Welcome to Early Years 1

Dear Early Years 1 Families, 

We are incredibly excited to welcome you to DBIS Early Years 1 (EY1) for a year filled with awe, wonder and the magic of childhood! As your child embarks on the next phase of their learning journey in EY1, we will begin our unit of Discovery: ‘Our Class is a Family’. During this unit, we will explore our sense of belonging within our school community.

Meet the Team

The EY1 Team consists of four classroom teachers and four educational assistants, and we can’t wait to meet our new EY1 families. We are a dedicated team of educators who wish to ensure your child continues to flourish on their learning journey at DBIS Early Years.

 

Snow Leopards Class:

Teacher – Mrs Helen Reid

Educational assistant – Mrs Bushra Ahmed

 

Cheetah Class:

Teacher – Ms Radhika Gidwani

Educational assistant – Ms Jean Capito

 

Sea Otter Class:

Teacher – Ms Ruth Brislen-Patel,  Assistant Head of Early Years and EY1 Year Group Leader 

Educational Assistant – Mrs Brenda Dauz

 

Tiger Class:

Teacher – Ms Laura Bell

Educational Assistant – Ms Rose Smith

 

Class Parents

Class parents play an important role in Discovery Bay International School’s community and culture. This role greatly benefits everyone within a class, assisting the teacher in various ways throughout the year. Class parents are parent volunteers who take on the role at the beginning of each new school year. This role is not limited to one person; ideally, each class should have two class parents.  

Some of the suggested activities that class parents may wish to be involved in are:

  •     Communicating with the other parents in the class
  •     Welcoming new families and farewell those leaving
  •     Organising social gatherings for their class

Please speak to your class teacher if you are interested in taking on this role. The class teachers genuinely appreciate the support from class parents throughout the year.

Pick Up Procedures

The end of the day is an exciting time; however, it can be a very busy time too. Our prime concern is to ensure every child gets collected by the right adult and returns home safely and happily. Therefore, we have a system that must be adhered to. 

Please inform your child’s class teacher of three named adults that might collect your child. Please ensure all of these adults have a DBIS ID photo card. If you have not registered for these, please contact [email protected] to register.  

Please collect your child from our classroom door. When you collect your child, you will need to show your DBIS photo ID. We will check your ID against the list of named adults that you have provided us with. This process might take longer than normal in the initial weeks as class teachers get used to faces; thank you for your patience. 

If your child is going on a playdate, before midday that day, please inform their teacher of the name of the adult collecting them; this is best communicated through the Main campus office, using [email protected], or via Seesaw. Upon arrival, your child’s class teacher will check the named adult’s photo ID before releasing your child. If they do not have a DBIS photo ID card, they will need to sign your child out at the office with Ms Lorie before collecting your child from the classroom.

The dismissal process is taken extremely seriously at DBIS, and teachers will ask for the photo ID every time your child is dismissed. Any adult who cannot show the photo ID card will need to sign their child out at the office, even once faces are familiar to us. Strict adherence to these protocols are in the interests of your child’s safety, and we appreciate your support with this. 

Chatter Tubes in EY1

We look forward to learning more about each child through their Chatter Tube; this will enhance your child’s learning and sense of belonging to their class. Please bring in their Chatter Tube on Monday 29th August. Information regarding Chatter Tubes was shared in the June Stay & Play. If you are unsure how to create a Chatter Tube, please speak to your child’s class teacher.

Homework

We place great importance on supporting the children to develop as lifelong, active learners. Play is a key tool for active learning as it encourages children to explore, experiment and discover. We recognise children as uniquely capable of developing their own understandings and full of potential, therefore want to encourage our children to learn wherever they can through play and exploration.  

We also recognise that there are some aspects of the curriculum that children need additional time to rehearse and practise in order for learning to be embedded.

Homework in EY1 will focus on the continued development of a love of reading; therefore, children will bring home reading books on a regular basis that are pitched at a level at which the children are demonstrating confidence so they can share their reading skills with confidence. We also encourage you as parents to read often to your children to ensure they are exposed to a wide repertoire of vocabulary and literature as this will support their overall development in reading and writing. 

We encourage you to read with your child in your home language if this is different to English as this supports children in reading for pleasure and listening to stories in a language in which they are confident. 

In addition, children will be encouraged to practice spelling high-frequency and common exception words. Once your child has settled into EY1, these will come home on a regular basis in a quantity suited to your child. The words will be repeated throughout the year in order to ensure learning is embedded. Activities that will help engage your children with spelling will be suggested.

Save the Date: Meet the EY 1 Team

Our online Meet the Team presentation will take place Thursday 8th September from 3.30pm. Please save the date. More information will follow in the coming weeks.

Parent–Teacher Conferences

Parent–Teacher Conferences will take place on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th August. On these days the children will be dismissed at 12pm and return home for lunch. If you have not had the opportunity to book your initial Parent–Teacher Conference, please do so through the following link: http://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/jyajy

EY1 Class Welcome Letters

Attached, you will find EY1 Class Welcome Letters for each class, including important information about EY1 school life.

Cheetah Class Welcome Letter

Snow Leopard Class Welcome Letter

Sea Otter Class Welcome Letter

Tiger Class Welcome Letter

Useful Links:

Kind regards,

The Early Years 1 Team

DBIS Hub

DBIS Hub