DC Prep Times – Edition 1

Welcome to the “DC Prep Times”, our new and amazing school newspaper. Our reporting team will not only be bringing you news from all around Dover College but also from around the world. We will include interviews, reports on the weather, sports news, new events updates and much much more. If anything interests you, it interests us. So please let us know your ideas and interests and perhaps you will be published in the “DC Prep Times”. New updates about the “Prep Times” will be placed on some notice boards around school, so look out for the QR codes!

As this is our first edition, we will begin to introduce you to the people working on the “DC Prep Times” and we will also be including an interview with one of our new Heads of School, Luke Corner. And don’t forget to look out for our DC Prep Podcast, which will be coming out very, very soon.

So let us begin with our first introduction. My name is Jacob Navaratne and I am the editor and one of the reporters working to provide you with the news and views that interest you. I will be working with a team, including Luke Corner, our current proofreader and part-time reporter for the DC Prep Collection and Oscar Wall ,our roving, investigating reporter exploring the hot topics important to our awesome readers. Together we will endeavour to provide you all with the info you need – a newspaper made by the children for the children. I am also the Sales and Marketing Prefect and I will be working with Mr Turner, the Admissions and Events Head, to help organise events. My aim is to make sure that every single event is the best it can be! If you have achieved something special or would like help to organise a spectacular event, I hope I can help you get the word out in your “Prep Times” and help to showcase us – the great community that is Dover College.

So let’s launch the first edition and enjoy !

Interview of the Month – Say Hello to Luke Corner

Hello and welcome to “Interview of the Month”. This month Luke Corner, one of our new Heads of School, along with Perdie McLaren Wilkinson, will be under the microscope, telling us about his new role and more about himself. Luke is currently in Year 6 and he joined in Year Five. He likes Pokemon cards and loves gaming. He has a cat and a dog called Benjie and Caspar.

Luke tells us …

Q: How did you feel when you were selected for Head of School?

A: Stunned as if a taser had hit me. At the same time, I’m really happy!

Q: How do you feel about your new role?

A: I feel it is going to be hard, but at the same time, I am going to enjoy it.

Q: What will you bring to this role?

A: I think I will bring kindness and leadership to the role.

Q: Do you have anything to share now?

A: Yes, I am the proofreader and a part-time reporter for the DC Prep Collection.

Next time, tune in for our interview with Perdie, our other Head of School!!!!!

Farewell to our Amazing Queen

Sadly on the 8th of September 2022, our wonderful Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle, at the age of 96, which sent the nation into mourning. Our Queen had reigned for 70 years, which is the longest period an English monarch has ever reigned. As a nation, we will now enter the Carolean era and certain things will begin to change, such as coins and stamps will depict the face of King Charles III, who will face to the right. The world’s reaction to the Queen’s passing and our experience of her final journey has meant that

we have become part of an incredible part of history and in the future, we may be asked about this remarkable woman, as we watched and said goodbye to the most famous grandmother in history. Here at the “DC Prep Times” we say goodbye and remember her journey.

After passing away due to natural causes, the Queen came to her final resting place at St George’s Chapel, travelling from Scotland to London and then finally to Windsor Castle. She laid initially at Westminster Hall in Scotland, where people locally and internationally came to pay their respects to this much-adored monarch. From there, the body of the Queen was taken by aeroplane and then by car to Westminster Abbey. This is where hundreds of thousands of people from across the world queued and stayed in line for many hours over several days, to say their final goodbyes. Her son and his siblings accompanied their mother throughout the majority of this final journey to her resting place, next to Prince Philip, her much-loved husband. The new King made a tearful public speech, which was broadcast throughout the world – a heartfelt remembrance to a much-loved mum, grandmother and leader, who will be missed.

Queen Elizabeth II witnessed so many events throughout her 96 years and we have chosen just a few from this jaw-dropping reign to share with you:

Foremost, Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was held on the 2nd June 1953 at Westminster Abbey. It was the first live televised coronation and about 27 million people in the United Kingdom watched this amazing event roll out.
In 1955, Winston Churchill retired as Prime Minister at the age of 80.
In the same year, ITV makes their first television broadcast and at the same time BBC introduces BBC Two. this was a life changer for many people and this started the revolution of television.
In the year 1956, Britain introduces the Clean Air Act and at the same time, Britain switches on its first nuclear power station.
In 1965, she had the first state visit to West Germany, which was a decade marked by social and political changes. Queen Elizabeth was also the first official British royal to visit since 1913.
In 1966 England happily wins the world cup against West Germany!
In 1971, the currency changed to decimal pounds and pennies.
In 1978, the first test tube baby was born named Louise Brown!
In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first female prime minister!
In 1987, Margret Thatcher got the role of Prime Minister for the third time.
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web (WWW)
In 1992, the Channel Tunnel opens. This tunnel is 50km, being the longest undersea tunnel, linking England to Paris.
In 1997, Princess Diana dies in a car crash in Paris.
Of course, in 2000, Britain celebrates the new millennium.
In 2001, Saudi Arabian terrorists hijacked planes, destroying the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre and part of the Pentagon in Washington.
In 2012, the Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee!

These are just a few events that happened during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. Why don’t you Google her life to find out more?

Video Game of the Term: Minecraft

The very popular game Minecraft is amazing and can be played on many devices such as iPad, Poki, your laptop or computer, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and others.

Minecraft is the biggest-selling video game of all time! It has sold 238,000,000 copies – that’s enough for the entire population of the UK to have more than FOUR copies EACH!

Here, we will give you some tips on how to play Minecraft. Here are some of the best tricks in Minecraft:

Do you have a pet wolf? Did you know that with a dye you can change the colour of the collar: for example, blue dye = blue collar, yellow dye = yellow collar and so on
Wearing a pumpkin on your head means you can look at an enderman, and it will not attack you.
If you find a blue axolotl name, tag it and trap it, as it is very rare.

When starting your new Minecraft world, you will need to start to learn how to start an amazing world. Here are some real beginners tips when you spawn in your world:

First, you will need to get some Wood to make a crafting table. This is vital, as you will need to use this immediately to get tools and blocks to prepare you to beat the game.
You now need to build tools using your crafting table. First, you need to get some more wood and make some sticks. Then, using the wood, you need to make a wooden pickaxe. Don’t worry, your pickaxe has a bar to show you how much you can use it, but you only need to mine some stone. You will need to mine the stone until the pickaxe is broken. Then, you need to return to your crafting table, to make a stone pickaxe.
Finally, you need to use your sticks to make a ladder to make an underground base to survive the night. Once made the ladders, dig underground about four blocks down. Place ladders and start to make your underground base bigger. Move your crafting table to your underground base. When you were mining stone earlier, you might have found some coal. Use that coal to make some flaming torches, which will stop mobs from spawning in your base.
Once you have survived the night, you need to find some food which will fill up your hunger bar. All you need to do is to find some animals that you can eat. This could be pigs, cows and sheep. Finally, all that is left is for you to make a chest or a large chest to store all your finds. Doing all of these tips, you will be off to a great start in your new Minecraft world!

Comic Competition

In this absolutely amazing competition, you will be making your best ever comic! It can be about anything you would like it to be; talking dogs, evil cats and many more! In the competition, you need to draw a comic online or on paper but it has to fit on an A4 piece of paper! The winner of the best comic strip will get their entry published in the DC Prep Times next term! If you would like to find out more about this competition, please talk to Jacob or Oscar in Prep 6. Entries must be submitted by Friday 4th November! Happy Drawing!