A message to parents of year 11 students

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Published: Sunday, 13 January 2019 17:58

Written by Nic Aherne

Dear parents/guardians of year 11
The GCSE examination timetables have been issued to students this week, please keep these in a safe place to enable you to support your child through these examinations.
Whilst the timetables have now been finalised the qualification regulators, JCQ (Joint Council for Qualifications) and government departments responsible for education have prepared and agreed information for schools in the event of examinations being seriously disrupted. This jointly agreed information will ensure consistency of response in the event of major disruption to the examination system affecting a number of different candidates and examination centres.

JCQ has designated Wednesday 26 June 2019 as a 'contingency day' for examinations.
This means that students should be available up until 27 June 2019, in case the contingency day has to be used.
Please bear this in mind when booking any holidays this summer.

Kind regards
Nic Aherne
Examinations Officer

Dane Court teacher guest editor of BBC Radio 4 Feedback

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Published: Saturday, 15 December 2018 15:27

Written by Mr M Alderson

When BBC Radio 4 programme Feedback announced that it was looking for guest editors for its broadcasts in the run-up to Christmas, Dane Court Grammar School English teacher Ben Forward was quick to respond.
The BBC calls Feedback "Radio 4's forum for comments, queries, criticisms and congratulations" and, as a frequent listener, Ben was keen to get involved. He also knew there would be Dane Court staff, students and parents with something to say about current issues important to the BBC and many of its listeners.

Feedback promptly appointed Ben as its guest editor for the show to be aired on Friday 14 December 2018. Preparations were made to welcome the Feedback team to our school just two days before the broadcast date.

In the programme, students, teachers and parents join a debate to discuss BBC radio programmes and podcasts selected by editor Ben. Later on, programme presenter Roger Bolton met with a student discussion group including head of our very own Dane Court Radio station to tackle, among others, the question "Should the BBC be spending its time and money chasing younger listeners?"

Thanks to the following for their valuable contribution to the success of this venture:
Students Josh (discussion group), Ash (discussion group and debate), William (DC Radio interview and debate), Pasan (DC Radio interview), Alfie (DC Radio interview) and Antonio (debate)
Parent Ian Barker
Teachers Nicola Sotiri, Sarah Stivarius and of course, mastermind and editor-for-the-day Ben Forward. 

Listen to the extended podcast version now

BBC Radio 4 Feedback's Twitter page

Panto for Yoakley residents

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Published: Tuesday, 11 December 2018 07:12

Written by Mrs J Baker

The year 12 *IBCP Health and Social Care class treated the residents at Yoakley Homes to a Christmas extravaganza when they performed a magical version of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ last week. All the class members took part, including the teachers. Mr Osborne, at six feet eight inches tall just had to be the giant!
Each year the Health and Social Care students are given the task of working together as a team in order to produce something for others and this year the residents of Yoakley Homes had asked for a pantomime.

For many of the students this was quite a challenge as they had not performed before, but we were so impressed at the way they came together to create the scenery, costumes, props and refreshments for the performance. The challenge was to present the final show in a week.
One of the residents said “It is so kind of these young people to take time off their studies to come and entertain us here. We do like to see them. They are very good!”

*The International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme in Health and Social Care is one of five exciting vocational courses you could study as a member of our sixth form. Alongside the IB Diploma Programme, it forms part of a unique range of opportunities available at Dane Court Grammar School.
Learn more about our sixth form.

International Food Evening 2018

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Published: Monday, 10 December 2018 19:33

Written by Evie Parsons, 7N

Loud, buzzy and exciting to say the least. The International food evening that took place on Thursday 6 December 2018 and has been hosted by determined members of the Food Department for 23 years running. It took weeks and weeks of preparation and hard work but it was all worth it in the end and I’m sure that all the members of year 7 that took part in this event will cherish it for the rest of their school career and far into the future.

It was a fabulous opportunity for many to show what food they eat and enjoy within their culture, country and religion to classmates and members of the public. In my opinion, above all it was about trying something new, experimenting and getting out of your comfort zone. As well as the food, there were so many opportunities to get out of your comfort zone, whether that was something as simple as cooking for the first time, or communicating with other people whilst setting up, or something more nerve racking such as talking to members of the public.
With my partner we did South Africa, but in this event there were over 40 countries, From England and Wales, to places across the world such as India, Oman, Australia, Greece and Spain to name a few.
As well as the food stands we had a raffle, an auction and even a cocktail bar with a variety of non-alcoholic cocktails that everybody could enjoy. As well as this we had a tea bar, that served tea, coffee and also small cups of squash for people’s babies, toddlers and little kids to enjoy.

Of course this event was to have fun and to get out of your comfort zone and try new things, but it is a huge event for the Food department as it is a chance for them to raise much needed money for the department to have the best equipment to help make our experience in our Food and Nutrition lessons the best it can be, and to give us the highest chance of succeeding in this subject. Also new equipment will benefit many years of Dane Court students to come.

Thank you to everybody who helped in this event: all of the Food and Nutrition teachers, the year 7s, the helpers at the cocktail bar, the auctioneer, helpers with the raffle and also the people who helped with the under estimated job of cleaning up so that all of the building would be able to be used by students the following school day. Also a big thank you to anybody who provided auction or raffle prizes or spent any money at the event as it all helps. Altogether around £600 was raised and thanks to all of these efforts this is money that the food Department can use to help all of the students in Dane Court Grammar School.

Kent Schools Netball

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Published: Wednesday, 28 November 2018 06:04

Written by Mr M Alderson

After our under 14s netball ball team won their round at the Kent Netball tournament in Rainham, they were in the Kent finals on Saturday 24 November in Aylesford.

After some very tough competition they came 8th out of all Kent Schools. All girls played exceptionally well and the Dane Court community are so proud of their accomplishment, commitment and team work.

IB at 50 - inspirational stories

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Published: Tuesday, 07 August 2018 09:33

Written by Mr M Alderson

2018 marks 50 years since the International Baccalaureate community was founded.
In contrast Dane Court Grammar School has been an IB World School for a mere decade.
Nevertheless our students and teachers have benefited from the IB's high standards and innovation in the field of education.

The IB website is currently celebrating their 50 years of successes with the eye-opening IB Stories which presents some of the many achievements of its alumni and dedication of those teaching the Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme.

Here at Dane Court we offer both the Diploma and Career-related Programmes with a wide range of subject choices and a variety of flexible course formats.

Find out more on our sixth form pages.

The NCS factor

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Published: Tuesday, 09 October 2018 10:29

Written by Mrs M Linton

During the summer holidays 19 Dane Court students took part in the National Citizenship Service. This fantastic and engaging programme took students away for a week of team building activities and on their return to Thanet they ran social action projects to promote Help for Heroes, Breast Cancer Awareness and Oasis Domestic Abuse Service.
During their celebratory event at Dreamland on the 14 September the teams won awards for creativity, innovation and determination.