Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope you’re enjoying the beautiful foliage all around us and are keeping warm as temperatures have dropped significantly.
We had a flurry of exciting guests from the very beginning of the week, including Dr Cameron Pyke, Deputy Master (External) from our Founding School, Dulwich College in London, and Dr Sarah Clement, Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment & Society at Australia National University.
It’s always a pleasure to welcome Dr Pyke from Dulwich College London for his annual visit, where he met with students, staff and parents. We deeply value the long tradition of our founding school and close ties we hold dear. We look forward to welcoming him again on this year’s Founder’s Day scheduled for 14 June.
Dr Clement is a prominent expert on the issue of green spaces and their health benefits, and she was involved in our Planet Hack event over the weekend, where students got into groups to “hack” and solve an urban challenge presented to them. On Monday, she spoke to our IB students, at the Year 8-9 assembly, our Eco Warriors and Sustainability Group, lunch with Planet Hack students and gave a workshop to our parents.
Speaking of which, our Eco Warriors and Sustainability Group – our Primary and Senior School student groups formed around our value of sustainability, launched our No Carbon November campaign aimed at reducing carbon emissions. The student groups are encouraging students, staff and parents to do their part by taking public transportation, walking and biking.
On Wednesday our cafeteria was abuzz with Year 4 parents and students for the Morning Mingle, where parents were served a nice breakfast by their children. This was a great opportunity for Primary School parents to meet the teachers and other parents in their children’s class. If your child’s year group hasn’t yet had theirs, stay tuned as it is probably coming up soon.
I’ve been so proud of our students competing (and winning!) at the Songdo Sevens last weekend and at the U15 FOBISIA games this week. Just seeing how the Songdo Sevens teams pushed themselves to achieve excellence and worked closely together to great results was very inspiring. I also loved seeing the enthusiasm and support from our parents on the sideline. Go Leopards!
On Saturday, we are looking forward to welcoming prospective Senior School parents to our IB Forum. Please note this event is for prospective parents only. If you are a current parent interested in learning more about the IGCSE or IB Diploma Programme, please note that we are planning several events focused on those programmes for our school community later in the year.
The weather is perfect for a hike, and we have one scheduled for you! Our Head of Primary School Jane Smith and Director of Business Administration Paul Smith will be leading a hike on Sunday 10 November at 10.30am to 2pm. Please see our Whole School section for details.
I would like to thank our Friends of Dulwich parents for setting up the most beautiful Christmas tree in the atrium to get us in the holiday spirit. We invite all parents to the monthly coffee morning on Thursday 14 November at 8.20-9.45am. Please note there will no used uniform or book sale this time, as there are no used uniforms to sell! Our community is so sustainability-minded that they are sold out. This is truly remarkable and indicative of our community’s commitment to sustainability and how closely aligned they are to our school’s values.
With warm regards,
Ms Alison Derbyshire