17 Jun 2016

Newsletter #35

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

We are nearing the end of this academic year, with just one week remaining. There will be a short Newsletter next week but I want to take the time this week to say a few farewells to staff who are leaving. We have several Educational Assistants who are moving on, either to complete studies or to pursue their own teaching careers. Ms Anne Liao is leaving after spending a year with us. Ms Jasmine Yeung and Viola Tse have been with us for two years. Ms Mai Cheung first joined BHS in 2011, then rejoined in 2014. Thank you to all of them for bringing such energy to the staff and for enjoying there time here so much that they decided to become teachers.

Two teachers are also leaving us this year. Ms Sharon Matthews is moving back to Australia after working at BHS for three years. Ms Amy Chan joined BHS first as an Educational Assistant in 2007 for five years and then began her teaching career with us in 2013 so has served BHS for eight years. Thank you to both of them for being a wonderful addition to the BHS family.

Vice Principal, Ms Rachael Dewhurst will be moving back to Australia after having worked for ESF for thirteen years, the last four being at BHS. During her time here she has moved the school curriculum on to ensure that it provides our students and teachers with the best educational opportunities.

I would like to thank all of them for their energy, commitment and high levels of professionalism to the students and families of Beacon Hill School and wish them all the very best for the future.

One final person who is leaving BHS after a staggering 47 years of service, all at BHS is one of our caretaking staff, Mr Ng Wah Sun (Ah Wah). He will be retiring and hopefully he will enjoy some exceedingly well-earned down time with his wife. Ah Wah and Rachael were recognised earlier this week by ESF for their service. I would like to say a very special thank you to him for his incredible service to the school. Thank you Ah Wah!

During the summer holiday we have two staff members who are getting married. Congratulations to Ms Katrina Heywood and Mr Antony McCallum who will marry their respective partners in July. We wish them well for the future.

Many of the activities and programs that we offer at BHS are only possible due to the fantastic support and help of many regular parent volunteers. We truly appreciate the time they give. A special thank you to Elaine and Madoka who have led the Japanese language group from the start of the programme and whose children are now in Year 6. Ms Chung organised a ‘thank you’ afternoon tea for them this week, with refreshments prepared by children from Years 1 and 2. Thank you and we hope you can continue to support us next year.

There are opportunities to learn more about the Island School redevelopment. Please refer to the links further on in the Newsletter to register for an upcoming meeting on Monday.

The end of year school reports will be available on the Gateway from the evening of next Monday. Your child will also bring home a letter on that day indicating which class they will be in next year, after having met their new teacher and classmates that afternoon. Teachers work very closely together to figure out the new class placements taking into account many different factors. We understand that you as parents have your views as to the best placement for your child, however we are unable to make any changes to the new placements.

IMPORTANT DATES

JUNE
22nd	Year 4 Swimming
22nd	Year 6 Production, 7pm
23rd	Year 6 Graduation Lunch
24th	End of Term 3. School closes at 12pm.
AUGUST
15th	Start of Term 1, 2016-17

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

Student Achievement Beyond School

In our assembly on Monday many children were presented certificates in recognition of their performances and achievements in a variety of ‘Speech’, ‘Music’ and ‘Gymnastics’ competitions.

As always it is wonderful to hear of these achievements and we would like to say ‘well done’ to all of you.

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

James Harrison

Principal

Portfolios

Dear Parents,

Your child’s portfolio is evidence of their learning journey this year. Your child has demonstrated ownership of their own learning by selecting and reflecting on some of the pieces of work.

The work in the portfolio was chosen to show: successes, growth, higher order thinking, creativity and reflection from all aspects of the curriculum. Constructive feedback and reflection, by your child, demonstrates that the portfolio is a valuable celebration of an active mind at work.

We feel that this portfolio says a lot about your child as a learner and so with this in mind, we would like to share them with their new class and teacher at the start of the next academic year. We would appreciate your help in returning the portfolios to school by Monday 20^th June. They will then be returned to you to keep in early September.

Please share and enjoy the portfolios with your child.

Kind regards,

Susan Chung

Vice Principal

Quartz – Psychologists recommend children be bored in the summer

Psychologists recommend children be bored in the summer

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Aquathon

On Saturday the 4th of June, the Beacon Hill School Aquathon teams A and B participated in the ESF Aquathon Competition at KGV. We were against other ESF primary schools such as Kellett School, German Swiss International School and French International School.

For those who don’t know what an aquathon is, it is a sport where you swim for 250 meters and then run for 1000 meters as soon as you get out of the pool. Once you finish the swim, you run to the transition area where everyone must put on their shoes properly before starting the run. However , boys also have to wear a shirt which takes some time. If your shirt or shoes are not on properly at the finish line, you will get a 30 second penalty, which means a lot. Many people can run past you in that short time.

Team A and B did an amazing job at swimming and at the transition; no one wasted any time in putting their shoes on and the boys hurried at wearing their T- shirts. Even though some of us came out of the pool later than others, we still managed to pass the faster swimmers in the run as we were faster at the transition.

Special thanks to Mr. Teahan, Ms. King for coaching us, Ms. Chung and all the parents who came to support us. We did really well and the A team finished 19th and the B team 24th out of 30 teams. It was a great experience for everyone in the teams.

If you are interested, you can join the Aquathon next year as we will be needing more participants as the year sixes will not be here next year. Aquathon is fun and is a good exercise so we hope you will be able to join next year.

Jessica 6L and Chelsea 6L

On Tuesday 7th June Beacon Hill participated in the ESF fun aquathon. This was organised by the JCSR School and was another chance for the students to participate in an aquathon. Results were not kept as it was a fun aquathon. I was very pleased with all the students representing BHS as they once again did their best. Well done to Ariel and Michelle as it was their first time experiencing an aquathon.

Parents of the students who took part in the Aquathon will receive a separate email with the link to the photos.

Mr Teahan

Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop will re-open for Y1 & New Students & Y2-Y6 from Wednesday, August 10 until Friday, August 12, 2016, 9:00 am – 3:00pm.

Uniform Shop will open Monday – Friday until Friday, September 2, 2016, 8:15am – 10:00am, thereafter Normal Uniform Shop hours apply.

Bake Sale

Thank you to all the Year 3 families for donating delicious baked goods and helping with the Bakes Sales during snack time! Year 3 generated $3096 for the BHS PTA to support BHS!

Reminder:

DeliFresh will start lunches in the month of September of the new 2016-17 school year. Therefore, home packed lunches will be required during the month of August 2016. Please make sure you download the September 2016 Lunch Order Forms from the BHS website www.beaconhil.edu.hk/pta-2/, and complete with payment posted directly to DeliFresh Ltd. whilst BHS is on summer holidays. Deadline for September 2016 lunch orders is 18 August 2016.

Enjoy the warm weekend!

Rowena Chow

Chair, BHS PTA

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Island School Information Evening

You are invited to an evening that celebrates Island School’s Achievements in 2015-2016 and a discussion on the next stages of relocation and redevelopment.

At this meeting you will hear senior staff talk about: curriculum updates, the current decant and redevelopment situation and some of the highlights from our very complimentary recent Council of International Schools Report.

Event information

Time: 6:30pm

Date: 20th June 2016

Location: Island School

Agenda:

Show some of the latest visuals on intended decant site refurbishment.
Present the completed concept design of the new site. Aided by a ‘walk-through’ of the BIM model
Reflect on parent and teacher feedback from the visits to the temporary relocation sites.
Present the main findings and recommendations from the recent CIS:WASC 5 year review process.
Present the headlines from the parent survey.
Present the headlines form this year’s SDP

If you wish to attend this event please email rsvp@online.island.edu.hk to confirm your attendance. All parents welcome.

Kind Regards

Gareth Stevens

Vice Principal

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Health

Student Health Service (SHS)

The appointment letters have arrived (for parents or guardians who have consented for their child to join this service).

We have passed them to your child’s class teacher the week starting Monday,

13 June 2016 and if you have not received it, please could you let me know a.s.a.p.

Reminder:

If you are able to attend, please be punctual, because for late comers, another appointment may be arranged.

If you are not able to attend on the scheduled date, please could you inform the centre to make other arrangements.
No service of the centre if typhoon signal No. 8 (or above) or black rainstorm signal is hoisted. Then, please could you call the centre to book another appointment.

*Please bring the appointment letter, your child’s glasses (if applicable), past medical records, child health record (applicable to student who has previously joined the SHS or Family Health Service).

Scarlet Fever (an update)

Just to keep you informed that the student has recovered from Scarlet Fever and the child has returned to school as per doctor’s advice.

Last week, we forwarded the Health Information about Scarlet Fever (from the Centre for Health Protection) to all parents or guardians via the class teachers.

If you have not received one, please could you let me know a.s.a.p.

Always Keep Hands Clean.

Thank you.

Ms Chen

ESF Summer Sports Camps

27 June – 12 August 2016

Summertime is the time to get out and get moving. With an ESF Sports Camp your child will do just that! Providing a safe and enjoyable environment for students, ESF Sports keeps FUN central to our programme. Our enthusiastic approach combined with expert coaches with a passion for sport, enables every student to develop a broad spectrum of acquisition skills to increase their self-confidence in a range of activities, both as an individual and within a group or team dynamic. Enrol online www.esf.org.hk.

ESF Summer Language Camps at Beacon Hill School

4 July – 26 August 2016

As a premier provider of extracurricular English language and enrichment education in Hong Kong, we look forward to your children joining us this summer for exciting and rich learning experiences across a VARIETY OF COURSES. Suitable for all pre-school and school age students, our small group courses are run by our friendly, qualified, English speaking teachers. Enrol online www.esf.org.hk.