3 Nov 2017

Newsletter #11

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

IMPORTANT DATES

Parent Information Evenings Offered This Term

Please look out for emails asking you to sign up for these.

We have had another very busy and exciting week with lots of great learning taking place. We are looking forward to our camps happening next week for Years 4, 5 and 6 and the week after for Year 3. I hope the weather remains the same as it has been this week. I will be on Year 5 and 6 camps next week therefore, in my absence, Ms Chung (Vice Principal) will be in charge at school.

Congratulations to 4L, Ms Fisher, Mr Lee and Ms Kannis for a wonderful class assembly this morning. The children shared some really important messages about how we can make other people feel welcome and good about themselves. They used drama and data, explained by their very own social scientists, to share the kind of things we like being told when we are trying to achieve something but may be having some difficulties with. It is so important for our children to develop resilience and strength of character to enable them to overcome challenges. Well done 4L!

Earlier this week a group of students from BHS took part in a special ESF 50th Anniversary Minecraft competition at ESF Centre, which lasted for a whole day. I am delighted to say that the BHS team worked really well together and were the winners of the competition. Congratulations to them and thanks to Mr Lowe for coaching them. There are more photos down below.

I have just returned from the ESF Primary Orchestra day where students from all ESF primary schools worked hard in the morning practicing their sections and then came together this afternoon to perform an entertaining concert for parents. Thanks to Mr Gibson and Ms Ma for their work and support. Well done to our orchestra performers who did BHS proud. For photos, click HERE.

We have received lots more ‘Boxes of Hope’ this week. They will be collected one day next week so you still have time over the weekend to put together a box and bring it to school on Monday. The website gives more information: http://boxofhope.org/home/main/en/ Let’s hope we can brighten the lives of many children.

Although we do not organise the school bus services, we do liaise between them and parents to ensure the services operate efficiently. To this end, I ask that anyone who uses the school bus service in the mornings to be at the designated pick-up point on time, or even a few minutes early. The buses are not able to wait at these points for children who are late – if they do, this causes traffic jams and can also lead to the bus arriving late at school, impacting on the children having a smooth start to the school day. We are working with one bus company to ensure bus D2 arrives at school in time for the start of the school day – 8.45am. Parents of this service will be notified of the minor changes. I thank you in advance for your help.

A reminder of our upcoming events to mark the BHS 50th Anniversary:

PTA 60s Fashion Disco

Years 1 to 3 – 30th November at 3.15pm

Years 4 to 6 – 1st December at 3.15pm

Watch out for ticket sales.

Great BHS Christmas Bake Off

14th December 2017

At home, as a family, bake your best festive, Christmas bakes – biscuits, cakes or desserts. Deliver them to school on the morning of Thursday 14th December where they will be judged. The winners will be announced that evening at our BHS 50th Christmas Concert.

Quiz night with curry buffet – adults only.

19th January 2018

Look out for the ticket request form which will be in an upcoming Newsletter. Before then, why not start to get a team together? Alternatively, you can form a team on the night.

To celebrate ESF’s 50^th Anniversary, ESF has sponsored a channel on www.scmp.com – “ESF The First 50 Years” to promote awareness of ESF’s contribution and the achievements of our staff and alumni. Interviews of some of our leaders, long-serving staff and alumni have been posted.

People stories can be found here: http://www.scmp.com/topics/esf-first-50-years-people-stories

You can also find some archived news stories here: http://www.scmp.com/topics/esf-first-50-years-news, and some others about ESF’s milestones: http://www.scmp.com/topics/esf-first-50-years

The channel will last till February 2018.

Student Achievement Beyond School

Nathelie (5D) took part in the Hong Kong Medical Association swimming gala last weekend at the Polytechnic University. She was competing with girls mostly older than her and she was the runner up in Girls 9-10 freestyle 50m. Well done Nathelie!

Community Choir

Our BHS Community Choir began again this week on Thursday. Please sign up if you would like to come along. The evenings are fun and casual and no prior singing or performing experience is necessary.

https://goo.gl/forms/INxcht0TaEQXvyFR2

For existing members, click HERE for the audio files.

The Year Group Weekly Updates and Single Subject Monthly Updates are available on the school website – so please remember to refer to the website or our app (https://www.beaconhill.edu.hk/mobile-app/ ) each week to learn about what is happening in your child’s class.

Have a great weekend!

_

James Harrison

Principal

Minecraft Competition

On Monday 30th October, five Y6 students represented BHS at the ESF 50th Anniversary Minecraft Competition. Schools from across ESF primary schools competed to create a future school from 50 years in the future within Minecraft. The BHS team won the competition by planning carefully, collaborating well and impressing the judges with their vision for a school of the future. Congratulations to the team!

BHS Camp Photos

During Year 3 – 6 camp BHS will be sharing photos and videos through Facebook pages for parents to see the exciting things going on.

These Facebook pages can be found linked on the BHS website and are available directly at the following links:

Year 3: https://www.facebook.com/BHSYear3Camp/

Year 4: https://www.facebook.com/BHSYear4Camp/

Year 5: https://www.facebook.com/BHSYear5Camp/

Year 6: https://www.facebook.com/BHSYear6Camp/

We hope you enjoy seeing the photos. Please do like and comment respectfully. Please also note that children will not be able to see any comments that are posted and staff on camp will not be able to reply to them.

The teachers and staff attending the camps will do their best to post photos of all of the children at some point, although this cannot be guaranteed. The main responsibility of the adults is the care and safety of the children.

Sunshine Action Fund Raising

I am very pleased to announce, thanks to your generosity and the hard work of our students, we raised $150000. This is a tremendous sum and I think it shows what a special community we belong to. We can now start to purchase the food so on 8th December our students can work with Sunshine Action at school to make the food parcels for the different charities. To help our students with the food parcels we need parent volunteers, approximately 30. These parents will be working with groups of students to help them make the food parcels. If you are interested please click here.

Andy Thompson

Vice Principal

ESF Christmas ECard

Christmas is fast approaching! ESF wish to prepare an e-card for Christmas and are inviting ESF students to come up with a design. The Christmas artwork could be a painting or drawing on A4 or A3 paper with any media such as water color, pastel, photography or digital. Please send the original artwork to Ms Yu by 13th November if you would like to enter this exciting competition. Please refer to the above pictures for cards from previous years.

Understanding and Supporting Minds that Learn differently

FOCUS and the Dyslexia Association (Hong Kong) are pleased to bring two internationally recognised experts together to share, educate and raise awareness of learning differences.

Dr. Thomas Brown & Dr. Lindsay Peer CBE

Parent and Educator Seminar

Understanding and Supporting Minds that learn Differently

November 18th

Kowloon Junior School

The seminar will be valuable to parents, educators and other professionals wanting to better understand how to support children with ADHD and Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) such as dyslexia.

Morning only: 8:45 – noon (2 presentations) $700

Whole day: 8:45 – 3:45 (3 presentations and light lunch) $1,400

More information and registration from here.

This should be a very informative and useful day.

Colette Davis

Head of SEN

Peak Football Tournament

Well done to the A and B girls football team who participated in the Peak School girls football tournament on Saturday. For the B team many of them were playing in their first tournament and they played excellent football in finishing tied for fifth. They were unfortunate not to win a game but improved throughout the tournament. The A team continued their successful season by making their third final and for the first time this year won in the final.

Results

B Team

BHS vs Clearwater Bay A	0 – 3
BHS vs Quarry Bay A	0 – 1
5th Place Playoff BHS vs Quarry Bay B	0 – 0

A team

BHS vs Peak School	5 – 1	Mia 3, Rei 2
BHS vs Quarry Bay B	5 – 0	Rei 3, Mia 1, Sophia 1
Cup Final BHS vs Clearwater Bay	3 – 2	Mia 3

Thanks to all the parents who attended and thanks to Rei’s dad and Kaeli’s dad for the photos which can be viewed here.

Tim Teahan

Uniform Shop

Opening hours are:

Mornings : Monday – Friday, except Tuesday 8:15-9:15

Afternoons : Monday and Friday only 2:45-3:15

Please note the following:

– Medium & large blue fleece are now in stock

– We now have only large stockings left. Stockings will be discontinued and replaced with long socks. They’ve been ordered but will take 2 months so should be available in Term 2.

Bake Sale

It was fantastic to see so much enthusiasm at Y6 bake sale last Tuesday. We managed to raise a record breaking $5880. Lets keep this up for all forthcoming bake sales, the next scheduled to be Y5 in January. All proceeds go back to school.

Pizza Lunch

Reminder that Year 1 Pizza Lunch will take place on Tuesday 21st November. Order forms have been distributed, please return by Friday 10th Nov.

DeliFresh

Deli Fresh hot lunch orders for November 2017 has now lapsed. If you have not handed in the form and still wish to order, please contact DeliFresh directly for processing.

Regards

BHS PTA

To mark ESF’s half-century, we are publishing a commemorative book: ESF The First 50 Years. This volume will chronicle the ESF story, highlighting key events over the last 50 years. It will also celebrate the successes and contributions of our students and staff, both past and current.

The book will be published in November 2017. Place your online order before 30 October to enjoy 10% off and the very special ESF 50th Anniversary Commemorative Book Jubilee Gift Set! Order link: http://www.esf.edu.hk/50th-book/

Enquiries: 50book@esfcentre.edu.hk

ESF 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner

To round off ESF’s 50th Anniversary you are invited to the Gala Dinner.

DETAILS

Date: Wednesday, 6 December 2017

Time: 7:00pm (Reception begins at 6pm)

Venue: Grand Ballroom, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC)

Early Bird Price: $1,700 (early bird offer valid until 1st November 2017)

Sales of tickets and further information are already available through ESF website at http://www.esf.edu.hk/gala

This should be an occasion to remember and a wonderful way to conclude the ESFs celebrations. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Steven Szeto or Ally Shum at esf.50@esfcentre.edu.hk

nl_other

Health

Immunization Records

ALL documents submitted by parents or guardians for Immunization Day have been returned to your child via their class teachers or their class educational assistants the week which started Monday, 30 October 2017 and which ended Friday, 3 November 2017.

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD)

One student is on sick leave diagnosed with this disease last Saturday, 28 October 2017. The child is resting at home and will resume school as per doctor’s advice.

Symptoms of HFMD may include fever, sore throat, (painful) mouth ulcers and skin rash with vesicles on hands and feet.

If, you suspect that the child has HFMD, please consult the doctor for confirmation of diagnosis.

The sick child/ren should refrain from school and to return to school as advised by the doctor.

Please closely monitor other children in the family.

Always Keep Hands Clean.

Due to the change of weather, there were one or two students who have had low-grade fever or nasal allergy or inflammation of the tonsils or a few gastro-enteritis (common ones) or just generally feeling unwell and needed to rest at home.

Thank you.