Celebrating the First Term of the 2021–22 Academic Year

Dear Parents and Guardians of DBIS Secondary students,

I am writing to you all to celebrate your children’s fantastic achievements so far this academic year.

This term has certainly been a busy one, with our students involved in a wide range of activities both in and out of the classroom, and it is good to be able to share some of these with you at this time.

One particularly important area for us has been the growth of our student leadership team and enabling them to be more involved as a whole in the running of the Secondary phase. In addition to our Head Perfects, Katama Hazelton and Brett Bothma, we have an expanded Year 12 Prefect team.

Of the 10 Year 12 Prefects, eight have roles that directly relate to our DBIS Learner Profile attributes and two are Prefects for House Leadership. All of these students play a vital role in the progress that is happening in the Secondary phase.

The two Prefects who oversee House Leadership work in tandem with the expanded House Captain team to help us build a stronger House system. Our eight House Captains in Year 11, along with the Deputy House Captains from Year 10, are leading the various house competitions that we run. So far, this has included the creation of House logos, slogans and chants, which will be shared with you shortly after we return in Term 2. The students have also been working on the first DBIS House Quiz, which was launched today.

This term has also seen the appointment of the first Year 11 Digital Leaders as well as a Digital Leaders Secondary Council. This is an important area for all schools, and it is really important that the students are actively involved in such an important topic. 

The team will continue to grow as we look to appoint our first-ever Subject Ambassadors in the new term. We are also looking forward to seeing the many ways in which our Sustainability Leaders drive their various initiatives forward.

This term has also seen the official launch in Secondary of the DBIS Learner Profile attributes. This is something that students discuss in their tutor groups as well as in their Learning for Life lessons. The eight attributes are referenced throughout all of the students’ lessons. Our Year 7, 8 and 9 students have been involved in creating new images for each of the attributes, and a final decision on which ones will be used will take place early on in the new term. 

There have been many fantastic academic achievements throughout Term 1 as well. For example, three of our Year 13 students achieved the highest scores in Hong Kong in their AS Level subjects and were recognised in the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards. Another area where our students have excelled academically has been in various mathematical competitions. These have included two separate Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA) Maths competitions. The first of these competitions was an individual challenge, and the second was an online team challenge that involved over 100 of our students. Our older Secondary students were also active participants in the American Math Competition (AMC).

On the back of the small change to the structure of the Secondary day in August, we were able to double the amount of time that Year 7, 8 and 9 students have in Discovery lessons. This has enabled our students in these year groups to delve even deeper into their Discovery projects. They have recently finished the first term’s project and have presented their work to their peers from both the Primary and Secondary phases.

We are also incredibly proud of our students’ sporting successes. These have included the House Swim Events in which students competed in their house teams. Several DBIS students also competed in the recent FOBISIA Virtual Gymnastics Competition, and we were extremely impressed with their performances.

Many of our Secondary students are also actively involved in an upcoming production of FAME, which we hope to be able to present to parents later this academic year.

Of course, Term 1 has also seen students excitedly getting involved in celebrations for Diwali and Christmas, with many of them sporting bright, festive clothing around campus, including for today’s ever-popular Christmas Jumper Day.

Which neatly leads me on to the fantastic Christmas Cheer production that was broadcast yesterday. Well done to all of our talented musicians and singers for putting on yet another amazing show. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, it can be viewed at dbis.hk/christmascheer. There’s also still time for you to send in photos of your family enjoying watching the production for the Christmas Cheer Photo competition

Looking ahead to Term 2, one of the many things we are all looking forward to is the launch of our ‘Feel Good Friday’ student performances. More details will be sent about these in due course. 

I would like to wish you all a very enjoyable holiday with your children.

Kind regards,

Simon Oakley

Head of Secondary

DBIS Hub

DBIS Hub