THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER
FEBRUARY 2001 No. 78

IMPORTANT NOTICE - STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAYS

Please note that pupils should not attend school next week on the following dates as these are staff development days:
Monday 5th/Tuesday 6th February
A further staff development day will be on:
Monday 26th February

MOBILE PHONES AND PERSONAL STEREOS

Last July the Department for Education and Employment notified all schools about the potential dangers of mobile phones and urged all schools to restrict their use by under-16s. This advice, based on the government commissioned Stewart Report, concerns the dangers of radiation on growing brains and recommends that the use of mobile phones by under-16s should be restricted to emergencies only.
This is completely in line with the school policy on mobile phones which was published in the 'First Thursday' last year. To re-iterate, whilst we understand that many parents may wish to provide their sons with mobile phones for reasons connected with their safety, we insist that they are switched off during the school day and are not used at school.
This has become more of an issue recently due to the serious misuse of their mobile phones by a few pupils, including the making of hoax and malicious calls. This is not only against school rules but may also be illegal. Anyone behaving in such a way cannot expect to be allowed to continue to bring a phone to school.
We would therefore ask for the support of all parents in ensuring that their sons use their phones in line with the Government health advice given above. 
It should also be noted that all mobile phones should be insured and that they are only brought to school at their owner's risk. This also applies to all types of personal stereo which many pupils use to listen to music on their journey to and from school. Provided there is no misuse in school there is no objection to pupils having them, but the school can accept no responsibility in the case of loss or damage.

Headteacher

ART & DESIGN AND BIOLOGY TRIP TO LONDON

On Monday 11th December 2000 pupils from Years 12 and 13, following courses in the above subjects, travelled to London accompanied by Mr Almond, Dr Sweetman and Mr Thompson.
In the morning the whole group visited the 'Spectacular Bodies' exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. This show was a collision between art and science, looking at all aspects of the human body. It featured the work of numerous famous artists such as Leonardo, Stubbs and Gericault, as well as dozens of highly realistic wax models of human bodies, many produced by now rather obscure Italian medical sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries. It proved to be a thought-provoking exhibition for both sets of students.
Lunchtime saw the artists and scientists go their separate ways, the artists having lunch in McDonalds on The Strand and then visiting the 'Impression: Painting Quickly in France' at the National Gallery, and the scientists going to the Science Museum where they saw the 'Blue Planet' exhibition. The artists were able to see little known works by such major figures as Monet, Renoir and van Gogh, many paintings having been brought over from the U.S.A.
Both groups of pupils gained a great deal from visiting such important exhibitions. It is hoped that such a successful departmental collaboration may be repeated.

Mr S Almond - Subject Leader for Art & Design

VISIT TO ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS

On Monday 29th January we visited the Royal Academy of Arts in London to interview Brendan Neiland RA, a famous artist.
The meeting was at 5.00 pm but the fear of being mugged in our country's capital was the last thing on our minds. We were more nervous about the prospect of meeting one of Britain's finest contemporary artists.
Upon arrival we were met by his PA who then took us behind the scenes to meet the Keeper (director) of the Royal Academy Art School, Brendan Neiland.
Knowing his love for wine, we presented him with a nice bottle in the hope that he would later offer us a couple of his paintings! In the end our plan was foiled due to the size of the paintings, mostly around 6' x 4' (which could have looked suspicious walking out of the Royal Academy) and we came away with leaflets and signed postcards.
As the interview progressed we learnt more about his life, starting in a rural environment at Norwich but going on to Birmingham where he discovered his fascination for architecture and began to use this as the subject for his work. His aim is to make people realise the beauty of the man-made environment that is so often ignored.
After trying to get him to reveal a few trade secrets he told us hard work was the real key to success. 
The experience was a valuable and inspiring one for any student studying the subject.

Mark Long (13M) & Chris Tutthill (13R)

MY DAY WITH SPURS

I have had the honour of presenting the East Kent Spurs Player of the Year Award to Spurs right back Stephen Carr.
I went to White Hart Lane on Saturday 20th January after being chosen for this honour by East Kent Spurs Supporters' Club. I made my way to the VIP entrance at the front of the stadium where I was met by a sign saying "Welcome to White Hart Lane". Although I have been to watch Tottenham many times I had never seen that sign before.
I ended up just beside the tunnel. It was amazing. There I was, pitchside, waiting to see Stephen Carr. I took a lot of photographs. Goalkeeper Ian Walker and past goalkeeper and coach Pat Jennings came past and I had a chat with them! I also saw all the commentators from Sky and BBC.
At last a figure appeared at the end of the tunnel. It was Stephen Carr! He walked towards me and we shook hands. I asked him a few questions and he answered me in his strong Irish accent. I gave him his award and had a couple of pictures taken with him.
When I walked to my seat I saw Chris Armstrong (striker) and West Ham Manager Harry Redknapp. I couldn't believe it. Then, to cap it all, Stefen Freund (midfielder) came along to speak to us and sign autographs.
Even though the match had a disappointing result (a 0-0 draw with Southampton) I think it was the best day of my life!

Craig Partington - 8Port

MUSIC

The next event will be the Spring Concert to be given on Wednesday 14th March at 7.30 pm in the School Hall.

Mr R S Davies - Director of Music

PFA

The PFA continues to support the school in a number of ways. At their last meeting the committee agreed to buy a chess set for the Chess Club.
Another Wine and Wisdom evening has been arranged for Friday 2nd March. Watch out for details being sent out soon and make sure you book your table early - it is bound to be a popular event again.
The next committee meeting is on Tuesday 27th March at 7.00 pm. (Please note the time is 7.00 pm not 7.30 pm).

Mrs J Tutthill

PFA 200 CLUB

The results of the January draw are as follows:
1st £25 Mr & Mrs Garrett (65) 2nd £15 Mr & Mrs Cole (10) and 3rd £10 Mr A Norman (37)

OLD PHAROSIANS

Following publication of their latest newsletter a couple of weeks ago, quite a lot of messages have been received from former pupils around the world who have been pleased to keep up to date with news of the school and of their former school friends. Items for the next newsletter - due to be published in the summer - have also started coming in.
The next committee meeting is on Tuesday 13th March at 7.00 pm.
One notable news item for this month is the birthday of our oldest former pupil, Mrs Lily Turnpenny, who was at the school when both boys and girls attended. Mrs Turnpenny will be 108 on 14th February and I am sure we would like to congratulate her and send her our best wishes for this very special occasion.

Mr G Tutthill

CCF

The past month has been fairly quiet with the exception of last weekend when a lot of planning was done for the coming year. In February we are holding our biannual leadership course, which is run by our unit for other units all over the south of England. The week comprises of a series of assessments in leadership, both theory and practical at a junior and senior level.
Already the plans are being drawn up for an adventure training week during the Easter holidays to be held at Chickerell Camp in Weymouth. This week long break will include abseiling, rock climbing, canoeing, sailing and scuba diving, plus many more exciting activities supervised by 7 Cadet Training Team. This is a lot by anyone's standards and due to military funding it's all going to be at knock down prices!
Last Saturday (27th Jan) the Royal Air Force Section went to RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire for Air Experience Flying in the RAF's brand new training aircraft the Glob Tutor. This time they all managed to get a flight because in the previous few trips bad weather had impeded even getting there! Sunday (28th Jan) was spent up at the Duke of York's Royal Military School target shooting at their indoor and outdoor ranges.
If you are interested in joining and are at least 121/2 years then come down one lunchtime to the CCF hut (bottom of the steps near the Maths block) for an information pack.

CSM T Robinson

COMPETITION WINNER

Christopher Walker (10PT) has won a competition run by "rools.com.ltd", a firm which allows teenagers to buy goods on line securely and responsibly. (The competition was run in the Jazzy Books supplied free of charge to schools and distributed to all pupils). Included in Chris's prize, which was a Playstation 2, is an item for the school worth £500 and it has been decided to purchase a good quality digital camera for use within any curriculum area in the school. 
Well done Chris and thank you very much to "rools.com.ltd".

CHESS CLUB

HOT PRESS! The Senior Chess Squad are through to the Knockout Stage of the Kent Cup. Congratulations. 
The squad are: Malcolm Montgomery, Michael Long, Joe Messeter, Stephen Taylor, Vahe Aliev (9CH), Nick Bannister and Andrew Lightwing.
The next game will be against The Judd School, away.

Mr J Gaskell

Chess Report written by Michael Long (12CA)

The chess team had a relatively commendable year in 2000 and a summary of the matches in which we were involved follows.
Our first match was keenly contested against Oakwood Park Grammar School, whom we knew little about but Mr Gaskell insisted that this would be a challenging game, whilst rumours persisted that our opponents were exceptionally talented. However, we soon realised that this team was not composed of the tyrants of the chess world as we first feared. The victories came thick and fast, Nick Bannister on Board 5 disposed of his opponent comfortably within 20 minutes. Soon after, on Board 2, Joe Messiter had rendered his counterpart helpless to a checkmate, whilst on Board 4 Stephen Taylor secured the victory with a tidy performance. Michael Long repeated the achievements of his colleagues with an impressive win. Our captain, Malcolm Montgomery, on Board 1, replaced expediency with skill finally leaving victorious after an hour and a half securing an emphatic 5-0 victory.
After firmly stamping our authority on the league we travelled to Maidstone Grammar. This proved to be a tougher game, further exacerbated by the absence of Stephen Taylor, one of our key players and partly responsible for our flawless victory over Oakwood Park. He was replaced by Andrew Lightwing, a talented yet unpredictable player. Andrew was sworn in on Board 5 and Nick was promoted to Board 4. Despite the minor disruption we were confident of winning as we still had the winning combination of Long, Messiter and Montgomery on Boards 3, 2 and 1 respectively, and of course not to mention the substantial talents of our other members. Things turned sour however, when Andrew and Nick lost in quick succession after valiant performances. We had a 2-0 deficit and had to win on the other boards if we were to proceed with our unbeaten record intact. Fortunately, Long and Messiter redressed the balance (despite the home team's creepy insistence on disrupting our concentration by leaving their seat for beverages seemingly every minute!), meaning a win from Malcolm would seal the match. Malcolm was in a better position than his skilled opponent and though it was tight (the game had lasted nearly 2 hours), we were confident that our captain would succeed. Only a divine intervention would undermine his efforts. This intervention of which I speak came in the form of a dubious decision by the official to introduce the clock halfway through the game for our convenience in getting home at an appropriate time (we were perfectly happy munching the food provided). Malcolm reluctantly accepted this decision (it did not suit him, since he is a very methodical player). Suddenly the never-ending game had to be finished in 5 minutes after which Malcolm lost and we suffered an infuriating 3-2 defeat.
Onto our next match, at home against what was supposed to be the league's strongest team, King's College. Unfortunately, Nick Bannister was unavailable for the match but luckily Stephen Taylor returned and we had a new startling talent, Vahe Aliev, who is currently in Year 9. He comfortably won his match on Board 5 before any of the regular players and when Michael came away triumphant from his match on Board 4 to continue his unblemished winning streak, it seemed certain that we would reach the next phase. However, Malcolm was drawn the short straw once again when we were reliably informed that his relatively young opponent had in fact represented England at international level - the arrival of Gary Kasparov would have much aided our cause! Despite some complex and demanding moves from our captain he was consistently countered by an individual with a rather shockingly great repertoire of moves and eventually lost. Joe, on Board 3 this time, had a very tight game and decided to agree on a draw. With hindsight he should have continued because, and he would agree with this, he had the upper hand. In the remaining game we needed a win or a draw from Stephen and he must have felt the pressure. Stephen was against a strong opponent, who was taught by a chess tutor and insisted on him writing every single move of his games. This absurd tendency must have made Stephen feel slightly edgy. His opponent eventually defeated Stephen in an exciting game. The match ended 21/2 each, a draw.
So we won 1, lost 1 and drew 1 - between us winning 7 games, losing 7 games and drawing 1 game. The diversity os the results reflected the performances; sometimes spot on, at other times somewhat erratic. However, one must conclude that we have all learned from our experiences and enjoyed each of the games. We would like to thank Mr Gaskell for his support and for driving to our away match, everything was much appreciated, except for his unhealthy taste in classical music!

DGSB -v- Weseley House

We travelled with Mr Gaskell to Broadstairs in the school minibus. We had trouble finding the school but luckily one of the teachers from Weseley House saw us and led us there after finding us.
When the games started the first thing we heard was "Checkmate" from James Rackham who had beaten his opponent, 1-0 to us. The next game to finish was Arian Beqiri's match. He had lost because of one bad move with a pawn. My match was the next to finish. I lost 2-1 to Weseley House. Chris Saunders also lost.
Richard Biggs match was the best. He finally won by putting his opponent in checkmate with two rooks, 2 pawns and a queen.
The team: Arian Beqiri (Captain), Ryan Porter, Chris Saunders, Richard Biggs and James Rackham.

Ryan Porter - 7(PT)

SPORTS NEWS

Basketball
The Years 8 and 10 basketball teams have been in action this term with games against Channel High and Pent Valley high. 
Against Pent Valley both teams came up against well-drilled and organised opposition. We were closed down well on the ball and this resulted in both teams having limited scoring opportunities. At the other end of the court Pent Valley had some outstanding attacking players, particularly the Year 10 side which contained a 6'2" Kent forward. Unfortunately we were comprehensively out-scored on each occasion.
Against Channel we had a little more success, the Year 8's played a very strong game matching their opposition in every department. In the last 2 minutes we were in a position to win the game, but chasing that elusive basket we became over extended and fell to two quick break-away baskets. 
The Year 10 team fared less well, they started slowly and got into foul trouble against a technically proficient team who drew the foul well. Once we had cleaned up our defensive play we took control of the game, but the early lead that we gave to Channel was too great to overcome. 
We still have district league fixtures against Astor and Sandwich Technology to resolve.
Next week the Years 10 and 11 teams travel to Harvey Grammar to compete in the Shepway Invitational Tournament.

Rugby
This season's senior rugby fixtures are now underway. 
The Year 10's were a little disappointed when their 12-a- side festival was called off at Dover RFC due to a frozen pitch, but this has now been re-scheduled for 15th February. 
Our first full-sided match of this term is today, Thursday 1st February, against Astor.
The Year 11's have started strongly with a convincing set of performances at their 12-a-side tournament at Dane Court. A victory, 2-tries to 0, against St Anselms and a 0-0 draw against Dane Court, in truly terrible conditions, showed a great deal of fortitude and placed us as joint winners with Dane Court without conceding a single point.
The boys are now through to the County finals at Aylesford RFC, date not yet arranged. Well done to all who played.
The First XV's first fixture against Oakwood was called off due to the 'flu epidemic raging through the school. Hopefully this weeks fixture against Queen Elizabeth's will fare better.

SPECIAL MENTION

A special mention must go to Sam Wilkes of 8 Channel. Sam is a keen boxer who boxes out of Sandwich Gym. He is achieving great success in his Category. He is already Kent Schoolboy Champion in the Category A (under 48Kg) class and he is now through to the finals of the Southern Area Championships. If he wins this bout he is through to the quarterfinals of the National Championships for his Category.
A big well done to Sam for his present achievements and we all wish him well in his fights over the next few weeks.

FIXTURES

Basketball:
Wed. 7th Year 11 -v- Harvey
Thurs. 8th Year 10 -v- Harvey
Rugby
Tues. 13th Year 8 Tournament at Canterbury RFC (2.00 -5.00 pm)