It has been another busy and exciting half-term in the Secondary School. With the new year brings thoughts of 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 half-term in the Secondary School. With the new year brings thoughts of the future and many of our students have been experiencing transition days and planning for the next stage in their academic lives.
Dear DCIS Parents and Guardians,
It has been another busy and exciting half-term 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.
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 Year 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 13's 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.
Mrs. Heather Rinaldi
Head of Secondary School
