From Our Head of College

Letter from Our Head of College

If you are exploring our school for the first time, I invite you to click here to embark on a virtual tour of our wonderful campus.  

As we begin 2025, I am privileged to reflect on our first term of the Academic Year 2024-2025 filled with outstanding achievements, community engagement, and festive celebrations. These highlights, by no means exhaustive, are a testament to the talent, resilience, and collaborative spirit of our students, staff, and parents. 

Academic Excellence 

• #1 IB School in Korea: Dulwich College Seoul has been ranked the Number 1 IB School in Korea for 2024! We are ranked 62nd among all IB schools in the world and one of only three schools in Korea to make it to the top 100. This remarkable recognition underscores our commitment to excellence, the dedication of our teachers, and the hard work of our students.  
   
• IGCSE Award Ceremony: Our IGCSE Award Ceremony celebrated our students' exceptional achievements. Congratulations to Cristian K. and Jaewook K., our 2024 Scholars, and to the performers who added a touch of artistry to the event.
    
• CIS Report from Preparatory Evaluation: We pleased to report an overwhelmingly positive report from the recent CIS visit. Thank you to all staff who were involved, with special thank you to Rebecca Gardner for facilitating the process. Please stay tuned for more details that will be shared at the beginning of the new term. 

Family of Schools 

• Worldwise Festival of Music: Dulwich College Seoul students joined peers from across the Dulwich network in Beijing for a week of collaboration, creativity, and performance. Their participation was an inspiring example of global citizenship and artistic talent. 
   
• Royal Shakespeare Company Workshop: Year 6 students participated in transformative workshops with the Royal Shakespeare Company, delving into Julius Caesar and exploring themes of leadership and decision-making. 
   
• Alumni Engagement: We hosted our regional representatives Alice Oh and Chelsea Hong on campus, and welcomed our DCSL representative, Alex Blanchard and President of the Worldwise Alumni Advisory Board, Bryan Chiew to join us in building our alumni community and strengthening our global network of Alleynians. 

Sports & Outdoor Education 

• Songdo Sevens: Our football teams excelled at the Songdo Sevens Tournament, showcasing skill, teamwork, and sportsmanship. 
   
• Varsity Volleyball Success: Our Varsity Volleyball team concluded an impressive season with spirited matches, reflecting their dedication and collaboration. 
   
• KAIAC U15 Football Tournament: Our U15 team represented us brilliantly at FOBISIA and in the KAIAC tournament, demonstrating perseverance and excellence. 
   
• Adventurous Journeys: Our students had a wonderful time exploring, learning and growing at the various trips this term. Students across year groups enjoyed the great outdoors, kayaking, paddle-boarding, archery, made scented candles, flown handmade kites, searched for freshwater shellfish, forged new friendships and worked collaboratively as team. Domestic and overseas trips including one to Mongolia pushed our students to confront their fears and test their limits, building their resilience. The trips are an essential part of our holistic education both inside and outside the classroom.  

Kindness 

• Annual Holiday Gift Drive: In addition to spearheading numerous initiatives throughout the year, our Charity Committee collected and donated a total of 234 gifts to five local orphanages. Thank you for participating in this important effort to share the holiday spirit with our community partners and beneficiaries. 
   
• Kunho’s Benefit Piano Recital: Year 11 student Kunho won First Prize in the Junior Category at the 3rd Steinway Amateur Competition and performed his first solo piano recital at Steinway Hall in Seoul. He donated the ticket sales proceeds and contributed his own funds, making a total donation of KRW 1,126,000 to Freedom Speakers International (FSI), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower North Korean refugees through mentorship, opportunities and partnerships. 
   
• Homeless World Cup: Year 6 students attended the Homeless World Cup, gaining meaningful insights into global issues and presenting awards to inspiring athletes, embodying the values of empathy and service. Our students also raised funds through a bake sale to support the Homeless World Cup.  

Leadership, Sustainability and Diversity 

• Head Students: We selected our new Head Students, Evelyn K (Diversity), Jaewook K (Excellence), Jane L (Community) and Kamil H (Sustainability), who each represent one of our core values and will work together to take our College to new heights. It was a tough decision with a record pool of 15 applicants this year, but we could not be prouder of our new leaders.  

• House Captains and Senior School House Leadership: Congratulations to our new six House Captains in Year 6 and 16 new House Leaders, who are instrumental in fostering collaboration and a strong sense of community across the school. May the best house prevail! 

• Student Council: Congratulations to our group of Term 1 student council members from Primary School and Senior School who have done a great job of representing their classes so well. We look forward to seeing how our Term 2 student council members enhance our students’ school experience! 

• Alex’s Action for Safety: Year 2 student Alex’s foot injury as he walked down the stairway to the lower-level parking lot sparked an idea. Even as he himself was injured; he grew concerned about others who may face the same fate going down the stairs. He quickly took action to call local district authorities to request that they safe proof the stairway to prevent others from slipping. The stairway is now covered with non-slip tape to prevent future accidents.

• DCSL’s Sustainability Actions on CNN: We are honoured to be featured on CNN for our students’ strong commitment and actions to promote sustainability. Our Eco Warriors, Community Gardening ECA students and Sustainability Committee students were featured on CNN for its Call to Earth segment, where they learned about sustainable cooking from one of our student’s grandmothers, Mrs. Kim. 

• Jane’s Award-winning Film: Year 12 student Jane directed her very first film and won an award from Young Arts 2025 in the student category. This is a remarkable achievement, given only 800 students out of nearly 11,000 applicants were chosen – and only 3 students from Korea. Fun fact: some of the film was shot on campus.  

• Connie’s Debate Team: Year 13 and former Head Student Connie was named Korea’s debate team captain and took Korea to an historic 7th place in the world championship last summer. We are so proud of her remarkable achievement! 

• Planet Hack: We successfully hosted a STEM competition, Planet Hack, in collaboration with our sister school, Dulwich College Beijing, Australian National University and Education in Motion. Students were challenged to create a biophilic retrofit product addressing buildings to help people feel closer to nature by adding natural elements, nature-inspired details and comfortable spaces. 

Community 

• Outstanding DCSL Math Teacher Profiled: Math Teacher Jack Denning was selected to represent our College alongside all EiM school teachers. His story shows his passion for the subject and how he supports students to reach their own “eureka moment” that helps build their confidence in tackling a math problem.  
   
• Tree Lighting Ceremony: This magical event, accompanied by beautiful music from our chamber musicians, brought the community together to celebrate the season. 
   
• Winter Bazaar: We had an exceptional turnout at this holiday event featuring food, warm drinks, carol singing, festive treats, and an array of activities. A heartfelt thank you to Friends of Dulwich (FoD) for organising this much-loved event. 
   
• Friends of Dulwich: Huge thank you to our Friends of Dulwich parents who organised monthly coffee mornings, used uniform sale and used book sales to help build community and welcome new families! They also helped decorate our atrium and foyer for Diwali celebrations and for the holidays, and donated and decorated a beautiful Christmas tree. Thank you for all your support and commitment to making our community as friendly and welcoming as it is. 
   
• Parent reps and TAP Ambassadors: A heartfelt thank you to all parent representatives and TAP Ambassadors who took the time to support current and prospective parents in their children’s learning journey.  

Looking Ahead 

• Adventure Journeys: Our students are gearing up for the amazing trips on the horizon in Term 2. In January, Year 9 and Year 12 are going to Japan and in February, Year 6 are going to Hong Kong! 
   
• EiM Student Leadership Conference: We are honoured to be hosting 130 students and staff from our EiM family of schools worldwide to bring our student leaders together on 16-18 January 2025. 
   
• WISE Conference: Don’t miss the second annual Women in International Schools Empowerment (WISE) conference we will be hosting on 21-23 February 2025. We have a great lineup of keynote speakers and workshops. Register here to secure your spot today as spaces are filling up! 

I am deeply grateful for our community’s ongoing support, dedication and commitment. 

Kind regards,  

Alison Derbyshire  
Head of College