Parent Update - 9 February 2018
Message from the Principal
Dear Parents,
It has certainly been an unusual week! Coming back from the Recruitment Event in London was exhausting but exciting too. We have appointed a lot of excellent, experienced teachers and I am really looking forward to welcoming them to our team and the school. We will give you more information about who is joining in the future.
The Year 9 and 10 students who were on their residential trip seemed to have had a fantastic time in Tanzania. I think they need time to absorb all that they saw and experienced, but already I can see it really stimulated them.
As you know, we are committed to Gender Equality, epitomised by an equal balance of teaching staff. Consequently, we have been making arrangements to stage a showing of “She Objects”, a film made locally about the subject, with a panel discussion afterwards. Details will be issued after the Chinese New Year holiday.
Of course, everything has been knocked for six with the EBD’s directive to close all Kindergarten and Primary Schools. We have been able to re-arrange the Year 3 performance for the week after the holiday because they have been working so hard and we didn’t want them to lose the opportunity. Secondary has been working as normal and all our teachers are working hard as usual. We are providing training and time to prepare for next stages in learning.
Our performance management processes have continued, looking at the quality of work in the workbooks for consistency. The Mandarin department also led a wonderful assembly to celebrate Chinese New Year and the PTA arranged for the Lion Dance to take place. It was a great atmosphere and my thanks to all the staff involved and to the PTA for their great support.
Have an enjoyable weekend.
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Best wishes,
Brian Cooklin.
Principal.
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LAM TIN UPDATES
No school for Primary students
UPCOMING EVENTS
15 FEBRUARY
Staff INSET day – no school for children
16-25 FEBRUARY
School Holiday
26 FEBRUARY
School resumes
1 MARCH
Year 3 performance 1:30pm in the Hall
2 MARCH
4A Assembly - Grace Hall
5-9 MARCH
Year 5 Residential
7 MARCH
Year 8 Spanish Cookery Workshop
8 MARCH
Year 4 performance
8 MARCH
PTA Quiz Night
9 MARCH
2C Assembly – Andrew Mellows
PTA MAHJONG UPDATE
Due to unavoidable circumstances, the Mahjong evening has been postponed to a later date.
SAVE THE DATE: Wednesday 14th March – PTA Spring Soiree
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LUNCH ARRANGEMENT DURING SCHOOL CLOSURE
If you had ordered lunch (Primary students only) during 8 – 14 February 2018, your account will be credited and used towards the next order. Please note that we are not able to offer a cash refund. If you have any questions, please email Katherine Chan.
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MARCH MENU
Make your selection here.
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GLOBAL CAMPUS ACTIVITIES FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS
With the sudden extended holidays, Primary students may be looking for activities for keeping active and engaged. This is a perfect time to work on some of our online activities run by Nord Anglia’s Global Campus team. There should be something for everyone below, but remember to log into the Global Campus Online webpage so you can access the links.
Welcome to our Visual Arts Competition! Students can use any medium they choose to illustrate one of the winning stories from this year’s Creative Writing Anthology. The story we have been asked to illustrate is called The Dumpster Divers and was written by Jason Wadley who attends our sister school in New York. Students have until Sunday, 1 April to submit their final illustration to our online Padlet or to their art teacher. Winners will have their pictures included in the new anthology and may also receive a mystery prize.
The Spring 2018 Lego Challenge is here! Students are asked to build the ultimate secret hideout for superheroes! The hideout must be made only out of Lego and have at least one special feature for a superhero. The competition will close on Wednesday, 28 February 2018.
- Under 8s Comic Book Competition
This contest invites students to create and submit a superhero comic for the chance to have their entry published in the first ever Global Campus Comic Book! With this competition, we are trying to show off the very best of what students can do whilst also aligning it to the Global Campus objectives of developing global citizenship and global mindedness. In asking our students to produce a superhero comic, we want them to think about how we can all take positive action on the Global Goals. Students can participate in the competition as a class, in small groups, pairs or individually. All students in EYFS to Year 3 and below may enter the competition. Full details of the competition can be read here.
- New Activities @ Global Campus Online
Lots of new areas have opened on Global Campus Online recently, which children might like to explore over the next two weeks. They include the Primary Sports Training programme, the Global Goals Resource Centre, learning about the Julliard Core Works and learning more about the current Global Library books. Finally, the Global Campus team in Oxford are looking for our students to reflect on what they enjoy and find valuable about the programme and to suggest ways of improving it. To take the survey, please click on this link. |
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If you have any stories of success (however big or small!) that you would like us to celebrate with your child and the wider community, please email jane.archibald@nais.hk.
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HIGH COMMENDATIONS – MANDARIN
Year 7: Rohan Krishnan, Zoe Yu
Year 8: Charis Wong
Year 9: Sissi Yu
Year 10: John Zhao |
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ASSEMBLY TIME
Assembly today was all about Chinese New Year and we even had a Lion Dance! It began with some fun questions being posed to our teachers about certain Chinese New Year traditions and customs, and we must say, some of their answers left us laughing. Thankfully the students were on hand to explain the true meaning behind the customs. We were then treated to a terrific Lion dance performance to help signal in a New Year full of prosperity. Thank you to the PTA for arranging this.
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STAFF SPOTLIGHT – MISS KELLY
After attending the Junior Conservatoire of Music for piano and violin from age 13, Miss. Kelly knew from an early age that she wanted to pursue music as a career. She graduated from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a First Class Honours degree in Music Education and a DipABRSM in Piano Performance.
“I have taught classroom music in North-East Scotland, and have worked as Head of Pastoral Staff at The Ingenium Academy, an international summer school of music. I then became Teacher of Music at the British International School of Chicago, South Loop where I taught students age 2-17, and coordinated over 100 ABRSM examinations”.
“Outside of school, I enjoy being involved in a variety of musical ensembles and sporting teams. In Scotland, I played saxophone in Stewarton Winds and was a member of Castle Semple Sailing Club, and in the US, I have recorded an album with a cappella group, The Uptones and have competed and placed fifth in the USA championships with Chicago Netball Club”.
“I also love to travel and experience new cultures, which makes me very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead at NAISHK, and I look forward to helping support our next generation of young musicians flourish in a supportive and dynamic environment”.
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Message from the Head of School - Sai Kung
Dear Parents,
We were all very disappointed to have to postpone all our CNY festivities as well as the trips and exciting learning we had planned until the end of next week. Below we have posted the new date for our CNY celebration assembly. Please note it in your diaries.
The school is currently undergoing one of our regular deep cleans and the staff are working hard to prepare the school for after the holidays. We have planned a series of staff training opportunities including Maths, Coding, and enhancing outdoor environments, as well as time to analyse data about how the children are progressing with their learning. Our TLAs are also undertaking online training with our Nord Anglia University as well as a host of activities provided by our staff. Although we would prefer to have the children in school, we are certainly taking advantage of the additional time by planning for more exciting learning after the break is well underway. As a teacher, having time to reflect on practice and discuss ideas and research with colleagues is really valuable. It is also one of the proven factors in improving outcomes for your children. So, we are certainly looking on the bright side of the EDB’s directive to close.
This week, the children had been taking part in a host of learning around healthy eating. Making smoothies was a highlight of the week, as was admiring Miss Lo’s amazing CNY displays. We also had some warmer afternoons, which all the children took advantage of by taking their learning outside.
This will be our last weekly update before the holidays so I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all Kung Hei Fat Choy. We hope you enjoy a relaxing break with your families and we look forward to seeing you when we get back.
Naima Charlier.
Head of School.
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NOTICES
SCHOOL CLOSED UNTIL MONDAY, 26 FEBRUARY
26 FEBRUARY
School resumes.
2 MARCH
Angelfish Class assembly at 9:00am– Parent’s invited.
5 MARCH
Join us for our CNY assembly– please send children to school in Chinese dress (children have PE that day so please send or wear trainers).
9 MARCH
Dolphins and Turtles Class assembly.
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STARS OF THE WEEK
Congratulations! You should feel very proud of your achievements.
Nursery: Sheila Ho, Yoga Yu
Lower Kindergarten: Adora Chan, Aryaman Parashar, Matthew Downs, Elisabeth Bostam
Upper Kindergarten: Eric Fong
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CLASS ASSEMBLY SCHEDULE 2018
The schedule for our class assemblies is as follows – your class teacher will give you more details nearer the time.
- Year 1 Angelfish: Friday, 2 March
- Dolphins and Turtles: Friday, 9 March.
- Seahorses and Starfish: Friday, 11 May
- Bumblebees and Caterpillars: Friday, 1 June
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
Don't forget to read your class blog.
Click here for the Nursery.
Click here for the Reception.
Click here for the Year 1.
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STAFF SPOTLIGHT – MISS SARAH TILLOTSON
Sarah undertook her undergraduate degree in Psychology (Bsc Hons) from the University of York before completing her PGCE and Masters in Education at the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining NAIS, she taught Reception for 4 years at a primary school in Hackney, East London and was Early Years Leader for over 2 years.
Sarah loves to try new things and has array of hobbies. Whilst she enjoys singing with her choral troop and listening to political podcasts, she has recently discovered amateur floristry. She’s a keen traveller and is looking forward to making the most of Hong Kong’s flight connections, as well as hiking and camping in Hong Kong’s famously picturesque landscape.
Sarah is a strong advocate of the importance of child-led learning and empowering children to learn through purposeful play in a responsive environment. Her practice embraces children’s love of storytelling and encourages children to develop resilience and independence.
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NO NUTS
We are a ‘nut free school’ as we have several children with severe nut allergies. This includes peanuts and tree nuts. Please remember this when packing your child’s snack and lunch. We cannot allow nut/nut products of any kind in the building. For a 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. These can ‘live’ at school on your child’s peg! |
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WHO’s WHO & WHEN TO CONTACT THEM
Here’s a quick list guide of who to email for what:
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