DCIS Newsletter January February 2018

January / February 2018
DCIS Newsletter
Chinese New Year Assembly with 2AH and 1/2SS
The Lower Primary School assembly began with a fan dance set to traditional Chinese music.
The Lower Primary School assembly began
with a fan dance set to traditional Chinese
music, the girls were well coordinated and
showed great talent. The children then
enthusiastically acted out the Chinese
Zodiac story and shared personality traits
that the different animals represent.
Videos were shown interviewing the
Mandarin teachers about Chinese New Year
traditions and also how the children made
their lanterns in class. The highlight of the
assembly was the terrifying lion dance
which was accompanied by children playing
instruments.
The assembly ended with the children
wishing the audience A Happy New Year by
singing ‘Gong Xi’.
Alexis Homersham and Sarita Somaya
Primary Class Teachers
2017-2018 Calendar Events and
Other School Information
Parent Essentials
Academic Calendar
2017-2018
Extra-Curricular Activities
DCA Parent Association
DC Bear Facebook Page
DCIS Youtube Channel
DCIS Open Morning 27th February 2018

Letter from the Principal:
January/February Highlights
Christopher Short reflects on another busy and successful
half term at DCIS and on the early stage planning for the next
academic year.
Dear DCIS Parents and Guardians,
We have just finished another busy and
successful half term at school.
the rest of this year. Next year it will allow
us increased facilities for both music and
computing as well as more space for STEAM
activities. Important (and often overlooked)
we also have increased toilet facilities
around the playground areas. The younger
children are enjoying their newly located
vertical playground.
We are very pleased to have the house
system up and running and I am grateful
to Mr. Liperus and Ms Good for their hard
work in this area. The Sports Days were a
tremendous success and made all the better
for the competition provided by the House
System. It was wonderful to see children in
house shirts or house colours. The house
system will continue to grow over the coming
months. The Sports Days augmented the
extremely pleasing results we have had in
competitive sport against other schools
in Singapore. The PE department and
other teachers who have coached teams
have worked with our talented students to
achieve this ambitious success.
I was very excited to see a sneak preview of
our school production of Grease in assembly
a few weeks ago. This will be an excellent
exposition of performing arts skills from our
students.
Our new block opened earlier in the term
and will provide extra space for Learning
Support and Secondary examinations for
2
I made two trips to London this term. The
first was to attend the British International
Schools Awards dinner. We were the only
school in Singapore shortlisted but we were
alongside some very well-known schools
around the World. We were therefore
delighted to win in our category.
My second trip was to our annual recruiting
event. We don’t have many staff leaving this
year but we are hiring more staff to cater for
the continued expansion of the Secondary
school and expand provision in PE and
Computing across the school. Roughly half
of our staff are hired from other international
schools while the other half move straight
from the UK. This gives us a good balance
of staff experience. Meeting new UK based
staff in London also acts as the start of our
induction process as we make sure we give
guidance on moving overseas, usually for
the first time. The event allows prospective
colleagues to meet other members of the
Nord Anglia Education team and learn about
our partnerships and external programmes.
It also allows myself and other Principals
to hear about updates in our relationships
with our partner organisations – watch this
space for the next exciting chapter in our
collaboration with UNICEF.
We have had two visitors from the Council
of International Schools in school this week.
We became members last year but are
now beginning the accreditation process.
Over the next 18 months we will perform a
rigorous self review. Parents will be invited
to be part of this process. We will then invite
a larger team from CIS back into the school
to finalise our accreditation. It is really
important to us that we have this external
verification of the work that we do.
I wish you all the best for half term and
Chinese New Year.
Best wishes,
Christopher Short
Principal

Primary School January/February
Highlights from Ms Lebihan
The Primary School continues to be a busy and eventful place and
Term 2 started with its usual buzz of activity. From Sports Week to
year group trips, Chinese New Year to Transition Days our Primary
School has been a wonderful place to be this half term.
It has been our pleasure to start the term by
welcoming some new families to the school.
Many new parents came along to our New
Parents Coffee Mornings and it was great
to meet up. The teachers tell me that the
children are now well settled in and are fast
becoming part of the school as they get used
to the routines of DCIS. I look forward to
welcoming our new parents to many more
events over the next two terms.
The Primary School continues to be a busy
and eventful place and Term 2 started with
its usual buzz of activity. We have already
enjoyed some fantastic events in Term 2
one of which was our Year 6 Transition Day
where the children engaged in a variety of
lessons including Drama, Science, Design
and Technology and Art. The students had
an excellent day and were full of exciting
stories when they returned.
As well as this, every year group has been
involved in our Sports Days this term, which
our fantastic PE team pulled off seamlessly
and somehow without a drop of rain! I know
the children had a great time as many of
them told me about it; thank you to the
parents who joined us and helped us to
celebrate the PE and sporting skills of the
children, and also to the PE team for their
time in organising the events.
Chinese New Year is of course on the horizon
and there has been much excitement around
the campus as displays have popped up,
thanks to the Mandarin Department and the
DCA. Mandarin lessons have focussed on the
cultural aspect of Chinese New Year with the
children learning about the Twelve Zodiac
Animals. The students have been engaging
in various activities such as the stories of
‘Nian’ and the race of the 12 animals, as well
as learning songs and taking part in a range
of art and craft activities. The children have
been learning about the traits of different
animals in the horoscope and finding out
which animal represents the different
years. The children have enjoyed finding
out about the traditions and customs of
Chinese New Year and have also learnt how
to convey Chinese New Year wishes. We are
looking forward to them applying the learnt
conversations in the community in the run
up to the celebration.
As well as this, the children have also enjoyed
some fantastic trips so far this term, the
most exciting one being Year 4’s 2 night visit
to Kota rainforest. As the trip coincides with
their Project Work unit on ‘Rainforest: Saving
the World’ the children were able to apply
the knowledge they have learnt in school
to the real life experiences of exploring
the rainforest. As well as this, the children
developed their teamwork skills, leadership
skills, resilience and independence. It was a
wonderful trip for everyone and the children
have returned with lots of fond memories of
their time in Kota Rainforest.
Continuing the theme of trips, Year 5 children
spent the day visiting the Omni-Theatre and
Singapore Science Centre as part of our
Project Work topic ‘Space Explorers’. In the
Omni-Theatre, they raced around space as
they learnt about the different planets, the
sun and the moon. The captain showed the
children what it would be like to visit each
planet and then they all flew back to Earth
to spend some time exploring the exhibits
in the Science Centre. We are now looking
forward to Y6’s residential to trip to Udon
Thani in Thailand and the adventures this
will be sure to bring!
So, all in all a successful and busy half term!
As ever, do let me know if there are is
anything I can help you with. Wishing you
all a fantastic week ahead and an enjoyable
Chinese New Year either here in Singapore or
wherever your holiday plans may take you.
Kara Lebihan
Head of Primary School
3

Secondary School January/February
Highlights from Mrs. Rinaldi
It has been another busy and exciting half-term in the Secondary
School. With the new year brings thoughts to the future and
many of our students have been experiencing transition days and
planning for the next stage in their academic lives.
It has been another busy and exciting halfterm
in the Secondary School.
Transition has been a key discussion within
many of the cohorts over the past five
weeks. In January, our Year 6 students were
invited to ‘test’ life in the Secondary School,
by attending a range of lessons including
Drama, Science, Art, D.T. and Humanities.
Students were able to get a flavour for
the new knowledge and skills they will be
learning in Year 7. The Year 6 children found
it a hugely valuable experience and it helped
begin to ease any worries they may have
about the transition to Secondary.
We have also been discussing transition
from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 with our Year
9 students. Last week we had a very well
attended Options Evening, where students
and parents from Year 9D, 9C and 9I were
able to come and discuss the subjects that
they will be taking in Year 10. The students
and parents were able to meet the subject
teachers and find out more about the range
of qualifications that are on offer to them.
It has also been a time to discuss transition
from Key Stage 4 to Key Stage 5. We were
excited to take 58 Key Stage 4 and 5 students
to a Careers Fair in early February, where
students were able to discuss their potential
next steps with employers and advisors. We
have also been delighted with the interest in
our IB Diploma programme and have been
receiving applications from both internal
and external candidates. We are excited to
be increasing the range of subjects that we
offer to Year 12 in August and believe that
our programme offers the breadth of choice
to enable our students to complete a diverse
and well-rounded programme of studies.
4
Year 11 have also had a busy half-term due
to taking their mock iGCSE examinations.
The students have all now received their
results and have a clear pathway in terms
of development for the remaining months
before their examinations. Students have
worked with Ms McKernan and Mr. Jones on
creating a revision timetable and students
have also had another seminar with ‘Elevate
Education’ entitled ‘Ace your exams’. We
are proud of the work that our Year 11
cohort have put in thus far and now are
looking forward to seeing their continued
determination and efforts in building on
and improving these mock results in the real
exams in May and June.
We have not only been busy in the classroom
but it has also been busy on the sports field.
It was brilliant to see our secondary students
participating in Sports Week in January and
we were delighted by how the students
represented their houses in their new
house t-shirts! We have also continued to
have an enormous amount of success with
our sports teams, including placing Bronze
for Under 14 Girls Netball, placing Gold
for Under 12 Girls Basketball and placing
Silver in Under 12 Boys Basketball. We look
forward to the football finals this coming
week where we hope to achieve some more
medal placements.
There is a great deal to look forward to in the
second half of Term 2, especially in terms of
trips. We have our suite of residential trips
for Years 7-12 to Laos and Myanmar taking
place in March; students and teachers alike
are excited to embark and undertake the
adventure. We also have the Under 13s
FOBISIA Games trip to Thailand taking place
21-25 February with the P.E. department.
Finally, we have a range of curriculum-based
visits to look forward to, including an Art Trip
to Gilman Barracks and a Maths Trip to the
Science Centre.
I would like to take the opportunity to
remind parents of students in Year 8-12
to sign up for our Parent Conferences on
19th and 20th February using the link:
https://dcis.parentseveningsystem.co.uk.
Using this system you are able to book an
appointment to meet with the teachers you
would like to see. We would appreciate your
full support with these conferences, as they
are crucial to the ongoing success of your
son / daughter.
To conclude, I wish you all a restful half term
and look forward to welcoming the students
back to school on 19th February.
Kind regards,
Heather Rinaldi
Head of Secondary

Dover Court International School
Wins Leadership Award
BISA is organised by the British International Schools magazine
with the support of ISC Research. It celebrates innovation in
strategic, financial and educational projects in schools around the
world. Schools that qualify and make the shortlist demonstrate
exceptional quality in education, and winning schools become a
benchmark for the education sector to emulate.
Dover Court International School was
shortlisted in the category of Outstanding
Senior Leadership Team of the Year. Mr.
Short travelled to London for the Awards
Dinner on Monday night and was delighted
to receive the trophy as the winner in
this category. Despite the title, the award
recognises the achievement of all members
of the DCIS staff over the last couple of years.
The award for Outstanding Senior
Leadership Team of the Year identifies
schools who have approached an initiative
by leading in an inspirational way. The
initiative must demonstrate collaboration,
be sustainable, supportive of their school’s
mission and improve student outcomes.
5

With the weather holding out earlier in the
week we had our fingers crossed for a sunny
end to this fabulous week, much to the PE
team’s delight the weather was good and
the sun was shining.
The 8 stations proved to be a huge hit, with
‘sponge the teacher’ and ‘Minion throw’
especially popular. On the track, the parents
cheered and the atmosphere was great as
our children battled it out on the sprints.
Overall the day was fantastic and we hope
you all enjoyed our EYFS Sports Day 2018!
What a funtastic start to the year!
Luke Liperis, Physical Education Teacher
Grease
is the Word!
As rehearsals continue at full
speed, the cast have been
learning the tongue-twisting
lyrics to the famous songs.
With lots of shoo-whopping and dobopping,
Mr. Dwyer and Mr. Irving have
been deciphering the catchy tunes, whilst
Mr. Fernandez has been burning up the
keys on the piano! Although we all know
the popular music for this production, it’s
rather tricky to get all the nuances of the
songs and also to perform with a live band.
Having been rehearsing since September,
and including musicians from Years 6 – 11,
the band adds a real energy and flare to the
production. We’re now all looking forward to
the challenge of combining the dancing and
singing… stay posted for our progress!
Annabel Hooper
Drama Teacher
Early Years’ Sports Day!
The EYFS Sports Day 2018
started off with a Minion
bursting onto the track to
welcome our future Athletes.
6

Scholarship Awards for IB Diploma 2018
We are making an exceptional offer for select students to receive partial scholarships for the 2018-
2020 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at Dover Court International School.
We will welcome our second cohort of
students in August 2018 and are now
accepting applications for the course and
the scholarship.
The IB Diploma Programme offers an
academically and personally challenging
experience which also rewards dedication
and hard work. It is a course of study that is
widely recognised by university and college
admissions departments as a rigorous and
demanding education programme that
prepares students very well for studying at
degree level.
We have a limited number of partial
scholarships available for the 2018-2020
course of study. Scholarship applications
are welcomed from students who possess
the following:
Scholarship Application Requirements:
• Strong academic ability and scholastic
potential
• Excellent academic proficiency in
English
• Strength in one or more areas of
Humanities, Mathematics, Science,
• Language Acquisition, Sports, the Arts
or Technology
• Readiness to undertake service
learning contributing to the school and
local community
Details of Scholarships
Successful partial scholarship recipients will
receive up to 50% reduction of the Year 12
and Year 13 tuition fees.
How to Apply
Scholarship applications should be
completed at http://bit.ly/IBDPscholarship
and submitted with the required supporting
documents.
Only shortlisted applicants will be notified.
7

Dover Court International School (Pte) Ltd is registered with the Committee for Private Education | CPE Registration No: 197100313E | Registration Period: 05/07/2015 to 04/07/2019
The Committee for Private Education (CPE) is part of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG)