31 Mar 2017

Newsletter #28

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

Other News

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Dear Parents, Family and Friends,

Last Friday’s International Food Fair was a wonderful evening. I hope you enjoyed the event. I would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped, either on the night or in the many weeks leading up to the fair. The PTA Committee, parents, students, teachers, educational assistants, office staff, caretakers and ex-students all played a part in making it such a successful evening. We will let you know the final total of how much money was raised as soon as we can.

Our first Inter-house basketball tournament took place yesterday morning with some competitive but sporting activity. Thanks to Mr Teahan, Ms Wu and Neal Bentall for their organisation of the event and well done to the teams who participated. Photos can be found HERE.

Yesterday afternoon, our Junior Choir and Ukulele Club, led by Mrs Dale and Mrs Mulligan, Mr Gibson and Ms Chloe, with the support of Mrs Chong and Ms Kannis performed their Spring Concert to an appreciative audience. This was a wonderful opportunity for the children to share their love of singing and to celebrate the arrival of Spring. Thanks to all of the adults for enabling this to happen and thanks also to our PTA for sponsoring the refreshments. Photos can be found HERE.

This morning the entire school had the opportunity to listen to our Year 3 students, our choirs (Junior and Chamber) and our ukulele group performing some of the songs they have learnt and performed recently. It was a good reminder of the opportunities our children have to take part in the arts. Thanks to all the teachers who have given their personal time to allow our children to have such opportunities.

IMPORTANT DATES

BHS 50th Anniversary – ‘design a logo’ competition

We will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of BHS throughout the 2017-18 academic year. We have a planning committee who are already working on some special events to mark this milestone. One important feature is to use a special BHS 50th anniversary logo which will be used on publicity materials, communications and items linked to the anniversary. We are opening this up as a competition – anyone may enter; students, parents, ex-students, teachers, educational assistants, site staff; in fact anyone with a connection to BHS. The only criteria is that it is represents BHS 50th year. Entries may be submitted in any medium and either electronically or by hand. Please send entries to:

james.harrison@bhs.edu.hk

or post to Beacon Hill School, 23 Ede Road, Kowloon Tong

or hand in at Reception.

The closing date for entries is Monday 8th May.

Heifer Read to Feed – Reading for Empathy, Reading against Poverty!

We are delighted to inform you that BHS is participating in the Heifer Read to Feed program, an educational fund-raising program that fosters a love of reading in students while empowering them to make a difference in rural China. We hope you can support your child to join this meaningful program. The sponsored programme will kick-off on Monday 13th March, the first day of our Book Week and run until Tuesday 18th April, the first day back at school after the Easter holiday.

Students taking part are encouraged to read while collecting sponsorship from parents, relatives and friends based on the number of books read or a single donation. Funds collected this school year will be used to assist impoverished families in Wadu Township of Baoshan City in Yunnan Province. The money will be used to help them become self-reliant by providing livestock and training with the ultimate goal of helping more families in the community from “Passing on the Gift” – that is recipients donate their animal offspring and pass on their new animal husbandry knowledge to other villagers.

We appreciate your encouragement and support of your child while he or she participates in Read to Feed, allowing them to enjoy reading and helping others for a better world. Thank you!

Please click below to download a sponsorship form

Read to feed Sponsorship Form.pdf

Please click below to download a Reading Record sheet

Read to Feed Record Sheet.pdf

A reminder that school closed today for the Easter holiday and reopens on Tuesday 18th April.
I would like to wish you all a very happy Easter.

Best wishes,

_

James Harrison

Principal

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Green Team News

Two weeks after the holidays, from the 24th to the 28th of April will be Green Week which promises to be lots of fun. We would like to run a dress casual day with a difference and a Year Six Exhibition group will be organising for the children to try to add an item of clothing or accessory that will be upcycled (made out of something you were going to throw away).

I can confirm we will be tree planting on Lantau Island for Saturday 22 April. As the walk is up to an elevation of 150m and the tree planters will need to carry the trees and spades, the tree planters must be reasonably fit, we will only be able to offer this to staff, Years 4-6 and their families. This is a non-profit activity and there is a small fee per person which is to cover tree planting costs and on-going maintenance of the trees. There is a maximum number of 16 people for safety. If you are interested in doing this on Saturday the 22nd, please fill in the reply slip to the letters outside room 201.

We will be continuing the Endangered Species Art Competition. Students please bring in your art work from the 24th of April. Any style of art goes and we have had some fabulous entries in previous years. I look forward to seeing all the entries on display in the school foyer.

Thank you to everyone who has bought a plant from our Green Team over the last week. It has been very successful. All the contributions will be put towards a fund that ESF has put together to help the orangutans in Borneo, as will part of our Green Week collections.

Jane Faragó

Environmental Officer

Year 1 Story Telling

Next term our Year One students will be inquiring into stories and different ways we can tell stories. If you have any children’s dress up costumes that you are not using anymore, like fairies, animals or book characters that you wouldn’t mind donating to the Year 1s it would be gratefully received. Please send in the costumes with your child to give to the Year One teachers.

Mother Tongue Story Telling for Years 1, 2 & 3

Next term we are very fortunate to have a group of parents who will be coming to the Learning Centre on Tuesday and Thursday at 1:00 to 1:30 pm to read stories in their Mother Tongue to our Year 1, 2 and 3 students. These stories will be told in Cantonese, Japanese and Korean. Any child is welcome to join from those year groups. Student Council representatives will help organise the students. If you have time and would like to join this group of parents please email me, andy.thompson@bhs.edu.hk. Any support you can give would be appreciated.

Andy Thompson

PYP Coordinator

Touch Rugby

Well done to the girl’s touch rugby team who finished as plate runners up at the Kellett girl’s touch tournament. In the group stage we didn’t have the best of starts with two 1-0 loses against Kellett Kowloon Bay and Shatin. In our final group game it was another close game and thanks to a great run from Natalee we managed to win one nil.

In the plate semi against Kellett Pok Fu Lam we played our best rugby and came back from being 1 nil down to win 2-1 in drop off time. Kirsty scored an outstanding try. In the final it was end to end rugby and we just couldn’t make the final pass to score and DBIS managed to score a great individual try. Poppy was chosen as our best player for his consistent high level of attacking and defending.

Thanks to the parents who came to support us and Neal (Year 12 Island School student) who helped coach the team.

Interhouse Basketball

Congratulations to xìn xīn (confidence) house who won the Year Six inter-house basketball tournament. The tournament was very exciting with half the school cheering on their house during the tournament. The intensity of the matches was very high and standard even higher. Results were:

xìn xīn (confidence) vs bāo róng (inclusivity)	6 – 3
kuài lè (happiness) vs duō yuan (diversity)	6 – 0
kuài lè (happiness) vs xìn xīn (confidence)	8 – 8
bāo róng (inclusivity) vs duō yuan (diversity)	13 – 2
bāo róng (inclusivity) vs kuài lè (happiness)	7 – 3
xìn xīn (confidence) vs duō yuan (diversity)	8 – 2
Final xìn xīn (confidence) vs bāo róng (inclusivity)	8 – 5

Places

1st xìn xīn (confidence)

2nd bāo róng (inclusivity)

3rd kuài lè (happiness)

4th duō yuan (diversity)

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On behalf of the BHS PTA Executive Committee, I extend my gratitude to all BHS Community that supported, sponsored &/or donated our IFF Grand Prize Raffle Lucky Draw prizes which were drawn last Friday 24 March 2017 at 8:00pm. Draw results will be published on Friday 31 March 2017 in the South China Morning Post and Apple Daily. HK Lottery License No.4581. Winners should first call 2337 8932 and then collect prizes from our BHS PTA Office at 23 Ede Road, Kowloon Tong on or before Friday 5 May 2017. We will also announce IFF Grand Raffle Ticket sales and winning upper & lower school classes when tallied & verified.

We would also like to extend our sincere gratefulness to all the BHS Caretakers, Staff, EAs, Teachers, Vice Principals and Mr. Harrison, in particular Mr. Lowe and Y6s setting-up the Karaoke, Mr. Pheasant coordinating the Talent Show & Dance-off, Mr. Gibson & Miss. Kannis arranging the Chamber & Community Choirs flash mob performance, Miss. Younie & Mr. McCallum organising the Y5 Hall Games, Miss. Mak for coordinating the BHS IFF Poster and the endless set-up and clean-up before and after by Mr. Peter & Mrs. Ada’s Caretaker team. All the Staff, EAs & Teachers helping with the Bouncy Castle, Hall Game prizes, Drink Stalls, Hot Dog Stall & IFF Coupon booklet sales Stalls was absolutely wonderful!

Lastly & equally important, a heartfelt thank you to all the Parents, family members & friends that bought IFF Grand Raffle Lucky Draw Tickets where which proceeds will be donated directly in whole to BHS for the School Garden Enhancement (a BHS 50th Anniversary student art project), donated monies & food, manned stalls and volunteered their time. I saw moms AND dads helping and supporting each other and wide smiles on every face from kids to grandparents and from volunteers to people enjoying the awesome community atmosphere.

I would like to especially recognise the following Parent Coordinators for their support in organising the IFF International foods, building their volunteer team and manning the stalls with great enthusiasm:

Parent Stalls

Chinese Stall Coordinator – Alice & team of parents

Indian Stall Coordinator – Simran & team of parents

Western Stall Coordinators – Rosa & Suki & team of parents

Korean Stall Coordinator – JinHee & team of parents

Indonesian Stall Coordinators – Eliza & Elena & team of parents

Japanese Stall Coordinator – Yukie & team of parents

Dessert Stall Coordinator – Rachel & team of parents

Cheese Raclette Stall Coordinator – Wesley & team of parents

PTA Stalls

Popcorn Stall Coordinator – Nazish & team of parents

Candy Stall Coordinator – Tania & team of parents

Ice cream Stall Coordinator – Lilian & team of parents

Cotton candy Stall Coordinator – Susan & team of parents

And finally a very special mention to our loyal BHS Alumni families that also donated monies, food & time:

Parents of Y7 Janice Tong

Parents of Y7 Jack Cheng

Parents of Y7 Bernice Lam

The following are the IFF Fair Day coupon sale results of the Stalls. Congratulations to everyone on their hard work!

Chinese	$6575
Indian	$1455
Western	$4420
Korean	$5450
Indonesian	$5600
Japanese	$2610
Dessert	$8280
Cheese Raclette	$2630
Popcorn	$1820
Candy	$7760
Ice Cream	$2720
Cotton Candy	$2215
Chip & Drinks	$9430
Hot dogs	$5875
Bouncy Castle	$3680
Hall Games	$14425
Karaoke	$140

Photos from the Food Fair can be found HERE.

Reminders:

Deli Fresh hot lunch orders for May 2017 – Please note as we will be on Easter Holidays until Tuesday 18 April 2017, when you receive the order forms, there will be a very tight turnaround time for the return of May 2017 orders on Thursday 20 April 2017. We will endeavour to post the May 2017 Deli Fresh Lunch Order to the BHS website during the Easter Holidays so that you may prepare your order beforehand for your child to return upon start of school.
Summer Uniform prices – The BHS PTA Uniform Shop has held prices constant for 3 years, however with increasing supplier costs, we will be adjusting prices to cover cost increases and items will start to have the additional ESF brand logo. Caps, BHS School Bag and Short Sleeve Shirt prices will be adjusted upwards and effective 1 April 2017.

Wishing peace & joy to your families over the Easter Holidays!

Rowena Chow

Chair, BHS PTA

Screenagers

Screening at: St Andrews Church in May.

Find more information about the date at: http://www.screenagersmovie.com/

About the film

Are you watching kids scroll through life, with their rapid-fire thumbs and a six-second attention span? Physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston saw that with her own kids and learned that the average kid spends 6.5 hours a day looking at screens. She wondered about the impact of all this time and about the friction occurring in homes and schools around negotiating screen time—friction she knew all too well.

In SCREENAGERS, as with her award-winning documentaries on mental health, Delaney takes a deeply personal approach as she probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social media, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories, along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance.

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.