Newsletter #4
Beacon Hill School’s latest newsletter is available to read now. Find out the latest news around the school and upcoming events.
Message from Brenda
Important Dates
Medical Updates
PTA News
Around BHS
Student Action
Student Achievements
ESF News
Other News
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students
Leadership Opportunities
Many of our Year 6 students are involved in leadership opportunities across the school. More recently a number of Y6 students presented speeches to their house members in a bid to become their next house captain.
Congratulations to the Year 6 students who were voted in by their peers to be House Captains for 2019/20.
Diversity House: Enoch Wai – 6C and Louis Zhang – 6P
Confidence House: Anson Chiu – 6C and Chloe Wong – 6D
Inclusivity House: Aadit Hirawat – 6C and Savina Lee – 6D
Happiness House: Alice Abagian Dall O – 6P and Aaron Wang – 6P
Social and Emotional Learning
In assembly this week Mr Thompson focussed on ways to be an ‘includer’. The assembly also reemphasised how important it is to ‘connect’ with others and to be empathetic, kind and caring. In assembly Mr Thompson shared this video and the 5 Top Tips listed below, outlining ways to be an includer at BHS. Please watch the movie with your child and talk these things through to help reinforce how important it is to include others.
- Notice others and use empathy
- Introduce yourself
- Invite others to join you
- Dare to be different
- Be kind
Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
8 BHS staff are attending an Early Years Conference this weekend held in HK. Many renowned speakers will be facilitating to an international audience of educators. Our staff look forward to exploring new and exciting ways to continue to enrich our early years practise and programming.
A reminder that school is closed for lessons this Monday, 9th September. On this day our Teachers and Education Assistants will be involved in an exciting training day facilitated by Fiona Zinn from Australia. Fiona will work with staff to explore ways to further engage and involve students in leading their learning, helping them to become more independent, creative and self driven in their learning. We are looking forward to this great opportunity.
The deadline for Student Health Forms is tomorrow, please read on for more information.
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.
Monday 9th September – School closed – CPD (training) day for staff
Friday 13th September – Mid Autumn Festival Market (during the school day)
Friday 13th September – Diversity House Day (Children in Diversity House can dress casually in anything GREEN) No donation money is needed.
Tuesday 17th September – Parent consultations evening for 3D only
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
Student Health Service/ School Dental Care Service Application form
A quick reminder to all of you, the SHS and SDCS application will be closed by tomorrow 6 September 2019 (Friday).
Please return a completed application form with consent to your class teacher or nurse if you would like to join the event. For Dental service, you will need to hand in a HKD $ 30.00 (thirty dollars) cheque named for Beacon Hill School and put your child’s name and class at the back of the cheque.
Thank you for your attention.
Yours faithfully,
Crystal Tao
School Nurse
Welcome Bowling Social – 18 October
A reminder to sign up for Bowling night. It’s a great way for children and parents to socialise and relax outside of school. Forms were issued and placed in your child’s diary.
Donation & Volunteer Forms
If you’d like to get involved in the various PTA events organised throughout the year, please sign up as a volunteer. Any donations are also greatly appreciated. Thank you for your continued support & generosity.
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.
Upcoming Events
September 24 – Y6 Bake Sale
October 16 – PTA AGM
October 18 – Welcome Bowling Social
Regards,
BHS PTA
Applications for ESF Year 7 Places for 2020
Parents of our Year 6 students need to submit an application for a Year 7 ESF place for August 2020 via The Gateway between Monday 2nd September and Friday 13th September 2019.
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 Monday 16thDecember 2019.
If you have any questions then please contact me at chad.pheasant@bhs.edu.hk
Chad Pheasant
Vice Principal
Central Applications – Year 1 (2015 Birth) for August 2020-2021
Football
Boys Training Schedule
All sessions will be held at Kowloon Tsai Park. Pick up from school at 4:45pm
Girls Training Schedule
Wednesday 11th September – Kowloon Tsai Park. Pick up from school at 4:45pm
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
September 1 – Valerie Lau (4F) has always kept her hair long. In support of children who have cancer and are in need of wigs, Valerie decided to cut her hair and donate it to The Little Princess Trust UK. The Little Princess Trust provides free real hair wigs to children and young people, who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions. Good on you Valerie!
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 22 – Abigail Sin (5H) passed her first Gymnastics B.A.G.A (British Amateur Gymnastics Association) Proficiency Awards test, Level 6. She started doing gymnastics in May this year, and this was her first test. She scored 91 points out of 100. Well done Abigail!
July 11 – Jayden Shek (1L) and Sherisse Shek (3D) have been practicing Taekwondo since they were 3 years old and 4 years old. They took their grade exam and managed to pass! They are now a green-blue belt as certified by the Hong Kong Youth Taekwondo Association. Well done Jayden and Sherisse!
July 27 – Sherisse Shek (3D) participated in the HKCCDC (The Hong Kong Challenge Cup Dance Competition). It was her first dance competition yet she was very confident and performed really well. She gained lots of experience from this competition. Keep it up Sherisse!
August – Iain Loynd (1P) participated in the Kidnetic Summer Games Gymnastics Meet over the summer. He came first all-round and second in the vault in the Level 2 Boys category. Iain has been practising gymnastics for over a year, and particularly enjoys training with his teammates and the freedom of movement in gymnastics. Congratulations Iain!
August 4 – Caspar Tsang (2W) and Nadia Tsang (5Y) did their first horse riding. They were very courageous when asked to connect with the big horses by patting and feeding them generously. It was such a great experience in this summer, in which they got to know more about horses and appreciated their intelligence and docility. Well done you two!
August 11 – Sherisse Shek (3D) participated in the Petite Princess Academy Annual Dance performance 2019. Sherisse has been part of this dance academy since she was 2 years old. The Annual dance performance was the big show of the year and she felt incredibly lucky to have been chosen. She showed her professionalism and confidence during the show. She also had her very own solo dance during the show and she did amazing. Fantastic effort Sherisse!
September 1 – Sherisse Shek (3D) participated in the 2019 awards ceremony by Petite Princess Academy of Dance. She was awarded two rewards, 勤學奬 and 舞台之星獎. Well done Sherisse!
What Matters: Effects and Side Effects of Education
Date: Saturday, 7 September 2019
Time: 9:00am – 10:30am
Venue: Quarry Bay School, 6 Hau Yuen Path, Braemar Hill, North Point, Hong Kong
Fee: Free of charge
Requirement: ESF parents only
All parents want an excellent education for their children, but what makes an excellent education can be confusing because of the many competing educational outcomes. For example, direct instruction may improve students’ short-term test scores but can decrease children’s creativity. Some practices that lead to good academic outcomes can result in damaging effects on student’s social-emotional wellbeing.
In this presentation, Professor Yong Zhao discusses why and how different models of education may help or hurt different outcomes so that parents can make more informed choices because some outcomes can matter more in life than others.
This is on a first-come, first-served event. Click HERE to register.
71st Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival
The application form for entering the 71st Hong Kong School Speech Festival will be ready for you to pick up at the school front desk from Friday 23rd August. If your child/(ren) want to participate in this competition, please return the application form and application fee with cheque payable to “Beacon Hill School” to the school office on or before Wednesday 11th September, 2019. The application fee is HK$145. School has added HK$10 transport and handling fee. Any late applications received after the deadline will not be accepted.
Please note that the ESF school education level is not equivalent to the local school system. When you enrol the year group programme, please cross check with the following table with the correct age group. HKSMSA is based on the local school system for enrolment.
| ESF Level | Local School System |
| Y1 | K3 |
| Y2 | Y1 |
| Y3 | Y2 |
| Y4 | Y3 |
| Y5 | Y4 |
| Y6 | Y5 |
Words from HKSMSA: In view of recent mass activities in various districts. Please consider the current social situation before enrolment. The enrolment of the Festival will proceed as scheduled. During the Festival period, should there be any unpredictable social events, the Association will have to cancel specific groups or even all classes for the safety of stakeholders. Under such circumstances, no alternative arrangement or refund of the entry fees will be made. If the Festival is held as scheduled, parents should first consider their own safety in whatever cases, and decide whether to proceed to or stay at the event venues. For enquiries, please contact HKSMSA at 2761-3877.
School Office
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.
