"The First Thursday Newsletter No. 28."

As usual a number of entertaining ways were found to raise money during the school's annual charity week - guess the number of sweets in a jar (won by Mr Jolliffe), guess the height of Mr Thomas, a raffle run by the school office as well as the annual non-uniform days. When the dust settled and the receipts were counted a magnificent total of £1,746.90 was reached. Those forms which collected most were 7SE (£294.03) and 9CH (£280.77), with a very honourable mention to 13CA (£135.00) - almost all the result of Mario Del Duca's 24 hour fast. The School Council decided to divide the money between two charities this year - the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Demelza Children's Hospice. So a thank you goes to all those who helped raise the money and also to those who contributed.

With this newsletter we are circulating a DfEE leaflet which gives a brief explanation of the new approach to Design and Technology in schools. Our own courses in Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and the Sixth Form will, from September, be consistent with what it says in this leaflet. Work has begun on renovating the Drawing Office so it can take new equipment for the computer applications mentioned. Design and Technology is now part of the core curriculum in the school up to GCSE with the option to take A/AS level after that.

Nine members of Year 10 took part in, and successfully completed, their practice expedition on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th May. Two groups, one including Ben Parkin, Russell Cramphorn, Sam Donaldson and David Burkinshaw, and the other including Chris Odell, Chris Husk, Chris Hughes, Max Hayward and Mark Doel, all walked 15 miles over two days, carrying camping gear and food, camping at Kearsney camp site over night. They will be taking their qualifying expedition before the end of this term.

On Sunday 28th April 36 boys from Years 8 and 9 gathered at Dover Dock for their visit to their French penfriends. We were met on arrival and the boys all said later that they had eaten well and been well looked after. Best comment: "It was like Ramsey Street - they all knew each other, the kids play in the street". The French are obviously as sociable as the Aussies!

The day trip to Arras for Year 9 included a visit to the caves under the town. Year 8 had a morning visit to 'Nausicaa' in Boulogne before returning with Mr Lodder, Mr Riley and Mrs Hargrave, while Year 9 stayed on the extra day with Mr Jolliffe.

The co-operation with the Girls' School which makes this venture possible is something both schools value.

A group of forty-eight students with four staff visited the Dungeness B Power Station on Tuesday 30 May. There are so many facets to the generation of electricity using nuclear power that the outing served the common interests of lower and upper sixth formers taking A-Level Computing, Physics, and Geography.

On the following Tuesday afternoon a group of five upper sixth Computing students were guests of the Information Technology department at P&O's Channel View House. Mr S Ginger, Project Manager, gave them an excellent lecture and video presentation before taking them into the computer area to see the systems in operation.

Five boys from the school were involved in the Dover Youth Theatre's performance of a new play written specially for the Festival of Dover on the theme of The Spirit of the Sea. Entitled 'My Love is Drowned in the Far Off Seas', the play was set in Deal in the nineteenth century and included Nicholas Hayward, Nicolas Pillai and Patrick Jones in the cast, while Glenn Ford and Ben Morgan were the tireless 'roadies' loading and unloading a van full of equipment as the play toured to Dover Castle, Wingham Parish Church and Shepherdswell Village Hall. Performances took place during half term.

There will be a recital of music for piano, soprano and clarinet this Friday 7th June at the Salem Baptist Church starting at 7.30 pm. The performers are Peter Rose (clarinet), Gillian Greenacre, (piano) and Marie Kelly-Thomas, (soprano). The evening will be introduced and presented by Michael Thomas and the theme is again 'The Spirit of the Sea'. Tickets are £5.00 and all proceeds will be given to Buckland Hospital Children's Ward.

Any parent who is concerned about this wide-ranging problem is invited to attend a meeting in Deal Town Hall on the evening of Tuesday 11 June beginning at 7.30 pm.

Mrs Maggie Scammel, an expert in this area, will be joined by others with practical experience of this condition. Questions to be discussed will include how to recognise this problem and how many of the difficulties may be overcome.

The evening is presented by Deal Rotary Club which is aware that this problem may affect any child or adult.

If you are interested in attending then please contact the school or Mr R Colman, Ivy House, Church Path, Great Mongeham, Deal CT14 0HH, tel. no. 375137.

Yesterday evening (Wednesday 5 June) Old Boys of the School met in Carey Lane, London for a reunion organised by this year's President, Mr John Booth.

Having seen our last batch of student teachers leave in May after two terms of hard work in the school, we have welcomed two new students from Christ Church College - Mr Peter Friend (Mathematics) and Miss Shona Ward (Science). We hope they will enjoy their short teaching practice with us.

Some places have been provisionally booked at the resort of Evolène, Switzerland (same venue as last year). We are proposing to go during the Easter break - to take advantage of the early Easter and also lower prices. The cost is £399 and snowboarding options (£20 - two days, £50 - six days) are available. If anyone is interested please see Mr Boardman as soon as possible.

The Choral Concert in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Charlton, Dover at 8.00 pm on Saturday 29th June.

The programme to be sung by the School Choir on this occasion will include three popular Choral Works, Haydn's "Little" Organ Mass, Schubert's Mass in G, and Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore. Between the choral items organ works by Bach and Mozart will be played. Guest soloists will be Vicky Bradford (Soprano), Mary Anthony (Alto), Peter Futcher (Tenor) and Neil Richards (Bass). The Organ Accompanist will be David Harding and the concert will be conducted by the School's Director of Music Richard Davies.

Admission will be £3.50 for adults and £2.00 for students and senior citizens. Tickets will be on sale at the door on the night and are also available in advance from the School (tel: 01304-206117).

Music for a Summer Evening in the School Hall at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 17th July.

The programme will include a variety of instrumental music played by the School's musicians ranging from classical through jazz to pop. One of the highlights will be performances by the school's new Big Band which made its debut at our Spring Concert in March. Music presented by the Brass, Woodwind and Jazz Groups will be interspersed with solo items featuring violin, clarinet, trumpet, piano and the school organ.

During the interval a choice of cheese and wine or light refreshments will be served, included in the admission charge of £2.50 for adults and £1.00 for students.

Please make these concerts known amongst family, friends and others who may be interested. You are warmly invited to attend and we hope you will be able to join us.

Kent County Council have notified us that the price of school meals will increase from £1.17 to £1.20 as of September 1996.

Although things have been quiet on the PFA front recently we shall be holding a Car Treasure Hunt on Sunday 23rd June starting at 3.00 pm from the school. All parents and friends are cordially invited and booking forms are available in the School Office. Our last Wine and Wisdom of the year will be held on 12th July at 7.30 pm and again booking forms will be available from the office nearer the date.

It is with regret that we say goodbye to our Treasurer, Mr Adrian Martin, who leaves us, and Dover, to take up a job in Solihull, West Midlands. We offer him many thanks for his hard work and wish him well in his new career. This leaves a large gap on the Committee and although advertised amongst current Committee members, if any parents would like to volunteer to take on this not too arduous task please contact the PFA Secretary, Tim Moseling, through the School Office.

Whilst saying goodbyes, we also offer grateful thanks to Mrs Dot Millard for all her hard work over six years on the PFA Committee. Dot's son has left the school and unfortunately she could not be persuaded to remain in a "Friend" capacity. We are very lucky to have had such a hard working and dedicated member on the Committee and she will be sorely missed.

Last month's winners were:
1st - Mrs M Hargrave (134) £25, 2nd - Mrs K MacMillan (196) £15 and 3rd - Dr R Sweetman (100) £10.

It is with regret that the Summer Ball will not take place this year. It is hoped to arrange one for next year. On behalf of the Ball Committee I would like to pass my thanks to Alan French for all his efforts and background work in organising previous Balls.
(Written by Tim Moseling)

Following last year's successful innovation of a day full of events it has been decided to repeat it this year on Wednesday 3rd July. All parents are warmly invited to come and watch either for the morning (9.00 am - approx 11.30 am) or afternoon (approx. 1.00 pm - 3.15 pm) or for both. The PFA will be providing some refreshments and if the weather is like last year an enjoyable day is guaranteed.

At the South East Kent District Athletics Championships on Wednesday 8 May 1996 the following Year 9 boys achieved excellent results as shown below.

Hurdles	Simon Thomas	3rd
200 metres	Alfredo Buitron	6th
800 metres	Daniel Trenowden	1st
1500 metres	Daniel Trenowden	1st
High Jump	Brian Martin	1st
Triple Jump	Carl Dangerfield	5th
Shot	Steven Scott	3rd
Discus	Brian Martin	1st

Congratulations to all who participated.

U15 - Kent County Athletics Championships at Crystal Palace

Daniel Trenowden and Michael Roberts, both in Year 9, represented the Invicta East Kent Club at the above Championships. Daniel came third in the 1500 metres finals in a time of 4 minutes 32.23 seconds, running close to a national grade two standard. Daniel beat his personal best by four seconds, just pipping one of the country's best young athletes, Abdi Madar, for the bronze medal. Michael also beat his personal best by 16 seconds to qualify for the 1500 m final.

Our congratulations go to Chris Bailey who won the Kent Junior League. To achieve this he played, at Chislehurst, all the teams within his zone where he didn't lose a game. (The zones are South, East, West and North Kent). The Final was then played at Tonbridge on 13th April. The winners from all four zones competed and again Chris didn't lose a game. For his achievement he gained a trophy, table-tennis kit (shirt & shorts) and a tracksuit.

League: This year the 1st XI cricket team enjoyed a fairly successful season in the league winning two out of the four games that lasted the duration. The first game of the league and of the season saw us playing, and eventually losing to, a competent but not particularly solid Borden G.S. side. Winning the toss, the skipper (Dan Bowley), elected to have a bowl at Borden and good early season bowling from Ian Matthews (2 for 28 off 10) and Luchford (3 for 25 off 12), saw Borden total 119 runs all out. Had our fielding been as creative as our bowling their total could have been considerably lessened. In the bat, we saw ourselves somewhat ill prepared for the task in front of us with Borden skittling us all out for a meagre 97. Our first loss of the season.

The second league match took us on our first away game playing Howard School, Gillingham, and saw us pull off an inspiring victory. Batting first our openers failed to give any resistance, leaving David Gibb to prove himself by sensibly batting and building a solid innings of 33, during which he and the captain enjoyed a 2 over partnership of 30 runs. Little else was achieved with the bat, but we found ourselves totalling a relatively respectable 135. Whilst fielding, we found ourselves up against some good batting with Howard's captain top scoring (63) taking them to 109 for 7. However, ever reliable Justin Luchford came on to bowl, and with some very clever bowling, we saw ourselves quickly skittling their batsmen out, finally getting them all out for 128, with Luchford ending up with 6 wickets for 30 off 12 overs. Howard School had been beaten by a quickly improving team.

Our next victims were Chatham G.S. at home, seeing us grow even stronger with excellent fielding and Luchford once again bowling well, taking a further 5 wickets, ably assisted by Simon North taking 3 good wickets. After their 40 overs, they amassed a total of 125, requiring us to get only 3 an over. Opening bat, David Gibb, once again showed style and coverage with the willow, and after seeing No. 2 & 3 batsmen scoring little runs, Gibb and Bowley went on to put on an inspiring 100 run partnership with Bowley scoring the only 50 of the season (56). Gibb stayed the course getting 46 n.o. and Ian Matthews went in to finish off the game off just a few balls.

The fourth game of the league season took us away once more to Norton Knatchbull, Ashford and unfortunately saw our winning streak of four games come to an end (2 league and 2 cup). The toss was lost for only the second time, and Knatchbull elected to put us into bat, and ever reliable Gibb scored a good 34, with West and Bowley contributing 19 and 26 respectively. Despite totalling an average score of 130, we found ourselves up against a side that was better on the day, with our bowlers losing the sort of momentum that won us our other games and on uncharacteristically poor fielding also letting us down, allowing Knatchbull to get our total in 25 overs.

The fifth and final League game was against Simon Langton G.S. bowling them out for 160 in 28 overs leaving us 52 overs to acquire the runs. Unfortunately rain prevented us from batting and the game was abandoned.

In the Lemon Cup we are through to the third round after beating Queen Elizabeth School in the first and then amazingly beating Erith after shockingly getting out for just 77. However, our ever strong desire to win saw us annihilate their batsmen, eventually winning with them getting only 55.

Next season the side will be pretty much the same and we firmly believe we have a good chance of becoming league winners.
(Written by Daniel Bowley)

June - Thurs. 6th at 3.45 pm Yr 8 XI -v- Norton Knatchbull at home and at 4.00 pm Yr 7 XI -v- Norton Knatchbull away. Thurs. 13th at 2.00 pm 1st XI -v- Sir Roger Manwood's away. Tues. 18th at 4.00 pm Yr 10 XI -v- Sir Roger Manwood's at home. Thurs. 20th at 3.45 pm Yr 8 XI -v- Dover College at home and at 4.00 pm
Yr 9 XI -v- Sir Roger Manwood's away. Fri. 21st at
4.00 pm Yr 7 XI -v- Sir Roger Manwood's away. Mon 24th at 4.00 pm Yr 8 XI -v- Sir Roger Manwood's at home.

June	Mon. 10th	Year 9
	Tues. 11th	Year 8
	Fri. 14th	Year 7
	Mon. 17th	Year 9
	Fri. 21st	Year 7
	Mon. 24th	Year 9
	Tues. 25th	Year 8
	Thurs. 27th	Year 10
	Fri. 28th	Year 7
July	Tues. 2nd	Year 8
	Thurs. 4th	Year 10