Rt Hon Nick Gibb opens new 6th Form Centre and Japanese Garden

The Headmaster Mr Oakes and Chair of Governors Mrs Jacobs were delighted to welcome the Rt Hon Nick Gibb, Minister of State for School Standards, into school on 17th September 2020. The Minister made a brief visit to see new facilities and perform official openings of the new wing of the 6th Form Centre and the Japanese Garden.

Although the event was restricted by Covid-19 conditions, there was nothing stilted about the warmth shown by both sides. The Minister met the school captains, who welcomed him in Mandarin and English, saw both Chinese and Japanese calligraphy classes in the 1576 outdoor classroom, and was treated to Ms Tasker playing the Shamisen when enjoying the Japanese garden, being welcomed there by students in the Japanese language with a demonstration of kanji. 

The Minister was impressed by the languages curriculum at Dartford Grammar School and strongly commended the programme where every student takes two languages at GCSE. He made much of the importance of being able to tap into the biggest global economies, especially post EU. He said 'We need young people who are polite enough to try to speak the languages of customers and suppliers. We can no longer be bottom of the European league in terms of proficiency in foreign languages'.

Mr Gibb also met with staff involved with the Computer Science hub, where he emphasised his views on the importance of teaching Computer Science as opposed to ICT, and commended the school for stepping forward to take an important role in this recently formed national hub alongside our existing work with the MFL hub.

In his final speech, the Minister said 'What is so wonderful about this school is its ambition, its ambition for the students, ambition for the curriculum, and ambition for taking part in Hubs programmes - it is a centre of excellence that can spread out to other schools.'

This school is an exemplar of what a British School needs to be in the future'.

We are deeply appreciative of the interest the Minister continues to show in Dartford Grammar School, and for his acceptance of our invitation in these unusual times.