Many thanks to all of the pupils, parents, staff, family and friends who generously gave towards supporting the Movember campaign this year. A grand total of over £500 was raised in aid of supporting Prostate Cancer research.

Nigel Hinton, the author of the children’s classic ‘Buddy’ came to talk to 7 Channel about his writing career. Mrs Turner, our Graduate teacher programme teacher, had contacted Nigel who agreed to come in and tell us about the process of writing. He amazed us with tales about the process of composition and its multifarious twists and turns. Nigel described the mental process of asking himself questions about the characters he was creating. One character emerged from a pair of leopardskin underpants Nigel imagined in a chest of drawers!

The talk was extremely valuable for our year 7s, who had been studying ‘Buddy’ earlier on in the year, and has certainly given them the drive to read the numerous other books he has published.

On Monday 10 December 2012, DGSB welcomed 56 students (boys and girls) and 5 teachers from College Louis Germain in St Jean de Vedas, Montpellier, France.

They were welcomed in French by Headteacher Dr. Moxham and were hosted by 27 students from DGSB’s yr 8 and yr 9 bilingual group. In the morning, the French students had a tour of the school and attended lessons in Maths, Science, French, PE and English, as well as completing a speed-dating exercise, where students practised speaking in the foreign language.

In the afternoon, students visited Canterbury with Ms. Hoyle, Mr. Chee-A-Tow and Mr. Harris.

Guy Proctor (8PT Winchelsea) writes:

‘The last activity of the day was a trip to Canterbury. DGSB students had to take the students from Louis Germain to a significant location in Canterbury. Everybody involved enjoyed the activities in Canterbury and we would all like to thank the students from Louis-German for agreeing to come and participating in the activities.’

Some 200 people attended the annual Carol Service at St Peter & St Paul, Charlton, on Wednesday 12 December. 75 musicians from across the school provided the musical feast with three choirs and brass leading the music as diverse as Mendelssohn, medieval carols and latin responses. Readers from the whole school community, boys, governors and staff told the Christmas story in biblical and poetic words. All of this by Candlelight with everyone joining in the big favourites including Silent Night, Hark the Herald and O Little town of Bethlehem.

Thanks to all who took part, to Mrs Cameron and Mr Shaw for all their immensely hard work and support, to the boys who sang, read and provided support and to all who made this a special occasion and very appropriate start to the festive season.

PF

Click HERE for the podcasts….

10 year 9 pupils and a teacher went to “Teen Tech” held at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone on 25th October.

The “TeenTech” experience gave the Y9 students the opportunity to try their hand at different hands on tasks and to spend time with the Engineers, Technologists and Scientists with a view of thinking about careers in engineering and science for the future.

Students moved to different activities during the day with a science ambassador. A number of challengers were presented to the pupils with prizes given.

Clayton Preece won first prize,out of all of the schools,for the fastest time in the Cummins scale electric challenge and Michael Scales won first prize for the best innovative idea. Well done lads!!

Mr Martin-Short
The Science department

Year 12 trip to University College London (UCL) Friday 12th October 2012
Department of Biochemical Engineering

11 Year 12 biology pupils and two teachers visited the department on Friday 12th October. We were met by Dr Ivan Wall (Lecturer in Regenerative Medicine and the admissions tutor) who was our host for the day.

The day consisted of talks on therapeutic medicine research, particularly how stem cell research has been pioneered and is used to treat damaged sight and the potential to be used in spinal injuries and other diseases.

Pupils were taken on a tour of the department with post graduates who told the pupils about their research projects and what the department of Biochemical Engineering has to offer for undergraduates.

On Friday 5 October 2012, DGSB welcomed 42 students and 3 teachers from a school in Roosendaal, Holland.
They were welcomed in Dutch by DGSB yr 12 student Arthur Davis and were hosted by 14 students from DGSB’s yr 8 bilingual group. In the morning, the Dutch students had a tour of the school and attended lessons in Maths, Science, Music, French, PE and English, as well as completing a speed-dating exercise to get to know their English hosts better! DGSB students also had the opportunity to learn some beginner’s Dutch with one of the Dutch teachers. In the afternoon, both the Dutch and DGSB students visited Dover Castle with Ms. Hoyle and Mr. Chee-A-Tow.

John Ford (8CH Gris Nez) writes:

‘I enjoyed the whole day, especially learning some Dutch and visiting Dover Castle. Although I had visited the castle several times with my family, it was interesting to go with a group of foreign students who were very enthusiastic about everything. They spent a long time inpecting every single item displayed in the keep and seemed very impressed by it all. Luckily, the weather was alright and we could explore the grounds and admire the views, including France. The Dutch students seemed very friendly and I would really like to visit their school and town.’

DGSB is proud to have been awarded several awards in the Good Schools Guide 2012 Awards including:

Boys taking History at A Level at an English Grammar School
Boys taking ICT BTEC National Level 3 Certificate at an English Grammar School
Boys taking History at IBO Higher Level Component at an English Grammar School
Boys taking Physical Education/Sports Studies at A Level at an English Grammar School

Click the logo for more information.

Last week all year 7 students took part in a DT trip to the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

This was a long and tiring day as we started out at 7:30 and didn’t get back until 6pm. However it was a very useful experience and students got to see a retrospective of one of the foremost British contemporary designers Thomas Heatherwick, whose studio was responsible for many incredible designs including the Olympic cauldron and the new London bus. They also gained an understanding of Modern design history and the importance of technology and materials in the development of the modern world.

Students were excellently behaved and a credit to the school, one member of the public commented on how smart they were.

Please see the blog we have created and which includes contributions from
students, Alfie Neudeck, Thomas Hare and Max Wash.
http://dgsbdt7trip.posterous.com/

Mr Feldman