Week Beginning 15 June 2020 - Christopher Short, DCIS Principal

Dear DCIS Parents,

We had a delightful Year 13 Graduation ceremony on Tuesday in Cooper Hall. It was lovely to see the students back on the campus and to celebrate their hard work over the last two years. Some of the cohort have been at Dover Court for a number of years, 8 years being the longest. This group now go onto Higher Education in a number of countries around the world, National Service or a gap year.

After their celebration assembly last week Year 11 came in small groups on Friday afternoon for a face to face celebration in the Red Dot restaurant. Most students are returning for the IB Diploma or BTEC but a few are moving on to other parts of the World for their pre-university studies. We look forward to receiving both sets of results in July (IBDP) and August (GCSE).

Thank you to all parents for their patience and cooperation at the start and the end of the day. The changes in the car pick up have improved the time for this to happen by 10 minutes. The separate pick up for Nursery and Reception children is working well and we would encourage parents of these younger children to use this facility. I know parking around the area is difficult with the Polytechnic Car Park still out of use. We have had reports of residents getting annoyed with our families so please ensure you are parked legally. We’d be grateful if parents waiting for the pedestrian pick up remember the safe distancing rules.

As you will have seen in the news, the last couple of weeks have seen disturbances across the world as a result of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. We have a hugely diverse community at DCIS which I think gives us a head start in the important discussion on the strength of diversity in society but it is still an issue to acknowledge, educate and discuss. The issues raised are important ones and ones that can and must be discussed in age appropriate ways. I was in two Year 8 classes last week helping to judge their abolition of slavery presentations. The timing fitted perfectly as our young people put forward reasoned and powerful arguments aimed at a 19th century audience but perfectly relevant, sadly, today. I was moved by the story of Patrick Hutchinson who carried one of the injured counter protesters to safety over the weekend – I would honestly hope that this would be the reaction of any of us, peacefully but passionately make your point but rush to protect someone who doesn’t agree with you but is in physical danger.

As the school year draws to an end I’d like to share some information on staff and other changes for the new academic year. As you can imagine it is a very strange time for all members of our community especially those leaving. Due to the current restrictions we won’t be able to say goodbye in person to all staff and students who are leaving us. The updates for the next academic year can be found in the Week Beginning email.

Preliminary details of our Summer Camps are also atatched in today's email. Because of the Circuit Breaker we need approval from the CPE which we are still awaiting – we will update you once we have this.

A few parents have been contacted by the MOH following the QOs in March/April. If you are concerned about the legitimacy of the caller please contact the MOH helpline on 1800 333 9999. There is a study on antibodies that we are aware of – my son participated in this study and we know they are still looking for volunteers.