Week Beginning 18 May 2020 - Christopher Short, DCIS Principal

Dear DCIS Parents,

Many thanks to those who completed the second DOT questionnaire over the weekend. We are processing the results and will share them with you later in the week.

Following my letter on the annual update of the contract I had a couple of questions around the removal of the vaccination clause. We still require children to have up to date vaccinations and require documentation on admission. However we aren’t able to reliably track children’s vaccinations against the Singapore standard as our families come from a wide variety of countries that all have their own vaccination schedule. We removed it from the contract to be clear on what we can require from families - essentially we didn’t want to be suggesting something we couldn’t deliver. Basic vaccinations are now also required for DP applications which also gives further cover.

I also had a couple of questions around the Force Majeure clause. This is not a new clause, we are just making it clearer how we would deal with a Force Majeure in the future. I think this clarification will appear in a few contracts and terms & conditions in the coming months in a variety of areas. Condos, for example, will make it clear on when the use of shared facilities are suspended.

Many thanks to all the parents who have returned their contract already.

We received notice late last week about applying for dispensation to have specific groups of students in before the end of the Circuit Breaker - essentially those who are following courses leading to external examinations and those with specific learning needs (Pathway 4). We are currently finalising a plan that will allow us to have small groups of students on campus within the guidelines issued and we will contact parents in those classes once we have permission to do so. If permission is granted this will be after our long weekend. As you can imagine, although we have yet to receive formal guidance, we are also preparing for the main return to school after the end of the circuit breaker. Once this is confirmed we will be in contact with all parents. 

Many thanks to those families who contributed to our Diversity Day video on Friday. It was a lovely exposition of the diversity we have within the Dover Court community.

Have a great week. A reminder that we have a long weekend on Monday and Tuesday next weekend.