Newsletter #6
Beacon Hill School’s latest newsletter is available to read now. Find out about 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
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students
I hope you’ve had a great week – it certainly has been a good week of learning so far at BHS.
ESF Central Procurement for BHS Uniform
We are excited to let you know that following several meetings between the Senior Management members & PTA, it has been decided that now is the time to commence transitioning into the ESF Central Procurement of School Uniform.
Starting this Winter, certain items which we are running low on, will be replenished by new items from the Central Procurement collection. We envisage these to be the long PE pants, the red sweater and the purple fleece. Our intention is to reduce our current inventory over the next year or so, in order to minimise loss from having to write-off too much stock. These items will be offered at discounted rates.
Please note that your child will be able to wear their existing uniform this year and next. There is currently no change to the purple uniform & PE T-shirt, although this will change over time.
Over the next few months the Uniform Committee, comprising of PTA members and school staff, will be deciding on the colour palate of our uniform with the intention that the new uniform will be in place for the year 1 intake in 2020-21 and the remaining years by 2021-22.
This is an exciting project that in time will enable parents to order all uniform supplies online and they will be delivered to your home. The designs are fashionable and practical and are offered at an excellent price. We will be envisioning our new uniform based on the central procurement options and we will keep you up to date and informed about decisions moving forward. Thanks to Susan Ho our PTA Chair for her work alongside the PTA to manage our current uniform stock.
Thanks in advance for your support.
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 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
Wednesday 16 October – PTA AGM (pm)
Friday 18th October – PTA Welcome Bowling Event
Friday 25th October – ESF Primary CPD day – school closed
Saturday 26th October – BHS CPD day
Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th October – School photos. Details will follow
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Thank you for joining the Student Health Service (SHS) and School Dental Care Service (SDCS) 2019/2020. We have over 400 applicants this year. All completed applications and consent forms have been sent to SHS and SDCS this week. The appointment times will be returned around March/ April 2020.
If you have missed the application, please directly contact Kowloon City Lions Clubs Student Health Service Centre Tel: 23822220/ 23832976.
For any enquiry please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you.
Crystal Tao
School Nurse
Welcome Bowling Social – 18 October 5-9pm
Sign up deadline Friday 20 September.
Adult wristbands $280, child wristbands $210. Price includes dinner buffet, bowling shoes and non stop bowling. Please return the form and cheque ASAP as we need to confirm numbers for catering.
Bake Sale
Year 6 Bake Sale will take place on Tuesday 24 September. Please remind your child to bring some money as well as a snack box so they can enjoy some home baked goodies at break time.
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
As mentioned above, shortly we shall commence transitioning into the ESF Central Procurement.
Our existing Winter Uniform will be on sale shortly. As some items run low on stock, they shall be replenished by new items from the ESF Central Procurement collection. This will be limited to PE long pants, red sweater and purple fleece. There is no change to the purple uniform & PE shirts but we will commence a rigorous design process.
The Summer Uniform will be on sale for another week and thereafter we will start selling the Winter Uniform. 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.
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
The October menu has been distributed and the deadline for ordering lapsed on 18 October.
DCK will shortly implement online ordering and payment through PPS. We are still reviewing the details with them and will let you know as soon as everything is finalised. In the meantime please ensure you have a PPS account as this is the only payment method they will accept.
Details of PPS can be found on this website: https://www.ppshk.com/index_e.html
Upcoming Events
September 24 – Y6 Bake Sale
October 16 – PTA AGM
October 18 – Welcome Bowling Social
Regards,
BHS PTA
Year 3 InCAS
Earlier this year, the Year 3 students participated in the Interactive Computerised Assessment System (InCAS), a program developed at Durham University (UK). The children undertook standardised tests in English, which included word recognition, word decoding, reading comprehension and spelling, and in Mathematics, which included Mental Mathematics.
These results can be viewed on the Gateway on Monday 23rd September at 4pm, by following the link from Student Demographics to Assessment (located on the right hand side of the screen).
Results are displayed in 6 month bands based on chronological age indicating if they are operating above or below chronological age. It is important to keep in mind that this is just a snapshot.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any further questions at susan.chung@bhs.edu.hk
Susan Chung
Vice Principal
ISA Assessments for Years 4, 5 and 6
Students in Year 4, 5 and 6 will sit the International Schools’ Assessment (ISA) next week. The ISA assessment has been specially developed to measure skills in mathematical literacy, reading and writing of students in international schools. The ISA has been developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research.
ESF students will complete the writing, reading and mathematical literacy components of the assessment. (Students in Year 6 will also take the INCAS assessment at the end of Year 6.) We will receive the results of the assessment early Term 2 and individual reports will be accessible via the Gateway. This will give you a detailed record of your child’s performance in mathematical literacy, reading literacy and writing.
Your child will complete a reading literacy test, a mathematical literacy test and two writing tests, each of which takes between 45 minutes and one hour to administer. The tests include both multiple-choice and open-ended tasks. The children will take part in the assessments during their class lessons and do not need to do any preparation for the tests as the process will be similar to tasks they experience as part of their normal day to day work.
Please see here for the ISA Privacy Statement and attach the doc that I have attached HERE.
Please contact me at susan.chung@bhs.edu.hk if you have any questions.
Susan Chung
Vice Principal
Football
Boys Training Schedule
All sessions will be held at Kowloon Tsai Park. Pick up from school at 4:45pm
24th September – Friendly vs RCHK at RCHK for selected players (please refer to the eNotice for information). For those not selected there will still be training at Kowloon Tsai.
Girls Training Schedule
25th September – Friendly vs RCHK at RCHK for all students in the club (please refer to the eNotice for information)
Mandarin Monday
We had lots of fun last time talking about the biggest cat – Tiger. By popular vote, we will talk about another lovely creature this coming Monday – Dolphin. I am sure you all know a lot about dolphins. You may have seen schools of dolphins in the open ocean or in some aquariums. There are also different kinds of dolphins. Can you name a few? However, do you know there are also dolphins living in fresh water? Surprised? There are two types of fresh water dolphins and both of them are unique to one of the most famous rivers in China – the Yangtze River. There is also one special type of dolphin living in the waters around Hong Kong. Have you seen them on any boat trip? They appear to be light pink. Do you know their name? Come join us on Monday and let’s talk as much as we can about dolphins!
Excursion, ICT and PTA Fee 2019-2020 (This note will be sent to you in hard copy, please look out for it this week)
Central Applications – Year 1 (2015 Birth) for August 2020-2021
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
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
July 6 – Aster Law (1P) recently took part in a Mandarin speech competition in which she had to say a poem in Mandarin in front of the audience and judges. It was her first time to participate in a competition of such nature, and she managed to deliver the speech smoothly. She was given a small medal and a certificate for her performance. Well done Aster!
August 31 – Twisha Srivastava (1G) took part in the ‘Young Dreamers Art Festival’. She ranked third overall. Well done Twisha!
September 13 – Shamu Tharm (5W) participated in the 2019 Hong Kong Summer Youth National League in the U10 (below age 10) Category, organized by the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association (HKIHA). His team won the Champion for the U10 Ice Hockey Summer League. Congratulations Shamu!
September 15 – Ian Wong (1P) has been practicing Taekwondo for 5 months now and it has been a wonderful experience. He has recently attained Level 7 Yellow Green belt in the Taekwondo promotion test conducted by The Korea Taekwondo Association. Good job Ian!
September 17 – Sophie Fong (3M) participated in a student concert organized by her music academy. Sophie has been learning violin for 2 years and it was the first time she played the violin in front of a group of audience. She played with such confidence that she obtained the “Most Improved” award. Keep it up Sophie!
September 17 – Amelie Wong (5Y) has worked really hard at karate for the last nine months in order to pass her recent exam. She is now a green belt (Grade 6B) as certified by the WMAF Karate. Well done Amelie!
Japanese Mother Tongue Group
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.
