Newsletter- 18/08/23
Kowloon Junior School’s latest newsletter is available to read now.
Dates for Your Diary
2 October Public Holiday
23-30 October Mid Term Break
6-9 November School Photo
15 December Last Day of Term (school ends at 12:00)
8 January First Day of Term 2
Principal’s Message
Dear KJS families,
Firstly, I would like to welcome you all back to this exciting start of the new academic year. I hope you had an enjoyable summer spending time with your families and friends.
I would like to say how incredibly proud, privileged and honoured I am to be the new Principal here at Kowloon Junior School. It’s clear KJS is a special school with a fantastic community of staff, students and parents. I’m genuinely excited to have the opportunity to build on the school’s successes with the staff and wider KJS community as we move to a brighter future post pandemic.
As Principal it is important to be visible, open and transparent. Building strong relationships with parents and students is key to this. I am very much looking forward to getting to know you better across the coming weeks and months. I would also like to thank those of you I have met so far, in making me feel so welcome.
It was wonderful to see all the current students returning looking so excited (albeit a bit tired) this morning. It was also special to be welcoming all our new students to KJS. It was great to see how quickly they settled in class, already forming great bonds with their teachers and peers.
Over the coming weeks, with the support of our fantastic PTA, we will be hosting some ‘Meet the Principal’ coffee mornings for parents to attend. As I said above, building relationships with all of you is a key priority of mine this term. I hope to be able to share some information on dates and times of these very soon.
I am of course not the only new member of staff to join KJS this academic year. I am pleased to say we have some excellent and experienced teaching practitioners joining us across the school.
Sarah Williams will be joining us as a Year 1 teacher and Maker Education Leader.
Sue Jackson will be joining the KJS community as our new (and first) specialist Drama teacher.
Jessica Swett will be our new Music specialist teacher.
Sarah Jane Quinn will be joining our teaching staff in Year 2.
Renee Callebaut will be joining us as a new teacher in Year 1.
Samantha Ko will be joining us as a teacher in Year 6 as maternity cover.
Lisa Marie Bower will be joining us as a teacher in Year 3.
Finally, Jennifer Chan will be joining the Year 5 teaching team.
Please look out for more information on these new members of staff on our Facebook community page over the coming days.
In the meantime, as always if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to let a member of staff know.
Regards
Gavin MacGregor
Principal
School Buses and Private Cars
In order to ensure that drop-off and pick-up times are smooth and safe, and to avoid irate neighbours, please be reminded that the area outside the main school gate should be left free for the school buses to park. Please also do not block cars wanting to pass through or any entrances to our campus. There is plenty of room further down the road to drop off or pick up your children. Thank you for your cooperation!
School Bus Arrangements
Please take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to remind your child about the mode of transport to school. If your child takes the school bus, for safety reasons, please remind them of the bus number (e.g. #1, #2, #3, etc), instead of the plate number, which will ensure a smooth travel to and from school. If you are unsure of the bus number, you may contact your bus provider.
In case of any important changes to the mode of transport on any particular day, please inform the school office either via the ESF App or email at office@kjs.edu.hk before 12:30pm. It is important to provide sufficient time to deliver messages to your child.
If your child usually takes the school bus but has fixed days as a walker, please discuss this with the class teacher so that appropriate measures are taken to ensure your child is sent to the walkers area on assigned days.
Residential Address Update
If your family has moved or changed residential address or contact details over the summer, please be reminded to update accordingly on Gateway, especially for Year 6 children, as transition to Year 7 will be processed according to current residential address at the time of application. You are required to upload address proof when making the change, which includes (1) a stamped copy of tenancy or a current government demand for rates bill, and (2) a utility bill or bank statement.
Message from the Nurse
Parents please be reminded to log into Gateway and update your child(ren)’s medical and ‘Emergency Contact’ information.
If there is no update for your child(ren)’s medical information, please confirm that nothing has changed.
For the ‘Emergency Contact’, this should be the contact details of designated caregivers with a local contact other than yourselves, for example a helper or grandparents. We will always try and contact parents first, but when this is not possible, it is imperative we have another option.
Other Useful Information for Parents
ESF Board of Governors
You should have recently received information from ESF regarding the election of parent members to the ESF Board of Governors.
All parents of ESF primary, secondary and all-through schools are invited to stand for election. If you would like to contribute to the ESF community by joining the ESF Board, please do not miss this opportunity. The letter sent by ESF gives links to more information about the specific role as well as further information on how to nominate yourself.
For any enquiries, please contact Peggy Wan at peggy.wan@esfcentre.edu.hk.
News from the PTA
Hello KJS Community,
Welcome back to the new year!!
We everyone had a good break and are now recharged and refreshed for the weeks ahead. Please share your holiday news and photos with the community of the KJS PTA FB Group, we’d love to see what everyone got up to.
Lunch Service Provider
We are delighted to let you know that the lunch service provider is Chartwells, a member of the Compass Group of executive catering.
The company was awarded the contract with Kowloon Junior School after a robust and comprehensive tendering process with ESF Centre and a cross section of members of our school community and the PTA Committee.
Chartwells plan to start their service on 4 September 2023 and you would have received important communications today about registration and ordering via a separate Splat message on your ESF App.
If you need any further information, you may contact Chartwells directly on
Hotline and Whatsapp: 9551-7973 (Mon-Fri, 8:00-17:00)
Email: kjs@compass-hk.com
Welcome to New Families @ KJS
We welcome all new families to the KJS Community! Please feel free to connect with us via email (pta@kjs.edu.hk), on our FB Community Group or call us on 3765-8709. Or better yet, drop by the PTA Office to have a chat or a cup of coffee (we have tea too!).
If you would like to be a valuable volunteer, just let us know and we will get you involved in the various projects and events that we have planned for the coming year. Don’y worry if you have no idea what to do, we will guide you.
The various ways of getting involved are:
- Volunteer for events by becoming a Team Leader (if you have the time to attend meetings on site ahead of the event) or to contribute an hour of your time at the event or giving a donation. Many parents may have access to items that could be donated for resale or give cash towards major raffle prizes.
- Become a member of the PTA Executive Committee, which meets regularly on Zoom and discusses school news and decides upcoming events. The Principal, teacher and parent members report and feedback on school items.
- Get selected to become a Class Representative (responsible for communicating to other parents in your child’s class and managing communication channels)
Please fill in this Google Form if you are interested in becoming more involved in your child’s journey at KJS.
Contact Rekha Mahbubani in the PTA office for more details and let her know if you’d like to drop in to make sure she is in the office when you come.
To make it easy for you, take a screenshot of this:
PTA Office T: 3765-8709
PTA Email: pta@kjs.edu.hk
PTA Whatsapp: 6211-4154
It’s going to be a fabulous year at KJS!
Best wishes,
The KJS PTA Team
ESF Explore- Term 1 2023-24
We’ve rebranded! ESF Sports and Language is now ESF Explore.
Our rebranding is not just about changing the name! We have come to understand our constraints, thus, we listened and improved. To celebrate, we are pleased to offer a 10% discount for Hockey, Lacrosse, Netball and Tag Rugby classes in Term 1! Our discount code is valid until August 25th: 2324REBRAND10
Check out our schedule here, and the rest of our term 1 programmes here.
Extra Curricular Activities with KJS Registered Tutors
Student Success
Thank you for sharing your child’s achievements with us over the past year.
While individual achievements are undoubtedly significant and provide a source of pride for both the student and their family, sharing every student’s accomplishments on our social media channels is no longer feasible. Our intention is to create an inclusive environment where all students, regardless of their individual accomplishments, feel valued and celebrated.
That being said, we encourage you to share your child’s achievements with their teacher and peers, as well as within your personal social media networks. This way, your child’s accomplishments can be recognized and celebrated by those who know them best.
We appreciate your understanding and support as we continue to navigate the post-pandemic educational landscape. Our school community’s strength lies in our collective efforts to celebrate the diverse talents, achievements, and experiences of all our students.
Disclaimer
- Kowloon Junior School, English Schools Foundation and its affiliates shall take no responsibility for any activities, events, and services that are organised by other organisations or individuals and are mentioned in our newsletters.
- Our newsletters may contain direct marketing materials that are related to students’ daily school activities and the KJS community. Parents who choose not to receive such materials should use their own discretion.
- In accordance with our Personal Data Handling Policy, Kowloon Junior School and English Schools Foundation may place your child’s photos, name, school work, activities and accomplishments in our newsletters or other publications (including but not limited to our websites and social media sites). If you would like to opt out, please email the school office at office@kjs.edu.hk.
