COLLEGE The
Term 1 2016-17
THE BEST YOU CAN BE DULWICH COLLEGE SUZHOU students come first the whole child stimulating, safe, secure honesty, respect, knowledge life-long learning, understanding, questioning responsibility, sustainability collaborative, problem solving everyone matters success
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inspiration starts here
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CONTENTS 05
Simply Scrumptious!
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Me, Myself and Suzhou
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Dulwich FC
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Alumni Around the World
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Record Breaking IGCSE Results
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Excellent in every respect!
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14 Hairspray 16
AstroMagazine Club
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The Crescendo Project
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Junior School China Week
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Our Sustainability Projects
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Sport @ Dulwich
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26 Mandarin 28
Junior School News
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Art & Design
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Singing with the Vienna Boys Choir
34 LanguageOne 35
Friends of Dulwich
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Dulwich Connections
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The Last Word
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STUDENTS COME FIRST
Simply Scrumptious!
New-look Lunchtime in Early Learning 3
As part of our approach to developing independence, self-awareness and to build relationships between children and their peers, Early Learning 3 has introduced a new ‘family-style’ lunchtime. With the new dining room layout, children are seated in small groups around circular tables. The atmosphere is
one of a relaxed family having lunch together, where social conversation flows and adults and children gather together to enjoy mealtimes.
The change to plates, rather than trays, has excited the children and helped them to feel like ‘big-people’. As soon as they walk into the dining room their eyes light up with the wide variety of options to choose from and the ability to make their own choices. They are educated about food categories and how to
create a balanced, healthy meal at lunchtime and they are learning to make the right choices.
THE BEST YOU CAN BE
Alongside the pleasant atmosphere, the children are learning to develop self-help skills by serving themselves and others on their table. They
In addition to adapting the lunchtime procedure, the children in EL3 are being given the opportunity to create their own snacks throughout the day. These too are healthy,
are developing their manners when requesting a plate of food and actively engaging in purposeful conversation during lunchtime. The children are growing a healthy, varied palette for food and are encouraging others to try new foods. The teachers have given the children time to discuss their feelings about
the new procedure and many have taken the opportunity to voice their preference for the plates, having food in the middle of the table to help themselves to a wider variety of delicious food and even given recommendations for which foods they prefer and would like to see more of at mealtimes.
balanced food options, with children preparing the food in the morning for others to serve later in the day. Responsibilities include grating carrots, slicing cucumbers, peeling fruit, chopping vegetables and boiling eggs. The children relish the opportunity to create their own snacks and often come back for seconds
and even thirds of the healthy options! The new lunchtime and snack routines in EL3 have provided food for thought for the rest of DUCKS, who hope to develop similar opportunities for other children. Leah Smith, Assistant Head Early Years
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Me, Myself and Suzhou Throughout Term 1, Year 2 have been learning more about themselves, each other and their local environment as part of their Integrated Curriculum topic, ‘Me, Myself and Suzhou’. In order to deepen their learning and make it more tangible, students visited Suzhou Museum and The Humble Administrator’s Garden on a quest to discover more about Suzhou’s fascinating ancient past. On the journey, students excitedly identified some of Suzhou’s important landmarks, furthering their understanding of their local environment, and shared stories about the places they had visited in Suzhou with family and friends. Having talked about the trip all week in class, there was a great sense of anticipation upon our arrival at Suzhou Museum, a museum of ancient Chinese art, ancient Chinese paintings, calligraphy and handmade crafts. The students were focused and reflective as they explored the museum, coming up with many fantastic, insightful questions as they took in the various exhibits, which plot the rich history of the city over many hundreds of years. During the visit, the students had the opportunity to contemplate all kinds of artifacts, which they enjoyed discussing and comparing to objects they have at home. After the student’s visit to Suzhou museum, they then enjoyed a picnic lunch at The Humble Administrator’s Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most famous gardens in Suzhou. It is considered by some to be the finest garden in all of southern China. Following this, the students had the opportunity to explore areas of the large garden including the pools, pavilions and The Bonsai Garden. The students were eager to find out what was inside each of the pavilions and were particularly impressed with a silk workshop. It was a day for collaboration, teamwork, reflection and fun. The children returned to school enthused, motivated to learn more about the city we call home and to share what they are learning about with others. Megan Gallivan, Year 2 Class Teacher
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STUDENTS COME FIRST
In November, children from Year 1 visited the Xiangmen City Wall and the Couple’s Retreat garden in order to reinforce the learning that they have engaged in this term as part of their 'Me, Myself and Suzhou’ topic. The children enjoyed the opportunity to climb onto the wall and see the drum that was used to warn the city of an invasion! They saw the drawbridge, that is part of the city defenses and statues, showing what life was like in Suzhou long ago. The children were fascinated by the adjoining museum, especially the large map of Suzhou and models of street scenes. Aimee said, “I really like the old telephone. It looks different.” They also had the opportunity to visit The Couple’s Retreat garden and enjoyed looking for different shapes to link to our Maths learning. Misa said, “I found a shape with 20 sides. I want to find out what it is called!”. It is recognised, along with other classical Suzhou gardens, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and provides a fabulous oasis from the hustle and bustle of Old Town. It has been a joy to see the excitement with which the children have returned to school following this adventure, having been inspired to find out more about the ancient city of Suzhou and especially why anyone would want to invade it! These real life experiences help children enormously when it comes to writing creatively and participating in focused discussions that encourage them to use their imagination and develop a broader vocabulary. Lindsey Welch, Year 1 Class Teacher
THE BEST YOU CAN BE
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DULWICH FC SUZHOU LAUNCHED AUGUST THIS YEAR Over 250 students attend Saturday morning and CCA football training sessions on a weekly basis. The programme has provided students with the platform to develop their football skills, with many representing the College in fixtures in Shanghai and Suzhou.
PARENT VOLUNTEERS HAVE BEEN THE KEY TO SUCCESS One of the many positive elements of Dulwich FC has been the involvement and engagement of the whole DCSZ community. Our Dulwich FC volunteers have proved instrumental in the success of the programme, culminating in a successful Dulwich FC Community Day in November.
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“Something to look forward to every Saturday.” Annie, Y8
“DFC is fun, exciting, and you get to make new friends.” Celeste, Y5
GO TIGERS! We look forward to the building and development of the Dulwich FC programme at DCSZ in the future.
“A great community club.” Parent Volunteer
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DULWICH COLLEGE SUZHOU
Alumni Around the World
It was another outstanding year for Dulwich College Suzhou as the International Baccalaureate students celebrated an average points score of 36 with a 100% pass rate. An impressive 12.5% of students achieved 40+ points and 33% gained 38+ points. This year’s IB Diploma results demonstrate great achievements across the curriculum. As the Head of School, Mr Stuart Bridge comments, “I am especially pleased to see such impressive scores, with so many students significantly surpassing their predicted grades at IB as indicated by their IGCSE results and teachers. These results firmly establish Dulwich Suzhou as the
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best performing international school in Suzhou.” Excellent results across Dulwich College Beijing, Dulwich College Shanghai and Dulwich College Suzhou put the Dulwich group amongst the top performing IB schools in the world. Amongst a host of individual successes, Clara attained the maximum of 45 points, an outstanding achievement. She will be going on to read Medicine at Semmelweiss University (Hungary). Other notable successes are Hyeong Jin who scored 43 points, going on to read Economics at Hong Kong University and Chelsea who scored 40 points, going on to read Biomedical Science at Hong Kong University.
The strength of our language programmes was also reflected by the 37.5% of students who earned a Bilingual Diploma, successfully completing their Language A in Korean, Chinese or French. Other International Old Alleynians - 90% having won places at their first-choice university - are moving on to study degrees ranging from Engineering to Architecture, Art to Music Technology, and Computer Engineering to Economics.
STUDENTS COME FIRST
THE BEST YOU CAN BE
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Nervous Year 12s had no reason to be worried when they received their results envelopes detailing their IGCSE grades in August. This year’s IGCSE results at Dulwich College Suzhou broke all records. 49% of the grades awarded were at the top grade of A* and overall 82% achieved either an A* or A grade.
Two thirds of the students achieved an average of at least a grade A across all of their subjects. Five of our talented students achieved at least 10 A* grades each, an outstanding result. These were the best ever IGCSE results amongst the Dulwich College international schools.
Record Breaking IGCSE Results!
We were delighted that we once again had some prize-winners at national level in the Cambridge International Examinations amongst our students. Lyndsey has been awarded Best in China Awards in both English Literature and Geography, Cindy has won for English Literature and Brandon for Computer Science. Unfortunately, the Edexcel examination board do not give awards or we would have expected a few more! The prize winners were invited to receive their awards in Shanghai on December 1st.
We would like to congratulate all of the Year 11 class of 2016 for their hard work and well-deserved achievements. Page 12
STUDENTS COME FIRST
Excellent in every respect! Dulwich College Suzhou was inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) in October this year. The ISI is a UK government-approved body which provides objective inspections to safeguard the quality and effectiveness of the education, care and welfare of children in British schools overseas. Preparations for this inspection had been going on for many months and many of our parents and students helped with this process by completing the questionnaire sent by ISI earlier this year. We were delighted to be able to announce at the end of November that we had received the inspectors report and had been awarded the highest grade possible, ‘excellent’ in every aspect of the daily education within the College. This is a rare achievement and we are the only school in Suzhou to have this accolade. Along with our outstanding IGCSE and IB results this firmly establishes our College amongst the best in the world.
THE BEST YOU CAN BE
The inspection team gave us some genuinely heartwarming feedback. They recognized that the school is extremely successful in fulfilling its aims to educate the whole child and to inspire students to achieve their very best. After meeting with our students they observed that for many of them the College is clearly regarded as their second home. Our students demonstrated they were excited about their learning and highly motivated to succeed. They felt that our community was characterized by mutual respect, support and care for each other. Our teachers were dedicated, enthusiastic, hard-working and highly effective at helping all of our students to succeed. We can all feel justifiably proud of this achievement made possible by everyone in our community.
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ASTROMAGAZINE CLUB AstroMagazine Club (AMC) is a group of passionate and enthusiastic young engineers, astronomers and mathematicians whose only aim is the popularisation of science. The AMC team issues magazines regularly, not only to space lovers but also readers varying from young students to staff members and parents. The magazine issues cover a wide range of topics on science, engineering and maths. The team has managed to successfully publish 7 magazines so far and has received numerous constructive comments from the readers.
As part of the team’s goal of popularising science, the AMC team is also working on a project of building a satellite. The team has adopted the CubeSat concept, a small satellite standard with a size of only 10 x 10 x 11.35cm but, capable of being equiped with a sufficient quantity of instruments to carry out data collection. Earlier in the year, the team participated in a competition hosted by the Museum of Science
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Fiction, Cornell University and NASA. Members from the team travelled thousands of miles across the globe to Washington, D.C. because we had not only won the competition but we also found out that we were the only winning team from overseas. There was a passionate sharing of ideas with other winning high school students in the US and the former NASA Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Mason Peck. We introduced our mission idea to build a single unit CubeSat
containing a compact and manoeuvrable drone that could charge, detach, dock again, and be reused again and again. We also described how the drone would initiate separation from the “Mothership” and navigate freely within
a certain radius from the CubeSat mothership. If, one day, this type of technology could be researched and developed, we are going to call it “MUSK-1” after the founder and CEO of SpaceX who has the ambitious dream to colonise Mars. The MUSK-1 satellite project has been a marvellous platform, in many ways, to allow us to be surrounded by other students of the same age who are passionate in the field of science, technology and engineering.
The team has been able to push the project forward with help from the College and various other organisations. The school organised a video conference with project manager, Dr. Weinberg from
the European Space Agency. The team was able to get some extremely valuable advice about the project. Further crucial support has been provided by a 3D printing company based in Suzhou called iDreamer3D. In the past couple of months, iDreamer3D has provided the team with enormous technical support and help with the construction of the team’s first prototype. With this support the project is cruising towards its goal. The team is now planning to conduct experiments around the school buildings to test out fundamental related principles and technologies. Our ambition is to become
the very first high school in Asia to launch a CubeSat. The AMC team has also started inspiring young students across the College. The team recently took part in a Junior School assembly where team members, Dennis and Nikolei, gave a presentation to young students about space and inspired many of them we hope to start projects of their own.
The members of AstroMagazine Club are working in many ways to motivate and inspire not only in the field of space and astronomy but science in general to all members of the College community. By Dennis B AstroMagazine Editor 3D Designer, MUSK-1 Warren S AstroMagazine Founder Project Manager, MUSK-1
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The Crescendo Project is composed of a group of passionate musicians (and non-musicians) who work to bring music to migrant schools. Last school year, as a result of our fundraising, we bought 21 guitars for MingXing Migrant School, and offered 2 months of guitar lessons there on Saturday mornings. In November, we went back to MingXing to start our first lesson of this term, with the addition of new volunteers, new students, and more instrument choice! I interviewed three students during our last trip, here’s what they said!
Candy: “Howard what do you feel about teaching guitar to the kids?” Howard: “I feel… (stops to think) I feel a sense of achievement.” Candy: “Daniel, how about you?” Daniel: (A second of silence) “I feel a sense of achievement.” Candy: (Speechless) “… and..?” Daniel: “Huh?” Candy: “AND?” Daniel: “It’s fun!”
Candy: “Aeron how do you feel having so many fans?” (The students all said he was handsome and asked for his signature) Aeron: “I get this every day.” Candy: (Speechless!) Candy: “Owen what do you feel about teaching guitar to...” Owen: (Cuts and raps) “Gooda, gooda, very very gooda!”
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“It’s fun!” — I guess that sums up our experience perfectly! Both we and the migrant students learnt so much from each other, and about each other. As foreigners in Suzhou, we communicated in a common language — music — and expressed ourselves in ways we couldn’t with words. Most importantly, we had so much fun! After all, that’s what music is all about, isn’t it?
Over this next year we will collaborate with other international schools in Suzhou and help more migrant schools, including You Hao Migrant School in MuDu, to extend the impact of the Crescendo community. We are also hoping to host a Crescendo Concert at the migrant schools at the end of the school year to showcase our students’ achievements to their classmates and parents.
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To help fundraise for this concert and instruments for the additional migrant schools, we are selling our mascot, Lemon; if you would like to support us, please email us at crescendoproject@dulwich-suzhou.cn
t c e j o Pr
Thank you!
Cindy H, Y12
THE BEST YOU CAN BE
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JUNIOR SCHOOL CHINA WEEK
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OUR SUSTAINABILITY PROJECTS This year’s new Junior School Eco Council have been very busy coming up with new ideas and initiatives for the Junior School. Our main highlight has been the opening of our garden, complete with an aquaponics system being used to grow lettuce. The students have bought fish and turtles who are now living happily in the pond and contributing towards the growth of the plants. They are also well looked after by the students. Herbs and small vegetables have also been planted in the larger beds
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and have begun to sprout. We are all looking forward to enjoying some of this produce in our school lunches once they are ready! Another student-led initiative has begun to take place inside our library. Iris in 6S came up with the idea of recycling books as a way to save paper. Students are able to bring in old books from home and swap them with those of other students every breaktime. Iris says, “Buying new books can be very
wasteful and there are loads of books sitting unread in people’s homes all the time. Instead we could swap old books and save many more trees!” We are very proud of Iris and the way in which she has demonstrated school guiding statement number 5, ‘we take care of our world.’ More students have also begun to follow suit and bring in their old books from home in order to swap them for more reading material.
STUDENTS COME FIRST
The students in the Senior School have been working on development of the garden area and greenhouse. This is a fun project with quite a lot of discussion and investigation into design, plant type and plant growth problems. We have found out that the seeds first planted would not germinate so the team sat down on a rainy afternoon and came up with new vegetable ideas and then purchased new seeds. This was successful and now we have new seedlings growing both in the greenhouse nursery and hydroponics planter boxes.
THE BEST YOU CAN BE
Within the Eco-council, we have been investigating the possible reduction of food waste. We started with Eco-council members viewing and questioning students in the restaurant about their food waste. This information, along with weights of each day’s food waste, is being written up into a student created investigative report that will help inform and provide a basis for new waste reduction.
Our commitment to the DCI sustainability goals has been going well with these initiatives and the Eco-council has been very successful in reducing the amount of disposable plastic bottles around the school with their reusable bottle method. This is being expanded in the hope that all plastic disposable bottles can be permanently removed. We look forward to new changes to support sustainability across the school.
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DULWICH FOOTBALL CLUB August 2016 saw the launch of our Dulwich FC Community Football Programme. Football coaching sessions have been run by a range of Dulwich staff, parents and volunteers through the week and Saturday mornings, along with fixtures in Shanghai.
SPORT @ Dulwich
Our first Dulwich Earthquakes Camp also took place during Golden Week, with over 40 students receiving expert specialist coaching from Earthquakes Coaches. Our Dulwich FC Community Day on the 12 November also provided a lot of fun for all of our Dulwich FC families and the wider Suzhou community.
JS FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT The 10th Dulwich College Suzhou Football tournament hosted over 500 students from Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Suzhou all competing for honours in boys and girls competitions in Under 9 and Under 11 categories. It was a thrilling morning of football action for what has been our biggest event of the year so far, providing entertainment for over 1000 spectators in total. U9 Boys D1 Cup – Winners U9 Boys D2 Cup - Runners Up U11 Girls Cup - Winners U11 Boys D2 Plate - Winners
CISSA FOOTBALL 11 DCSZ Tigers teams are currently competing in the CISSA Football League, with regular fixtures in Suzhou and Shanghai over the course of the 6 week season. Results from these games have been incredibly positive for DCSZ, with some thrilling contests and goals-a-plenty!
HAMILTON BOYS COLLEGE VISIT 1st XV Coaches Nigel Hotham and Andrew Hay visited Dulwich College Suzhou on Thursday 27 October, delivering a skills workshop for our U13 and U15 Rugby players. Despite some heavy rain and cutting cold winds, the boys had a wonderful time, learning some new skills and techniques, whilst consolidating existing ones in preparation for the fast approaching new season.
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STUDENTS COME FIRST
SWIMMING Both our Junior and Senior Swim Teams have been busy with regular training and preparing for competition. So far, our swimmers have been involved in competition at the NIS, SAIS and our own DCSZ swim meets. The number of medals and ribbons our students have won is steadily increasing, with a number of personal bests so far this season.
U15 FOBISIA GAMES We were at Traill School in Bangkok for the Under 15 FOBISIA Games. Our U15 Tigers competed against schools from Malaysia, Thailand and Korea in Athletics, Swimming, Football and Basketball. With months of preparation logged by both staff and the DCSZ Tigers team, a strong performance was in no doubt as we looked to exceed the expectations of another exciting and enjoyable FOBISIA Games performance.
U19 ACAMIS NETBALL This was our first time competing in the annual U19 ACAMIS Netball Tournament, this time hosted at NAIS Pudong, Shanghai. Our ladies faced some stiff opposition from NAIS Pudong, BISS Puxi, Dulwich College Shanghai, Kellett School Hong Kong, Wellington School Shanghai, and the Australian International School Hong Kong. Despite a few narrow losses and some improving performances, we finished in 8th place. With the same courage, determination and some more practice, we are determined to make our mark next year!
U19 ACAMIS VOLLEYBALL The U19 ACAMIS Boys and Girls Volleyball teams travelled to Beijing, where Harrow International School played host to the Blue Division Tournament. DCSZ were aiming to improve upon an overall finish of 5th place from last year and had put in plenty of preparation, aiming for a strong placing. Our Tigresses had a tough competition, with some tightly contested games, almost beating eventual winners ISU in 3 sets. However, our Ladies team finised in 5th place overall, beating QISS in the final playoff game. Our Men’s team started strong, winning all of their group games in style in straight sets. Particular highlights included some solid blocking and spiking after instructions from Coach Palmer to “own the net”. Our men continued their dominance of the competition to win the Division as Champions after a thrilling final against ASU.
THE BEST YOU CAN BE
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中国式心灵鸡汤 “心灵鸡汤”是当今中国社会上一个热度颇高的词汇，它在各类社交软件上被广泛的提及并逐渐被 一部分人追捧奉为解决各种心理问题的一方良剂。每当在悠闲的假期打开手机翻阅微信、blog等社交软 件想了解友人的近态，总是能被父母亲戚转发的一篇篇“世界首富的成功秘诀”“令人走向成功的十个故 事”刷满屏幕相信已成为大部分年轻人的常态。但这些“中国式”心灵鸡汤所起到的作用，我想几乎是微 乎其微的。 最显而易见又最具辨证力的无非是这些文章的思考态度。它们多半有着极矫揉做作的文笔，不冷静不全面 的切入方式，单一的成功范本甚至用虚假事实唬人。 记得在知乎上看到过两篇文章，令我印象很深，几乎是我对心灵鸡汤改观的启蒙。其一是在一场招聘会中 面试官勒令所有实习生不得打开一扇办公室的门，否则直接取消录取资格。而偏偏有一位先驱者去试了， 结局是他被录取了。作者赞颂他的勇敢与不拘泥与条框，并且声称在社会中先驱者总是不吃亏的。其二有 着几乎相似的开端，不同的是这次并没有人去打开房门，而他们一样被全盘录取。这一次，作者倡导的则 是诚信的重要性。 这两则鸡汤分开来看都是极标准且令人信服的，但放在一起就不免令人啼笑声非了。这就是我所提到的“ 不冷静，不全面，以单一的角度看问题”。 自然，鸡汤也是分好坏的。上述提及的坏鸡汤所拥有误导性作用，而好鸡汤——也不能这么说，怯去了这 层缺陷后的中国式鸡汤，似乎怀着认真说道理的热心，极力向听众推销那用他那被华丽的辞藻堆积而成的 生活方式。大肆推崇这过于“桃花源”理想化的幻想乡。 而这种形式有用吗，我想是没有的。 心灵鸡汤只是一碗甜美的甜品，但却缺少能使人吸收的调羹。这令我想到那些或多或少有些类似于传销的 工作，就像是乏累的一天工作后的一壶酒。他们打着士气灌下鸡汤，仿佛努力向世界证明他们过的充实而 不是一无所获，借以走出自以为的低谷。 在我看来，能靠心灵鸡汤走出低谷的人是有多么的傻啊。不实际理念终究只是废纸，而如果看这些鸡汤不 能使人付诸行动，那真是有钱难使鬼推磨，无药可救了。 有这种时间用这些幻想麻痹自己，不如多看几本名著好书吧。那些被世人赞颂的谏言才足够的指出那些不 足，毕竟凝聚百年来人生经历与才华，才得以长传于后世。哪儿能比心灵鸡汤差呢，是吧？ Jenny, Y11
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运动会－－ HAPPY! 各位来宾: 大家好！欢迎你们来参加我们学校的运动会！我是Nicole，是一名体育爱好 者。今天我代表学校来介绍一下运动的好处，希望通过我的介绍能让你们更加热爱运 动。 首先，运动可以减压。当今的孩子压力很重，主要是升学、交友等。运动可以 帮他们减压。运动后出了一身汗，然后好好休息一下，一切烦恼压力都消失了。第二天 学生们的精力很充沛，这样学习成绩也会有一定的提高。运动还能教给孩子团队合作精 神，让他们有一种归属感。这将会让孩子们增加自信，所以他们以后交朋友会更容易一 些。此外，运动对身体也有许多的好处。可以提高身体的素质，也能减肥。每年我们学 校的体育部都会有十几个机会参加各种运动之类的比赛。这会给孩子们很多机会接触外 面的世界，交各个国家的新朋友。他们在参加各种比赛的同时也会学会照顾自己，培养 他们的责任感。 另外，运动能让学生拥有健康的心理。让孩子们变得开朗、乐观、积极。我希 望每年有越来越多的学生会参加我们学校的运动队，让我们的学生越来越健康！ 谢谢大家！ Nicole, Y13
MANDARIN THE BEST YOU CAN BE
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JUNIOR SCHOOL NEWS It has been a fabulous start of the term for Year 3. Our chocolate topic is proving
to be a huge success. To kick-start our topic we had our ‘Stunning Start’ – Chocolate Day. We experienced a carousel of activities. We were taken back in time into the Mexican Rainforest to taste some ancient chocolate and created some Aztec art using a chocolate wash. We developed our inquisitiveness as we learnt how chocolate was discovered and what it was initially used for. We also did some chocolate taste testing where we had to taste a range of chocolates and describe each one, thinking about what was different about them and which we preferred. After that we examined chocolate advertisements throughout history and designed our own posters for a chocolate treat of our choice. Finally we made chocolate chip cookies, where we used our focusing skills to carefully follow a recipe and took photos of each stage. Since our ‘Stunning Start’ day we have been investigating the story of chocolate, where it comes from and how it gets to the shop. We have developed our skills to empathise with Coco farmers during our research into fair trade. We are really enjoying reading Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and we cannot wait for our marvelous middle trip to a real chocolate factory in Shanghai. This should help us prepare for our ‘Fabulous Finish’ of creating our very own Chocolate Factory at DCSZ.
After a busy and productive start for Year 4, we can’t wait to get
stuck into our new topic for the Integrated Curriculum: Active Earth – Volcanoes. To kick-start our learning we held our ‘Stunning Start’ - Pompeii Day. Exploring the history of Mount Vesuvius we learnt about what every day life must have been like in Pompeii. Through a carousel of activities we experienced Roman food, Roman numerals, mosaics and Roman artefacts. We developed many of our learning dispositions including open-mindedness with trying new foods, collaboration by working together to solve problems, and being imaginative in creating mosaic patterns. It was fantastic to dress like real Romans for the day too! At the end of our Pompeii experience we gathered to reflect on our learning. Little did we know we would be alerted to a news clip, which saw Mr Vincent, Miss Colling and Miss Simpson reporting on the eruption of Mount Vesuvious from Pompeii. For the rest of the term we look forwards to exploring why volcanoes erupt and how we are equipped to deal with natural disasters. Keep a look out for our iMovies and ‘Fantastic Finish’, where we will be designing our own survival kits.
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In Year 5, our first topic of the school year was all about The Silk Road.
We studied all sorts of information linked to The Silk Road, including merchants and how they traded. For the ‘Fabulous Finish’ we made items related to The Silk Road to sell at a special market stall. Everybody worked in small teams and shared their ideas. My partner was Bas. We had the idea of making jewellery and mini-sized booklets filled with thrilling facts. Jewellery was a very popular item. We were able to make lots of it in a short amount of time. Claire, 5C
As a ‘Stunning Start’ to our new topic ‘It’s a Small World’, Year 6 students went on a trip to the Yakult factory in Wuxi. This was an excellent introduction to the positive uses of microorganisms in our food.
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Warren, Year 10
Lilou, Year 11
ART & DESIGN Zi, Year 9 Page 30
Victor, Year 7
Paul, Year 11
Sherlyn, Year 8
Heejeong, Year 9
Matthew, Year 8
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Gracie, Year 7
Chethan, Year 7
Jessica, Year 7
Harry, Year 7
Jasmin, Year 7
Bella, Year 7
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Singing with the Vienna Boys Choir
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STUDENTS COME FIRST
Dulwich College Suzhou students from our Piccolo, Carreras and Domingo Choirs performed on stage with the world famous Vienna Boys Choir at the Suzhou Culture and Arts Centre. The Vienna Boys Choir is a choir of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best known boys choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries. There are approximately 100 choristers between the ages of ten and fourteen, divided into four touring choirs, named after Austrian composers Bruckner, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. Together they perform about 300 concerts each year before almost 500,000 people. It was the Bruckner group who were touring China.
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Dulwich College International has already developed a close relationship with the Vienna Boys Choir which led to the special invitation to join their rehearsal and perform 3 numbers with them on stage at their evening concert in Suzhou. There were 166 Dulwich College Suzhou students ranging from 5 to 11 years old taking part in this once in a lifetime experience. Here is what two of the students said about the event: “I felt proud representing the school and singing with the famous Vienna Boys Choir. The show was AWESOME!!!!!” Andy
“I was smiling the whole time, I knew all the words and I was super excited. It was soooooooooooo fun, thank you so much.” Renee A big thank you to Mr. Manolo Cagnin, the conductor of the Bruckner Vienna Boys Choir, for inviting our students to join his rehearsal and to perform with this world renowned choir. This all came at the end of a very big month for the College following the inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, where we were awarded ‘excellent’ in every category, a truly outstanding result.
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Formerly De Oranje Draak, the Dutch School at Dulwich College Suzhou is now LanguageOne Shanghai-Suzhou. LanguageOne is a non-profit educational organisation based in the Netherlands, dedicated to provide the highest quality mother tongue and cultural education around the world. Currently they have over 1300 students, from 3 to 18 years old. They are taught by a team of 80 teachers who make them feel at home in our many locations in Europe, the Middle and Far East and Western Australia. At Dulwich College Suzhou we offer Dutch speaking students, Dutch language and cultural programmes from Pre-school up to the IB Diploma Programme, both in our after school and integrated lessons. In September we welcomed our many new families to our ‘Meet and Greet’ with LanguageOne. Jaap Mos and Helge Bernard, Directors of LanguageOne Worldwide, visited Suzhou and welcomed all the children and parents, together with the team of teachers from LanguageOne ShanghaiSuzhou. During this term we have looked at the theme ‘Always young; grandmother and grandfather’ and it was also the theme of our yearly Children’s book week. We read new books, learned the theme song, learned a lot about the history of our grandmother’s and grandfather’s lives and some even visited our classrooms to tell a story or read a book. The children really enjoyed this theme which ended with a cultural morning in Shanghai. Towards the end of this terms we will have the celebration of the famous St Nicholas feast. We celebrate his birthday with songs and crafts around the theme of St Nicholas and his adventures with his companion Pete. It will definitely be some fun and informative weeks of learning. Are you interested in our Dutch classes at Dulwich College Suzhou? Please contact local director Mirjam van der Geijs at Email: shanghai-suzhou@languageone.nl or Telephone: +(86)-1500 2114 117.
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STUDENTS COME FIRST
Friends of Dulwich, helping the community. On 26 April 2015, Friends of Dulwich donated 20,000RMB to baby Lamao to help pay the medical bills for her cleft palate operation. She was only 7 months old at the time of her first operation. In October, Lamao came to visit Dulwich College Suzhou with her mother to meet some of the ladies from FoD and the Headmaster to show them how her life has been transformed following her operation. Lamao and her family live in Yushu, Qinghai Province. Her parents are simple herdsman. There is no clean water in this area and they mostly drink the water straight from the river. Due to the high altitude of where they live, they can only boil the water up to 50-70 degrees. This is not hot enough to kill bacteria and
germs so the water that they drink is not very safe. Not at all good for a little girl undergoing surgery and open to infection. So, as well as helping with the medical bills, our community has also donated a water filter can from the Livesaver Project, supported by the last Dulwich Charity Ball. People from Hong-an County, Hubei province, one of the places devastated by flooding due to torrential rain, also benefited from this project. FoD donated and pledged 60,000RMB for the Lifesaver Project which will change many peoples lives in remote rural communities. There will be more info about this project in the FoD newsletter.
Friends of Dulwich are always looking for volunteers to help with their events. If you are interested in either charity or activities for the school community, simply e-mail fod@dulwich-suzhou.cn.
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DULWICH CONNECTIONS Dulwich College Free learning opportunities for students in London have been a particular feature of the Michaelmas term. October saw the annual Upper School Symposium, a chance for Y12 and Y13 students and some sixth-form pupils from the nearby Charter school to come together for an exciting off-timetable day of workshops, talks and live performance linked by this year’s theme of ‘Sound’. Highlights included music from top jazz trumpeter Mark Armstrong, and talks by Journalist Miranda Sawyer and sound designers Paul Weir and Gareth Fry. Pupils were also able to choose from a programme of twenty-eight seminars and workshops on subjects as diverse as ‘The Neuroscience of Sound’ and ‘The Silence of God’, offered by teachers and visiting speakers. The beginning of November then saw a whole week of activities related to languages and language learning, “Dulwich Linguistic”. Students from across the whole College participated in a huge range of activities, from a French lunch and an introduction to the latest French TV phenomenon, to challenging seminars dealing with Linguistics, Old Norse, Neuroscience and a phonetically driven show from our ventriloquist in residence.
Remembrance Day followed on 11 November, and is always a solemn and poignant occasion in the College calendar here in London. This year was no exception. On a bright, crisp autumn day the entire College – 1575 boys and over 300 staff – gathered around the College’s war memorial to remember the 865 Old Alleynians (alumni) and 5 staff who were killed in the two world wars and subsequent operations. This is the only time in the year when all members of the College community gather together in one place. The short ceremony is timed precisely so that the chimes of the College clock ring out from its tower at 11 o’clock to mark the start of two minutes’ silence. It was especially sobering this year to look around at the gathered rows of students and to reflect that 100 years ago, as the Battle of the Somme was raging as part of World War 1 hostilities, many young Alleynians only a little older than our Y13 students would have been fighting, some losing their lives. More than 50 OAs were killed in that one battle alone.
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On a happier note, preparations are well underway for the many Christmas celebrations and activities at the College. The main school drama performance of the year, Grease, will be performed from 7-10 December, while on 9 December the College will hold its annual carol service in the wonderful, historic setting of Southwark Cathedral (see photo). This event brings together pupils, staff, parents, governors and friends of the College to celebrate the start of the festive season with readings and carols, performed by the Chapel Choir and brass ensembles. The College has a particular affinity with Southwark Cathedral since our founder, Edward Alleyn, was a sidesman (usher) there and the cathedral is situated on Bankside, by the river Thames, where Alleyn had many of his theatrical business interests.
Finally, our Christmas celebrations would not be complete without the annual Boarders’ Christmas Supper. This lively occasion brings together our 130 boarders and many staff and friends for a traditional Christmas feast in the specially-decorated surroundings of the Great Hall. Christmas crackers are pulled and the occasional balloon is sent shooting up into the oak beams of the roof of the hall as we look forward to Christmas.
STUDENTS COME FIRST
Dulwich College Shanghai Dulwich Musician of the Year The Dulwich College International Musician of the Year competition brings together some of the Dulwich family’s most talented young musicians from across Asia. Music is an integral part of a Dulwich education and is integrated into the curriculum. All Dulwich College International students learn an instrument and have the opportunity to perform in front of their peers, parents and members of the wider community. This year’s competition was hosted by Dulwich College Shanghai on Thursday 10 November in conjunction with the Dulwich Festival of Music and saw students from Dulwich College Beijing, Dulwich College Seoul, Dulwich College Shanghai, Dulwich International High School Zhuhai and Dulwich College in Singapore. The competition was judged by Matthew Goss, Paul West and James Pickering; the Directors of Music in the Dulwich College International schools in Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul. Andy Stott, Head of Popular Music at the Royal Northern College of Music was invited as the guest judge. After much deliberation, the panel awarded Judith L the 2016 Dulwich College International Musician of the Year. The Year 8 flautist from Dulwich College Seoul claimed the title with a flawless and charismatic performance of Chaminade’s Concertino in D, Op. 107 that impressed the audience and the judges. The piece Judith chose to perform is known for its technical difficulty. Chaminade’s Concertino in D, Op.107 is wide-ranging with a highly decorative solo section, originally composed in 1902 as an examination piece for flute students in Paris.
Dulwich College in Singapore Coffee with Marco Pierre White It is not often that you are given the opportunity to have a coffee and catch-up with Marco Pierre White, but on Wednesday 24 November this is exactly what happened at Dulwich College (Singapore). The celebrity chef is in Singapore for a Masterchef event and decided to stop and visit our students, parents and staff. He held a Q&A at the Clock Tower Café and was interviewed by Sahil (8S) for The Dulwich Times. He ended his afternoon visit by holding a cooking demonstration for over 80
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of our lucky staff. He cooked a Risotto Milanese with the help of his chosen sous-chef Gareth Randell, one of our Year 3 teachers, and answered questions from everyone as he cooked. For the record, his favourite meal to cook is roast chicken, he grates his onions instead of chopping them, and he thinks it’s more important to think about who your last meal would be with, not what you would eat.
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Dulwich International High School Suzhou We have a strong association with the Elizabethan dramatist, William Shakespeare, through the founder of Dulwich College, Edward Alleyn, who was also an Elizabethan actor. So the new DCI partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company Education for seven of its nine schools in Asia was meant to be. The collaboration offers students aged 10 to 18 years a wide array of opportunities to deepen their understanding of Shakespeare’s works through tried and tested strategies from the RSC’s rehearsal rooms. The first year programme will include residencies at the schools by RSC artists, tailored student workshops, and access to the RSC’s online resources as well as RSC performances in the UK and Asia. The programme will culminate in student performances across the DCI network.
Shakespeare Festival 2016 Dulwich College Beijing Students on Film! In September Dulwich College Beijing (DCB) hosted a film screening of postapocalyptic indie teen musical The Remnant, which made an incredible hit at the 2016 Portland Film Festival as an official selection out of more than 3,800 submissions and the winner of the prestigious Director’s Choice Award! The event was screened by the film’s bilingual Chinese-Canadian director, writer, and composer, Karmia Chan Olutade. With nearly all cast members between the ages of 8-18, the film features five students from DCB, including the main character, played by DCB’s own Year 12 student Kayla C! Fellow Senior School students, Claire, Annika, Luca, Maggie, and Micah also acted over the summer in the feature-length musical. Kayla was involved in Ms Olutade’s original musical called Foundling Hill in the winter of 2015 and, after several rounds of selections, went on to play the lead role in the film adaptation. Kayla was able to attend the film festival in early September where she was publicly recognised as an artist to be reckoned with, having won the compliments of industry professionals and ecstatic audiences alike. “I was lucky and honoured to be part of the cast of The Remnant,” Kayla says of the experience. “Along with my best friends in the city, knowing that we all belong to this supportive and loving cast is something comforting. I did gain skills and techniques, but even more than that – experience, global awareness, and friendship.”
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The Last Word Reading through this wonderful reflection on our Michaelmas Term I cannot help to have a huge feeling of gratitude and appreciation for the vast array of wonderful activities that are on view, as well as for the work undertaken to produce it. Without question, Dulwich College Suzhou and all of the Dulwich College International Schools for that matter, are ‘Students First’ organisations. They are places filled with learning, adventure, achievement, progress, co-operation, leadership, determination, music, sport, drama and hundreds and hundreds of happy smiling young people. It is a great honour to be able to write something to accompany what has already been said about the lives of the students. But, perhaps you will allow me to comment on a few highlights from this first term in Suzhou.
to learn, said that the students saw their school as ’their second home’. By definition this is very special, for our reason for being here is to provide educational excellence for international families and their young people, who are away from home. To learn that DCSZ has achieved a true sense of community in its first 10 years is truly inspiring. From the days when our Director of Schools, Brian McDouall, worked on the DCSZ project, to Headmaster, Nick Magnus, who opened the school and to Headmaster, John Todd, who handed over to me in the summer, DCSZ has been a place where everything and everyone matters. In continuing to put our students first in everything we do I am confident that the next 10 years will be equally spectacular. May I wish you all a wonderful 2017.
The warmth and friendliness of our parent community began with a lovely evening in the College last August and has continued to be a central feature of the community we serve. The fantastic participation in a wide range of events, sport, music, charities etc have brought an inner smile to all those involved. The wonderful Christmas Tree lighting ceremony that captured the family feel and service to others, which helps us all to reflect on what we can all give to others. The superb dramatic musical, investitures, residential field trips, sporting accomplishments, young musician of the year, singing with Vienna Boys and the lovely community choir performance in central Suzhou all brought happiness and excitement to everyone. These are, however only some of the highlights - because there are many, many more that could be mentioned. But in the end, the highlight to top off all the highlights was one of the comments made by the Inspectors, who whilst telling us that our College was a truly excellent place
David Porrit Headmaster
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Yours
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Excellent in every respect! Independent Schools Inspectorate report findings.
No. 360 Gang Tian Road, SIP, Suzhou, 215021, China 中国江苏省苏州工业园区港田路360 号, 邮编 215021 T/电话 (86512) 6295 9500 F/传真 (86512) 6295 7540 communications@dulwich-suzhou.cn
www.dulwich-suzhou.cn