2021: End of Week 1 Update

Dear Discovery Families,

The first week of the new academic year has been a busy and successful one. It was such a pleasure for the Discovery team to see so many familiar faces again and to welcome the new members of the Discovery family into our classrooms and our hearts. 

Teachers and assistant teachers have been introducing the children to the procedures and routines of their classes, to establish great routines/behaviour for learning, to build strong, positive relationships and to maximise learning time for each Discovery child. 

There are a few photos at the end of this page that show just how well the students are settling in! 

Arrival, Dismissal and Traffic Flow 

Thank you all for your patience as we settle into a new arrival and dismissal routine. Traffic flow has been particularly challenging and we can see how this has a ripple effect on everyone's day, our apologies for any inconveniences caused as we all settle into a new routine.  

That said, we have seen great improvements with each day, by Friday, all three dismissal times were fast and a lot smoother than the very first day. 

The shift from a 7:30 to 7: 50 am arrival

Over the past 3 years, and in particular last academic year,  we observed that a significant number of children were absent at 7.30 a.m and so they were missing out on acceleration, intervention and targeted learning support. 

To maximise the opportunities for EVERY child to benefit from individualised morning acceleration and intervention, which we all value and prioritise, we introduced a slightly later arrival time of 7:50 a.m. 

For ages 5+ we require 100% on-time attendance and arrival by 7:55 am. It is critical to start the day on time and start the Morning Accelerator on time.

We have observed that a few children are still arriving after 8:00 am, our arrival team should be back in classes by then and supporting learning for other children. Please support the learning of all children and bring your child to school on time too.

Children aged 4 and below can arrive by 8:20 am but not any later than that.

Thank you for supporting the new arrival and dismissal procedures further described below. We are confident that any initial hiccups will be addressed effectively and the children will benefit greatly from the support and challenge of the first morning period every day.

Important Arrival and Dismissal Procedures

Please take a few minutes to re-familiarise yourself with our Arrival and Dismissal Protocol. Here are some highlights:

• Arrival for all students is from 7.50 a.m. You can drop them off between 7.40 a.m and 7:55 am at the latest.

•  In the mornings, we will open gates at 7.40 am, however, if say 40 cars arrive as early as 7.20 am, it will be challenging to clear the parking and all feeder roads will be blocked. As much as possible, aim to arrive closer to when gets will open, so that the process is quicker for you.

• As much as possible, we request that all parents follow the new schedule, and bring children to school in the assigned times. A kind reminder that our staff shifts are set by the school schedule and they already exceed 8 hours a day (including tasks occurring after children are picked up).

• If you have exceptional circumstances or a work schedule that demands that you must drop your child before 7:40 am, please inform your child's teacher immediately so that we can support you in this. 

• Effective tomorrow, younger children can be dropped a little later (if they do not have older siblings). If you have a child(ren) aged 4 or below, you can drop them between 8:00 am and 8:20 am.

• For the afternoon pick-up, the school gates open at 3:55 pm, opening the gates any earlier will take more time away from the last lesson of the day. Please aim to arrive at Discovery as close to 4:00 pm as possible and also before 4.25 pm at the end of the school day.

• All drivers are kindly requested to follow the traffic flow guidelines and to cooperate with staff in the parking area and in the drive-through spaces.  

• Parents or other carers bringing 1 or 2 children in the morning should aim to use the drive-through roundabout and deliver the child/children to the Reception area or Upper Block area where temperatures and Access cards will be checked before the children exit the cars. This will ease the pressure on the parking spaces available and should make the arrival process faster for all.

• Parents or other carers bringing 3 or more children in the morning should aim to park in the car park where the children will have their temperatures taken and Access cards checked before they are escorted to the entrance gate.

• Tuesday dismissal will take place at 12.30 p.m. for half-day children and at 1.15 p.m. for all full-day children.

• The dismissal procedure will be the same as the morning arrival procedure; parents/carers collecting 1 or 2 children will use the drive-through roundabout and collect the child/children at the Reception area and those collecting 3 or more children will park in the car park and the children will be escorted to the cars. Please have Pick-up cards ready to be checked by the Discovery team members delivering the children to the cars. 

• When using the drive-through roundabout, we aim to bring students to at least 4 cars at a time, for this to work, cars will be guided to park very close to the upper exit gate (drive-through) to create space for other cars and to maximise all the pick up points in the drive-through.

• If you would like to talk to a teacher or staff member, please book an appointment outside of the arrival and dismissal windows. Staff in the full-day program can be available on an agreed workday, usually at about 4:30 pm, the dismissal window from 4:00-4:30 pm is not ideal for talking to staff members, all staff are heavily involved in the arrival and dismissal procedures.

All Parents Meeting

A reminder that next Saturday Morning the 18th of September at 10:00 am we will have an all-parents' video conference call on Zoom.  The session will close with two Question & Answer sessions.

• 10: 00 am: All-parents' meeting

• 11:00 am: QnA for English speakers 

• 11:30 am: QnA for our francophone community

Nonfiction Writing and Journaling

Your primary child will be engaged in the development and improvement of their writing skills throughout the year. In order to make this drive to improve our students' writing even more impactful, we are rigorously targeting nonfiction writing skills as these are applied across the curriculum, in all subject areas. Please urge the children to talk to you about their writing and perhaps you could point out one or two ways that they could improve it further. We appreciate your support to build the learning bridge between school and home. 

For Early Years children (ages 5 and below), we will be using a student journal (Cahier de vie) where both parents and teachers will work with children to make simple drawings, glue photos, and write comments/captions about the child's experiences each month/week (both at home and at school). The journal entries will become discussion points both at school and at home. The student Journal is a powerful tool for building language, conceptual knowledge, and student confidence especially when the child is at the center of making the entries. Most students will usually make confident presentations to their parents or to their classmates about whatever "they recorded" in their journal (of course with the help of their parents or teacher). For the developing child, strong learning connections between the family, the home, and school create rich learning experiences, and this journal is one such bridge connecting the home and school setting.

Covid19 Prevention

Thank you for responding positively to the requirement to test your child for Covid19 prior to the start of this new academic year. It gives us a useful baseline as we all return to the campus after the long break. The requirement to carry out the Covid19 test was communicated ahead of the Parent-Teacher meetings and it is crucial that all parents read the regular updates on the class whatsapp forums and/or on the Parents' Site.  We will continue to share important information with you using both methods as we work together throughout the year.

In case you missed it in the previous announcement, here is our Covid 19 Response Policy for you to read through again. Thank you for continuing to prevent the spread of the virus through excellent preventative measures: 

• wearing face masks correctly

• washing hands frequently and thoroughly

• ventilating enclosed spaces well

• practising physical distancing

• staying at home if sick or when exposed to the virus 

Please inform us as soon as possible if your child, or any one in your household, tests positive for Covid19 or has been exposed to someone who has tested positive for the Covid19 virus. Thank you in advance for this vigilance!

We hope you enjoy the weekend with your child, catching up on the news from the first week of the school year. We look forward to welcoming the children again on Monday the 13th to start Week 2 with lots of enthusiasm and energy!

If you would like to order masks, pick-up cards etc

In case you would like to order pick-up cards, masks or Discovery t-shirts for your child, click here. Parents are requested to use this form for any material orders, this will keep our data up to date and allow our finance office to batch-order resources and shorten delivery time. 

Access Cards and Pick-up Cards

Please clear with the finance department if you have not, as of this coming week, Monday 13th September, parents will be contacted if they have not cleared with our finance department and obtained a valid Access Card. If you have not, please ensure you clear with our Finance Dept. and pick your Access Cards during the course of this week.

Please ensure that you have two authorisation pick-up cards for your child. From time to time and when the need arises, adults picking up students will be requested to prove they are authorised to pick the children. This will likely apply to new families, aunties, grandparents or nannies and drivers etc. 

Parents of New 2 and 3 Year Old Students

The first two weeks of school can be challenging for children and parents, however, rest assured that soon your child will feel at ease in their new environment. 

Here are a few tips;

• The second week is always easier than the first, however, a few Mondays tend to come with some tears, especially after a long weekend. Every Sunday, talk with your child about school and support them to process the emotions around this big change. During these conversations, always show them photos of their class, their classmates, and of themselves taking part in school activities, this helps to prepare them for Monday and may reduce their anxiety.

• If you would like to call or meet with a teacher, please agree on a time with them, mid or late afternoons work best when the children are either napping or back at home. 

• Typically teachers are not able to chat or take calls during class time as their focus should be on the children almost the entire time, except for emergency situations.

• Please review this page for a few tips on how to prepare for the first day/week at school.

A few moments from our first week of the school year!

Kindly review the links at the bottom of this page for information about how to prepare for the school day, morning snack guidelines, as well as our previous back to school update.

We look forward to your continued partnership as we start another year with our students!