman of the trustees of the Science Museum, who captained DHSB's athletics and rugby teams during his time there.

DHSB has a large group of Alumni called the "Old Boys Association", it was relaunched in 1996, on the schools centenary. There are over 600 members on just the website itself. The DHSOBA is quite active and has a website (see external links)

Accusations of elitism

There have been accusations of excessive elitism at the school in the past. As the school is a grant-maintained grammar school, it has been suggested that students from the lower-middle class working class, who tend to be vastly outnumbered by students from middle and upper-middle class families, are often discriminated against. However, this has never been proven beyond bullying among students, and OFSTED has praised the school on numerous occasions for their equal opportunities stance.

External links