THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2000 No. 69

MUSICAL EVENT

"MUSIC 2000 - DOVER MILLENNIUM ARTS PROJECT"
SUNDAY 30TH APRIL at 2.00 pm
Pencester Gardens, Dover
featuring
DGSB Big Band along with other local young musicians.

For further details please see under the Music heading.
STUDENTS DRIVING TO SCHOOL
Following complaints from local residents, and an accident, can all those parents whose sons drive to school on occasions ensure that they drive in a responsible manner, being aware of the residential nature of local roads, and in particular Edred and Widred Roads, as these are very unsuitable for through traffic.

Headteacher

EXTRA STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY

The school is obliged to take an extra staff development day in the next few weeks. It has been decided to take this day on Wednesday 17th May. On that day boys should not come into school unless they are involved in the 'A' Level Art examination.

Headteacher

THE WEARING OF CRICKET HELMETS

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has issued new safety guidance which recommends that helmets should be worn when batting against a hard cricket ball in matches and in practice sessions, and encourages players to regard a helmet with a faceguard as a normal item of protective equipment when batting, together with pads, gloves and, for boys, an abdominal protector (box). The guidance also recommends that young wicket keepers should wear a helmet when standing up to the stumps. The guidance applies to all young players up to the age of 18.
The school will provide a number of cricket helmets in each age group for teams and team practices when a hard ball is being used.
For regular cricket players we advise the purchase of your own helmet. Please ensure the helmet carries a C E Mark: this shows that it complies with the requirements of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Directive under European Law.

Headteacher

LENTEN APPEAL

This year's Lenten Appeal was held during the week of 13th - 17th March with three charities being the beneficiaries - the Kent Air Ambulance, the Multiple Sclerosis Society and the World Wide Fund for Nature. As usual the School Council co-ordinated a range of including four non-uniform days, a paper glider competition, a 'Cola & Questions' run by Dr French, the soaking of several prefects and members of staff (thank you to Miss Martin, Mrs Lloyd, Mr Sewell, Mr Burkert and Mr Onions!) and a myriad of individual sponsorships, of which Graham Cutress' decision to dye his hair was probably the most lucrative. There was also a contribution from the Young Enterprise team running the Years 7 & 8 disco.
At the time of writing the total is just over £1800 - it would be good to try and raise this to £2,000 - so could all those who took sponsorship forms make sure they return their money by the end of April at the very latest.

Mr G Falconer - Assistant Head

GCSE POETRY LIVE AT THE ADELPHI THEATRE, LONDON

Forty Year 10 and Year 11 boys attended this event on Wednesday 22nd March. They were treated to a feast of fine performances by several poets on the current English and English Literature syllabus, including Grace Nichols, John Agard, Carol Ann Duffy, Gillian Clarke, U A Fanthorpe and the extraordinary 'post-punk' poet John Cooper Clarke. They also benefited from advice on essay writing from a Chief Examiner. It was an enjoyable and stimulating day for both pupils and staff.

Mr M Thomas - Subject Leader for English

'A' LEVEL LITERATURE CONFERENCE - WESTMINSTER CENTRAL HALL

Ten 'A' Level English students attended this event on 23rd March and had the chance to listen to several eminent academics and writers, including Professor Terry Eagleton on Oscar Wilde, Professor Lisa Jardine on Shakespeare, Kazuo Ishiguro on his work 'The Remains of the Day' and Carol Ann Duffy giving a wide ranging reading of her poetry. Chief Examiner Tony Childs spoke usefully about strategies for answering exam questions. Adrian Mitchell gave a poetry reading that was alternatelymoving and wildly funny, and the day was ended in fine style with a brilliantly subversive reading by John Cooper Clarke.
Several boys found themselves in the media spotlight when they were interviewed and photographed for e magazine - watch out for the next issue appearing in the school library!

Mr M Thomas - Subject Leader for English

DEPARTMENT OF ART & DESIGN TRIP TO LONDON
Friday 24th March 2000

A group of 26 pupils (Years 10 and 12), and two staff (Mr Almond and Mr Thompson) visited The Royal Academy of Art on Piccadilly, in order to see two major exhibitions there, namely '1900: Art at the Crossroads', and 'Chardin'.
The former exhibition is a massive survey of paintings and sculpture produced during the turn of the century, with artists such as Picasso, Cezanne, Gauguin, Monet, Rodin and Sorolla, giving any pupil an excellent chance to make detailed studies of a wide range of styles.
At lunchtime, we left The Royal Academy to have lunch at McDonalds on The Haymarket.
We returned to The Royal Academy to look at the majestic Chardin exhibition. Chardin is generally regarded as having been one of the greatest of all painters of still life but he was also a fine painter of people carrying out everyday tasks. Surprisingly, this is the first ever exhibition in Britain of Chardin's paintings despite the fact that he died in 1779.
Our pupils worked well in the exhibitions and very much enjoyed the trip.

Mr S Almond - Subject Leader of Art & Design

YEAR 13 HISTORY TRIP 

The Year 13 History group combined two off site visits into one day on Monday 27th March. In the morning they attended two lectures at the University of Kent, one by Professor David Welch on recent debates about the holocaust, especially the controversy stirred up by Daniel Goldhagen's book "Hitler's Willing Executioners". The second was by Dr Mark Connolly on the way the First World War has been perceived in the 80 plus years since it ended. Both lecturers were interesting and thought provoking. The group then travelled to The Royal Engineers Museum, Chatham and looked at the wealth of interesting material they have, much of which is relevant to the study of 'the development of land warfare' carried out in year 13.

Mr G Falconer - Assistant Head & Subject Leader for History

GCSE FRENCH TRIP TO WESTMINSTER HALL

Seatbelts were essential as we set off at some speed under the guidance of Mrs Lloyd for the trip to London.
After a long journey, and witnessing a stranded art teacher, we set out on a lengthy walk across London past all of the famous landmarks. We arrived on time and saw that hundreds of other GCSE hopefuls would also be sharing the experience.
It was an excellent opportunity for all involved to enhance their reading, listening and oral French skills in a more relaxed and differing environment from the classroom.
The day began with a brief introduction in English and that was the last we heard of our language as we watched cartoon sketches, advertisements and TV programmes in our adopted language. The hosts acted out scenes which we answered questions on to help in all three aspects of French.
With breaks at the right times everyone was switched on and we all agreed that we learnt a lot about the language, especially the speaking side, as we heard how words and phrases were pronounced in acted situations. We led the race to McDonalds in the lunch break and made it back in time for the second session in which the audience responded to questions from the French natives.
Our thanks must go to Mrs Lloyd who organised the day and despite a slightly disappointing turnout a very enjoyable and educational experience.

Dean Scoggins - Form 11CH

TWINNING WITH THE COLLEGE SAINT PIERRE

Today, 7CA are actually in Calais. So, all Year 7 classes will have visited their penfriends from the College St Pierre. They all had a taste of French culture as well as French canteen food! Meeting their pen-friends was a very enjoyable experience and all are looking forward to the Year 8 trip to France. One class has already hosted their French counterparts. For the other three classes the return trip will take place next term.
This leads us to the Year 8 exchange which took place on 2nd and 3rd April. 18 of our boys, joined by 20 girls from the Girls' Grammar School, visited their pen-friends in Calais and stayed overnight in their family, having been treated to French Sunday lunch and various family trips on Sunday afternoon. On the Monday morning we visited the Nausicaa Centre in Boulogne where the pupils were able to see sharks, sea lions and a lot more. After lunch at school we said goodbye to our French friends and did some shopping on our way back to the docks.
This was a very useful experience for the language and cultural aspect but the boys equally enjoyed being joined by the Girls' Grammar School for this trip!

Miss H Martin - Modern Languages Department

POETRY COMPETITION

Young poets from 7 Port have had their work published in an anthology of schoolchildren's poetry.
The poets are: James Cooper, Liam Cummings, Nicholas Jones, Joseph Hurling, Jack Napier, Matthew Johncock, Jamie Gilmour, Andy Arter, Daniel Bent.
The book entitled "Future Voices" is published by Young Writers and is available in bookshops or by mail order.

Mrs S Rose - English Department

MUSIC

March has been a particularly busy month for the school's musicians with a range of activities and achievements to be reported.
The new half term opened with the Sponsored Practice, and this together with other fund-raising has realised well over £500 for Music Department funds. All those who took part have received a letter of thanks from the Director of Music and prizes have been awarded to those who raised the highest individual amounts:
First: Ben Bulow (9CA), Second: Richard Hayward (8PT), Joint Third: Robert Manhire (7CH) and Adam Owen Stirna (9CH). 
Thanks are also due to all family, friends and pupils who sponsored our musicians.
Music Examinations: As usual, a number of our pupils have taken Graded Practical Music Examinations this term and all have been successful.
Congratulations are due to:
Oliver Mayes (8PY) Grade 1 Trumpet with Distinction, Benjamin Reay (8CA) Grade 2 Trumpet with Distinction, Thomas Smith (9PY) Grade 3 Trombone with Merit, Henry Bainbridge (10CA) Grade 5 Baritone with Merit, Mark Farthing (8PT) Grade 2 Alto Saxophone, Laurence Williams (8PY) Grade 2 Clarinet with Distinction, Adam Owen Stirna (9CH) Grade 5 Clarinet, Thomas Smith (9CH) Grade 5 Alto Saxophone and Daniel McLean (11PT) Grade 3 Cello with Merit.
Prizes: Daniel McLean must also be congratulated on winning First Prize in the Traditional Class for Cello at the Kent Instrumental Festival on Saturday 4th March.
Giles Barrett (11PT) was awarded the H J Taylor Prize for Grade 4 Keyboard at the Trinity College of Music Prizegiving on 22nd March, at which Paul Witty (11PT) and Thomas Smith (9CH) were also prizewinners.
Two concerts have taken place in the last month, reflecting the full range of the school's musical activities.
The Spring Concert was given on Wednesday 22nd March at 7.30 pm in the School Hall and presented a wide variety of instrumental music. Performances by the Brass Ensemble, Training Band, Jazz Group and Big Band were interspersed with a full range of solo items representing strings, woodwind, brass, piano and organ. During the interval refreshments were served and the evening was much enjoyed by both performers and audience alike.
The Choral Concert given on Saturday 1st April at 8.00 pm in Charlton Church was extremely successful in every way. The School Choir and friends, a body of some forty-five singers, presented a selection of some of the best known choral works including Bach's Jesu, Joy of man's desiring (in which the oboe soloist was our Headteacher Mr Slater), Mozart's Ave Verum and Handel's Zadok the Priest together with two works by Fauré - the Requiem (with guest soloists Vicky Bradford and Old Pharosian Stephen Yarrow) and the Cantique de Jean Racine. The programme included as well renaissance music played by the School Brass Ensemble, an organ solo played by Mr Baldock who also accompanied the choral pieces, and Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate, a work for solo soprano sung by guest soloist Janet O'Neill with Mr Davies at the organ who also conducted the concert. During the interval wine and light refreshments were served and a Retiring Collection realised £120 for the charity Cancer Research.
All musicians involved in either concert as a singer or member of one of our instrumental ensembles received a Certificate of Music Representation in assembly during the last week of term.
Looking ahead, along with many other local young musicians, the DGSB Big Band will be taking part in a special musical event "Music 2000 - Dover Millennium Arts Project" in Pencester Gardens, Dover on Sunday 30th April starting at 2.00 pm. A piece of music has been specially composed for us to play on that occasion by Kent composer Alan Vincent, entitled "Dover Parade 2". The musical event lasts all afternoon and is in four "movements", the slot for the DGSB Big Band scheduled for the second of these at about 2.45 pm.

Mr R S Davies - Director of Music

SCHOOL LIBRARY - Tesco Vouchers

The Collection for 2000 shortly comes to a close. Thank you to all those parents, relations and friends of the school who have already contributed to the appeal this year.
I was hoping to procure computer number three for the Library but it is looking unlikely at present. However, I remain optimistic that more tokens will come in towards the end of April and we may be lucky. Please keep up the good work, it is appreciated.
Maybe this could justify the extra Easter Egg in the weekly shopping trolley!!
Free Software For Schools
A selection of forty-two CD discs have been added to the Library collection for use by pupils and staff. This was a most successful appeal. Thank you to those who purchased computers before Christmas which boosted the total considerably.
The software ranges from general Encyclopaedias and Clip Art to a comprehensive range of materials covering nearly all the curriculum subject areas.
Lenten Appeal
This year the Library deviated from the annual Literacy Quiz to a general fund "Guess Who" type format to give the younger pupils more of a sporting chance. Much fun was had by all who took part with lots of team effort and conferring.
After some nail biting marking the winners were: Darren Piper, Chris Tutthill and Daniel Brown, Jonathan Owen and Jeremy Childs, all from Year 12. Thank you to all those who competed. As in other years the younger pupils were pipped at the post.

Mrs L George - School Librarian

SUPPORT KENT SCHOOLS

Following the announcement by those opposed to selective education that they have abandoned their campaign for this academic year, the SKS local group meeting due to have been held at our school last night (Wednesday 5th April) was postponed until next month. The main SKS board meets next week, and in the light of their discussions the local group will then decided what to do.
While we are pleased that the immediate threat to grammar schools has been lifted, there is still concern that the campaign can be launched again in September in an attempt to force a ballot next year.

Mr G & Mrs J Tutthill

PARENTS' AND FRIENDS' ASSOCIATION

We were sorry that due to almost total lack of support we had to cancel the Barn Dance last month. These have been very popular events in the past so we were very surprised, and disappointed, that hardly any tickets were sold this time. We will need to discuss plans for any similar events in the future.
Just a reminder - second hand uniform is on sale from the School Office Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

Mrs J Tutthill - Chairman

OLD PHAROSIANS

The old boys' association committee met last month and made plans for the annual meeting, football match and dinner in September. Work is progressing on the next edition of the association's newsletter due to be published in July.
It was also agreed to buy a new Union Jack flag for the school, replacing the one which the committee was told was in a bad state of repair. The new one has been bought and has already been flying from the top of the school tower.

Mr G Tutthill - Assistant Secretary

SPORTS NEWS

FOOTBALL - Teachers - v - Prefects
A physical 'Headmaster's Select XI' narrowly edged out a slightly weakened Prefects Team by 2 goals to 1 in ideal playing conditions on the top field.
Playing in front of a sizeable crowd both teams failed to deliver the fluent slick passing all to commonly associated with teachers and prefects alike.
The teachers provided one surprise inclusion with Neville Southall travelling down from Bradford to play in goal!
Slack passing dominated the opening passage of play and chances were few and far between. Chris Townend squandered the first chance of the game, firing over from the edge of the box.
Disaster struck for the prefects when a seemingly harmless cross from the left was turned into his own net by the unfortunate Ryan Parmenter.
This did not dampen the enthusiasm of the prefects as they kept pressing forward against a stubborn defence marshalled by the solid partnership of Mr Michaels and Mr Ritson.
Success arrived mid way during the first half when Antony Ray slotted the ball through to Geoff Keen. The teachers' defence froze, standing calling for offside. The referee said play on and although Geoff Keen did his best to miss the ball ended up in the back of the net.
The second half was very end to end with neither teams having a midfield. The only highlight of the half came through a prefect's mistake. Trying his best to clear the ball the defender, who will remain unnamed ** only managed to pass the ball to Mr Thompson whose first time shot gave Mike Quinn no chance.
For most of the game the prefects played against 12 players as the referee clearly saw the teachers needed all the help they could get and so gave every decision their way! Hmmm..... Despite the best efforts of the prefects they couldn't get the elusive goal they so desperately wanted.
In the rematch I am sure that the prefects will gain revenge!

Ritchie Hulks - Form 12B

** Ritchie is too modest here as the whole crowd saw him!

Rugby - Year 7 
In their first relatively short season of playing together I am very pleased with the progress the team has made. As the results on the attached sheet show there have been some close games but against the stronger more established opposition we faltered. The tournament results have been excellent. In both when the games were very short (5-6 minutes each way) we were very good at keeping the ball but failed to capitalise on the possession with tries. The team knows that a lack of tackling has cost us games when we have been dominating. The rucking and mauling have been the key features of progress and with the passing game slowly developing (rather than relying on brute strength and speed).
There is now an established squad which is showing signs of having some strength in depth in the backs. However there is still a need to increase the numbers of forwards, especially as next season a full eight-man pack is required. I am hopeful that more young men will be persuaded that the game of rugby has much to offer them and combined with the honour of playing for the school will spur them into action.
The squad consisted of: Andrew Arter, Paul Ayling, 
Andrew Barnett, James Chainey, Sam Field, Thomas Graham, Andrew Grant, Edward Haste, Ben Hughes, Jo Hurling, Carl Jacobs, Nicholas Jones, Daniel Keenan, Lynton Lythgoe, Nathan Myers, Mark Ritson, Edward Roberts, Thomas Rostron, Michael Scaplehorn, Richard Williamson. 
I rarely pick out individuals for mention, as I believe in the whole team playing together, but there are a few players who total commitment and efforts should be noted. These are:
Ben Hughes - an excellent runner!
Andrew Arter - a sharp scrum half.
Sam Field - ball winner extraordinaire.
Richard Williamson - a vision of coolness.
Michael Scaplehorn - a solid work horse.
Lastly my thanks to all the players for their efforts this term and also to their parents for their support and understanding.

Mr J Michaels - Physical Education Department

TABLE TENNIS

The top four players from each competing house went through for the one-minute speed control and the final averages are shown below. Each player was partnered with every other competitor during this competition, the top combination being Rahul Bakshi, 8PY, and Darryl Borrello also 8PY totalling 101 strokes in 60 seconds.
Please see attached sheet for results.
Dover Open Table Tennis Competition
The above competition will be held at Dover Leisure Centre on Saturday 29th April from 9.00 am until 6.00 pm. There is an entrance fee of £4.00 and the events are:
Singles (Band A) for all competitors
Singles (Band B) 
(anybody who has won their local Tournament within the last 10 years cannot play in Band B.)
Open Doubles
Allocated Doubles
Junior Singles (U14)
Junior Singles (U17)
The Presentation Evening will be 13th May 2000. Venue: St Johns Hall, Military Hill, Dover. Entry forms are available from me.
Bat Testing Session - A bat testing session is being held at Dover Leisure Centre on Saturday 8th April 2000, a large range of bats and rubbers supplied by the 'Bat Workshop' will be available for anyone to try. £1.00 for adults. Free for Juniors.
Visit the Dover Table Tennis Association Website at:
http://www.heysmart.com/DTTA/

Mr P Skelton - Workshop Technician

DIARY DATES

End of Term: Friday 7th April
Term Commences: Wednesday 26th April

(Please note that school will finish on Friday at 1.30 pm and buses will collect pupils at that time. However please refer to the letter of 3rd April (Monday) sent home with your son as this is specific about bus arrangements.)