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Equalities Objectives
Equality and Diversity is central to the ethos of Humphry Davy School. The School Vision makes direct reference to:
- Celebrating individuality.
- Maximising the life chances of all of our young people.
Humphry Davy School values and principals specifically state that they will work with every individual to:
- Embed Co-operative values in policies, activities and decision making and develop the co-operative character of the school – Self help, self responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity.
- Identify and overcome barriers to learning or participation in school life;
- Instil an understanding of the world around us and local and wider cultures, underpinned by environmentally sustainable values and practices within the school’s operations;
The school is committed to justice and equality for all in its values and principles, and the school’s strategy document says that this will be seen in school life by:
- Providing engaging and inclusive core and extra-curricular activities, addressing barriers, and using Pupil Premium and other funding sources, to enable all groups of students to participate;
- Continuing to develop national and international links with a range of countries and cultures;
- Integrating the principles of caring for others into school life, including an awareness of issues such as poverty, the impact of climate change and the importance of Fair Trade on a local, national and global level;
Humphry Davy School Equality Objectives:
The school has adopted the following Equality Objectives which underpin this policy and specific actions taken.
- To raise, and maintain, a high level of awareness of Equality and Diversity expectations within the school community and include the whole school community in developing and reviewing the policy
- To ensure that any instances of discrimination or disrespectful behaviour are responded to promptly and effectively;
- To ensure that every student, irrespective of race, disability, gender, religion, belief or sexual orientation, has access to the support required to achieve their full potential;
- To provide a range and quality of learning opportunities that is relevant and accessible to all students, taking account of their differing needs and characteristics and equips them with the skills for employment, further learning, and wider social and community engagement
- To ensure that effective strategies are in place to tackle under–achievement and to address any gap between specific groups of students including those defined by the protected characteristics, SEND and disadvantage.
- To improve access to all areas of the school for students, staff and others irrespective of disability
- To ensure that the school’s procedures for managing behaviour and student discipline, as set out in the Behaviour for Learning Policy, are fair, effective and equitable.
- To ensure that the adults working or volunteering in the school include, as far as possible, a balanced gender mix and appropriate representation of ethnic groups, ages, faiths, and people with disabilities related to the local community.
- To ensure that all appointments are made on a fair, equitable and non-discriminatory basis
Connect with us
Humphry Davy School
27 Mar 2026
This week at HDS, we proudly celebrated Maths Week with an exciting programme of visitors who brought mathematics to life in inspiring and practical ways.
On Tuesday, James and Summer from Fox Construction Solutions delivered two fantastic lessons, highlighting the role of maths in quantity surveying and showcasing an impressive range of measuring equipment. Later that day, Jordan from Marnick Builders led a brilliant session where students applied their knowledge of compound shapes to calculate the area of a real project plan, before using this to work out the volume of concrete needed for house foundations.
Wednesday was equally engaging, with Jenny from Plymouth University delivering five dynamic lessons that gave students a glimpse into how maths can be studied and applied in the future. In the afternoon, Fergus and Rebecca from The Pasty Box demonstrated how essential maths is when running a small business. A lucky group of Year 7 students even had the chance to bake their own pasties - which were a great success, with Mr Jane especially enjoying his at lunchtime!
On Thursday, Steve from Pendennis Shipyard joined us via video call to speak passionately about the importance of maths in the workplace, strongly encouraging students to consider apprenticeships as a future pathway.
To round off the week, Judith and Tom from the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company delivered an excellent lesson on Friday, exploring the role of maths in accountancy and explaining why it is so important at sea.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to all of our visitors for making Maths Week such an engaging, informative, and enjoyable experience for our students.
Humphry Davy School
27 Mar 2026
On Wednesday, students from HDS took part in the launch of community initiative ‘Beat the Streets’.
Thank you to Active Cornwall for this exciting whole-town game, designed to get people active, outdoors and exploring their local area!
Simply scan your card at the Beat Boxes around our wonderful town to collect points. Don’t forget to register as a Humphry Davy Player — points mean prizes!
#letsgopenzance
Humphry Davy School
27 Mar 2026
A big ‘well done’ to our U12 netball team, who recently took part in the County Tournament. The team showed fantastic determination and resilience throughout the day, competing against a strong field of schools.
Each player worked hard on court, demonstrating great teamwork, communication and effort in every match. It was a valuable experience for the squad and a great opportunity to continue developing their skills in a competitive environment.
Well done to all the players for representing the school with pride and such a positive attitude.
Humphry Davy School
26 Mar 2026
Our Year 8 and 10 girls’ football teams have been in action recently. Both teams represented the school brilliantly, showing great teamwork, determination and sportsmanship throughout their matches.
The games were played in a competitive but positive spirit, with all players demonstrating excellent effort and commitment. It was fantastic to see the girls supporting one another and continuing to develop their skills in match situations.
Well done to everyone involved for their hard work and positive attitude on the pitch.
Humphry Davy School
26 Mar 2026
Plymouth Argyle Community Trust will be hosting a Football Roadshow here at HDS this Easter on Wednesday 8th April!
The day will be full of football fun with every child going home with a PAFC prize. Spaces are limited so make sure to book quickly to avoid disappointment!
https://www.abler.io/shop/pafc/holidaycamps?region=West%20Cornwall&program=Q2x1YlNlcnZpY2U6NTA1OTE=
Humphry Davy School
25 Mar 2026
This year’s Red Nose Day took on a Sport Relief theme and our students got fully involved in supporting a great cause!
Dressed in their sportswear, students spent the afternoon taking on a one mile run, jog or walk around our 3G pitch. It was fantastic to see a sea of students getting involved, showing great energy and enthusiasm as they completed their laps.
This year’s red noses also had a creative twist, with a ‘design your own’ theme. Students enjoyed getting creative during mentoring, coming up with their own unique and colourful designs.
A brilliant day of fundraising, fitness and creativity. Well done to everyone who took part!
Humphry Davy School
25 Mar 2026
What an incredible week for our music students at the Cornwall Music Festival!
With entries across a wide range of categories, it was fantastic to see so many of our students taking to the stage and performing with confidence, commitment and real passion. We are so proud of every single one of them.
There were some incredible successes throughout the week. Sam took 1st place for Grade 7 piano, while Violet secured 1st place for her singing solo. Our Soul Band and Jazz Ensemble both achieved 1st place, and our Vocal Quartet delivered a beautiful performance to win the Bolitho Cup. Ruarri also impressed, taking 1st place for his drum kit performance.
A huge well done as well to our runners-up: Our Impact Choir, Grace for her Music Theatre solo, Evie for her Grade 3 trumpet performance, and Ruby for her Grade 6 piano performance. Fantastic achievements all round!
What an incredibly successful week with absolutely outstanding results! Your talent, hard work and dedication truly shone on stage, and it’s amazing to see that recognised in the wider community. We couldn’t be prouder, keep up the amazing work!
Humphry Davy School
24 Mar 2026
With the sun shining, the Year 9 inter-house 5-a-side football tournament was the perfect setting for some fantastic sport!
Year 9 students represented their school houses with brilliant displays of teamwork, determination and house spirit, along with some great football from a number of very talented players.
A huge well done to all the students who took part and represented their houses so well!
Humphry Davy School
24 Mar 2026
Congratulations to Miss Gimblett’s mentor group for winning this year’s World Book Day door design competition! We loved your colourful door, inspired by The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. Well done!
Humphry Davy School
20 Mar 2026
Year 10 Geography students embarked on their Human fieldwork to St Ives; aiming to investigate how effective the ‘Low Carbon Transport Strategy’ is.
Students completed a car park survey in four car parks close to Wharf Road and Fore Street; allowing them to evaluate how busy they were. They also completed a land use survey to understand which buildings in the town centre needed vehicle access and, therefore, how proposed traffic restrictions would affect them. The use of pedestrian counts allowed students to see how busy the local area was and how these people would be impacted by traffic. This years vehicle counts got students to distinguish between high and low carbon vehicles, to help them better understand the impacts of carbon on the environment. Finally, students interviewed locals, tourists and workers to determine whether people felt the changes to transport in St Ives were effective or not.
In school students are beginning to analyse and present their findings, before writing conclusions and evaluations to answer their initial hypothesis.
Students were impeccably behaved - well done!
Humphry Davy School
19 Mar 2026
On Tuesday, student Sam competed in the Grade 7 Piano category of the Cornwall Music Festival. This was a hotly contested category, featuring some outstanding performances from other students.
Sam’s performance of Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy was stunning, and the adjudicators were highly complimentary, praising his sense of style and feel for the music.
Sam won his category and we couldn’t be prouder! This young man is full of talent and we are so excited to see where his piano playing takes him next.
Humphry Davy School
19 Mar 2026
Our World Book Day may have been a little later than the rest of the world this year, but it was definitely worth the wait!
Students and staff did not disappoint, with so many getting involved in fantastic costumes and taking part in our Masked Reader and door decorating competitions!
Each mentor group transformed their classroom door to celebrate a favourite book, with vibrant designs inspired by classics like Where’s Wally?, Stick Man and The Cat in the Hat.
Our doors are brighter than ever and we’re so proud of the creativity, teamwork and effort shown by everyone involved.
Keep an eye on our social media. We’ll be announcing the winning doors very soon!
What a brilliant day!
Humphry Davy School
18 Mar 2026
As part of Science Week last week, twelve Year 9 students attended a fantastic open day at Trevedra Farm in Sennen. The day was hosted by LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) and AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board), with the aim of educating and informing students about how farming is developing more sustainable practices.
Exhibits and workshops were run by local businesses, demonstrating areas such as butchery, soil science, wool manufacture, crop production technology, carbon emissions on a farm, and animal feed production. We also saw Penwith’s first-ever tractor, and the star of the show was definitely ‘Magnum’ the bull, closely followed by the farm cats!
All students fully engaged with the workshops and learned a great deal about modern farming practices. Many thanks to Trevedra, LEAF, and AHDB for such an informative and enjoyable day.
Humphry Davy School
17 Mar 2026
The Time2Move Holiday Programme will offer fun physical activities, games and wider activities plus a hot meal for all children at lunchtime.
Children aged 7 to 16 are welcome to attend. Places are limited to 80 per day so booking is essential. During the sessions, children will be able to take part in a variety of activities such as:
- Football
- Basketball
- Soft Archery & Nerf Guns
- Badminton
- Netball
- Dodgeball
- Karaoke
- Crossbow & Laser Tag
Sessions run from 10am to 2pm. The fantastic team in the Humphry Davy School Kitchen will be providing lunch and fruit for all children that attend. Please make sure you write on the registration forms if your child has any special dietary requirements and we will liaise with the team to make sure they can still enjoy a hot meal. If you would prefer to send your child with a packed lunch that is absolutely fine. Each day please send your child/children wearing comfortable clothes and shoes to be able to run around in, a refillable water bottle, any medication they may need clearly marked and a coat in case the weather allows us to go outside for activities.
Book your child's space today!
www.playwaze.com/discover/result?item=4r399obbm919xd&type=Communities
Humphry Davy School
12 Mar 2026
Our Year 10 Textile students recently enjoyed an inspiring market research trip to the Marigold Moth shop in Penzance. The group had the opportunity not only to explore the shop, but also to step behind the scenes and visit the studio where the garments are designed and created.
Teagan warmly welcomed the students and generously answered their questions about building her business, designing and making garments, and the inspirations behind her work.
It was a rewarding and motivating visit - a fantastic way to launch the students’ new project, “We All End Up Different.”
Humphry Davy School
11 Mar 2026
Our Year 10 Catering students are continuing to develop their kitchen skills by gradually taking on more complex techniques. Recently, they’ve been focusing on mastering meringue, progressing from classic Eton Mess to roulades, and now creating delicate meringue kisses and nests.
It’s been fantastic to see their confidence and precision grow as they refine these high-level skills.
Next on the menu… Floating Islands!
Humphry Davy School
10 Mar 2026
Last year's Environmental Sustainability Award was presented to class of 2025 3D Design student Oscar, whose digital artwork delivers a powerful and urgent message about the effects of climate change. Drawing from personal experiences while cycling through local areas, Oscar created an evocative installation that combines visual storytelling with environmental activism.
At the heart of the piece is a striking red-painted bicycle, symbolizing a warning – a call to attention. One wheel appears frozen, encapsulated in ice that holds litter Oscar personally collected during his rides. As the video plays, we watch the ice slowly melt, echoing the melting of our planet’s ice caps. As the ice disappears, the litter falls to the ground – a stark representation of the environmental consequences we face if action is not taken.
In a poignant final moment, the film rewinds, visually suggesting that the damage can be undone – but only if we act now. Through this compelling and thought-provoking work, Oscar used design as a form of activism, raising awareness and inspiring others to reflect on their own environmental impact.
This award recognises not only artistic skill and creativity, but a deep sense of responsibility and commitment to sustainability. Well done Oscar on this fantastic achievement.
Humphry Davy School
9 Mar 2026
A huge well done to our talented Year 9 textiles students, who spent two inspiring days at Penlee House!
During their visit, students discovered the wide range of careers within the industry, learning about the roles of Gallery Assistants, Curators and Collections Managers. They also explored their fascinating historic Crysede collection, discovering the important impact the industry had on the local area.
After gaining inspiration from the gallery, students began developing their own print designs in the style of Crysede. On the second day, they carefully cut their own lino blocks before printing their designs onto fabric and bags.
The results were fantastic, with students producing some incredibly high-quality and creative work. We are so proud of their enthusiasm, creativity and the amazing outcomes from this wonderful opportunity!
Our students work will be on display in the gallery over the coming weeks so be sure to visit!
Humphry Davy School
6 Mar 2026
It was a pleasure to take part in this year’s St Piran’s Day parade. The streets of Penzance were filled with a sea of black and white as the community came together to celebrate Cornish heritage and pride.
A huge well done to all of our musicians who took part. Days like this are a wonderful reminder of the strength of our community and the importance of celebrating Cornwall’s unique culture.
Humphry Davy School
5 Mar 2026
HDS students were invited by Cornwall Hospitality Collective to form ‘The Collective Café’ at Mousehole Deli & Kitchen last week. A small group of Year 9 students had the opportunity to take part in this unique experience, spending four days planning a menu, trialling dishes and, on the final day, taking over Mousehole Deli & Kitchen to serve their creations to the public.
All of the students were exemplary in their attitude, work ethic and representation of HDS. The day was a great success, with many happy and satisfied customers.
A big thank you to everyone involved, it was a pleasure to work with you.
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Headteacher William Marshall
Humphry Davy School, Coombe Road, Penzance,Cornwall, TR18 2TG
- 01736 363 559
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