Secondary School January Highlights from Mr. Bull

Mr. Bull reflects on a short but nevertheless busy half term

Dear DCIS Parents,

A short but nevertheless busy half term for Dover Court Secondary beginning with the exciting sight of builders and diggers in school as our new Secondary Building begins to be erected. The  ground work is well underway and we are working as closely as possible with the project manager to ensure that this has as little impact on our school and student learning as possible.

Year 11 students have taken mock exams and will shortly be receiving their marks and feedback.  It is important they use this as a learning experience to see where their gaps are and work on these between now and their actual exams in Term 3.  

A large number of parents and all students in Years 7-10 have seen the movie Screenagers. For those who missed it, the movie aimed to highlight the issue of screen time and online social networking/gaming, a challenge that we are all facing. We hope that it provided our students with a greater understanding  why a screen time balance is needed. I am certain that it will inspire us all to work together to better manage screen time, both at home and in school.

We were very privileged to have Jessica Meyer, a composer, violinist and  curriculum specialist from Juilliard visit our school in January. Jessica joined music lessons, led an assembly and conducted master classes with our violinists.

Our future Year 7s from Year 6 joined us for a transition day and taster of what to expect from  Secondary School. The feedback from students and parents was hugely positive, with one Year 6 teacher saying that his students were “buzzing” after such a fantastic experience. We are looking forward to welcoming them as proper Secondary students in August.

The Year 7-9 disco was also a fantastic success, although I hear Mrs. Hyland and Ms Dodson’s dancing was questionable. A huge thank you to the DCA for their organisation and running of the event, to our Business Studies students for marketing the event and to our Year 12 students for volunteering to be official photographers for the night.

The final Secondary event of this term’s calendar was our Open Morning where we had over 130 prospective parents visit our school. I would like to thank our student ambassadors for their fantastic help and all Secondary students for showing their best behaviour when our visitors came by their classrooms. 

Finally, can I please ask that parents check their children’s current shoes used for school in preparation for a renewed focus on correct uniform after half term. To be clear, plimsoll style shoes, sports branded trainers or sneakers, whether black leather or canvas are not permitted to be worn as school shoes. Please ensure your child has formal black leather shoes for the start of next half term. Students who are not wearing the correct uniform will be reprimanded.

Have a great half term and Happy Chinese New Year.

Mr. Craig Bull
Head of Secondary School