DBIS News

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 Dear Parents

Sad News – Mrs Lee Eltringham, a most popular, nurturing and very caring teacher who previously taught our school passed away in July.  Mrs Eltringham last taught at DBIS is 1998 – 1999 and is remembered most fondly by her colleagues and those parents who knew her as a special friend and teacher.  Our school community’s condolences are extended to Mrs Eltringham’s family.

DBIS Year Book (2008 – 2009): A reminder to please collect your Year Book from either the Kindergarten office (if your child was in Nursery or Reception during last school year), or from the main school office, if you haven’t done so already.  One copy per family is complimentary.  If you would like an additional copy – they are available at a cost of $150.00 each.

School Supervisor: Mr Peter Nixon has completed his term as School Supervisor. I wish to thank Mr Nixon on behalf of our Discovery Bay International School community for his continued outstanding work for and with our school.  Mr Nixon has been closely involved in a number of our school’s more recent key developments and he will continue to be involved at a School Council level.

Also on behalf of our Discovery Bay International School community, I am pleased to welcome Mr Chan Chi Ming of Hong Kong Resort International as our new School Supervisor.

Staffing: I am pleased to announce that Ms Rose Ting has been promoted to the position of Business Manager for our school.  We also welcome Ms Manita Lui to work as an accounts clerk in our main school office.

In addition we welcome Mrs Julie Fraser back as our resident very special ‘long term supply’ teacher.  Mrs Fraser is teaching in Y3LT while Mrs Tait is on maternity leave.  Best wishes to Liz and family.

International Food Fair:  The next meeting of our Friends of the School organising group for our International Food Fair will be held on Tuesday morning, 22 September, starting at 9:15 am.  The meeting will be held at the main school site in the Conference Room.  Please ask at the office if you require directions.  We have had a great turnout of volunteers this year – but more are welcome.  We still need a person to act as Treasurer and another person as Entertainment Coordinator.

Remember to keep Saturday 21 November clear on your calendar for our International Food Fair.

Instrumental Lessons:  The instrumental lessons have begun this term with great success yet again.  It is fantastic to see so many students continuing to build on the skills they learnt last year, as well as having a number of beginner students excited about learning a new instrument.  We now have 100 students taking lessons.  We all look forward to hearing the wonderful music they learn and welcoming some into the orchestra in the future. 

Waiting Lists:  Many of our waiting lists grew substantially last year.  As already noted, our actual roll and waiting list growth last year was the highest we have experienced in our school’s history.  Our waiting lists are particularly high for our current Nursery, Reception and Year 1 classes.  While we will continue to accept registrations on to these three lists, as from today, no registration fee will be required until the numbers decrease.  Waiting lists for all other class levels continue to be operated as has been the case to date.

Young Entrepreneurs Programme:  DBIS is proud to announce the start of our new Young Entrepreneurs Programme.  In this extra curricular activity, Year 5 and 6 students will learn simple business studies theory and techniques as well as develop a basic understanding of investing.

In the first term the student focus will be to devise and develop a product that can be sold at the school’s International Food Fair in November.  When their product idea is ready they will pitch their project idea to Senior Leaders (somewhat like the TV show “The Dragon’s Den”) in the hope of gaining the finance necessary to get off the ground.  Throughout the programme it is hoped that students will further develop their mathematics and ICT skills, as well as their confidence, team working abilities, imagination and entrepreneurial flair.  After all, every millionaire had to start somewhere!

Anthologies of Student Writing:  Toward the latter part of last school year, our Year 1 – Year 6 students participated in a writing competition.  The quality of the pieces submitted was exceptionally good and we are pleased to be able to share the winning three submissions from each class with you.  To find out more and to view the anthologies please go to our school website and click on the ‘Hot Topics button’, then select ‘Anthologies of Student Writing’.  You will be able to view the story selection and also see some of the lovely illustrations created by a group of students in our school to accompany some of the stories.  Thank you in particular to Kirsten Humphries, Carol Atcheson, Kris Stanhope and Anna Shere for your additional time and effort on this project.

Notification of Absences:  Please notify our school concerning any absence by your child prior to the commencement of the first day of any absence.  Such notification can, for example, be by way of a telephone call, an email to our school office (), by having someone call into either the Kindergarten or School offices or by notifying your child’s teacher.  If we do not receive an explanation as to the reason for an absence, our office staff will try to contact you.  Your cooperation with this process is vital and most appreciated.  

While we are seeking to track any patterns in terms of influenza related illnesses, we also want to be as sure as possible as to the safe location of all students. 

Severe allergies:  Within school we have a number of students who have severe allergies to certain foods.  In some cases these allergies can provoke life threatening complications.   If there is a student with a severe allergy in your child’s class, you will be notified by the teacher as to the nature of the allergy.  It is essential that parents follow the guidance given by the teacher and speak to their domestic helpers about the issue.  We have had incidents where classmates of a student with a life threatening peanut allergy have brought peanut butter sandwiches into school.  If such incidents arise then an alternative lunch will be requested from the parents.

Physical Education Lessons:  Our PE lessons continue to be held indoors while the day time temperatures are high.

Snacks and Lunches:  All snacks and lunches brought to school at the beginning of the day are to be taken into the classroom, prior to lessons starting.  This procedure is to be maintained throughout the year.  If lunches are being delivered immediately prior to lunch time, these lunches will have to be placed in your child’s bag located outside the classroom.

Bus and Crossing Safety:  Following a meeting with Discovery Bay Transport management, bus drivers on the number 4 and number 9 routes a have been reminded to ensure that passenger numbers are not to exceed the safe legal number.  Furthermore, these drivers have been reminded that they are not to overtake another bus already stationed at a bus stop.

City Management and our school are also looking to provide security people at peak times in the morning and afternoon to patrol the crossing on Discovery Bay Road, in front of our school.

Parents Visiting School:  Just a quick reminder that we don’t allow parents to visit any of our Kindergarten or School playgrounds at snack or lunch times.  This is purely a safety issue whereby staff on duty need to be sure that the only adults in the playgrounds with our students are actual staff members.  If you do have need to see your child at anytime during our school day, please arrange to do so through either our Kindergarten or School Office.  Thank you for your help with this practice.

Stuck on you personalised labels:  It is very important to us to have all children's clothing and belongings labelled. Stuck on You are an internationally recognized company who provide quality clothing and sticky labels. As we partner with Stuck on You, every order you place with them earns commission for our school.


For those parents whose children will go on camps this year (everyone in year 4 or above) Stuck on You are running a special on their Camp Pack. The Camp Pack includes everything you need to ensure what goes on camp comes home again.  Until midnight on 18 September, DBIS parents can order this pack for only $527 (value $696) by typing in the Promotion Code "chinacamp" at the top of the Order Summary Page. 


Please order directly at http://www.stuckonyou.biz/hkdbis.  If you do order online, don’t forget to mention us when completing your customer details.


If you have any questions please contact Stuck on You directly on 2549 2245.

Kind Regards

Grant Ramsay

Principal