Newsletter #3
Beacon Hill School latest newsletter available to read now. Find out the latest news around the school and upcoming events.
Principal’s Words
Important Dates
Around BHS
PTA News
ESF News
Other News
Dear Parents,
Another busy and successful week has drawn to a close. Our new Year 1s have settled in really well to full days at school. Last night we hosted an ESF Information Evening about Year 1 admissions. If you or anyone you know is wishing to enrol your child at BHS for Year 1 entry in August 2018, you need to make the online application during September. More details can be found later in this newsletter.
Island School Redevelopment Information Evening
As promised, Mr Stephen Loggie, the new principal of Island School will visit BHS on Monday 11th September at 6.30pm to give the latest update on the Island School development and transfer project. Please do attend if your child is likely to attend Island School in the coming few years.
Island School website: http://island.edu.hk/decant-latest-news/
Meet the Teacher / Wine and Cheese Evening
It was lovely to meet lots of our new parents on Tuesday evening at the wine and cheese event and also to have such a good ‘turnout’ for the ‘Meet the Teacher’ evening. I hope you found the evening helpful. Please remember to take 10 minutes to complete the online survey as part of our IB Evaluation process.
House Colours Assembly
Today all the children came to school dressed in their house colours and attended assemblies where they listened to prospective house captains sharing their speeches. Our Year 5 and 6 students have voted for who they would like to be their captains and the winners will be announced in Monday’s assembly. Well done to all those students who stepped up to the challenge of running for house captain – certainly a valuable experience for you.
Final Presentations for House Captain Positions:
Diversity
Katie Lim, Zoe, Armaan, Bernice, Isaac, Ludwig, Wilson,
Confidence
Mia, James, Carrie, Nysha, Poppy, Pak Yui, Haruki, Hayley, Jayden
Happiness
Calista, Vien, Ibrahim, Nikita, Hermia, Sun Young, Sharna, Tyler
Inclusivity
Dylan, Kaitlyn, Sasha, Augusto, Evelyn, Ashley, Brandon
Children Arriving at School Early
School for the students begins at 8.45am with teachers on duty in the playground from 8.30am. Please avoid dropping your child at school early (we have some children arriving at 7.45am!) as they will be on the playground unsupervised.
eNotice / Gateway
The Gateway is an important means of communication for you and this year we will be using it to share information about school trips and excursion that will require you attention. Please log on to the Gateway to check you personal data and to see messages about class trips. https://bhs.tg.esf.edu.hk
BHS / ESF 50th Anniversary
This year Beacon Hill School is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary which coincides with ESFs 50th Anniversary. We have a series of events and activities planned, to run the course of this academic year. Please see the poster in this newsletter for a list of the main events and dates. ESF is also running special events, one being a ‘Charity Marathon’ – which is actually a series of different length races – on Sunday October 22nd. For primary age children and their families there is a 1km race. Some of you may be keen, advanced runners and would like to participate in the 10k challenge (I’ve signed up, although I am definitely not a runner!). You can find out all the details and register for the races at this website:
https://marathon.esf.edu.hk/en/form/apply-now
ESF is also organising a 50th Anniversary Golf Day on 4th November 2017 at Nansha Golf Club (China). The event is open to all teachers, support staff, parents, alumni and friends. For more information please contact Mr Steven Szeto – steven.szeto@esfcentre.edu.hk
BHS Teacher-Led After School Clubs
Teachers will announce when these will start over the next few weeks and letters will be sent home to those children who express an interest in joining them. Please encourage your child to join one or two that they are interested in. The clubs offered will be posted on the school website bext week.
IMPORTANT DATES
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.
Student Achievement Beyond School
Zoie Chan (5D) is following in her sister’s footsteps in the world of golf.So far in 2017, Zoie has competed in the following:
- Winter Junior Open organized in KSC for 2 days, 9 holes competition – Zoie was the age 8 and under champion
- HK Junior Open organized in DWB for 1 day, 18 holes competition – Zoie was the age 9-10 champion
- KSC Junior Open organized in KSC for 3 days, 9 holes competition – Zoie was the age 9-10 champion
- HSBC – Tour Series result from May, June, July http://www.hkga.com/upload/Tournament/Results/Points_GT2017(4).pdf – Zoie was the winner of age 9-10 group. Zoie was promoted to the HKGA – Junior Squad members earlier this year (8 years old) and after the accumulation of all big events during this year, Zoie will be the Champion of Junior Order of Merits for age 9-10 in 2017. Very well done to Zoie for her commitment to the sport. We will keep watching out for further achievements.
Best wishes,
_
James Harrison
Principal
BHS Action in the Community
After 50 very successful years in our community we are excited about an opportunity for us to take some meaningful action to help people who are less fortunate. Our goal is to raise $250 per child to purchase, by the school, 1500 food packages containing soy sauce, tinned vegetables, honey, tinned tuna, cooking oil and rice. We will then work with Sunshine Action to package this food on the 8th December so various organisations can collect and distribute to people in need. We realise that this is a significant amount but are excited about the opportunity for our students in their houses to work towards this goal.
In September, through our house captains we will be:
- Raising awareness about the charities we want to help
- Fund raising events on 29th September
Finally, I would like to thank Kitty Lee who has worked very hard using her connections in the food distribution business to get very competitive prices for all the food items.
After October half term we will be asking for parents who would be interested in helping us on Friday 8th December to work with the students to package the food ready for distribution.
If you would like further information of are able to help with our fund raising please contact Andy Thompson, andy.thompson@bhs.edu.hk
Andy Thompson
Vice Principal
Y1 Admissions 2018-2019
Central Applications (2013 birth) Year 1 admissions in 2018-2019 enewsletter (revised).pdf
Applications for ESF Year 7 Places
Parents of our Year 6 students need to submit an application for a Year 7 ESF place via The Gateway between Monday 4th September and Friday 15th September 2017.
Click HERE for a guide on how to apply through Gateway
Allocation for secondary school will be determined by your residential zone at the start of Year 6. For further details, parents should refer to the information available on the ESF website for key dates http://www.esf.edu.hk/year6-to-year7-key-dates/ and http://www.esf.edu.hk/esf-zones for school zones. All newly joined Y6 are guaranteed a Y7 place but not necessarily for the school of zone.
Year 6 parents should also note that the deposit payment deadline to secure a Year 7 place, once you have been offered a place at a secondary school, will be Friday 15th December 2017.
Chad Pheasant
Vice Principal
IBO Evaluation
Welcome back to a new school year, it has been great seeing our students settle back into class. As part of our continued drive to be the best school for our school community we are evaluated by the IBO every five years. This is a chance for us to celebrate, reflect and to grow. As parents you are an important part of this process. Please take 10 minutes to complete the survey, click here. All responses are anonymous. We only ask for you to mark which year group your child/ren is/are in.
If you have any questions please contact me at andy.thompson@bhs.edu.hk
Andy Thompson
Vice Principal
Gateway Updating Information
As many of you will know Gateway is an important element of our home/school communication. It is very important that we have up-to-date contact details and medical information in order to help us ensure that the children’s needs are being met. At the start of the year you are asked to go onto Gateway and check the information that we have and to verify that it is correct. If you need to make any changes, the please do so as soon as possible.
Gateway eNotice
In order to reduce the amount of paper letters that get sent home from Beacon Hill we will be using the Gateway eNotice system to send letters about trips, camps etc. You will receive an email informing you of a new eNotice being on Gateway. You will then need to login to Gateway and, after reading the information, fill in the appropriate sections giving permission and any other information needed in order to complete the process. Please click HERE for the parents guide for using eNotice.
Chad Pheasant
Vice Principal
It was great to see so many new faces at the Cheese & Wine Welcome last Tuesday evening. For more photos, click HERE.
Remember to return the BHS PTA Parent Volunteer and Donation Forms. The PTA depends on your continual support and thrives on your generosity.
Forthcoming events:
BHS Welcome Social Bowling evening on Fri 15Sept2017
Enjoy the weekend
BHS PTA
Health
Remaining vigilant against communicable diseases in school
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) remind us all to remain vigilant against communicable diseases in school such as, Chickenpox, Dengue fever, Hand, foot and mouth disease, Scarlet fever and Seasonal influenza.
To prevent outbreaks of communicable diseases, students who experience skin rash, fever, acute respiratory symptoms, diarrhoea or vomiting are strongly advised not to attend school and should seek prompt medical advice.
*Also, children who have fever and respiratory symptoms are strongly advised not to attend school until 48 hours after the fever has subsided.*
Always Keep Hands Clean.
Ms Chen
69th Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival
The application form for entering 69th Hong Kong School Speech Festival will be ready for you to pick up at the school front desk from Monday 28th August. If your child/ren wants to participate in this competition, please return the application form and application fee in a cheque payable to “Beacon Hill School” to the school office on or before Tuesday 12th September, 2017. Any late application received after the deadline will not be accepted.
Please note that ESF school education level is not equivalent to the local school system. If you enrol in the year group programme, please cross check with the following table for the correct age group. HKSMSA is based on the local school system for enrolment.
Should you have any queries, please contact Ms Shiree Yam at the office.
| ESF Level | Local School System |
| Y1 | K3 |
| Y2 | Y1 |
| Y3 | Y2 |
| Y4 | Y3 |
| Y5 | Y4 |
| Y6 | Y5 |
Shiree Yam
HR/Finance Manager
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.
