DBIS News

Christmas Newsletter 2011

 

15 December 2011

Dear Parents

Seasons Greetings:  Our first term is the longest of the year however, as always, the time seems to have flown by.  Once again, our school calendar is jam packed with such an array of events and activities on top of our normal class schedules.  I am always delighted to see the huge number of events take place.  While we need to be mindful of having too many ‘extra events and activities’, always accounting for ongoing lessons, additional commitments our students have, costs to parents in time and money, I am thrilled with the quality and quantity of what is on offer for our students.  The all round quality of education and opportunity at our school are elements we all share in and indeed take pride in accordingly.

Thank you all for the contribution you make in so many ways to ensure that our school is special.  While we are always looking to improve, it is again important to stop and reflect upon all of the operations and interactions at and within our school.  As always it is the people who make the difference.  To this end, I want to especially thank all of our amazing staff.

I am acutely aware of the differences made for and with our students everyday.  We have a large number of people on our staff, all of who care about our students and who continually seek to provide the best we can for each student.  I see the teaching and learning that takes place, I appreciate the extra curricular activities being provided and I observe the special touches that happen throughout each day with our students at school, at events and when away on trips.

Our staff members make the vital difference to each student in our school.  Thank you so much, on behalf of our students and parents, for being the special people that you all are, within and beyond our Discovery Bay International School community.

Special Seasons Greetings to everyone.  I hope you all manage to radiate the goodwill of this festive season with your smiles and in sharing the gift of kindness.  Best wishes to you all for a safe and happy New Year.  We look forward to having all of our wonderful students back for an exciting Term 2, starting on Monday 9 January 2012!

Staffing:  It is always a sad time when we farewell staff members.  As many of you are aware, one of our school principals, Anna Shere, will be leaving our school at the end of this term.  Anna, Glen and Cooper return to Auckland and take with them the very best wishes from everyone in our school community.

Anna has been directly instrumental in the development and growth of our school over the past seven years (with a brief break in Sydney for one year).  Anna has the absolute respect and admiration from everyone on our staff and she is always a special person to every student.  Her official title is Principal – Specialist Staff, Development and Design.  Anna has had a hand in so many aspects of our school operations but never loses her focus on the need to provide the best we can for each student every day.

Your contributions have been amazing in so many areas Anna – but none as important as the positive and most professional impact you have had on our students and staff.  Very best wishes to you and your family – and as has always been the case – thank you!

Santa’s On Strike:  What a great night with our Year 1 performers!  'Santa's on Strike' was smash hit on its opening night.  The glittering costumes, backdrop and set design were all complemented by the spectacle of performances by our ever delightful Year 1 students.   There is a huge amount of preparation and hard work from so many to produce our shows.  Our staff and students are always so grateful to all of our parents involved in the productions.  Every contribution is valued and appreciated, culminating in the pleasure enjoyed by everyone on the night.

A huge thank you to all of our Year 1 staff for your outstanding work to produce and direct the show!  I am always amazed at how such complex performing elements combine for the shows with 124 Year 1 students.  Our Year 1 staff members are quite special, and when you add the talents of our specialist teachers in music and ICT, the results from and with our students are amazing.  Thank you all for such a wonderfully entertaining evening!

Carols on the Pitch:  The wind may have presented a few technical problems but the Christmas spirit certainly won out on our Carols on the Pitch evening.  We had a huge turnout of families who started their season festivities, thanks to the outstanding efforts of our students and staff.  I can't emphasise enough how special it is to have so many of our staff members, from throughout our school, give of their time to help out in any capacity to ensure a fabulous evening. Thank you once again to our superb administration staff and our ever hard working amahs for your great work last week.

We have such a special 'music department'.  Carols on the Pitch has grown into a big production for our school.  We have a host of musicians, singers and choristers performing.  As we all appreciate - none of this happens by accident.  Countless hours of individual tuition and practising, a large number and variety of rehearsals as well as the fine tuning through to sound checks on the day all require commitment and dedication from our students.  It is what we expect of our students - and they deliver in wonderful style!

The key, of course, to the success we all share in is due in large measure to the talent, ability, inexorable patience and absolute joy exuded by Ben Walker, Tanya Balka and Vince Bradley.   Your energy and joy within music is an inspiration to our students. You make us all exceptionally proud of our students, of our school - and of you.  Thank you.

The Smallest Angel:  What a wonderful performance by our 'little angels' (and our 'grown up angels!') in reception last Thursday.   This is such a special time of year - and while it is immensely busy for everyone - the talents on show from our students, directly due to the amazing abilities of all of our staff and parent help at home, are simply superb to see.

A huge well done to all of our Reception students in being able to present such a challenging production.  Thank you so much to all of our reception staff for your patience and guidance in bringing out the best of performing ability from each student.  Thank you to everyone to Liz Tait and Angela Newby for all of your direction and production work - a fantastic show that captivated all of the audience!

Fabulous Nursery Performances:  What a delight yet again to see all of our little ones on stage with their classes during our recent Nursery Christmas concerts.  Amidst the waves to mums, dads and family members, the delightful actions, the beautiful hats and the sparkling singing from around our world - the spirit of our Nursery students was always evident in large measure.  Thank you once again to our talented Nursery staff members and to Liz, Angela and Winnie for your outstanding direction and production work with our little ones.  Thank you also to our special guest when he gets a break from his busy schedule.

Secondary School Building: The official ground breaking for our new building took place on 9 December last year.  There has been great progress since that date – but delays with the construction, beyond our control, have impacted on the contract.  We are anticipating a handover date at the end of this month, however there will still be a great deal of ‘fit out’ requirements before we can ‘move in’.  We are delighted with the rooms and related facilities that will be offered to our students.

Thailand Red Cross Flood Appeal:  Thank you to everyone for your extra special Christmas cheer support for the huge number of flood victims in Thailand.  Thanks to your generosity and with the collecting efforts of our Secondary students, $25,347 was raised and has been sent to the Thailand Red Cross Flood Relief.

Secondary Enrolments for the Academic Year 2012-13:  DBIS Secondary School will open the new academic year with three Year 7 classes. This decision was made in direct response to the overwhelming preference for our Secondary School by our current Year 6 families. Two thirds of our current Year 6 students chose DBIS Secondary School as their first choice of school. We are not currently accepting any more applications for Year 7 classes in the 2012 – 2013 school year.

Drama in the Secondary School:  Our Secondary School students have been auditioning for our first major production – Midsummer Night's Dream. The main speaking parts have been allocated and we look forward to the production at the start of Term 3.

Cambodia School Assistance:  On Wednesday, Y5KO organised a Charity Bake Sale and shoe exchange.  All proceeds from this charity event will be going to a local school in Cambodia.  We are delighted to announce that we raised over $3000 and also have 200+ pairs of shoes to send to the school.  On behalf of everyone at our school, thank you to the many families who donated cakes, shoes and money.

Early Years News

Our first full term comes to a close and wow - what a term it was! All of your beautiful children have settled so well into the busy routines of learning here at the Kindergarten.

This past fortnight has showcased the talents and hard work of students and staff alike as they performed the Christmas concerts for your enjoyment.  As many of you noted, there couldn’t have been a better start to the festive season. Thank you for your support with these events, working together with the teachers to keep to the schedules and with your children when listening to their growing repertoire of songs. 

With the cooler weather set to stay well into the start of the new term, please be mindful of the cooler weather school uniform requirements. Leggings, striped or patterned tights and additional long sleeved shirts, should not be worn under summer dresses. The cooler weather uniform requirements are on the school’s main website for your reference.  Please also remember that the PE uniform must be worn on our PE days.  It important that our students wear the correct footwear when exercising - thank you. 

Our student welfare and safety is of paramount importance to us and there have been recent concerns regarding safety when students have been collected after sessions by parents or helpers. Please help us to ensure that the main gate remains closed at all times.  The gate should not be propped open for ease of convenience and students should not climb the perimeter fence to open the gates for themselves. There has been a noticeable increase in volume and speed of traffic outside the Kindergarten and our children need to be fully supervised once collected from class. HKR have been contacted to request that vehicles be reminded to slow down when passing our kindergarten. Thank you so much for your support with this.

On behalf of our wonderful staff at Kindergarten, I want to wish you and your families a fabulous festive season and safe travels if you are journeying around the globe. Our staff and I look forward to welcoming you back in the New Year. 

Merry Christmas Everyone!   Jane Hendley - Head of Early Years  

DBIS Sports Round Up

Secondary Sport

Under 12 Boys and Under 14 Girls: Both teams played in tournaments last weekend at CAIS and ICS. The teams progressed throughout the day winning one and losing two. Thank you to Mike Lawrence, Mike Zamora, Mr Tait, and Ms Chambers for assisting with the team management and coaching on the day.

Under 16 Girls: Won a close fought battle with YCIS on Wednesday afternoon winning 44-38 in overtime!

Under 16 Boys: Won a very skilful game against Carmel School 46-8. The squad continues to improve under the guidance of Coach Johnson.

Primary Sport

Year 5 and 6 Football:  The team performed strongly at the ESF tournament last Saturday going down in the final through a penalty shootout to GSIS. Our team placed second out of 20 teams. Congratulations to the coaches and players.

Year 6 Netball: The team competed at the ESF Netball Championships placing fourth out of 20 teams. Congratulations to Ms Walden, Mrs Basford and our girls.

Other Notices

Under 13 FOBISSEA Games:  Trials have been taking place all week. Those selected to travel to Suzhou next May will be notified on Friday afternoon.

Primary FOBISSEA Games:  Next June the Primary FOBISSEA Games will be held in Beijing at Harrow School. A letter has been sent out this week with all details concerning the trials and selection for the team. All students in Years 4 – 6 are eligible to be selected.

DBIS Calendar dates - Academic Year 2012-13

Term 1

Start date Thursday 23 August 2012

Public Holiday Monday 1 October 2012

Public Holiday Tuesday 2 October 2012

Half term Monday 22 October to Friday 26 October 2012

End of term 1 Friday 14 December 2012

Term 2

Start date Monday 7 January 2013

Chinese New 

Year Holiday         Monday 11 February to Friday 15 February 2013

End of term 2 Friday 22 March 2013

Term 3

Start date Monday 8 April 2013

Public Holiday Wednesday 1 May 2013 (Provisional date)

Public Holiday Friday 17 May 2013 (Provisional date)

Public Holiday Wednesday 12 June 2013 (Provisional date)

End of term 3 Friday 28 June 2013

Start of academic Year 2013 – 14

Thursday 22 August 2013 (Provisional date)

Upcoming Events

Friday 16 December End of Term 1

Monday 9 January Term 2 starts

Monday 23 January – Friday 27 January School closed – Chinese New Year

 

Kind regards

 

Grant Ramsay

Principal