Welcome to the new school year at Discovery College.
We are thrilled to have you as part of our community, whether you are returning or joining us for the first time. This year, we also welcome our new College Principal, Ms. Pollack.
I hope you had a wonderful summer filled with joy and many adventures. We're excited to see your children's smiling faces and hear their stories when they return on Wednesday, 13th August.
Before the school year begins, we want to share some exciting news about a few positive changes we have made to the primary school timetable. For the past few years, our primary students have been on a two-week schedule, aligning our College timings. While this has benefits, our youngest learners thrive with more consistency.
We're making these key adjustments to improve our students' experience:
- Extended Breaks: We have extended both lunch and break times to give students more opportunities to recharge and connect with one another. This will have a positive effect on their focus in class and provide much-needed downtime between lessons.
- One-Week Timetable: We are moving to a one-week timetable to simplify routines for both students and parents. This means no more checking what day or week it is.
As a Primary Years Programme (PYP) school, we don't use traditional timetables. Our days are designed for inquiry and adaptive teaching. While lessons can change with the class teacher, subject specialist lessons (like PE and Art) will happen at the same time each week. Your child's class teacher will let you know when PE is, so you can make sure they have their kit, as well as share other important information, such as library days.
With this new schedule comes one slight change to the start of the school day. To balance curriculum time with the new extended breaks, lessons will now begin at 8:20 a.m. sharp. Please ensure your child is seated and ready in their classroom by 8:20 a.m. Teachers will help them with this new routine.
Here's what the new morning routine will look like:
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8 a.m.: School opens, as with previous years, you can come in with your child, read to them if you wish, or say good morning to the class teacher.
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8:10 a.m.: For children playing on the playground or unsupervised on the pitch, the whistle will blow to signal that primary students should transition to their classrooms and settle for learning.
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8:18 a.m.: The traditional Discovery College music will play, which is your signal as parents/caregivers to exit campus.
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8:20 a.m.: Lessons will begin. All first lessons are with class teachers and are likely to be language lessons, such as phonics, reading, and writing, or daily maths lessons.
Bus times will not be affected by this change. Please know that your child's teacher will contact you if persistent lateness begins to impact your child's academic growth. 5 minutes of lost learning across an academic year equates to 15.75 hours. This may not feel like a big change, but it will make a difference to your child's learning.
Another change that has been enacted is the previously mentioned primary school leadership team restructuring. This change will better support specific areas of the school, such as curriculum and student experience. You can click here to view the new roles and faces of our leaders.
Finally, please mark these initial important dates on your calendar for Term 1:
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First Day of School: Wednesday, August 13th. As in previous years, you're welcome to drop your child off at their classroom and read with them starting at 8:00 a.m. The music at 8:18 a.m. is your signal to exit campus.
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Parent Information Fair: Each year, the College hosts parents and caregivers. A plethora of information is available from seeing your child's classroom to hearing about parent connect events, stay and plays, and more.
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Meet the Teacher Evening: Thursday, 28th August. Please note this is a very brief settling-in conversation, our teachers will ask you a few questions to verify their knowledge of your child, and you can ask a few questions. The booking system will open as in previous years, up to two weeks prior to the date of appointments. Please watch out for an email with more details
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School closes for a mid-term break from Saturday, 4th October, and resumes on Wednesday, 15th October.
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Parent Teacher Conferences: As Term 1 draws to a close, you will be eager to hear about your child's progress. Prebooked appointments are available with your child's class teacher for 20 minutes and your child's Chinese teacher for 5 minutes. Subject specialists will be in their classrooms and will be available to provide you with an overview of each year group's learning (if you ever have any specific concerns, your child's class teacher is always your first point of contact).
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Family Fun Day: Last year, our incredible PTA helped us bring back family fun day. They will be doing the same this year! Our PTA is an incredible support and continues to provide activities for our primary-aged children at key times across the year. If you have some spare time and you would like to contribute to our PTA, please email them directly at this email: pta@discovery.edu.hk
*Please note term 1 (August- December) is often disrupted by typhoon season. Dates are subject to change depending on weather conditions. This is out of our control, and new dates will be provided where possible.
Further key dates will be shared by Phase Leaders in their first communication to you in early September.
We are looking forward to a fantastic year of learning and growth together!
Have a wonderful weekend
Ms Cathrae
