Telephone: 01304 201151

Absence Line: 01304 200155

Fax: 01304 200152

Email: admin@astor.dfamat.com

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 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.

PICK UP THE BEAT After a postponement due to snow, the annual dance festival run by the Year 11 BTEC Sport

students, finally took place on Wednesday 20 March. It was a fantastic day with leaders

receiving many comments about their outstanding behaviour and organisation skills.

The group have been planning this event since 15 November - just as well due to 309

students taking part from primary and secondary schools throughout our area and an

audience of over 250! Fourteen schools entered including all our Federation schools which

included Astor, Barton, Shattercliffs and White Cliffs.

Thank you to the Combined Cadet Force and SSi Anton Krakowski for organising the parking

and Myles Ratcliffe from the Duke of Yorks Royal Military School who did the lighting,

Mr Esdale and Mrs Greenstreet who helped backstage and Miss Cloke and Miss Gerrard who

ran the event on the day.

A brilliant night. Well done to all involved.

S Fountain Director of Physical Education

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Development Day (closed to students) 28 March 2013

Bank Holiday (college closed) 6 May 2013

National Exams 13 May - 26 June 2013

Year 11 Prom 23 May 2013

Year 11/13 Leavers’ Day 24 May 2013

Parents’ Evening (Year 7, 8, 9) 4.30-7.00pm 13 June 2013

Dance Show at 7.30pm 19 to 21 June 2013

Year 5/6 Open Evening (College closes 2.40pm) 25 June 2013

Sports Day 2 July 2013

Academic Review Days and Year 6 Interviews 4 and 5 July 2013

National Students’ Art Exhibition and Gallery Launch 8 to 13 July 2013

AS Art Exhibition 15 July 2013

New Parents Welcome Evening 7.30pm 16 July 2013

End of Term Early Closure 1.00pm 24 July 2013

On Thursday 7th February in the Astor College White Cliffs Theatre,

Year 9 undertook the ‘Big Build Challenge’ in association with

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). Working in

groups of ten, the students were tasked with designing a free-standing

structure that they would like to see in Dover. The design could be

anything from a usable building to a piece of artistic sculpture. Once

the students had worked together to come up with a design, the

challenge was then to build it…

...out of newspaper!

Inventor Darcy had brought with him some extremely nifty devices

that could turn 5 sheets of ordinary newspaper (and a blob of paste)

into rigid ‘stix’ that could then be joined together using cable ties to

form the final structures.

Teams worked together up until 2.30pm to make the ‘stix’ and

construct their final structure. At the end of the day, the pieces were

judged by Mr Pallant and Mr Horne to narrow the teams down to a

top three. These three teams then gave a presentation to the rest of the

year group to explain their inspiration for the design and where they

envisaged it would go in Dover. From this, Mr Pallant and Mr Horne

made their final deliberations to announce the places 1-2-3.

The winning team comprising of Liam Blackford, Jade Coleman,

Jade Gough, Emily Hodges, Alysha Lawrence, Charlie Miller,

Hari Patel, Chelsea Such and Jack Willis took a share of a £50 prize

fund with their impressive Olympic Legacy Sculpture. The second

place team Harvey Cook, Tyler Groombridge, Jack Leigh,

Brandon Mills, Megan Pert, Josie Scales, Bethany Thomas and

Liam Wilson took a share of £20 with their exceptionally well crafted

Rocket and third place went to a very well thought out “Boat in

Hand” design to celebrate Dover’s link to the sea.

Other notable designs include a hog roast sculpture with revolving

spit to celebrate Dover’s Viking heritage, a saluting soldier to

remember our war heroes, an Astor College Ship and a working

windmill.

Both Mr Pallant and Mr Horne were highly impressed with the

quality of work and thought that had gone into each and every design

and the tremendous display of teamwork between all the students

involved. In addition to the college staff who were on hand to help

during the day, the team of visitors from CXK Ltd that set up and ran

the event were delighted with the success of the day and pleasantly

surprised by the artistic talents of the Astor College students.

All the students involved should feel extremely proud of themselves.

THE BIG BUILD CHALLENGE

Year 11 Health and Social Care

Students experience what it’s like

caring for a young baby

Astor has been running a Life Choice Baby programme in college for students for the past 5 years. The

programme is designed to inform young people about the realities and demands of parenting. This

involves students caring for a virtual baby over a weekend, and aims, through an extended experience in

a realistic environment, to help young people understand three important facts about babies:

1. Babies demands are unpredictable and must be met promptly

2. Babies require a great deal of time and attention

3. Babies change parents’ lives profoundly

The Life Choice Programme helps young adults explore the physical, emotional, aspirational and social

consequences of parenthood.

Each baby required care throughout the day and night. The baby’s programme is based on a real

baby. When Baby cried, it was the student’s responsibility to attend to Baby’s needs. Each student was

given a baby to care for from 4pm Friday evening right through until 4pm on the Sunday evening. Some

of the feedback from the students after the experience:-

‘I never want a baby they’re too needy, it cried during the night, it didn’t give me a break!’

‘I learnt that it can be stressful being a parent, it would stop you doing a lot of things.’

‘I tried my best, I was stressed, I hated all of it!’’

Astor College are offering Year 9 students Work Related Learning activities based around the Care of

Young children. This an exciting new development for this years work related learning. For more

Information speak to Mrs Browne in room 27.

Attendance Facts There are 190 days in a school year

1140 lessons are taught in a school year How many lessons will you miss this year?

Check the table below to find out

Percentage Attendance Number of lessons missed

100% Attendance 0 lessons missed

98% Attendance 23 lessons missed

95% Attendance 57 lessons missed

92% Attendance 91 lessons missed

90% Attendance 114 lessons missed

*85% Attendance 171 lessons missed

*75% Attendance 285 lessons missed

*70% Attendance 342 lessons missed

*65% Attendance 399 lessons missed

*Attendance is at a level where parents can be taken to court and

fined or imprisoned

for their child’s poor attendance.

Please contact the College to discuss any attendance concerns.

Shellie Willis, Director of Secondary Student and Parent Support

A massive “Thank-You” to everyone for their wonderful fundraising abilities. So far, from

‘spud days’, cake sales and Inter-form dance off’s, Astor College have managed to raise a

WHOPPING £828.48. All the money raised will be split between Alzheimer’s – Macmillan

Cancer Support and Martha Trust. A huge thank you too everyone involved so far, lets

keep on fundraising.

Ok so here's the deal. Were going to put our bodies through immense physical torture by

running this year's London Marathon, hopefully in Paula Radcliffe speed! If you have any

spare pennies or pounds you could donate I’m sure all will make the difference. Money raised will be split

between Mr Lea and Mr Harrison’s choice of worthy charities who are: Alzheimer’s, Macmillan Cancer Research

and The Martha Trust. If you can donate, please send money into Astor College (Finance Department),

addressed to either Mr Lea/Mr Harrison.

LONDON MARATHON

E-Safety Update

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre and Microsoft have teamed

up so it’s easier than ever for Windows 8 users to access CEOP’s online safety advice

pages or make a report about suspicious or inappropriate contact online.

Through a new app, downloadable for free from the Windows store, parents and

children can quickly explore CEOP’s award winning educational videos, see the latest

campaigns or follow CEOP’s Facebook page or Twitter feed updates.

CEOP and Microsoft hope the app will offer reassurance to parents and children using

Window’s 8 through the ability to report quickly or access support. Reports could be

someone acting inappropriately, engaging in sexual chat, asking you to do something

that makes you feel uncomfortable or threatened, or may be as a result of someone

being insistent about meeting up.

While users are using other Windows 8 applications, such as Internet Explorer, if they

come across a website they want to report to CEOP they can use the shared

functionality of the app to quickly access e-safety pages and alert the Centre.

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Shop 1 Radnor Chambers

Cheriton Place

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CT20 2BB

01303 487075 - 01303 847185

Your Local School uniform shop channeluniforms@live.co.uk

www.channeluniforms.co.uk

For all your uniform requirements: We also stock Rainbow, Brownie and Guide uniforms, Beaver, Cub and Scout uniforms.

Opening hours Monday – Closed Tuesday – Friday 9.30 – 5.00pm Saturday 10.00 – 4.00pm