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Halloween Celebrations at DC

What a festive and vibrant day we had at Discovery College today!

Halloween brought an incredible array of costumes from both students and staff, filling our halls with creativity, colour, and excitement from the second the morning bell rang. The wonderful energy continued throughout the entire day:

Morning Spirit: Students and staff arrived in fantastic costumes, setting a joyful and high-energy tone for the whole school.
PTA Craft Activity: At lunchtime, our wonderful PTA hosted an engaging and creative craft activity for our primary students, giving them a fun space to make and celebrate together.
Costume Show Showcase: Primary students took to the stage in a lively costume fashion show, proudly displaying their brilliant outfits to cheering peers and teachers.

Events like today bring our school community together, spark creativity, and raise everyone's spirits. It was the perfect, high-energy lead-in to the weekend!

A big thank you to our PTA, staff, and parents for supporting the costumes and activities that made today so memorable for our students. Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable weekend ahead!

Draft DC Calendar 2027-28

Please find linked the draft version of the 2027-2028 DC Calendar.

Please note the following:

This calendar is a draft version, and will be confirmed once the public holidays for Hong Kong are gazetted.
ESF arranges three ESF-wide CPD days that are standardised across the foundation. These are taking place on 9 August 2027, 18 October 2027, and 1 February 2028. School is closed to students on these days.
In addition, our two DC CPD days will take place on 10 August 2027, and 10 March 2028. Again, school is closed to students on these days.
Please note that on 10 December 2027, 21 January 2028, and 30 June 2028, school will close at 12pm.

PTA Inter House Secondary Chess Competition

After weeks of sharp strategy and intense battles, our Secondary Inter-House Chess Tournament reached its exciting conclusion this week. Sponsored by our wonderfully supportive PTA, the tournament brought out the finest strategic minds from across the secondary school.

Senior School (Years 10-13) Final: Mahir claimed victory in a hard-fought match against Noah, taking the senior champion title.
Junior School Final (Years 7-9): Shayne, from Year 4, who was invited as a special guest to the tournament, secured first place in the junior division after a tense final against Tejas.

On Thursday, the tournament wrapped up with a spectacular exhibition match featuring our top players facing off. Secondary students Tejas and Noah went head-to-head, while Year 4 prodigy Shayne stepped up to take on Year 13 champion Mahir. A huge crowd of supporters gathered to cheer on the competitors, creating a fantastic atmosphere to celebrate the hard work and brilliant play of everyone involved.

A massive thank you to the PTA for making this event possible, and congratulations to all our participants! Up next, we look forward to our primary tournament, which will feature players from Year 4 through Year 6.

Our students represent Hong Kong at the International School Football World Cup

Our DC Cobras Jack (Year 11), Harry (Year 12) and Noah (Year 13) represented Discovery College and Hong Kong last week in the ISF Football World Cup held in Suzhou, China.

The awe inspiring opening ceremony was held on Sunday, 17 October in front of over 18,000 fans before the games started on Monday morning. Hong Kong performed heroically throughout the 7 matches - winning 3 matches against Nepal, Belgium and India, drawing against England and losing against Chile and Turkey. The boys were particularly proud to draw 2-2 against England with Harry scoring both goals and then amazingly defeating Belgium 9-0 the next day.

The tournament ended with Harry being Hong Kong's top scorer on 8 goals, Jack, who was the youngest player in the squad, really cemented his place in the team as a valuable left back and Noah finished the tournament on a high by scoring the team's final goal in the victory over India. Memories to last a lifetime!

Well done boys, we are so proud of you!

Inspiring Creativity: Box House Theatre visits DC

The partnership with Box House Theatre began a year ago during their Asian tour, when founders Lewis and Amy shared the physical theatre techniques they first learned in their own Year 9 Drama class. Inspired by their innovative approach, DC's Head of Theatre designed a dedicated Year 9 Creative Theatre unit around their methods a unit that quickly became a resounding success and a student favorite. This year, DC hosted Box House Theatre to work with as many of our students as possible.

Box House Theatre brings a true explosion of energy, creativity, and imagination into any room. These young actors are so full of innovative ideas and vitality, infusing the space with the exact kind of creative play our students thrive on. Travelling all the way from the UK, this vibrant company worked with our Year 8 and 9 cohorts, as well as our Theatre students from Years 10 through 13. Their global impact is remarkable: they now run one of the largest school outreach programmes in the world, having taught over 22,000 students in the last year alone. We are proud to add our 300 Discovery College students to that impressive total.

Over the course of two days, our students learned to "Shhttuum", transform into trees in the wind, become talking toilets, and build houses made of people, by people. They pushed the boundaries of their voices and bodies in ways they had never imagined to create wonderfully fun and funny stories.

At the end of each day, our students were lucky enough to see Box House Theatre perform live for them in our own theatre. We hope this has inspired our students to further develop their amazing crafts -no props, no costumes, no sound effects - only what they can create themselves in a limited space but with unlimited imagination and creativity.

Ding! Access Restored

We are pleased to share that Ding! has now been reopened to Hong Kong IP addresses. While the vast majority of our community will now be able to access our system, this means that anyone travelling outside of Hong Kong will still be temporarily unable to access Ding!.

We will reassess whether to open Ding! further based on ongoing security assessment and feedback from the wider community.

If you are still having any problems accessing our system, please contact ict@dc.edu.hk.

Student Achievement in Tennis and Sailing

Year 12 Student reaches ITF Junior World Tennis Tour Final

Parth (Year 12 student) finished as runner-up in the Boys' Doubles at the ITF Junior World Tennis Tour in Madagascar. Having recently transitioned from the U16 Asian Tour, where he enjoyed significant success with three titles - Parth is now making his mark on the U18 World Tour.

The tournament had players from across the globe, including France, Poland, Denmark, England, Australia, South Africa, the USA, China, Korea, Hong Kong, India, and Madagascar.

Congratulations to Parth on an outstanding achievement, and we look forward to following his continued success!

Year 9 Student sails to Top 4 Finish at HKODA Championships

Amy (Year 9 student) delivered an outstanding performance at the HKODA Open and National Championships, held from 17-19 October 2026, at the Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club. Competing against top regional talent, Amy achieved an impressive 4th position in the HK Overall ranking.

Following her success on the water, Amy has been officially selected by the Hong Kong Optimist Dinghy Association (HKODA) and the Hong Kong Sailing Federation (HKSF) as one of the top sailors to represent Hong Kong at the 2026 Optimist Asian & Oceanian Championship. She will take to the international stage in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 12-19 December 2026.

Congratulations to Amy on this exceptional accomplishment, and best of luck as she represents Hong Kong this winter!

DC Welcomes Students from Indonesian IB School

On Wednesday, 28 October, Discovery College opened its doors to 23 enthusiastic students and 3 teachers from Sekolah Pilar in Jakarta, Indonesia. Our guests were thrilled to tour the campus and get a firsthand look at our facilities, interact with staff, ask questions and share their school experiences at Sekolah Pilar.

Hosting our fellow IB World School learners was an absolute privilege. We hope this exciting visit serves as a stepping stone toward future partnerships, allowing our school communities to learn from one another and build lifelong intercultural friendships.

Secondary Three-Way Conference Bookings

Bookings for the November 3-way conferences for Years 7-13 will open on Monday, 2 November at 12:00pm

This year, we will have two distinct conference elements: subject-teacher conferences and separate conferences with Learning Advisors. Please see below for details:

Element 1: Subject Teacher conferences (5 mins)

Subject Teacher 3-way Conferences are scheduled to take place online on Monday, 23 November and Thursday, 26 November from 1:30pm - 6:30pm. Each appointment lasts 5 minutes, and students are expected to attend with their parents.

Element 2: Learning Coaching Conferences with Learning Advisors (10 mins)

Learning Advisor 3-way Learning Coaching Conversations are scheduled to take place online on Wednesday, 2 December from 1:30pm - 6:30pm. Each appointment lasts 10 minutes, and students are expected to attend with their parents.

Key Dates At A Glance

- Booking opens: Monday 2 November at 12:00pm - Parents can book conference appointments.

- Booking closes: Tuesday 17 November - Please complete bookings before the system closes.

- School Day Structure: Conference days - Shortened teaching day, no Discovery Time, and students leave campus before conferences begin.

Shortened School Day Schedule for conference days.

Time table will be as follows:

Learning Team: 8:20-8:30am

Period 1: 8:30-9:20am

Break: 9:20-9:30am

Period 2: 9:30-10:20am

Break: 10:20-10:40am

Period 3: 10:40-11:25am

Break: 11:25-11:35am

Period 4: 11:35-12:20pm

Dismissal window: 12:20-12:30pm

There is no Discovery Time on conference days. Students are expected to leave campus after the shortened teaching day and participate in their online conferences from home. Some Year 13 students may be invited to remain on campus for essential practical work and will join their online conferences from school.

What are the Subject Teacher 3-way conferences for?

The conversation will focus on:

- Where is your child going in their learning

- How your child is progressing now, including reference to current assessment or attainment information where appropriate

- What your child should do next

- Questions you or your child would like to discuss with teachers

What are the Learning Coaching conferences for?

The Learning Coach conferences will have a holistic focus on the following key areas:

Where the student is in relation to their overall learning.
Reflect on how they could improve in key areas
Deciding on a specific goal/goals to work towards
Discussing strategies and tools to be used in working towards that goal
Discussing the support required in school from teachers and at home from parents

How to book:

Appointments will be booked through the ESF App. Please use the booking instructions shared through the app when the booking window opens.

If you need to make a change after the booking system closes, please contact the relevant class teacher directly.

The Art Captains are bringing Halloween to Life!

Around campus this week is a wonderfully spooky transformation on our classroom windows. Our Art Captains have been hard at work creating intricate black silhouettes and displaying them throughout campus. This collage cut-out installation showcases artistic leadership, using creativity to fill the corridors with the spirit of Halloween. The intricate designs from our talented artists prove even simple concepts can impactfully inspire!

Building on this momentum, the Art Captains also launched an exciting competition for all students to transform costumes into fine art! Instead of standard snapshots, students are challenged to bring characters to life with photography. Some examples include: a dramatic film still using lighting and narrative, a sleek fashion editorial layout or humorous pop culture characters in a real-world settings!

To keep the competition focused on genuine student craft, all entries must feature a real DC student in costume within an authentic space. Standard post-production photo editing is fully allowed to adjust color and balance, but AI-generated imagery is strictly prohibited. More information is available on the bulletin.

Please capture your unique creative visions this Halloween season so the Art Captains can display the most successful shots next week.

Happy Halloween!

Upcoming Parent Education Workshops


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Understanding Neurodiversity_Domestic Workers

Learning Pathway Subject Selection Updated

ESF PLD Day at Discovery College

This past Monday, 26 October, Discovery College served as a vibrant hub for professional learning, bringing together educators from across the English Schools Foundation for a dynamic Professional Learning and Development (PLD) day.

Empowering Primary Mathematicians

Our primary campus hosted an engaging Primary Mathematics Workshop, welcoming visiting teachers and leaders from across ESF primary schools and ESF Centre. The day was rooted in hands-on exploration and deep pedagogical reflection centered around two key inquiries:

Understanding the Learner: How might our beliefs about mathematics impact our practice?
Student Agency: What are the characteristics of a mathematically empowered learner?

Participants collaborated to unpack intentional instructional design, exploring ways to leverage core curriculum tools to create personalized, highly responsive learning pathways for all students.

Alongside the workshop, our Educational Assistants engaged in targeted breakout sessions focusing on practical support strategies. These sessions explored Sensory Circuits to promote self-regulation and delved into DC's three principles of learning - memory, attention, and motivation - to optimize classroom engagement and student success.

Foundation-Wide Collaboration in PHE and Sport

Simultaneously, DC welcomed up to 56 secondary and primary colleagues and sports specialists from across all ESF schools for dedicated PE and Sports professional learning. Utilising our campus facilities, teachers engaged in collaborative sessions designed to elevate physical health education, sharing innovative strategies and best practices across the foundation.

Staff applied key concepts in practice through:

Pedagogical Growth: Upskilling in technical delivery, differentiation, and engagement strategies via peer-led specialist sport sessions.
Policy & Safety Stress-Testing: Rigorously evaluating draft PHE Safe Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Risk Assessments in real-world scenarios.
Protocol Refinement: Providing actionable feedback during activities to strengthen operational safety standards.

Events like these highlight the extraordinary strength of the ESF network—bringing together diverse expertise, fostering continuous growth, and directly enhancing learning experiences for all our students.