THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER

JULY 2002 No. 94

 
TRAFFIC PROBLEMS AT THE MAIN GATE

The School has had it pointed out that there are again traffic problems outside the main school gate in the morning and afternoon. This time it is problems caused by people parking in the turning circle. The manoeuvres that become necessary once the turning circle is blocked are a potential danger to pedestrians. It would be appreciated if the turning circle were left free at all times.
Dr. A.S. Jackson - Deputy Headteacher

YEAR 10 HISTORY TRIP TO BERLIN - 12TH TO 16TH JUNE

On the rainy Wednesday morning of 12th June we met at the bottom school gate at 9.00am to start our long journey to Stansted airport. We arrived at the airport at 11.30am for a flight at 14.00pm. We were able to check in shortly after we arrived at the airport and then we were taking our Buzz Airline flight to Berlin.
After the two hour flight we arrived at Schönefield airport at 16.00pm German time. From the airport we caught the bus to the U-Bahn and travelled on the U and S Bahns to Hallesches Tor where the youth hostel was situated. It wasn't brilliant but it was okay for the week as we only stayed there during the nights. Once we had put our bags into the room and had a dinner we all had a choice of either going out for the evening or staying at the hostel, to get some rest after the long travel from Dover. We visited the Reichstag and went inside the new Sir Norman Foster Parliament dome. Then we travelled to the Brandenburg Gate which had been covered up for restoration but Mr. Gaskell decided to take us to Potsdamer Platz where the new Sony Center is and where Hitler's famous bunker was.
On Day 2 we went to the Wannsee Villa, the house where the Wannsee Conference took place. We had a German student give us a guided tour of the whole house. It was at this house where the final solution was drawn up - the building of the concentration and extermination camps where millions of Jews were killed. Later that same afternoon we all went to the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche the remains of the cathedral bombed by the allies in 1944. In the evening we went to a Russian memorial to those Russians who died in the fight for Berlin with two T34 tanks either side of the monument of a soldier. Then we went to the Fernsehturm (East Berlin Television Tower) which is 203 metres high with a revolving restaurant. There were some great views of the old East and West Berlin and many of the major sights.
Day 3 and we visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp where in September and October 1941 18,000 Russian prisoners were shot. This for many of us was a very thought provoking and disturbing place. Later that day we played football at Viktoria Park, where we had a great time.
On Day 4 we travelled to East Berlin to Treptower Park to study the large monument to the Red Army showing a large Russian soldier with his sword crushing a Swastika signifying the end of Nazism and holding a baby, this meaning the bright new generation. We then walked along the East Side Gallery, a huge display of modern artwork along a one-mile section of the Berlin Wall. For those who wanted to in the evening there was the chance to play football again at Viktoria Park. After this event Mr. Gaskell was left sporting a rather large and painful bruise/lump to his leg.
On the 5th and final day we walked to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum where we studied the history of the famous Berlin Wall and the various forms of escape attempts from the Communist East to the Capitalist West. At around 14.00pm we went back to the Hostel to pick up our bags and then we left for Schönefeld Airfield in East Germany for a flight at 16.45pm. We landed at Stansted at 18.00pm English time. We drove the two hour journey back to Dover and arrived about 20.20pm after a short stop for a Burger King just outside the Queen Elizabeth II bridge.
We would like to thank Mr. Gaskell and his father for a really great but tiring week in Germany's capital and for putting up with us for the 5 days.
Ken Birmingham, 10 Channel

Used Stamp Collection

We're collecting used stamps this month to send to The British Kidney Patient Association. The money raised from these stamps goes towards giving young kidney patients a week of fun and excitement at Adventure Holiday Centres as part of a rehabilitation programme.
Please send in your used stamps to the School Office.
Mrs. J. Luckhurst, School Secretary

UPPER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES WEEK, 17th - 21st JUNE

This was the first time we had held such a week and it was a great success. There were a range of inventive and in some cases dangerous solutions to the problem of the Great Egg Race, including a line slung across the Quad from the staff room and an aerosol propelled car.
The Upper School Challenge, based on the TV programme University Challenge, was fiercely fought, the winning team being Mark Artis, Ricky Beer, Ben Crawley, Graeme Mitchell, Dominic Targett and Russell Williamson.
The visit by a group of Afghan refugee boys on Wednesday was well received, and after some initial uncertainty both groups were able to share discussion about their interests and experiences. The 5-a-side football tournament in the afternoon at Dover Leisure Centre resulted in fierce and fast competitive play, although none of the visiting teams were able to reach the finals.
On Thursday we welcomed a visit from the Holocaust Educational Trust including a deeply moving and disturbing account of the experience of the Nazi concentration camps by Gena Turgel. She told her story of surviving the horrors of Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Belsen camps and impressed everybody with her indomitable spirit and sense of humanity. Her book "I Light a Candle" will soon be in the School Library.
Finally we welcomed Professor Bill McGuire from University College, London to talk about his research on geographical cataclysms yet to come. It was a fascinating and stimulating talk and Professor McGuire will be returning to speak to geography students later in the year.
Students and teachers feel this has been a valuable break from formal classroom study between the AS and A2 components of the A Level, and we are already planning next year's Activities Week.
Mr. M.G. Thomas - Head of Upper School

YEAR 9 REPORT ON HOLOCAUST TALK

On 1st July, on a Monday morning, the pupils of Year 9 were given the privilege of listening to an Gena Turgel, a survivor of the Holocaust. She told us her horrific story of how she, in 1939, was liberated from her family and their belongings in Krakow in Poland. The reason behind this was because her family were Jewish, and were being occupied by German Nazis, who were anti-semitists.
We learnt how she was put into a ghetto, how her brother was shot by the Nazis, her witness accounts of mothers and babies being separated from the crowds by a panel of 30-or-so German Nazis, the amount of ways others from her religion were persecuted, so horrific I will not speak of them. I imagined the courage and strength it must have taken for this lady to pour out her memories of this without shedding a tear. But she amazed me as she carried on.
Her words ensnared the very idea of hell in my mind, of how old people were kidnapped, taken into the woods and never seen again. I was amazed when she spoke of how she entered a gas block and came out alive, having had a shower which so many were told they were going to have, but gassed instead.
I was shocked to also find out that her sister's husband and her sister were helping build another chamber with 55 others, who, after their toils, were made to dig their own mass grave and were then shot. And when they were marched for miles and miles to another camp, the continual shootings and beatings for no reason whatsoever.
Right up to her liberation from this camp by British soldiers on 15th April 1945 I was intent on her every word.
When the talk was over the classes went to two workshops. My first was with Mr. Thompson, where we were asked to participate in portraying the Holocaust in pictures.
The second was given to us by Rachel Burns from London who linked it to the new subject to be learnt by us all in September - Citizenship. She explained to us that not all Nazis were monsters, just very obedient people, as shown in an experiment performed by psychologists which showed a person 'electrocuting' an actor who could not been seen. Every time he got a question wrong he upped the voltage as instructed by another actor dressed as a doctor in a white coat, which shows we obey anyone in authority. Over 65% of the 1000 volunteers in the experiment carried on until they reached 450 volts.
I think the message trying to be given across today was not to hold prejudice against other people, but just to understand them, and I think this message hit home, along with the message from the Auschwitz survivor, Gena Turgel, who begged us never to let what she lived through happen again.
Sam Fields, 9 AF

MUSIC REPORT
Grade Examinations

Congratulations to two of our students who have just passed examinations in Electronic Keyboard playing:
Alistair Walker - Grade 1 with Distinction
Edward Haste - Grade 1 with Merit
Summer Concert
Our annual Summer Concert will be held in the School Hall on Wednesday 10th July at 7.30pm featuring the Lower School Band, Big Band, String Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble interspersed with a wide variety of solos. Light refreshments are included in the admission price of £3 for adults and £1 for students.

PARENTS & FRIENDS ASSOCIATION

Hi everyone - well it's almost the end of another school year and very soon we'll be welcoming more new boys and their parents to the school in September.
I thought I would take this opportunity to advise everyone about the role of the PFA. We raise funds to provide more facilities for the school by organising social events and helping out at various school functions. These events include Wine and Wisdom evenings and a Christmas Draw, all of which have been extremely well supported and a huge success.
We also provide help at Sports Day, Open Evenings and Concerts. Details of all our events can be found in the First Thursday Newsletters. The PFA sell new tee-shirts and have a stock of very good second hand uniform at reasonable prices.
The successful 200 Club is always looking for more members and if you would like to join please contact a member of the committee on 01304-368614.
All of the past year we have been raising funds, in the main for a new school minibus. So far we have put aside £5000. We hope to raise more money over the coming year with your support. Thank you for all your efforts so far this year.
The next Committee Meeting is on 11th September in the Headteacher's study at 7.00pm and the AGM is on 24th September at the same time. I look forward to seeing you all there.
Mrs. J. Gambrell, Chairman

CCF

Another successful term for the CCF! On Friday 21st June ten cadets from the RAF section completed a Gliding Induction Course (GIC) at RAF Kenley in Surrey. The course, consisting of up to five launches in a Viking glider, enables cadets to handle the controls and gives excellent all-round vision for sightseeing. The course is also the first step towards going solo in a glider. Once a cadet completes their GIC they can apply for a gliding scholarship where they learn to glide and ultimately fly alone. Three cadets currently at Dover Grammar Schools CCF have completed this course previously and all enjoyed it thoroughly.
The CCF is busy in preparation for our biennial inspection in September. With an exercise, a guard of honour (weapon drill), a drumming display and various lectures to plan, the next few weeks will be very hectic. With more gliding and shooting planned for this month and Section Summer Camps only weeks away the cadets can also look forward to these activities.
On 30th June Squadron Leader Barnes was replaced by Major Wilkins as Contingent Commander. To celebrate Sqn. Ldr. Barnes' thirteen years service with DGS CCF, and a good excuse for some fun, last Friday a Bar-B-Q and sports evening was held. The task of cooking for sixty hungry teenagers seemed daunting at first, but the evening proved to be a great success and was also a good way of thanking Sqn. Ldr. Barnes for his dedication and commitment.
James Downer - Contingent Senior Cadet

SPORTS DAY - Friday 28th June 2002

The weather gods gave us a pleasant dry day for the Inter House Athletics Championships. Some excellent performances took place, three new records were made in the 1-lap relays and one record was equalled. Precise record details are -
1. Year 8. 4 x 1-lap (300 metres) set by Priory House in a time of 3m.04.77, beating the previous record by 19 seconds.
2. In the Year 10 age group 4 x 1-lap (300 metres) set by Priory House in a time of 3m.03.06, beating the previous record by .01 second.
3. In the Open age group 4 x 1-lap (300 metres) set by Priory House in a time of 2m.0.63, beating the previous record by 13 seconds.
4. Jamie Phillips in Year 9 equalled the shot record (4kgs) with a distance of 11.85m.
Final winning House totals were as follows:-
1st Channel 615 pts 3rd Port 465 pts
2nd Priory 559 points 4th Castle 385 pts
I would also like to thank all those staff and boys who helped on the day.
Mr. M.R. Grant - Subject Leader for P.E.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Summer Concert - Wednesday 10th July at 7.30pm in the School Hall.
Staff Development Day - Monday 15th July. No students in school.
Junior Prizegiving - Wednesday 17th July at 4.00pm in the School Hall.
End of Term - Tuesday 23rd July
Please note that the school will close at 1.30pm. A letter will shortly be given to your son to bring home saying which buses are able to come early.
Autumn Term commences - Thursday 5th September 2002
(There is a Staff Development Day on Wednesday 4th September).
School Photograph
The school photographers will be in school on Friday 6th September. Photographs will be taken of Years 7, 10 and 12.