Learning Enhancement
As an international community school, our mission is to provide an outstanding education to students in an inclusive and nurturing learning environment. Furthermore, we seek to inspire and empower students to fulfil their potential in a rapidly changing world.
DBIS is an inclusive school, and we embrace the diversity, difference and uniqueness of every learner. We recognise our collective responsibility to promote a nurturing environment in which all students have a sense of belonging, participation and equal access to every aspect of school life.
Within the school's resources, we support students to achieve their full potential through pathways that foster independence and resilience, instilling in every individual the confidence to succeed.
As such, we aim to:
Empower students to reach their full potential
Develop resilience
Support learning
Foster respect for all
Celebrate success
We also aim for our students to feel supported in taking risks and be challenged to achieve their maximum potential by being in a safe yet stimulating environment. By being part of an inclusive school, our students can share in opportunities and experiences and develop an awareness of how to be supportive and inclusive individuals in society.
Staffed by seven specialist teachers and 16 educational assistants, the Learning Enhancement team assists staff, students and parents in supporting students' development and English communicative skills.
Special Educational Needs
Children have Special Educational Needs (SEN) if they have a learning difficulty that calls for special educational provision. For example, children have a learning difficulty if they:
Have a significantly greater degree of difficulty in learning than the majority of their peers
Have a disability that prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age
We do not regard children to have learning difficulty solely due to the language or form of home language they use.
DBIS will do its best to ensure that the necessary provision for any student who has individual needs. Those needs are made known to all who teach them. DBIS will ensure the early identification of a student's learning needs and provide differentiation solutions for them.
DBIS will ensure that all students will have a complete and inclusive school experience, whether they have individual needs or not. Extra-Curricular Activities (ECAs) are open to all students as far as is reasonably practical. Assemblies, play productions, clubs, and school teams will be available to all students.
DBIS strives to help all students realise their full potential and provide inclusive education for students with a wide range of abilities. The school makes every effort to ensure provision for as wide a range of special educational needs as possible.
The school endeavours to inform prospective parents as early as possible, should a child require substantial support and how the school can achieve this. However, when it is not possible to meet specific needs via the school's inclusion programme, in that case, these may need to addressed at additional expense to the parents.
English as an Additional Language
As an international school, DBIS welcomes students from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds, including students who require English as an Additional Language (EAL) support. Our curriculum and approaches to learning across the school provide rich and contextualised opportunities for students to acquire the English language in authentic settings.
However, we do recognise that students without any prior knowledge of English will require additional support to help them settle into their new lives at DBIS and in Hong Kong, both academically and socially.
Support for EAL students at DBIS takes an individual approach, with communication goals set for each student in the four language skill areas of Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. Our support programmes focus on fluency before accuracy. They are, at all times, fun and motivating opportunities for students to grow and gain confidence in using English.
Authentic learning opportunities best support language acquisition that can awaken children's innate language learning talents. Therefore we prioritise oral communication over written communication in the initial stages.
In Secondary School, we support students in developing the depth of academic language and structural awareness. Students will need these skills to excel in their work and ultimately reach their full potential, particularly in the examination years. We offer in-class support for EAL students during English and Humanities lessons and run weekly drop-in sessions for students seeking additional help with their writing.
UK national strategies for practical EAL support and assessment lead to achievable, communicative goals. Class and subject teachers take a shared approach across the EAL curriculum to support student's early language acquisition. As a result, students receive achievable targets that cover the entire EAL curriculum.
Additional Services
Therapy Services
DBIS can offer parent-funded Occupational Therapy and Speech & Language Therapy services within school hours. With parents' knowledge and consent, the Inclusion Department can arrange an initial observation by therapists to be performed in a class-based setting without cost. We share feedback from these observations with parents and, where required, ongoing assessment consideration and support scheduled.
FRIENDS
A prevention program from Australia devised to nurture social and emotional learning in students. FRIENDS aims to develop students' resilience and understanding of their own and others' feelings in social situations. FRIENDS focuses on experiential learning, consisting of play-based activities, role-play, creative arts, games, music and movement.
By developing the specific skills and strategies that the FRIENDS program offers, students will have the awareness and knowledge to deal with situations that provoke anxiety effectively. FRIENDS works with small groups in a withdrawal situation, and the programme runs for 10-weeks.
Perceptual Motor Programme
The Perceptual Motor Programme was developed in Australia to provide children experiences in seeing, touching, hearing, making perceptual judgments and reactions through movement. Students perform specific skills such as hopping, skipping, running, dodging, kicking, passing, bouncing, climbing, bowling and striking. These carefully sequenced activities provide immediate and specific feedback.
They are focused on balance, fitness, locomotion, hand-to-eye coordination and eye-tracking. In addition, students learn perceptional outcomes such as directionality, laterality, spatial awareness and body rhythm/image. These support their skills with language, problem-solving and sequential memory (auditory). The programme is for Year 1 students and taught as a class.