Newsletter- 29/09/21
Kowloon Junior School’s latest newsletter is available to read now.
Dates for Your Diary
1 October National Day – No school
11 – 15 October Mid Term Break
19 October Unit Reporting – Parent Information Session (all parents)
27 October Triple P Parenting Session (all parents)
11 – 12 November 3 Way conferences
17 December Last day of term – Half day (finish at 12pm)
20 December – 7 January Term Break
10 January First day of Term 2
Dear KJS Families,
Last Saturday ESF hosted a Foundation-wide professional development day. Most of the sessions were hosted online, however, a significant number of curriculum learning groups met in-person at various locations across schools. The day featured a large and varied range of workshops that connected with ESF’s Nine Strategic Priority Areas and early feedback reports indicate that the learning opportunities were well received and highly applicable.
As I write this, we are almost at the end of the second day of significant data gathering about our students’ learning experiences at KJS. I have personally been involved in gathering learning data with Mr. Riddell across all year levels through focus group conversations. Other processes include in situ student interviews, video diaries, and feedback observations. We will undoubtedly learn a great deal about our thinking and practices at KJS through this important next step on our journey as a professional learning community.
One of the challenges that we face in modern society is being able to obtain and consume many things easily. While there is much to be said about convenience, it sometimes leads to a desire for instant gratification. ‘Making friends’ with delayed gratification is, of course, needed to work towards and achieve many meaningful goals in life, so one strategy that can often help students with delayed gratification is called Episodic Future Thinking (EFT). EFT – developed by Dr. Dan Gilbert – is a form of visualisation that invites the learner to override instant gratification by imagining an option that is better in all regards. This simple and powerful technique can be practised as often as is useful by both children and adults.
Kind regards,
Dr Jamie Schmitz
Acting Principal
ISA (International Schools’ Assessment) Years 4, 5 and 6
Over the next week our students in Years 4, 5 and 6 will be completing their ISA tests. These are taken by children in these year groups across ESF and the data gathered is used in school alongside the data our teachers gather on a daily basis. The ISA is designed to assess Mathematical Literacy, Reading and Writing. In general, the questions assess how well students can apply their mathematical, reading and writing skills to situations relating to real life in the 21st century. The assessments are online and will be taken in your child’s usual classroom environment. We are hoping to receive the results in November and will share them with you when we get them.
IT’s GET REDRESSED MONTH at KJS
Redress is a NGO with a goal to make fashion more sustainable by upcycling, recycling, reusing and much more. KJS will be supporting them during their Get Redressed month in October through two school events: a clothing drive and a get Redressed casual dress day (keep reading).
What do you think clothes are made of?
A. Water B. Animals
C. Plants D. Oil
Actually, clothes are made of ALL of these natural resources and 170 tonnes of usually high quality clothing are dumped into the landfill daily! Redress is trying to make things better and you can make a difference too! By donating to the clothing drive, you are helping poor people have clothes. You are also giving old clothes a new life and saving the environment from pollution.
What can you do to support Redress?
Our KJS community will host a clothing drive from 6th to 29th October.
Please bring in any unwanted or old clothes that you no longer wear to our Redress collection boxes which will be located near the school office.
Success Criteria on what you can bring:
- Clothes must be washed
- New or worn clothes in a reasonable condition
Please bring your old clothes or unwanted clothes ASAP!
A Date for your Diary!
On Friday the 22nd of October, we will hold a Casual Dress Day, where our KJS community can wear old, reused, borrowed or even clothes that students have made! Students are asked to bring a minimum donation of $20 if they would like to take part.
The KJS Student Council
Library News
Dear Parents,
It was so nice to see everyone last night at our Library Parent Workshop. We had over a hundred people, some with their children, to learn about the different library resources. We hope you enjoyed the session and we encourage your family to spend more time exploring the different pages. A survey will be sent out to see what other workshops the library team could offer in the future. Stay tuned. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Ms. Lau at macy.lau@kjs.edu.hk.
Reading Photos
We are also appreciative of all the parents who have sent in their child’s reading photos! It’s so lovely to see students reading their favourite books in some unusual positions and places. Take a look at the photos here (KJS Virtual Library). If you haven’t sent them in, please send them to Ms. Lau at macy.lau@kjs.edu.hk. Upon receipt, Ms. Lau will email you back. Due to the number of photos, it may take a few days to get back.
Happy Reading everyone! If you have any questions, please email our library team at library@kjs.edu.hk.
Student Success
The celebration of student success will channel to our Facebook page. You can find the school’s Facebook here. Please keep the photos and stories coming of our children shooting the AAROW’s of Success!
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.
