DCIS Newsletter June 2018

June 2018
DCIS Newsletter
DCIS Proms 2018
DCIS Proms 2018 started with a bang as the school Orchestra
and Choir presented American Authors’ ‘Best Day Of My Life’.
The annual DCIS Proms was an evening held to highlight both our solo music
students and our ensembles. In keeping with the promenade theme, audience
members proceeded to different performance venues around the school, and
enjoyed a colourful mixture of styles and talents. With everything from suave solo
performances to thunderous rock bands, the evening provided something for
everyone. And, due to the rotating audience, participating students performed
three times each – a massive opportunity to hone their craft in a live setting!
Congratulations to the many Primary and Secondary students who took part, for
your commitment and excellence!
Patrick Dwyer
Head of Music
2017-2018 Calendar Events and
Other School Information
Parent Essentials
2018-2019 Term Dates
2018-2019 A4 Calendar
DCA Parent Association
DCIS Facebook Page
DC Bear Facebook Page
DCIS Youtube Channel

Letter from the Principal:
June Highlights
Our Principal Christopher Short reflects on an amazing year
at DCIS.
Dear DCIS Parents and Guardians,
I do hope that you have had the opportunity
to look through the 2017/18 DCIS Year Book
with your children, it really has been an
amazing year and this will serve as a great
reminder. Because of print timings, some
of the later events this term haven’t been
included. These include Year 3’s first ever
Residential trip outside school, where the
children got to spend an exciting night at
Singapore Zoo, as well as Years 8 and 9’s
Global Campus trip to the NAE expedition
centre in Les Martinets, Switzerland.
The 20 students that participated in this
opportunity had an excellent time and were
definitely challenged as they hiked and
climbed in the Alps. After a week of teambuilding
and making connections with
students from our family of NAE schools, the
students came back beaming, some with
ambitions to graduate to the next level of
mountaineering.
After country heats earlier in the year,
five secondary students headed to Kuala
Lumpur last week to compete in the regional
final of the World Scholar’s Cup. For the
uninitiated, the World Scholar’s Cup is an
academic competition in which schools from
all over the world take part. After a week of
intense competition we are delighted to
announce that three of our students have
qualified for the grand finals which will take
place at Yale University, USA, in November.
Congratulations to all who participated.
This term MIT challenged our primary
students to investigate self-driving
vehicles. This STEAM project focused on
recent developments but also asked them
to question both the safety and ethical
aspects of this ground-breaking technology.
A selected group of students from years
3-6 also visited Nanyang Technological
University this week to witness driverless
buses in action. We are very grateful to one
of our parents, Dr. Agarwala who both came
into school to talk to the students about
her work as a researcher and organised the
exciting and educational visit to NTU for our
students.
Last week we were delighted to support our
Year 12 IB students as they organised our first
Model United Nations. The MUN delegates
had a timely debate on the refugee crisis and
proved that if DCIS students were in charge
of the world, things would be better.
Mr Holmes’ magic control of the weather
continued with the swimming galas running
almost to schedule. They were the final
opportunity for the houses to earn points
in this year’s House Competition.The
new house system is now well and truly
embedded in DCIS life and it was great to see
staff and children wearing their house shirts
through the week and really getting into
the house spirit. We have already started to
plan the house activities for next year, which
again will be a mix of social, academic,
creative and sporting events and will further
instil the sense of belonging in our students.
Thank you to those of you who supported
our DCIS Proms on Wednesday evening. It
is a unique format for a school performing
arts celebration and it gave a fantastic
opportunity to the performers to hone their
craft in front of a revolving audience. I am
grateful to all our staff who continue to go
above and beyond to create these brilliant
opportunities for the young people at
the school. We are providing further staff
support for PE and Music to ensure the
expansion in these areas continues, so we
look forward to even more success next year.
On Monday the DCA hosted a Teacher
Appreciation Tea. As last year, this was
organised as a surprise for teachers and
teaching assistants, who were delighted to
be applauded as they entered the Cooper
Hall. As well as some delicious sandwiches
and pastries, each teacher was presented
with a booklet of notes from their students.
It was a truly magical afternoon. The DCA
plays such an important part in the life of the
school and I am indebted to Karyn and Efe,
our co-chairs, the committee and the army
of volunteers who help run fantastic events
and support the school in such diverse ways,
from organising second hand uniform sales
to serving drinks at school events.
As you may have noticed already, the
summer will be busy as we improve some
of our shared facilities. The library is being
expanded and improved and will create
separate areas for Secondary, Upper
Primary and our IBDP students. The medical
centre is also being extended to improve our
care facilities as it will now contain shower
facilities and additional beds. The office is
being remodelled to help manage visitors
to the school more easily and house our
admin staff more efficiently. We are building
a new science laboratory which will ensure
that all our science lessons continue to
be conducted in a lab environment as our
Secondary School grows. We are improving
the acoustics in Cooper Hall which will
improve our drama and music productions
as well as our weekly assemblies. We are
building a new play area for our Pathway 4
students and are putting in decking in the
Lower Primary playground. We are creating
a new music room and a new ICT suite as well
as adding more computers to both libraries.
We are renovating 10 classrooms and by
October we will have 2 new sensory rooms.
As you can imagine we also have some less
exciting but important work happening
over the summer on our infrastructure and
ongoing security enhancements.
I would like to personally extend my thanks
to you for your continued support of your
children and our staff as we complete
another successful year at DCIS. I hope all
members of the DCIS community have an
enjoyable holiday and we look forward
to welcoming you back for the 2018-19
academic year. I wish children and staff
leaving all the best in their new ventures and
countries.
Christopher Short
PrincipalChristopher Short
Principal
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Primary School June
Highlights from Ms Lebihan
Another wonderful year for the Primary School draws to an end!
I would like to start with a heartfelt thank
you to the primary school staff who have
worked tirelessly over the year to deliver
an outstanding curriculum with so many
motivating experiences for your children. We
are truly blessed to have such a wonderful
team and I know you will join me in my thanks
to each and every one of them. As the year
draws to an end, we wish them all a welldeserved
and relaxing break with time to
recuperate with their families and friends.
for making this so special for the children, to the
children for their memories and contributions
and to the parents for the yummy luncheon
they provided. It was great to see the Year 6
children wearing their T-shirts, which were
provided by the DCA as a special gift, with such
pride. We look forward to welcoming so many
of our Year 6 students back in August for their
start of their secondary career at DCIS.
The end of the year came around very quickly
this time but as ever, we were super-busy
right to the last minute. The final few weeks
of term saw the swimming galas, which the PE
team hosted and I know, were well attended,
enjoyed and received by all. The Year 6
Celebration was a huge success too, as well
as a lovely experience for the students who
were able to reflect upon their primary years
at the many schools, including Dover Court
International School, they have attended.
Thank you to Miss Prince and the Year 6 team
In our assemblies on Friday, we said farewell
to the staff that are leaving us – with years
of service ranging from 30 to 2 years. It was
a sad affair with many a tear and tissue! We
wish the teachers who are heading off to new
challenges and adventures well and hope they
will stay in touch with us here in Singapore.
With the holidays here, I wish you all a restful
break and look forward to seeing many of you
back in August when the fun will being again.
Safe travels everyone!
Best regards,
Kara Lebihan
Head of Primary School
Of course, we do need to say a fond farewell to
the families who are leaving Singapore. I hope
you have all enjoyed being a part of our school
community as much as we have enjoyed
having you here. We will miss you all, thank
you for sharing your experiences with us and
for creating so many memories.
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Secondary School June
Highlights from Mrs. Hyland
Mrs. Hyland looks back at a successful year at DCIS
The end of year is always a mixture of
emotions; joy at the completion of the last
piece of homework for the year, excitement
at new things to come, anxiety whilst waiting
for all important exam results and sad
farewells to those relocating and moving on.
This year is no different as the students have
worked incredibly hard and should be proud
of all their achievements.
This final term has showed the pace never
slows down at DCIS! We have had a number
of key residential trips this term. We had
twenty intrepid explorers make the long
journey to Switzerland where they trekked
in the Alps, climbed glaciers and sampled
tasty local cheeses and chocolate. We had
five of our brightest sparks visit the World
Scholar’s Cup regional finals in Kuala
Lumpur and compete against hundreds of
other students in debates and quizzes. We
are extremely proud to share that three of
our students, Amelia, Thanh-Lan and Suhani
have qualified for the global round at Yale
University in the USA next year. We also had
a small group of budding environmentalists
travel to Brunei as part of our FOBISIA
membership, and IB students complete
biology and ESS fieldwork on Tioman island.
Year 7 have had a great first year in the
Secondary School. They have shown
themselves to be mature, hardworking
and caring, and have coped with the new
demands being placed on them well. Year 8
have cemented their place in the Secondary
School and have provided much support for
school life, with many students from Year 8
taking part in the DCIS MUN and organising
a fun flash mob for an assembly in secret.
Year 9 has been all about choices this year,
with students selecting their iGCSE options
for the next two years. Year 10 have made a
great start to their iGCSE courses and have
worked hard this year to keep themselves
organised and on target. Year 11 finished this
year with their external iGCSE examinations
in May and June. We are very proud of the
maturity they showed during the lead up
to their exams and during the study period
which they had. We had a lovely opportunity
to see them all again at the Year 11 social
event at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel
just last week, and 70% of the cohort are
staying on at DCIS to enter the IB Diploma
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programme. Our Year 12 students have had
an exceptionally full year on the IB Diploma
programme and have just completed their
Year 12 mock exams. We are so proud of this
first cohort of students and our plans are
underway already for their graduation next
year.
Other big events this term have included our
annual Swimming Gala which saw students
competing in traditional gala style races and
a water polo competition. The students had
a great day cheering each other on in their
houses! Thank you to the PE Department
for their flawless organisation of this event.
Whilst the swimming galas were in full swing
we were also hosting our inaugural DCIS
MUN (Model United Nations) Competition.
This was led by two Year 12 students as
part of their CAS requirements and was
a great opportunity for younger students
to take part in high level thinking debates
which involved prior research and a good
understanding of their country stance on the
debate topic of the day: refugees.
We are very excited to see the work begin
on the library renovations which will give
secondary students a dedicated library
and study space. There will also be access
to technology in the new library for KS3
students to use to aid homework and
study. Our new BYOD policy for KS4 begins
in August 2018 and we are looking forward
to the enhancements to learning that can
be had from greater access to technology
in the classrooms. All staff will be attending
training on the use of different learning
technologies by our new Head of Secondary,
Mr. Craig Bull, when he arrives in August.
As the year draws to a close I would like to
thank all of the secondary staff for their
incredible hard work and dedication this year.
Our staff go beyond their responsibilities day
in and day out to provide wonderful learning
opportunities, and give up their holidays
and weekends to accompany children on
trips or attend training for their professional
development. I would also like to thank all of
our secondary parents for their unwavering
support for their children’s learning and all
our DCIS community events and activities.
Last but certainly not least, I would like to
thank our students for their relentless desire
to learn, their positive attitude and their
ability to put a smile on our faces every day.
One final note that may excite our girls – due
to a successful uniform campaign led by the
Student Council, we are introducing ‘skorts’
as a uniform option for KS3 and KS4 girls
from August 2018. They will be available to
purchase from Lim’s from August 16th.
Best wishes for the summer ahead and
best of luck to our students and families
relocating,
Carla Hyland
Acting Head of Secondary

2018 Swimming Galas
After having spent hours and hours, plowing lengths, practicing dipping their heads under water,
working on the perfect stroke, picking up sinkers and diving into the water in the perfect angle, it
was finally time for our students to show off their skills in the pool.
During seven intense days all our students
participated in the annual swimming galas,
with some fun and friendly races for our
youngest children, house competitions for
the Upper Primary School and water polo
games for our oldest students.
It was fantastic to see how confident our
students are in the water and how they’ve
all developed their skills over the year. The
atmosphere was phenomenal, with both
the children and the parents cheering for all
the swimmers and the Mexican wave doing
rounds. With 21 galas, only two had to be
rescheduled, we were very lucky to have the
weather on our side!
A big thank you to our amazing PE
Department for arranging this massive
event, to all parents for being the best
spectators and to all our students for trying
their very best!
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Global Campus Competition Winners
Two of our Year 6 students are this year’s Global Campus Visual Arts and Creative Writing
Competition Winners.
Highly Commended
After taking part in the Creative Writing
Competition, the Nord Anglia judges have
awarded Ines’ (6CP) writing as a Highly
Commended piece. ‘The Amazing Adventure
of Camilla, the Coke Can’ can be read
on the Global Campus website and will
be published in the anthology this year.
Congratulations Ines!
Nord Anglia Junior Artist of the Year
Taking inspiration from the creative writing
titled, ‘I am the plastic bottle that....’, Reyna
(6SO) produced a fantastic piece of work
for the Visual Arts Competition. Not only
will she have her work published in the
anthology, she has also been named ‘Nord
Anglia Junior Artist of the Year’ (8-11 years
old). Congratulations Reyna!
Jack Odey
Year 6 Class Teacher and Global Campus
Leader
Upper Primary Sports Assembly
After an active and extremely successful sports year, our
Upper Primary students celebrated their achievments in
the annual Sports Assembly on Monday.
The assembly was led by Year 6 students
Zac and Frances and some of our athletes
presented their sports and shared their
thoughts on why they enjoyed competing for
DCIS. It was amazing to see how many active
students we have in our school and we are
very proud of all our athletes, regardless
of which level they are at or how many
medals they have won. Our goal is to have a
physically active student body and this year
we certainly feel that we have succeeded!
The highlight of the assembly was when
the students found out the result of the
2017/2018 House Competition.
Well done to all houses and massive
congratulations to the 2017/2018 House
winner: Newton!
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Global Campus Expedition: Les Martinets
The 10th of June saw 20 students, Mr. Woodhall and Mrs. Harris head out on an adventure to Switzerland. And what
an adventure it was!
With a delay to our first flight due to the
US presidents arrival we found ourselves
sat in Changi airport for 6 hours. Not the
best start to a long haul flight. But things
quickly improved and in no time at all
(well approximately 24hours later) we were
standing in the stunning mountains of the
Swiss alps.
a hard days trekking. The next morning we
woke to beautiful clear blue skies and we
could finally see where our walk had taken
us! What a view! After some epic picture
taking we were off again back down the
mountain (with a stop for hot chocolate of
course) and on to our next adventure.
Day 5 and we were out up the mountains
again to Glacier 3000. After a pretty terrifying
gondola trip up to the top of the glacier we
donned our snow shoes and harnesses and
trekked across the glacier learning about the
rock formations of the grand old Alps.
Our first adventure took us 12km and 8
hours to a Cabin in the dizzy heights of Col
des Essets. The weather was terrible and
the students really persevered and helped
each other to reach the destination. A bit of
sliding down the snow at the top definitely
lifted everyone’s spirits! The students made
a coconut curry before heading to bed after
Off we went on day 4 to Gruyere, where we
bought more cheese and chocolate than the
whole of DCIS needed. But boy was it tasty!
Staff and students alike enjoyed a relaxing
day wandering the historic streets of
Gruyere getting in some souvenir shopping
and visiting the castle. I think our highlight
of the day was making chocolate in the
chocolatier!
Before we knew it our bags were packed
and we were saying our goodbyes. We made
many friends from other NAE schools around
the world, some I am sure, we will keep in
touch with and maybe even see again next
year!
Thank you to the fantastic students who
travelled with Mr Woodhall and I, they truly
made it a wonderful trip!
Joanne Harris
Secondary School Mathematics Teacher and
Expedition Leader
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Advice and Guidance:
Transitions
The end of a school year can be an exciting but
challenging time for many children and families.
Uncertainties about new classes and teachers,
even new schools and countries, can all add
to the worry that some children (and their
parents!) may feel. It is natural to feel some
excitement and even worry when anticipating
such a significant change. We can help to reduce
this worry for our families by being prepared for
the change.
Here are 7 tips taken from an article
on Psychology Today, with input from
Psychologist Doug Ota, which you may find
helpful:
1. Say your goodbyes
“Moving, at its psychological core, is an
experience of loss,” writes Ota. Saying
goodbye to the people, places, and the roles
that are left behind is an inherently difficult
but necessary step. By helping children say
a clear goodbye, we are helping them to say
a clear hello.
2. Pick pivotal people
Pick a few important people from your
child’s life from back “home” (grandparents,
neighbours, friends) with whom your child
could check in once in a while and tell them
about their new life. It’s important to choose
people who are staying put. This way, they
can become the pivots around which your
child’s stories can rotate.
3. Listen
“Do not underestimate the healing power
of simply attending to whatever a child
is saying,” writes Ota. Listen reflectively –
discerning the core message, or reading
between the lines – then repeat the core
message back to the child to make sure you
got them correctly. This shows empathy and
the intention of wanting to truly understand
their feelings and experiences. “Having you
as an audience is often all they need.”
4. Maintain traditions
From an evolutionary perspective, human
beings resist change. When everything in the
landscape starts changing, we intuitively
tighten our grasp on things that have
stayed the same. For a successful mobility
experience, Ota suggests maintaining
continuity in space and time. This entails
not only bringing along familiar things such
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as furniture, pictures and sacred objects, but
also traditions. Whether they are Sunday
dinners or bedtime rituals, doing the same
things you used to do at the same time in
your new place will provide this continuity.
5. Give children choices
During a move, children often feel like they
don’t have any choice or control over various
parameters of their lives. “The long-term
absence of control over these parameters
can lead to two alternatives, either angry
rebellion or learned helplessness,” writes
Ota. The solution could be to give children
choices. Whether it’s big ones (e.g., which
school to attend) or small ones (e.g., how
to decorate their rooms), having them
participate in decision-making will help
them feel like not everything is out of
their control and thus, help to boost their
confidence.
6. Welcome difficult feelings
Often children will get the sense that they
are not allowed to have negative feelings
about the move. “Many feel under pressure
from their parents (“Why can’t you just be
positive for a change?”) or their environment
(“You’re so lucky to be going to live abroad!”)
to bury negative feelings,” according to
Ota. These feelings have a better chance of
relaxing and not popping up later in life if
they are validated rather than when they are
oppressed or denied. Encourage your child
to feel like they are allowed to have all kinds
of emotions about the move – including the
negative ones. After all, navigating through
life’s ups and downs is a skill well worth
acquiring.
7. Extra help for the introverts
A lot of factors come into play with how
well and how quickly we adapt to new
environments. One of them is personality.
“The more extroverted and assertive a
person is, and the more he or she is open
to new experiences, the more quickly he
or she will adapt through the challenges
of mobility,” says Ota. What about the
introverts? Children who are shy or
cautious, may inherently need more time
to process their feelings and adapt to
new environments. You can help these
children by making them understand their
personality strengths and the circumstances
under which they thrive. “Teach them to
look for somebody else who’s probably
feeling afraid, like somebody standing by
themselves,” suggests Ota. “Teach them
to take a big deep breath, walk up to that
person, and introduce themselves. Then
find out where the person’s coming from,
and what his or her hobbies are. Before they
know it, they might have a friend.”
Alison Ford
Counsellor
References
Ota, D. (2014). Safe Passage, How mobility affects
people and what international schools should do
about it. Summertime Publishing, UK.
Pogosyan, M. (2016). Helping Children Through
Transitions. Psychology Today.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/
between-cultures/201609/helping-childrenthrough-transitions

Secondary House
Science Quiz
Buzzers at the ready for the Secondary House
science quiz!
In the annual science assembly, students
competed in house teams for the prestigious
title Quiz Winners 2018 on a range of science
topics, including everything scientific, from
Sophia the robot to CRISPR, the DNA editing
technology.
After 20 nail-biting questions and with
everyone on the edges of their seats, Kranji
were announced the winners!
Very well done to all our contestants.
Jennifer Mahoney
Head of Secondary Science
Check out the Secondary House Science Quiz
video here: http://bit.ly/sciencequiz2018
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)
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2EN and 2HG Celebrate Hari Raya Puasa
Classes 2EN and 2HG shared
the activities they have
been participating in and
what they have learned, in
the build up to the Hari Raya
Puasa celebrations.
Hari Raya Puasa marks the end of the fasting
month of Ramadan. During the Wednesday
Lower Primary Assembly our students
in 2EN and 2HG shared what they have
learned about what Hari Raya means for
Muslims and some of the key features of this
important celebration.
The children shared a range of artwork,
including: lanterns, paintings and crescentmoon
mobiles. Poems about giving thanks
and appreciation for family members
highlighted the importance of family during
Hari Raya celebrations.
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!
Emma Noonan
Year 2 Teacher
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Check out the Year 2 Raya Celebration Assembly
video here: http://bit.ly/year2raya2018
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)