Dover Grammar School for Boys
THE "FIRST THURSDAY"
NEWSLETTERWELCOME
As we start the new school year we welcome the 107 boys who are joining the school in Year 7, boys who are joining in other years, and we also welcome five new members of staff:-
Mr Peter H Jennings, Head of Design & Technology. In recent times Mr Jennings has been teaching at Folkestone
School for Girls. Formerly he taught at Kings’ School, Grantham and had a period working as an artist. Mr
Jennings is an aeronautical engineer who qualified at Loughborough University.
Mrs Sylvie Dukes, Modern Languages Teacher. Mrs Dukes has been teaching at The Sir William Nottidge
Technology School in Whitstable. She comes from Brittany and qualified at the University of Rennes.
Mr Anthony J Lascelles, Modern Languages Teacher. Mr Lascelles previously taught at Dover College. He
qualified at Queens University in Belfast.
Mr Stephen Thompson, part-time Teacher of Art and Games. Mr Thompson is coming into teaching after
working as an artist since qualifying at the University of Sunderland. He has previously taught at The Harvey
Grammar School.
Mr Robert Turner, part-time Teacher of Information Technology. Mr Turner is retired from his full time post
as Head of In formation Technology at the North School in Ashford. His degree in Information Technology is from
the Open University.
Staff Leavers
At the end of the summer term three members of staff left the school:
Mr Clive Fieldwick who had been with the school for 17 years. He came to us from Bethany
School, in Goudhurst where he taught Technical Drawing. Before that he taught at schools in Hastings, Bath and Tunbridge Wells and also
for three years worked at schools in Zambia.
Mr Ernie Riley retired from his post as part-time teacher of Modern Languages. Mr Riley had previously been
Headteacher at Castlemount School in Dover.
Miss Dolly Thompsett, part-time Teacher of Art, has been with the school for one year but due to family
commitments she will be moving to London.
THE SUMMER’S BUILDING WORK
The construction of the new classrooms over the Dining Hall has gone on very successfully during the summer
holidays. The Dining Hall itself was back in commission for the start of term and the completion of the new
classrooms will follow very shortly. We are very pleased
with the spaces which have been produced by this work. The expansion of the number of boys in the school is well
accommodated by this development.
The derelict swimming pool has finally been Filled and cleared away during the summer holidays. Mr Chatfield,
the Premises Officer, is to be much thanked and congratulated for getting this all done at minimum cost.
The lower reaches of the school premises are much
improved as a result and further planning is now going ahead to renovate them further.
EXAMINATION RESULTS/LEAGUE TABLES
At GCSE the percentage of boys getting 5 or more Grade C’s or above was 99%, continuing the excellent record
that this school has had in this respect in recent years. In fact 95% of the GCSE subjects taken were at Grade C or
above, 70% at Grade B or above.
At ‘A’ level the average point score was 20.1 which continues the firm upward movement of this measure.
These figures will once more put us well up in the league tables. Many of you will have seen the Sunday Times
supplement “Parent Power” or the publicity it got in the local papers. They described what to look for in a good
school and went on to describe as examples the best 50 state schools in the country; of which we are one.
A couple of reminders....
If you bring your son to school by car, and you drop him at the top gate, would you please make sure you (10 not
stop on the yellow lines or in the turning area. Please stop a little further down the road and let him walk a little way.
The exercise will probably do him good! We have had an accident here in the past, and we want to avoid any future
problems.
And will you also please remember that if you come into the school for any reason, you should report to reception.
If you need to go further into the school you should sign the visitors book and be issued with a badge which should
be returned before you leave. This is all part of the security procedures which, unfortunately, are necessary
these days.
ART NEWS
Competition Prizewinners
In June of this year, our Year 9 students took part in a competition run by the Festival of Dover Committee. The
brief was to design a sculpture on the theme of ‘New Horizons - Global Experiences’. Our students included
mainly non-Western cultures and designs into their work. Competing against much older students from other schools
our youngsters did extremely well to gain the 3rd prize of £100. Praised especially highly for their work, were
Thomas Reay, Timothy Andrews and Peter Allum. The prizegiving ceremony took place in The Churchill Hotel,
Dover seafront, on 16th July 1997.
Major Decorations for Demelza House Childrens’ Hospice Charity Ball - 26th September 1997, Stour
Centre, Ashford
Our Years 9, 10, I I and 12 students have produced 20 life size clown paintings for this important event. The designs
have been worked out by our students and produced in acrylics on thick card and watercolour paper. At present,
our students are working on designs for a teatowel. We hope to see the designs put into production and for the
teatowels to be sold in aid of the Hospice.
Logo Design
Our pupils, mostly Years 7 and 8 have recently taken part in an art contest open to all LEA and GM Primary and
Secondary schools in Kent. The brief was to design a logo and leaflet for ‘Age to Age Clubs’, an organisation that
makes educational links between the younger and older generations. The top four entries were all from DGSB,
but their precise order will not be established until deep into October ‘97. The winning pupils’ names will be
published when we know them.
Well done to all our competitors.
Mr S Almond - Head of Art
ART DEPARTMENT TRIP - 11th July 1997
On Friday 11th July, the Years 10 and 12 Art students visited the Tate Gallery in London. The trip was intended
to help augment the Art Historical content of the GCSE and ‘A’ level coursework and develop the art appreciation
skills of the students.
We were able to see a wide range of art, spanning three centuries. The Tate is home to the largest collection of
J M W Turner’s works and personal effects, and seeing those works alone could have easily filled the time
available.
The variety of styles of work on show was incredible. I am very fond of Modern Art and my interest was more
than satisfied by artists such as Fontana, Klein and Baselitz. The variety of media also provided us with
plenty of subjects for the tasks set by Mr Almond and Miss Thompsett which involved studying sculptures as
well as conventional paintings. Miss Thompsett’s comments on the work of Michael Rouner near the end of
the visit ended in a few of us rushing back into the gallery to see the film that she had commented on. The rush back
was a minor point!
This was the fourth gallery visited by the Art Department this year. following a visit to the Metropole Arts Centre in
Folkestone, the National Gallery and the Royal Academy of Art.
We look forward to the next trip and thank the staff involved for organising this trip.
Michael Goodbun - 12 Port
TESCO COMPUTER VOUCHERS
Thanks to all of you who sent in their vouchers. The school has ordered a printer for the Library PC and a video cassette recorder.
UNIVERSITY SUCCESSES
We are very pleased to hear of the following successes among former DGSB students:
Paul S Friend - awarded a B.Sc degree with Upper Second Class Honours in Mathematics (European) at the
University of Leeds.
Andrew Gray - awarded a B.A. degree with Upper Second Class Honours in English at the University of
Southampton.
Daniel J Odon - awarded a BEng degree with Second Class Honours in Engineering (General) at the University
of Leicester.
Alasdair Wood - awarded a B.Sc degree with Combined Honours in Psychology with Philosophy (Maj-Min) at the
University of Leeds.
At the University of Reading:-
David R Hearn - awarded a B.Sc degree with Second Class Honours (Division 2) in Psychology.
Andrew E Marsh - awarded a B.Sc degree with Third Class Honours in Computer Science.
At the University of Warwick:-
Andrew P Marshall - awarded a B.Eng degree with
Upper Second Class Honours in Civil Engineering.
Simon A Redfern - awarded a B.Sc degree with Second Class Honours in Mathematics.
Paul D Williams - awarded a B.Eng degree with Third Class Honours in Computer Systems Engineering.
At the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London:-
Daniel P McCann - awarded a B.Sc degree with Second Class Honours (Upper Division) in Chemistry.
Anthony Spicer - awarded a B.Sc degree with Second Class Honours (Lower Division) in Mathematics.
PFA
Welcome to the new school year and a special welcome to all the new boys and parents. We hope you will support
us during the next year at the various events that have been arranged. The first two Wine & Wisdom Evenings
will be held on Friday 3rd October and Friday 28th November, and a Barn Dance has been arranged for
Saturday 31st January 1998.
The PE T-shirts (£5.50 & £6.00) and the D & T aprons (£4.00) are available from the School Office.
We will be pleased to meet any new committee members at the next meeting on Wednesday 17th September at
7.30 pm at the school, and everyone is invited to the AGM which will be held on Tuesday 23rd September at 7.30
pm.
200 Club
Results of the 200 Club for July and August are:-
July - £25 Mrs M Shepherd (151), £15 Mr & Mrs D Waller (125) and £10 Mrs J Adams (120).
August - £25 Mr M Collins (105), £15 Mrs A Stupple (149) and £10 Mrs C Brittenden (133)
The next draw takes place on 18th September.
CCF
A number of extremely successful events occurred during
the holiday:-
a) Army Section Camp at Leek in Staffordshire.
b) RAF Section Camp at Benson in Oxfordshire.
c) A training weekend which was based on the school premises.
d) Shooting practice on the new automatic scoring system range at Hythe.
There is a full shooting programme during September with Cadets participating in the following events:-
a) Target practice on Sunday 21st September
b) The Annual Range Day on Thursday 25th September.
Both of these events will be taking place at Hythe Ranges.
During the weekend of 27th/28th September it is hoped to Field teams in the CADSAM Event (Cadet Skill at Arms
Meeting) at Ash Ranges in Surrey.
SPORTS NEWS
For the first time in many years we are now in the Dover Schools Football Association League. This means that
there will be 5 matches per week with six other local schools for Years 7 - 11 inclusive. This will continue until
just after half term.
Additionally, all years are involved in the County Cup and the District Cup Competitions.
Football Fixtures:-
Wed. 10th 1st XI and 2nd XI Trials.
Wed. 17th 1st XI -v- Tunbridge Wells (H)
2nd XI -v- Tunbridge Wells (A)
Mon. 22nd 1st XI -v- Chaucer (A)
Wed. 24th 1st XI -v- Rainham Mark GS (A)
Sat. 27th 1st XI -v- Old Pharosians (H) k.o. 230pm
Wed. 1st Oct 1st XI -v- Maidstone GS (H)
2nd XL -v- Maidstone GS (A)
On Saturday 20th September there will be a 7-a-side competition at Castle High School from 9.00 am - 1.00 pm
for Years 7 - 11 inclusive.
Table Tennis
The school now has 6 teams in the two divisions of the Dover Table Tennis Association League which comprises
of boys, friends and staff of the school from Year 8 upwards. The league starts on Monday 29th September.
The gymnasium will be open on Monday after school for practice and coaching for Years 8 upwards, all welcome,
but please let Paul Skelton, Workshop Technician, know in advance.
Tuesday after school is reserved for Year 7 for practice, coaching and games. Again, all those wishing to attend
must contact Paul Skelton.
All pupils wishing to attend on Monday or Tuesday must bring the appropriate dress i.e. trainers or plimsoles and a
shirt of uniform colour other than white.
The Dover Table Tennis Association is also aiming to run a Junior League and coaching session shortly. This will
be run from l0.OOam to 12.00 noon at the Dover Sports and Leisure Centre. Further details available from Paul
Skelton.
