Welcome to the start of the 2022–23 Secondary school year

Dear Parents and Guardians of DBIS Secondary Students,

As the summer holidays draw to a close, I hope that you, your children and the rest of your family have had an enjoyable and relaxing break.

Along with all of my colleagues, I am greatly looking forward to seeing your children, whether they are returning DBIS students or new joiners, later this week. As previously communicated by our Head of School, Mr Stuart Bridge, the Hong Kong Education Bureau has confirmed that we can continue to run full school days, as we were before the summer break.

Children will return to school on Thursday 25th August. Secondary students can arrive on campus from 8am onwards, and lessons begin at 8.25am. On the first day back, students will have an extended tutor time from 8.25am until 11am (which covers the normal tutor time session plus lessons 1 and 2) to ensure that they are well prepared for a positive start to the new academic year. They will then start their normal school routine with their break from 11am to 11.20am before starting lesson 3 at 11.20am. Please note that the normal Secondary school hours are shown a little further down this communication. 

Year 12 and 13 students will be based at the North Plaza campus and should go there before 8.25am on Thursday 25th August. As in previous years, our Year 12 students will follow a separate team-building and induction programme for the first two days of the new academic year. This programme will allow the students to reflect on their wellbeing, to plan for the year ahead and to take part in fun, challenging activities that will help them strengthen existing friendships and welcome new students into the Sixth Form.

Health and safety measures

We appreciate your continued support of our health and safety measures. This includes filling out your child’s temperature check form in the morning before they arrive at school and keeping them at home if their temperature is above 37.5 degrees or they show symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Students will be given temperature cards and plastic card holders on Friday 26th August. These should be completed each morning before school, starting Monday 29th August. On Thursday 25th and Friday 26th August, we would appreciate your support in filling in the Return to School Student Health Form for COVID-19 form (link below).

Link for the Return to School Student Health Form for Covid-19

Secondary school hours and student timetables

The school day will follow the same structure as in previous years. All students will be expected to attend their tutor time session before their lessons as well as their regular 10-minute 1:1 sessions with their tutor (these occur approximately once a fortnight and the tutors will arrange the schedule with the students).

  • 08.00 – 08.20 – 1:1 Tutoring
  • 08.25 – 08.45 – Tutor Time
  • 08.50 – 09.50 – Lesson 1
  • 10.00 – 11.00 – Lesson 2
  • 11.00 – 11.20 – Break
  • 11.20 – 12.20 – Lesson 3
  • 12.30 – 13.30 – Lesson 4
  • 13.30 – 14.20 – Lunch
  • 14.20 – 15.20 – Lesson 5

Secondary students are welcome to arrive at school from 8am, while students who have 1:1 tutor sessions scheduled may arrive just before that.

In addition to receiving a physical copy of their timetable when they return to school, students will be able to see their timetable on their Google Calendar.

Lunchtime

To accommodate Education Bureau requirements regarding students’ eating arrangements at lunchtime, we will have to continue with two sittings, with set year groups having their lunch at certain times. In order to comply with the regulations, all Secondary students, including Sixth Form students, will need to eat their lunch in designated eating areas at the Main campus.

The first sitting will be from 1.30pm to 1.50pm and will be for students in Years 7, 8 and 10.

The second sitting will be from 2pm to 2.20pm and will be for students in Years 9, 11, 12 and 13.

Transport to and from the Main campus will be provided for Year 12 & 13 students. If the number of double-vaccinated Sixth Form students reaches 90% or more (EdB requirement for eating at the North Plaza campus), these arrangements will be revisited.

We appreciate that the second sitting is later than we would like for certain year groups, but staggering the lunches is a requirement from the Education Bureau, as is time for cleaning the eating venues between sittings. To make this easier for students to manage, we would encourage them to bring in snacks that they can eat at break time.

For students bringing food from home, please give them a pre-packed lunch and a snack in separate containers. These should be brought into school by the children in the morning. We cannot, at this time, accept hot food deliveries. The canteen will continue to be open for those who order meals.

Support

At DBIS, we are very focused on actively supporting students and their families, and as part of this, we warmly encourage you to contact the school with any questions you may have or if you or your child would like some support. Your first point of contact would usually be your child’s tutor. If you have any concerns about your child’s learning, we would recommend you also contact your child’s Head of Year as soon as possible. You are of course very welcome to reach out to me or one of my Secondary Leadership Team colleagues if you would prefer. All concerns will be looked into as a matter of priority.

The following link – Link to DBIS Secondary – 2022-23 Heads of Year and tutor teams – provides a list of all of the Secondary Heads of Year and respective tutors, along with their email addresses. There is also a link for the Secondary Leadership Team – Link to DBIS Secondary Leadership Team – 2022-23.

Your child’s Head of Year will be writing to you next week to provide you with information about what will be happening throughout the academic year, with a particular focus on the events of Term 1.

Parent Focus Group

Over the last two academic years, we have engaged Secondary Parent Focus Groups, with the intention of better understanding how we can most effectively support our students and their families. On several occasions, I was able to meet with parents in our focus groups to discuss our provision and how we could continue to effectively develop this going forward. This has played an incredibly valuable role in supporting our provision.

We will be continuing with this again this year, and I will reach out to all parents in the coming weeks so that everyone interested in being involved with these has an opportunity to join these discussions.

 

Kind regards,

Simon Oakley

Head of Secondary

DBIS Hub

DBIS Hub