Newsletter #4
Beacon Hill School latest newsletter available to read now. Find out the latest news around the school and upcoming events.
Principal’s Words
Important Dates
Around BHS
SEN News
Other News
Dear Parents, Family and Friends,
Our annual PTA Bowling tonight will be a fun evening. The teachers will be there too and are looking forward to seeing many of their students and parents. I would like to thank the PTA and Janley and Rowena particularly for organising this event.
This week has been very wet, meaning the children have not been able to be out running around on the playground as often as usual.The weather forecast isn’t great for the weekend but hopefully there will be some opportunities for you and your children to get outside and have some fun together.
If you or any friends you know are wishing to apply for a Year 1 placement for the 2017-18 academic year, an online application must be completed. You can find all the information you need to know on our website: https://www.beaconhill.edu.hk/year-1-applications/
Thank you to all of you who took time to complete our survey about what you believe good learning is. We shall use the results in our Professional Development Day tomorrow when all teachers and Educational Assistants will be engaged in discussions and work to develop a shared understanding, with a shared purpose and common language to ensure we can work towards our goals. We will share with you the fruits of our labours in the coming weeks.
Class 3D assembly
This morning, 3D were the first children to share their Class Assembly with the entire school. Although I was not able to see it as I was at ESF Centre, I did sneak into a practice they had on Wednesday afternoon and if that was anything to go by, I know that Friday’s sharing would have been magnificent, setting a high standard for all the other students! I trust parents enjoyed this and thank you for attending – as always, your children love to show you what they have been learning in school.
Student Achievement Beyond School
Ady Lam, who was in Year 6 last academic year, has won a Runners Up place in the Grade 4 to 6 Category in Sarah Brennan’s International Writing Competition for primary school children! Sarah had a fabulous response to the competition, with 79 entries from 21 schools in Calcutta, Chicago, Hong Kong, Perth, Seattle, Singapore, Shanghai and Sydney, so Ady was competing against a very stiff field. Ady’s entry, and all the other winning poems, can be seen on Sarah Brennan’s blog on the Clever Competitions page at https://sarahbrennanblog.com/competitions-and-challenges/
Well done Ady! Maybe this will inspire your child to get writing and enter Sarah’s next Clever Competition, if they’d like a fun writing challenge over the coming months! It would be great to get more winning entries from BHS!
Tennis Club
The ESL Tennis Coach, Alan Yip, has provided tennis lessons at BHS for several years. He is keen to promote the sport and is offering the opportunity for a trial lesson. This is primarily aimed at those students who were members of the BHS Tennis Club last year but others are welcome. Please see his letter towards the end of this Newsletter.
Island School Redevelopment Update September 2016
For those of you who expect to have children attending Island School in the coming years, I would ask you to read the ‘Redevelopment Update’ further on in this Newsletter.
BHS Community Choir
Last January we held the inaugural meeting of the BHS Community Choir and went on to perform at the International Food Fair, the Chinese New Year show and the Summer Music Concert. The choir will re-form this year, starting on Thursday October 20th at 7pm. Everyone is welcome – no experience necessary! New and existing members are very welcome. Please click on this link to register: https://goo.gl/forms/fERvdJNghaaC1YYa2
BHS SLT Awards
Here are the recipients of this award this week:
| Rei Kitamura 3M | For always displaying great sportsmanship during lunchtime football at Ede Road. |
| Nikita Dawes 5Y | For helping Year One students find their way around the school |
| Wilson Lau 5M | For a great start to the year |
| Charlotte Cheung 3D | For being so polite and friendly each morning when she greets Mr Harrison. |
IMPORTANT DATES
| SEPTEMBER | |
| 10th (Saturday) | BHS CPD Day for teachers |
| 12th | Year 2 excursion to Penfold Park |
| 12th | School Council Meeting, 5pm |
| 14th | Year 6 swimming |
| 15th | PTA Mid-Autumn Market |
| 16th | Public Holiday (Day after Mid-Autumn Festival) – School Closed |
| 19th | Year 1 excursion to Fun Zone |
| 21st | Year 6 Swimming |
| 23rd | Year 4 Sharing for Parents, 9am |
| 24th | ESF Ed. Services Football Tournament |
| 26th-30th | ISA Assessments |
| 27th and 29th | Parent-Teacher Consultations |
| 28th | Year 6 Swimming |
| 30th | ESF Environmental Conference |
| OCTOBER | |
| 3rd | John Hopkins Parent Information Evening, 6.30pm |
| 4th | Year 3 and Year 5 Camp Information Evening |
| 5th | Year 4 and Year 6 Camp Information Evening |
| 5th | Dress Casual Day to support the HK Community Chest |
| 6th and 7th | School Closed, BHS CPD Days |
| 10th-15th | School Closed, Half Term Break |
The Year Group Weekly Updates and Single Subject Monthly Updates are available on the school website – so please remember to refer to the website each week to be informed about what is happening in your child’s class.
Next week is a four-day week, with Friday being a public holiday. To celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival, the PTA and Mandarin Department will be hosting our regular Mid-Autumn Market in school on Thursday 15th September so please make sure your child brings a few dollars into school that day to purchase one or two items from the stall. Ms Lynn, our Head of Mandarin has more details later in this newsletter.
Best wishes,
_
James Harrison
Principal
News from the English Team
A busy three weeks
The library has really started to buzz now as the children get into the swing of choosing and borrowing books independently. Class teachers have been working with the children to set expectations for behaviour and how we look after our book collections.
You can help your child prepare for library borrowing by reminding them about their library day and checking that they have a red book bag in school to carry their books in. The red book bag must be labelled and we suggest your child attaches a key ring or piece of ribbon to the top zip to help them find it easily.
On the subject of finding things easily: is your child’s name clearly labelled inside their shoes? The children take off their shoes before coming in to the library, so that they can relax in the cubby holes and on the cushions. I can’t tell you how many children I have heard cry “I can’t find my shoes” as they leave after their lesson or lunchtime. Imagine 60 shoes that look the same and you can see the problem for those children who don’t have name labels.
New Books
One of many exciting parts of Mrs Lowe and my jobs is receiving packages of new books for the library. We buy books that will support the curriculum and inquiry but also that have been requested by children and teachers based on their interests. It is lovely to see how pleased the children are to see new books appear on the shelves that they asked for. We are often asked if we accept book donations, we do if the books are in good condition with no mould, and have been published after 2010. If the books are not needed in our library collection we may pass them onto the class teachers for their book areas.
Family borrowing
A reminder for those parents who have already applied for a library card that these will be kept in the library. If you have sent in your registration form just come along at the opening times to get started. The form can be downloaded from https://www.beaconhill.edu.hk/letterspage/ We look forward to welcoming back our family borrowers from last year. Our family borrowing times are as follows:
| Before school | After school | |
| Monday | 8.30-9.00am | 2.45-3.00pm |
| Tuesday | 8.30-9.00am | |
| Wednesday | 8.30-9.00am | 2.45-3.00pm |
| Thursday | 8.30-9.00am | |
| Friday | 8.30-9.00am |
As always if you have any questions and queries about English at school or the library contact me Emily Jeves at jevese2@beaconhill.edu.hk
Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations at BHS
Details of the Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations in BHS
Dear Parents,
As promised in the last newsletter, here are the details of the mid-autumn celebrations at BHS.
Date/Time: Thursday Sept 15th 2016, 9:00am – 3:00pm
PTA mid-autumn market: Front entrance area outside of the PTA office
Mid-autumn fun activities: Mandarin classrooms
Please remind your child to bring a small amount of money to school to buy fruit and lanterns at the PTA mid-autumn market on Thursday, Sept 15th 2016.
(Banana – $5, small lantern – $8, big lantern – $16, apple – $5 and raisins – $5)
All proceeds from the PTA Market will be used to purchase new and exciting Mandarin learning resources for children in Beacon Hill School.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the PTA and all the volunteering parents for their help and support.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
The Mandarin Department
Parent Workshops 2016-17
Term 1
| Date | Workshop |
| 27 & 29 September | Parent Teacher Conferences |
| 3 October | Gifted & Talented – John Hopkins Centre for Talented Youth |
| 4 & 5 October | Camp Information Evenings |
| 27 October 6pm | Year 1 Maths |
| 27 October 6:45pm | Year 3 Maths |
| 27 October 7:30pm | Year 5 Maths |
| 18 October 6:30-8pm | Positive Parenting Workshop
Marie Marchand – Sibling Rivalry |
| 26 October | The Power of Play |
| 8, 10, 22 November – Day Appointments
24, 30 November – Evening Appointments |
Mandarin Parent Teacher Consultations |
| 9 November | English Reading Workshop for Helpers |
| 9 November | English Reading Workshop for Parents |
| 29 November | Introduction to PYP (Year 1 parents and new parents) |
Applications for Year 7 Places
Parents of our Year 6 students need to submit an application for a Year 7 ESF place via The Gateway between 5th September and 16th September 2016.
Information available on the ESF website at http://www.esf.edu.hk/node/5470 for key dates and http://www.esf.edu.hk/esf-zones for school zones.
An instructional guide for parents has been uploaded to the website. Go to the Admissions tab and click on ‘Year 7 applications’. Or click HERE.
Chad Pheasant
Vice Principal
Island School Redevelopment Update September 2016
At the start of the academic year 2016-17 it is timely to reflect on the current state of play with regard to the redevelopment of the Island School campus. We are pleased to report that both the detailed designs of the temporary school buildings and the new school itself are coming on very well and are near completion. All the preliminary drawing submissions have been approved by the relevant government departments and we are well on the way to achieving Gold Beam+ status for the new designs commitment to sustainability.
We have benefited hugely from being able to work so closely with TCA architects. They have been so committed to listening to our needs, wants and ideas. Having said all this we are no nearer receiving a final confirmation that the project can go ahead starting June 2017 and therefore cannot be 100% sure that we will be relocating for August of the same year. We are hoping that the redevelopment project, and the government funding towards the project, will be ratified by the end of this month. As soon as we have had this confirmation, we are confident that we are on track to plan a very successful approach to temporarily relocating next year.
An invitation
As we embark on what is hopefully our final year in this building prior to decant, it is vitally important that we A, plan supportive, safe and efficient strategies for student travel to and from the temporary school sites. And B, that we become more strategic and anticipatory in our planning for sustaining our school ethos and community cohesion throughout the decant period. On top of that we need to be mindful that a sensitively planned community engagement programme is essential if we are to integrate with the Tai Wai communities and develop a reciprocally beneficial relationship with the people in the areas around the temporary school sites.
We already have a small group of primary parents that wish to work with us as we contemplate the concrete details of a transport plan, but we need more prospective parents to get involved. We need to hear your views and work together with you to ensure the complete success of the temporary relocation arrangements. Please email me on gareth.stevens@online.island.edu.hk if you wish to be involved. Also if you wish to accompany us on a visit to one of the school sites on 21 Sep 2016 please let me know. The campus we will be visiting is for Years 7,8,12 and 13.
Gareth Stevens
Vice Principal, Island School
Gifted and Talented
Dear Parents,
We have spent the last year developing a Gifted and Talented policy which can be viewed on the Gateway, and outlines how we may go about identifying who those students are. Beacon Hill School is at the early stages of identification and developing a Gifted and Talented register.
As part of this development, we are offering an information evening at Beacon Hill School from a representative of the John Hopkins Centre for Talented Youth on Monday 3rd October at 6.30pm for Year 3-6 parents only. Please see details below.
Susan Chung
Vice Principal
RE: JHU-CTY 2016-17 Fall Information Session at BHS (Oct 3)
Dear Parents,
Greetings from the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY)! As part of the Johns Hopkins University, CTY conducts the oldest and most extensive university-based Talent Search by offering an above-grade level testing to the 2nd to 8th graders (year 3 – 9 students) worldwide. For academically advanced students who qualify, CTY offers challenging summer and online programs.
In the coming fall, we will host an information session at Beacon Hill School (BHS). The schedule is as below:
| Date: | October 3, 2016 (Monday) |
| Time: | 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. |
| Venue: | BHS – Main Hall |
| RSVP: | https://centerfortalentedyouth.formstack.com/forms/bhs_information_session_rsvp
(Please RSVP on or before September 26) |
During the session, we will provide first-hand information about CTY summer and online programs, including their benefits to the students and how to qualify. Come and check us out! We look forward to seeing you on the day!
Best Regards,
East Asia Office (EAO)
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY)
Health
Mumps
We would like to inform you of the fact that one student is highly suspected to have Mumps. The child is resting at home, is on prescribed medication and will return to school as per doctor’s advice.
It is a contagious disease caused by the Mumps virus which affects the salivary glands.
Signs and symptoms include neck swelling (pain or discomfort) and fever.
If you suspect that the child has Mumps, please consult the doctor for confirmation of diagnosis.
Also, there are two students who are on sick leave with Scarlet Fever.
It is a bacterial infection caused by Group A Streptococcus.
Signs and symptoms include fever, sore throat, a rash (usually the upper trunk and neck which spreads to the limbs).
If you suspect that the child has Scarlet Fever, please consult the doctor for confirmation of diagnosis.
To prevent the spread of the diseases, please do not send the affected child to school.
Always Keep Hands Clean.
Thank you.
Ms Chen
68th Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival
The application form for entering 68th Hong Kong School Speech Festival will be ready for you to pick up at the school front desk from Monday 29th August. If your child/(ren) wants to participate in this competition, please return the application form and application fee in a cheque payable to “Beacon Hill School” to the school office on or before Friday 9th September, 2016. Any late application received after the deadline will not be accepted.
Please note that ESF school education level is not equivalent to the local school system. If you enrol in the year group programme, please cross check with the following table for the correct age group. HKSMSA is based on the local school system for enrolment.
Should you have any queries, please contact Ms Shiree Yam at the office.
| ESF Level | Local School System |
| Y1 | K3 |
| Y2 | Y1 |
| Y3 | Y2 |
| Y4 | Y3 |
| Y5 | Y4 |
| Y6 | Y5 |
Tennis Club
Welcome back to another year at Beacon Hill school.
I’m Tennis coach Alan Yip of Beacon Hill School ESF/ESL Tennis program. As our lead coach of the Beacon Hill school program, I’ve had the pleasure of working with the wonderful kids of Beacon Hill school since 2011. Watching many of the children grow up, learn to play tennis and progress to bigger things has been one of the highlights of my time at Beacon Hill school thus far.
I am writing to you as I know of your child’s interest in tennis. Obviously as a teacher of Tennis, I have been a huge fan of the Beacon Hill School Tennis Club last year. When I heard there may not be a Tennis club this year due to the teacher’s departure, I immediately took action to ensure that the children of Beacon Hill School had an opportunity to continue their Tennis Journey with an experienced professional at a convenient location.
Please consider my invitation for your child to trial our after school tennis program at Beacon Hill school on either Monday or Saturday afternoons. Our after school program is a comprehensive and successful program, consisting of training, competition, school tournaments and social events. The aim is to promote a love for tennis and to help all our Tennis stars reach their full potential.
Should you have any further questions about our program at Beacon Hill School, please do not hesitate to contact me.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Coach Alan Yip
Australasia Tennis Aces
ESF Tennis Program Beacon Hill school / King George V School
Disclaimer: Beacon Hill School and the English School Foundation do not recommend or endorse any external events in this newsletter. There is no contractual arrangement between BHS/ESF and the event organisers.
