Newsletter- 31/08/22
Kowloon Junior School’s latest newsletter is available to read now.
Dates for Your Diary
12 September Public Holiday
13 September Y5 Day Camp (2021/2022 Y4 Camp – Day 2)
14 -15 September You Tell Us Meetings
01 October Public Holiday
04 October Public Holiday
17 – 21 October Mid Term Break
01 – 04 November School Photo
16 December Last Day of Term (Half day)
19 December – 06 January Term Break
09 January First Day of Term 2 (school ends at 12 noon)
Acting Principal’s Message
Dear KJS Families,
Our second week of learning and teaching is moving along beautifully at KJS. Our students are settling in well to their new year groups, and our teachers and EAs are focusing on supporting them to build positive relationships and constructive habits. One of our major improvement targets across the school is to get better at feedback. Specifically, supporting our students in seeking feedback, receiving feedback, and using it effectively to progress as learners. We are also working towards closer alignment between learning intentions, success criteria, and feedback. All of our teams are in the process of writing feedback action plans to implement, monitor, and evaluate over the next six weeks, and I have noticed the language of feedback already being amplified during several learning visits.
Some of you will have seen various media information about COVID case numbers in Hong Kong and full-day schooling. I am pleased to share that the latest EDB circular confirms that this will not affect the current arrangement at KJS for the time being. I will continue to keep you updated as the situation changes.
Connected with the abovementioned paragraph, is the topic surrounding students having three doses of the COVID vaccination and after-school activities. Again, this will not apply to KJS for the time being because of the third dose 12-year-old age requirement. Again, I will keep you informed as the situation develops. The other aspect linked directly to student vaccination numbers in schools, is the 90% threshold for eating lunch in classrooms. As I have previously mentioned, the need to use large dedicated spaces for lunch at KJS means that we can’t use them for other important purposes, as well as limiting our school-wide timetable options significantly. We are currently at 67% for two doses (+14 days), so please update us via the ESF App if your child’s vaccination status changes.
Finally, as communicated directly via the ESF App, we have our You Tell Us conferences coming up on 14/9 and 15/9 from 4 – 7 p.m. via Zoom. These conferences provide a focused platform for you (parents only for this format) to share your child’s strengths, interests, and challenges with teachers so that we can further strengthen the home-school relationship. Gateway registration will open from 7 p.m. on 5/9.
Kind regards,
Dr Jamie Schmitz
Acting Principal
Message from School Office
Please remember to update your child’s daily Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and temperature results through the ESF App before coming to school, as required by the EDB.
We will continue distributing a pack of 5 RAT kits to your child on the last school day of each week. Please check her/his school bags after school. For further information on the ESF App and how to report the daily results, please visit this webpage.
In case of absences, please remember to email the school office at office@kjs.edu.hk as soon as possible explaining why your child is away from school. Please be precise and list the symptoms rather than saying he or she is ‘unwell’ or ‘has a cold’. Information will be forwarded to our School Nurse for her reference and follow up, if necessary.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
Message from School Nurse
Please be reminded that there are other illnesses that can be transmitted here at school and that if your child is feeling unwell with symptoms such as runny nose, coughs or sore throats, to consider keeping them at home even if their RAT is negative.
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind parents and guardians that we ask that students who experience diarrhoea, vomiting or fevers should remain at home until 48 hours after their last episode.
I would like to thank you all for your help in keeping KJS a safe and healthy learning environment.
Student Health and Dental Care Services
An enrolment form for Student Health and Dental Care Services was sent home earlier this week. For interested parents, please complete and return the form to Nurse Carmen on or before the deadline – Friday 9 September 2022. Please understand that any applications received after the deadline cannot be processed and you will have to wait until the next academic year to enrol again.
For details, please refer to this letter from Nurse Carmen.
Y1 Central Applications for Siblings
Y1 Central Applications will open on 1 September 2022. If you wish to submit an application for your child who was born in 2018 and is a sibling of a current KJS student, please do so through the ESF online application system.
- For children who are currently with an ESF kindergarten, applications must be submitted through Gateway on or before 16 September 2022 as stated in this ESF website https://www.esf.edu.hk/k2-to-year1-key-dates/. Please refer to your child’s respective ESF kindergarten for detail.
- For other children, applications must be submitted on or before 30 September 2022 as stated in this ESF website https://www.esf.edu.hk/year1-key-dates/.
For further details, please refer to this ESF website https://www.esf.edu.hk/application-form/.
Y6 to Y7 Transfer Applications
Y6 to Y7 Transfer Applications will open on 1 September 2022. If you wish your child to transfer to an ESF secondary school, you are required to submit a transfer application via Gateway between 1 September and 16 September 2022 as stated in this ESF website https://www.esf.edu.hk/year6-to-year7-key-dates/. Please click here for instructions.
ESF will process and allocate according to an “associated secondary school” for Y7 placement. The associated secondary school for KJS is King George V School (KGV). This means all KJS Y6 students will transfer to KGV for Y7 for the 2023/2024 school year after submitting a transfer application before the deadline, i.e. 16 September 2022. Allocation for secondary school will be by “associated secondary school” and NOT determined by the residential address.
For further details, please refer to this ESF website https://www.esf.edu.hk/year6-to-year7-key-dates/. For any questions, please contact the ESF Secondary School Admissions Team at secondary.admissions@esfcentre.edu.hk.
Extra Curricular Activities with KJS Registered Tutors
We are pleased to announce that the following clubs will be back in September 2022. Interested parents please contact the organisers directly for sign-up.
- Creative Writing Workshop (flyer in PDF format)
- Junior Baking Class (flyer in PDF format; introductory video)
Kindly note that in line with EDB guidelines, only children who have received two doses of vaccine can attend extra curricular activities.
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.
