Year 7 Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

I hope this newsletter finds you and your families well and you are looking forward to the well-deserved half-term break next week. It has been a pleasure to witness our Year 7 students gradually becoming more familiar, confident and acclimated to the Secondary campus, and it is hard to believe that they are already in their ninth week of the first half term. 

 

Form Values

This week I challenged each form class to discuss the top three values that formed their group’s ethos. Students debated and decided as a group and noted down their top three values. The values posters are displayed in each form class and complement our Character & Culture approach at the school. 

Here is the link to the Tutor Time Activity shared with Year 7 if you would like to continue these conversations at home. 

 

Celebrations

I have been immensely proud of the attitude and perseverance shown by Year 7 in this very long first term. Managing the transition and the step up in home learning that comes with Secondary School is a challenge, but I have been incredibly impressed with the diligence and consistency shown by so many Year 7s inside and outside the classroom. So many students have surpassed the Bronze milestone of 50 house points, but I would like to spotlight some students who have gone above and beyond by surpassing 80 house points in Term 1.1. 

 

• Milan Van Dommelen – 7B
• Elisabeth Cheng – 7I
• Amelia Bay – 7I
• Audrey Ko – 7D
• Isabella McEwan – 7D

As mentioned, so many of our Year 7s are working each day and being rewarded for their efforts, so please pass on this praise and keep the momentum going until the half-term break. 

 

Student Leadership 

As Form Representatives, students become ambassadors of the school with the responsibility of attending Student Council meetings to ensure that the opinions of the students in their form are expressed. Form Representatives also inform the Senior Leadership Team, Heads of Year, or Head Students of the ideas and concerns of their form and year group. Congratulations to the Year 7 Form Reps 2023–24! 

• Lane Ameresekere – 7D
• Seb Raeburn – 7B
• Amelia Bay – 7I

 

Committee Members

Further to the Student Council representatives, many of our Year 7s put their names forward to support the broad range of committees which support our overall student leadership structure. A massive well done to the following students for getting involved in the first term of their Secondary journey:

 

Student	Form	Committee
Lola Gonzalez Mccartan	7I	Sustainability Committee
Erez Sade	7B
Enzo Rake	7D	Subject Committee
Jared Dias	7D
Tim Pun	7D
Felix Chen	7B
Zoe Goggins	7B	Community Committee
Vaanya Jain	7B
Elizabeth Cheng	7I
Juliet Scott	7B
Lucy Ross	7I
Clara Scalabrin	7I
Chloe Park	7B

 

Ocean Park & Week Without Walls

Week Without Walls (WWW) takes place the first week back after the half-term break. On the final day of that week, Friday 3rd November, Year 7 will be attending a day trip to Ocean Park, alongside Year 8. This is inclusive in the WWW camp. A reminder that Year 7 will set off from camp at 1.30pm on Thursday 2nd November to return to DB and will need to be at school at a slightly later time than usual on Friday 3rd November. We plan to depart from the Main DBIS campus at 9am, so I advise students to arrive on site around 8.15am – 8.30am in order to provide appropriate time to register and get sorted into bus groups. 

The day trip to Ocean Park will finish at 3pm, with students expected to return to DBIS at around 4pm. Students should bring a small amount of money for refreshments and should wear comfortable sports wear. They should also bring a packed lunch on this day trip. 

I will be speaking to all Year 7s about the Year 7 camp in assembly and will carefully go through the packing list, behaviour expectations, and what to expect. I have shared the rooming with them alongside a Behaviour Pledge. Please discuss this with them over the weekend if possible.

 

A Final Note

As we look towards the final week of the half term, please help to guide and support our Year 7s with any challenges they may still have with regard to their transition. They are likely feeling fatigued, and the demands of a new campus and increase in rigour can become overwhelming at times. Please encourage students to communicate with their form tutors, teachers, and support staff if they are encountering any challenges.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy a lovely half term. We have all been incredibly proud of the efforts displayed by Year 7 and firmly believe they can continue to build on this positive start to DBIS Secondary school. 

 

Best wishes, 

Ioan Morgan
Head of Year 7