Dover Grammar School for Boys
THE "FIRST THURSDAY"
NEWSLETTERRECENT SCHOOL EVENTS
LOOKING AHEAD TO SEPTEMBER 1996
On the evening of 7th November the School was full to overflowing with potential new pupils and their parents looking around the school at displays in Departmental rooms and being able to discuss work, especially that in Year 7, with Heads of Department and other staff. Also on show was the new school video which has been produced by a team of boys led by Mr Boardman. The evening was followed by four opportunities (two in the morning, two in the afternoon) for parents and potential pupils to come and look around the school whilst lessons were in progress. The whole event, organised by Mrs Hargrave, was extremely successful and the number of applications is, at this time, higher even than last year.
GUEST EVENING
The Hall was full on the evening of 17th November as the traditional Guest Evening took place, with Old Pharosian Professor David Thomas, as the principal guest and speaker. Many current and former pupils came to collect their GCSE and 'A' level certificates. Some also collected various prizes - many the result of generous donations by local firms and by individual Old Pharosians, for which we are very grateful.
In addition to Professor Thomas' excellent and thought provoking talk, we were entertained by some superb musicians organised by the Director of Music, Mr Davies, and by some readings from "Pride and Prejudice" by a group including some current sixth formers.
All in all it was a very enjoyable evening, and gave a good opportunity to appreciate the new lights in the Hall, a change which has not gone unnoticed by our cartoonist.
JAPANESE COURSE
Miss Exley, one of the four student teachers from Christ Church College currently in the school, has been running an Introduction to Japanese Course since October attracting a dedicated group of 6th formers and staff. We are very grateful to Miss Exley for putting on this course each week.
CAROL SERVICE
On Wednesday 20th December at 8.00 pm we will be presenting our annual Service of Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Charlton, Dover.
The service includes favourite Christmas hymns for all to sing and the traditional nine Bible readings telling the story of Christmas read by pupils, staff, parents, old boys and govenors.
The carols sung by the School Choir will range from medieval plainsong to a spectacular piece by the twentieth century composer William Mathias. The Service will be sung by candlelight and afterwards coffee and mince pies will be served in the Church Hall.
The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight is one of the highlights of the school year and you are warmly invited to attend and to bring family and friends. We do hope that you will be able to join us.
CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
The shopping trip to London last Saturday was very well supported with the coach being fully booked weeks in advance. We were lucky with the traffic and the arrangements went like clockwork.
Most of the sixteen shoppers chose to alight in Park Lane for the scrimmage at Selfridges, but a few discerning types stayed on the coach as far as Harrods and its impressive illuminations. The main party of thirty-five computer enthusiasts then carried on to Olympia for the Christmas Computer Shopper Show.
Everybody was at the right place at the right time for the return journey, most of us being laden with purchases of various kinds. It was a successful venture which provided an opportunity to brave the London stores in as relaxed a way as is possible at this time of year.
200 CLUB
The winners for the month of November are as follows:
Mrs J Matthews (79) wins £25, Mrs G Smith (103) wins £15 and Mrs C Turner (199) wins £10.
Can we take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas.
SPORTS NEWS
Football
The following School First XI match reports have been received from Steve Bailey, teacher in charge.
Oakwood Park 2 -v- DGSB 1
Another disappointing result, but at least we played well this time. Three defeats in a row against mediocre opposition is a little hard to take, but we can put this result down to sheer bad luck. We dominated the match, created numerous chances and on another day would have won by two or three clear goals. Yet again the pitch was very poor, hard and bumpy, making good football difficult, and the refereeing was a little too easy going, especially with regard to the close marking Grant Sanders received. We started well scoring after 10 minutes when Jon Spence glanced in a Lee Neiles chipped cross. For the rest of the half Oakwood failed to create anything apart from their goal which was a well executed move. In the second half the pattern resumed - Grant missed a sitter, Darryl kept forgetting to shoot, and we had two or three penalty claims refused.
DGSB 11 -v- Queen Elizabeth School 1
It was a pleasure to see the team play so well, against very modest opposition. If we had played with this form and shape earlier who knows what success would have followed. Several players seem to have come into form, especially Grant and Kristian. The movement and passing were excellent and the finishing clinical. I particularly liked Jon Coates's goal which was taken after a flowing movement from our penalty area.
Norton Knatchbull 4 -v- DGSB 3
Another very disappointing result. It's easy to criticise the referee or the
pitch but I feel that several players have to accept that their form is well
below the level that they are capable of, and there are far too many basic
errors. We seem to be unable to change our game to suit the pitch size - on a
small pitch the game is played directly with early passing and crossing not by
knocking balls sideways in our own half and area, it allows the opposition to
push up and make pressure at the back which shouldn't be there. When our front
players come so deep to get the ball there is no cutting edge. Similarly we must
defend more positively and stop dropping off the attackers - two of NK's goals
were caused by allowing a forward to turn. Suffice to say that we had enough
chances to win the game easily, especially in the first ten minutes. I'm not
going to name the main culprits but Grant had a good game scoring all 3 goals,
with the first after 10 seconds!, and didn't deserve to be on the losing team.
With only one match left - Friday (8 December) we don't have long to put things
right!
Details of forthcoming fixtures are as follows:-
2nd XI: Wed. 13th -v- Maidstone Grammar (Home) and Wed. 20th -v- Simon Langton (Away). 2.15 kick-off.
1st XI: Fri. 8th -v- Rainham Mark (Home) kick-off 2.00 pm weather permitting.
COUNTY PLAYERS
Kent Schools U19 Football
Grant Sanders and James Wilde (both Year 13) have been selected to play for the Kent 'A' this season. The side has won all of its three matches with Grant and James both scoring. Brian Fielding (Yr 13) and Jon Coates (Yr 12) are also playing for the Kent 'B' side.
Table Tennis
Apart from our three teams we have in the Dover Division 'B' a number of our school boys also play for Dover in the Kent Junior League.
The Dover 'B' team's first game this season was against Springrove and they won the game 5-0. They went on to play Thanet but lost 4-1 and unfortunately also lost 3-2 to Sittingbourne in their third game. At present Dover 'B' lie fourth in their league.
The Dover 'C' team played their first game against Thanet 'C' losing 5-0. The second and third games were against Meadway 'G' and Sittingbourne respectively when they won 5-0 and 4-1. Dover 'C' team lie 2nd in Division 5.
The boys worthy of note are David Tilbee who doesn't play for the school teams but plays for Whitfield 'C' , in the Dover League, and has won 5 games and one doubles match for the Dover 'B' team. Nick Bannister who plays for the School 'C' team has won 4 games for Dover 'B' and James Witty also of the School 'C' team has won 3 games and 2 doubles for Dover 'C'.
