THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER NOV 1994 No. 12

Read all about it!

You have been sent quite a lot of reading material in the past few days, mainly regarding the report which followed the OFSTED inspection of the school in September.

You should have received by now a copy of the summary of the Inspectors' Report, together with a letter from the Chairman of the Governors, and a copy of the Press Release which we sent out with the full report to the media.

Have you read it all yet? Probably not every word, but we hope you will take the time to read at least some it, so toot you can appreciate what is being said about the school.

The first questions most people ask are: "What's the report like? Is is good or bad?" Well, it's difficult to sum it up in one word, but to quote the registered inspector when he addressed the Governing Body: "It is a good report, and it is important to remember that. It is easy to simply concentrate on the criticisms."

It is also important to understand the terminology used by the inspectors. "Satisfactory" and "sound" - which might seem rather luke-warm descriptions to the outside world - are positive terms in this report.

What is easy to understand is their description of the school as "orderly am caring" with good standards of behaviour, very good attendance and supportive relationships. Pupils are "polite, considerate and show respect". And, as we were already aware, our exam results are good, and improving.

As the chairman has said in the Press Release, we welcome the report and all the supportive statements and the constructive criticisms which it contains.

The Governors met on Tuesday to start formulating the Action Plan which has to be produced within 40 working days of receiving the inspection report Copies of the action plan will also be sent to all parents . . . so there's more reading material on the way!

If you would like to read the inspectors' full report, there are copies in the school office, and in the public libraries in Dover and Deal. If you would like a copy of the report for yourself, they can be bought from the school, priced £:3.

If you have any questions or comments about, please don't hesitate to contact the school, or the governors. We will be pleased to help you!

More memories

In last month's newsletter we told you about six ladies - one with her husband - who visited the school in September asking if they could have a look around as they were stationed here as WRNS during the war. You may be interested to know that in a new book which has just been published, "East Kent At War", there is a photograph, taken on the lower playing field, of a visit to the school in early 1945 by HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. The picture shows the Wrens marching past the royal visitor.

Parents' and Friends' Association

The next in the series of very popular Wine and Wisdom evenings takes place at the school at 7.30 p.m. on Friday 18 November. Have you been to one of these events yet? If not, you don't know what you are missing. It is organised on a "bring your own food and drink" basis, and each table is asked to provide a raffle prize. Tickets cost £2 each - so a table of eight is £16 - and bookings can be made with Tim Moseling, the P.F.A. secretary, through the school. Don't worry if you can't find enough people for a whole table, contact Tim and he will allocate you to a table with spare places. So you can make some new friends, too!

200 Club

Winners of the 200 Club October draw were Mrs. A. Stewart (£25), Mr. G. Cheeseman (£15) and Mr. and Mrs. A. Rowing (£10).

If you are not a member of the 200 Club, and would like to stand a chance of winning one of the monthly prizes - or the special £100 prizes which are drawn in December and June all you have to do is to send a cheque for £10 (to cover your subscription for the rest of the school year), made payable to D.G.S.B., P.F.A., 200 Club, to the 200 Club organiser, Jill Tutthill, c/o of the school. Send it in by 15 November, and you will be included in this month's draw which takes place on Thursday 17 November.

Book it!

Please make sure you have booked Thursday 15 December at 8 p.m. in your diary. That is when the school's Service of Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight is being held at Charlton Church in Dover. Don't miss it!

SPORTS NEWS

Soccer

It was an excellent half-term for the school's 1st XI who are not just unbeaten, but maintain a 100 per cent record. . . winning all of their 11 games.

At present they are top of the East Kent Schools League and in the Quarter Finals of the County Cup.

This is all the more creditable as they have not been able to field the best team once yet owing to injuries and county commitments. The boys have also been managing the team themselves during the absence of team manager Mr. Steve Bailey.

Five players - Justin Luchford, Grant Sanders, John Stonebridge, Michael Robinson and Chris Childs - have been selected for the Kent Under 19 squads, and Kristian Allen has been playing as captain of Kent Under 16s.

Top scorer is Grant Sanders with 19 goals to his credit, and the team is superbly captained by Justin Luchford and Michael Robinson.

Best results so far have been the 2-1 win against the previously unbeaten Borden Grammar School from Sittingbourre, and the 4-0 win against Mascalls School in the County Cup.

Tomorrow (Friday, 4 November) they travel to Hastings to play the only other unbeaten team in the league, William Parker School. Good luck, lads!

Next Friday, 11 November, the 1st XI play Borden at home in the Quarter Final of the Under 19 County Cup. The kickoff is at 2 p.m. and spectators are invited to come along to support our team.

Kristian Allen captained the Kent Under 16s in the final of the National Inter-County Cup when they lost 2-1 to Greater Manchester at Rochdale last week.

The 2nd XI have not done so well so far, having won one and lost five games, but that can be attributed to the loss of several key players to boost the 1st XI.

Meanwhile, in the County Cup competitions, our Under 13 and Under 14s are out, but the Under 12s, Under 15s and Under 16s still survive in two cups, mostly to the Quarter Final levels.

We wish all the teams well in their future matches.

Swimming

We congratulate James Kelly and James Hambling who were two of the Dover Life Guard Club team members who received medals at the top of the British Telecom Tower in London from former Olympic swimming champion Duncan Goodhew. The team swam 5,000 metres between them in one hour, three minutes, 58 seconds, making them the fastest team of four in Great Britain in the BT Swimathon. The event raised more than £1.5 million nationwide for charity.

Golf

Alex Ridings, Daniel Oliver and Mark Eade represented the school at the South East England Schools Golf Championships. Although they were not among the winners, Daniel scored a creditable 80.

C.C.F.

Members of the school's Combined Cadet Force have a busy month ahead of them

This weekend (5 and 6 November) is a training weekend at St. Martin's Plain Camp, Shorncliffe, in preparation for the forthcoming Nijmegen March.

On 13 November, the contingent will be taking put in Dover's Remembrance Day parade, when about 40 cadets, plus officers, will march, and lay a wreath.

On 14 and 20 November, a weekend battlecraft training exercise takes place at St. Martin's Plain Camp, and the adjacent training area, and on 26 and 27 November, a weekend map and compass exercise will be held, also based at St. Martin's Plain Camp.

Computing

Mr. Peter Dale took a group of A level computing students to exhibitions in London, as Andrew Berridge (13P) reports:

The first was called Object Expo Europe, an exhibition on object oriented programming which was very technical, but gave us an insight into this specialised world. After lunch at Grafton's, (that's where the Goon Show was born), we went on to visit the Sunday Times Business Computing Show and the Mobile Business Show at Olympia. . . where the school received a free piece of software worth £395!

The only hitch of the day was when Mr. Dale was stopped at the security checks at the entrance to the first show because he set off the alarms. Eventually he removed his coat, and found the zip was the culprit!