In Fine Form! ADVOCATE FOR STUDENT VOICE

Nick Moore, Discovery Bay International School’s new Head of Year 12, is about to be busier than ever, empowered by the school’s new Sixth Form focus. Elizabeth Kerr reports

School grades are like shoe sizes. Meaning, as the chat with Discovery Bay International School (DBIS) physics teacher, Head of Year 12 and Sixth Form guru Nick Moore turns to education in general, it becomes clear that the labelling the UK native, this Canadian-born writer, and what we all grew up watching people on television use are very, very different.

“What do Americans call it?” Nick asks, genuinely curious. “Junior year,” I say, referring to the second last academic year of secondary school currently up for debate. I personally just called it grade 12 I tell him – which is not quite the same as Year 12. To him it’s a form; to DBIS as well. It depends on when you start counting. We think. It’s all very baffling. Almost as baffling as the sheer variety of shoe size options around the world. Hence the plea for a universal standard – for both. “I couldn’t agree more,” Nick cracks.

Whatever you want to call it, as of this month Nick is DBIS’s Head of Year 12 and Assistant Head of Sixth Form, following numerous years teaching science and four years as Head of Year 11. The Bournemouth native is looking forward to mentoring Sixth Form, and his forthcoming duties as a guide for graduating students. “I’m not just academics focused,” he explains. “I’m really interested in pastoral care and making sure students are doing well everywhere else.”

The Path To Db

Nick initially studied physics and found his way to teaching in part due to the UK’s teacher shortage. He explored university programmes designed to prepare potential teachers with school placement and special lectures, and found himself inspired. “Those programmes were almost a way to put people off so that they wouldn’t commit to something they weren’t going to like. For me it was backwards; I enjoyed those so I pursued teaching. I know I’m supposed to say it was a calling but in reality, there are a million reasons people go into teaching.”

He landed in Hong Kong after working for five years in the UK and another five in Belgium, applying to DBIS from overseas when he got bitten by the urge to try something new. “I really liked what [former DBIS Principal] Paul Tough had to say,” he recalls of his online interview, and so he took the leap. He arrived in 2018, just in time to “enjoy all the lovely events of the last four years,” but he’s not leaving any time soon. The mix of urban and wild, and so much nature surrounding the busy city has won him over.

“I’m very much a small-town guy. I lived in Brussels but that’s a small city. Hong Kong wasn’t a huge culture shock but it was a lot different than what I’m used to, and so much more densely packed. But

Hong Kong is a very easy place in Asia to move to and I was quite taken with it quickly.”

As anathema as it may be to most DB readers, the spouse-, child-, and pet-free Nick lives in Central, at least for the time being. “I like being in the mix,” he continues. “I like the disconnect of not living where you work. You want some kind of distance between your work life and your personal life. DB is a small community and I might see my students, and… teachers look very weird to students outside the classroom.”

Pastoral Care And Academics

For work, however, the mix at DBIS will pivot on getting soon-to-be grads ready for the next stages of life, whatever they may be, as well as making it clear there’s more to DBIS than its renowned, and ahead of the curve, holistic learning. With enrolment creeping up once again, DBIS wants to highlight the comprehensive education its students receive,