Telephone: 01304 201151 Absence Line: 01304 200155 Fax: 01304 200152 Email: [email protected]Dear Parent/Guardian It has been another successful and busy term with numerous international collaborations, involving many students. A number of staff and students have just returned from a fantastic visit to Turkey, funded by Comenius. Students from both countries have worked together to compare the role of women in society and completed specific environmental projects in both Dover and Turkey. I do hope this will be a link that more students will benefit from in the future. We celebrated 10 years of joint work with Sint-Jozefsinstituut-College, Torhout, Belgium, by hosting 20 students and two staff at Astor for two days. Our Media Studies students worked with them and KETV Film and Sound Studios to produce various articles which we hope will be published in the local KM Mercury newspaper. The two days finished with a fantastic performance in our White Cliffs Theatre, an international football match and a signed Charter confirming our collaboration. I must thank Mr Oliver and Mrs Stapley for supporting the students who performed the National Theatre Connexions Production of ‘Ailie the Alien’ in our White Cliffs Theatre. For anyone who missed it, we will be performing again at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, on Thursday 9 May and tickets are available from the Marlowe Theatre box office. The College continues to focus on academic subjects and again we have achieved fantastic record early entry English and Maths results. These record results reflect the hard work of many students who have been supported by dedicated staff and parents. Year 11 do not have long before they sit their final exams and please do not hesitate to contact Mr Moore, Director of Year, the Personal Tutor or Subject teacher if you have any concerns over this important period. I hope you will continue to support by reminding your son/daughter 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 to, 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. Finally, the application process for our 6 th Form has begun and please remind your son or daughter to complete their application to Mrs Walton and myself. Yours sincerely E Pallant Principal the LINK Easter 2013 2
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It has been another successful and busy term with numerous international collaborations,
involving many students. A number of staff and students have just returned from a fantastic visit
to Turkey, funded by Comenius. Students from both countries have worked together to compare
the role of women in society and completed specific environmental projects in both Dover and
Turkey. I do hope this will be a link that more students will benefit from in the future.
We celebrated 10 years of joint work with Sint-Jozefsinstituut-College, Torhout, Belgium, by
hosting 20 students and two staff at Astor for two days. Our Media Studies students worked with
them and KETV Film and Sound Studios to produce various articles which we hope will be
published in the local KM Mercury newspaper. The two days finished with a fantastic
performance in our White Cliffs Theatre, an international football match and a signed Charter
confirming our collaboration.
I must thank Mr Oliver and Mrs Stapley for supporting the students who performed the National
Theatre Connexions Production of ‘Ailie the Alien’ in our White Cliffs Theatre. For anyone
who missed it, we will be performing again at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, on Thursday 9
May and tickets are available from the Marlowe Theatre box office.
The College continues to focus on academic subjects and again we have achieved fantastic
record early entry English and Maths results. These record results reflect the hard work of many
students who have been supported by dedicated staff and parents. Year 11 do not have long
before they sit their final exams and please do not hesitate to contact Mr Moore, Director of
Year, the Personal Tutor or Subject teacher if you have any concerns over this important period.
I hope you will continue to support by reminding your son/daughter 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 to, 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.
Finally, the application process for our 6th Form has begun and please remind your son or
daughter to complete their application to Mrs Walton and myself.
Yours sincerely
E Pallant
Principal
the LINK
Easter 2013 2
Students on the Comenius Project to Köyceğiz in Turkey
The students planting the Amber Trees at Anadolou Lisesi School
Dekamer Sea Turtle Research Centre and Rehabilitation Centre
On the lookout for turtles at Turtle Beach
Working hard on their project of ‘The role of women in society’
The Comenius Bilateral Project
On Friday the 1st of March, a group of ten students and myself flew to Turkey to complete the last part of a Comenius
Project. The project had two specific aims and firstly compared the role of women in Turkish and English society. Secondly,
we investigated the environmental preservation of Turkey’s Caretta Caretta and Amber trees and England’s flora and fauna
and the preservation of the White Cliffs of Dover.
We all had such an amazing visit to Köyceğiz; it’s an experience that no other will ever be able to match. The visit was very
much enhanced by living with our Turkish partner and their family; it really helped us to experience the Turkish culture to the
full! When we weren’t at home or being shown around Köyceğiz by our partners, we were at Anadolu Lisesi, the local high
school, studying the role of women in our two cultures, it was very enriching and enlightening to see that in such different
cultures there were so many similarities! Whilst at the school we spent an afternoon planting Amber tress to increase the
endangered population in area of land behind the school. It was a brilliant experience and very rewarding as the sap of the
Amber trees is very valued in Turkey in religious ceremonies, so it was wonderful to be able to contribute to their preservation.
To complete the final part of our visit, we visited Dalyan’s turtle hospital, a type of sanctuary that helps to care for and treat
the ailments of the endangered Loggerhead and Green Turtles that inhabit the waters and the beaches surrounding Köyceğiz
and Dalyan. That was a particularly memorable visit and left a great impact upon our group as it was very sad and difficult to
see such beautiful creatures in such difficult conditions. We gained so much from the overall experience, we made friends for
life, we’ve learned how to appreciate such an interesting culture and we have memories that we will never forget. I wouldn’t
change it for the world!
Many thanks to Cllr Gordan Cowan for the £1,000 we received towards our ‘Mardi Gras’ event in
London at Christmas. We were extremely grateful for the part he played in supporting our Mardi Gras
Challenge project.
The Mardi Gras event took place just before Christmas and was extremely well supported. The students
had a fabulous time and were in complete awe of the theatre itself. They had the opportunity to meet
the gentleman who played ‘Phantom’ in ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and had their photograph taken with him
in both sets of costumes. We know it is an experience they will never forget and we are so grateful
that, due to this contribution, we were able to make it happen.
We aim to take our ‘Rebound’ group to more competitions to strengthen bonds with other students who have a passion in the same field, improve skills and continue to make links with other dance schools for future projects. Rebound are performing a dance show at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury on Friday 26 April and tickets are available from the Marlowe Theatre Box Office. M Cressey Finance Department
MARDI GRAS
Our friends from Sint-Jozefinstitutuut-College, Torhout, Belgium arrived on Thursday 14 March to work with our Yr10 Media Studies students, KETV Film and Sound Studios and the KM Mercury. The KM Mercury had offered the both our schools a special centre page pull-out section to celebrate our 10 year collaboration. Currently both schools work together in the performing Arts, English, Media studies, Sport and Teacher Training. We are also fortunate that the link has been extended to our Federation Primary schools. The students began the day with a tour of KETV studios before practising interview techniques, which were to be used later in the day. We continued our work back at Astor College and we were joined by the KM Mercury journalist, Graham Smith. He explained the requirements that our young international journalists had to fulfil to be published, provided further advice about interviewing local residents and what is required to quote members of the public as a journalist. During the afternoon the students worked in Dover Town Centre, interviewing local residents about their views on a wide variety of local and European topics, before returning to Astor College to write their stories and send them to Graham, at the KM Mercury, for possible publication. The students had very tight deadlines and all the submissions had to be completed by 7pm. On Friday the Belgians returned and we played a friendly international 5-a-side match against our 6th Form, unfortunately we lost 6-4. Our “Decennial” was then formally celebrated with Torhout students performing numerous songs from our many International Musicals to our Yr13 students before we signed a Charter Agreement consolidating our continued collaboration. Both Astor staff and the student audience were then treated to various Belgian delicacies including homemade puddings, cakes, waffles and pancakes. Students from both schools and countries have benefited from our collaboration and I am very pleased that this will continue. A special thank you to Mr Payne, who was the driving force behind this successful link for many years. Mr Frederik Deryckere, (Teacher-Leerkracht Engels) said “it was a perfect end to a perfect two-days visit to Dover and the wonderful school, which Astor College definitely is. We hope to welcome Astor College next year in our school in Belgium with their next musical try-out and surely plan to come back ourselves. Thank you Astor, and thank you Dover Mercury for allowing us to contribute to this fine edition.”
TWINNING WITH
BELGIUM Our friends from Sint-Jozefinstituut-College, Torhout, Belgium arrived on Thursday 14 March to work with our Yr10
Media Studies students, KETV Film and Sound Studios and the KM Mercury. The KM Mercury had offered to both
our schools a special centre page pull-out section to celebrate our 10 year collaboration. Currently both schools work
together in the Performing Arts, English, Media studies, Sport and Teacher Training. We are also fortunate that the
link has been extended to our Federation Primary schools.
The students began the day with a tour of KETV studios before practising interview techniques, which were to be
used later in the day. We continued our work back at Astor College and we were joined by the KM Mercury journalist,
Graham Smith. He explained the requirements that our young international journalists had to fulfil to be published,
provided further advice about interviewing local residents and what is required to quote members of the public as a
journalist. During the afternoon the students worked in Dover Town Centre, interviewing local residents about their
views on a wide variety of local and European topics, before returning to Astor College to write their stories and send
them to Graham, at the KM Mercury, for possible publication. The students had very tight deadlines and all the
submissions had to be completed by 7pm. On Friday the Belgians returned and we played a friendly international
5-a-side match against our 6th Form, unfortunately we lost 6-4. Our “Decennial” was then formally celebrated with
Torhout students performing numerous songs from our many International Musicals to our Yr13 students before we
signed a Charter Agreement consolidating our continued collaboration. Both Astor staff and the student audience
were then treated to various Belgian delicacies including homemade puddings, cakes, waffles and pancakes.
Students from both schools and countries have benefited from our collaboration and I am very pleased that this will
continue. A special thank you to Mr Payne, who was the driving force behind this successful link for many years.
TWINNING WITH
Sint-Jozefinstituut-College, Belgium
Congratulations on Tierney Williams, Luke Wood from Year 10 and Jessica Humphries from Year 12 on passing their Cadet Junior/Senior leadership course at RAF Manston, Margate.
They where put through their paces and tested on leadership, problem solving, observation, drill, instructing on lessons and all with being tired from the early 06:00 start every morning, well done.
We as a CCF have gone from strength to strength since last year and are making progress with the CCF Syllabus. It has been a busy year and things are just as busy this year leading up to end of the academic year, such as Easter camp at RAF Henlow and Adventurous Training at Broadstone Warren. We also have a lot of other activities on, such as Air show visits, memorial service to the fallen at Capel Battle of Britain Memorial.
If you are interested In flying or just coming down to the CCF Unit for a look around please feel free and some one will be there to help.
Combined Cadet Force & Military Cadre
Uniting the World in Numbers!!
About one hundred and thirty of students in Years 7 to 9 took part in
the World Maths Day challenge where together they correctly
answered over 18 000 Mental Arithmetic questions out of just over
two hundred and ninety-two million questions answered worldwide. All students who
participated in the challenge received World Maths Day specially engraved certificates. Astor’s
best student award went to Joe Lund who correctly answered a total of 1 500 questions in
twenty four hours. Joe also had the highest number of questions answered correctly during a 1
minute challenge with a record 50 questions! Overall class results went to Mrs Goodwin’s Year
7 class who successfully answered nearly 11 000 questions on their own. We hope that many
more students will take part in the World Maths Day activities next year. Well done everyone
who helped to unite Astor with the rest of the world in numbers!
WORLD LITERACY DAY CELEBRATIONS
STAR PUPILS, Antonia Reed and Luke Clark shone brighter than the rest last Tuesday when they came first and second in the World Literacy Day competition. The year 8 English students competed with pupils from all over the world by answering as many literacy questions as they could in one minute. The excitement was obvious as the Astor pupils taking part in the competition realised that not only were they competing with each other on the WORLD EDUCATION GAMES website , but with people from as far flung as Japan! Antonia and Luke earned official certificates and a large bar of chocolate too. Well done to all those who took part and good luck next year. Mrs Hall.