Latest News Blog

Christmas Market is a record breaker

12/12/2011 00:00:00

The Christmas Market held on Friday 9 December was a record-breaker, raising around £5,000 and attended by some 1,000 shoppers, sellers and volunteers. Families crowded into the Great Hall and Refectory, shopping enthusiastically at the many and varied stalls, buying raffle tickets, and partaking of the marvellous selection of food and drink, whilst enjoying the opportunity to sit down for a while.

The unbelievably long queue for the Chocolate Tombola was cheered by the singers who entertained the shoppers in the Great Hall and business at the Bottle Tombola was also brisk.

Of course, the highlight of the event was the Grotto, where the children received a cheery welcome from Santa himself, ably assisted by his friendly elves, and his many visitors could admire his sumptuously decorated chamber.

None of this could have happened without the massive amount of ingenuity and effort put in by students, families and the fantastic staff at SDC. The Committee of the Family Society would like to thank everyone who helped and everyone who shopped.

Merry Christmas to you all! We look forward to seeing you again at our events in 2012.

College Tanzania Project

01/12/2011 00:00:00

Between the 14th-29th October 2011, 12 students and two teachers spent their half term holiday helping to build a classroom at the Sinai School, Babati.

Since returning the students have worked hard to continue raising funds to complete the job. Part of their fund raising efforts have included putting together a calendar to reflect the project; including images from their visit.

If you would like to help, please reserve your calendar by contacting the College Office on 020 8516 7200 or 020 8516 7220.

Buy your calendar now for just £3!

St Dunstan's in the Lord Mayor's Show

28/11/2011 00:00:00

On Saturday 12th November, as part of a joint entry with the Worshipful Company of Marketors, over 80 cadets and staff took part in this year’s Lord Mayor's Show. The entry was comprised of St. Dunstan's College Corps of Drums led by Drum Major Conor Ashley, followed by a marching contingent from both the Royal Navy Section led by Coxswain Amarr Wright and the Army Section led by RSM Alex Saleh. Special mention should also be given to WO2 Louis Phelps who led the parade carrying the CCF's new standard. The day was a fantastic success and congratulations go to all who took part. The cadets had to march for over two hours and they maintained a very high standard throughout the day. They were a credit to the College on such a prestigious and public occasion.

Remembrance Parade

On Sunday 13th November over 100 cadets from St. Dunstan's College attended the Lewisham Remembrance Day Parade. We were once again the largest unit on parade and the cadets conducted themselves with the utmost professionalism and respect befitting the occasion. A special mention should go a few cadets; the first being WO2 Ollie Spare who was chosen to carry the CCF standard and both Cdt Tom Owen and Cdt Maya Collins who were chosen to lay the poppy wreaths on behalf of the CCF and the Foundation.

'Trees for Christmas' sale

18/11/2011 14:49:20

Once again the Combined Cadet Force has formed a partnership with the Surrey based company ‘Trees for Christmas’ and we are pleased to be able to offer you high quality Christmas trees at a competitive rate. For every tree sold, a percentage of the cost will go towards the CCF. Not only will you be gaining a high quality Christmas tree, you will also be allowing many pupils to take part in activities that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

For more information, or to download an order form, click here.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

14/11/2011 00:00:00

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Tickets for the schools production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, taking place on Wednesday 16th, Thursday 17th and Friday 18th November 2011 are on sale now; please contact Susannah Lee on 0208 516 7301 or email slee@sdmail.org.uk for yours.

Upcoming events

05/11/2011 00:00:00

Upcoming events

Senior School

Open Morning on Saturday 5 November @ 9.30am - 11.30am

Sixth Form

Open Afternoon on Wednesday 9 November @ 2.30pm - 4.00pm

We are also running an options evening; this will be a chance for pupils to meet teachers and communicate their subject choices.

The Post-16 Options Evening will be taking place on:

Wednesday, 9 November (16+) 6.00 pm

To book a place on the Options Evening please email Miss S Stammers on sstammers@sdmail.org.uk

A selection of images from the October Senior School Open Day:

Corps of Drums Performance - Westminster Abbey

04/11/2011 00:00:00

On Saturday 29^th October 10 members of the Corps of Drums performed at Westminster Abbey as part of an Old Dunstonian luncheon. The Corps was led by Acting Drum Major Conor Strutt-Clare who on his first performance performed very well. After the performance the cadets were congratulated by the Dean of Westminster who is an OD himself. Well done to all that took part and very good performance.

Maelo speaks at conference in Canada

20/10/2011 00:00:00

Recently, year eight St Dunstan's student, Maelo Manning, was named as a future Prime Minster by the Observer and a top political blogger by babble.com.

Now, Maelo has been beckoned overseas to share her opinions with the Canadian audience. On Thursday 20 October 2011, Maelo speaks at the 'Mothering and Education' conference hosted by the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (link below). Maelo will be speaking about how children benefit from having their mothers involved in their education.

Well done Maelo!

http://www.motherhoodinitiative.org/conferences.html

12 students and two teachers to help build a classroom in Sinai School, Babati, Tanzania

12/10/2011 00:00:00

Between the 14th-29th October, 12 students and two teachers will be at the Sinai School, Babati as volunteers with Inspire Worldwide team leaders to spend their half term holiday helping to build a classroom.

They have raised their own funds to pay for the trip, and have been busy raising money to put toward the £9,000 costs of the project. This week the total raised has reached £6,330, a fantastic effort by all of the team and the College community.

If you would like to make a donation, you can do so by following the link below:

http://www.bmycharity.com/StDunstansTanzania2011

For more information about the charity that we are working with please follow the link below:

http://www.livingstonetanzaniatrust.com/

On their return, the students will continue to raise funds and will give a number of presentations to the student body about their trip.

Tanzania Project 2011

St Dunstan’s students and teacher John Holroyd discuss ethical issues on Resonance FM

07/10/2011 00:00:00

St Dunstan’s year 13 students David Harris, Amy Provan, Leila Morris, Nicole Martins, and Laurence Jarlett meet Assistant Editor of Philosophy Now, Grant Bartley to debate topical issues including the UK riots and the Dale Farm travellers. The discussion was broadcast on Resonance FM on 4 October 2011, to listen to the podcast, please follow the link below.

http://www.philosophynow.org/podcasts/The_School_of_Ethics

Latest news round up

28/09/2011 00:00:00

Gremlins attack new Management Information System

26/09/2011 00:00:00

The company responsible for the College Management Information system (SchoolBase) updated their email management system over the weekend.

Unfortunately the new system has had an attack of the gremlins which seriously affected the despatch of this week’s newsletter.

As a result parents have received multiple copies of the newsletter along with copies addressed to the wrong name.

Once alerted, we contacted our email service provider - Atomwide Managed Services of Orpington which is owned by an Old Dunstonian - who quarantined the emails that had yet to be sent. Sadly many thousands had already been despatched.

SchoolBase are currently working on a solution to the problem which has affected many other schools who use their system. All use of SchoolBase to communicate with parents has been suspended until the solution has been found and fully tested.

We offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this has caused. We hope that the system can be fixed quickly.

If you did not receive this week’s newsletter because of the quarantine and would like to receive a copy, please email newsletter@sdmail.org.uk and we will be happy to forward it to you.

St. Dunstan’s year 8 student named as a future prime minister and top UK political blogger.

14/09/2011 00:00:00

St. Dunstan’s year 8 student, Maelo Manning, has been identified by the Observer as being one of ‘Westminster's future stars’. Click here to read more.

To see Maelo listed as one of the UKs 10 most influential young bloggers, click here.