Dear Primary parents,
Founder’s Day 2023 is TOMORROW!
The biggest day in our College social calendar is almost here!
Contests:
Across our community, cupcakes are being baked and decorated for the contest in the MPR, and greetings cards are being designed and made for the card contest. All entries must be in the MPR by 11am please. Judging will begin at 11.30am by our esteemed VIPs.
Hats!
Bring a boater, a cowboy hat or comfy floppy hat and then pop along to the Hat Trimming Station (next to the Cream Teas). There, our staff will trim your hat with Dulwich ribbon and, if you forgot your hat, you can purchase a traditional Dulwich boater with trimming for KRW 10,000 – a great souvenir of the day! The charity to which the proceeds will go is yet to be decided (TBD), ensuring that your contribution will make a meaningful impact in our community.
Bring Cash and Cards:
Be sure to bring lots of smaller notes as well as your cash/credit card to make purchases across the card-only and cash-only stalls.
Student Council Donations for Founder’s Day
The Primary School Student Council is running a shop on Founder’s Day. All proceeds will go to the local children’s charity, “Open Arms”. We would like families to donate unwanted decorative items or accessories. They must be new things, for example, earrings that were bought as a gift but weren’t your thing, or hair accessories, water bottles, reusable cups, soft toys, socks, games, sunglasses, caps that you would like to donate for a good cause. Donations can be brought to school by children this week and on Saturday morning too. Thank you for your kindness.
Year 6’s 3-day Theatre – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
This week, the Year 6 students embarked on their ‘Three Day Theatre’ project based on the poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Each class collaborated to develop their own interpretations of this classic poem. The children took on a range of roles including directors, stage managers, choreographers, costume designers, set designers, actors, and musicians in creating this play which culminated in their final performance today to parents and Year 5 students. The children were excellent storytellers who executed their lines clearly and with emotion bringing storms to life, portraying life and death effectively, as well as showing their musical and dance talents. Looking at their achievements, it is amazing to think that they only had three days to create this – well done to all!
Year 2’s Celebration of Learning:
Our eldest DUCKs welcomed their parents into class on Tuesday for a creative start to the week. The little family teams were working on designing and making a habitat and these magnificent eco-systems ranged from polar landscapes to sweaty tropical forests. There were dusty deserts and cool temperate forests as well, skillfully made by parents and children. Our students loved working with a special adult on a project they designed and the family pride was obvious to all who visited. Many thanks to all who joined us to help Year 2 celebrate their IC learning.
Year 6 Award Hike on Monday!
Year 6 will leave school on Monday after registration on a 10km hike in the mountains to the east of Seoul. Students who have water, a hat and shoes will have good grips on for a good climb up and down. The hike is the final part of the popular Year 6 Award Programme which requires students to journal, learn new skills and make presentations on chosen topics. It’s great preparation for Senior School and pulls together many skills developed in Primary School for a “grand finale” in Year 6. The Award certificates and medals will be presented at the Year 6 Graduation in the last week of this term.
Year 2 Adventure Days and Sleep-over – next Thursday to Saturday:
The excitement is mounting for Year 2’s Adventure Days and Sleepover next Thursday to Saturday. Year 2 parents should read through this week’s letter, sign up their child and help their child pack the correct items for each day. We have a combination of picnicking, hiking, campfire activities and camping skills planned for students plus swimming and lots of fun games. Thanks to all the staff who are planning these great days and staying over with our Year 2s.
Juniors’ House Swimming Contests
Our Year 3 – Year 6 students will have a fun House swimming contest during the week of June 12. It’s a chance to compete for Houses in fun and more conventional races. There will be four individual year group events in one of their normal PE slots.
Parents are invited to pop along to cheer on their House.
- Our apologies but we don’t have space poolside for siblings and other family members.
- Be aware that you will be asked to change into plastic slippers or add shoe protectors to walk in the area next to the pool.
- For reasons related to child protection, we respectfully ask that parents do not take photographs or video at this event. Our College Photographer, Sam, will be on duty and these photos will be shared in the usual ways.
House Swimming Times: (please be seated at least 5 mins before the time stated below)
Year 3 – Tuesday 13 1.30-2.30pm
Year 4 – Friday 16 10.40-11.40pm
Year 5 – Friday 16 1.10-2.10pm
Year 6 – Tuesday 13 10.40-11.40am
Swim England: Swimming Awards Next Academic Year
From August 2023, the Primary School students will work towards Swim England’s Awards. The Learn to Swim Stage 1-7 Awards are divided into progressive stages. They make up the core, national syllabus of learning to swim for UK primary school-aged children.
They are designed to reward your child for their development of the essential aquatic skills they need to be confident, competent and safe in the water. Each of the Learn to Swim Stage 1-7 Awards has a list of clear outcomes that need to be completed in order to gain each Award. There are also extension and advanced Awards for those children who specialise in other areas of swimming. This programme will be introduced to all Primary class swim lessons from August 2023. Please look out for the Parent Information Sessions in the new school year.
Head of Primary School is on Instagram:
Catch up with the learning happening each day in Primary on our new Instagram page. Please follow us on jane_smith_dulwich_seoul
Primary Parent Handbook 2022/23
Please dive into the Parent Handbook for answers to ‘frequently asked questions’ across all areas of Primary School life. If you think we have missed any vital info in the Handbook, please let us know. Your feedback would be much appreciated.
Dates for your Diary for June
Saturday 3 June – DCSL Founder’s Day
Monday 5 June – Year 6 Award Hike to Section 4 of Seoul Trail – all day
Tuesday 6 June – School Holiday (Memorial Day)
Thursday 8 – Saturday 10 June – Year 2 Adventure Residential Days (Friday overnight in school)
Friday 9 June – Last day of Term 3 ECAs / DUCKS 1 Speaking a Rainbow 8.30am – 10am
Monday 12 June – Primary Parent Reps Online Meeting with Mrs Smith and Mr Jonsson at 9.30am
Tuesday 13 June – Nursery Splash Day / Years 1 to 3 Summer Music Recital 5-6pm
Wednesday 14 June – Reception Splash Day / Years 4 to 6 Summer Music Recital 5-6pm
Wednesday 14 June – Primary Term 3 Reports Published to Parents by 5pm
Thursday 15 June – Primary School Move Up Morning
Friday 16 June – Year 4 Celebration of Learning 9am – 10am / DUCKS 1 Family Picnic (More information to be shared)
Tuesday 20 June – Primary Optional PTCs 4-6pm
Wednesday 21 June – Year 6 Graduation Ceremony 1.30-3.30pm
Thursday 22 June – Reception to Year 6 “Personal Passion Project” Day
Thursday 22nd June – new College Yearbook 22/23 distributed to families
Friday 23 June – Last Day of Term 3
Monday 26- Friday 30 June – DCSL Summer School (registration closed)
Stars of the Week (DUCKS to Year 4) and Learning Warriors (Year 5 / Year 6)
Each week, our staff spot a child in each class who has been doing especially well with the IB Learner Profile dispositions and that child becomes SoW or the LW for the class. Click here to see who was spotted this week and click here to read the Week Ahead summary!
Pets for the Weekends and Holidays:
If you would like to borrow the snails, hedgehog, guinea pig, beetles for the weekend etc please contact Ms Caunce on claire.caunce@dulwich-seoul.kr
Communications:
As always, if I can assist you with any matters large or small, please get in contact with me at jane.smith@dulwich-seoul.kr
Wishing you and your family a lovely long weekend.
Kind regards,
Mrs Jane Smith
Head of Primary School
Celebration of Learning – Year 2 Habitat Day
This week, the Year 2 parents enjoyed working alongside their children during their ‘Celebration of Learning – Year 2 Habitat Day’ to create magical settings and amazing characters. Using their story plans, the children explained the problems their characters encountered and how they were solved. Together, children and adults worked to follow the plans and felt immensely proud of what was accomplished. The children thoroughly loved the morning and greatly appreciated the support of their families.
Titanic Project Week in Year 5
Year 5 really enjoyed their Titanic-themed project week, especially as they were mixed into different classes and made new friends in the process. To kick off their projects, they came up with some interesting questions about the ‘unsinkable’ ship, and then they posed their questions to a special ‘Titanic expert’ on a Zoom call. Afterward, they conducted their own independent research about the Titanic’s design, identified possible lessons they could learn about boat building, and then they finished off the project by designing an unsinkable boat. It was wonderful to see the Year 5s being collaborative inquirers, whilst improving their design and engineering skills.
FOBISIA Games
We had an amazing time in Thailand for the 2023 FOBISIA Games! Our students were absolutely outstanding and our staff did an amazing job all week. We came away with a ton of medals, three trophies and memories for a lifetime:
- Boys B T-Ball 1st Place
- Boys A Football 2nd Place
- Girls A Football 3rd Place
We are waiting on the final awards document from FOBISIA to confirm all of the placements and medals. We will look to send that information out next week. We are really proud of our Leopards and are very excited for both the Dulwich Games and FOBISIA Games in 2023-24.
GO LEOPARDS!
Thank you!
Stars of the Week
Year 2
Year 4:
