Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
GENERAL NOTICES
2 October
Public holiday – no school.
5 October
Public holiday - no school.
HAVE AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL
Have you ever wondered how much wasted is generated during the Mid-Autumn Festival? The answer is far too much:
In light of our commitment to raising awareness of the environment, this year we want to encourage everyone to have a go at making their own lanterns from recyclable materials or to reuse last year’s lantern, avoid glow sticks, and to recycle boxes.
If you fancy getting creative at home you can watch this video or check out this site.
Click here for tips on how to create less waste.
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 Year 7 project in November. 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 students 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 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. We are looking for speakers to help launch the project at the beginning of November, experts and judges to help with a design and presentation 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.
Contact Darren.Sutton@nais.hk for more details on how to get involved.
CHECK THIS OUT … OUR MUSIC APP OF THE WEEK
This week’s music app has three separate games, downloadable as a bundle. Treble Cat Pro, Rhythm Cat Pro and Bass Cat Pro are great games for developing notation and rhythm. They help with learning the basic rhythms and progress to more challenging levels as you go. These games will also help to effortlessly improve sight reading skills. This game has been designed and created in collaboration with professional musicians and educators.
70TH HONG KONG MUSIC FESTIVAL – For Year 1/Upper Kindergarten and up
Following three extremely successful years, we are delighted to open enrollment for the Hong Kong Speech and Music Association’s 70th Annual Music Festival.
DIZZY GOALS UPDATE
Thank you to everyone who has joined the ‘Dizzy Goals’ challenge and helped to spread awareness about the United Nations’s vital campaign to end extreme poverty, reduce inequality and tackle climate change before 2030. We’ve had everyone from reception to year 10 involved, plus a few plucky parents and teachers.
The scores as they stand today are:
1. Sandringham: 19 participants including 3 teachers and 2 parents
2. Windsor: 16 participants including 2 parents
3. Balmoral: 10 participants
4. Caernarfon: 6 participants
With two holidays coming up you’ve still got plenty of time to join in. The closing date to submit will be 8am on Monday, 9 October. Teachers and parents are also encouraged to take part and spread the word about the Global Goals around your community. 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:
· Windsor
· Balmoral
If you need more inspiration, here’s former footballer, TV presenter and crisp advocate Gary Lineker doing his Dizzy Goal with a clever camera angle. Watch now.
LAM TIN UPDATES
UPCOMING EVENTS
3 October – 6:00-7:30pm
PTA Meeting
4 October – 8:00am-3:00pm
Year 7 Race around Hong Kong
5 October
Public holiday – no school
6 October
Class Assembly 5E, Lizzy Grundy
9 October
Tanzania Information Session 4:30-5:30pm
11 October
Parents Makerspace Exploration Session for Parents
12 October
Year 5 Production 1:30-2:30pm
13 October
Secondary Sports Day at Kowloon Bay Stadium. If you are interested to volunteer, please contact your class representative.
Save the Date
Primary Sports Day on Friday, 1 December.
SPREADING A LITTLE HAPPINESS
Our moon cake drive was a huge success!
Thank you to everyone who donated mooncakes. We ended up collecting over 800 which were distributed to the elderly resident earlier today at the Free Methodist Church Bradbury Tak Tin IVY Club, much to their delight. Several of our students also treated the members to a wonderful piano recital. What a lovely way to end the week.
MUSIC CURRICULUM
We are particularly delighted with the work of year 3 and 4 this week! Year three have been improvising over the 12-bar blues using notes from the blues scale, while year 4 are writing their own Gershwin inspired songs! To see examples, follow @musicNAISHK.
CAERNARFON HOUSE CAPTAIN APPOINTED
In Caernarfon, the children have been looking for a new House Captain. Four people put themselves forward and were given the chance to explain to the rest of the House why they feel they should be selected for the post. All four gave eloquent speeches and showed much skill in presenting ideas to an audience at last week’s House Assembly. This week, students have had the opportunity to vote, and though all four were noteworthy candidates, the children have selected Rohan Krishnan in Year 7 as their new Captain. Congratulations to Rohan and all the children who were nominated as they have demonstrated excellent skills in putting themselves forward.
COME AND EXPLORE OUR MAKERSPACE
Parents, join us on the 11th of October to get hands on experience with the tools and techniques your children will be using as part of our STEAM curriculum and MIT partnership. The workshop will be hosted by our STEAM co-ordinator Darren Sutton in our purpose-built Maker Space which opened this year. During the workshop, you will have a chance to experiment with 3D printing, electronics, robotics and green screen technology. Places are limited and on a first-come-first-served basis, so please sign up ASAP to make sure you don’t miss out. Email Darren.Sutton@nais.hk to book your visit.
SPORTING SUCCESS
Congratulations to the U14 Girls Football team who won 2-0 against International College Hong Kong.
More updates to come next week so stay tuned.
SECONDARY GEOGRAPHY
Year 7 have been developing their atlas skills this week and ensuring they can locate place precisely. We are now working in groups to explore one of these continents in detail before sharing our findings with the rest of the class.
Year 8 have created comic strips on the formation of coastal features such as cracks, caves, arches, stacks and stumps. We have also began to learn about depositional features including spits, bars and tombolos.
Year 9 have been studying volcanoes. Each student has created an online fact file based on a famous volcanic eruption and all have been able to label the key features of a cross section. We now move onto gaining greater context in our studies through looking at Iceland and its unique tectonic setting.
A NIGHT AT THE THEATRE
Last week, our Year 9 students went to see ‘The Play that Goes Wrong!’ at the HKAPA. The play was a farce about a bad group of actors who put on a show that goes really badly. By the end of the show, the set had fallen down, the characters were half dead and the audience were in hysterics. A great show and fun had by all. A great testament to how comedy can be performed and how physical it can be. There was much slapstick and buffoonery and the cast really were a very talented troupe. I wonder how this will inspire the Year 9s when they come to look at Pantomime in the coming weeks?
THE PUPIL COUNCIL
The Pupil Council have made a fantastic start to the new year!
Two weeks ago, the Pupil Council met for the first time to meet all the newly elected representatives and to decide on our first focus of the year! We decided to use the Global Goals as a stimulus to help us decide on our first initiative.
The Pupil Council sent out a survey to all the children at NAIS and asked them to vote on the goal which they felt to be the most important. Gender Equality came out with the most votes (93!).
After some group discussions, the children were left to think about how we can take action. Now, they have all been asked to submit their suggestions so we can collate ideas and make a plan!
ASSEMBLY TIME
Primary Assembly – Class 6A, Emma Parker
What an amazing assembly today by 6A. They performed ‘The Story of the Treaty of Versailles’. You gave us a lot to think about 6A and I’m sure there are many opinions today being discussed in the playground and around the school. Also if I’m not mistaken I can still hear many students and teachers humming to ‘Mamma Mia’! Who knew you could explain the complexities of the treaty to an Abba backing track. Fantastic! Watch them sing here.
Secondary Assembly
Today Mr Sheehan took the Secondary assembly to discuss the importance of sharing problems if pupils have them and encouraged them to understand that we all have a limit to what we can cope with by ourselves. He reminded pupils that there are staff in school that they can approach and that we want to support them if they are concerned by any issues. Mr Malone shared a personal story of when he was feeling upset because he was homesick during the first year in Hong Kong and that he only felt better once he spoke to Mrs Malone about this, again reinforcing the point that it is better to share problems if pupils have them.
STARS OF THE WEEK - STEAM
Congratulations to our “Stars of the Week”. Keep up the good work!
Year 1: Natalie Sinn, Bethany Au, Eishin Kaku, Zachary Ring, Marshall Wait
Year 2: Mayuko Ikawa, Ty Padgett, Linus Chan, Alfie Xu, Audrey Chen
Year 3: Isher Johal, Jack Hignett, Anna Charlie Henke Von Parpart, Nathan Wang, Dimitri Vallas
Year 4: Kaden Yuen, Matthew Yu, Esme Mcfee, Larisa Holt, Fred Oliver
Year 5: Will Loudoun, Claudia Merrill, Vielle Tsang, Brian De Lalinde, Howard Wang
Year 6: Soleil Chan, Cici Li, Charlotte Colton, Jia Yi Ji, Maithili Parekh
HIGH COMMENDATIONS - STEAM
Year 7: Steven Gu, Abbie Yiu
Year 8: Nao Matsushita
Year 9: Jaden Shim
Year 10: James Pang
See their smiling faces here.
TAI TAM UPDATES
Message from the Head of School
I have had a wonderful week, observing lessons and learning activities within all the classrooms. From painting with fruit in the Nursery, experimenting with Transient Art and mark making, to counting songs and describing my big brother in Mandarin! It has been fantastic to see all the children engaged in their learning and being challenged by our teachers to push themselves and Be Ambitious.
Miss Bovingdon, (Head of Drama) entertained the whole school this week with her retelling of ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’, everyone joined in and the splish, sploshing and squelching echoed joyfully around the school.
As the children are sharing family photos and discovering all about each other, Mrs Malone shared her family photos and some little known facts about herself with the school this week, the biggest hit was a photo of her kitten playing! As I write this the children are happily enjoying singing assembly with Miss Kelly.
I wish you all a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and hope you enjoy the long weekend.
Mrs Sarah Harley.
NOTICES
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
You can find detailed information about the curriculum for the coming term on our Firefly pages. Please do take a look and ask your teacher if you have any questions.
BLOGS
Please continue to check the blogs for weekly information about what your child has been learning in school.
LIBRARY BOOKS
Children will bring home a weekly library book starting next week. Please share these books with your child and help them to remember to bring it back on their library day. Your class teacher will let you know which day this is.
PARENT CONSULTATION – Nursery and Lower Kindergarten (Reception)
Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th October
EYFS parents are invited in to school for a Parent Consultation. This Parent Consultation is a chance for you to talk with your child’s class teacher about your child’s learning and development throughout this half term. Your teacher will talk to you about how your child has settled, what they are enjoying at school and any next steps that they will be taking throughout the coming weeks. This time is also a chance for you to ask any questions that you may have and celebrate all of the wonderful learning that has happened in the first few weeks of school.
There is a digital sign-up system on Firefly – please click here to access this and book your appointment time.
If you have any questions about this process please contact taitamreceptionist@nais.hk who will be able to help.
PARENT CONSULTATION – Upper Kindergarten (Year 1)
Tuesday, 28 November
If your child is in Year 1, they will have a Parent Consultation later this year. This will be on Tuesday, 28 November and you will have an opportunity to sign up for a time to discuss your child’s learning, development, progress and next steps with the teacher. This time will also be a chance to talk about and celebrate your child’s achievements in their first few months of school.
INSET DAY – 10 November
School is closed to all pupils for staff training.
INTERNATIONAL DAY – 15 November
International Day will be celebrated across all three sites at Nord Anglia and we will be looking for parent volunteers who would be willing to come in and help our children learn about different cultures here in Tai Tam.
If you would be interested in coming in and reading a story from your culture, sharing some food or even running a small cooking class we would be delighted to hear from you. Please email Katie.malone@nais.hk to let us know and we will liaise with the schools PTA to make it a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience for all.
SPORTS DAY
Year 1 children will join in the whole of Primary Sports Day on December 1 – EYFS will have a separate sports day with Tai Tam EYFS in the Spring. More information will be given about both events nearer the time.
CHRISTMAS SHOW
Save the date for our Tai Tam show on 12 December – all the children will take to the stage and parents will be invited.
NO NUTS
We are a nut free school as we have a number of children with severe nut allergies. Please remember this when packing your child’s snack and lunch as we cannot allow nuts of any kind in the building. For snack we suggest a small piece of fruit or bread.
SPARE CLOTHES
We do have a small supply of spare clothes for emergencies, can we remind everybody to add a spare set of clothes to your child’s bag every day, just in case!
STARS OF THE WEEK – TEACHERS CHOICE
Nursery: Agnes Jaeraas - Ladybird
Lower Kindergarten: Eita Kamada - Starfish
Upper Kindergarten: Diego Pardo Aldana - Bats
SAI KUNG UPDATES
Message from the Head of School
I have been away in Abu Dhabi this week on our Nord Anglia Senior Leadership Programme. This is a chance to work with other senior leaders from all our schools and share and develop our practice in order to make our schools the best they can possibly be.
While I was away, Mr Cooklin delivered an assembly for our very first ‘Stars of the Week’. Here we celebrate the efforts and engagement of the children and we were very proud of all of them. It was especially pleasing to hear about how the other children supported their peers and their success.
Walking around the school yesterday and today, I was struck by how engaged all the children were. There is a growing level of focus which is pleasing to see. I really enjoyed seeing the Reception children studiously developing their fine motor skills as part of their morning tasks. In the photo you can see them all working away and Jack asking me why I was taking their photo?!
Next week we will meet with Anna Champion and Jessica Bruser from the PTA in order to discus and develop our plans for how to further engage and involve parents in our school. We look forward to sharing that information with you very soon.
As part of our curriculum we learn about different world celebrations and on Monday, 9 October we will have a Diwali assembly. If we have any parents who would like to share their knowledge and help with this, please let us know by emailing our receptionist at SaiKungReception@nais.hk.
The children have all been busy learning about the culture and celebrations about to take place this week here in Hong Kong, China and around the world. I would like to wish all our families a relaxing and enjoyable long weekend as we celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Mrs Naima Charlier
NOTICES
CURRICULUM OVERVIEWS
You can find detailed information about the curriculum for the coming term on our Firefly pages. Please do take a look and ask your teacher if you have any questions.
BLOGS
Please continue to check the blogs for weekly information about what your child has been learning in school.
LIBRARY BOOKS
Children will bring home a weekly library book starting this week. Please share these books with your child and help them to remember to bring it back on their library day. Your class teacher will let you know which day this is.
PARENT CONSULTATION INFORMATION – EYFS
Tuesday, 10 and Wednesday, 11 October
EYFS parents are invited in to school for a Parent Consultation. This Parent Consultation is a chance for you to talk with your child’s class teacher about your child’s learning and development throughout this half term. Your teacher will talk to you about how your child has settled, what they are enjoying at school and any next steps that they will be taking throughout the coming weeks. This time is also a chance for you to ask any questions that you may have and celebrate all of the wonderful learning that has happened in the first few weeks of school.
There is a digital sign up system on Firefly – please click here to access this and book your appointment time.
INSET DAY – 10 November
School is closed to all pupils for staff training.
INTERNATIONAL DAY – 15 November
International Day will be celebrated across all three sites at Nord Anglia and we will be looking for parent volunteers who would be willing to come in and help our children learn about different cultures here in Sai Kung. If you would be interested in coming in and reading a story from your culture, sharing some food or even running a small cooking class we would be delighted to hear from you.
Please email SaiKungReception@nais.hk to let us know and we will liaise with the schools PTA to make it a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience for all.
PARENT CONSULTATION – Year 1
If your child is in Year 1, they will have a Parent Consultation later this year. This will be on Tuesday, 28 November and you will have an opportunity to sign up for a time to discuss your child’s learning, development, progress and next steps with the teacher. This time will also be a chance to talk about and celebrate your child’s achievements in their first few months of school. However, if you would like to talk to your child’s class teacher before then, regarding how your child has settled into school, then please do email them to arrange a suitable time for you.
SPORTS DAY
Year 1 children will join in the whole of Primary Sports Day on December 1 – EYFS will have a separate sports day with Tai Tam EYFS in the Spring. More information will be given about both events nearer the time.
CHRISTMAS SHOW – 13 December
Save the date for our Sai Kung show – all the children will take to the stage and parents will be invited. More details will follow.
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.
Click here for the Nursery.
Click here for the Reception.
Click here for the Year 1.
