22 Apr 2016

Newsletter #28

Beacon Hill School latest newsletter available to read now. Find out the latest news around the school and upcoming events.

We have had another busy and productive week. Good luck to our team in the Tournament of Minds Competition tomorrow at KJS. Please also be reminded about the Information Evening next Monday, 25th April at 6.30pm where you can hear the latest about the building and curriculum plans for Island School. There is a link further in the Newsletter to use to indicate your attendance at this important session. The meeting will be held here at BHS. Here are the other upcoming events:

IMPORTANT DATES

APRIL
23rd	Tournament of the Mind Competition, KJS
25th	Island School Information Evening, BHS Hall, 6.30pm
29th	5Y Class Assembly. 9am, Hall
MAY
2nd	Public Holiday – School Closed
3rd	BHS CPD Day – School Closed
4th-6th	Book Week
4th	Battle of the Books Semi-Final, BHS Hall
4th	Year 2 and 3 Theatre trips
4th	Year 4 trip to the Philharmonic Orchestra
10th	Year 4 Pizza Lunch
10th, 11th,	Year 3 Trip to Mei Ho House
11th	Year 2 Trip to DB
13th	Year 1 Sharing for Parents, 9am

Please note that you can view our calendar on the school website.

BHS BookFest

On the 4th, 5th and 6th May we will be having our annual BookFest. There will be lots of activities happening on those days and the focus will be on poetry. On Friday 6th May we would like everyone to come dressed in a character from a book and children will get a chance to show off their costumes during our BookFest assembly on that day. We would particularly like children and families to have a go at making their own costume rather than using a ‘shop-bought’ one (such as a princess dress).

Introducing the BHS House System

We will be introducing a ‘House’ system from August, with the intention of encouraging a sense of belonging and a collective spirit, providing opportunities for positive competitive spirit; strengthening pastoral care – especially vertically (Y1-6); providing further opportunities for students to develop social and leadership skills and developing school pride, involvement & participation. We have already started the planning for this and are calling on the help of staff and the community to help make it successful. One exciting dimension of our plans is that the ‘points’ the children earn will be converted into a monetary value throughout the year and will ultimately be donated to a local charity. To allow this to happen we are looking for corporate sponsors who would be willing to commit to donations that would total $40,000 over an academic year. This may be from one or several donors. I am reaching out to you, our BHS community and will also be contacting a range of companies and businesses in the next two weeks to find willing donors. There would be opportunities for corporate advertising, publicity in school, across the ESF and with the local charitable organisation and the opportunity to develop links with the students and BHS. If you think you might like to donate, or know someone who would, please give me a call or email me and I can provide more details. james.harrison@bhs.edu.hk Tel: 23365221

SEN Awareness Month

During April the Jockey Club Sarah Roe School PTA is selling wristbands to show support for inclusion. All funds raised will go towards supporting SEN within ESF. The wristbands are available from our school Reception – $20 each.

Raffle Tickets

Thank you for your incredible support for our International Food Fair list term. The PTA still has a significant number of unreturned raffle tickets. All have to be accounted for so if you have any at home please return them, or the money equivalent. The PTA will be contacting those concerned.

Class Assembly

This morning 2M shared their Class Assembly with parents and the school. They explained to us all they have learnt about materials, their properties and how we change and use them for different purposes. The children were confident on stage and did a magnificent job! Well done to all of 2M. Thank you to Mr McCallum, Ms Liao, Ms Kannis, Ms Carole and to all the parents who came to watch.

Secondary Schools Curriculum Changes

Many of you may already be aware of proposed changes in ESF secondary schools middle years curricula. Secondary schools are communicating these changes with their communities. For your information I am attaching letters from Sha Tin College, Island School and West Island School.

Sha Tin College MYP.pdf

West Island School MYP.pdf

Island School MYP.pdf

Island School will be coming to BHS to share information about this and other important aspects of their development over the next several years next Tuesday evening. Please click on this link if you wish to attend – http://goo.gl/forms/IyYRgxBk1P As many of our students currently transfer to Island School I would encourage you to attend.

Parent Information Evenings

Another very short survey we would like parents to complete is here: http://goo.gl/forms/dAKnRjBEH3

This will take just a couple of minutes and is designed to help us plan parent information sessions for the coming school year that more closely suit your needs. I appreciate your time with this.

JAMES HARRISON

PRINCIPAL

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News from the English Team

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Beacon Hill will be celebrating all things bookish on Wednesday 4^th May to Friday 6^th May. There will be lots of opportunities in class and out for the children to get involved and our focus this year will be on poetry.

Dress up day

This will take place on the Friday. We ask all the children and staff to dress up as a favourite book character. The children are encouraged to be as creative as possible and rather than wearing a ready bought princess or superhero costume have a go at making something at home. A prize will be awarded to the most creative costume in each class, following a class vote.

There are two competitions that your child can enter, again with prizes for the most creative and imaginative entries:

Photo competition

In this your child needs to take a photo of objects or an event which show the title of the book. This photo should be emailed to Ms Jeves, with the child’s name, class and the title of the book as the subject header. jevese2@beaconhill.edu.hk Closing date will be Friday 6^th May, with the best entries being shown in assembly.

Poem in your pocket

In this competition the children are asked to use their poetic and artistic skills to create a mini book. This tiny book should contain either their own illustrated poem or a version of their favourite poem or rhyming story. We look forward to seeing the children’s creativity and the closing date is Monday 9^th May.

Storytelling

As we wrote in last week’s newsletter we are looking for volunteer parents to come into school to read stories with the children. You can decide the story, which language to read in and which age group you would like to be with. If you are interested please get in touch with Ms Jeves, Mrs Fennelly or Ms Heywood.

Island School Redevelopment and Curriculum Roadshow

Representatives from Island School will be at BHS on Monday 25th April at 6.30pm to share information about the Island School redevelopment and their curriculum. All interested BHS parents are invited to attend.

Please add your name to the following document if you will attend the session: http://goo.gl/forms/UrbxkOL9KN

International Food Fair (“IFF”) on Friday, March 18, 2016

The Grand Raffle Lucky Draw Ticket sales proceeds and winning lower school & upper school classes will be announced later as we are in the midst of recovering unaccounted UNSOLD tickets issued to each student. The BHS PTA must undergo an accounting Audit specifically related to the 2016 BHS IFF Day, corresponding Grand Raffle Lucky Draw and all the 15,000 tickets printed according to the HK Lottery License No.#4516 issued by the Home Affairs Office of the Hong Kong SAR Government. We must account for every ticket issued, else it may jeopardize future HK Lottery Licenses for the purposes of our annual IFF Grand Raffle Lucky Draw. All Grand Raffle Ticket sale proceeds from each IFF are donated directly to Beacon Hill School.

Summer Uniforms

The BHS PTA Uniform Shop will be CLOSED on Friday April 29th, 2016 so we can prepare sales of Summer uniforms starting Wednesday May 4, 2016.

Reminders:

Deli Fresh lunch order for May 2016 has lapsed. Please ensure your order and payment is received and confirmed by Deli Fresh directly.
Tuesday 10 May 2016 Year 4 Pizza Day
Tuesday 17 May 2016 Year 1 Bake Sale
Tuesday 24 May 2016 Quiz Day
Tuesday 7 June 2016 Year 2 Pizza Day
Tuesday 14 June 2016 Year 3 Bake Sale

Have a great weekend!

Rowena Chow

Chair, BHS PTA

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.