DBIS News

Chinese New Year Update

Dear Parents

Kung Hei Fat Choi

A very special wish to everyone for Peace, Happiness and Prosperity in the Year of the Rabbit.

A reminder that all classes in Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary will close at the usual times this Friday.  Classes will resume on Monday 7 February, again at the usual times.  Best wishes to everyone for a warm and enjoyable family break during Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year Celebrations at school: To celebrate the Chinese New Year, we will hold our Chinese New Year Assembly for our Primary students tomorrow, 28 January, 2011.   We would appreciate it if you could provide a Chinese outfit for your child to wear for the day.  Students can also dress in gold, red, yellow or silver if they do not have an outfit to wear.

Flower Market: Thank you to all who purchased flowers at our annual DBIS Friends of the School Chinese New Year Flower Market held last Friday at our Primary and Secondary School.  It was a huge success.  Gorgeous flowers, dragon dances, Chinese Caligraphy … all added up to a wonderful event.  All of the flowers were sold thanks to the special organising efforts of Amy Gidwani and her team of parent helpers.  Thank you also to our staff who assisted in getting the flowers ready and for your assistance on the day.

Book Week:  We had a wonderful celebration of books last week. Everybody looked fantastic dressed up in their book character costumes on Friday.

Thank you to everybody who sent in their ‘extreme reading’ photos. We had lots of amazing shots of reading in the most unusual, funny and exotic places from all over the world!  We will be displaying these in the library so do come and have a look at our daring and intrepid readers!  We also have a fantastic collection of creative book bags on display in the library bursting with colour and information about a huge variety of books.  Come to the library and be tempted to read and look inside them all! 

It has been so encouraging to hear how many children are taking up the reading challenge to raise money for Read to Feed, Heifer International. This sponsored reading activity will finish on 11 February so there are still over two weeks of reading and fundraising. It’s not too late to start if you haven’t done so already - all information and sponsor forms are available in the library and for further information see http://www.heiferhk.org.   We would really like to try and make a difference to families in the Yunnan province of China through our efforts at DBIS and what a great opportunity for everyone to read more and more books from Kindergarten to Year 9.  Kung Hei Fat Choi  - Kate Basford

More on Book Week: Thank you all for your support during our recent Book Week.  The various focus activities by our students were outstanding.  If you manage to get a chance to visit either of our two libraries, take a little time to look at some of the special work by your children.  The dress up day on Friday by our Kindergarten and Primary students (and staff) was quite spectacular – well done to you all!

As always, the key focus of our Book Week is to remind our students of the wonders of books for any purpose and at any time.  Whether we read for information or for enjoyment, for sharing or relaxation – whatever the reason, books continue to be simply wonderful.  Thank you as parents for all that you do to assist directly in helping your children to read – and to be part of the world and beyond through books.  Thank you also to Kate Basford and our library staff members for making it such a great week for everyone!

4th Annual DBIS Green Week (February 14 - 18):  There will be a range of activities taking place in Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary during our forthcoming Green Week.  Staff have been preparing for this special week on our school calendar with the support of Kate Ringrose in her new role as Project Manager with the Jane Goodall Foundation.

Our annual 'Walking School Bus' will take place on the morning of Wednesday 16 February for our Primary School students. This is a great opportunity to walk to school with friends and family – our target is to encourage limited or no use of golf carts or public transport that day if at all possible.  Further information regarding the event will be made available to you closer to the time.  We hope you'll all be able to join us as we walk to school together.

Could you please remind your children to wear something green to school on Friday 11 February.  Thank you as always for your continued support, we look forward to working with you in continuing to make a positive change. 

FOBISSEA Primary Mathematics Competition in Bangkok, Thailand:  Patana School, Bangkok will be hosting the annual Primary Mathematics Competition on 4 and 5 March 2011.  DBIS have been invited to send four students to compete against twenty six other schools within the FOBISSEA organisation.  We extend our congratulations to, Justin Heaton, Emily Weinstein, Chaemin Kim and Meghna Srivastava who will represent our school in the competition.

Kindergarten News: Thank you to everyone for making this year’s Pyjama Storytelling event a wonderful evening.  It was great to see that some of our parents took the opportunity to wear their pyjamas too, well done!

Thank you to all the students who took part in our Extreme Reading competition and congratulations to our winner, Nikolaj Bak from Castle Class.  You can see Nikolaj’s winning entry on display in the Kindergarten library.

Tomorrow, Kindergarten is celebrating Chinese New Year in traditional style with performances of Lion dancing and shared class lunches. It’s a dress up day to celebrate the festival so remember to wear your Chinese costume or red and gold clothes for the day.  Check out the class webpages to see pictures of the celebrations.

The Kindergarten staff would like to thank parents for their continued support with all the activities and events we plan for the students. We couldn’t provide them without your kind assistance.  We look forward to seeing you again on Monday 7 February.  Have a fabulous half term holiday everyone and we wish you happy travels and a safe return.   Jane Hendley

Staffing:  Morna Shum, one of our Mandarin Studies teachers, will be taking maternity leave from 8 February until 2 May.  It is an exciting time for Morna as the arrival of a little brother or sister for Jack gets closer.  We all wish Morna well and look forward to her return to school later in the year.  Ms Kathryn To will be teaching Morna’s classes in her absence. Kathryn has a wealth of experience teaching Mandarin Studies in international schools in Hong Kong.  Please join us in welcoming Kathryn to our Mandarin department.

Mrs Jacqueline King, our Secondary School French teacher, will start her maternity leave after Chinese New Year.  She will return for term 3.  Mrs Kate Basford, a fully qualified secondary school teacher with extensive experience in teaching French, will take over Mrs King’s lesson.  We also wish Mrs King well and look forward to her return in due course.

Absenteeism:  If your child is away from school could you please email or ring the Primary and Secondary school office prior to the start of the school day, from 8:00 am.  Please ring our Kindergarten office prior to the start of the Kindergarten day, from 8:15 am.  You are only asked to contact our offices on the first day of absence to indicate the reason for the absence.  If your child is away for subsequent consecutive days then we will assume that they are away for the reason indicated on the first day of absence.  There is no need to ring everyday.  If you are taking holiday time during official school days (which is discouraged) please indicate in writing the amount of school time that will be lost.  Please note that our school will not provide additional work for students who take time off other than that which is already available through the class web pages.  Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Influenza Reminder:  During these past few weeks, some students have been off with flu like symptoms.  We would like to remind parents that you should keep children at home if they show any symptoms such as coughing, runny nose and / or fever above 38 celcius.  All students with a fever are strongly advised not to attend school for 48 hours after it has subsided.

Healthy Lunches:  Every effort is being made to provide healthy lunches through our Boardwalk Café.  Please continue with your help to ensure that students are also bringing healthy snacks and lunches to school.

Climbing the Embankment Behind Year 1 Classrooms:  Please assist us in reminding your children not to use the embankment area behind the Year 1 classrooms at our Primary School at any time?  This area has proven very dangerous with two serious injuries having happened in the past.

Mobile Phone Use:  Could parents please remind all helpers that they are not to use their mobile phones during any part of the school day?  Telephone conversations have been proving disruptive to lessons.

Reports: A further reminder that Year 4 through to Year 9 reports will be issued on 11 February.  

Sports Report

Secondary Basketball:  On Tuesday afternoon DBIS hosted Kellett International School’s Girls and Boys Under 14 Basketball teams. The girls took time to get into the match and were down by as much as ten goals after the first quarter.  During the middle period of the game however, the team looked more orgnanised and passionate.  It was a close fourth quarter with the girls losing by a small margin.


The Boys team came prepared, confident and looked in good shape, having gained a lot of experience from their recent tournament at Canadian International School.  Alessandro Nardoni played superbly in the key, as did James Troy on the perimeter.  It was a team effort however with our boys coming out on top by a double digit margin.  Thank you to our two coaches – John Rose and Jarrod Dunn.


Upcoming Fixtures / Events:

• 9 February – Under 14 HKNA Netball begins.

• 10 February – Under 14 Basketball: DBIS host French International School.

• 12 February – Under 12 Basketball tournament at HKIS


Important Diary Date Reminder: Primary Athletics Day (Year 4 -6): Tuesday 8 March – 9:00 am – 12:00 pm.

Golf Cart Drop Off:  We have four buses using the shared space to turn around and park outside Wei Lun School, before 8:15 am, to drop off students attending both schools.   Could all golf car users please park their golf carts closely by the big lawn area and leave the central space for school buses to turn?  The guards will assist the users to park the available space when all buses have gone at around 8:20 am.  Your help is vital to maximise everyone’s safety during this peak traffic time.

Upcoming Events in February:

• 4 February | No school: Chinese New Year holiday

• Monday 14 February | DCP inoculations for Years 1 & 6 students

• 14 – 18 February | Green Week

• Monday 21 February | Year 2 trip to Hong Kong Park - Y2CA/Y2AK

• Monday 21 February | Nursery parent teacher conferences

• Tuesday 22 February | Year 2 trip to Hong Kong Park - Y2TS / Y2AW

• Thursday 24 February | Year 6 Geko Maths Competition

• Thursday 24 February | RCHK basketball

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.

Playright Children Play Association:  Playright Children Play Association, the charity organization in Hong Kong that seeks to enrich the life of every child through play, is going to hold a fun raising walkathon “Walking on Air for Playright 2011” in Discovery Bay on 27th February 2011 (Sun).  Participants who join can enjoy play while walking for charity in this family activity, and learn about the experience of hospitalized children with your favorite toys at the Bear Hospital to learn how to care for the people in need, therefore every step you walk is a charity deed. Funds raised will create play opportunities for children who are denied these by illness, disability or lack of resources.  For details, please visit: 

<http://www.playright.org.hk/tc/WhatsHappening.aspx> 

We need your help with ‘The Plastic Challenge’:  From Feb 8th – 12th join hundreds of participants Hong Kong wide in collecting clean plastic which will be processed into diesel fuel.  This fuel will be used to power the Pink Dolphin Watching boat for a day.   This event is being organized by Project Kaisei (http://www.projectkaisei.org) and will be documented on http://www.socialmediaweek.org 

DBIS school will be a collection point for any type of clean plastic.  Spread the word on Facebook or Twitter and let’s get everybody bringing in their plastic to make DB’s contribution a huge one.  For more information contact Tracey  tlread@gmail.com

CNY - FUN PACK SPORTS CAMPS FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES AND ABILITIES:  Play Sport will be running fun packed sports camps during the Chinese New Year break at DBIS for all aged children boys and girls.

Activities include - Football/Soccer 6+yrs - Mini - Sports and Soccertots 2-5yrs.  We also run and big programme throughout the school term and classes are ready for enrolments now!  Please visit the web-site http://www.playsport.com.hk to view all courses and camps and to book online or call the office on 28189453 for further details.