DBIS News

December news

Dear Parents

DBIS International Food Fair – This Saturday 3 December 2011

Fun – Family - Food

We are all set for a great day on Saturday and we are looking forward to having everyone along for our special DBIS community day.

See you on Saturday.

Santa’s On Strike…. (Still):  Best wishes to everyone involved in our Year 1 students performance at 7:00 pm tonight in the Globe.

A message from the Box of Hope team:  We just wanted to say thank to DBIS and to all of the families who participated in the Box of Hope project again this year. With your help, the charity was able to send a total of 12,659 boxes to children in need across Asia! That is more than double last year. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season, knowing that you have made so many children so happy!

Thailand Flood Relief Appeal:  With the assistance of our Secondary School students and some of our Thai parents, we will be holding a Red Cross charity appeal next week, with collection points for any donations at our Kindergarten and our Primary / Secondary School site.  More information will be available shortly.

End of Term One:  A reminder that term one ends on Friday 16 December.  All classes throughout our school will finish at their usual times and all classes will start at their usual times, for the beginning of Term two, on Monday 9 January 2012.

Carols on the Pitch:  Our carols evening is fast approaching, please join us on December 7 for an evening of Christmas fun.  Bring along a blanket, a picnic and settle in for some festive singing and entertainment. 

• If bringing a picnic along, could we ask you to please take away any rubbish with you after the event.

• Please remind children that we will have hot chocolate available, but that we will be restricting this to one per child while supplies last.

• For adults attending, we’d love you to try a glass of our Christmas mulled wine, but we will also need to restrict this to one per adult while supplies last. 

• Please note that we are discouraging any ball games or running games on the pitch during the event – should your children wish to play they will be asked to move off the pitch so that others can sit             and enjoy the entertainment.

• We will have a small number of song books available on the day – please print and bring along your own copy if needed.

Parents Approaching Students:  From time to time, we have incidents when a parent becomes concerned to the stage where they believe that action is required in speaking directly to another student at our school.  I wish to make it very clear that this practice is completely unacceptable.  In the event of any concern having presented, it is vital that contact is made with either your child’s teacher, the Year Group Leader or a member of our Senior Leadership Team.

As always, if you are unsure or have a concern, please ask.  All school related issues are considered and addressed very carefully by our staff.

Kindergarten News

Christmas is fully underway in our Kindergarten. The halls are decorated and resound to the beautiful singing of the students as they rehearse for their upcoming Christmas Concerts.  Reception start the festive season with a performance of The Smallest Angel next Thursday, 8 December at 9:15 am in the Globe Theatre.  Rainforest and Seaside follow on Tuesday 13 December here in our Kindergarten Hall.  Farm, Sunflower and Starlight will be our final performers on Wednesday 14 December.  Details of timings for the concerts will follow shortly from year group teams. 

Thank you to all those parents who have purchased game cards for this Saturday’s Food Fair and a HUGE thank you to all the parents who manned the stalls selling them for us, your support is hugely appreciated.  Jane Hendley – Head of Early Years

Primary School News

Year 5 Sai Kung Trip:  Our Year 5 students had a very successful trip to Sai Kung despite the weather not being at its best. They enjoyed the wide range of coached activities on offer such as archery, basketball, football, tennis, table tennis and of course DB Idol!  The whole team conducted themselves very well and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.  I even heard that the teachers were not too mean when they did the room inspections – wonders will never cease!  Thank you to our outstanding students and also to our wonderful staff.  Ian Hunt – Principal Primary School

Secondary School News

New building – Approved!:  Today our Secondary School Student Council ‘inspected’ the work being carried out on our new Secondary School building.  You will be pleased to know that the building met with the approval of our Student Council and all are looking forward to moving in around the start of Term 2.

Nicky's Family:  Our Secondary School students were fortunate to be treated to a screening of the award winning documentary ‘Nicky’s Family’ as part of the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival.  The film tells the story of Sir Nicholas Winton, a British man often referred to as the ‘British Schindler’, who organised the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from occupied Czechoslovakia.  Our students found the film inspiring in its message of kindness and compassion towards others. A huge thank you to Gordon Alias who hosted the afternoon, fielding an array of questions after the film.  Andy Edwards – Principal Secondary School

DBIS Sports Round Up

Secondary Sport

Basketball:  The ISSFHK basketball season tipped off last week with three home games and a Saturday mini tournament.  The improvement from last year’s game play is already evident and we are looking forward to celebrating some great play this season. Thanks to Coach Johnson and Mr Tait for assisting our teams.

Results

U12 Boys: Beat CAIS and RCHK

U14 Girls: DBIS 22 AISHK 24

U16 Girls: DBIS 23 DC 24

U16 Boys: DBIS 47 DC 57

Under 13 FOBISSEA Games Trials:  A call to all Secondary students aged 12 on 1 September of this year. You are invited to trial for the Games team that will travel to Suzhou in early May. Twelve girls and twelve boys will make up the team who will compete in swimming, athletics, football, and basketball over three days. The trial dates are yet to be confirmed so please keep an eye out on The Hub for further information.

Primary Sport

Year 6 Netball – Kowloon Primary Netball Champions!:  Congratulations to Ms Walden, Mrs Basford, and their fantastic Year 6 girls netball team who travelled to Sha Tin Junior School to compete for the Kowloon title. Without a single goal being scored against them, they took out the final to win the tournament with pure skill and speed. 

Next Tournament - Hong Kong Primary Netball Championships, 3 December at Glenealy School.

Year 5 and 6 Football – DBIS Football Tournament Champions!:  With DBIS hosting its annual tournament at KGV, the expectations were high that Mr Edwards, Mr Philo and the boys could collect their own silverware.  A tournament high 18 schools entered this year with a total of 20 teams competing.  Our B team had a fantastic tournament narrowly missing out on the quarter finals.  Their win against the Discovery College A team was the highlight of the day.

Our A team cruised through pool play with their toughest assignment coming against GSIS.  The boys enjoyed deserved wins in the semis and final against Bradbury (1-0) and Kellett (3-0) respectively. The team played a superb open style of football, utilizing their strong passing ability.  Congratulations to the coaches and players for winning the cup for the fourth time in six years.

Next Tournament - ESF Primary Football Tournament: 10 December at KGV.

HKFC Hockey Tournament:  DBIS took six teams to the first tournament of the season. We were the only school competing on the day with all other teams coming from local clubs. Thank you to all of the coaches and players for your fantastic efforts on the day, as well as to all of our superb parents for your support at the tournament.

Under 8’s:  Our A team went through their pool play unbeaten, eventually losing to KCC 1-0 in a hard fought final. A fantastic effort from our up and coming hockey stars!

Under 10’s:

• Our C team won division 2 with Oliver Thomasson named player of the tournament.

• Our B team won a penalty shootout to snare 3rd place in division 1.

• Our A team progressed as a team and played hard throughout.

Under 12’s:  With a core of the squad unavailable due to football commitments, our team progressed throughout the day and showed some real character.

Next Tournament - Kai Tak Tournament, 12 February.

Other notices:

• Year 1 and 2 Sports Day, Friday 9 December at DBIS from 9:45 am – 12:30 pm.

• Year 3 – 6 PE classes will be spending some time running off site as part of their athletics unit.

 

School Advisory Committee: Our Advisory Committee had our first meeting this week.  Please read the following information on our AC parent volunteers.

Martin Wardle: Martin Wardle has been in Hong Kong and Discovery Bay since 1993 and originally comes from the UK.  He works at KPMG, one of the “Big 4” accounting firms.  Martin is married to JR (aka Janet) and has four children, two of whom are currently in DBIS.  Rebecca and Jeremy have moved on from DBIS having been there since Nursery and now attend West Island School. Stephen is in Y6 and Rachel is in Y2.  Martin has been involved with the Advisory Committee since Rebecca joined the school and is a parent member of the School Council.  He is also Chairman of the School Council’s finance sub-committee.  Email address :

Richard Bryant:  Richard Bryant is originally from the UK and has lived in Hong Kong for over 15 years.  He set up and now manages the Asia operations of a US logistics company that specializes in customized supply chain solutions.  His five and three year old daughters attend DBIS in Reception and Nursery respectively.  Email address:

Larry Nuttall:   Larry Nuttall hails from Canada and has lived in Hong Kong for 21 years, the last three in Discovery Bay.  Larry works for Cathay Pacific and is married to Suzie and together they have four children.  Their youngest, Jasmine now attends Year 9.  Email address:

Ray Molbert:  Ray Molbert is originally from the United States and has been in Hong Kong and Discovery Bay for 4 years.  Ray is married to Andrew and has two children, one of which is attending DBIS in the Nursery classroom.  She is excited to be joining the Advisory Committee as a parent volunteer.  Email address:  raychenault@yahoo.com

Don Guinea: Don Guinea is originally from the Cook Islands and has been living in Hong Kong for over 15 years, 13 of which have been in Discovery Bay.  He is a Pilot with Cathay Pacific, which is what brought him to Hong Kong.  Don is married to Rachel, and they have four children currently attending DBIS, Tyler Y7, Leilani Y5, Teniva & Declan Y2.  Email address:

 

Upcoming Events

Thursday 1 December - Year 1 Show

Friday 2 December         - Reception Christmas Concert Hall Rehearsal

Saturday 3 December - DBIS International Food Fair

                        - ESF Netball

Monday 5 December         - Reception Christmas Concert Hall Rehearsal

                        - Y1LL Pizza Trip

Tuesday 6 December - Reception Christmas Concert Dress Rehearsal

                        - Y1EL Pizza Trip

Wednesday 7 December - Y2 Open Morning

                        - Inter Primary School touch tournament

                        - Carols on the School Pitch

Thursday 8 December - Y4 Open Morning

                        - Reception Christmas Concert in the Globe

Saturday 10 December - ESF Football

Monday 12 December - DBIS under 16 mixed touch tournament

Tuesday 13 December - Y1FW Pizza Trip

                        - Rainforest and Seaside Christmas Concert

Wednesday 14 December   - Y1LH Pizza Trip

                        - Sunflower, Farm & Starlight Christmas Concert

Friday 16 December         - End of Term 1

 

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.

Discovery Bay Tigers Baseball Club:  The club is now accepting players for next term. This parent run non-profit organization is accepting players of all abilities, ages 5 to 13. Saturday afternoons at the YMCA Christian College in Tung Chung, transportation provided.  For more information contact the club at or visit their website http://www.dbtigers.com

Brett McGregor - Taste of a Traveller - NZ First Masterchef Cookbook:  A limited supply of cookbooks are available for anyone wishing to get a copy of Brett McGregor's Cookbooks.  Brett may have taught your children and he has autographed all the books personally.  This is a special opportunity for all the students that might want to remember Brett.   If you would like to get a copy, please see Jean at the DBIS Main School Office with  $355 cash or cheque to be made payable to Janet Wardle.

Cindy: This modern tale of Cinderella with an all DB cast is performing this weekend at Discovery College Theatre,  Friday 2 December at 7pm, Saturday 3 December at 2pm and 7pm and Sunday 4 December at 3pm.  Tickets on sale at Dymocks $180 adults, $90 children and helpers until 1 Dec then at the door, if available.  Please come along and support this family show.

NetworkDB Manager position available:  For further details please click here.