Principal’s Message
Dear Parents
My week started at the Tai Tam campus, observing how the children are learning and welcoming visitors. I am to be at the Sai Kung campus every Monday, Tai Tam every Thursday and the rest of the week at Lam Tin.
Your children might have told you about a film crew in school this week. They were here to make a training video showing good and bad practice in welcoming new parents and showing the experience they can have. I had a small part of pretending spontaneously to bump into parents and welcoming them (played by actresses!). I don’t’ think it will make the Oscars!
The school also hosted a visit by Betsie Becker, who is the Managing Director for the Juilliard programs. She was very impressed by the school and the children themselves. Betsie observed a range of Arts lessons in school, met with the PE, music and drama teams, enjoyed a tour of the school and experienced the Key Stage Two choir during their second rehearsal of the year! Well done to everyone for showing their best.
The first Assembly at Tai Tam was a lovely occasion, awarding the first ‘Stars of the Week’ certificates and hearing what children are doing in class. I really enjoyed reading to all the children in our lovely library. Monday will see Sai Kung’s first assembly and I’m very much looking forward to that.
Today’s assembly in LamTin was a stunning example of successful teamwork. Class 5 E gave us historical insights, a Junior Mastermind sketch (maybe for any benefit!) and an insight into their ambitions. These assemblies just get better and better.
I need to end on a sombre note because of the devastating earthquake in Mexico. The school of which I was Principal there was damaged but, fortunately, the children escaped with seconds to spare, therefore no one was injured. Obviously, they are shocked and frightened by the destruction and loss of life. It is heartbreaking to see people searching through the rubble for survivors. So many poor people are left with nothing and have lost loved ones.
If you would like to help please donate to any of the following: Cruz Roja Mexicana (Red Cross Mexico), UNICEF Mexico or Topos Mexico.
Thank you for your support.
Have a good weekend with your family.
Brian Cooklin
Principal
GENERAL NOTICES
2 October
Public holiday – no school
5 October
Public holiday - no school
SCROLL DOWN FOR TAI TAM AND SAI KUNG UPDATE
LAM TIN UPDATES
UPCOMING EVENTS
29 September
Class Assembly 6A, Emma Parker
3 October – 6:00-7:30pm
PTA Meeting
4 October – 8:00am-3:00pm
Year 7 Race around Hong Kong
6 October
Class Assembly 5E, Lizzy Grundy
SAVE THE DATE – 13 October - Secondary Sports Day at Kowloon Bay Stadium. If you are interested to volunteer, please contact your class rep.
MOON CAKE DRIVE UPDATE – we need more
We really want to beat last year’s donation so are extending the deadline to Wednesday, 27 September. Lets see how many we can collect. We shall reveal the total amount in next week’s update. Thanks for your support.
LIBRARY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Since lovely Sophie relocated out of Hong Kong, we are in need of support in the library. We are currently looking for parent volunteers to help in the library, shelf-checking, shelving books, and assisting students in borrowing and returning books. So if you’re organised, love books and of course children, this could the right opportunity for you. Please contact Miriam.Bates@nais.hk if you are interested.
LETTING OFF SOME STEAM - PARENTS WE NEED YOUR HELP
Are you a pilot, aeronautical engineer or someone who works in the aerospace industry? If so we need you to help us with an exciting project we will be running with Year 7 pupils later this term. As part of our collaboration with MIT we are running a month-long STEAM project entitled Greener Skies. This project is all about the future of air travel, and the designs and ideas that might one day shape the planes we fly in. The whole of Year 7 will be working on this theme during a month-long project in November where they will be learning about the history of air travel, the impact it has had on the planet and the possible designs we might see in the future and the benefits they might bring.
How can you get involved?
If you are involved somehow in the industry and would be willing to speak and share your insights and experiences on any of these topics we would love to have you involved. Specifically, we are looking for speakers to help launce the project at the beginning of November, experts and judges to help with a design and pitch day towards the end of the month and other people who may be able to work alongside staff to bring real world experience to their lessons. We would also love to hear from any parents who may be able to arrange any trips or visits to airports, factories or design teams which could help bring the topic to life.
Everyone is welcome!
At the end of the Month we will be hosting a fair in which all the work that pupils have completed will be shown and all parents and pupils are invited to attend this event.
Contact Darren.Sutton@nais.hk for more details on how to get involved.
MUSIC APPS AND GAMES
Each week from now we will share with you an app or online game that your children can engage with to help consolidate music learning at home! This week is the Note Name Game, available through any device or browser. Students need to drag the correct note name under the note to figure out the word.
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Global Campus Photographer of the Year Competition Closing Date Extended!
This year’s competition to find the best budding photographers from across our 46 schools worldwide has had its closing date extended to Monday, 23 October. If you have any questions, please email david.robinson@nais.hk. Click here to take part.
GLOBAL CAMPUS CREATIVE WRITERS AND ARTISTS
Congratulations to our winners of the Global Campus Creative Writing and Visual Artists who received the delightful designed anthology in assembly last week. The anthology includes the art work and stories by our students paired with their peers from all across the Global Campus. Keep your eyes out for this year’s competition which will be launched shortly.
GLOBAL GOALS
Sandringham Still Top of the Dizzy Goals League for Global Goals Week
This week has been Global Goals Week marking the second anniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals being set with just 13 years left to try and reach them. Inspirational public figures such as Malala Yousafzai, Bill and Melinda Gates and President Obama have been giving speeches to bring attention to the goals, celebrate the work that has been done so far and inspire the world to strive to reach these targets while celebrities like Stevie Wonder and Pharrell Williams draw attention to the goals at the Global Citizen Festival (which you can watch streamed live in VR!). If you want to be like Norman Jupiter, you and your children can create your own Global Goals Goalkeeper avatar to share at this page.
Here at NAIS Hong Kong, we’re continuing to draw attention to the goals with our house competition the Dizzy Goals Challenge. Thanks to everyone who has participated so far. The current league table is as follows:
· Sandringham: 13 participants including 3 teachers and 1 parent
· Windsor: 8 participants
· Balmoral: 4 participants
· Caernarfon: 3 participants
You’ve still got until October 9th to submit and teachers and parents are also encouraged to take part and spread the word. All entries will count towards the final tally. Please be warned that you must take the challenge in a wide-open space where you will have a soft landing if you fall!
The house padlets for uploading videos are linked to below:
If you need more inspiration, here’s world famous footballer Gareth Bales doing his Dizzy Goal.
ASSEMBLY TIME
Primary Assembly – Class 5E, Conor Lyons
Our children from 5E well-delivered an informative class assembly this morning about Zheng He, a Chinese mariner and explorer during China's early Ming dynasty. They show us some of their works on this specialist topic during their class, such as paintings and writings. From the story of Zheng, they have learn to be whatever you want to be. Just work hard and be ambitious!
“We know, as long as we work hard and Be Ambitious, we can achieve anything we want.” From lawyer to designer, table tennis to basketball player, teacher to photographer, 5E showed us their ambitions in the future before the end of the assembly. We are sure that they could reach their dream in the future.
Secondary Assembly
Secondary pupils were treated to an assembly by Mr Reid and Year 10 pupils Toby, Amy, Velvet and Anni about the amazing experience they had on the residential in Tanzania earlier this year.
The assembly included personal accounts from the pupils themselves and a video showing the activities they were involved whilst there. This included a safari in the Serengeti National Park, helping construct a local school and facilities for local families.
The residential is for Year 9 and 10 pupils in February 2018 but was shared with all of Secondary to highlight the amazing opportunity they will have in the coming years. Details of the trip will be shared with parents of Year 9 and 10 pupils.
STARS OF THE WEEK - ENGLISH
Congratulations to our “Stars of the Week”. Keep up the good work!
Year 1: Manuel Cabrita Mateus E Pedago Neto, Kiyaara Luthra, Alan Bishop, Audrey Lau, Tim Lu
Year 2: Chelsea Ha, Regina Garibay, Brian Cheng, James Zarin, Eunice Fung
Year 3: Zoey Li, Callum Burns, Natalie Wan, Kevin Yan, Jasmine Kincaid
Year 4: Audrey Todd, Theo Loh, Fred Lam, Jocelyn Rayner, Darsh Parikh
Year 5: Jenny Ma, Jerry Qiu, Andrew Leung, Ivy Hatherall, Leah Brown
Year 6: Joseph Marks, Luca Brown, Chloe Chan, Adelaide Chan, Alvin Law
HIGH COMMENDATIONS - ENGLISH
Year 7: Cherry Sun, Brendan Cheung
Year 8: Charlotte Knowles
Year 9: Angus McLennan
Year 10: Stephy Tsang
WHO’s WHO & WHEN TO CONTACT THEM
LUNCH MENU
The October menu is now available for viewing here.
TAI TAM UPDATES
Message from the Head of School
It has been a great week and we have celebrated our first Whole School Assembly. We welcomed Norman Jupiter Bear back from his travels around the Nord Anglia schools and he joined Mr Cooklin during storytime in the library. He is heading back on his travels around the world to one of our new schools. You can share his adventures with your children on the Global Campus website which can be accessed through our parent portal Firefly.
The children have been busy learning all week and you can see this through the blog posts which the teachers have been adding this week. Please check the class blogs no Firefly. My favourite activity this week has been listening to the children singing and performing action rhymes together, although watching the role play activities earlier in the week was also a great joy. Year 1 are creating their very own airport role play area which links very well to our MIT challenges.
Mrs Sarah Harley
NOTICES
Save the date: Parent Consultation Meetings for Nursery and Reception will take place on 10th & 11th October.
Year 1 Consultation meetings will take place on 28th November
STARS OF THE WEEK – TEACHERS CHOICE
Nursery: Mildred Sam - Bumble bees
Lower Kindergarten: Kadyn Chau - Dolphins
Upper Kindergarten: Chloe Fan - Alligators
BLOGS
Don't forget to read your class blog on Firefly, teachers will be updating them regularly.
WHO’s WHO & WHEN TO CONTACT THEM
Quick list guide of who to email for what:
SAI KUNG UPDATES
Message from the Head of School
We started the week with our first whole school assembly. The children listened carefully to news about the travels of Norman Jupiter Bear who has been visiting our other schools as part of the global campus. It was very satisfying to see the whole school together celebrating their achievements this week.
Year 1 also enjoyed their first swimming lesson in Lam Tin as well as joined in with our other Year 1s as part of their 'explorers' sessions. They were able to learn about our 5 senses by visiting different classrooms where different learning opportunities were on offer.
Mrs Naima Charlier
NOTICES
Save the date: Parent Consultation Meetings will take place on 10th & 11th October.
STARS OF THE WEEK – TEACHERS CHOICE
Nursery: Sae Kojima, Ella Lau
Lower Kindergarten: Helios Chan, Ashley Robinson, Joby Woo, Kotona Shimono
Upper Kindergarten: Oliver Robinson
BLOGS
Don't forget to read your class blog.
CONTACT DETAILS
