THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER JAN 1995 No. 14

A very Happy New Year to you all!

THIS first 1995 edition of the “First Thursday” newsletter comes right at the beginning of the Sprang term, and so we take this opportunity of
wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

We also welcome three new members of staff to the school.

Our new Senior Teacher is Mr. Giles Falconer M.A. (Cantab), who has returned to Kent after eight years teaching in other parts of the country. Educated at Sevenoaks School and Cambridge and Lancaster universities, he began his teaching career at Rainham Mark Grammar School as a history teacher, became Head of History at Chichester High School for Girls, and has spent the past five years as Head of Humanities and Director of Studies at Katharine Lady Berkeley’s School, Wotton under Edge, Gloucester. He is a keen cricketer, and a member of Kent County Cricket Club.

The Rev. Dr. Charles Hill B.A., Ph.D., who is our new Head of Upper School, comes to us from Dover College where be has been Head of Modem Languages, Director of Studies and Director of European Studies. A former student at Crewe Grammar School in Cheshire, and Sheffield and Oxford universities, he taught French and German at Chatham House Grammar School in Ramsgate from 1974 to 1977, and was then head of German at Pendelton Sixth Form College, Salford until 1981. Dr. Hill was ordained a Deacon at St. George’s in Folkestone in October 1994 and will become a Priest in October this year.

Mr. Stephen Almond B.A., M.A., who is our new Head of Art and Design, was educated at Egham and Sheffield, and then attended Sheffield City, Sunderland, the City of Birmingham and Brighton polytechnics. He was an assistant art teacher at Hereford Cathedral School from 1985 to 1988, and then served as Head of Art and Design at Westonbirt School, Gloucestershire (1988-90), Sadford English Community School, in Addis Abbeba, Ethiopia (1990-91) and most recently at Queen’s College, Palma de Mallorca in Spain.

We welcome them all to our school and hope they have a very happy and interesting time with us.

As we reported in last month’s newsletter, they replaced just one person, Mr. Kelvin Carter, who retired at the end of last term. We thank him for all he did for the school in so many ways, and we wish him well in his retirement. We also said goodbye to Mr. Tony Manners who had been a teacher at our school since 1973. He came to us from Northampton and taught history throughout his 22 years at the school. From 1978, Mr. Manners also served us well as Examinations Secretary. He was a Teacher Governor for many years, and, although quietly spoken, he was conscientious and totally reliable. We thank him for all his work at the school and wish him well for the future, too.

We are grateful to all those who took part in the Carols by Candelight service at Charlton Church last month. It was another memorable and inspiring occasion. Members of our School Choir were also commended for their Christmas music at Dover Castle when the Friends of Dover Castle held their annual Christmas event.

Parents’ and Friends’ Association

The next Wine and Wisdom evening will be held at the school on Friday 27 January at 7.30 p.m. These events have been very well supported in the past, and we hope you will invite your friends to come and join in what promises to be a very enjoyable evening. Tickets are £2 and are available from the school. Letters giving full details will be distributed to all parents soon (make sure your son hands it to you!)

The P.F.A. Christmas draw raised more than £500, and we thank all those who bought tickets. The top prize of £250 was won by Mr. and Mrs. Gollop and the second prize of £100 went to Mrs. M.S. Wells. All the prizes this year were won by people connected with the school. Thank you for your support.

The P.F.A. committee meets next Thursday, 12 January, at 7.30 p.m. at the school.

200 Club

Winner of the special £100 prize in the December draw was Mr. G. Tutthill, and the other prize winners were Mr. and Mrs. R Hinder (£25), Mr. G. Cheeseman (£15) and Mrs. I. Walton (£10). The draw takes place on the third Thursday of each month, so if you are not yet a member, and would like to stand a chance of winning one of the prizes, all you have to do is to send a cheque for £8 (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, do of the school. Send it in by 17 January to be included in this month’s draw. Since the school became Grant Maintained last April, the Governors and architects have been drawing up plans for improvements to the school buildings.

As you know, improvements have already been made to the school office and the reception area, and work has now started on the sixth form common room area. This will take several weeks to complete, but will result in much improved facilities for the sixth formers and provide better surroundings for students, parents and staff to hold
interviews.

We then have plans to carry out more maintenance work to the buildings, and we expect to be visited soon by an official from the Funding Agency for Schools to tell us what we will be able to do this year.

At the end of last term you should all have received a copy of the Action Plan which was drawn up in response to the OFSTED Inspection Report. Perhaps this is an ideal time to tell you that the Governors’ next Annual Parents Meeting will he held on the evening of Wednesday 15 March. Please book the date now in your diary.. . this is the occasion when you have the opportunity to come along and ask the Governors questions about any aspect of the school’s life.

As part of the school’s Christmas celebrations, a disco was held on Friday 16 December and was attended and enjoyed by 160 lower school pupils from both grammar schools. The teachers who supervised the event were asked on several occasions to lend the youngsters pens so that phone numbers could be exchanged!

We congratulate former head boy David Thomas, who was at the school from 1970 to 1977, on his appointment as Professor of Geography in the University of Sheffield. At the age of 36 he is believed to be one of the youngest Professors in the country. After studying geography at Oxford and gaining a good degree, he went to the Kalahari desert for research that earned him a Doctorate and appointment as lecturer in geography at Sheffield University. By further research, lecturing and publishing, David has become an authority on the world’s arid areas and the peoples who live on desert margins. He is now Director of the Sheffield Centre for International Drylands Researeh.

Music Awards

Eight students have been awarded Music Colours in recognition of their contribution to School Music. The award entitles the students to wear the school’s Performing Arts Tie.

The students are Thomas Waller (13 Ca), Mark Hayward (12 Ca), Philip Baiden, Robert Hackett, Ian Matthews (11 Ca), Paul Callanan, Sebastian Gough (11 Ch) and Patrick Jones (11 P). Congratulations to them all.

SPORTS NEWS

Soccer

Congratulations to our school’s 1st XI on winning the East Kent Schools League having won all but one of their matches during the season.

Gymnastics

The Gymnastics Club which has started in the gym every Tuesday lunchtime is proving increasingly popular. It is primarily for Years 7, 8 and 9, and all boys are welcome.

Table Tennis

Our teams continue to do well in Division C of Dover Table Tennis Association, playing on Wednesday evenings.

In the singles table, at the end of December, our C team was in second place (four points behind the top team), with our A team fourth, B fifth and D sixth. In the doubles table, our A and C teams were joint second, while the D team was fourth and the B team was sixth.

In an extra competition, our C team was in the lead with 1,367 points, nearly 500 points ahead of their nearest rivals, with our A team third (870), B team fourth (614) and D team sixth (329).

Our D team. James Challis, Paul Douglas and Brian Murphy, won through the first round of the Ron Edwards Handicap competition and played Phoenix Royals A - who are at the top of Division A - in the second round last night (Wednesday). Although they lost, our team members played well, particularly Paul Douglas who beat two opponents. The scores in his last match (Paul’s points first) were 20-22, 21-10 and 21-minus 3, his play improving throughout the evening.

In the Division C averages, two of our C team players, Jamie Hitchcock and Richard Pellett have 100 per cent records, having won all six of their matches. Simon Pellett is on 92 (having won 11 out of 12), and Chris Bailey 71 (10 out of 14). Our other players in the averages table are Richard Darrall, James Challis, James Witty, Adrian Bailes, Richard Cooper and Paul Douglas.

Chess

In their latest games, our Under 13s beat Pent Valley School 5-0, while the Under 16s beat Simon Langton 3-2 and drew with Pent Valley. The final matches against Harvey Grammar School take place next Wednesday, 11 January.