Discovery Bay International School

Half term update

Kung Hei Fat Choi

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

A reminder that all classes in Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary will close at the usual times today. Classes will resume on Monday 22 February, again at the usual times. Best wishes to everyone for a warm family break during Chinese New Year.

Year 1 Production – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Wow! What a simply scrumptious performance by our most delightful Year 1 students. They all looked fantastic in their costumes and make up. The dancing and singing was a joy to share, while the acting and voice projection was hugely impressive for our nearly 100 strong cast. Thank you to all of our Year 1 students for taking us away last night to sample the treats and sparkling flavours of a glamorous night out!

I am sure there will be lasting memories for parents and students. Having spoken with some of our Year 8 students, they can fondly remember their first ‘curtain call’ in Year 1 at DBIS – the songs and some of the lines!

Thank you so much to the huge support, direction, production, choreography, singing, backdrop, props, costume, make up, stage management and catering departments for all that you did to make this production so amazing. I am never keen to single certain aspects out, however the backdrop for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is quite unbelievable! Thank you to the team of parents who gave of their talents and so generously of their time.

Every staff member at our school thoroughly appreciates the contribution of all Year 1 parents leading up to, and at the performance. Such events on our school calendar underline the fantastic partnership enjoyed and developed for and with our students. The performance last night builds on the many superb productions that have taken place already at our school – in so doing builds our school spirit accordingly.

Thank you to our incredibly talented Year 1 teachers and Education Assistants (Eleanor, Dahlia, Lucy, Claire, Kristine, Sue, Emma and Pilar) to Michelle Flavel and Anna Lovell-Knight for their additional support and to our supporting music teachers (Jane Gonzales and Jane Noonan). To have the cast of 100 carry off that production is such testament to your collective talents and professional abilities.

3rd Annual DBIS Green Week (February 22 – 26): We have some new and exciting things to look forward to during our school’s biggest ever up coming Green Week. This year’s theme is ‘Can we change – now!?’

Throughout Green Week our students will be invited to take part in toy and book swaps, to watch and read relevant resources in their classes and the library, to learn a new song related to our theme, to participate in the Big Green Competition and to give serious thought to their food intake and what it’s wrapped or carried in. We have a number of guest speakers visiting us to speak with our students throughout the week as well.

We will be showing the film ‘Wall – e’ after school on Tuesday at 3:15 pm in the Globe Theatre and we will be encouraging discussion amongst our students about the issues the film raises. Attendance is optional, parents please join us with your children if you can.

There will be another opportunity for our parent community to participate in the Awake the Dreamer symposium, along with an opportunity to hear about an exciting new venture, a market place offering all you need to make change.

We gently remind you once more that the use of golf carts is discouraged wherever possible - walking or taking the bus to school is preferable. Could you please remind your children to wear something green to school on Friday 26 February. Thank you as always for your continued support, we look forward to working with you to make a positive change.

Secondary Netball: Congratulations to our Discovery Bay International School Secondary netball girls team, and to the Discovery College netball girls team for a fine match played in our gymnasium on Wednesday. It was a fast game and a huge improvement on the last match. The score alternated until our DBIS team moved ahead in the third quarter to win 13 - 11. Thank you to Gill Hadley for your work with these talented girls. Some of our girls are playing in their very first season and game!

Our Secondary netballers have another competitive challenge coming up, beginning on Monday 22 February, with further tournament dates set for Monday 8th March and Monday 22nd March. They have trained hard and are ready to put their skills into action against other Hong Kong secondary schools. Please check the DBIS Sports Tournament web page for further details and to find out how the girls get on.

Flower Market: Thank you to everyone for your support of our Flower Market held last Friday morning. All of our flowers were sold and, while not the intention, we made just on $5,000 from the sales. Funds generated from our Flower market will be used to purchase some additional play equipment for our Nursery and Kindergarten classes. Thank you to our staff and parent helpers for your assistance in the preparation and selling of our flowers. Thank you also to our Mandarin department for your work on the banners. A special thank you of course to Amy Gidwani for your excellent organisation of this annual event.

Jacket Mountain: Yes, Jacket Mountain (thank you Mr Allams), is what the Primary / Secondary School lost property cupboard has become known as. Please see the attached photo to see it in all its glory. The good news is that the vast majority of items are named. However, the bad news is, that this is just two weeks build up.

We are having a real push with the children on trying to get them to take more responsibility for their personal property and we have shared the Jacket Mountain photo with them in assembly and brought in the huge pile of discarded items to try and bring home to them just how much stuff is being left around the place. There is of course the old chestnut of, “people are taking my hat out of my locker because of no hat no play.” Undoubtedly there is an element of this but not to the extent that you can see from the picture. My advice to children if they think that their hat might go missing is to keep it in their school bag until play time and then return it when they have finished playing. All staff on duty will be reinforcing the sun safe, no hat – no play, rule, particularly as it will begin to heat up shortly.

You can help us with this issue by continuing to name all school items clearly and speaking to the children about being responsible for their personal possessions. ‘Stuck on You’ provide a range of stickers and clothing labels to assist with the naming of school items. http://www.stuckonyou.biz/hongkong/. Lost property items are on display in the main entrance for you to look through.

Chinese New Year: Thank you to everyone who was able to dress up today and help celebrate our upcoming Chinese New Year.

Reports – Year 4 to Year 8: Reports for all of our Year 4 to Year 8 students are being sent home today. Please share the report with your child and discuss the commendations as well as the targets that have been noted by our respective teachers. As always, should you wish to follow up on any of the comments in your child’s report, please contact your child’s teacher accordingly.

Term Dates for 2010 – 2011: We have our term dates set for the 2010 – 2011 school year. Thank you to everyone once again for your patience with this process. We are required to wait for the confirmation of the Hong Kong public holiday dates (as noted below). We seek to match the ESF mid term break for Term One.

School Term Dates 2010 – 2011

19 August 2010 Start of Term 1 for students
23 September 2010 Public Holiday – day after Mid Autumn Festival
1 October 2010 Public Holiday – National Day
18 - 22 October 2010 Half Term Break
10 December 2010 End of Term 1
3 January 2011 Start of Term 2
31 January – 4 Feb 2011 Chinese New Year (to be confirmed)
15 April 2011 End of Term 2
2 May 2011 Public Holiday – Labour Day (to be confirmed)
3 May 2011 Start of Term 3
10 May 2011 Public Holiday – Buddha’s birthday (to be confirmed)
6 June 2011 Public Holiday – Tuen Ng (to be confirmed)
24 June 2011 End of Term 3

Sports Team Photographs: We are planning to take photographs of our representative sports teams that have already been in action so far this year. It is proposed that the photographs will be taken during the week beginning Monday 1 March. We will confirm a date with you by special notice in the first week back after Chinese New Year. Please note that we plan to have photographs taken of other representative sports teams, yet to be selected, later in our school year.

Keeping Up With Events: We have a very busy school with a constant range of events talking place every week – and weekend. Every effort is made to keep you informed about upcoming events – without seeking to constantly bombard you with messages. As noted in previous communications, please use our school website calendar as your main source of information. Year Groups will also try to keep you posted with some events specific to your child’s class. Please check your child’s webpage for this information.

From now on we will post a link in our fortnightly newsletter that you can activate and bring up the current month’s activities or events from our main website calendar. We will also send out a copy of this page of events for your reference with each newsletter.

February events: http://www.dbis.edu.hk/whats_happening/calendar/2/2010

March events: http://www.dbis.edu.hk/whats_happening/calendar/3/2010

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 Arts Fest: Discovery College will hold its annual DC Arts Fest on March 1 to 5. Come and join us for the movie

‘The House Of 72 Tenants’ on March 1:

• In Mandarin, with English subtitles - 4:30 pm

• In Cantonese, with English subtitles - 7:30 pm

The AFTEC production of ‘Great Expectations’ on March 3

• Matinee - 4:30 pm

• Evening Performance - 8:00 pm

Both will be held in the G/F Performance Arts Theatre of Discovery College. Tickets are available in the following outlets in Discovery Bay: Dymocks, Uncle Russ, DC PTA Shop.