15 Aug 2019

Newsletter #1

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

Welcome Back

It was wonderful to see the students back at school yesterday and to welcome our new families and students to the school too. Everyone settled into class routines quickly and got straight into learning. You will be familiar with receiving the weekly update from teachers each Friday – this will continue. A slight change this year is that the newsletter will be issued each Thursday afternoon. Please look out for it and read it to ensure you stay up to date with all school information.

New Staff

I’ve had a lovely start to the year and thank everyone for being so warm and welcoming. I’d also like to welcome some other new staff to our school.

Michelle Palmer – Teacher – 6P

Princess Piad – EA – 1G

Becky Lo – EA – 2W

Shirley Law – EA – 3M

Gavin Zhou – EA – Mandarin

Tips for Parents to help children during the current situation in Hong Kong

Feelings of uncertainty or anxiety about the future may be caused when hearing the news about events in Hong Kong and other places. Our children may be affected by such news and it is important that parents are aware of ways they can help their children manage, should this happen.

Parents can help provide opportunities where feelings can be discussed within a safe context, as well as maintaining a sense of normality, routine and calm. Supporting children will enable them to process and manage their feelings and build resilience.

The following suggestions may be helpful:

Reassure children that they are safe and are genuinely valued by the adults around them.
Let children know that it is alright to be upset – all feelings are OK, but not all behaviours.
Maintain a normal routine and spend time listening to what your children need to tell you.
Emphasise resilience: Focus on the child’s competencies, in terms of their daily life. Help them see they have many strengths to help them cope if feeling anxious or upset.
Note the healing nature of sharing feelings. Sharing worries or feelings of upset with other family members reduces a sense of vulnerability and isolation and raises optimism and self esteem.
Create opportunities for strength building: Be aware of your child’s strengths, the activities your child is good at and encourage them to take part
Provide opportunities for children to share their feelings. Consider books or artwork that will allow opportunities for discussion or expression of feelings.
Provide opportunities for physical exercise. Exercise is valuable in developing natural chemicals in the brain to help us cope with feelings such as shock or worry.
Communicate any concerns with school. If you have any worries or concerns about your child’s emotional behaviour please let the school know. There will be things the school can do to help further.
Look after yourself. A time of stress can mean less energy and more potential for illness for you, as well as others. So please take care of yourself

If you have any concerns about your child please do get in touch with a member of the school management team who will be able to talk to you and advise you further.

BHS

Kind regards,

Brenda Cook

Principal

Please find below important dates for your diary. These dates are more school-based rather than individual year group dates. More specific dates pertaining to your year group will be shared by your child’s teacher as part of weekly updates.

Wednesday 28th August 5pm – PTA Wine and Cheese Meeting

Tuesday 3rd September – School Tours for prospective year 1 parents (contact the school office for more details)

Monday 9th September – School closed – CPD (training) day for staff

Friday 13th September – Mid Autumn Festival Market

Monday 23rd September 12.45pm – School Council Meeting

Tuesday 24 September – Year 6 Bake Sale

Thursday 26th September – Parent consultations evening (3D scheduled at another time)

Monday 30th September – School closed – ESF CPD day

Tuesday 1 October – School Closed – Public Holiday

Wednesday 2nd October – Parent consultations evening

Monday 7th-Friday 11th – School Closed for mid-term break

Cheese & Wine Welcome Evening – 28 August 5pm

For new parents please take time to join us in 7/F Staff Room. It’s an ideal opportunity to get to know other parents and meet the PTA. This event coincides with Meet the Teacher later that night. Please RSVP before 23 August.

Welcome Bowling Social – 18 October

Bowling night is a great way for children and parents to socialise and relax outside of school. Forms will be issued early next week.

Donation & Volunteer Forms

These will be issued early next week and are a great way for parents to get involved in the various events organised throughout the year. We also rely on your continued support & generosity so any donation is greatly appreciated.

Uniforms

If you wish to place an order please click on the link, fill in the form and hand in a cheque with you child’s name, class, contact number and uniform written on the back. We shall send the order straight to classroom as soon as the cheque is received.

Uniform Order Form – CLICK HERE

Hot Lunches

DCK will continue to provide our hot lunches this year. Unfortunately ordering for August & September has closed. You will be updated here when October ordering is out.

Regards,

BHS PTA

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. If your child has taken any action, we would be happy to share that with the BHS community through this newsletter and through our Facebook page. Please email details and a photograph to kannis.tsui@bhs.edu.hk

August 12 – Cassie Razon (5H) and Celine Razon (3M) proudly sport their new haircuts while holding their ponytails. They spent a year growing their locks so these would be long enough to donate to The Little Princess Trust, which provides real hair wigs to children with hair loss, and funds vital research into childhood cancer. For more information, please go to https://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/. Brilliant work girls!

August 14 – Jana Hau (3H) and Nathan Hau (5W) spent a day during the summer with their family raising money for the Ronald McDonald House (which supports children will serious illness) by selling raffle tickets to the public inside a McDonald restaurant. Although they might have felt challenged when communicating with strangers, they tried really hard to explain to different people who they are helping and why. They were really exciting about the amount of money they managed to raise for the charity! Well done Jana and Nathan!

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 and through our Facebook page. Please email details and a photograph to kannis.tsui@bhs.edu.hk

June 30 – Coen Li (6D) won two champion awards and a 1st runner up in three piano competitions that took course over two days. During the holidays, he will also take part in the final round of “Asia Music Competition for Youth Artist” which will be held in Busan, Korea in August. He did his very best and played with lots of passion. Well done Coen!

June 30 – Virginia Lu (4A) participated in a piano competition – “2019 Hong Kong International Music & Arts Festival” held by HKIMAA (Hong Kong International Musicians & Artists Association). It was her first piano competition but she tried really hard and managed to get 3^rd place! And to top it off, she performed at the Happy Gabby Baby Concert held at Olympia City Phase 2 on the same day. Well done Virginia!

August 4 – Cassie Razon (5H) participated in the Kidnetics’ Summer Games held at Megabox. She placed silver overall for her level, 1B, and received a silver medal for her beam routine. Well done Cassie!

August 4 – Celine Razon (3M) participated in the Kidnetics’ Summer Games held at Megabox. She placed gold overall for her level, 1A, a gold medal for her vault performance, and a bronze medal for her beam routine. That’s fantastic Celine!

August 13 – Ally Chen (3M) received a distinction in Musical Theatre Exam for grade 1 from Trinity College London. Yip’s Children’s Choir also chose Ally as outstanding performer to solo “Three of a Kind” musical from John Jacobson and John Higgins at their Annual Concert in Cultural Centre Tsim Sha Tsui. In front of a thousand’s of people, Ally sang and danced confidently. Keep it up Ally!