Parent Update - 3 March 2017

Parent Update - 3 March 2017

Message from the the Principal

Dear Parents
 
It has been another varied week of working on the new campus, preparing for the inspection, recruitment of staff and bai sun!  This last item was the ceremony for the commencement of construction for the next phase of our new campus at Tin Wan, Aberdeen.
 
Mrs. Harley and myself had to bow respectfully, set fire to the papers which are the good wishes floating up to the Goddess and then cut a pig open for good luck and, of course, to eat the meat.  In my best attempt at Cantonese I said “Hoi Gong Ping On Dai Gut” which is wishing everyone working there good luck and to be safe and healthy working on the site.
 
Back to school, I really enjoyed reading “The Gruffalo” to 2D in the library and what a great assembly we had from 1C today going on a Dinosaur hunt!  It is amazing to see the confidence each child showed in performing and speaking to such a large audience.  Like their parents, I was really proud of each and every one of them.
 
Thanks to all of you and your children who have completed the surveys for our inspection.
 
Roll on the visit of the inspectors next week!
 
Have an enjoyable weekend.
 
Brian Cooklin
Principal

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

 

6 March 

Netball U14 HKSSF League WCH 4:00, U12 Tournament

 

9 March 

Primary Netball matches against FIS @ Lam Tim sports centre

 

10 March

Class Assembly 6A, Emma Parker

NAIS Riding Team Competition, Kathryn Charlesworth

Hong Kong Flower Show Drawing Competition

 

11 March

Primary HKSSF gymnastics competition at Ma On Shan Sport Centre

 

13 March

Year 5 Residential

 

14 March

Primary Mandarin Parents Evening

 

16 March

NAIS PTA quiz night 7-9.30pm in the school hall

Primary Mandarin Parents evening

 

17 March

Class Assembly 3E, Arwen Batiste

 

JUILLIARD AND MUSIC  

We are delighted to have completed our second visit from Juilliard Curriculum Specialist Erin Wight this week.  Erin has been working closely with the Music department since her visit in November and we were excited to welcome her back (with her viola!) so that she could see the progress students have made in this time.  During the three days, Erin coached the string group with a focus on ‘expression in performance’ ready for our Spring Soiree in April.  In addition to this, we have mutually shared our teaching experiences, with Erin observing and feeding back on lessons we have taught, and our department observing Erin in action delivering activities with both 3E and 7B.  Our professional development session this morning allowed us to become students again and compose using the structure for artistic thinking “Make, Reflect, Connect”, inspired by Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony which many students are currently exploring through the curriculum.  We will use these ideas to reflect on and enhance the Music curriculum at NAIS.  The Curriculum Specialist visits are a great strength of our collaboration with Juilliard as together, we constantly strive to improve the musical experiences of young people to ensure their holistic individual growth.

 

Erin’s reflection on the visit this week:

 

“The students' enthusiasm for music is evident in their energy as soon as they walk in the classroom! Students are eager to share what they perceive in the music they're exploring during lessons and eager to express their own personal musical ideas, whether it's with their voices, bodies, keyboards, ukuleles, drums...! Part of this is due to the autonomy students are given to direct their development. I'm continually noticing ways activities are differentiated so that all students have a way to be successful, but also clear ways to take next steps in challenging their thinking and to continue growing as musicians. It has been exciting to see how the depth of student ideas and sophistication in expressive responses has developed over the past few months!”

 

More highlights on our Music department’s twitter feed https://twitter.com/musicNAISHK

 

Erin will join us again in May for our final visit of the year, but in the meantime, please save the date for Monday 20^th March for our next exciting Juilliard Artist, trumpeter Liam Day (http://www.williamblakeday.com/) who will be performing for our young people and coaching our aspiring trumpeters and trombonists!  There will also be the opportunity for parents to attend interactive recitals in the morning… watch this space!

 

BEE AMBITIOUS!

We are pleased to announce that the 2016 NAIS HK ‘Be Ambitious’ Secondary House Spelling Bee will take place on Monday 10th of April. This follows on from last year’s event where Year 9 Marcus Wong and Year 8 Simone Skovgaard lead Balmoral House to victory after a dramatically close finish against runners up Sandringham House. Over the coming weeks students will be practising in registration time using the word lists which have already been shared with them on Firefly.  They have been working on these words during house spelling time throughout the year but will need to step up and consolidate their understanding to be victorious. By the end of March, each tutor group will select two representatives who will take part in a knockout competition on the day itself. There will be five rounds to the competition:

 

1. Basic Bees: Common words that are frequently misspelt

2. Busy Bees: Subject specific words

3. Bee-n Around the World: Words from around the world

4. Bee-ing Ambitious: Difficult words

5. Killer Bees: Very difficult words

Individual prizes, house points and glory are available to those taking part while the whole school will benefit from a fun and engaging focus on spelling and vocabulary. All resources have been shares with students on Firefly but if you have any unanswered questions please contact david.robinson@nais.hk

 

SILLY SUPERHEROES AND STAR TOUCHED QUEENS: Global Library Authors Touchdown at NAIS HK

We are very excited to announce that two world renowned authors, whose books are part of Nord Anglia’s Global Library scheme, will be visiting our school in the weeks ahead to meet with students, share their inspirations and give ideas for writing and creativity. Firstly, on March 15^th we will be visited by British author David Solomans who is the creator of the comic novel ‘My Brother is a Superhero’ which won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and has been very popular with students across the Nord Anglia schools. Here are some reviews students have posted about his book on Global Campus Online:

 

“It is a great book and is very entertaining to read. I like the way that the main character's brother is a superhero, not himself. Also very funny how Luke couldn't be a superhero because he needed a restroom break.” Jaden Shim NAIS Hong Kong

 

“I had a great time reading this book, and even though I am not into superheroes. I liked the book and would recommend it. I would do so because it is very funny, and the end is hilarious.”  Ty Fischel, The British International School of Charlotte, USA

 

“I absolutely loved this book” Annabel Inez Goedhart, The British International School of Bratislava, Slovakia

 

Years 6, 7 and 8 will be joined by Global Classmates from the British Schools of Guangzhou to hear from Mr Solomans and share their own ideas about superheroes. To prepare for the event, parents might like to read the first three chapters from the book with their children (attached) and download the free app that connects with the book: http://nosycrow.com/apps/my-brother-is-a-superhero/

 

Secondly, on March 16^th we will be hosting American author Roshani Chokshi whose New York Times best selling book ‘The Star Touched Queen” has also picked up some great reviews from our global reading community:

 

“I believe that this book should be recommended for students my age because it would leave a good image and perspective. The best book yet.” Julianna Altonji, The British International School of Charlotte, USA

 

“This book should definitely make it on to your reading list in the near future” Hannah Ling Ern Tan, Nord Anglia International School Pudong, Shanghai, China

 

A select group of students who have shown commitments to reading and writing above and beyond their lessons will be invited to attend an exclusive discussion and writing workshop with Ms Chokshi. Those who have not yet read her novel, can prepare by reading some of the short stories shared on her website:http://www.roshanichokshi.com/writing/

We plan to share author interviews and some related competitions with the rest of the school and the Global Campus community in the weeks ahead.

 

Global Campus - A New Year’s Reunion Competition Results

Rebecca, Annie, Kelly, Judy, Andrew and Michael from year 9 have been busy judging the 64 entries from across the Global Campus for the Chinese New Year art competition. This was run in connection with the beautiful book “A New Year’s Reunion” by author Yu Li Qiong which is part of this year’s Global Library on the Global Campus (and can be found in our school library). Year 9 met with Yu Li Qiong for an interview in January. Congratulations to Nicole Chan from year 7 and Kyle Yuen from 5A whose photos were chosen as runners up and a huge well done to our Global Campus Classmates at The British International School Shanghai Puxi who swept the board with their beautiful photos and artworks. Keep your eyes out for another Global Library competition in the weeks to come…

Runners Up

Donna Yang, BISS Puxi

Nicole Chan NAIS Hong Kong

Kyle Yuen NAIS Hong Kong

Lucas He, BISS Puxi

Highly Commended

Chen Ku, BISS Puxi

Ali Ma BISS Puxi

Winners

Kyungeun Joe BISS Puxi

Rico Liu, BISS Puxi

More highlights from the video below: https://vimeo.com/206342678

 

YEAR 9 – TRIP TO TANZANIAThe adventure continues in Tanzania for our Year 9 pupils with a safari tour on Day 4 and some more building work and community projects. More highlights of their trip available here

 

SECOND CAMPUS

If you wish to move your child from Lam Tin to the new Tin Wan campus by inform the admissions team on or before 24 March by emailing admissions@nais.hk.

 

THIS LITTLE PIG …

Yes, we held the official pig-cutting ceremony at the new campus on Wednesday to celebrate the construction work of the new site. As renovations progress we will share pictures, and soon, the virtual tour!

 

PRIMARY ASSEMBLY – Class 1C

What an interesting and exciting assembly 1C gave us today! We learnt all about Dinosaurs and all the fascinating facts.  A big thank you to 1C for their singing, demonstrating how long a T-Rex was and performing all their lines so well.  Thanks to our musicians Calvin (5A), Loli and Roselyn (2D) for their fascinating performance. Some highlights from this morning here  

 

SECONDARY ASSEMBLY

In the secondary assembly this morning Mr. Bishop spoke to the students about being mad as a March Hare! He talked of how Hares act strange in the Spring months and how we can all act strange at times of stress and pressure. He then went on to discuss if doing things differently was always a bad thing, how being spontaneous can also be a good thing. Mr. Bishop finished by encouraging the students to try something spontaneous, something new in March, maybe make a new friendship or try a new sport.

 

STARS OF THE WEEK – Art

Well done each and every one of you. You should feel very proud of your achievements. Congratulations to the following students:

 

Year 1: Kwan Yu Chak, Cisy Li, Vicky Zhang, Saisha Das, Kyle Chan

Year 2: Charlotte Henke von Parpart, Qiselle Lam, Isabelle Kwon, Roselyn Siu, Lili Dryden

Year 3: David Du, Kyle Man, Darsh Parikh, Frederick Cary, Tristan Wong

Year 4: Jessie Dong, Randy Qiran, Andrew Leung, Danny Brunner, Elena Carazzai

Year 5: Joseph Ooi, Kevin Wu, TJ Meidinger, Charis Chor, Esther Rayner

Year 6 Boco To, Justin Wong, Abbie Yiu, Henry Dier

 

HIGH COMMENDATION AWARDS – Art

Year 7: Jasmine Law

Year 8: Gigi Liu

Year 9: Judy Zhu

See their smiling faces here.

 

AIR QUALITY AND NAIS

Its been a week of weird and not so wonderful weather pollution wise so we wanted to reassure you that, as a school, just how seriously we take this. We monitor the AQI readings hourly, as opposed to twice daily as in some other schools, and make a judgement call on the PE activities and outdoor play. We also act on information received from the EDB, as and when we receive it. Our policy on this can be found on our website: https://www.nordangliaeducation.com/schools/hong-kong/school-life/air-quality-health-index

 

3-LEGGED CHARITY WALK

Fancy a fun but rewarding event? Click here to learn more about the event. If you’re interested in joining please contact Betsy at bdknowles@yahoo.com by Wednesday, 8 March. More details available at: http://www.christian-action.org.hk/charitywalk/index.php/en

 

PTA ST PATRICK’S DAY QUIZ NIGHT 16 March, 7pm

Come join the fun at the PTA St Patrick's Day Quiz Night: Thursday, March 16th from 7:00pm in the school hall. Round up a team of 6 or sign up as an individual! There will be the usual questions and crazy games. Register at https://naisptaquiznight2017.eventbrite.hk .

Deadline for registration is 10th March.