THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER APR 1998 No. 47

STAFF CHANGES

We congratulate Mr Gary Phillpott on his appointment as Head of Economics and Business Studies at the new school in Bangkok which has been founded by Harrow School. Mr Phillpott’s place here will be filled in the Summer Term by Mr Michael Webb, a graduate in Economics from the University of Kent. Mr Webb has been running an International Training/Business Consultancy.

In September the Economics and Business Studies Department will be taken over by Ms Tasneem Shafi, a graduate in Economics and Business Studies from the university of Salford. Ms Shafi is currently teaching at Wilmington Grammar School for Boys where she is Assistant Head of Sixth Form.

LENTEN APPEAL 1998

An excellent effort by all the forms in the school has led to a total of £2,263 (and still rising). The Cola and Questions, Powell Cup (for which many pupils were sponsored) and a myriad of events during the week were enjoyed by all those in school. The charities Amnesty International, Zimbex, the Kent Air Ambulance and Ankylosing Spondylitis will all benefit.

THE POWELL CUP

The Powell Cup Cross Country run was held on the afternoon of Friday 13th March. A large number of boys participated, with two aims in mind, one to run as a representative of their school house team and the second to raise money, by sponsorship, for the Lenten Appeal. The Inter-House results are as follows:

1st Castle House
2nd Port House
3rd Channel House

BOOKWEEK - 16th - 20th March

The first Bookweek to be held by the English Department took place between 16th and 20th March. It was a highly successful week during which many boys in KS3 had the opportunity to learn from professional writers and all were encouraged in their personal reading.

On Monday morning the week began with a lively, inventive and highly entertaining demonstration of the traditional art of story telling by our visiting writer John Rice. He is a published poet and storyteller who ran the Kent Literature Festival for many years and draws on the traditions and images of his native Scotland for much of his work. This performance was seen by all of Year 8 and some boys in ears 7 and 9. For the rest of the day John ran workshops in the art of writing and performing for groups of boys drawn from Years 7 - 9. His workshops were agreed by all to be both fun and highly stimulating.

On Tuesday we welcomed the well known children’s writer Anthony Masters to the school to conduct two of his famous ‘book explosion and creative writing’ workshops with the whole of Year 7. Those who thought that creative writing was a quiet, sedate business were in for a surprise. Under Anthony’s careful and disciplined direction the first hour was spent in a variety of active and exciting drama games, involving ropes, nets and bashing people with newspapers. With the imagination freed and alert, boys then settled down to write. Everybody produced imaginative, flowing work in a concentrated fifteen minute period and English teachers (who also took part in the workshops) have now carried that work on to the finished version in class.

Wednesday was a little less frenetic with the visit of Nicky Leggatt and her Mobile Bookshop. She spoke to each Year 7 class in turn about new reading material for children and teenagers. Many boys were able to buy books from her at a 10% discount.

On Thursday and Friday we held lunchtime events in the School Library at which prizes for the winners in the Art and Poetry Competitions were awarded by Mr Slater. The Art Competiton ad resulted in an excellent range of high quality designs for book covers being presented by all the boys in K53.

In the end we offered two prizes in each year group and the winners were:
Year 7 - Max Beresford 7R and Tom Smith 7W
Year 8 - Matthew Wash 8B and Samuel Tiltman 8B
Year 9 - Ben Knott 9SW and Sam Jackson 9SW

The Poetry Competition was open to anybody in the school and we had a good range of very promising work from KS3, rather less from KS4 and very little from the Sixth Form. As a result prizes were offered as follows:

Sixth Form - Ian Banks 12CA
KS4 - Matthew Fisher 11CA
Year 9 - Edward Smith 9A with Giles Barrett 9A and Stuart Inglis 9A as equal second.
Year 7 - Tom Bird 7G

In addition 9D, 9A and 9J have visited a performance of their chosen Shakespear text for the KS3 Test in Chatham by the English Shakespeare Company. These combined workshops on the text with a lively updated style of performance.

And finally we shall be hosting a visit by the Shakspearean Young People’s Theatre Company on 30th April to give a shortened performance of Julius Caesar.

Mr M Thomas - Head of English

WORK EXPERIENCE BRIEFING DAY

In preparation for Year 10’s two weeks work experience at the beg inning of the Summer Term there was a briefing day on Tuesday 31st March. The day was organised by the Dover & Deal Education Business Partnership. Eight group leaders came in from the world of work and led sessions on: What makes an Ideal Employee, Health & Safety at Work and Creative Enterprise.

The students were greatly stimulated by the day and clearly enjoyed it. We are very grateful to the group leaders for helping us in this way.

SCHOOL LIBRARY NEWS

Lenten Appeal - This year’s Lenten Appeal Library Book Quiz raised £20. Those who participated enjoyed the challenge and improved research initiative and skills. The first prize, for the second year running, went to Paul Mitchell of 9J who won £10. Second prize went to a joint entry, Justin Richardson of 11 CA and John Miles of 11CH. They shared a large slab of chocolate. Paul Tutthill of 13CH came third, winning an Easter Egg. Well done to all entrants.

Dover Childrens Library Visit - On Wednesday 25th March Mrs Hargrave and myself took 7S to Dover Library to be introduced to its services and the launch a new Teen Logo for Kent Arts and Libraries Teenage Fiction Collection. If time allows we hope to return with the other Year 7 groups.

Tesco Vouchers - We are now well over halfway with 10,500 plus vouchers (and still counting) having been collected, With Easter almost upon us we are hopeful that our target will be reached. Many thanks for your continued support. Why not treat yourself to an extra Easter Egg or two!!

Mrs L George - School Librarian

HISTORY TRIP TO THE ROYAL ENGINEERS MUSEUM

On Monday 16th March a group of Year 13 History students visited the Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham. This underused but excellent museum covers the story of the Royal Engineers from their earliest days up to the Gulf War. It can be recommended as a good place to visit for anyone interested in Military History.

Mr G Falconer - Head of History

FRENCH DEPARTMENT

During the last month the French Department has been very busy with its programme of visits.

All Year 7 pupils have now been on a day trip to Calais to visit their penfriends at the College St Pierre sampling a French school lunch, working in p airs to exchange information about each other and finally doing their little bit of shopping for cakes, bread, sweets and even basket balls. They are now waiting to show this school to their French counterparts.

The Year 8 pupils, who played host to their French penfriends in January have now spent their two days in France. On arrival they were met by the French families and soon realised that there was no need to worry. It indeed proved an enjoyable experience.

Year 9 students, on the other hand, went to France first to spend three days with their penfriend and his family. A visit was made to the new museum of La Coupole, near St Omer where with the help of headphones we were told about the German secret weapons of World War IL, the people’s life in Northern France at the time of the German occupation and the conquest of space as a spin-off of V2 technology. The return visit by the French party took place last week. This included a visit to Mine Tussaud’s museum in London. Hopefully the students who have taken part in this longer exchange, especially after last year’s two day one, will now have a solid foundation upon which to build further visits on an individual basis.

Mrs M Hargrave - Head of Year 7

ART PRIZE WINNER

Recently some of our Year 9 pupils entered work in a major Kent Schools (13-18 age range) Art/Prose Competition, The Jim Petrie Memorial Prize. Students had to choose from two themes ‘In Praise of Birds’ or ‘In Praise of Farming’ and produce either a picture or a piece of prose inspired by the chosen theme. It is with great pleasure that we announce that one of our pupils, Ben Langley of 9J, has been awarded 3rd prize in this competition for producing a painted montage of five different British birds. Congratulations to Ben who wins a cash prize and a special certificate, and well done to all our contestants for producing such high quality work.

Mr S Almond - Head of Art & Design

DGSB SKIING/SNOWBOARDING TRIP

The DGSB trip to Evol6ne, Switzerland over the recent half term was, yet again, a resounding success. Thirty six boys and four members of staff stayed at Chalet Lana as a guest of the inimitabe Gerry and his wonderful chalet girls. Over the week the boys improved their techniques on snow - 16 pupils progressed sufficiently well to receive various medals in the end of week ceremony. Others developed a variety of social skills, such as, asking for bottles of coke and/or sweets in French, the art of communal dining and, not least, meeting GIRLS!!! - from the other schools sharing the accommodation. At the final disco Kemal Ozkoruyucu was particularly impressive with his breath control and Neil Brinicombe was seen to sway very nonchalantly during the slow smoochy numbers.

Other highlights included; the culture shock of the locals celebration of Mardi Gras involving cowbells, very smelly sheepskins and ferocious looking pagan animal masks. And the sight of Jason Delahunt and Steven Hornsey almost sitting still long enough to finish a game of JENGA. Overall it was a very enjoyable week for both students and staff with no broken bones (well none reported at the time!) just a few tired and aching adult bodies (well except for Mr. Duke whose only problem was not quite enough ice in his G&T on the flight home).

Finally, this year’s Mr BEAN award goes to STUART DODD 12CA for his perseverance in wrestling, almost successfully, with the pommel lifts and T-bars.

And the Mr. COOL award was won by RUSSELL JOHNSON Year 9 for his daily 2hr grooming sessions in the bathroom, combing and colouring his hair, applying his cologne, manicuring his nails etc... all before breakfast! The chalet girls were impressed!

Mr. Boardman.

SLALOM SKIING

There is the possibility that Folkestone Ski Club will be offering slalom ski lessons at the Folkestone Dri Ski slope after Easter. The cost would probably be in the region of £4.00 an hour. It would very much be an indvidual commitment, i.e. in terms of attendance at, and transport to and from the sessions. I am not sure DGSB staff would be able to attend these sessions which would be organised under the auspices of the Folkestone Ski Club. There are county, regional and national championship events in this discipline.

For further details contact the Folkestone Ski centre or Mr. Boardman.

DGSB INTERNET HOMEPAGE.

The Information Superhighway will soon include DGSB. The school’s homepage will soon be going on-line (i.e. over the next few weeks).

It will contain information regarding the school, curriculum and the pharosians and regular updates of news and events (extracts from the First Thursday for example). It will be developed more fully over the coming months, years etc. and will provide teachers and pupils access to a tremendous fund of information and resources. Many thanks to Mark Gabriel, 11CA, for his help and enterprise.

Mr N Boardman

THE CLASS OF ‘69

For several months advertisements in local papers have been appearing announcing the intention of bringing together the DGSB Class of 1969 for a reunion on 28th March. The motivation for this was that they were all reaching the grand old age of forty this year and several Old Boys of that year decided that this might be the last chance to get everyone together. Ian Blaskett (father of Brady in Year 8) started the task of tracing the whole year of 125 boys. Six disappeared from all contacts, one had sadly passed away but the majority were traced and sent messages of goodwill. For example, former Kent Cricketer Derek Aslett from Perth, Western Australia.

The original plan was for everyone to assemble at the Dover Rugby Club at Crabble for a ‘few jars’ but it became clear that many of the Class of ‘69 wanted to visit the school again and I was contacted to see if this was possible. (I started teaching at DGSB in September 1975 when they started their Upper Sixth Year). So having Persuaded Mr Chatfield to open the school on his birthday(!). I met about thirty of the Class of ‘69 to show them around. It was very interesting to meet these Bank Managers, TV Reporters, Management Consultants, Computer Programmers, etc., and how they related to seeing their old haunts. Mr Smith, former Head of CDT and Mr Quinn, former Head of Science, joined the party much to the assembled horror of the Old Boys who promptly remembered previous episodes of torture and degradation! Photographs were taken by Mr Tutthill to record the meeting and there were two impressions that I was left with:- firstly, the surprise (and delight) that the building (and toilets!) were just as they had left them with virtually no changes; and secondly, the undisguised affection and gratitude that the Old Boys showed and expressed towards ‘Colditz’. With the passing of time it is common to see your schooldays through ‘rose tinted spectacles’ but I hope that twenty two years after you have left DGSB you look back on it with the same feelings as the Class of ‘69.

Mr S Bailey

MUSIC

On Wednesday 18th March at 7.30 pm the school’s musicians presented the Spring Concert to a large and appreciative audience in the School Hall. As well as the usual performances by the Jazz Group and Big Band the concert featured the debut of the newly-formed Training Band, directed by Michael Quinn. There were also a number of debut solo performances from James Garlick (Clarinet), Tom Punton (Trumpet), Henry Bainbridge (Euphonium) and Giles Barrett and Paul Witty (Synthesizers). More experienced individual performers included pianist Xavier Taylor and trombonist Fabian Trevelyan together with James Parker and Trevor Lynes in Vivaldi’s concerto for Two Trumpets and Stephen Moloney and Ian Banks in Weber’s Concertino for Clarinet and Piano. The concert was directed by Mr Richard Davies, who also played an organ solo, and the piano accompanist was Mrs Gillian Greenacre.

At the time of going to press a Jazz Workshop is due to be held in the School Hall on Tuesday 31st March from 8.00 pm to 10.00 pm with Canterbury based Big Band The Strayhorns led by Myles Collins. The evening will feature The Strayhorns working in rehearsal and performance with the school’s own Big Band and certainly will provide an opportunity to hear several classic titles from the age of Swing.

On Thursday 2nd April the school Big Band will be in action again as guest performers in Dover Music Centre’s Spring Concert to be held in Dover Town Hall starting at 7.00 pm.

Next term will see two school musical events - the choral concert on Wednesday 24th June at 8.00 pm in Charlton Church (when the programme is scheduled to include settings of the Requiem by Faure and Duruflé and the Concert of Music for a Summer Evening on Wednesday 15th July at 7.30 pm in the School Hall. In addition on Saturday 30th May at 7.30 pm Mr Richard Davies (Director of Music) will be giving an Organ Recital at St. Clements Church, Sandwich, on the 1995 Nicholson Pipe Organ, one of the finest instruments in the area.

Mr R Davies - Director of Music

COLA AND QUESTIONS

For the sixth year a Cola and Questions Quiz Evening was held in the Hall on Monday 9th March in aid of the Lenten Appeal. Twelve teams took part in the event organised by 8F. A group of Year 7 pupils valiantly struggled to answer the wide range of questions devised specially for the occasion, but managed to walk away with consolation prizes of a tube of Smarties for each member of the lowest scoring team. Fierce competition between rival Year 13 teams ended in triumph for Martin Waller, Richard Berridge, Gavin Martin, Chris Pitchford, Chris Searle, James Parker and James Hurrell. Each member of the winning team received the much-coveted plastic trophy, an Easter egg and a tube of Smarties. Thanks are offered to two Mums, Mrs Roberts and Mrs Crawley, who came along to help out, selling extra drinks, crisps and sweets. The event would not have been possible without the support of Miss Hossack and Mr Warner, as well as all the members of 8F who devised questions, acted as question masters, dealt competently with the marking and scoring, or who kept the teams fed and watered. Thanks to all participants, we hope you enjoyed yourselves.

Cola and Questions raised £197.16 for the Lenten Appeal.

Dr A French - 8F Form Tutor

CO-OP VOUCHERS

We are very grateful for the fine efforts put into achieving a final total of 10,045. The Sports Department have ordered:

6 Gymnastic heavy duty mats, 2 large rugby tackle bags and 1 mini rugby tackle bag.

Mr S Bailey

PFA

The next PFA Committee Meeting will be held on Tuesday 28th April at 7.30 pm.

The Committee wish to thank everyone who supported the Wine & Wisdom Evening held last Friday, 27th March. We raised £179.55 which will go towards buying school equipment. Have a good Easter break.

200 Club

The lucky prize winners of the March 200 Club are as follows:

1st: Mrs M J Prior £25 (131), 2nd: Mr D Garlick £15 (119) and 3rd: Mrs M Hargrave £10 (134).

CCF

The handover parade took place on Friday 27th March. Three new senior NCOs took over new roles. The Contingent Senior Cadet is now CWO Hayward, the Head of the Army Section if SSGT Ayling and the Head of the RAF Section is FS Thorne. The Contingent would like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing senior NCOs for all their hard work and much value contribution to the CCF during the last year.

Five Cadets attended a one week camp at RAF Laabruch in Germany where they went on day trips to Koln and Nijmegen.

Last Friday, 27th March, sixteen Cadets enjoyed a day at RAF Manston flying Bulldog aircraft whilst the Shooting Team have been enjoying regular weekend shoots at Hythe Ranges.

SPORTS NEWS

CROSS COUNTRY

Michael Roberts along with Daniel Trenowden and Neil Trenowden participated in an Invitation Cross-Country event held at Canterbury. They, as a school team, came 6th competing against teams from as far afield as Paddock Wood, Hythe and Margate as well as local schools such as Archers Court and Sir Roger Manwoods. They will be presented with certificates highlighting both their individual efforts as well as their collective performance in the intermediate match for Years 10 & 11. Michael did particularly well to finish second to earn the silver medal, presented to him by Mike Wilkins, the Director of Sport at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Meanwhile, Daniel (who, incidentally, won the race against the same boys in the juniors two years ago) was a creditable 10th and his brother Neil, against boys one year older, was 28th.

Michael and Daniel, as members of Invicta East Kent AC, represented the Club in the English National Under 17 Cross-Country Championships in Leeds. They achieved the best result the Club have ever had at this prestigious event coming 10th against clubs from Cornwall and Northumberland. On that occasion Michael was the club’s 4th man home in 106th place and Daniel was the 6th man home in a gritty run for 251st.

Congratulations must go to all three boys, not only for their achievements, but also for the courage to even participate.

Mr J Roberts - Parent and Trainer for Invicta East Kent AC

FOOTBALL

1st XI Match Report

U19 District Cup Final - Tuesday 10th March

St Edmunds 0 Dover G 5 5

This was a very sporting and competitive match played at The Danes in difficult conditions with a strong crosswind and bumpy pitch. Kicking up the slope Dover G.S. gradually dominated the game with St Edmunds defending deep. Jon Spence opened the scoring with a fine turn and left foot shot into the top corner from 25 yards. Captain, John Castle, made it 2 ten minutes later but only after St Edmunds had struck the crossbar. Paul Johnson converted a cross and Lee Neiles tapped in from close range to make it 4 - 0 at half time. St Edmunds regrouped at half-time and made it much more difficult for Dover G.S. not giving the space in midfield. Lee Neiles converted a cross from close range to finish the scoring but St Edmunds never gave up and made several half chances being unable to beat Ian Matthews and substitute Tom Scrivener in the Dover goal.

Under 16 District Cup Semi-Final Replay - Wednesday 25th March

Sandwich 3 DGSB 1 (after extra time)

After throwing away a 2 - 0 lead in the first match, the Under 16’s were quite confident of winning the replay but found that owing to injury and coursework deadlines they were missing one half of the usual squad. Darren Piper and Kevin Doughty were drafted in and the patched up side did themselves great credit and almost won. It was a very scrappy game but we battled away defending deep and restricting Sandwich to some long range efforts which Darren Piper dealt with efficiently. Kevin Herbert marshalled the defence superbly and the midfield contested every ball, and after twenty minutes we took the lead when Christian Dugard took advantage of a mix in the Sandwich defence and lashed in a left foot drive, when we thought we had extended our lead - Simon Thomas broke through to beat the Sandwich keeper with a precise shot into the bottom corner, the goal was given, the teams lined up in a state of shock only for reality to return, the goal was disallowed, mistakenly I thought, for offside. It was a cruel blow for Simon who, although not the most gifted sportsman, is always prepared to try his hardest for the school. He deserved the goal. Anyway the team gradually ran out of steam but Sandwich were not much better and it looked as if we would hang on for the win only for a Sandwich midfield player to score with an unstoppable shot from 25 yards.

Extra time followed and in the first half against the wind we defended well but didn’t look as if we would score. The manager made the decision to push Dan Trenowden into attack, Kevin Doughty into mid field and drop Simon Pellett into defence. It worked so well that within two minutes Sandwich scored! We pushed up to try to snatch the equaliser only to lose Darren Piper with a nasty cut after the Sandwich central striker apparently lashed out at him and was sent off. Paul McMullan went in goal but had no chance with a last minute goal.

Overall I was very pleased with the team effort and with better coaching and tactical awareness we could have scraped an undeserved win.

Mr S Bailey

Year 10 District Cup Football Semi-Final - Friday 27th March

DGSB 8 Archers Court 0

The team, although not at full strength played an excellent first half performance putting a lot of pressure on their defence. By the half time whistle we were six goals up with our relentless pressure telling on their side. Two more goals came in the second half with an excellent individual goal from Ben Mackenzie. The final score being eight goals to nil. This was a good all round team.

Mr M Grant - Head of PE

RUGBY

Year 7 Dover G.S. 21 Sandwich 14

Thursday 5th March

This was an entertaining game with play continually switching from one end to the other. In the first half Dover were outplayed in the forwards losing out in the ruck due to poor technique. However, Ryan Kilpatrick’s strong runs kept us in the game and led to some excellent tries. In the second half the forwards showed better commitment with strong performances coming from Paul Mulhearn and Gary Mulhearn. This allowed backs to have a clean ball which led to some good breaks by Edwards Close. The last part of the game tested the teams defensive ability with Sandwich encamped on our line. Dover showed real spirit with some excellent tackling keeping Sandwich out for fifteen minutes. Overall this was a promising performance. Commitment to training will definitely result in future improvement.

Year 8 Maidstone G.S. 27 Dover G.S. 0

Saturday 7th March

Dover were outplayed in the forwards throughout the game. Maidstone were well drilled and showed good technique in all areas of forward play. In comparison Dover’s forwards stood too upright in rucks and never reached the breakdowns in numbers (due to lack of fitness). Four Maidstone men always reached the breakdown first which led to constant possession and a number of turnovers. As a result Dover’s backs were always on the back foot which made it difficult to create any moves. The little possession which was gained was wasted due to this pressure. The side rallied in the second half with some strong tackling and increased commitment in the forwards. This led to some excellent breaks by Dane Luchford. Dover failed to succeed a try in the second half but threatened the Maidstone line on a number of occasions. The team still has many games left and I feel the commitment and attitude shown towards the end of the game can be used to improve our performances in the future. The areas to concentrate on are rucking and scrummaging.

Year 8 District Tournament - Friday 13th March

The 12 a side game is different to the full game. No back row means the centres and wings have to do a lot of the rucking. We grasped the idea of this early in the tournament and with the help of Ricky Stanley’s strong presence gained some good second and third phase ball. The pressure of the short games also made it difficult which led to a close game against Simon Langton who we beat convincingly earlier in the season. It also shows the importance of first time tackling and stopping the ball from crossing the gain line. This is a problem as the team still fails to come up fast and in a line in defence. This allows teams to make breaks by attacking gaps in the defence. This part of our game must be improved. However, the final result was pleasing with a close win in the final. We are now the best Grammar/Comprehensive School in S.E. Kent.

Year 8 DGSB 36 Oakwood Park 0

Saturday 14th March

Another strong performance. At times the control and awareness by a number of players led to some well worked tries with one memorable try coming from Nick Townend who hit the ball at pace bursting through the defence to score under the posts. Ricky Stanley showed particularly good control in the centres for his second game, timing his passes and runs well. Ben Vick also showed more awareness around the field and won some valuable scrum ball. Overall a good game, however, we can only sustain a high level of rugby for short periods. Dane Court will be the final test! Are we capable of sustaining pressure for the whole game?

Year 8 DGSB 46 Brockhill 0

Tuesday 10th March

The result suggests a convincing performance by Dover G.S. However, the actual performance of the team was disappointing. Dover started the game with the wrong attitude which led to many people talking and arguments between players. The play was disjointed with the tries coming from individual breakthroughs rather than team play. Only one move came off during the game which almost led to a score in the corner by Craig McMurray. A good team performance will be needed against Oakwood Park to gain a victory.

Year 9 DGSB 37 Pent Valley 32

Thursday 19th March

Due to lack of focus at the start of the game the team made many elementary mistakes including four dropped tries. Commitment was also missing in the ruck and tackle. This allowed Pent Valley to get ahead and score tries run from their own twenty two. Without Richard Jones’ cover tackling, the score could have been a lot worse. After half-time the team rallied with some excellent lineout and scrum ball. This was also aided by Matthew Coates. The backs benefited from this ball and scored some excellent tries through Russell Johnson and Sam Smith. Sam should also be commended on some excellent defensive tackling which led to one of the tries. The game was finished with an excellent conversion from Russell Johnson almost in the mould of Neil Jenkins! This was a spirited come back which was enjoyable to watch. However, defensive tackling is still a problem.

Year 11 20th March

DGSB 27 Pent Valley 16

This turned out to be a very close fought encounter with both sides being ahead at different times of the game. One of our main weaknesses revolved around our inability to win our own ball from set pieces, both lineouts and scrums. At one time we lost virtually every one of our own scrums and therefore didn’t allow the threequarter line to run with the ball at all. At various times of the game some excellent individual runs were made particularly by Daniel Trenowden, Tom Causer, Alfredo Buitron and Steven Scott. Another main weakness was in our inability to ruck the ball properly at breakdowns of play and this led to a lot of wasted effort by the forwards. The last 10 minutes of the game proved to be very exciting with some excellent tries being scored from several good moves. In particular Daniel Trenowden and Alfredo Buitron went over in the same corner after some forceful running by the team, both from the forwards and backs.

Reports by Mr J Duke

Year 9 Tuesday 24th March at Broadstairs

Dane Court G.S. 44 DGSB 19

With the team virtually at full strength everyone had hoped for a better team performance than was given. There were some excellent individual breakaways from most notably Russell Johnson, Sam Smith, Richard Jones and Matthew Swift.

The main weaknesses in the overall team’s efforts lay in some very weak and ineffective tackling which persisted for most of the game. The notable exceptions to this being Russell Johnson and Graham Cuttress.

At many of the breakdowns of play we failed to ruck the ball very effectively and arrived in insufficient numbers to establish a clear fast ball for the back line to run. More work is needed on our scrummaging at the set piece and in winning our own ball at the lineout.

Mr M Grant - Head of PE

TABLE TENNIS

Dover Junior Closed Championships held at Dover Sports & Leisure Centre on Saturday 14th March

The winners are as follows:
Under 10’s - Jamie Smallman

Under 12’s - Darryl Borello of Grammar ‘D’. Darryl has played for the Grammar School whilst attending River Primary. He will be joining DGSB in September.

Under 14’s - David Tilbee of Whitfield ‘D’ is currently in Year 9D.

Allocated doubles’ winners were David Tilbee and I. Laycock.

Kush Boparai, 7S, actually reached the semi finals of both Under 12’s and Under 14’s but had to leave the championships early.

The Woolwich Junior League starts at 9.30 am on Saturday 28th March for all interested Juniors at The Dover Sports and Leisure Centre. Further details can be obtained from Alan Tilbee on 01304 824505.

Dover Closed Championships held at Dover Sports and Leisure Centre on 21st & 22nd March

The winners areas follows:
Under 15’s Winner Chris Hadley Form 9D
Runner Up David Tilbee Form 9D
Under 17’s Winner David Tilbee Form 9D
Runner Up Chris Hadley Form 9D
Ladies Singles
Winner Carla Burgin
Runner Up Stella Tilbee (David’s mother)
Veterans Over 40
Winner Mebs Virani
Runner Up Mike Howard (the father of Darren Howard, 8G)
Super Vets Over 50
Winner Paul Ridgeway
Runner Up Brian Kennett
Handicap Singles
Winner James Eaton Form 9A Handicap +12
Runner Up Andy Law Handicap +6
Allocated Doubles
Winners Stella Tilbee & Kevin Coleman
Runners Up Paul Smallman & James Eaton
Intermediate

Winner Alan Boxall (Grammar ‘B’)
Runner Up Jeff Sherwood
Hardbat

Winner Mike Howard
Runner Up Keith Yarnley
Handicap Doubles
Winners Paul & Cliff Smallman
Runners Up Kerry & Darren Howard
Closed Doubles
Winners Phil Saxhy & Alan Rutherford
Runners Up Mike Howard & Alvin David
Closed Singles
Winner Phil Saxhy
Runner Up Mebs Virani

Player of Tournament Kevin Coleman

The current Dover table tennis league contains a number of family teams with sons, daughters and parents taking part. At present there are two divisions comprising of 12 teams in each. DGSB fills one quarter of these leagues having 6 teams, one in the first division and the other five in the second. The teams are mainly comprised from pupils at this school but the teams also contain a number of old boys, parents, friends of the players and also boys at Astor School and River Primary School.

There is currently a Junior League, sponsored by the Woolwich Building Society, taking place at Dover Sports and Leisure Centre on Saturdays from 9.30 until noon. The main Dover league is almost at a close and will start again around the end of September. Again the Grammar School is hoping to fill at least six teams in the leagues and practice will continue during the remaining Mondays from 3.25 pm in the Gym. If anyone would like to be considered in a team for next season please see the Workshop Technician for further details. The teams should comprise of three players and at least one reserve. Parents, associates and friends are very welcome.

Mr P Skelton - Workshop Technician

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Easter Holidays:

Monday 6th April - Monday 20th April inclusive.

School commences again on Tuesday 21st April.

BUT YEAR 10 PLEASE NOTE -

Work Experience commences on Monday 20th April.