Newsletter #18
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
Sports
PTA News
ESF News
Other News
Dear Parents,
Welcome Back to Term 2
I do hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year with family and friends. I certainly enjoyed my time spent with family in Wales. It was lovely to see the students back at school this week ready for a new term. They seemed rested, excited to be back and happy to see their friends. I am pleased to report the students have settled very quickly back into their learning routines. It has been great to welcome some new and returning students and families to BHS this week too.
We are entering flu season again in Hong Kong. Please keep a special eye on the health of your children and if they show any signs of a high temperature or feeling unwell, please keep on the side of caution and keep them off school.
In order to be extra vigilant we will be asking all Year 1 & 2 parents to record their child’s temperature prior to coming to school each day. A recording slip will be sent home in diaries today.
We will do all we can to ensure clean, safe and healthy conditions at school, but we need your help to minimize the spread of the virus.
Important Reminder
CIS Preparatory Evaluation
In March 2019, BHS will be hosting a preparatory visit from the Council of International Schools. They are an accrediting organisation who supports schools in their journey to continued excellence. As part of this process, I will need to gather views from our Parents, School Council, Staff and Students as to how appropriate our Vision and Mission is for the students we serve. I would be grateful if you could spare a few minutes to complete the google forms linked here.
Wellbeing Focus
Thank you to all the parents who came to the Wellbeing workshop on Thursday. It was encouraging to see so many of you interested in this issue.
Happiness House held their house day today and the children enjoyed learning about the Action Sports Foundation charity. Happiness house students also attended a fun quiz during their lunchtime. Well done to Crystal and Shafay for organising this event.
Student Achievement
December 14 – Glendon Tsoi (5D) took part in the Solo Verse Speaking Competition at the 70th HK Schools Speech Festival. He came first! Great Job Glendon!
December 19 – King Wan (3M) entered the 70th School Speech Festival. He had participated in this competition last year. Continuing his enthusiasism for this activity, he made special efforts to join the Chinese Competition as well this year. King has got the Merits of speaking two languages with recognition of lovely clear introduction and nice sense of story telling. Well done King!
December 16 – Ishaan Joshi (1L) Participated in a Multi Talent competition held by Indian Art Circle. He won first Prize in fancy dress Competition where he performed a role of an Organic farmer. Though it was his first time, he was very confident on stage. Bravo Ishaan!
January 5 – Jasmine Maruli (5F) gained a valuable experience of helping Hong Kong Student Aid Society to raise funds for “Family Energy”. Jasmine and her sister Megan had a wonderful time, being courageous to talk to the strangers! Well done Jasmine!
December – Zoie Chan (6H) participated in two tournaments during the Christmas holidays, which was both a good learning process & experience for her. She took part in the Kids Golf World Championship which was held in Malaysia. A total of 22 age 10 girls participated and Zoie ended up 8th out of 22. The competition was a total of 3 days in the hot and humid weather of Malaysia. Zoie also participated in the HK Winter Junior Open and she was the Champion in her age group. Fantastic Job Zoie!
December 30 – Leighton Chu (2K) and his brother Aiden Chu (1L) took part in the 15th Hong Kong English Comprehension Competition which was held by the Hong Kong International Exchange of Artist and Culture Association. They were both the champions for Primary 1 and K3 respectively. Well done boys!
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
Kind regards,
Susan Chung
Acting Principal
Mandarin Mondays
Mandarin Club is back! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Are you looking forward to the next big holiday? Spring Festival ( Chinese New Year ) is just a few weeks away. In the next 3 Mandarin Club, we would like to share with you some unique stories and customs related to the Spring Festival. This coming Monday, 14 January, we will play a video and talk about Laba Festival. Laba Festival, also known as Laba, is a traditional Chinese festival named after the Lunar calendar. It is celebrated on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. It marks the beginning of the Spring Festival season. The original intention is to make sacrifice to ancestors and gods, pray for harvest and auspiciousness, as well as ward off evil spirits. Come join us to learn some interesting things about Laba and find out what people (including you) may do on Laba. We will also share a popular Folk Song about Laba. Here it is for those who want to practice in advance :-).
小孩小孩你别馋，过了腊八就是年。
腊八粥，过几天， 哩哩啦啦二十三。
二十三，糖瓜粘， 二十四，扫房子，
二十五，做豆腐， 二十六，炖猪肉，
二十七，宰年鸡， 二十八，把面发，
二十九，蒸馒头， 三十晚上熬一宿，
大年初一扭一扭， 除夕的饺子年年有。
Kids, kids, don’t worry, after Laba is new year.
Laba porridge on Laba day, lililala twenty-three.
Twenty-three, sticky sugar-melon just for you,
Twenty-four, sweep house clean clean clean,
Twenty-five, make tofu, dry dry dry,
Twenty-six, stew pork, yummy yummy yummy,
Twenty-seven, slaughter chicken, chop chop chop,
Twenty-eight, prepare dough, leaven leaven leaven,
Twenty-nine, steam buns, hot hot hot,
The thirtieth night, stay awake everyone, so on New Year’s Day,
we can dance, twist and swirl,
Plenty of New Year’s Eve’s dumplings every year!
Action in the PYP at BHS
It has been great celebrating the talents and achievements of our students through the ’Student Achievement’ section in the newsletter. We would like to do something similar with Student Action. Action in the PYP is when students are inspired through their learning and their experiences to make a difference to their lives or the community connected to real life issues and opportunities. We would like to celebrate our students taking action outside of school.
Please could you email examples to me, andy.thompson@bhs.edu.hk and I will share through our newsletter.
There are different types of Action. We would like to start with a focus on Participation. See below for a definition and examples
| Type of Action | Examples |
| Participation
Being actively involved in their learning and contributing as an individual or a group |
Getting involved with community projects
Making appropriate choices and taking responsibility to help people Taking on different roles e.g. being a leader, completing my chores, working in a group, looking after my pet Taking part in any decision making process Joining a new club |
Andy Thompson
Wanted: Old Electronics
We are hoping to collect old electronic or battery operated items and toys that have moving parts that are no longer needed as part of our Makers stock. If you have anything you can donate please send it to school and put it in the collection box in the foyer labelled Old Electronics.
Many thanks.
Stu Lowe and Haymen Mak
Community Choir
This is open to all parents of BHS students and to BHS Staff. The choir will be rehearsing on Thursday evenings from 7pm. Our next performance will be at the CNY assemblies. No auditions or previous singing experience – just lots of enthusiasm needed!
If you are interested in joining, come to the music room on Thursdays at 7pm.
For existing members, click HERE for the audio files.
Touch and Tag Rugby Schedule
Thursday 17th January Morse Park – 4.45pm pick up from school
Thursday 24th January not yet booked
Thursday 31st January not yet booked
Girls Football
Well done to the girls football team who finished 3rd in the girls football championship on Wednesday. The girls played amazingly well and only missed out on making the final on penalties. The team played their best football this season and the football was so good that I was unable to pick one player of the tournament for the team so I had to name all of them as players of the tournament!
We started strongly with a 8 nil win over Shatin Junior B with Sophie scoring her first ever goal for Beacon Hill. We followed that with a 4-1 win against RCHK. Our third game would determine who would win the group and once again we played outstanding football and beat Kellett PFL 3 nil. In our last group game we beat ICHK C 5 nil.
This meant we had topped the group and qualified for the cup semis. In a very close game we fought back from 1 nil down to tie the game 1-1. Unfortunately in the penalty shootout we lost 2-0. Our last game was a playoff for 3rd and 4th and we once again played amazingly well in beating DBIS 4-1. Well done to all the girls who played on Wednesday and thanks to the parents and Miss Chung who came and supported us.
Results
| BHS vs Shatin C | 8 – 0 | Kanna 3, Rei 2, Cameron, Linda, Sophie |
| BHS vs RCHK | 4 – 0 | Rei 2, Cameron, OG |
| BHS vs Kellett PFL | 3 – 0 | Rei, Kanna, OG |
| BHS vs ICHK C | 5 – 0 | Sophie 2, Ingrid, Linda, Kanna |
| Semi Final BHS vs Kennedy | 1 – 1 (0 – 2 Penalties) | Rei |
| 3rd/4th BHS vs DBIS | 4 – 1 | Rei 2, Linda 2 |
For more photos, click HERE.
Tim Teahan
Hot Lunches
The February order form has just been distributed today. Deadline for ordering is Friday 18 Jan. Please submit in time as DCK will not accept any orders beyond this date. Note, order forms are customised and will only be provided to students who have ordered before. If you are ordering for the first time, blank order forms are available at reception.
There is a sample lunch order placed on the BHS website however the form in your child’s diary must be the one you use to order.
Please ask your child to place the completed form and cheque in the collection point in reception. Please remember to write your child’s name, class, contact number and Lunch Order on the back of the cheque.
Pizza Lunch
Year 3 Pizza Lunch is on Tuesday 29 January. For those who have ordered, please remember to bring a reusable plate / container to eat off.
Bake Sale
Y5 Bake Sale will take place on Tuesday 15 January. Please give your child some money so they can buy themselves a treat during break time.
Uniforms
If you wish to place an order, the winter form can be downloaded from BHS website as per the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1Sf7CyHPuSuU3MJ9H4F83V4Tm60m7v0oFMMR6wd2oGEHmGQ/viewform
Upcoming Events
Tuesday 15 January Y5 Bake Sale
Friday 18 January Deadline for Hot Lunch Order
Tuesday 22nd January Y1 & Y4 Popcorn Day
Wednesday 23rd January Y2 & Y5 Popcorn Day
Thursday 24th January Y3 & Y6 Popcorn Day
Tuesday 29 January Y3 Pizza Lunch
Regards
BHS PTA
Email : pta@bhs.edu.hk
Message from ESF
Our websites have been running for a few years since the last revamp. We are now conducting a survey so as to understand how our websites should be improved to help parents in their information search and decision making.
It would be great if you could help by filling out a simple questionnaire at this link: https://goo.gl/forms/qjDRSqRvXDqKp7jW2 (deadline: 17 January).
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.
