October Newsletter

Dear Grade 11 Parents and Students, 

We are off to a great start this year. We had an excellent spirit week last week and in the next two weeks we will be making final preparations for Experience Week.  Below, you will find a couple of reminders and some information on what is to come. 

As always, if you have any questions, please do let me know. 

Brian Hull,

DP Coordinator

DP Retreat

Just a reminder that the remainder of our retreat will take place on December 12-13. Students will attend classes on the 12th, with buses leaving for the hotel at 3:15 PM. We will resume our schedule with the 4:45 PM handing out of room keys. Drop-offs at the end of the day on the 13th will be at or near the Admiralty, Central and Causeway Bay MTR stations. Students will return to class on the 14th. 

The course change process at CDNIS has three phases.  Phase 3 starts on Monday where no course changes will be made unless circumstances are very exceptional. We do, however, permit course level changes throughout the first year of the programme as students seek to ensure they have set out the right challenge for themselves. Please see this document to familiarize yourself with our course change policy.

• Last month we held our Learner Profile assembly focused on the attribute of "principled". We used our time together to explore the notion of academic integrity and for students to sign an academic integrity agreement. During the assembly we discussed what it means to have integrity and then focused on how to ensure a students are maintaining integrity when submitting work to both their classroom teachers and, later in the programme, the IB. 

• Next month, our assembly will briefly introduce students to the Extended Essay but will largely focus on time management as we consider the Learner Profile attribute of "balanced". As the amount of work and assignments start to increase in the programme students need to consider strategies to ensure balance in their lives and to take advantage of opportunities to get their work done. Admittedly, the DP can be a stressful programme, particularly when students don't manage their time well. This is first of several opportunities we will take to help student maintain a balanced and healthy mind and body while working through the Diploma Programme. 

November will be the start of the Extended Essay journey for the Grade 11s. For those of you unfamiliar with this project, students will spend the next 10 months working one-on-one with a supervisor on a major work of written academic research of up to 4000 words. 

Students will write their essay on a topic from one of their six courses. Though we do encourage students to choose a topic from one of their Higher Level (HL) courses, some do choose to complete the essay on a topic from one of their Standard Level (SL) courses, which is fine. 

Mr. Dave Perry, our Extended Essay Coordinator, will be working with the Grade 11s throughout the school year and will be the point of contact for all things related to the Extended Essay.

All students should have completed the written component of the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) Leadership and Peer Support course that is part of our CAS programme. Congratulations to all of our Grade 11s on completing this milestone. For students who have yet to complete the coursework, Mr. Lee will be hosting mandatory support sessions after school next week. 

Mr. Lee has now conducted his first round of interviews with all of our Grade 11 students. The purpose of the interviews was for Mr. Lee to get an overview of students' CAS portfolios and offer suggestions as to how students can improve their balance of creativity, activity and service experiences as well as consider how best to meet the seven learning outcomes. 

Mr. Lee would like to encourage parents to ask their children about their meeting with him and have them share how well their CAS programme is balanced. 

• August 31-September 1 / December 12-13 - The DP Retreat at the Gold Coast Hotel

• September 14 - Curriculum Night

• November 13-18 - Experience Week

• November 28 - First Reports published

• December 7 & 8 - Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences

• March 7 - Second Reports published

• March 14 & 15 - Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences

• June 12 - Third Reports published

• Diploma Programme Coordinator - Brian Hull: brianhull@cdnis.edu.hk

• Head of Grade 11 - Jeremy Power: jeremypower@cdnis.edu.hk

• CAS Coordinator - Gregg Lee: gregglee@cdnis.edu.hk

• Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Coordinator - Chris Tyrrell: christophertyrrell@cdnis.edu.hk

• Extended Essay (EE) Coordinator - Dave Perry: daveperry@cdnis.edu.hk