DBIS News 
Keep up to date with what's happening in the school with our fortnightly newsletter.
A great start to our new school year
Dear Parents
Welcome Back to our New School Year: An extra special welcome back to everyone after a longer summer break than usual. It is always such a delight to welcome our new families to your new school. I am sure you will enjoy being part of our wonderful Discovery Bay International School community. Welcome of course to all of our new Nursery students and to all of our returning students. With an additional Year 1 class and three further Year 7 classes, our school extends from Nursery through to Year 10 with 940 students.
The heart of our school, and the driver of all successes and achievements, stems largely from our strong school community base, our talented students and our outstanding staff. Such a combination ensures quality education within a caring wider family environment.
Our school has undergone some physical changes over the break. Some classes have been moved around, further refurbishment has taken place at both sites, the new Secondary building has structurally appeared and the redesign of the ‘covered area’ at our Primary School is progressing – albeit a little slower than promised. The physical elements notwithstanding, our school is simply about people. All staff members were ready and thoroughly prepared for what has been a super start to our new school year. Thank you so much to all of our parents for your considered assistance in ensuring that your children were all set for their first day when our Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary Schools sparked back into the ‘real world’.
Please make the most of this great start in getting to know your child’s teacher or teachers. Establishing and nurturing a positive relationship between ‘home and school’ is a core component in the success of your child at school. Such relationships are ‘two way’ and your class teacher or tutor teachers are your first point of contact. Year Group Leaders are also able to chat with you as required and our Senior Leadership Team members are available for you as well. As always, if you are unsure about anything related to your child, or to do with your school, please ask. We can’t always promise to solve every issue, but we do listen carefully so that we can collectively do our best for your child – and for every student in our school.
Thank you all once again for your wonderful assistance in helping our staff ensure that we have had the best start possible to our new school year.
Staffing: There is a number of additions to our teaching staff this year, and by now you will be aware of your child’s ‘new teacher’. We have also restructured our Senior Leadership positions, roles and responsibilities due the continued strong growth of our school. I am delighted to inform you that, with effect from the start of this term, we have three new Principals! Ms Anna Shere is Principal of Specialist Studies, Development and Design, Mr Andy Edwards is Principal of our Secondary School and Mr Ian Hunt is Principal of our Primary School. Please don’t hesitate to contact any of these Senior Leaders as required. I am of course always available in my continued role of Principal of Discovery bay International School.
We have continued to recruit with great success internationally. We are spoiled for choice from a total applicant field in excess of 1500 teachers. Our new and extremely talented teachers join, as noted, a truly outstanding teaching team and wider staff. Ms Lyndsey Coote joins our Reception group as Year Group Leader in Airport. We have two Year 1 teachers – Ms Lisa Lochrie and Ms Louise Howlett. Ms Helen Kavanagh joins our Year 2 group and Ms Sarah Sullivan is teaching in Year 3. Mrs Liz O’Connell is teaching in Year 4 and Mr Kurt O’Connell is teaching in Year 5. We have two Primary specialist teachers – Mr Tim Tait in physical education and Ms Viv Hall in information and communication technologies.
Our Secondary School growth means we require more teachers. Ms Anna Lyndon is teaching science and design technology and Mrs Gina Boone is teaching science and mathematics. Ms Helen Prior is teaching humanities, English and is overseeing the popular addition of drama to our Secondary School. Mrs Linda Pryce has moved back into Secondary and will be providing Targeted Support teaching and PSHCE.
All of our new teachers have enjoyed their welcome to their new school and are already underway in the learning adventures with our students throughout the school. I know you will all make our new teachers thoroughly welcome into our very special Discovery Bay International School community.
Year 7 Enrolment for the 2012 – 2013 School Year: Information on enrolment for Year classes next year is being sent home with all Year 6 students today. Our office staff will be contacting one parent from each family over the coming few days to ensure that you have received the enrolment forms. If you have any questions regarding the Year 7 enrolment process please contact Mr Edwards or myself.
New Parents Morning Tea: We would like to invite all new families to a special welcome morning tea, to be held in our Globe theatre next Friday morning, 2 September, starting at 10:15 am. Our Senior Leadership Team would like to spend a little time with you, if possible, and to also answer any particular questions you may have about your child’s start at school. Please call Jean at our Primary / Secondary School office (2987 7331) to confirm your attendance.
International Food Fair: An early reminder to keep Saturday 19 November clear for our major school community event – the DBIS International Food Fair. We are also calling for volunteers to work on the Food Fair committee. This is a well organised operation and is good fun to be part of. We welcome parents who have worked on past Food Fair committees as well as new parents in our school community. Please contact Jean at our Primary / Secondary School office to register your interest.
DBIS Peripatetic Programme: Things are really looking exciting in the music department. There has been an outstanding display of interest in our peripatetic instrumental programme and we are currently in the process of formulating timetables. The programme will begin week beginning 13 September and students and parents will be notified with regards to days and times.
On another exciting note, we are currently in the process of forming our music ensembles for both Primary and Secondary students. There will be a vast array of musical groups including our school orchestra, choirs, bands, and instrumental ensemble groups.
Sports Update: Welcome to what looks like another action packed year of sports clubs and competitions!
We were off to an extremely fast start this year holding both the Primary and Secondary sports club registrations in the first week, as well as releasing the first half term’s sports club training timetable which is attached to this newsletter. While the registration afternoons are largely aimed for the students to chat to coaches, it was fantastic to see so many parents coming along to support the process. With such a huge event, we are continually looking at ways to manage the process effectively. Thank you to everyone for your patience on the day.
Primary Sport: We signed up over 400 students in just thirty five minutes! It looks like record numbers yet again for involvement. Discovery Bay International School enters more tournaments than any other primary school around. This is a tribute to the enthusiasm of all of our staff volunteers and our fantastic students. Because of the number of clubs we offer and the facilities required, there will inevitably be clashes whereby a student will need to make a choice on which sport they want to participate in.
Note: Year 4 netball with Miss. Ryan has now been changed to Monday morning to allow those wishing to participate in hockey to do both sports.
Secondary Sport: We had a fantastic showing on Tuesday afternoon from our Secondary students. The football, swimming, and X-country seasons begin next month so we are all looking forward to witnessing our senior students sporting endeavors this term.
PE & Sports Websites: Please note that a copy of the Term 1.1 Sports Club Training timetable and the Year 5 & 6 tournament dates are on the following web pages:
http://www.dbis.edu.hk/our_school_in_action/our_classes/primary_pe
http://www.dbis.edu.hk/our_school_in_action/our_classes/secondary_pe
http://www.dbis.edu.hk/our_school_in_action/our_classes/sports_tournaments
Matt Corbett
PE Coordinator
Uniform: Our compulsory school uniform has been designed to look smart while accommodating the seasonal changes in our weather in Hong Kong. All students are required to be in correct school uniform and teachers have been asked to carefully check students in their respective classes. Please take a few moments to revisit our school uniform requirements on our school website to ensure your child has the correct items for school each day. http://www.dbis.edu.hk/about_our_school/parent_information/uniforms/
Thank you to parents of our Secondary students who have patiently been waiting for a late delivery of our girls day wear shirts – we hope to have these available this week for you.
Our new Secondary PE uniform has been a huge success with students feeling comfortable and cooler in the new fabric and design.
Our Secondary School Building Update: It’s a hive of activity out there now. Construction work has continued over the summer break and we can now begin to visualise what it’s all going to look like!
Upcoming Events
Monday 29 August Parent Conferences in Year 3 and Year 4 begin
Monday 5 September Parent Conferences in Year 1 begin
Tuesday 13 September Mid Autumn Festival (no school)
Thursday 15 September Reception open class evening
Monday 26 September School photos begin
Wednesday 28 September Year 1 Reading and Writing evening
Wednesday 28 September Year 5 Science Museum trip
Kind regards
Grant Ramsay
Principal
Community Notices
Disclaimer - The following notices are presented as a community service. While the content is proofed and generally summarised, it is important to state that the information contained in these Community Notices in no way reflects Discovery Bay International School policy or practices.
DB Connect Welcome Back Fair: Be sure to put Tuesday 30 August in your diary and join us at DBIS for the DB Connect Welcome Back Fair ... a great opportunity to connect with future friends and find out more about the community. For more information please read the attached flier.
Stuck On You: It is very important to us to have all children's clothing and belongings labelled. Stuck on You are an internationally recognised company who provide quality iron on clothing and sticky labels that are waterproof and dishwasher safe. As we partner with Stuck on You, every order you place with them earns commission for our school. If you order online please don't forget to mention us when completing your customer details.
If you have any questions please contact Stuck on You directly on 25492245 or order direct at http://www.stuckonyou.biz
