DBIS News

March round up

Dear Parents

Heart Felt Thank You:  Our Japanese community at DBIS wants to thank everyone for all of your support and help in holding the Japan Earthquake Fundraiser at school this past week.  We are especially grateful to all of the people that were kind enough to bake cupcakes and other goodies for us to sell last Friday.  Your time and effort baking and bringing the treats to school was very much appreciated.  We would also like to thank all of the Year 5 and Secondary School students who volunteered to put up posters and sell cupcakes.  The outpouring of generosity in donations and kindness from everyone was incredible. We are proud that we are among such fine people in the DBIS community that are so committed to helping others in their time of need.

A special thank you must go to Mr Ramsay, Mr Jason Edwards, Mr Fryer and Mrs Hendley.  Without all of your help and encouragement, this fundraiser would not have been a success.


With our deepest gratitude - The Japanese Community of DBIS.

Over $55,000 was raised by our Discovery Bay International School community.

Our Secondary School building update:  The piling work has been completed and the work site is now quiet for up to three weeks as the load testing process is carried out.  We should start to see the real superstructure work early in term three.

Notification of Withdrawal:  Please be sure to notify our School office of any impending student withdrawals due to occur during the coming weeks or at the end of this year.  While there is a mandatory notification period in place, it is also important that we are able to notify parents on our respective waiting lists concerning confirmed placements for our next school year.  We have waiting lists in place for all classes. 

The Great DBIS Uniform Trade Off:  Thank you to all involved in making our first ever Uniform Trade Off a huge success.  We collected a large number of Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary school items during the week prior, and all but a handful of items remained at the conclusion of the Trade Off.  We hope to hold another Trade Off close to the end of the school year to assist families with uniform items in preparation for the coming school year.  A very special thank you to our super group of parent assistants for your work leading up to and managing the Trade Off on the day – Liz Nettleton, Sue Taylor and Sarah McGill.

Non uniform items:  We appear to have an increasing number of non uniform items being worn at school.  Please assist us in reminding your children of the correct compulsory uniform, noting that jewellery is not to be worn to school.  This includes coloured wristbands and ankle bands.

Kindergarten News: The fun while learning continues at Kindergarten.  Nursery students are very busy preparing items for sale for their Market Day on Wednesday 13 April.  This event is part of their IPC Shopping unit and more details about this will follow next week.  

Reception students have been experimenting with changing materials and, as Easter approaches, next week they will be making changes to eggs and chocolate.  In our last week of term, all of our Kindergarten students will take part in an Easter Egg Hunt. 

A special thank you to our Mummies who baked the cakes for the Japanese Red Cross fundraiser.  The amount raised by the Kindergarten students was phenomenal and added to the grand total for our school.  Well done everyone!   Jane Hendley – Head of Kindergarten.

Year 6 Speech Competition:  Our Year 6 Speech Competition, which involves all of our Year 6 students, concluded recently with the finals held two weeks ago.  The quality of research and presentation was once again most impressive by all of our talented finalists.  As you will all appreciate, public speaking is a very demanding combination of skill and performing arts.  Our first, second and third place getters were very special.  Congratulations to Antonia Martinez in first place and this year’s recipient of the Leenders Family Speech Award, Amy Turner in second place and Charlotte Cullinane third.  Our three place getters delighted our Primary School assembly with their sparkling speeches.

Sports Round Up

The trophy cabinet is filling with a record set of performances already this year.  What an action packed fortnight of sport we have had!  All of our sports teams and individuals were recognised in last week’s assembly for their tremendous results.  Thank you as always to our  superb coaches and supporters. 

Year 3 and 4 House Netball:  On Thursday 17 March, the PE Department held the annual Year 3 and 4 Netball Tournament after school.  There were some wonderful skills on show with a team from each year group playing off in the final.  The Year 4 team won narrowly with a goal in extra time.  It seems we have some fantastic netball talent coming through!  Thanks to Miss Chambers for her work organising the event.

ESF Invitational Tag Rugby Tournament: DBIS sent two teams to what is the largest tag rugby event of the year.  We were the only school entered with a B team on the day.  Our B team had their work cut out for them but performed admirably making the plate competition to finish ahead of four other schools.  Our A team made up of mostly Year 6 students went through the day unbeaten. They played Clearwater Bay School and Discovery College in the finals, beating both schools convincingly.  Christina Angus captained the side superbly on the day. This year’s victory came as a result of a total team effort.

CIS Road Race:  DBIS took a team of runners to CIS on Saturday 19 March.  It was a drizzly and cold morning, with well over one hundred runners braving the weather.  All of our runners performed exceptionally well with some stand out performances on the day.  Athina Zodl (Year 6) led from start to finish in the 2.2 km Under 12 girls’ event, winning by 20 metres over her nearest rival.  It was a superb effort, having competed against 50 other runners.  Trevor Bagattini (3rd), Charlie Taylor (5th), Ray Watanabe(9th), and Tegan Pye (10th) placed 3rd in the Under 12 Boys team competition – an outstanding effort also.

DBIS Invitational Beach Touch Championships:  This was our second year hosting this event.  With a double victory last year in the girls and boys competitions, there was a lot to play for. Both of our teams played thoughtfully all day against a strong field of 17 teams from around Hong Kong.  Our girls team went through the day without a loss, culminating in a one try victory in the final against the Chinese International School.  Our boys team performed better as the day wore on, winning all of their games including a tense 2-1 final against Discovery College.  Congratulations to all involved.

Year 6 Netball:  On Sunday 20 March our DBIS Dynamites (Under 12 team) played in the 1st/2nd place play offs against HKCC Unicorns.  It was a tough start for our team and at the end of the first quarter it was tied up at 5-5.   After a team talk we went back on court and picked up our game allowing HKCC Unicorns to only score one further goal during the rest of the match.  Outstanding shooting from Michael Zamora boosted the cushion and was complemented by great movement in the circle by Sarah Smits and Caitlin Dye.  Defensively the team worked hard to keep HKCC from getting into a shooting position.  The centre court players worked tirelessly to ensure support defensively with countless deliveries into the circle.   A special congratulations to Christina Angus who was named Player of the Match by the HKNL.  An outstanding performance by all resulting in a much deserved win for DBIS Dynamites. Miss Walden.

Secondary Netball:  Both of our teams continue to play every week in both the HKNA and JNL Leagues. They are currently involved in the play offs. After finishing top of Pool A in the U14 Junior Netball League, our girls played off against Island school in the semi-final on Wednesday.  We were once again in very good form with 21 goals in 20 minutes versus 3 to conclude the first half. With a few substitutions at half time, our girls went on to win 32-7.  We play in the final next Wednesday.  Player of the match was Cooper Murphy.  Congratulations Cooper on yet another outstanding performance on the wing.  Miss Chambers.

Thank you - Matt Corbett - PE Coordinator

Cambodia With Love – Charity:  Thank you to our Year 5 students and parents for your support of the Cambodia With Love charity collection at this year’s production of Alice in Wonderland.   You managed to raise $7,848 for this charity – thank you and well done.

Public Holiday – School Closed:  Our Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary Schools will be closed next week, on Tuesday 5 April for the Ching Ming Festival.

Upcoming Events in March

Friday 1 April Y5 EOTC day

                CIS Touch Rugby Invitational

Saturday 2 April Shaheen Hockey Tournament

Monday 4 April Y3SR parent conferences

Tuesday 5 April No school: Ching Ming Festival

Wednesday 6 April Y3SR parent conferences

                U14 Netball league final

Thursday 7 April Secondary Art Exhibition – 7:30 pm

                Y3SR parent conferences

                                        Year 4 - Outdoor Adventure to Treasure Island, Pui O

Friday 8 April GSIS All Stars Hockey tournament

Monday 11 April HKTA Touch Rugby Championships

Thursday 14 April        GSIS hockey tournament

                Year 1 show

Friday 15 April End of Term 2

Monday 2 May No school: Labour Day holiday

Tuesday 3 May Start of Term 3

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.

Enneagram Workshops: The Enneagram is a well established system grounded in modern psychology and used all over the world.  Simply put, the Enneagram describes nine distinct personality types, their strengths and challenges. It’s a powerful tool for understanding yourself and others better and enhancing your relationships with your family members, friends and colleagues. Furthermore, it is comprehensive, yet practical and easy to understand.

The workshops are led by Carol Bagattini who is an experienced and certified Enneagram practitioner (EPTP) with Enneagram Worldwide (Helen Palmer, U.S.A.). She has also studied with Hurley and Donson (Canada).  Workshops are limited to 10 participants and run from 9h00 to 14h45, one day a week for 5 consecutive weeks.  They are run here in Discovery Bay.  A new workshop starts in Discovery Bay on the 12th May for 5 Thursdays until the 8th June. Contact Carol: /9014-9955 for details. (References from past participants are available.)

FREE Introductory Talk on MindScape: Saturday 9th April 11am-12pm at DBIS:  How often do you reach your limits?  Many of us are simply not using our minds to their full potential.  MindScape is a technique which works on the theory that the secret to success is all in the mind, and that the most important factor which ensures success or failure in any aspect of our lives is the human brain.  MindScape helps us to unlock our hidden potential and sharpen our brain power, encouraging us to excel in any chosen field.  The technique 'opens' the right brain which is responsible for relaxation, intuition, creativity and imagination, allowing us to identify and achieve our specific goals. 

DB Resident and MindScape instructor, Angie Tourani, will give a free introductory talk on this powerful tool at DBIS on Saturday 9th April.  She will explain how attending a MindScape workshop will teach you to tap into, and enhance, your creative and intuitive mind at levels not normally accessed in everyday life.  MindScape can help you to improve memory ability, promote relaxation, reduce stress, heal your body, and improve professional & sport performance.