Minister for Schools Standards commends DGS for its ambition and its part in national teaching hubs

The Rt Hon Nick Gibb, Minister for School standards, visited Dartford Grammar School on 17th September 2020 and was able to update himself on the progress the school is making as a hub of the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE). See news item at https://www.dartfordgrammarschool.org.uk/News/Dartford-Grammar-School-awarded-Computer-Hub-statu/ He spoke at some length with Steven Ireland who is a Computer Science teacher at the school, and Niel McLean (NCCE representative – Head of Education for British Computer Society, Chartered Institute for IT) about how the programme is going. 

The NCCE marks significant investment from the Department of Education to improve the provision for computing education across England. Through the support of the British Computing Society and Chartered Institute of IT; STEM Learning and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, it works with primary and secondary schools across the South East. As one hub in this organisation, our extensive range of high-quality CPD, resources and support provides teachers of computing with the knowledge and confidence to deliver a comprehensive and engaging computing curriculum.

The NCCE hub sits alongside the MFL hub that we founded some two years ago in September 2018. (see news item at https://www.dartfordgrammarschool.org.uk/News/DGS-to-be-one-of-nine-hubs-in-the-Government-s-new/). In this move, Dartford Grammar School was appointed as Lead School for one of 9 Hubs across the country to help implement this drive in the southeast region. The Department of Education then said the centre of excellence would be backed by £4.8 million over the next four years, and aims were to raise the standard of teaching in languages based on the Latin alphabet like French, Spanish and German.

 Minister Nick Gibb commended the school for stepping up to the challenges that these hubs present, and said ' What is so wonderful about this school is... its ambition for taking part in the Hubs programmes - a centre of excellence that can spread out to other schools.' And in a cheerful reference to the fact that he has visited us more than once, he said 'There is a reason why I keep coming back here - it is such an excellent school.'

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