Newsletter #21
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
Sports
PTA News
ESF News
Other News
Dear Parents,
I hope you all had a wonderful time during the Chinese New Year holiday and were able to spend time with family and friends. My mother was visiting Hong Kong and it was great to enjoy some good weather and enjoy the events that took place.
It is with sadness that I have to inform you that Ms Rachael Dewhurst, one of our Vice Principals and the PYP Coordinator has decided that it is time for her and her family to return to her native Australia at the end of this academic year, in August, after nearly 20 years working in international schools in Europe and Asia. We will ‘farewell’ her officially nearer the time. Rachael’s departure means that we have been in the process of searching for a suitable replacement and I am pleased to announce that after a world-wide and thorough recruitment process during the last few weeks, we have appointed Mr Andrew Thompson. He is currently working at Quarry Bay School and has been with ESF for 22 years. He brings a wealth of experience and we are confident he will continue to build on all the hard work Rachael has done over the last 4 years.
We have two other staff members moving on at the end of the academic year – Ms Sharon Matthews and Ms Amy Chan. Sharon has been with us since January 2013 and has made an enormous contribution to the lives of many students in the school. Ms Chan has been with us since 2007, initially as an Educational Assistant and latterly as a Learning Support Teacher. Again, we will ‘farewell’ them properly near the end of the school year but for now I am sure you will join me in wishing them both well for the future. In light of these departures, we have recruited two other teachers who will join Beacon Hill School in August – Ms Jessica Rendall who is currently teaching in Dubai and originally from Canada and Ms Haymen Mak who teaches in the UK but has family links with Hong Kong. They will be part of the SEN team, working as Learning Support Teachers.
Yesterday we had three teams competing in the Touch Rugby tournament at King’s Park. They all tried very hard and worked well as teams. Unfortunately they didn’t win, but they represented Beacon Hill School with pride – well done to them and to Mr Teahan and Mr Hoskins for coaching them.
Today was our Sports Day and despite the rather cool and cloudy weather we all had a wonderful time, with the mix of rotational activities and the races at the end. Well done to all of the children for taking part in a competitive and supportive way and to Mr Teahan and all of the BHS staff, caretakers, the Nurse, EAs, technicians and teachers for their work in enabling this event to happen. Thank you parents for coming to support the children – it was a great turnout and it erally makes the day special. For photos, please click HERE.
Yesterday 1G shared their learning with the school and their parents with their class assembly. The focus was on history and the children showed their learning through drama, speaking, a quiz and some rather fabulous dancing! Thank you 1G for allowing us to share your learning. Thanks also to Mr Greene and Ms Donna for helping the children put the assembly together. The children were a credit to everyone and it is always wonderful to see the enormous progress they make since joining Beacon Hill.
IMPORTANT DATES
| FEBRUARY | |
| 22nd | Kely Support Group presentation to Year 6 |
| 22nd | Year 5 Trip to Central |
| 23rd | Year 5 Pizza Lunch |
| 23rd | Kids on the Block performing to Year 6 |
| 23rd | Learning Technology Workshop for Parents, 6pm (Hall) |
| 24th | Year 3 Trip to Crossroads |
| 25th | Year 1 and Year 6 Immunisations |
| 25th | Gecko Maths Competition at Island School |
| 26th | 1H Class Assembly, 9am |
| 26th | RCHK Mixed Basketball Tournament |
| 26th | Year 6 NGO Conference |
| 26th | 3rd UoI Reports go live on the Gateway |
| MARCH | |
| 1st | Year 1 to LEAP |
| 1st | Year 6 Exhibition Meeting for Parents, 9am, School Hall |
| 1st | 6L Trip to Dialogue in the Dark |
| 2nd | Year 5 trip to Sham Shui Po/Prince Edward for Big Business |
| 2nd | 6F Trip to Dialogue in the Dark |
| 3rd | PTA Meeting, 3.30pm, School Staffroom |
| 4th | Student Led Conferences (No formal classes on this day) |
| 8th | Graham Base, Author/Illustrator visiting Year 4 |
| 9th | Year 5 trip to Sham Shui Po/Prince Edward for Big Business |
| 9th | Parent Information Workshop – Marie Marchand, 6.30pm (for parents of students in Years 4-6) |
| 10th | ESF Mixed Basketball Tournament |
| 11th | Chamber Choir to Sha Tin Junior School Neighbourhood Watch Day |
| 11th | 4W Class Assembly, 9am, School Hall |
| 12th | CIS Road Race |
Please note that you can view our calendar on the school website.
ESF Stakeholder Survey
Stakeholders will soon be invited by email to participate in the biennial ESF Stakeholder Survey, which will be open from 14th to 24th March 2016. Through this survey we aim to find out about the impressions that parents, staff and students have formed about the education we provide. The feedback from the survey will help us build on our strengths and inform our future planning.
A parent invite will be emailed to the primary contact parent in your family on 14th March. [If you have a child at another ESF school you will receive a separate invite by email to participate in that school’s survey].
Students in Years 5 and 6 will also receive an email inviting them to participate in the survey – WE WILL PROVIDE TIME IN SCHOOL FOR THEM TO COMPLETE THIS.
We would be very grateful if you would spare the time to complete the survey. It’s shorter than in the past and takes about 15-20 minutes to complete (though may take a little longer if you wish to add comments in the optional comment boxes).
BHS Community Choir
Some of you may have seen the BHS Community Choir’s first performance at the Chinese New Year show. If this has inspired you and you would like to join, please just come along. New recruits are welcome any time. Rehearsals are on Thursday evenings from 7pm in the school hall. Our next performance will be at the International Food Fair. For those who wish to practice a little bit more at home, music and lyrics can be found HERE.
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JAMES HARRISON
PRINCIPAL
Learning Technology Parent Workshop – Tuesday 23rd February 6:30 pm
Beacon Hill School is a leader in the use of innovative technology for learning. This workshop gives an opportunity for parents to learn more about Learning Technology within the school and to have some ‘hands-on’ time with many of the tools we use.
The workshop will focus on the following areas:
- What is Learning Technology at Beacon Hill School?
- Progression of skills from Year 1 – Year 6 and beyond into Secondary School.
- Technology use across the curriculum.
- What do we use?
- When do we use it?
- Why is it used?
- Computational thinking, coding and making.
- Student accounts and access outside of school.
- iPad apps for learning
- Google Apps and Web based tools
There will be opportunities to try out many of the tools your children use and to answer any questions you may have. Please click on the link to sign up: http://goo.gl/forms/3Xea4QlzRr
Chad Pheasant
Vice Principal
Rugby
On Thursday 18th February Beacon Hill participated in the DBIS touch rugby tournament. For many of the players in the BHS teams it was their first time playing in a touch rugby tournament. Each team took awhile to get used to the game and we improved throughout the day.
Boys A
The boys ‘A’ had two tough games to start against very strong teams. We lost 4-0 against Harrow and then 3-0 against Kellett. We improved and scored our first tries against Nord Anglia in a 2-1 win with Anakin scoring both tries. This meant we were in the plate quarter final against JIS and we just couldn’t get the ball near their try line and lost 1-0. The team had improved throughout the tournament and Kaden (5P) was chosen as player of the tournament.
Boys B
Another team with a lot of players who had not played rugby before. We lost each of our group games but were steadily improving throughout the matches and we began to realise what was needed to succeed.Our results were Harrow (0-3), Discovery College (0-2), AISHK (0-3) and Bradbury (0-1). In our last game against Nord Anglia we finally scored a try (Chi Him) and that meant we had finished 9th in the B competition. Kaden L was chosen as player of the tournament.
Girls
The girls started strongly and nearly beat DBIS, one of the strongest teams at the tournament. That game finished 0-0. Our second game was the best of the day as we beat Kellett 2-0 with tries from Aayesha and Natalee. In our third game we drew with local rivals, KJS, nil all. This meant we were into the cup quarter finals which was a tremendous achievement. We had to play Kennedy and in an exciting game we lost 2-1 in drop off time. Drop off time is used when the teams are tied at the end of normal time and every minute one player is taken off the field. Aayesha scored an outstanding try in the match. Maisy was chosen as the player of the tournament.
Thanks to all the parents who came to support the team. If anyone has any ‘action’ photos can you please email me a copy, timothy.teahan@bhs.edu.hk Thanks.
And fnally a big well done to Mikail from 6L who demonstrated amazing sportsmanship in the game against Bradbury School. It wasn’t clear if Mikail had touched the Bradbury player as he was scoring his try. The ref asked Mikail and he did the right thing and told the ref he hadn’t touched him. Well done Mikail!
Our Friday, March 18, 2016 International Food Fair (“IFF”) Grand Raffle Draw and IFF evening preparations are underway! A Food Donation and/or Parent Volunteer Form has been sent-out this week. We greatly appreciate however way you can contribute! In addition to tasty donated Homemade foods, there will be exciting Hall Games, Bouncy Castle, Talent Show & other surprises, so mark your calendars and come join the fun & friendly family atmosphere!
This year proceeds from Raffle ticket sales will be pledged towards BHS Playground Improvement. Besides Grand Raffle Draw fabulous prizes, the highest number of tickets sold by lower & upper school classes will enjoy a BHS PTA sponsored class outing!
Two Grand Raffle Ticket booklets have been distributed to each BHS student for sales to family & friends in a labelled plastic bag. If your child & family want to sell more, please indicate on the labelled bags. Please assist your children to ensure that all SOLD & UNSOLD tickets and money are accounted upon return to BHS PTA office per labelled information as BHS PTA must comply to strict HK Lottery License guidelines and audit. All SOLD ticket stubs including money and UNSOLD tickets should be returned to the BHS PTA office by March 5, 2016.
Reminders:
- Tuesday 23 February 2016 Y5 Pizza Lunch
- March 2016 Deli Fresh lunch order deadline has lapsed. Please contact DeliFresh directly for order and payment acceptance
Enjoy your weekend,
Rowena Chow
Chair, BHS PTA
Kowloon Learning Campus Update
We have had a very encouraging start to our work “breaking down barriers” between the three ESF schools in Kowloon and developing a new way of working across the KLC. In 2016, we will continue to work on our 7 goals: Developing curriculum continuity, increasing teacher collaboration, improving access and opportunities for inclusion, coordinating student support, increasing use of specialist facilities, developing learning technology solutions, and encouraging lifelong learning.Parents’ opinions are vital to us. We will be holding a parents consultation on Wednesday 16th March 2016, starting at 9am in Beacon Hill School. All parents are welcome to attend and hear a brief report on progress before having the chance to ask questions.
We look forward to seeing you.
Ed Wickins
Executive Principal, Kowloon Learning Campus
Health
Immunization (Part Two)
Please refer to BHS Newsletter #16 (dated 8 January 2016) and BHS Newsletter #18 (dated 22 January 2016).
All documents submitted by parents or guardians, these will be returned to you (together with any instructions from the Immunization Team of the Department of Health for you to follow-up, if applicable) the following week starting Monday, 29 February 2016, via your child’s class teacher.
Thank you.
Ms Chen
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.
