I would like to congratulate the Primary FOBISIA Team on their achievements at the FOBISIA Games in Phuket last week. We are very proud of our athletes, who all did their very best. We saw some fantastic individual results, as well as a 1st place in U11 Boys’ football and a 3rd place in the U10 Boys’ football. I would like to thank our Primary PE teachers for their hard work in the preparations for the games and the parents who travelled to Phuket to show their support. 

I would like to welcome Mr Baines and our Year 5 students Giulia, Sophie, Jaiveer and Jeongwoo, back from the Nord Anglia STEAM week at MIT in Boston. I have been told that it was an amazing experience and I look forward to hearing more about their adventure. We are very fortunate to be able to offer experiences like these to our students.

We had a great first week of Term 3 and I enjoyed meeting some of our new parents at the coffee morning last Friday. Our first House Day of the term was very successful with a variety of Maths activities throughout the school. Congratulations to all the students involved in the ACSIS finals on Saturday.

What a fantastic term we have had in the Secondary school. I am very proud of our young people and their hard work and achievements. Anyone who follows my @dcisheadteacher Instagram or Twitter feeds will have noticed the exciting development of the new Secondary block which is certainly moving at a pace. The Naming of the new restaurant competition has been very popular and I am very much looking forward to picking the winner next term.

We have had a great half term in the Primary School and as ever it has been a hive of learning, activity and fun. There have been some fantastic events and trips, including the EYFS visit to Snow City, the Year 2 visit to the Insect and Butterfly Park on Sentosa and of course the Year 6 residential to Udon Thani in Thailand. I know each trip was well-enjoyed by the children and we thank the staff for their meticulous planning of these activities. 

This term has had a strange shape to it with a tightly packed short first half of term and an equally tightly packed but much longer second half of term. We have had the usual round of sporting success including an impressive haul of trophies and medals at the U13 FOBISIA Games in Phuket. We were delighted to host Olympic Triathlon medallist Jonny Brownlee and three other world class athletes who worked with a group of our children to explain the rigours of training to be a professional athlete.

It was lovely to see so many of you at school on Saturday night for the DCA Family Movie night. Many thanks to Karyn, the DCA committee and all volunteers for organising the event – even the weather was perfect! One of my highlights during the evening was a Year 2 girl asking me if we could get rid of plastic at DCIS - I explained what we had done so far but we agreed that there is more still to do.

We have had three groups of students out last week on a wide variety of trips and expeditions. Year 6 returned from Udon Thani in Thailand on Friday with a host of exciting stories and experiences to share. Our Global Expedition Team in Tanzania returns today and we look forward to hearing how they enjoyed their service learning and safari.

It was a very early start for many of our year 6 students and their parents as they met at the airport eager to begin their adventure on their residential trip to Thailand, we look forward to receiving updates from them this week. Students from years 9 – 12 have also embarked upon their week-long Global Campus expedition to Tanzania, we are equally excited to hear about their experiences when they return next week.

It was fantastic to see so many children and staff dressed up for our World Book Day celebrations on Friday. The staff went for the theme of ‘Where’s Wally’, which provided much amusement all day – several classes went on a ‘Where’s Wally’ hunt and were not disappointed. It is great to hear that sales of traditional books remain strong globally in spite of a digital assault and events like this help to foster a love of reading.