Newsletter #1
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
SEN News
PTA News
ESF News
Other News
Welcome back to a new school year. I hope you had a great summer with your families and are rested ready for the new year ahead. The children have settled back into the school routine and it is a joy to watch them arriving at school each morning eager for the day ahead. I have been particularly impressed with our Year 1 children who have settled quickly on their first days. They are an enthusiastic and confident group. Click HERE for Photos of our First Day back to school.
Naturally at the start of a school year we have many new people to welcome. I would like to extend a special welcome to all of our new Year 1 students and other new students across the years 2 to 6. I know they will all be well looked after and enjoy their time at Beacon Hill.
Along with our new students we have some new staff members joining the Beacon Hill School family. I would like to introduce you to Mr Matt Glencross, teaching 3G, who has joined us from ESF Quarry Bay School; Mr James Whyman, teaching 4W, who has joined us from ESF Sha Tin Junior School; Ms Iriz York, the Educational Assistant in 1W; Mrs Julie Fecteau, the Educational Assistant in 2F; Ms Cecilia Lok, the Educational Assistant in 4F and Ms Grace Pun, Year 5 Educational Assistant. I hope they enjoy working at Beacon Hill School.
Classroom refurbishment
Our Phase 2 renovations have been completed over the summer holidays, which involved all Year 1, 2 and 5 classrooms and the Mandarin rooms. The children have been very excited about their new learning spaces and are really looking forward to bringing their classrooms to life. You will have the opportunity to see them for yourselves at our ‘Meet the Teacher’ evening on the 29th August. I would like to thank Mr Chad Pheasant, our site staff and ESF Centre for their lead on this major project.
Meet the Teacher Evening
We would like to invite you to the ‘Meet the Teacher Evening’ on Wednesday 29th August. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet your child’s teacher and learn about the expectations for the year ahead. The evening will begin with a short introduction in the Main Hall followed by some time in your child’s classroom with their teacher.
The meetings are scheduled for the same evening to enable those parents with more than one child in the school to attend on the one evening.
| All new BHS parents | 5:30pm Wine & Cheese Party in the Staffroom | ||
| Introduction in the hall | Meet the teacher in the classroom | Finish | |
| Year 4, 5 & 6 Parents | 6.00pm | 6.15pm | 6.45pm |
| Year 1, 2 & 3 Parents | 6.30pm | 6.45pm | 7.15pm |
To coincide with the information evening, we would like to invite all our new parents to a Wine and Cheese party at 5:30pm in the staffroom.
Weekly Updates
Each year group will produce a weekly update for Parents which is shared every Friday, starting next week. This will contain information about the learning in the year group and important dates and events.
Wellbeing Focus
Parents want their children to be happy and positive about the future; this was clear when we reviewed our Vision and Mission statement in 2014. It states that we want BHS to be a happy, diverse and inclusive community and so this is why this is a major area of focus for us in the coming years. We will be introducing a wellbeing section in our newsletter each week so we can share with you aspects of Wellbeing we have focused our attention on during assemblies and ideas for the home.
Community Choir
Our BHS Community Choir will resume after the October half term break. More details nearer the time.
Weather Procedures
During the coming weeks, we may expect wet conditions. Please take a moment to remind yourselves of the ‘Bad Weather Procedures’ which are on our website – https://www.beaconhill.edu.hk/bad-weather-procedures/ In the event of any school closures we will make announcements on our website.
Student Achievement
At BHS we value the importance of developing the ‘whole’ child and this means valuing their achievement and interests outside of school. If your child has achieved something special, we would be happy to share that with the BHS community through this newsletter. Please email details and a photograph to kannis.tsui@bhs.edu.hk
Important Dates
Susan Chung
Acting Principal
Summary PYP Evaluation April 2018
In April 2018 Beacon Hill School completed a successful PYP Evaluation involving the whole community. This Evaluation is based on the school development for the time period between May 2013 to April 2018. It culminated in the school completing an in depth self study involving the whole community and a 3 day school visit with two external PYP Evaluators from the International Baccalaureate. The purpose of this document is to summarise the major findings of the evaluation report which highlights our strengths and next steps to ensure we continue to provide a high quality education for all our students.
The PYP Evaluators commended BHS for having a deep understanding and commitment, across our community to the Primary Years Programme (PYP). They found strong pedagogical leadership across the school built on effective communication and transparency to enhance the learning and teaching at BHS. It was also noted that members of community feel they are consulted and involved in the PYP through a high level of communication and transparency. Our Information Literacy Teacher and Information Technology Teacher were recognised as having a significant impact on the learning of students. The redevelopments of the library was recognised for fostering and enhancing the student’s ability to learn through inquiry. Our teachers and students were praised for making optimal use of information technology to enhance learning. BHS was praised for its high level of inclusion and support to meet the individual needs of our students and the range of systems to guide and counsel students if needed. Finally The Evaluators noted the high level of planning and preparation the teachers complete to ensure the best learning possible.
Although it is very satisfying to receive commendations our recommendations provide us with useful guidance on professional development. A major focus will be developing the students ability to reflect on how best they learn. This will involve students become more aware of the relevance of what they are learning and the skills and attitudes that will help them to succeed. We will continue to develop and review our units of inquiry and their relevant assessments to ensure that they are relevant, challenging, engaging and significant to our community. We will also look at how we learn about and celebrate the variety of cultures at our school and the links we can make to our units of inquiry. We will continue to enhance our Exhibition through developing our students understanding of real life issues. Developing the students skills, attitude and understanding of meaningful action will also be a whole school target. Finally, we will continue to share the best practice of our teaching staff to develop our approach to inquiry teaching.
The report findings will be integrated into our school action plans and will be a focus for our professional development over the next five years. If you would like to read the report in full, click HERE. Please contact me if you have any questions at andy.thompson@bhs.edu.hk.
Andy Thompson
Vice Principal
Johns Hopkins Centre for Talented Youth
Greetings from the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth! As part of the Johns Hopkins University, CTY conducts the oldest and most extensive university-based Talent Search worldwide by offering above-grade level testing to students in Years 3 through 9. For qualified advanced students, CTY offers challenging summer and online courses as well as family academic programs.
CTY is hosting an upcoming information session at Beacon Hill School (BHS). The schedule is below:
| Date: | Thursday, September 6, 2018 |
| Time: | 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. |
| Venue: | BHS 7th Floor Conference Room |
| RSVP: | https://centerfortalentedyouth.formstack.com/forms/2018_19_info_session_bhs_rsvp
(on or before Monday, September 3) |
During the session, we will provide information about CTY summer and online programs, including their benefits to students and admission requirements. We look forward to seeing you!
Best regards,
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
T: HK–(852) 3104-3494 | CN–(86) 15507574758
Counselling Service at BHS
Last year we started a new counselling service at BHS and many children were able to benefit from working one to one with either Alex Meyer (counsellor) or Ann Bridgewater (clinical psychologist). Sadly we have said goodbye to Alex as her family have returned to the UK, but will be welcoming a new counsellor to our support team. Yuki DeLong from HK Social Talk has had experience working with adults and children both in a private practice and in an international school setting. She is familiar with many of the social thinking programs we currently use at BHS and we are confident she will be a good fit for our team.
Last year, both practitioners established a positive relationship between the school, families and the children with whom they are working. The teachers and families who were involved in these services were all very positive about the input and support provided. We are very keen to continue to promote positive mental health and well-being and this will be a focus area across the school. The counselling services could be of great benefit for children needing help with depression, anxiety, self-esteem issues, stress management, social skills, resilience building and emotional regulation amongst others.
Generally children who have a formal diagnosis e.g. autism will be best suited to working with Ann Bridgewater who is a clinical psychologist. Those children without diagnosis but requiring some support/counselling to improve behaviour/emotional stability either at home or school are likely to work with Yuki. Although the service is parent funded, the ESF have made mental well-being a priority and have provided us a budget to subsidise those children referred.
The referral process can be initiated by parents and / or teachers. If you would be interested to know more details about the counselling services and feel that your child may benefit from the therapies offered please contact Colette Davis- colette.davis@bhs.edu.hk for more information.
Colette Davis
Head of SEN
Greetings to all our new families and a warm welcome back to our existing ones.
Hot Lunches
Our new lunch provider Delicious Chef King Catering Ltd is now on board. It has been great to see the children enjoying some fresh new lunches. Here are some photos of what they’ve been eating. Unfortunately the deadline for August & September orders has lapsed and DCK will not entertain any further orders. We shall inform you when the October menu comes out. On another note please make sure you write the correct company name, amount (long and short form) and signatures on the cheques to avoid any unnecessary bank charges.
Uniform Shop
From now until 24 August the Uniform Shop will be open daily between 8:15-9:15am.
Thereafter orders will be taken online. Once received, an email confirming the cost will be issued. Upon receipt of cheque payment, the order will be processed and sent direct to classroom. Hopefully this will make purchasing easier for all our busy parents. We shall confirm the process and where to download the order form shortly.
Wine and Cheese Welcome Evening
For new parents, there is a Wine and Cheese Welcome Evening on Wednesday 29 August commencing 5pm in the 7/F Staff Room. It’s an ideal opportunity to mingle with other parents and meet our PTA members. This event coincides with Meet the Teacher which is also that evening. Please RSVP on or before 24 August.
PTA Volunteer and Donation Forms
Please return the PTA Volunteer & Donation Forms. The various events run by the PTA rely on your support, generosity and valuable time. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Sponsorship form.pdf
PTA Welcome Social
The Annual PTA Welcome Social – Bowling Night shall take place on Friday 14 September. This is a great way to socialise and meet fellow parents in a relaxed and fun environment. Please RSVP before Friday 31 August.
2018 welcome social ' inviation.pdf
Have a great weekend
Regards
BHS PTA
ESF HK Run 2019
After the huge success of the ESF HK Run last year, the second ESF Hong Kong Run is scheduled for 24 February 2019.
Details of the Event:
Date: Sunday, 24 February 2019
Time: Starting from 07:30am
Venue: Lung Wo Road, Central
Distance: 1Km, 3Km and 10Km
Open to: Students and families, teachers, support staff and their families and friends
Registration fee: Individual $180 / Family Run $400 / School team relay challenge: Free of charge
Online registration: Available by early September
Island School Redevelopment Update
Message from Principal, Mr Stephen Loggie
Dear Parents,
Island school has just recorded our best ever academic results which included
- 5 students scored 45pts
- 6 Students scored 44pts
- 99.1% Pass Rate
- 32.5% over 40 Points
- 91% over 30 Points
I value our partnership with Beacon Hill School and as such I would appreciate the opportunity to give you a thorough briefing on these results as well as:
- An update on the move to Sha Tin
- Share details of the design and timing of moving back to our redeveloped mid-levels campus
- Explain our philosophy and the programs which are driving our success
If you are interested in attending this session, I will be at your school at 2pm on 7 September.
To assist with our arrangements, please RSVP via this linked Google form (Click here).
I hope to see you soon.
Warm regards,
Stephen Loggie
Principal
Island School
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.
