Newsletter- 25/08/17
Kowloon Junior School’s latest newsletter is available to read now.
Dear Parents,
I do hope you are safe and damage / disruption has been minimal for you! The weather certainly is extreme at the moment. A reminder if we are required to close schools due to weather the information will be on the school website on a banner.
It was very encouraging to see such a great turnout to our “Year Ahead” meeting last night. These meetings provide an opportunity for you to connect with your child’s teacher and to hear about some plans for the year ahead. It was also an important opportunity for you to give us feedback about aspects of life at KJS. In particular we are interested in:
- What “Success for Every Child” means to you and your child. What will success on a day to day basis, annually, and after six years look like for your child?
- The things we are doing well at KJS for you and especially for your child
- Suggestions you might have about how we could do better to ensure “Success for Every Child”
- Our communications streams, in particular those that you are using and find useful and your ability to access the information you need to support your child’s education
If for some reason you were not present on Thursday or you have not completed the online survey, please take the time to do so before Monday at 9:00am. After this time we will close the survey and start to collate and analyse the data. In addition to getting your feedback, we are also asking staff the questions about and also the students will be asked what “Success” means to them. Together we will be able to gain clarity about our collective beliefs and aspirations and work towards some clear and specific outcomes as a school community. We would also like to improve and streamline our communication as it is evident we live in an information rich and time poor era. To ensure success for your child we need to know what information is needed and how to ensure you can access this easily.
The link to the survey can be found here and the workshop materials are on the school website here.
Now that I have attended all of the inquiry planning sessions with each year level I am very excited about the learning experiences your children will be involved in during the next 6 weeks. I know the teachers have given much thought to developing inquiries that will challenge and stretch our students through meaningful learning experiences. Details of the inquiries will be coming home in due course.
Book Launch and celebration of the Indian Culture
Rani Alwani, Denise and Neill O’Reilly and the author Ritu Hemnani
It was my pleasure to attend the formal launch of Ritu Hemnani’s book launch of “Gope and Meera- A migration story, with Mrs O’Reilly and a number of KJS staff, parents and children. The book launch was a celebration of the Indian culture as well as a sobering reminder of the impact of historical political decisions on the lives of everyday people. A timely reminder, especially in this era, of the importance of sharing your heritage, culture and history with your children in story, books, songs, dance food and of taking the time to connect younger people with their extended families to share stories. Both Mrs O’Reilly and myself came away from the book launch feeling privileged to participate. https://youtu.be/ynvyYP57wC4
Neill O’Reilly
Principal
Welcome Meeting – Monday 28 August 2017
Please click here to download the Welcome Meeting sheet
Gathering Parent Voice Survey
Thank you to the many people who have completed the online survey (120+) to date. Please set aside 15 minutes this weekend to complete the online survey so that you can have a voice in what makes “Success for every child” and help us shape home/ school communication. The survey will be open until 7:00pm Monday.
Have your say! Here is the link
Transition to Y7 Reminder
This is a reminder for Y6 parents to submit your request for Y7 applications on Gateway from Monday 4 September- Friday 15 September 2017. Please do so by logging in to Gateway using your Parent ID, and parent may submit the Y7 Transfer Form only once. Detailed instruction has been sent to you in a separate email.
Student Health Service / School Dental Care Service
Please be reminded information about the Student Health Service / School Dental Care Service will be sent home on Tuesday 29th August 2017.
Student Achievement
The Scholastic Chess Tournament was held on July 2017. Michael Chu (5D) won 3rd place in Division C; Horace Yip (5C) won champion in Division D; Daniel Kim (former KJS student) won champion in Division E and Sportsmanship Award; and Cyrus Seto (3C) won 2nd place in Division E. Congratulations to all our future chess masters!
Aiden and Raiden from 3A participated in the Kids Biz Little Entrepreneur program on Sunday. It is a one day project based business program that mimics the operation of the real business world. They worked in a small team, and ran their company, budget, produced their products, designed marketing campaigns and sold their products. All revenue made from the sale was donated to support a good cause. Aiden and Raiden chose to donate their revenue to Save the Children. They raised a total of $205 HKD. Their team also won the Best Persuasion Award for the day.
Trevor (4K) and Aiden (4L) represented Hong Kong in the category U8 Asia Youth Ice Hockey League Tournament. They competed in 3 games and managed to enter the final game on the 22nd August. Team Hong Kong earned a silver medal in the tournament.
We are happy to share good news with you. Our daughter Sian Lee (5D) participated Scholastic chess tournament today and won the first place in her group (division D). It was Sian’s first winning in Chess, so she was very happy to receive the golden trophy and medal. We believe that her strong interest in chess will make her progress even more in the future.
Scott and I would like to share our happiness with you. He just won a champion in the monthly Scholastic Chess Tournament ( Division C ) held today.
He was so into his new interest in the summer holiday. He spent a lot of time on studying how to improve his skill by learning different strategies.
He wishes to share his happiness with other KJS friends and parents also through the school newsletter.
Tournament website:
http://www.scholasticchess.hk/chesstournament
Other Notices
Welcome Letter to All Parents
Please click here to download the welcome letter from Ms Belinda Greer, CEO of ESF.
Lance King Parent Seminar
Please click here for information about the Lance King Parent Seminar.
This seminar is organised by an independent company and Kowloon Junior School shall take no responsibility for any services provided by the organiser or any other organizations that are not affiliated to Kowloon Junior School or English Schools Foundation.
69th Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival (2017)
Entry forms for the 69th Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival (2017) are now available. Parents who wish their children to participate in the Festival must return the completed forms together with the entry fee in cash, to the school office by Wednesday, 13th September. Late applications cannot be processed. Please also write your child’s name and class on the top right hand corner of the entry form. For further details on Rules & Regulations and Syllabus, please visit the official website http://www.hksmsa.org.hk.
Please click here to download the entry form.
Junior Baking Classes
Baking class starts 4th September but new junior bakers can sign up for a free trial class on the 28th August. For more information, please see the attached brochure & enrolment form. To reserve a place or arrange for a trial class, please email Ms. Hong: flourhk@hotmail.com
See the Junior Bakers in action by clicking on the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOW88jsc8A0
Flour Unlimited is an independent company and Kowloon Junior School shall take no responsibility for any services provided by Flour Unlimited or any other organizations that are not affiliated to Kowloon Junior School or English Schools Foundation.
Date for your Diary
Monday 28th August: Welcome Meetings (no school for students)
Friday 22nd September: PTA Lantern Festival/AGM for all the family
2nd – 6th October: School closed – Half term holiday
Thursday 12th October Dress casual day
Thursday 19th October 9am Diwali Assembly
24th – 27th October School photographer in
Friday 27th October Quiz Night for all the family
Friday 3rd November Orchestra Day (possible)
Monday 6th November Teacher training (no school for students)
Tuesday 14th November KJS Musical
Wednesday 15th November KJS Musical
20th – 22nd November Y4 Camp
28th November – 1st December Y5 Camp
4th – 8th December Y6 Camp
Wednesday 6th December Y3 & Y4 Sports Day
Wednesday 13th December Y5 & Y6 Sports Day
Friday 15th December Term ends at midday
