11 May 2018

Newsletter #31

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

This morning parents of our Year 1 children came in to school to share in their learning of the latest unit of inquiry which has the central idea of ‘Exploring evidence helps our understanding of people’s histories’. The children have been inquiring into their own histories, have asked lots of great questions, explored the parts and purposes through dance, have written their own narratives, inquired into the history behind some nursery rhymes and inquired into their own area of interest. Great work Year 1s and I know you loved sharing it with you parents. Thanks as always to all the teachers and educational assistants who support and guide the children. Click HERE for more photos.

With Ms Susan Chung taking over as Acting Principal in August I am pleased to announce that Ms Emily Jeves will be Acting Vice Principal during this period. Many of you will know Ms Jeves who has been at BHS for several years. She will be leading the Year 1 and 2 team next year.

Our Year 6 students and teachers have been working incredibly hard over the last few weeks as they prepare for the Year 6 Exhibition. This culminates in the final presentations next week, with parents attending on Wednesday evening and other VIPs, including the CEO, Ms Belinda Greer, visiting on Thursday morning. I am very proud of the approach to the learning the students have taken. Good luck next week!

For the last several years we have been able to offer hot lunches at school with the external provider ‘Deli Fresh’. Unfortunately they will not be able to continue this in the new academic year due to our small size. The PTA have been working hard to find an alternative supplier. We need to know how much interest there is from parents in this service. You will receive an eNotice today inviting you to complete a 1 minute survey which which will help us know if we can continue the hot lunch service in future or not. I would be very grateful if you can take a short amount of time to complete the survey.

IMPORTANT DATES

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT BEYOND SCHOOL

International Story Writing competition by author Sarah Brennan – The Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition! There was a total of 66 entries, from six cities around the world: Beijing, Chicago, Doha, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Shanghai. They were all of a very high standard, making this competition very difficult to judge. Only the first six entries in each Category were published on Sarah’s blog; although not coming in the top six, both did extremely well with Yu Tung Shan achieving a very respectable 9th position in the Year One to Three Category, and Kaitlyn Yeung achieving 12th position out of 53 in the Year Four to Six Category! Congratulations to them and everyone else who entered.

Monique (4W) has won the 2018 Spellbulary Championship last Sunday (6-9 age group). This was her second time participating in a spelling bee contest (she got 2nd place last year). She was very pleased to have joined the contest and had a lot of fun. One of the lessons Monique has learnt is that you shouldn’t give up if you really want to do something. Congratulations Monique!

Enjoy the weekend.

Principal

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School Yearbook

20180503145322388.pdf

News from the English Team

Writing success

Well done to Emma Shan in Year 3 and Kaitlyn Yeung in Year 6 who recently entered author Sarah Brennan’s latest writing competition. The competition had entries from all over the world and as Sarah wrote “Yu Tung Shan came in a very respectable 9th position in the Year One to Three Category, and Kaitlyn Yeung came in 12th out of 53 in the Year Four to Six Category!” The author, who recently visited the school, often runs competitions via her blog so it is worth checking it regularly if your child is an aspiring writer. https://sarahbrennanblog.com/clever-competitions/

Library borrowing

Is your child borrowing from our school library? Each month Mrs Lowe, our librarian, and I look at statistics which show the children who are borrowing regularly. We give certificates to the classes and individuals who have borrowed the most as a well done and an incentive to keep reading. There has been so much research that proves that children who read everyday and read a lot have increased vocabulary, comprehension and improved fluency amongst other benefits.

http://scholasticbookclubs.teachforus.org/2010/11/09/why-read-every-day/

Do encourage your child to borrow regularly from the library and if they need guidance about new things to read remind them to talk to their friends, myself and Mrs Lowe. I love receiving deliveries of new books to school and we have recently got many which have supported the Year 6 children with their research for exhibition, There are some great new chapter books for our more confident readers, we have invested in the mystery genre as so many of our readers seem to enjoy crime solving. As for picture books there are some great ones in now, including my favourite at the moment I’m Going To Eat This Ant by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros which uses words wonderfully and really makes readers laugh.

If you have any questions about English at Beacon Hill do not hesitate to get in touch.

Emily Jeves

jevese2@beaconhill.edu.hk

Scholastic Online Book Club

Thank you so much for supporting the Scholastic online book club. Hopefully, your children are thoroughly enjoying the texts you purchased for them. Your spending also benefitted the whole BHS community, as we used the “rewards” we earned from your purchases to buy new books for the Learning Centre.

As always, the English Team would welcome any feedback you may have about the online book club.

Charlotte Fennelly

charlotte.fennelly@bhs.edu.hk

BHS Community Choir

Please click HERE for the audio files for the music.

Hong Kong Inter Primary Gymnastics Competition

Last weekend two more groups competed in the HK inter primary schools gymnastics competition.

On Saturday Nathan Yau (3F) & Jake Wong (2K) took part in the vault and floor exercise for the Boys Grade C.

Then on Sunday Hannah Su (6H), Nikita Dawes (6Y) & Poppy Wong (6Y) competed in the floor, balance beam and vault for Girls Grade B.

Special mention to Poppy who finished 4th in the vault competition and 7th in the beam.

It was a fantastic opportunity to compete against high calibre gymnasts and represent Beacon Hill School.

Good luck to Connor Yip who will be competing this Saturday in the Boys Grade A.

Thanks to the parents (Susan Ho and Tania Shao) who have organized the gymnastics teams.

Tim Teahan

International Food Fair Lottery

Some prizes have yet to be collected. Please contact Janley on 2337 8932 or visit our PTA office at 23 Ede Road, Kowloon Tong to arrange collection of prizes as soon as possible.

A reminder again to all students who have not returned the lottery packets. Unsold tickets must be returned for auditing. All ticket sales and money must be verified as part of the lottery licence requirements. Every ticket must be accounted for otherwise it may jeopardise approval of future licences. Please double check and return as soon as possible.

DeliFresh

Menu for June DeliFresh has been issued. Please note deadline for ordering is 16 May.

Reminder, only all Y1&2 are given a copy, for Y3-6 your child must pick up from class teacher if they wish to order. The menu can also be downloaded here : http://www.beaconhill.edu.hk/deli-fresh-menu/

You may have read from above that DeliFresh will not continue in the next academic year. Please respond to the eNotice as this will determine whether or not school lunches will be provided next term. A while back James & ourselves visited Sha Tin Junior School to review how Delicious Chef King Catering Ltd served up the school lunches there. The feedback from the children was very positive and it was good to hear that school lunch orders are on the increase. Aside from the menu, click HERE for photos of some meals they serve.

Uniform Shop

The Summer Uniform order form is out. Unfortunately delivery of caps is still awaiting supplier. If you wish to place order we shall send direct to classroom as soon as they arrive.

Order form for summer uniform can be picked up outside the PTA office or can be downloaded here : Beacon Hill School – ESF » PTA

Upcoming events

Quiz Day Y3-6 only

This will be held on Thursday 31 May from 3:15-5pm. Deadline for returning the form was 11 May.

Y2 Pizza Lunch – Tuesday 5 June

Order forms and payment must be returned to PTA office by Wednesday 16 May.

29 May – Y1 Bake Sale

31 May – Quiz Day

5 Jun – Y2 Pizza Lunch

19 Jun – Y3 Bake Sale

Regards,

BHS PTA

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HEALTH

SCHOOL DENTAL CARE SERVICE (SDCS)

The appointment slips have arrived (only for parents or guardians who have consented for their child/ren to join this service).

We have passed them to your child’s class teacher or your child’s educational assistant (for you) the week starting 7 May 2018 (Monday) to 11 May 2018 (Friday) and if, you have not received it (from your child/ren), please could you let us know a.s.a.p.

Reminder

If you cannot keep this appointment, please could you let them know (i.e. there is a 24 hour automated enquiry and appointment re-scheduling hotline at the back of the appointment slip).
If you can attend, please be “punctual” because if you are late for 30 minutes or more, your appointment may be cancelled.
Your appointment will be cancelled if typhoon signal No. 8 (or above) or black rainstorm signal is hoisted. Then, please could you call the clinic on or after the next working day to arrange a new appointment.

*Please bring the appointment slip, your child’s toothbrush and the school dental care service handbook (if you have one), when you attend.*

Thank you.