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Transcript of Link Spring 2012
![Page 1: Link Spring 2012](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022042616/568bd7e61a28ab2034a163b8/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Dear Parents/Guardians
It has been another successful and busy term with fantastic early entry English and Maths
results reflecting the hard work of many students with the support of staff and parents.
The Astor Powerlifting team took part in the Great Britain Junior Powerlifting
Championships in Coventry last weekend and returned with two British Champions.
Andrew Dixon took first place in the 66kg/U20 class, as did David Cridland in the 120kg/
U18 class. The three remaining Astor lifters achieved second placings with
Cameron Keyes in the 84kg/U18 class, Liam Wilson in the 105kg/U18 class and
Daniel Fletcher in the 120kg/U18 class. This is an amazing achievement and confirms the
team as one of the strongest in the Country. The dedicated and successful coaching team
are always looking for new members and further information is available from Mr Clubb
in the PE department.
Year 11 do not have long before they sit their final exams and the last Key Stage Review
Day was at the end of this month. Please do not be afraid to contact Mr Clue, Director of
Year, the Personal Tutor or Subject teacher if you have any concerns over this important
period. I hope you will support your sons and daughters in reminding them about revision
timetables and all the extra support sessions that are available every night after College, at
lunch times and during the holidays. Year 11 are also looking forward and making plans
for the end of year Prom. It is with regret that every year, students who misbehave or have
poor attendance during this important time, are refused entry and I hope this will not be
necessary this year.
The application process for our 6th Form has begun and please remind your son or
daughter to complete their application to me and Mrs Walton.
Finally, I am sure we are all pleased with the recent improvement in the weather but can I
remind you that full uniform must be worn. This includes: plain black shoes; blazer; white
shirt with collar and top button done up; plain black trousers and tie. The College policy
on uniform is very clear and with your support I am sure we can avoid the necessity to use
any punishments to enforce it.
Very best wishes
Mr E Pallant
Head of College
the LINK
Telephone: 01304 201151
Absence Line: 01304 200155
Fax: 01304 200152
E-mail: [email protected] 4 Spring 2012
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Federation Students visit Spain
Comenius Regio project “Building bridges
between schools and families”
The Dover Federation for the Arts participates actively in finding new
ways and means to develop communication strategies between parents,
students and teachers in building better links between school/College
and home.
“Building Bridges…” is a bilateral project between the UK and Spain,
with the ultimate objective to raise standards through closer
collaboration and better understanding between schools, pupils and
their families. It is widely agreed that parents play a vital role in influencing their children’s attitudes
towards learning, both at school and at home. Parents act as the link between school and home, and
when respected as partners in education, allow students to fulfil their highest potential. The project
aims to improve the school/family dynamic and ease the transition between Primary and Secondary
levels, through the close investigation of the current feeling amongst parents, teachers and students,
alongside the exchange of best practice and information across the partner regions.
Involvement in the project will provide staff, parents and students a fantastic opportunity to work in
partnership not only locally but also abroad.
Shellie Willis
Director of Student and Parent Support
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MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT
World Maths Day 2012
On 7 March 2012, nearly 300 students in Years 7 and 8 took on the
world in a competition to answer Mental Arithmetic questions. In
total, Astor College pupils answered nearly 2000 questions out of
nearly 300 millions answers worldwide. This year’s ‘Human
Calculator’ award went to Kea McKeown (8JB) who correctly
answered more than 200 questions in 24 hours. For their effort, every
student who participated in World Maths Day received a digital
World Maths Day Participation Certificate. We want to thank all
those students who took part and we look forward to another round of
World Maths Day competition in 2013.
Maths Games in lessons
In Maths, we always try to make our lessons funny and exciting. Here are some students learning probability from experiments.
Quiz We hope that you will enjoy reading the Link as well as doing the following quiz.
(a) If you have five cows, twelve
hens and a goat, how many legs in
total?
(b) What is the next?
31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, …
7, 8, 5, 5, 3, 4, …
(Hint: The two are related.)
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HOLIDAY DATES TERM DATES
PUBLIC SERVICES
A Year 10 Public Service BTEC group were honoured to have the opportunity to take part in a personal development
course at St John Moore Barracks at Shornecliffe, Folkestone on 11 March 2012.
This activity was packed with numerous tasks that had to be completed in a certain amount of time.
The activity turned out to be a great and successful day and was an excellent opportunity for the members of the group
to be taught a different level of discipline.
We returned to the College at the end of the day celebrating the fact that we had accomplished a challenging event in a
professional manner!
During the course of the activity we tried to make the least amount of mistakes possible as there was a 5 press-up
punishment. This made ourselves more cautious of our actions, which led to a success.
We are proud students of the College to have the honour of taking part in this activity and have a taste of what life is like
under pressure and discipline.
Report by Liam Christie and Harry Fields
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PRESS RELEASE Astor College Young Enterprise
Student’s delight at public speaking win
Public Speaking Competition
3 February 2012
A student from Astor College’s Young Enterprise program has won the Dover District area public speaking
competition. Every year Kent Young Enterprise companies have the opportunity to take part in the Public
Speaking Competition, which is unique to Kent.
Louise Webb is part of the Young Enterprise company ‘Inspirationery’, which aims to inspire teenagers through
its new range of stationery. The group has designed unique pencil case made recycled denim clothing,
which they hope will be available to buy soon.
Louise had to prepare a 7 minute speech on the topic: Are modern music videos no longer appropriate for
young viewers? She impressed the judges with her natural speaking style, and confident views and well
prepared speech. Louise beat off outstanding competition from students at Dover College, Sir Roger
Manwood’s and Dover Grammar School for Girls. She then went on to compete at the County Final on
Thursday 9 February, at The Kings
School in Canterbury.
The Young Enterprise group at Astor
College is very lucky to be supported
by the Port of Dover Harbour Board.
Chief Executive, Bob Goldfield said:
“We are proud to support Young
Enterprise for schools in the Dover
District area for the sixth year running.
Since we became the major
supporter we have seen some
fantastic and successful projects,
proving that Dover’s students have
great entrepreneurial spirit. To date,
we have funded and mentored many
Dover school companies helping to
make Young Enterprise accessible to
as many young people as possible
from all backgrounds and abilities.”
Dover Harbour Board.
Photograph:
Louise Web and Miss Polly Butterfield,
Deputy Director of Sixth Form
Contact details:
Miss P Butterfield
Deputy Director of Post-sixteen Studies
Astor College, Astor Avenue, Dover,
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CO
LLEG
E B
REA
KFA
ST
Year 9 Inter Form Badminton
A slight shortage of entries did not deaden the excitement of the overall competition as all three forms with competitors finished tied on
5 points and the medium of points difference was required to sort out the final positions.
1st PG
2nd CS
3rd GC
Brendon Ulaytt and Taylor Hare went through the competition unbeaten despite the best efforts of the Liam Smith, Owen Stebbing,
Rhyan Hayward team who ran them closest of all competitors.
Tom Essex and Nathan Neary recovered from a shaky start to record 2 wins and a draw to finish in second place in the individual table.
Despite running Brendon and Taylor close,
Owen, Liam and Rhyan could not match that
performance in other matches and were placed
third in the table.
The second CS pairing of Connor Williams and
Jordan Ricketts had to play all their games in
succession and this and Connor’s man flu meant
they finished fourth.
GC’s second pairing of Tierney Williams and
Lois Crosier with a little help from
Lavanya Navaran of HH were unable to
overcome all but Connor and Jordan to finish fifth
in the table.
This combination of results meant that all 3 forms
tied on 5 points and the need for points
difference. Well done to everyone who took part.
Hope to see more students involved in the next
event. M Gibson, PE Department
Astor College Breakfast
Since Monday 20 February we have been trialling a special offer of a bacon roll (or vegetarian
alternative) plus a hot chocolate drink for £1 which will be served between 8am and 8.30am in
the Refectory. This will be available free of charge for those entitled to Free School Meals and is
in addition to the £2 allocation for lunch.
We will also be offering the facility of cash payments at the tills although we would still
recommend the use of the cashless card system. For those who have not used the cashless system
yet, it is very simple to go online and put money on the card for use in the Refectory. It is free to
use and free to top up by debit card.
If your child is not already registered for Free School Meals and you think you may be entitled,
please complete the form, available from the College office.
I hope that this offer supports parents and guardians during these difficult financial times and, if
the trial is successful, we will consider making it a permanent offer.
Mr E Pallant
Head of College
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TRIP TO KNOLE ACADEMY BY COLLEGE
VOICE COUNCIL
On Wednesday 14 March Astor College Voice Council visited Knole Academy in Sevenoaks. We have a long history
of college council work and have shared many ideas about how each school is run. When we arrived at Knole Academy
the student voices played an ice breaker game where you write one true fact and one false fact about yourself and they
had to guess which the false one was.
Then we had discussions about lockers and how at Knole Academy’s their lockers work well and the students have a
locker each. When we finished talking about lockers we then talked about how our schools could improve.
At Knole Academy they have clip-on ties. This helps to stop students getting peanutted, but the bad thing about clip-on
ties is they can get stolen easier.
We talked about electronic devices such as phones at the schools. Knole Academy has a special device to tell if
calculators or phones are being used in exams and it helps stop pupils cheating. Knole Academy does not allow any
phones on students at all in school.
Astor College is thinking about becoming an Academy so we talked about how Knole Academy felt about their
transformation. The students said that they school was pretty much the same except for the new uniforms and name.
After the council meeting we went to watch the school production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It was quite hard to
understand as it was in the original language but it was funny with the characters joking around. The students made all
the scenery, did the entire make up and hair and all art classes do work for each production. The art work was amazing.
We had a fantastic day and have lots of ideas to tell Astor students about.
Luke Hitchman 7CJ
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Music Evening
and American
Supper
4 May 2012
At 7pm in White
Cliffs Theatre
Entertainment starts
at 7.30pm
Contact Finance Office for all bookings
on 01304 201151