Newsletter #29
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
PTA News
Other News
Dear Parents, Family and Friends,
I hope you were able to enjoy some quality time with your families during the Easter holiday. We are now back in full swing for our final term of this academic year. As usual, we have already been planning ahead for the 2017-18 academic year and this inevitably brings some staffing changes which I will share with you now. Sadly for BHS, Mr Andrew Greene will be moving to Canada with his wife and daughter this summer. He has been a great asset to the school and I wish him and his family all the very best. We will formally ‘farewell’ him at the end of term. I have appointed Mr Rory Douglas who is from the UK and currently teaches in London. He will join us in August. I am pleased to announce that Ms Rhona Barr, Mrs Lynn Craig and Mrs Rose Fletcher will all be staying on at Beacon Hill School next year.
This morning we had a special guest speaker in assembly – Ms Lisa Christensen who was the founder and is the Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Ecozine. Through the actions of Chantal in Year 6, Lisa was invited to BHS to speak about the Hong Kong Clean Up, amongst other environmental issues. This was a great launch into our Green Week next week; you can learn more about the activities that are planned further on in this newsletter.
IMPORTANT DATES
Achievement Beyond School
During the Easter holiday some of our students competed in the ‘All Hong Kong Inter-Primary Schools Gymnastics Competition’. To give you an idea of the size of the competition:
– 144 schools participated
– Girls Novice category had 416 competitors
– Boys Novice category had 109 competitors
– Girls Junior category had 87 competitors
Connor Yip (5M) and Chantal Chan (6F) competed in the preliminaries on April 1st and 2nd. Their results were:
Connor preliminaries (Novice)
– Boys Novice Vault 6th Place (earning a place for the finals)
– Boys Novice Floor Exercise 1st Place (earning a place for the finals)
Chantal preliminaries (Junior)
– Girls Junior Vault 11th Place
– Girls Junior Floor Exercise 2nd Place (earning a place for the finals)
– Girls Junior All Around 5th Place (medal given) * All Around is awarded in the preliminaries, there is no final for it.
On April 8th the finals took place, and the children did very well representing Beacon Hill School. The final results were:
Poppy Wong (5M) – Finals (Novice)
– Girls Novice Floor Exercise 8th Place (medal given)
Chantal Finals (Junior)
– Girls Junior Floor Exercise 2nd Place (Silver medal given)
Connor Finals (Novice)
– Boys Novice Vault 7th Place (medal given)
– Boys Novice Floor Exercise 1st Place (Gold medal given)
Also in this year’s competition the parents were able to put together a girls novice team for the first time. They were just short of earning a medal, but they got excellent results, earning 5th place. The team members were:
– Poppy Wong (5M)
– Hena Yang (4F)
– Kirsty Lee (6F)
– Janice Ngai (6D)
Well done to all of the competitors and thanks to the parents who were instrumental in organising participation on behalf of Beacon Hill School
Yuna Konishi (2M) performed in the ‘Dramatic English’ production of ‘Aesop’s Fables on April 2nd, one of only 14 students. Well done for what I am sure was a brilliant performance at the Black Box Theatre in Olympic!
Jamie Yuen (1W) participated in a swimming competition carried out by the Champion Sports Club in Shatin 
Junior School on Easter Sunday. She performed exceptionally well and won the gold medal in the 25m breaststroke and a silver medal in the 25m freestyle. She also recently participated in a music competition carried out by the HKYPAF in March where she won the 2nd place trophy in the piano competition. Well done Jamie!
Wishing you a great weekend,
_
James Harrison
Principal
Green Team
This coming week is Green Week at Beacon Hill school and there are a few things you can do at home to prepare.
Wednesday will be Wheatgrass Wednesday. The Green Team will be selling wheatgrass seeds and soil ($10) to anyone who would like to enter the Wheatgrass Head competition. To enter the competition the children will have had to make their own pot out out of an old container. The wheatgrass should grow like green hair.
This Friday is the deadline for the Endangered Animals Art Competition. We have already had some fabulous entries. We look forward to seeing all the pictures and models that you have made at home. There will be prizes for each year group.
Friday will also be a special kind of dress casual day. The children will be able to wear Earth colours and we would also like them to accessorise their outfit with something that has been recycled or upcycled. Please add an item of clothing or accessory that has been made from something that was previously thought of as rubbish. It need not be big, maybe a badge or bracelet, but could be the whole outfit! We will have a parade in the hall at lunchtime to see all the upcycled items. Please prepare a minimum donation of $10 to go to charity to dress casual.
There will also be activities and competitions for the children in their break and snack times throughout the week and a lunchtime movie on Thursday for all participants. The Tree Planting Day will take place tomorrow on Lantau Island for the children who have signed up.
Happy Green Week!
Jane Faragó
Professor Peter Sullivan
Peter Sullivan is Professor of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, at Monash University in Australia. He is the immediate past President of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers and was the lead writer of the Australian Mathematics curriculum.
Professor Sullivan is one of the world’s leading authorities in Mathematics, and will be making his first visit to Beacon Hill School from May 18th-19th. During his visit, Professor Sullivan will work alongside the teachers to challenge all our students to reach their full potential in Mathematics through the use of open-ended, rich learning tasks and problems.
We are thrilled to announce that Professor Sullivan will run a workshop for parents in order to enhance your understanding of how you may help your children in the development of Mathematical thinking. This is for parents only, there is no need for children to attend.
If you would like to attend, click here to register.
School Yearbook
Yearbook Letter.pdf
On behalf of the BHS PTA Executive Committee, I extend my gratitude to all BHS Community that supported, sponsored &/or donated our IFF Grand Prize Raffle Lucky Draw prizes which were drawn last Friday 24 March 2017 at 8:00pm. Draw results have been published on Friday 31 March 2017 in the South China Morning Post and Apple Daily. HK Lottery License No.4581. Winners should first call 2337 8932 and then collect prizes from our BHS PTA Office at 23 Ede Road, Kowloon Tong on or before Friday 5 May 2017. We will also announce IFF Grand Raffle Ticket sales and winning upper & lower school classes when tallied & verified.
We would also like to extend our sincere gratefulness to all the BHS Caretakers, Staff, EAs, Teachers, Vice Principals and Mr. Harrison, in particular Mr. Lowe and Y6s setting-up the Karaoke, Mr. Pheasant coordinating the Talent Show & Dance-off, Mr. Gibson & Miss. Kannis arranging the Chamber & Community Choirs flash mob performance, Miss. Younie & Mr. McCallum organising the Y5 Hall Games, Miss. Mak for coordinating the BHS IFF Poster and the endless set-up and clean-up before and after by Mr. Peter & Mrs. Ada’s Caretaker team. All the Staff, EAs & Teachers helping with the Bouncy Castle, Hall Game prizes, Drink Stalls, Hot Dog Stall & IFF Coupon booklet sales Stalls was absolutely wonderful!
Lastly & equally important, a heartfelt thank you to all the Parents, family members & friends that bought IFF Grand Raffle Lucky Draw Tickets where which proceeds will be donated directly in whole to BHS for the School Garden Enhancement (a BHS 50th Anniversary student art project), donated monies & food, manned stalls and volunteered their time. I saw moms AND dads helping and supporting each other and wide smiles on every face from kids to grandparents and from volunteers to people enjoying the awesome community atmosphere.
I would like to especially recognise the following Parent Coordinators for their support in organising the IFF International foods, building their volunteer team and manning the stalls with great enthusiasm:
Parent Stalls
Chinese Stall Coordinator – Alice & team of parents
Indian Stall Coordinator – Simran & team of parents
Western Stall Coordinators – Rosa & Suki & team of parents
Korean Stall Coordinator – JinHee & team of parents
Indonesian Stall Coordinators – Eliza & Elena & team of parents
Japanese Stall Coordinator – Yukie & team of parents
Dessert Stall Coordinator – Rachel & team of parents
Cheese Raclette Stall Coordinator – Wesley & team of parents
PTA Stalls
Popcorn Stall Coordinator – Nazish & team of parents
Candy Stall Coordinator – Tania & team of parents
Ice cream Stall Coordinator – Lilian & team of parents
Cotton candy Stall Coordinator – Susan & team of parents
And finally a very special mention to our loyal BHS Alumni families that also donated monies, food & time:
Parents of Y7 Janice Tong
Parents of Y7 Jack Cheng
Parents of Y7 Bernice Lam
The following are the IFF Fair Day coupon sale results of the Stalls. Congratulations to everyone on their hard work!
| Chinese | $6575 |
| Indian | $1455 |
| Western | $4420 |
| Korean | $5450 |
| Indonesian | $5600 |
| Japanese | $2610 |
| Dessert | $8280 |
| Cheese Raclette | $2630 |
| Popcorn | $1820 |
| Candy | $7760 |
| Ice Cream | $2720 |
| Cotton Candy | $2215 |
| Chip & Drinks | $9430 |
| Hot dogs | $5875 |
| Bouncy Castle | $3680 |
| Hall Games | $14425 |
| Karaoke | $140 |
Photos from the Food Fair can be found HERE.
REMINDERS:
- Deli Fresh hot lunch orders for May 2017 – Tight turn-around due date of 20 April 2017 as mentioned before Easter holidays, has lapsed. Please contact DeliFresh Ltd. directly with payment and order confirmation.
- Summer Uniform prices – The BHS PTA Uniform Shop has held prices constant for 3 years, however with increasing supplier costs, we will be adjusting prices to cover cost increases and items will start to have the additional ESF brand logo. Caps, BHS School Bag and Short Sleeve Shirt prices will be adjusted upwards and effective 1 April 2017.
Enjoy your weekend.
Rowena Chow
Chair, BHS PTA
Health
Immunization Records (from Primary One & Six Students only)
All documents submitted by parents or guardians, these will be returned to the students (via the students’ class teachers) together with any instructions from the Immunization Team of the Department of Health for you to follow-up, if applicable, the following week, starting Monday, 24 April 2017.
Thank you.
Ms Chen
Radio Television Hong Kong
This is an audition call from Radio Television Hong Kong. We are looking for talented children voice over artists to sing for an education television programme.
Here are the requirements:
– Age 8 – 12,
– Boy, all nationality are welcomed
– Native English speaker
– Good at singing
– Willing to take challenge ,patient enough to taking orders and good team player
The recording will most likely be held in the early May, it takes 1-2 hours
Interested party may send an email to yipht@rthk.hk with an e-mail subject: ETV voice over.
Further details will be given to the interested party.
Thank you so much and please feel free to contact me if there is any
enquiries.
Best regards,
Dorothy Yip
Assistant Producer, ETV, RTHK
Tel: 23393168
E-mail: yipht@rthk.hk
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.
