Dear Parents,
Welcome back to the new academic year. I hope you have all had a great summer and spent lots of quality time with friends and family over the break. I retreated to my homeland, Co. Tyrone Northern Ireland; it was wonderful to reconnect with my family and celebrate some special milestone birthdays and anniversaries together!
We are delighted to welcome students back to the secondary campus and of course to welcome our new Year 7 students and those new to NAISHK in other year groups. Our newest students spent last Friday getting to know each other, connecting with their tutor groups, and completing the challenging Kwun Tong scavenger hunt. Our secondary campus is a vibrant hub of activity with now over 700 students! Students looked fabulous today as they wore our new school uniform with pride, thank you to all families for supporting our updated school uniform policy.
https://www.nordangliaeducation.com/nais-hong-kong/parent-essentials/uniforms
Staff induction Race across Hong Kong
It has been wonderful to welcome back so many staff members to school. As part of our induction program, our new staff cohort buddied up with existing staff to take part in a Race Around Hong Kong! It was a fantastic afternoon of fun, allowing new staff to explore our fabulous school and their new home.
The Senior Leadership Team
This year we welcome Chantelle Thomasson as Deputy Head of Secondary. Chantelle is excited to become a part of the Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong family, bringing over 14 years of international teaching and leadership experience primarily from the Middle East. Chantelle’s passion lies in creating vibrant educational settings that foster both academic excellence and holistic growth, and she is eager to collaborate with NAISHK's skilled team to further enhance student experiences.
We also welcome Ashleigh Rankin to the Senior Leadership Team as Assistant Head of Teaching and Learning. Ashleigh has worked at NAISHK over the past two years and was formerly Head of Key Stage 4. Ashleigh has a real passion for ensuring all students have the very best learning experience in their lessons, whilst supporting the professional development of our excellent teaching body.
PE & Sport
Swim Squad Trials
Wednesday 21st August 2.30pm - 4pm
Thursday 22nd August 3.30pm – 4.30pm
Wednesday – all 50m events
Thursday – all 100m events
If your child is interested in trying out for this year’s Knights Swim Squad, please sign up at the PE office to register which events you would like to try out for.
To be a part of the swim squad students need to meet a specific time standard, so attendance at the trials is important. If your child cannot attend the trials but wants an opportunity to try out – please speak to your PE teacher.
We recommend they try out for more than one stroke and a crossover of the 50m and 100m distances. As a member of the swim squad, students will be expected to compete in more than one event for the team.
Once the trials are complete, the PE department will let your children know if they have qualified for the squad.
Sports ECAs
The first set of Sports ECAs for this year will begin on Tuesday 26th August. You may find the list on the Firefly page: Secondary ECAs on SchoolsBuddy. Please note the Sport ECAs are separate from the regular ECA programme, details of which will be shared in due course.
Sign up for these sessions opens at 4.00pm on Tuesday 20th August and closes at 11.59pm on Thursday 22nd August via SchoolsBuddy. Spaces are first come first served; if one is unavailable, your child will be put on the waiting list.
To select ECAs for your child, please access your parental NAISHK SchoolsBuddy account via Firefly. If you have forgotten your Firefly log-in details, please contact itsupport@nais.hk.
Secondary students may select ECAs. If parents wish to select ECAs for their child, they will need to access their parental Firefly page first.
Please go to the Firefly page Secondary ECAs on SchoolsBuddy and review the sign-up instruction video.
- Click the SchoolsBuddy Logo
- Login using Firefly (Red button)
- First time users will need to click “Authorise app” before being directed to the NAIS SchoolsBuddy homepage.
We advise that you complete this on a laptop / desktop rather than mobile device. Supported browsers are Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge.
The PE department look forward to a new year of sport and activities!
Library information
Hello from the library! Here are a couple of reminders for you and your children going into the new school year.
📙 Students can search for books in our library by checking the catalogue found here: https://naishk.follettdestiny.com/
Click the plus next to Libraries, then click Kwun Tong. They can then search by title, author, or keyword. No need to log-in. Try it out!
📘 I encourage all students to borrow books from our fabulous library! The borrowing limit is 4 books maximum for secondary students. The borrowing period is 2 weeks and loans can be renewed.
📕 Students should be bringing a book with them to school every day. They can borrow a book from the library or bring their own from home. E-readers (like Kindles) are allowed.
📗 The library is open every day from 8:00am. In addition to their library lessons, all students may visit the library during form time, break, lunch time and after school to borrow books.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me via email at miriam.bates@nais.hk.
Happy reading!
Ms. Bates
School Librarian
Year 11 lunch
As part of their growing independence and in recognition of their position as the eldest students in KS4, we are allowing the Year 11 students to leave the school building at lunchtime from Monday 26th August, should they wish.
In order to enable students to have this privilege, parental consent will be required by completing the following online Form (Permission for Year 11 Students to Leave Campus at Lunchtime) by Thursday 22nd August.
Kwun Tong school bus
NAISHK provides a convenient bus service to simplify your commute. Our buses run set routes, with drop-off points at Tin Hau, Central, and Sai Wan Ho, aligning with school hours for timely pick-ups and drop-offs. Avoid the hassle of driving and parking - ride the NAISHK bus. For more information or to sign up, please send an email to lamtinbus@nais.hk and lamtinbus.nais@chungkeebus.com.
We look forward to an exciting academic year ahead, we hope to see many families on campus very soon!
Kind regards,
Fiona Thorndike
Head of Secondary
