Dear DCIS Parents,
The DCA Christmas Fayre was a fantastic way to start the Festive celebrations. I am very grateful to the DCA executive and volunteers for all their hard work organising the fayre. Our music concert in the Primary canteen was a lovely event and I am very grateful to Mr Dwyer and his team for their great work rehearsing the students and running the event. Mr Lewis deserves special mention for his resilience in keeping his MC role going with great distraction from the moving audience. We also had an inaugural dance recital in the Cooper Hall choreographed by Ms Hughes, but run on the day by Ms Robertson and Ms Torres as Ms Hughes was in Vietnam with our NAE Games team. I was very impressed with all dancers, it is hard to believe that they've only been dancing together for one term!
There was no rest for the choir as they left immediately after the concert at school to head to the Shangri-La for the Great British Ball. They did a marvellous job of entertaining the 650 guests at this very high profile event. We had some lovely feedback from the people attending the Ball.
We have a busy last week of term and I am very excited for the EYFS and KS1Christmas Performances on Wednesday and Thursday. I have seen a lot of farm animals, angels and even camels around school today as they are busy with their final rehearsals.
The Secondary school have their last PSHE Drop Down Day tomorrow, with a variety of activities going on in the different year groups, from a beach clean-up to preparations for university.
Our Parent Satisfaction Survey is now live, we had a fantastic response last year, with a lot of valuable feedback. We want to give your child the best possible education and your feedback is vital to us. Access the survey here.
The Secondary Student Council are running a charity event all week, collecting books for the Salvation Army and money for ACRES. Any book donations can be left in the foyer, outside reception between 8.00 and 8.30am, money can be put in the charity boxes located in the reception and outside the offices in the Secondary block.
As per tradition, Friday will be a non-uniform day, we welcome a $2 donationthat will be shared between our school charities. The DCA are also collecting any outgrown uniforms in good condition, there will be a collection box outside reception.
The Mandarin Department will, for the second year, organise a Temple Fair in celebration of Chinese New Year. The fair will take place on 23rd January and will be a cultural extravaganza featuring different activities as well as Lion Dances and musical performances. We are looking for parent volunteers to help support the department in running some activities for the students. If you would like to help out, please fill out the form attached below. More information will follow in Term 2.
At the end of every term we say goodbye to staff and students, ahead of welcoming new members to the DCIS community the following term. The following staff are leaving Dover Court:
Peter Winkley leaves us after two and half years, having worked in our EYFS and EAL Departments. As well as this, Mr Winkley has supported the Global Campus across Lower Primary. He is also one of our in-house First Aid instructors and has been invaluable in training staff and students.
After 2 ½ years at DCIS Olivia Eaton leaves us this December to have her baby. We wish her the best of luck and await the exciting news. Susan Charlesworth will be joining us from the UK to take over from Mrs Eaton.
Eimear O’Higgins has worked with us this term and although leaving us in December as a Teacher of PE, she will continue to be a member of our community as a cover teacher. Luke McKeown from Repton in Dubai will be joining the PE Team in January.
Gareth Kinsella joined the school in January 2016 and will be leaving us in December to pursue new opportunities and will be replaced by Mehreen Shahid, who is already familiar to our students.
Claire Morley has been at Dover Court since August 2013 and is moving back to the UK to take up a role as Head of Learning Support at Brampton College. Rob McHardy, an experienced Secondary SENCO will be taking over the role and will be joined in Singapore by his wife and two children.
We also have Samantha Cathro joining the Secondary team in January as our Careers and University Guidance Counsellor.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the staff leaving us for their hard work and dedication throughout their time at Dover Court. We wish them all the best in their new adventures.
Finally, I am very grateful to all the parents that took time to contact me following the announcement of my departure or spoke to me at the DCA Christmas Fayre. I’m a long term expatriate and so I’ve had to say goodbye a few times. Leaving Dover Court will be especially difficult. We have a great staff team, the DCA have been incredibly supportive from the very beginning and the children and students make the school very special. Walking around the school and being greeted (often as Mr Shorts!) so warmly by children of all ages really makes one’s day. Just after I had spoken to the staff on Friday morning I came out to steps to greet the arriving buses – the enthusiasm and energy of the arriving children will make it even harder to leave!
As Mr Williams said in his letter last week, I still have two more busy terms at Dover Court and look forward to my remaining time here.
