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Dover Grammar School for Boys

THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER JULY 1999 No. 61

 
Dover Grammar School for Boys
THE "FIRST THURSDAY"
NEWSLETTER JULY 1999 No. 61


HOME-SCHOOL AGREEMENT
As you may have become aware, by the 1st September, every school in the country has to have in place a home-school agreement. This is one of the provisions of the School Standards and Framework Act. The Act says that such an agreement is a statement explaining: the school's aims and values; the school's responsibilities towards its pupils of compulsory school age; the responsibilities of the pupil's parents; and what the school expects of its pupils.
You will find attached to this newsletter our draft home-school agreement. I would like you to read it and give me your reactions. The pupils are also being consulted through the School Council. The revised agreement will then be prepared ready for signature by pupils, parents and School in September.
Headteacher

ATTENTION ALL PARENTS!!
Are you enthusiastic and interested in your son's school? The Governing Body is being reorganised to strengthen the role of PARENTS from 1st September. We still have two vacancies for PARENT Governors and therefore we are advertising for a further week for your nominations. We need people like YOU to play a part in the continuing improvement of OUR school for the benefit of YOUR sons. The role of PARENT GOVERNOR is an interesting and rewarding one for which no formal qualifications are required. For a Parent Governor Nomination please see the attached.
Progress on reconstituting the new Governing Body is as follows:
Congratulations to Rev. Nick De Keyser who has secured a Parent Governor position through the sole parent governor nomination received by the first deadline. Nick is currently a First Governor. There is no longer a category called First Governors and therefore parents may wish to consider making nominations from the list of First Governors standing down as it is not considered good practice for existing governors to nominate themselves.
Two teacher nominations have been received for the single vacancy so there will be an election amongst the teaching staff.
Congratulations to Marion Pardoe, School Finance Officer, who has secured the Staff Governor position through a sole staff governor nomination.
Additional parental right
In addition to nominating Parent Governors, parents also have the right to nominate a new category of Governor called Partnership Governors which replaces the existing First Governor category. To date we have only received one nomination from parents and there are five vacancies for YOU to fill. Therefore we are advertising for a further week for your nominations. Partnership Governors must be from the community served by the school and committed to the good government and success of the school. The Governing Body is responsible for seeking nominations for and appointing Partnership Governors. Parents may wish to consider making nominations from the list of First Governors standing down as it is not considered good practice for existing governors to nominate themselves.
For a Partnership nomination please see the attached.
Mr R Terry - Chairman of Governors

UK JUNIOR MATHS CHALLENGE RESULTS
The UK Junior Maths Challenge is open to pupils in Years 7 and 8. There were over 131,000 entries from over 1700 schools.
Certificates were awarded as follows:
Year 7: Gold Michael Chivington
Silver Chris Leach, Glenn Burdett, Enamul Khan and Martin Hogg
Bronze Luke Armstrong, Luke Cochrane, Laurie Glover, Anthony Crockett, Vahe Aliev, Michael Hurley, Gareth Hewer, Nicholas Hood, Oliver Mayes, Benjamin Reay, Darryl Borrello, Richard Hayward, Grant Jones, Nathan Hutchings and Adam Kew.
Year 8: Gold Joshua Collins (who came top within the school) and Robbie Guy
Silver Jonathan Fullerton, John Stokes, Paul Hill, Darren Jarvis, Edward Addley, Matthew Bunn, Richard Horsler, Gary Mulhearn, Liam Desborough and Benjamin Bulow.
Bronze Adam Owen-Stirna, James Rowson, Paul Skeggs, Simon Bishop, Paul Mulhearn, Thomas Loomes, Chris Lucas and Matthew Odell.
UK Intermediate Maths Challenge Results
The UK Intermediate Maths Challenge is open to pupils in Years 9, 10 and 11. There were over 115,000 entries from over 1600 schools.
Certificates were awarded as follows:
Year 9: Gold Duncan Barrett
Silver Neil Morgan, Steven Horsler, Scott Bennett, Timothy Wheeler, Alan Blanchflower and Iain Thomas
Bronze Samuel Tiltman, Jonathan Waite, Thomas Punton, Matthew Thomas, Alan Mann, Craig McMurray and Daniel Williamson
Year 10:Gold Paul Witty (who came top within the school), Giles Barrett, Nicholas Bannister and Nicholas Hayward
Silver Matthew Ayers, David Tilbee, Richard Jones, Benjamin Langley, Gary Burdett, Samuel Cairns, Kirk Waite, Christopher Luckhurst and Roy Yau.
Bronze Dean Baker, Edward Smith, James Eaton, Christopher Hadley, Dean Scoggins, Stuart Inglis, Thomas Freeman, James Garlick and Paul Devenish
Year 11:Gold Mark Long, Daniel Oborne, Daniel Brown, Christopher Wash, Andrew Chalkley and Nicholas Smith
Silver Arnab Banerjee, Alex Gough, Sebastian Barling, Christopher Tutthill, David MacMillan, Bryan Ashby, Kevin Doughty, Adam Stennett, Thomas Evans, Jonathan Owen, Michael Fuller and Christopher Wright.
Bronze Peter Allum, Kemal Ozkoruyucu, Thomas Parkin, Stephen Garrett, David Parish, David Stockdale, Stuart Wright, Jeremy Childs and Darren Piper
Paul Witty (once again) and Mark Long qualified for the next stage of the competition. Paul achieved a Distinction at this stage and Mark only miss a Distinction by one mark.
Congratulations and well done to all of those who took part.
Mr D Murray - Head of Maths

YEAR 10 PARIS TRIP REPORT - MAY 1999
We arrived at Dover Eastern Docks at 8.15 am on Monday morning ready to catch a P & O Stena Line ferry to Calais where a luxurious Carianne coach awaited us. We left Calais on the coach at 10.00 am French time and travelled on the motorway to Paris via the Stade de France and Cité de Sciences.
After a three hour drive and a break for lunch we arrived at the Ibis Hotel in Pantain in North East Paris. Mrs Dukes had received a fax earlier in the morning which said we had been transferred from a Youth Hostel to a 2/3* hotel. There was a lot of confusion and we had to wait on the coach for over an hour watching Red Dwarf whilst the teachers sorted out the accommodation. However, once Dr Jackson was called we were promptly told we could stay there after all!
We met for dinner, steak and chips, in a restaurant about 50m away from the hotel. We had breakfast and dinner here for the rest of our stay.
After a bad night, due to a disturbance next door, we met on the coach after having breakfast. We were taken to the Eiffel Tower via the Arch de Triomphe. We had the choice of walking up to the 2nd floor or taking the lift. A group of us walked up taking in the views and the morning sunshine.
After lunch on the Champs Elysées we walked across the river, past the Obelisque to the Musée d'Orsay. This was very interesting although there was too much to see in such a short space of time.
On Wednesday we visited Versailles and managed to get caught in the rush hour traffic. The Palace of Versailles was very busy and rather rushed with everyone passing through. The Hall of Mirrors was the best part and we also managed to walk round the beautiful gardens. We escaped for lunch in Versailles, McDonald's again, but we were hit by a torrential thunderstorm and we were all soaked! We returned to the hotel to get changed and went back into Paris for a boat trip on the Seine. This went past all the famous monuments, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and the Universities. We were thoroughly exhausted and went to bed after watching the Fifth Element on the TV, all in French.
We woke up on the final day to see that it was wet and running. We visited Sacré Coeur and Montmatre where several of us purchased prints of famous pictures. After walking down the many steps we returned to the coach and were back on the road to Calais. We stopped for lunch and had burger and chips for the fourth time!
We caught an earlier ferry from Calais and we were back in Dover by 5.00 pm.
The trip was thoroughly enjoyed by all and we would like to thank Mrs Dukes for organising the trip and Mrs Gabriel and Mr Herring for accompanying us.
James Eberlein - 10CA

YEAR 10 BUSINESS STUDIES VISITS TO AVO INTERNATIONAL AND SHEPHERDS NEAME BREWERY - JUNE 1999
Year 10 have been involved in Project Business U.K. for the last seven weeks. This project develops links between schools and local businesses, with emphasis being placed on practical learning.
Our business partners have been Mr Andrew Eberlein from Avo International and Mr Terry Westwater from Spain Brothers & Co., Accountants. Both partners have been involved in teaching Year 10 the practical aspects of running a business.
As part of this project Year 10 made a visit to Avo International and Shepherds Neame Brewery. These companies showed an excellent insight into the production processes used and the impact they have on the local economy.
Miss T Shafi - Head of Economics & Business Studies

MIDBANK COMPETITION
The Midbank is at present offering a free competition on The Eclipse of August 1999 to its members, with a computer and colour printer as the first prize.
If you are interested in entering the competition please pick up a leaflet from the School Office or Midbank. (The closing date is 30th July).
Miss T Shafi - Head of Economics & Business Studies

YEAR 10 VISIT TO BRUNEL UNIVERSITY -
15th JUNE 1999
On the 15th June the Design & Technology Department arranged for fifty Year 10 boys to attend the Brunel University Design Degree Show. The trip to Brunel was enjoyed by most of the group with many ideas gained for our current GCSE projects. The exhibits were varied and interesting, ranging from a ladder that folded into a briefcase to an inflatable hovercraft. The only downside to the trip was the time constraint; we spent over four hours on the coach to two hours at the exhibition. It was still an informative experience.
Ben Langley - 10PY





YEAR 12 ANCIENT HISTORY TRIP - CAERLEON & CAERWENT - 23rd June
On Wednesday 23rd June Mr Haines took a group of four Ancient History students on a one day visit to Caerleon and Caerwent in Wales.
After a 4 hour car journey during which we crossed the Severn Bridge, we arrived in our first port of call - Caerleon. We first inspected the remains of the amphitheatre which was part of the fortress. Then we went to the local museum to see the collection of Roman inscriptions all of which were from the local area. Then to the remains of the legionery bath suite . The final thing we saw in Caerleon were the foundations of the Roman Barracks - the only visible example to be found in Britain. A group of American tourists were also visiting but they managed to mistake the foundations of four barrack blocks for a castle!
In the afternoon we went to Caerwent which is much smaller than Caerleon. However, size doesn't matter as we were fortunate enough to meet two archaeologists excavating the monumental eastern entrance to the Forum Basilica. We then made a tour of the foundations of town houses and shops ending with a walk around the remaining town defences and bastions. One of our students was convinced he had discovered a stone age arrow head which, according to Mr Haines, was a pebble - hmm!
Justin Richardson - 12SH

GEOGRAPHY FIELD WORK
This is the second of three days being spent by year 10 Geography GCSE pupils on field work. Groups are investigating the impact man has on the River Dour; the effects of tourism at Langdon Cliffs and the characteristics of Dover's Central Business District.
In a week's time, 12th-16th July the Lower Sixth 'A' Level Geography students will be conducting field work. This will include a trip to London's Docklands and the Thames Barrier; urban transects of Canterbury; the Stour Valley and surveys of ecosystems.
Dr A French - Head of Geography

CAREERS EDUCATION
Part of the Government's drive to improve education has been focused on Careers Education and Guidance reforms. This includes the monitoring and improving of Careers Libraries within schools and provision of extra money to upgrade them.
As part of this, the School's Careers Library was inspected by a representative of Kent Careers Services this week. The facilities passed all inspection criteria with flying colours and we have been given the Careers Library Standards Award. We now qualify to bid for some of these extra funds through the Careers Service to allow further developments of the Careers Library facility to be carried out.
Mrs G Saville - Head of Chemistry and Careers

POETRY
Nine young poets from 7CH have had their work published in an anthology of children's verse.
The anthology, called "Kaleidoscope Kent", is published by the poetry magazine "Poetry Now" and poems were selected through the Young Writers Competition.
The poets are: Nathan Allen, Kenneth Birmingham, Terry Butcher, Adis Dobzardic, David Harper, Gareth Hewer, Mark Jenkins, Simon Lawfull and Ben Punton.
This is a particular achievement for Adis, who has only been speaking English for eighteen months.
This is Adis' poem:
Grandad's Watch
It is midnight
I look at my watch
It is my Grandad's watch.
He gave it to me
As a present to remember him
And I miss him so much.
The war brought me to England
But left him in Yugoslavia.
On the back of the watch I feel
The letters, deeply engraved,
"Adusu od deda".
"To Adis from his Grandad".
Mrs S Rose - English Department

HOMEWORK CLUB
The facility of a supervised after-school homework club has been offered throughout this term. A few boys took advantage of it initially but lately there have been no takers. The club was set up to help working parents and to provide a quiet environment for boys to do homework. It appears, however, that there is no a need for this facility, so the club has now been discontinued.
Mrs S Rose - English Department

MODERN LANGUAGES
There will be help lessons held in French and German during the lunchtime break on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. These are available for Year 7 to Year 10 pupils and will be held in Room 17 commencing at 1.30 pm.
Mrs F Lloyd - Head of Modern Languages

MUSIC
Summer Concert: The next musical event will take place on Wednesday 14th July at 7.30 pm when we will be presenting our annual concert of Music for a Summer Evening in the School Hall. The programme will include instrumental music played by the School's musicians ranging from classical to jazz. Music presented by the Big Band, Brass Ensemble and Training band will be interspersed with a wide variety of solo items. During the interval a choice of cheese and wine or light refreshments will be served, included in the admission charge of £3.00 for adults and £1.00 for students. Please make this concert 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.
The musicians will also be in action at the Junior Prizegiving on the following Wednesday, 21st July.

Other Music News: Our congratulations are due to Michael Quinn (12SW) who is the recipient of a special award for services to the Dover Music Centre. Readers may also like to know that our former pupil Mark Scales (who left in 1994) is the director of a production of the musical "Fame" running at the Glanville Theatre, Ramsgate between 24th June and 3rd July.
Mr R Davies - Director of Music

SCHOOL LIBRARY NEWS
Tesco Computers for Schools: I am pleased to report that earlier last month an order was placed with Tesco for a computer. Following a slow start ground was made up during the last six weeks. The computer is due to arrive early on in the Autumn Term.
Free Books for Schools: An order has also been placed for a selection of reading books covering Key Stages 3 and 4 with a number of audio tapes. Hopefully these will arrive before the end of term.
Thank you all, parents, pupils and friends for your contributions, however large or small, they are all much appreciated.
Mrs L George - School Librarian

SPECTACLE COLLECTION
We are going to start collecting old spectacles to send to Vision Aid Overseas, a charity which provides people in developing countries with otherwise unobtainable spectacles. In ten years volunteer optometrists and opticians from all over Britain have visited nine African countries, as well as India, Jamaica, Peru and Vietnam to help more than 200,000 people.
We will be making a collection of spectacles to send to VAO during the Autumn Term so please don't throw your old spectacles away. You can send them in to the School Office at any time - don't worry if they do not have cases as apparently VAO do not need them.
Mrs J Luckhurst - School Secretary

PARENTS AND FRIENDS ASSOCIATION
As usual members of the PFA will be helping to serve refreshments at Sports Day next Wednesday 7th July and any parents who have some time to spare and can volunteer to help would be very welcome.
We would also welcome a few more helpers for the New Boys and Parents' Evening at the school on Thursday 8th July from 6.00 pm onwards.
The next Committee meeting is on 14th September at 7.30 pm and the PFA annual meeting is on 29th September also at 7.30 pm.
Mrs J Tutthill - Chairman
200 Club: The winners for the month of June are as follows:
1st (£25) Mrs G Farthing (75), 2nd (£15) Mrs S Tilbee (173) and 3rd (£10) Mr A M Husk (147).
The special prize of £100 goes to:
Mr F Scott (3)

OLD PHAROSIANS' ASSOCIATION
The July edition of the association's newsletter will be published soon and will be distributed to more than 700 former pupils throughout the world. It includes news of old boys and their continuing careers as well as tributes to those who have died, among them former association President Alf Gunn who served on the committee for many years.
At the committee meeting in June it was decided to spend up to £1,000 on the provision of a computer which will be situated in the Library area and which will be used by the Old Pharosians' archivist's team on their frequent visits to the school. The hard disk will be removable but a copy of the archives will be available on the computer which can be used by boys (and any old boys visiting the school) who may wish to access the archives. This, we hope, will promote more interest in the association - and the history of the school - among the present pupils.
The association's Annual Meeting and Dinner will take place on Saturday 25th September. The meeting is at 11.00 am, the football match against the school's 1st XI is at 2.30 pm and the dinner starts at 7.30 pm. Any old boys who would like to attend are welcome. More details and booking forms for the dinner are available from the school.
Mr G Tutthill

SPORTS NEWS
REMINDER
The school Sports Day will be held on Wednesday 7th July (reserve day in case of bad weather will be Thursday 8th July). Events will be held on the top field from about 9.30 am until lunchtime and again in the afternoon. The Guest of Honour presenting the prizes this year is Mr Bill Williams, Manager of Dover Athletic Football Club. All parents are very welcome to attend.
ATHLETICS
In the Powell Trophy Inter Schools Athletics Match the combined Year 8, 9 and 10 teams produced some excellent performances to lose to the eventual winners by one point - The Duke of Yorks School.
Particularly outstanding was a new personal best in the Year 9 discus (1.25 kgs) by Ricky Stanley who threw 35.86m which is a new outright school record. Well done to all participants.
Kent County Athletics Championships
Three members of the school competed in the County Championships. Michael Roberts made a fine effort to win the 3,000 metres. Daniel Trenowden came 5th in the 800 metres and Ricky Stanley came 3rd in the Junior Shot event.
CRICKET NEWS
On Tuesday 29th June two friendly matches (limited overs) against Norton Knatchbull G.S., Ashford, saw Year 9 beaten by a very strong side (113 for 6 in 20 overs). Our reply was 75 all out in 16 overs. Year 10 had a comfortable win in their match at home on a wet wicket.
Year 7 Cricket
Friendly -v- Harvey G.S. (Away)
Year 7 having already lost to Harvey Grammar School earlier in the season achieved an excellent win in a 25 overs match at Folkestone on Friday 25th June. An outstanding batting performance by the captain Jonathan Towe who scored 59 not out was ably supported by Stephen O'Brien who made 18 not out.
Competent bowling from Jonathan Towe, Stephen O'Brien and Stephen King kept their total down to 107 for 6 in 25 overs and this was achieved in 16 overs.
Year 8 Cricket
DGSB -v- Harvey G.S. 8th June
(DGSB won by 6 runs)
Once we arrived at Harvey after a bit of rain their Captain put us in to bat. With the conditions this seemed a bad tactic although Captain, John Stokes, was going to ask to bat first if he had won the toss anyway. Daniel Taylor got us off the mark with a single but with the 6th ball of the game John Mapp was bowled by their fast bowler for O. Daniel Taylor was then out for 1 (he was run out). John Stokes was then out for 0. Now we were 3-3. We needed a pair of batsmen that were going to get us going, and that's what Robbie Guy and Edward Close did. They put on a partnership of 16 before Edward Close was bowled for 4. The new batsman was Simon Arter. He was out for 0. The next batsman was Richard Horsler. He hit our first 4 off his first ball but was then out for 9. Next in came Tom Bird. He stayed in for the rest of the over. Robbie Guy hit a 6 before he made a single. Tom Bird then hit a 4. However in the next over he was bowled for 6. Kitson Keen came in and got 1 not out. Then Robbie Guy was bowled for 17 and Richard Trenowden came in and was 1 not out. Chris Lucas didn't get a bat. We ended on 69-8.
After a few chicken sandwiches Harvey's innings got under way. Their first wicket fell when one of their players was caught by Kitson Keen. This was off Richard Trenowden's bowling and they were 14 for 1. Then one of their batsman was run out by Simon Arter whose fumble made them run, 16-2. After a few no-balls Simon eventually took his first wicket, when Edward Close caught off his bowling. The next batsman was out in exactly the same way and the following was out for 0. He was caught by Daniel Taylor and the bowler was Edward Close. The batsman who was still in was bowled out by Daniel Taylor and then their star bowler was caught superbly by Chris Lucas off Daniel Taylor's bowling. They now had 2 batsmen who had scored a lot of runs. They needed 16 runs to win off 5 overs. Then John Stokes came back to bowl and we needed a wicket maiden. John did exactly that. Now we needed to get the other batsman out who was on 17. Edward Close bowled a ball which hit the bat and was caught by Tom Bird. They only needed 6 runs off 10 balls but Daniel Taylor got the last wicket caught brilliantly by John Stokes. DGSB had won an exciting game by 6 runs.
Tom Bird - 8PY

OLD PHAROSIANS CRICKET -v- SCHOOL 1ST XI
Wednesday 30th June
A strong Old Pharosians team beat a weakened school side with an overwhelming 248 for 3. In reply the school team only managed 97 all out.

TABLE TENNIS
The Year 7 8 and 9 table tennis house matches have unfortunately been brought to an early finish with the gymnasium being placed out of bounds.
Fortunately, although not all the matches have been played in the above mentioned house matches the league is based upon an average per leg and not games won basis, so the final league positions are shown below. Teams failing to turn up gain zero points, unplayed matches where teams turn up the teams gain 110 points.
9 Port Gold 10.32
9 Channel Platinum 9.53
9 Channel Gold 9.38
9 Port Titanium 8.20
9 Channel Silver 6.58
9 Priory Gold 4.40
9 Castle Titanium 0.00

8 Port Platinum 10.25
8 Priory Gold 9.88
8 Port Silver 9.15
8 Port Gold 8.75
8 Channel Titanium 6.98
8 Castle Silver 1.40
8 Channel Platinum 0.78

7 Castle Platinum 9.85
7 Priory Gold 9.84
7 Port Titanium 9.23
7 Port Tungsten 8.80
7 Port Silver 8.70
7 Priory Silver 6.46
7 Channel Tungsten 0.00
Viewers to the TV programme Guinness Book of Records may be interested to know that two members of the ladies table tennis team tried to beat the world record of consecutive hits in 60 seconds the other week - the record standing at 184 strokes per minute. Unfortunately they failed to beat the record by 18 strokes, hitting 166. The average number of hits in a minute is also being run on a league basis and the leagues below show the average hits per minute each team achieves over the total number of matches played. Again, unfortunately this league has had to be cut short. Teams failing to turn up are allocated zero points, whilst games unplayed due to restrictions in the gym are not counted.

9 Port Gold 62.46
9 Channel Gold 57.78
9 Channel Platinum 57.22
9 Port Titanium 46.96
9 Channel Silver 37.75
9 Priory Gold 20.57
9 Castle Titanium 0.00

8 Port Platinum 77.96
8 Priory Gold 51.73
8 Channel Titanium 40.89
8 Port Silver 40.17
8 Port Gold 21.50
8 Channel Platinum 21.47
8 Castle Silver 18.56

7 Priory Gold 60.21
7 Castle Platinum 58.33
7 Port Titanium 57.17
7 Port Silver 44.22
7 Port Tungsten 41.44
7 Priory Silver 32.42
7 Channel Tungsten 0.00
Please note some of these scores are low as teams failed to turn up. Players of note who gained around the 1 stroke per second or above are shown below.
Top speed:
7 Priory Gold Darryl Borello & Luke Cochrane with 90 per minute
8 Port Platinum Paul Mulhearn & Gary Mulhearn with 105 per minute
9 Channel Gold Oliver Craggs & Ian Chan with 86 per minute
8 Port Platinum Paul Mulhearn 85.92
8 Port Platinum Gary Mulhearn 83.75
8 Port Platinum Robbie Bulmer 79.83
9 Channel Gold Oliver Craggs 71.00
7 Priory Gold Darryl Borello 67.83
9 Channel Gold Ben Clutton 67.22
7 Castle Platinum Chris Leach 65.42
9 Channel Platinum Steven Horsler 65.33
8 Port Platinum Aaron Abbott 64.89
9 Port Gold Ricky Beer 64.11
9 Channel Gold Ian Chan 63.89
9 Port Gold Steven Burrows 62.78
7 Priory Gold Luke Cochrane 61.58
9 Port Gold Matt Thomas 61.08
7 Castle Platinum Alex Carpenter 60.67
9 Port Gold Matt Wash 60.50
7 Port Titanium Michael Marsh 59.89
7 Port Titanium Sean Golden 59.67
There will be an important meeting for ALL PLAYERS who wish to be considered for teams in the Dover Table Tennis Leagues tomorrow (Friday 2nd July 1999) in the Workshops AT FIRST BREAK 11.35 prompt. ALL boys wishing to be registered MUST attend this meeting.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Friday 23rd July - End of Term
Tuesday 7th September - beginning of Autumn Term for boys.
(Monday 6th September is a Development Day for staff)