Newsletter #17

News from the English Team

 

New in the library

The library has been transformed into a magical place for the winter.  Thanks to the hard work of Mrs Lowe the library is causing much excitement with it’s Polar Express themed decoration, the children are enjoying reading in the igloo, the snowball pit and are busy doing different craft activities at lunchtimes. It is lovely to hear the sounds of the children laughing, sleigh bells ringing and the occasional train passing by!  I am sure that your children will tell you all about it.

 

 

50th Anniversary writing competition

We are coming to the end of our special 50 word writing competition.  If there are still any entries to come please ensure that they are sent to Ms Younie or myself as soon as possible, we will decide the winners in the new year.

 

Best Borrowers

A huge well done to these classes who were the best borrowers in the library in October and November.

1W  2D  3F  4F  5D  6Y

A special well done to Stella Chen in 5F and Aiden Lai in 3S who are the boy and girl who have borrowed the most books from the library during this time. It is wonderful to see the children borrowing regularly and sharing their love of reading with each other.  The children have lots of opportunity to suggest books to be included in the library’s collection and those who write an illustrated book review are given a “gold pass” to visit the library at lunchtimes for a week without having to queue!  We have recently reorganised the chapter books in the library to make borrowing chapter books suitable to a wider age range of readers more accessible.

 

Reading at home

As we come to the end of a busy term I am sure that you are seeing improvements in your child’s reading, it is such a great feeling for the children and I am sure you are celebrating this at home . As you will know at Beacon Hill our emphasis is on the reading you do with your child to be fun and an opportunity for lots of talk about books. You will be able to continue with regular home reading over the holidays using the books you child has brought from school, ebooks on Big Universe and those on your child’s book shelves.  If you are not already using the local libraries these are definitely worth checking out for their great range of English and Chinese children’s books. There is more information about how you can support your child on the school’s website:  https://www.beaconhill.edu.hk/helping-your-child-with-reading/  If your child is struggling with ideas of what to read this is site is a good starting point: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-lists

 

If you have any questions about English at school do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing jevese2@beaconhill.edu.hk

 

Emily Jeves

Head of English

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Action Day

Last Friday 8th December was our Action Day.  It was a fantastic community event where students, teachers, parents and ex students worked tirelessly to pack 1600 food parcels for 12 local charities who work with disadvantaged families within our community.  We started at 8:30 am and did not stop until all 1600 food parcels were packed and ready to be collected at 1 pm.  A special thank you goes to Sunny Mak at Sunshine Action who runs this event.  I would also like to highlight the massive contribution of our parent helpers and ex students who were amazing on the day.  I would like to end by thanking our community for all the support you gave by supporting our fund raising where we raised a staggering $151,000.  It is an honour to be part of this generous and supportive community.

 

Andy Thompson

Vice Principal

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Assessment & Reporting

At BHS, we believe that good communication between teachers, students and their parents plays an important part in improving student learning and growth. Reporting provides information about what students know and can do, along with recommendations for their future learning.

 

The mid-year progress report reflects the teaching and learning of the PYP, Mathematics and English.  The outcomes for Mathematics and English are expectations for the end of the year and this report indicates their level of understanding at this point in time. The level of your child’s attainment, understanding and overall effort is indicated in the achievement boxes where applicable.

Mid Year Reports & Portfolios

Year 1 & 2 via the Beacon

A separate email will be sent to Year 1 & 2 Parents on how to access your child’s mid-year report on Friday 15th December.

In addition to the paper based portfolio, the Year 1 and 2s this year are using an online e-portfolio which again will be accessed through the Beacon.  You will see evidence of learning from their units of inquiry as well as from some single subject teachers.  We would welcome any feedback you may have on this system.  Please email susan.chung@bhs.edu.hk

Years 3-6 via the Gateway

Your child’s mid-year report, which include their 2^nd Unit of Inquiry, Mathematics and English outcomes,  will be open for viewing on the Gateway on Friday 15th December. To do so, you will need to:

• Log on to the Gateway – tg.esf.edu.hk
• Click on the ARR tab and Click on ARR Report
• Click on the Printing Tab
• Select the current year (2017-18)
• Select your child’s name
• Select Mid-Year Report 2017-18

Please remember to share this with your child also.

Portfolios (Paper Based)

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

The children will bring these home next Friday and we would appreciate your help in returning the portfolios to school by Tuesday 9th January.  There will be another opportunity to view this again later in the year.

Please share and enjoy the portfolio with your child.

 

Susan Chung

Vice Principal

Save the Date

 

We are very excited to have Marie Marchand– www.parentingdialogue.com returning to Beacon Hill School on January 31st to host another parenting talk. Marie has a long standing relationship with Beacon Hill School and those who have attended her workshops will know that she is a wealth of knowledge with great parenting tips and techniques.

 

This year she will be presenting on a new topic- Discipline without Shouting. There will be an opportunity to sign up in the first week back after the Christmas break so please do save the date!

Thank you and we look forward to seeing many of you there.

 

Colette Davis

Head of SEN

Under 10s Netball Tournament at ICHK

Nine girls from Year 5 represented Beacon Hill at the Under 10s netball tournament hosted at ICHK Hong Lok Yuen on Monday 4th December. They got the opportunity to play against other school teams and did our school so proud.

They started off with a bang and won their first three matches against ICHK2 1-0, KJS 2-1 and Harrow 5-2 and were nearly top of their group. Their last game was against DBIS who were also unbeaten and the girls were nervous. They played and supported each other and made some great passes straight into the goal third. Our defence was untouchable and Rachel and gave their attack a really difficult time getting near the goal and we played really well and managed to secure a 3-3 draw. However, due to goal difference they only finished 2^nd in their group and progressed to the plate final. Unfortunately, they lost to ICHK 3-0. Our player of the tournament was our captain Clarice who had kept the team together and positively supported everyone throughout the day.

Well done to the team for finishing Plate Runners up and bringing home some medals and making BHS proud!

Anjali Deteramani

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Under 10 Girls HLY Football Tournament

Well done to the Under 10 girls who were runners up in the cup competition at the Hong Lok Yuen girls tournament on Tuesday. The girls dominated their group winning all four of their group games scoring 21 goals without conceding any. Our goalkeeper, Gingerlily, had very little to do thanks to the superb defending of Hermia, Kaeli and Sophie. The goals were coming from our star midfielders Cameron and Rei and our awesome strikers, Crystal and Kanna. In the final we played GSIS and it was a tough match and we defended strongly for most of the game and it took a special goal from them to beat us. Thanks to the parents who came to support us.

 

It’s been a great season for girls football – 2 cup wins, 4 cup runners up and a fifth place. Well done to all the girls who have represented BHS at tournaments this year.

 

Results

BHS vs Kellett	3 – 0	Rei 3
BHS vs Harrow B	9 – 0	Rei 4, Crystal 2, Kanna 2, Cameron
BHS vs Kowloon Junior School	6 – 0	Rei 3, Kanna 2, Cameron
BHS vs Shatin	3 – 0	Rei 3
Final BHS vs GSIS	1 – 2	Rei

 

 

Tim Teahan

Head of PE

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Year 6 House Competition

Our House Captains organised an inter House Football Tournament for Year 6.  Our goal was to get as many students as possible to enjoy and play football.  We designed the tournament to ensure everyone who wanted to play got at least 3 games.  It took part at lunchtimes at Ede Rd over 5 days.  We saw great football skills, fantastic sporting behaviour and lots of students having fun.  We would like to thank Mr. Teahan, Mr. Thompson and the Year 6 teachers for supporting us.  We are looking forward to a Year 5 tournament in the new year.