Dstc newsletter March

#DSTC NEWS

Dartford Science and Technology College Newsletter March Edition

ALL THE NEWS FROM DARTFORD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE PRINCIPAL’S NOTE Time is an enigma – it seems to pass so quickly yet we know it is constant. The last article I wrote was in advance of Christmas nearly three months ago and yet the associated snow arrived last week! I must thank all parents, students and staff for their understanding and support while severe adverse weather conditions meant we had to shut the school to ensure the safety of all. As ever, there has been a lot of superb studying and extra curricular work undertaken by students at DSTC since our last newsletter and it will not be long before the public examinations start in earnest. I started with time and I end with time – British Summer Time starts on Sunday 25th March 2018.

Don’t forget to put your clocks forward.

Anne Davis

COMING UP

H

ere are some key DSTC dates for your diary.

• 26th March

Year 11 Final Countdown Information Evening 18:00 - 20:00 • 29th March Hockey Emerging Schools 7 A Side • 29th March DSTC Spring Fair 3-5pm • 30/3 - 13/4 Easter Break • 25th April Maths Visit • 4th - 6th May Visit to Bushcraft, Penshurst Place • 20th May P.E. visit to the O2 for Basketball Play-off Finals

Sports Relief Day is on Friday 23rd March - please note that sports clothing can be worn for £1

DSTCASPIRE: ACTUARIAL SCIENCE On Tuesday 9th January, Peter McQuire from the University of Kent came to DSTC to give a talk to some of our students in Years 9 and 10. Peter worked as an Actuarial Scientist before lecturing at the University and he gave the girls an interesting insight into some of the careers you can have with a passion for Mathematics. Actuarial Scientists calculate risk and are a key part of insurance companies to ensure the business’ income from insurance premiums is greater than the amount it will have to pay out in claims. Our students showed a strong understanding of the different risks and factors associated with car insurance and were able to do some calculations of their own. This interesting talk gave the students an idea of a different path Mathematics can take you down and they were surprised by the salaries which can be earned following a degree in Actuarial Science.

If you are able to, or know anyone who would be able to, come and speak to our students about careers or university pathways they may not have heard about, please contact Mrs Cooper (kaye.cooper@dstc.kent.sch.uk) or Mr Christopher (steve.christopher@dstc.kent.sch.uk) who will be happy to arrange a meeting to discuss future events.

YEAR 7 DT SPIN TOY PROJECT In preparing our future Engineers, we have challenged them to produce multi-component products that need a high level of accuracy and precision to function.

Our students perform amazingly well every lesson to complete difficult tasks that involve problem solving and team work.

We have no doubt that our wonderful Year 7 students will help solve the nation’s engineering crisis.

JEKYLL AND HYDE THEATRE TRIP

Year 11 students were excited to attend a live performance of Jekyll and Hyde at The Orchard Theatre, Dartford. The play helped bring to life Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic gothic thriller starring Phil Daniels as both Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde; moreover, it helped students revise the plot, theme and characters of the novella which will prepare them for their English Literature mock examination.

Critics have described Phil Daniels as “chillingly brutal to watch… wonderfully gothic…sends a chill down the spine.”

INSPIRING EDUCATION, NURTURING SUCCESS

#DSTC NEWS

Dartford Science and Technology College Newsletter March Edition

ALL THE NEWS FROM DARTFORD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

DSTC TRAMPOLINING TEAM The team of 10 headed to Dartford Grammar School for Girls to compete in the annual competition. Some were very nervous first timers in the novice competition and some were well drilled intermediate competitors. The girls had to perform a 10 bounce routine twice and were graded on the height, body posture, movement on the trampoline bed, control and flair. The top three teams and individuals in each category head to represent North West Kent at the Kent finals later this year.

DARENT VALLEY HOSPITAL ART Students were studying the work of Austrian artist Hundertwasser who was very interested in both painting and architecture. He designed and built some fantastic buildings using curves and nature as his theme. He was very interested in exploring eco-friendly cities and often incorporated trees and plants into the buildings themselves.

The students used clay to build onion domed cathedrals based on Hundertwasser’s architecture and then painted the cardboard base to look as 3D as possible. The girls had to make sure that they showed both raised areas and that they decorated it using bright and bold colours.

DSTC WASTE WEEK 2018 Years 9 and 10 had the great opportunity to meet and talk with Helen Czerski. Helen is a Physicist and Oceanographer at University College London. When she’s not doing that, she is also a science presenter for the BBC. Helen gave a fascinating talk on what she does as a bubble scientist and touched upon the physics of everyday life. The girls had great questions which were answered during a Q&A session with Helen. Helen also visited Year 9 as they embarked on an exciting physics research project of their own. Helen gave expert scientific research advice on the girls’ projects and is excited to see the outcome of the research, including the CERN MX-10 detector, and will share their findings with other scientists!

The Institute for Research in Schools have kindly loaned the school a CERN detector which the girls are planning on using to gather data about radiation.

Positive comments from the girls include “It was really helpful to speak to Helen about our project, she told us about how blankets can be used to prevent unwanted radiation during x-rays” (Amy Cratchley). STEM club members are also planning a research project of their own.

INSPIRING EDUCATION, NURTURING SUCCESS

#DSTC NEWS

Dartford Science and Technology College Newsletter March Edition

ALL THE NEWS FROM DARTFORD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE DSTC SPRING FAIR

On March 29th, as part of their final coursework, our Year 13 Business students have set up a Social Enterprise and will be organising a Spring Fair in support of Barnardo’s charity and DSTC. This will be a fun-packed afternoon complete with a mixture of games stalls, a bouncy castle, music, food, an Easter egg hunt and a raffle prize draw. The Easter bunny will, of course, be at the event to entertain younger children!

Tickets will go on sale from Monday 26th March, with one primary school aged child going free with one paying adult (£2). Youth tickets (age 11-16) are priced at £1. Let’s help a good cause and start the Easter holidays with an eggcellent fair!

DSTC WORLD BOOK DAY

DSTC NETBALL CHAMPIONS The Year 8 girls have matched the Year 7s by being Borough Netball Champions! They have been unbeaten all year in the borough leagues held monthly and then played in the finals to become the overall champions.

Player of the match was Rugi Kanu. We congratulate them on their achievement.

Gareth Johnson, Member of Parliament for Dartford, will be available to meet with Constituents on the following dates at Bluewater (DA9 9ST) from 4-7pm.

Friday 20th April Friday 18th May Friday 8th June Friday 6th July

In order to celebrate World Book Day, DSTC held a ‘shelfie’ competition. Twenty five members of staff took a photo of their bookshelf; how well did the students know their teachers?

Could they guess who they were from their bookshelves?

8T were the form who guessed the highest number of the staff ‘shelfies’ and therefore won the competition! Well done to If you would like to meet everyone for taking part.

Gareth at one of his regular appointment-based surgeries in the future, please contact him at gareth.johnson.mp@parliament.uk or telephone 020 7219 7047.

DSTC FORENSIC INVESTIGATION TEAM CHALLENGE 2018 Year 9 and 10 students participated in the ‘Medway Education Business Partnership Forensic Investigation Team Challenge’ which took place here at DSTC. The girls spent the morning learning about processes and applications used at crime scenes, such as fingerprinting, foot and footwear casting and analysis, hair, fibre and blood spatter form from a forensic expert.

The girls were then given a case where they had to use their newly acquired forensic skills to collect evidence and form a case. The teams presented their case in ‘court’ to the visiting ‘judge’.

The winning team, which consisted of the following students: Hollie McNamara, Deborah Odutayo, Naomi Delano-Lindo, Onor Akpede and Nancy Williams, performed exceptionally well and scored very highly according to the judge. The judge overall was very impressed with the girls’ collaborative effort in solving the crime!

Positive comments from the students include “I always knew I wanted to go into Forensic Science, but this experience has only made me want to do it more!” (Isabelle Cox) and “I found it all really interesting, for example the fact that you can even derive what drugs someone has consumed just from a hair fibre!” (Nancy Williams).

INSPIRING EDUCATION, NURTURING SUCCESS

#DSTC NEWS

Dartford Science and Technology College Newsletter March Edition

ALL THE NEWS FROM DARTFORD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF KENT: STUDENTS AS RESEARCHERS DAY On Monday 19th March we were delighted to welcome a team of PhD research students from the University of Kent to DSTC. Over 40 Year 12 and 13 Sociology, Psychology and EPQ students took part in this day which focused on active research in this field. This was particularly relevant to the cohort as part of their course requirement is to respond to examination answers about the research process in Social Science. The day started with a brilliant buzz as the team were really inspirational in their delivery and motivated the learners with further curiosity about the social world. The students were really engaged throughout the day which was well focused towards their A Level content.

Later in the day the students went into break away groups in order to formulate research proposals and to consider the advantages and disadvantages that they might face in the research process.

All students were a credit to DSTC and were fantastic ambassadors for DSTC and the Social Science team.

DSTC IMPROVED MESSAGING SYSTEM From time to time, we send information to parents via text message to their mobile phone. A new, free smartphone app for parents is now available for download called ‘School Gateway’ for Apple (iOS 8 on the iPhone 4S or later, iPad, iPod Touch) and Android (4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich or later) devices.

1. Search for “School Gateway” in the Apple App Store/Google Play or on your phone go to www.schoolgateway.com/apple (Apple) or www.schoolgateway.com/android (Android).

2. Install the app and, if you are asked, say yes to “Allow Push Notifications”.

3. When you launch School Gateway for the first time, please select ‘New User’ and enter the email address and mobile phone number that you have registered with the school.

4. The system will send a PIN code to your mobile phone; please enter this PIN code and the app will be activated for you.

5. As soon as you’ve got the system set-up, all of the text messages we send you will appear in the app; you’ll receive notifications/alerts as normal. If you’ve recently changed your email address or mobile phone number, please let us know so that we can update our records.

DSTC SPORT RELIEF 2018 On Friday 23rd March 2018 we will be holding a Wear Something Sporty to School day for students in aid of Sport Relief.

The theme for the day is Sports so your daughter can wear anything sport related, such as a tracksuit, in return for making a donation of £1 to Sport Relief. The money raised will help tackle critical issues affecting people across the UK and the world.

Throughout break and lunchtime there will be an opportunity for students to support the Sport Relief charity by taking part in activities arranged by the Sixth Form Community Sports Leadership Group and the staff. For example: Treasure Hunt, Spot the Ball, How Many Skips in a Minute, Danceathon as well as daily challenges during their PE lessons. In addition to this, there will be a Sixth Form vs Teachers Netball match during lunchtime and students can pay a donation to watch. All proceeds from these events will go directly to the Sport Relief charity so, if your daughter would like to take part, she may wish to bring a small amount of money to school with her. We hope that by supporting such events we raise the students’ awareness of the need to help others in the local, national and international communities.

INSPIRING EDUCATION, NURTURING SUCCESS

#DSTC NEWS

Dartford Science and Technology College Newsletter March Edition

ALL THE NEWS FROM DARTFORD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

SCIENCE WEEK 2018 On Thursday 8th March, in preparation for Science Week, students took part in a Science Fayre.

Eighteen teachers from different schools in Kent offered an afternoon of exciting and awesome science demonstrations where students were able to see, handle and discuss different scientists’ ideas and experiments. The experiments ranged from Non- Newtonian fluids to “elephant toothpaste”, “lava lamps”, pressure, burning sugars, coins plating and lungs. Our students truly enjoyed this event so we would like to take this opportunity to thank our visitors from KMT. Year 7 have completed a project about the importance of pollinators. Among the topics that they had the opportunity to investigate are: the work of an entomologist, the antibacterial properties of honey, the anatomy of a pollinator and the use of beeswax in cosmetics.

Bee numbers in the UK have halved over the last 20 years and, as a third of the country’s food is dependent on successful pollination, the project has hopefully raised awareness of pollinators and the need to reverse their decline.

During assembly, all students were invited to take part in the British Science Week 2018 Pledge: Science Citizens. ‘The Plastic Tide’ is a citizen science project which uses drone technology to survey and take photos of contaminated beaches where plastics can be found. The project needs our help to examine hundreds of thousands of images to locate these pieces of waste in order to train a computer to find the litter by itself in the future. Get involved and be a part of the clean-up effort! https://www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/citizen-science/

EAGLE HEIGHTS AT DSTC On Wednesday 7th March, Alan from Eagle Heights came to talk to our Year 9 students about birds of prey and the conservation issues surrounding their survival in the wild. Alan gave a very interesting talk and showed us the wing structure and talons of the birds; it was very exciting when he flew the birds over our heads. The birds that we saw were a Harris Hawk called Sybil, a Bald Eagle called Alaka and a Barn Owl. They showed us how birds of prey do not turn their head when they have spotted something; this was very amusing to watch.

The students were fascinated to hear of the courtship rituals of birds of prey where the male bird actively brings gifts to his intended, a nice dead squirrel or bunny, and feeds her to show that he would be a good hunter and a good provider for their chicks. Our afternoon was rounded off by some of the girls and Mrs Vale having their picture taken with either the Barn Owl or the Bald Headed Eagle.

We would thoroughly recommend that you take a trip to Eagle Heights with your families. Many thanks go to Alan from Eagle Heights for coming to talk to us.

INSPIRING EDUCATION, NURTURING SUCCESS

#DSTC NEWS

Dartford Science and Technology College Newsletter March Edition

ALL THE NEWS FROM DARTFORD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

DSTC STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: EMMA MAY Emma May competed at a local Gymnastics competition at the 1066 Gymnastics Club in Hastings, where she came first in the competition. Here is a little bit of information about Emma.

“I have been doing gymnastics since I was about 5 years old. I have always been scared of the vault and, more recently, of tumbling down the track. Going upside down at a high speed can be quite frightening! It has taken lots of determination and hard work to be part of this discipline and events since I started but these last few have been my greatest achievements. Our team came first in our category in the last two competitions. It felt great, especially as I had to work so hard at overcoming my fears. I still worry about tumbling but I love the vault, it’s like I am flying through the air!”

DSTC VISIT ARROW RIDING CENTRE Zoe Magness 8S and three other girls from the Arrow Riding Centre (for young people and adults with special needs) were asked to participate in a ceremonial display for Princess Anne. When Zoe found out that she had been selected, she ensured that she rehearsed for it every Saturday. She was also asked to perform a solo act and was enthusiastically complimented by Princess Anne who then went on to deliver a speech.

It was a delight to see Princess Anne then get on a helicopter to her next engagement.

FOOD FOR FUN AT DSTC

On Thursday 1st February our school caterers, Chartwells, hosted an ‘On Your Marks’ session.

Based on ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’, the aim is for 2 teams to make healthy meals in 15 minutes.

Year 7 were the first group to rattle the pots and pans. In the red kitchen were Rebekah Adams, Lily Sims and Mr Dix and in the green kitchen were Casey Simes, Saranthaki Parameswaran and Miss Hussey.

Both teams made healthy meals, trying to incorporate as many of the main nutrients as possible. The key messages were about healthy eating, the main food groups and the importance of eating 5 a day! It was high energy and Year 7 loved it.

INSPIRING EDUCATION, NURTURING SUCCESS