Newsletter- 01/03/24
Kowloon Junior School’s latest newsletter is available to read now.
Dates for Your Diary
4-8 March Book Week
5-7 March Book Fair
13-14 March Author Visit- Kev Payne
16 March KJS PTA School Fair
21 March Year 1 and Year 2 Fun Field Day
22 March Last Day of Term (school ends at 12:00)
9 April First Day of Term 3
Team Events
Please see below for the following team events that some of our students will be taking part in this term. As always those involved will be notified nearer the time.
2 March ESF Cross Country Festival
15 March HKPSSA Tag Rugby Festival
16 March HKPSSA Cross Country Festival
20 March HKPSSA Basketball Festival
Principal’s Message
Dear Families,
It was wonderful to see so many of you join us for our Year 2 Art Exhibition and Year 3 Drama Performance this week. The children shone as they proudly displayed their creativity and talents.
At the Art Exhibition, parents and students were engaged in meaningful discussions about the artistic process. I was impressed by how clearly the children could explain their techniques, materials used, and inspiration behind each piece. Their ability to reflect on their feedback and improvements they made was impressive.
Our Year 4 residential trip got off to a fun start. Despite the less-than-ideal weather, they had an amazing time participating in a variety of outdoor activities, including toasting marshmallows over the fire. Through these outdoor challenges, the children are able to develop further their skills in leadership, problem-solving and independence. We look forward to welcoming them back later today
Thank you again to all families who completed the stakeholder survey. Your views and input are crucial and will help strengthen our school and community.
Wishing everyone a relaxing weekend
Mr Gavin MacGregor
Principal
Library News
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Book Week is starting next week! The KJS Library Monitors and Library Team have been working hard to organize a series of events.
This year’s theme is “Read, Grow, Inspire” and it’s in collaboration with Kowloon in Bloom. KJS areas will be decorated with beautiful African Marigolds decorated with author and book titled themes. Stay on the lookout for pictures on our Google site along with our current planned activities can be seen here.
Aside from the above, we are extremely thankful for the support of the KJS PTA who are generously supporting the following author visits:
Author Visit – Kev Payne – March 13 & 14th
Years 1 to 5 will have the opportunity to meet renown author, illustrator and poet, Kev Payne! He’s flying from UK to meet our students. Kev’s sessions aim to nurture and develop students’ skills and enthusiasm towards reading and writing connected to their current Unit of Inquiry. Five books have been selected and are available for purchase through ESF Gateway. Limited quantities are available on a first come, first served basis.
Year 2 Author (Karine Yoakim Pasquier) & Illustrator (Lorena Chan) – March 4 & 6th
Workshops will be held over two days with Year 2’s. Students will learn the process of writing with Karine (author) on March 4th. As a class, they will develop a story together. On March 6th, Lorena (illustrator) will teach skills of water painting with Year 2’s. Karine and Lorena’s books will be available for purchase. Please purchase books through this link.
Year 4 Author Visit – Suzanne Younan – March 7th
Year 4’s will have a special opportunity to meet with author, Ms. Suzanne Younan. She will be sharing her story about how she took action by writing a story to provoke reaction in communities in Hong Kong and around the world to reduce single use plastics. Get ready to be inspired! Suzanne’s books is available for purchase here.
Looking forward to celebrating with all of you. Please contact our library team if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
KJS Library Team
Parents Talk- Zoom
Do you sometimes feel apprehensive about something you have no control over? With children, have you noticed that sometimes your child may express worries over trivial issues and is unable to stop himself/herself from thinking negatively?
There will be times when anxiety can get the best of us. Similar to adults, children will have worries and concerns. Some may experience excessive weariness, they may also have a sense of dread/heaviness that can be overwhelming. When faced with a difficult predicament, the natural inclination is to face the challenge head on or avoid the triggers causing stress. Most psychological research has shown that applying short term coping mechanisms such as avoidance provides immediate relief; however, it has its limitations. Prolong reliance on this type of coping strategy may negatively impact one’s self confidence, self esteem, amplify (perceived and real) fears and stress.
At some point in our lives, we’ve experienced some challenging situations that made us feel uncomfortable. Due to uncertainties, we’re left unsure of ourselves. Naturally, our mind and body respond automatically to protect us from perceived threats and harm. Additionally, how we mobilise both our internal and external resources play an important role on how we cope and resolve problems.
It’s equally important to note that “Normal worries” can actually be beneficial to us. We all have anxiety. Anxiety is part of our emotional state that acts as a barometer on how we govern our daily lives. Children can learn to plan and to prepare to address problems appropriately and build resilience.
The goal of this presentation is to provide parents information on Anxiety. Additionally, it will include an overview of different types of anxiety disorder.
Date: 13 March 2024
Time: 3-4pm
[Web Link]
Meeting ID: 973 2854 9733
Passcode: 060360
Attendees: KJS parents
Facilitator: Ian Ong, Student Counsellor
*Interested parents please register through the gateway. Registration opens now and closes on Monday, 12th March at 4pm (Under “Activity” on Gateway)
A reminder with the Zoom link will be sent and posted in both KJS Newsletter and Splat.
ESF-wide Art Exhibition
ESF is going to hold a student art exhibition in late May to early June. Shortlisted art pieces of each school will be displayed in the art exhibition.
Interested students should submit their art piece to their class teacher on or before 19 April.
Exhibition Details:
ESF Art Exhibition 2024
Art Exhibition Period: 29 May – 2 June 2024 (Grand Opening on 28 May, 6pm – by invitation)
Time: 10am – 7pm (29 May – 1 June), 10am – 4pm (2 June)
Venue: Exhibition Hall, Hong Kong City Hall, 5 Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong
Fee: Free admission, open to public
Artwork Theme: Faster, Higher, Stronger
The Paris Olympics are almost upon us. Every four years, athletes from every country, from all walks of life and of all faiths and none come together to celebrate the remarkable nature of humanity. The Olympic podium is the highest point in sport, but those three medals do not represent the totality of the spirit that guides the Games, nor do they tell the story of the sacrifice, hard work and dedication of every participant.
This year, our ESF art exhibition is all about humans and their extraordinary power to achieve. Every single day, people in our schools, in our homes and in our communities are doing remarkable things and this is what we seek to celebrate in this show.
This need not just be about the people who have achieved something headline grabbing. It can also be about the people who do things to help us, to make our lives better and to support us in what we do. Who are the change makers? Who goes above and beyond for us? Who, in our lives, is dedicated to being faster, higher and stronger in the service of others? These are the people we seek to shine a light on.
Points to note for submission-
1) We accept drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, pixel art, digital art or photography that is relevant to the art exhibition theme.
2) Parent permission and consent should be granted for the child’s art piece image or video and any information about the art piece, including name, school year and school name, to be shown publicly.
3) The art piece must be the student’s original work without infringing any intellectual property rights
4) Each submission confirms that they consent to the use of the personal data for this art exhibition, such use to be in accordance with ESF’s Personal Data Handling Policy and its related Personal Information Collection Statements (“PICS”). A copy of the PICS can be found on the ESF website (www.esf.edu.hk).
5) All images or videos and other information of art pieces collected may be disclosed to third parties, including external service providers or website developers, for this art exhibition.
ESF Centre reserves the right to remove any sensitive content or art pieces that might potentially violate the law. When submitting art pieces, please be considerate of others and be sensitive to the content depicted.
Shortlisted art pieces will be returned to students after the exhibition.
News from the PTA
Hello everyone,
Only 2 weeks to go to the Annual School Fair!
Things are certainly getting exciting here but we still need help. Please fill in this Google Form if you can give an hour of your time or donate an item towards any of the PTA tables. This could be food, unused games, gently loved books or baked goods.
Please take a moment to fill out this form to Volunteer & Donate items. Your contribution is truly appreciated!
Raffle Tickets
Thank you all for the amazing support in the raffle sales. We now request you all to return the stubbs (counterfoils) along with the reply slip and any money collected to the PTA office for further processing.
The final deadline is Monday 4th March to return all unsold tickets, money and stubbs to us.
After today, no more books can be sent to your child, but there may be tickets available for purchase on the day of the Fair depending on availability.
So, this is what is needed:
- Sold tickets: Stubbs and $$ to the PTA, main tickets to be kept by parents.(In case your number is drawn as a winning ticket, you must submit the actual ticket to claim the prize).
- Unsold tickets: Complete tickets to the PTA.
- Please Note importantly: All the stubbs of sold tickets with the payments as well as all unsold complete tickets MUST be returned to the PTA Office. We will be audited on this and must account for each ticket to the HK Government.
Please make sure your child’s name and class is clearly marked on anything you send in to us!
All proceeds will be used to help purchase new interactive whiteboards for the classrooms. You can see a video about the whiteboards here.
Money at the Fair
We are hoping to minimise cash transactions at the Fair and many stalls will be operated using Octopus and FPS via QR code payments, so please ensure you have access to your Octopus wallets and mobile devices.
Private vendors may operate on cash, so please bring money also!
More information around this will be shared with families later.
Games Tokens
All games at the Fair will use designated games tokens which can be purchased in booklets of 10 tokens.
Each booklet costs $100.
There will be a special offer on the booklets when pre-purchased. For every 3 bookers bought, you will get 1 free booklet.
We will be pre-selling booklets next week online, a separate message will be sent so look out for that.
Drake the Dragon
Drake is the official school mascot of Kowloon Junior School and will be making a special appearance at the Fair.
He will be supporting a very special reading programme that has been developed by the KJS Student Council, we can’t wait for parents to find out all about him.
We look forward to hearing from all our parents and community members and seeing everyone on 16 March 2024.
Have a great weekend ahead!
The KJS PTA Team.
ESF Explore – Spring Camp 2024
Spring to life and join ESF Explore for a thrilling adventure! From 25th March to 5th April, we offer a variety of courses and workshops for students of all ages. With morning classes and afternoon workshops, we’ll keep your kids engaged and entertained this Spring. Discover our Spring Camp programmes HERE.
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.
