DBIS News 
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In Memory
Saturday 15 November
On behalf of our school community, I am sad to inform you of the passing of two special people.
Wendy MacCullum
Founding Principal of Discovery Bay International School
Mrs Wendy MacCullum was the founding Principal of our school. Wendy was a dedicated teacher and Principal who always demonstrated absolute care for children. She had the desire and the drive to set up a quality school to meet the academic and social needs of our children in Discovery Bay. The values that Wendy was party to establishing continue to form the cornerstone of our school’s practices today.
Our thanks have been conveyed to Wendy’s husband, Mr Ian MacCullum, and her family for sharing the wonderful attributes of this special person.
In keeping with the wishes of Wendy’s family, a donation has been made to the Methodist Study Trust, a group that Wendy was closely involved with and chaired for a number of years.
Beatrice Leturmi
Beatrice Leturmi, loving and much loved mother of Anja in Y4KR and Franz in Y1CA passed away earlier this week. Beatrice cared very much for her family and also for our school. I had the good fortune of meeting and communicating with Beatrice on a number of occasions. Her various suggestions, from time to time, were always aimed at improving the way we do things for all students at our school.
Our thanks and condolences go to Hans, Anja and Franz.
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.
Discovery Bay Mind Kindergarten: Discovery Mind Kindergarten and International Play Centre are holding their third ‘Operation Santa Claus’ Sponsored Charity Walk. Everyone is welcome along to this event starting at DMK at 9:00 am this Saturday, 15 November. The walk will finish at Siena Park where certificates will be given to each child. There will also be a DMK PTA ‘Bake Sale’ Stall. Please come along to support ‘Operation Santa Claus’.
STUCK ON YOU have thanked DBIS for their ongoing support by offering a 5% discount to our parents during November! Simply order online at http://www.stuckonyou.biz <http://www.stuckonyou.biz>, then type in the Promotional Code 'school' at the top of the Order Summary Page. Do some of your Christmas shopping online and help raise further funds for our Friends of the School at DBIS. Stuck on You offer a range of products that make great Christmas presents, and they are cheap and easy to post. Check out their CHRISTMAS SALE from 17th - 20th November and save up to 30% as well as our special 5% discount! Tel: 25492245. Many thanks! Kate Branch The Stuck on You Team
MH DANCE HIP HOP / BREAK DANCE PROGRAM: Learn fly moves, stay in shape, meet cool people! Break into a new lifestyle! MHDance is a culturally diverse group that aims to motivate young people to boost their confidence and positive identity through self-expressive street dance. In each session, participants take part in warm up stretches, workout, learn basic hip hop and break dance steps. At the end, participants have the opportunity to empower themselves by performing in a Dance Showcase building their cooperation, leadership skills and team spirit. Join us now and master basic step-by-step hip hop and break dance moves and a synchronized choreography. This is a Dance Program you won't want to miss! Every Friday Time: 6:30-7:30pm for 8-12 years old. 7:30-8:30pm for 13-18 years old Venue: DB Office Centre Multi-purpose Hall For more info: please call: 9534 1797 or email:
Some great community events and activities
Thursday 30 October
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.
Picnic in the Park: Don’t forget to keep Saturday 8 November free for the Discover Bay Picnic in the Park starting at 11:30 am and going through until 8:00 pm. This is Discovery Bay’s annual live music and dance festival.
Arts in the Park: Standard Chartered “ Arts in the Park” Mardi Gras 2008. This event will be on November 8, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm The Parade starts at 4 pm Central Lawn, Victoria Park, Causeway Bay.
DB IN-LINE SKATING: DB In-Line Skating, aka Rollerblading now Saturday mornings with Coach Hans. Every Saturday, starting Nov. 8 to Dec. 13, 10:30 - 11:30am. 6 lessons, cost $840. Please email to register. Thanks!
Health notice (pdf 56KB)
Our International Food Fair
Sunday 12 October
This is the first of our Food Fair Updates. We had an excellent turnout of volunteers ready to help with the coordination of this year’s DBIS International Food Fair. The different groups are already moving into action to have everything ready to go for Saturday 29 November – starting at 12:00.
Food Stalls – These are a key part of our Food Fair. The notice board will go up, with the sign up sheets for all countries represented at our school, next week. Please look on both sides of the notice board for your country’s sign up sheet. You may also wish to contact Jean at the School Office on 29877331. Once we have the sign up names or volunteers, our Food Stall group will contact you to arrange for the necessary equipment and information.
Commercial Stalls – If you are aware of anyone wishing to have a commercial stall at our Food Fair please contact Jean at the School Office on 29877331. We already have the list of stalls that were involved last year and our Commercial Stalls group will contact them very soon.
Raffle and Entertainment – Groups will be invited to assist with entertainment once again this year and will contacted by the Entertainment group. If you know of a group that would be interested in performing, please contact Jean at the School Office on 29877331 or Stephanie Foster on 60728847.
We will also be putting a Super Raffle together. The Raffle group will be contacting businesses to seek assistance. If you know of a business that would be receptive of a contact, or if you are part of a group that would be happy to donate a prize, please contact Jean at our primary School Office on 2987 7331.
Library Book Stall - We will be holding our popular book stall once again this year. If you have any books that you would like to donate for the Library Book Stall, please bring them to the library at our Kindergarten or to the library on the first floor of the Discovery Centre at our Primary / Secondary School.
Thank you once again to the wonderful volunteers who are coordinating our Food Fair for this year. Remember that our next meeting together is on Tuesday 14 October, starting at 9:15 am in the first floor Discovery Centre meeting room.
Assessment of Reading
Monday 25 August
Dear Parents
Over the last few years there have been some significant changes to the way in which we organise the teaching of reading throughout our school. These changes have seen us move from a generalised 12 reading level system to a specifically graded 30+ level reading system. There has been a major investment in new reading materials, training for the teaching staff and an increase in the amount of curriculum time allocated to the teaching of reading. All students from Y1 up now have four diagnostic reading tests each year to ensure that they are making the expected progress and to serve as a check to see that they are receiving the correct leveled reading material matched to their ability.
The school currently uses two different types of reading diagnostic tests; PM Benchmark and Probe. PM Benchmark is more suitable for younger readers, testing the child’s technical ability to decipher text, whilst Probe is more suitable for older readers and focuses more heavily on the comprehension part of the text. In essence, Probe assists in checking on a student’s understanding of what they have read. Therefore in KS1 (ages 5-7) students are learning to read and in KS2 (ages 7-11) students are reading to learn.
As with all systems this is not perfect and we do have an issue in the transition from the PM Benchmark testing system to the Probe testing system. It is not unusual for a student to receive a lower test score on the Probe compared to the PM Benchmark. This is essentially because the test is focusing on a different aspect of the student’s reading ability. We will be making the change from PM Benchmark to Probe when the children move from Y2 into Y3. This may mean initially that some students will stay on the same reading level or move down some levels. This is not because their reading ability has deteriorated but that we are focusing on a different aspect of their reading development.
All students will continue to read a wide range of texts in school and you can continue to support their reading at home through the home readers, library books and your child’s own personal collection of books.
If you have any queries, concerns or further questions please do not hesitate to contact me at dbis@dbis.edu.hk.
Yours sincerely
Ian Hunt
Deputy Principal
External School Review
Tuesday 24 June
Presented by the external review team on the review conducted in May 2008.
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