Week commencing 1 June 2020

• Mrs Holmes would like to draw your attention to a potentially useful website.
  She says, "It details book reviews and recommendations for children to help with physical, emotional and mental health, written by someone with a wealth of knowledge on the subject". The following link will take you to each subject and then list the books, and book reviews:
  http://www.healthybooks.org.uk/browse/

Week commencing 25 May 2020

• We now have a dedicated page for year 6 students joining us in September 2020 and their parents.
  There is also a quick link to the page via the blue button above.

Week commencing 18 May 2020

• We have published three documents providing help and and advice to parents, carers and students about mental health and wellbeing:
  • Mr Jones has written a letter to parents and carers containing information received from Kent County Council
  • A letter to parents from Kent Educational Psychology Service along with a dowloadable version of a leaflet providing Guidance around supporting children and young people's wellbeing during the coronavirus outbreak.
• We have launched our transition progamme for year 11 students intending to join our sixth form in September.
  This includes students joining from other schools.
• Dane Court Grammar School staff were pleased and privileged to provide practical support to Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School's Design Technology department in their amazing visors for health workers project last month. Congratulations to them for being nominated for the Daily Telegraph DIY Lockdown Awards and making it to the top three.

Week commencing 11 May 2020

• From the start of Lockdown our Food Technology department has been asking students in years 7, 8 and 9 to get creative in their kitchens with the aim of cooking meals for their families at home and then reporting back with recipes and photos of their creations.
  Initially Mrs Leese recommended a couple of recipes to give the students a little help but the project soon became a popular activity with some students planning day-to-day menus and recording 'consumer feedback'. Click here to see a small selection of meals and individual courses developed by our students over their time in Lockdown.
• Ellie is one of our very talented year 9 students, who wanted to compose a song to express how much she missed her friends and school life here at Dane Court. Ellie has perfectly captured how much school and her friends mean to her, in: 'Don't Be Afraid'.
  Listen and view the video here.

Week commencing 4 May 2020

• Inspired by the tasks being set for her year group by the Food Technology department, Sophia in year 8 devised her own.
  This is her Family Cooking Challenge complete with evaluations or "What went well" (WWW) and suggestions for improvement or "Even better if..." (EBI) ready for the next time Sophia takes on feeding the family for two whole days. Read more here.

Week commencing 20 April 2020

• We have written a letter to parents about the Government temporarily extending the eligibility criteria for free school meals to some children of groups who have no recourse to public funds.
• Mrs Holmes asks students - Are you getting enough sleep? However you answer this question, you should find her notes very useful.
• Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust have created a COVID-19 FAQs for parents page on their website. It contains lots of useful advice and references to other organisations who can help.
• Our Head of School, Mr Jones marks the start of Term 5 in a letter to parents. 
• This week Dane Court staff supported Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School (CCGS) in its truly amazing efforts to provide face shields (visors) for health workers on the frontline in the battle against the coronavirus (COVID-19). Read the story.

Week commencing 13 April 2020

• Thanet Inclusion Support Service has provided us with an updated  list of external services to support parents with children at home during lockdown mentioned in this more detailed article.
• Our Food Technology department would love all Dane Court students to share photos of their cooking with us.
  Years 7-10 have a Google Classroom space to upload photos of their cooking to. We are so impressed with all of the cooking that has been shared so far. Keep it up Dane Court.
  This week's recipe is for mini fruity pasties. There are some filling suggestions on the recipe - let us know if you come up with any other ideas.

Week commencing 6 April 2020

• When your child is ill or injured it is very difficult to decide if/when to call your child’s GP, NHS 111 or go the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E). During the current situation and while the government is asking everyone to stay at home, it can be confusing to know what to do.
  Here is some guidance designed by primary and secondary care clinicians from Barts Health & North-East London STP.
• The Chatterers (a group of Dane Court student journalists and editors) have not allowed lockdown to halt publication of the Spring edition of the student newspaper DCGS Chatter. Download your copy here.
• We've published an addendum to our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.
  You can read it here: ADDENDUM - DC Safeguarding and CP Policy

Week commencing 30 March 2020

• People will be reacting in different ways to the change in lifestyle, and we are aware that some of our students and their families are finding it hard to adjust to the new restrictions. With this in mind, our colleagues at the Thanet Inclusion Support Service have compiled some resources to support parents with children at home during lockdown.
  Firstly, there is a list of external services still available for support or set up to help support the community during the crisis. Contact details for these services are provided, however please bear in mind the speed at which the landscape is changing; some services may be difficult to reach or may have already been withdrawn.
  Secondly, they have created a pack of resources to support positive mental health and provide emotional support while at home. These are activities that can be explored by the whole family if necessary.
  If you have any particular concerns or worries, we are happy to hear from you and will do our best to support you. Mrs Holmes (SENCO) can be contacted by email at holmes@danecourt.kent.sch.uk, Mr Sunderland at sunderland@danecourt.kent.sch.uk and Mrs Ives at ives@danecourt.kent.sch.uk.
  
  
• Faced with a global pandemic, Emily keeps calm and carries on. Service Learning is an important element of our IB career-related programme (IBCP) in the sixth form which could have been hit hard by the coronavirus measures.
  Under normal circumstances students liaise with members of the local community and undertake unpaid and voluntary activities that help the community and also have a learning benefit for the student. That's not even a possibility at the moment but thanks to the swift action and advice of her teachers IBCP student Emily Vaccaro has devised a plan. Read more here.
  
  
• Our Food Technology department has been ecouraging year 8 students to get involved with the preparation of meals at home and many have taken photos of the delicious-looking creations and submitted them to their Food Tech Google Classroom.
  Inspired by the response, Mrs Leese has started uploading more recipes (at least one each week) to this website.
  Take a look here.

Week commencing 23 March 2020

• published a factsheet to help you incorporate school work into your household routine
• provided a safe place to work and play for our students whose parents are fulfilling critical roles in the national response to the coronavirus.
• sent year 11 students and their parents updates about the DfE's more detailed guidance on GCSE results this Summer
• posted plenty of help with keeping students safe when they are learning online at home
• written directly to our sixth form students with the latest information about their written exams
• set specific tasks and activities for students learning from home (check your school email and Google Classrooms)
• provided technical support to get students at home up and running when the online technology doesn't seem to work properly