THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER
NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2002 No. 88

CONGRATULATIONS

Our warmest congratulations are sent to Dr Reginald Colman who has received the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the New Years Honours List for his services to Youth. Dr Colman was the Headmaster at Dover Grammar School for Boys for 21 years from 1969 until 1990. He has been involved with youth activities outside school such as the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme and in 1988 helped found the Kent European Youth Association.

SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY COMPETITIONS

In last month's Newsletter you may remember me announcing three competitions to celebrate the School's Seventieth Anniversary in these buildings - an Art Competition, a Creative Writing Competition, and a Historical Writing Competition. The response was enthusiastic, over sixty pieces of work being submitted in each of the first two competitions, with the History Competition proving much more difficult. The results have now been decided, which was no easy matter for the judges given the quality of the work submitted. You can see them below. If you would like to view the pupils' work and the display of archive material from 1931 then you are welcome to do so in the afternoons of the first two weeks of this term, 7-18 January.
Alan Jackson - Deputy Headteacher

Art Competition
Senior Prize

First Ben Reay 10CA
Second Tim Salisbury 12S / John-Neal Roberts 12K
Junior Prize 
Joint Winners Michael Hornsey 7PT
Dale King 7PT
Lewis Wilmshurst 7CA
Lloyd Stevenson 8PT
Sam Fields 9PY
Robert Manhire 9AP
Highly commended: 
Year 7 - Daniel Knox, Joshua Jordan, Timothy Stone, 
Kye Westgarth, Aidan Lashbrook, Matthew Rushton, 
Andrew Fellows, Toby Kember, Daniel Leggatt, Richard 
Ferrall and Matthew Smith.
Year 8 - Richard Biggs, Tom Kent, Alastair Walker
Year 9 - Zeta Hayden and Sam Jones
Year 13 - Richard Gleeson

Creative Writing Competition
Senior Prize
Joint Winners James Clements 10PT
Ben Reay 10CA
Highly commended: 
Michael Marsh, Ricky Islam, Iain Meakings.
Junior Prize
Joint Winners James Cooper 9AF
James Dray 9AF
Levi Goodey 9AF
Michael Pearce 9AF
Highly commended: 
Edward Haste, Sam Fields, Andrew Ward, Ben Rushton, Sam Coughlan, Anthony Bugden, Richard Carroll, Simon Garlinge, Simon Tester.

Historical Writing Competition
No Prizes awarded.
Highly commended: 
Ben Bridges, Jamie Guy and James Walker.

UNICEF PROJECT LAUNCH

As UNICEF was one of our chosen charities for last year's Lenten Appeal we were invited to send representatives from the School Council to help with the project launch in Canterbury on 6th December 2001. This was an important event with a number of high profile guests. James Evans, Chairman of the School Council, and James Eberlein, Secretary, attended this on behalf of the school and presented cheques from the Kent region to representatives of UNICEF nationally. A letter has been received from the Secretary of the East Kent Network saying that both of them did a first class job and were excellent ambassadors for the school.
Mr G M Falconer - Assistant Headteacher

YEAR 12 PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE

On Monday 26th November the Year 12 Psychology students and I attended a conference in London on the AS Psychology course. The day provided us with a variety of speakers, the most popular being the delightful Pryra Bradshaw who was apparently a pleasure to behold……
The Chief Examiner, Phil Banyard, who is something of a maverick, entertained us with bizarre information such as the fact that, in 1999, 32 people were hospitalised due to accidents involving tea cosies and 12,362 due to accidents with vegetables. He warned us against the carrying out of unethical practical work, such as putting up signs prohibiting the use of public bus stops in order to test obedience and conformity. A later speaker considered how we could use visual prompts to aid our memories and the final speaker claimed somewhat controversially that 'revision is dead!' What he meant was that the path to success lies in being continually in a state of 'conscious competence' rather than forcing oneself to revise rather hopelessly what has never really been understood in the first place. It was an interesting and varied day. 
The local fish and chips were reported to be excellent!
Ms R Ball - Teacher of Psychology

TRIP TO COLOGNE IN GERMANY

As in the year 2000, pupils in Years 8 and 9 went on the 'day trip' to beat all day trips on the last Thursday of the Autumn Term. 64 boys and 7 members of staff left the Eastern Docks in Dover on the Wednesday night at 11.15 pm (after the Carol Concert) and arrived in Cologne at 8.30 am the following morning.
We visited the Cathedral, "most impressive and extremely beautiful in a sombre kind of a way", said one pupil. Some of us climbed the stairs of the tower and enjoyed the spectacular view from the top. The Christmas markets held their usual charms and were very festive. The Sport Museum and the Chocolate Museum provided all with food for thought and the odd sample. Swords and shields to be varnished or painted were purchased at the medieval market. Walking through the markets once dusk had fallen was a little piece of Christmas card come true as all the stalls were clothed in small white lights. The return journey took us back to Calais where we were able to board an earlier ferry than the one we were originally booked on and meant we were all back and safely tucked up in bed by 1.30 am on Friday morning.
A good time was had by all, except Thomas de Keyser, who unfortunately, but very bravely and gracefully, was unwell for the duration of the entire trip.
My thanks and those of the pupils go to Miss Martin who organised it all so ably, Messieurs Onions, Ralph and Crofts, Miss Deltreil and Miss Pidduck for all their help and volunteering to come to Cologne. Had they not, the visit could not have taken place. Finally my thanks also go to the pupils who behaved well, tried a little German as often as they could, were considerate to all and for whom this excursion was arranged. Who is coming in December 2002? Tunnel perhaps?
Mrs F Lloyd - Subject Leader for Modern Languages

YEAR 10 DRAMA

The Year 10 drama group announced its arrival in style on the school's stage on the last day of the Autumn term when they treated junior students to an hour of entertainment. Days of rehearsal culminated in a lively performance of sketches that were expertly delivered. A first public performance is always difficult as one can never be sure how an audience may respond. So it was with relief that the hour-long entertainment was much enjoyed by all.
The group's sketches were taken from a variety of sources from across the past thirty years and more. They drew on ideas originating with the Beyond The Fringe team, through Monty Python and on to more contemporary influences climaxing with an outrageous version of 'Then I Got High'.
The group's intention is to mount a second performance this term that will have some additional material and much additional polish. Parents and pupils will be invited some time in February when they will hopefully laugh like proverbial drains.
Will be coming details your way soon. Oops!
Mr D Shaw - Teacher of Drama

ROBOT WARS

During the Christmas break I will be taking my robot wars team to Holland to compete in the show on foreign soil. This is the first time that the Napalm team has travelled abroad.
Over the past five years there have been a number of changes in the team but I have always led it - in fact we are one of only three surviving teams who have worked on every series of the hit BBC show.
Over the next few weeks (January/February) you will be able to see the team on BBC2 during 'Robot Wars Extreme'. The fifth series of the show airs after the 'Extreme' finishes - sometime early March.
Mr D Crosby - Subject Leader for Design & Technology

TAKING ON THE CHALLENGE OF A LIFETIME

Dover Grammar School for Boys students plan for an educational expedition to the Himalayas.
A sponsored stair climb, within the school tower, took place on Wednesday 12th December by students who are taking part in the above Challenge and Mr Michael Harrison the member of staff who will be accompanying them.
They climbed to the equivalent height of 29,950 ft, which meant they climbed up the stairs 300 times.
Invicta Radio interviewed Mr Harrison and the local press took photographs of the participants in action. 
The sum of approximately £700 was raised. 
Mr M Harrison - Subject Leader for Economics and Business Studies

MUSIC

Carol Service
On Wednesday 19th December the school's musicians presented the annual Service of Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Charlton, Dover. The school choir of almost sixty voices supported by the school Brass Ensemble and organ presented an adventurous programme of sixteen carols ranging in style from mediaeval to twentieth century, interspersed with five favourite Christmas hymns for all to sing. The nine Bible readings telling the Christmas story were read by pupils - Richard Dadd, Ben Reay and Head Prefect Nick Hayward - together with representatives from the staff, Old Pharosians, PFA and Governing Body. The church was packed to capacity for the service which was a great success in every way. Thanks are due to all who sent in mince pies for the refreshments in the Church Hall after the service, to Mrs Cynthia Sinclair of Charlton Church who arranged the candles and to the Rev. Nick De Keyser for conducting the service.
In a special awards ceremony at the end of term all the singers who took part were presented with a Music Department Certificate of Representation, and four long-serving members of the Choir were presented with the Performing Arts Tie - Matthew Topping, Wayne Biggs, Richard Thompson and Joseph Williams.
Mr R Davies - Director of Music

LIBRARY NEWS

Thank you to all those who supported the Scholastic School Bookshop in the run up to the Christmas holidays.
The lucky winners of the raffled books, namely Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Lord of the Rings, were James Smith 8PT and Paul Witty 13PT. Well done.
This term we continue to collect the Nestle Cereal Box Tops Vouchers to convert into cash when the promotion finishes. This enables us to buy a selection of new fiction books. Please hand these in to the Librarian direct or the School Office.
Wishing you a Happy New Year.
Mrs L George - School Librarian

DGSB WEB SITE

The Dover Grammar School for Boys web site continues to develop, although at present the virtual walk around has been put on a temporary hold whilst another part is being developed.
The site is increasing on an almost daily basis and will eventually contain the entire archive material "THE PHAROS" from the first one issued at Christmas 1908. Pupils taking History may find the "War Years" to be of particular interest. 
The Pharos, for those who do not know, was a school magazine published on a termly basis. This has now been superseded by the First Thursday Newsletters. However, The Pharos also contained various articles and poems from the pupils as well as current news items. (These now appear in other school publications).
The task of reformatting these archives for the web is a very interesting one, although quite time consuming. I already have three volumes scanned (Pharos Nos. 1 to 45) and converted them into ASCII text ready for proof reading and finally formatting into HTML text for the Grammar Web. As this is quite a large task to take on I would be interested to know if there is anyone who would be willing and able to help me. I would be willing to instruct any would be volunteers after school hours using Microsoft Frontpage. Anyone interested, please contact Paul Skelton in the reprographics room.
Mr P Skelton - Workshop Technician

PFA

Hi everyone.
Hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoyed your New Year celebrations.
The PFA's final fund raising event of 2001 was the Christmas Draw. The total sum raised after expenses was £1,234.51. This amount will be used in conjunction with other funds raised to help the school change the minibus when necessary.
Thank you for your support.
Looking forward to 2002 there will be a number of events taking place so watch this space for details.
The next committee meeting will take place on Tuesday 15th January at 7.00 pm in the Headmaster's study. Anyone wishing to get involved is most welcome. Alternatively, if you don't wish to become a committee member but have an idea that could help raise funds for the school give me a call on 01304 368614.
Mrs J Gambrell - Chairman

200 CLUB

The winners of the December draw are as follows:
1st Mrs R Kirk (179) £25, 2nd Mrs M Hargrave (134) £15 and 3rd Mrs S Grilli (57) £10.
The special prize of £100 was won by:
Mrs M Betts (165)
Mrs P Brown - 200 Club Secretary

APEX ENTERPRISES

Sixth Form Valentine's Prom
Apex Enterprises are hosting a 'Sixth Form Valentine's Prom' at Dover Harbour Social Club, Whitfield, Dover on the 15th February 2002. All members of the Sixth Forms from DGSB and DGSG are invited together with their respective partners, who do not have to attend either school. The prom will be a formal dress/black tie event and the evening will consist of a carvery meal and entertainment from a live band and DJ. There is a fully licensed bar, however identification will be required. Photographs will also be taken and made available after the event. An eight-page glossy, colour programme will be given to each ticket holder, prior to the event, to allow them to take advantage of many of our sponsors' offers and discounts. Tickets are £15 per person and are available from any member of the Apex Team. To avoid disappointment, please purchase your tickets as soon as possible. 
Disco Decades - 70s and 80s Disco for all the family
Apex are also holding a 70s and 80s Disco Decades night at Bluebirds, Snargate Street, Dover, on Friday 25th January and all pupils, teachers, parents and friends are invited to attend. The cost of this event will be £3.50 per person and the evening will include prizes for the best themed dress! The DJ will start the glitter ball spinning at 7.30pm and the disco will roll on 'til late.
For more information about Apex Enterprises and our events please visit
www.apex-enterprises.co.uk and drop us an e-mail. Alternatively see a member of Apex to buy your tickets! Hope to see you at our events!
James Eberlein (Member of Apex Enterprises)

SPORTS NEWS

Football Summary (as at December 2001)
Playing record
Played Won Drawn Lost
1st XI 14 11 1 2
2nd XI 10 2 2 6

Colours ties were awarded to:
1st XI - Jason Laird (played regularly for the County side), Scott Guy, Kevin Fielding, Paul Devenish, Dean Scoggins, Michael Abbott and Jamie Dyer.
Representative ties were awarded to:
Kieran Pettman, Ben Clutton, Alan Mann, Simon Shepherd, Andy Herbert, Peter McCarville and Robbie Guy.
Played Won Drawn Lost
*Yr 11 10 9 0 1
Yr 10 7 5 1 1
*Yr 9 12 10 0 2
Yr 8 10 9 0 1
*Yr 7 11 10 0 1
*Still in the County Cup competitions.
This has been an outstanding football season for many of the school's teams. In particular the 1st XI came very close to winning the East Kent Premier League only losing two matches over the season. This was a credit to all those boys involved, particularly as we had an early bad injury to Andy Herbert and after this were never able to put out a full side.
Three school teams, namely Years 11, 9 and 7 are still in their respective County Cup competitions and we wish them all success in their forthcoming matches.
Year 11 had a very tight game in their last Cup match on Wednesday 19th December against a strong Norton Knatchbull G.S. team. A fine goal by Robbie Guy in extra time sealed an exciting game in our favour. In the local schools basketball league matches held at the Sports Centre in Dover the schools sides played against Walmer School. The Year 10 team lost 14-7 in quite a close match. The Year 8 side won in convincing style 18-4.
All players need to work on improving the accuracy of their shooting. More matches will be coming up in the New Year.
Mr M Grant - Subject Leader for PE

SAFETY NOTICE

Would all those boys, whether playing for school teams or just within curriculum lessons, please try and ensure they are wearing shin pads and appropriate studded footwear. This is a requirement from the F.A. and has been for several years. Obviously we wish to reduce the chance of boys being injured. 
PLEASE WEAR THE APPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT FOR THE ACTIVITY YOU ARE TAKING PART IN.

Table Tennis

The year 7 table tennis will continue again during lunch hours from 13.10 to 13.45 in the gym for those boys who have placed their names on the list. An up to date list of schedules will be posted on the lower school notice board and will also appear on the school web site (http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/dovergramboys/). (Now at http://dovergrammar.co.uk)
Only 12 players can be accepted in each session and it is imperative that all 12 turn up. For this reason the list will contain up to 4 reserves to cater for illness.
Players are asked to attend wearing the appropriate kit and a bat if they have one. Bats will be provided for those without one of their own.
Mr P Skelton - Workshop Technician

ADVANCE NOTICE

HALF TERM Monday 11th February to Friday 15th February 
BUT PLEASE NOTE:-
There are two Staff Development Days following half term and therefore students should not come back to school until Wednesday 20th February.