WRITTEN BY

Nord Anglia

20 January, 2017

Parent Update - 20 January 2017

MESSAGE FROM THE SCHOOL

Dear Parents,

Mr Cooklin and Mrs Harley have been busy with recruitment in London this week as part of our Outstanding Teachers for Outstanding School commitment, and no doubt they’ll be keen to share the success of their trip with us next week.

Meanwhile it has been another busy week. From assemblies and Options evenings, through to inter-House sports competitions and a new MIT challenge, there’s a lot happening to keep teachers and students challenged and engaged which is exactly how we like it. You can find photos of what’s been happening on our Facebook page.

Finally, don’t forget that school will be closed from 30 Jan - 3 Feb for the Chinese New Year holidays with school resuming on 6 Feb. I’m sure that you’re all looking forward to the break and colourful celebrations that make Chinese New Year so special. I know we are here at school.

Have a great weekend.

Jane

UPCOMING EVENTS:

23 January

Class Assembly 5A, Rebecca Atkinson

Season 2 ECAs begin

24 January

NAIS PTA Mahjong and Dim Sum Night 7.00pm in the school hall

25 January

Year 1 trip to the 7/11

26 January

Year 3 Performance - Parents welcome to join at 1.30pm

Year 1 trip to the 7/11

30 January – 3 February

Half Term Holidays

6 February

Back to school!

8 February

Year 9 Options submission deadline

17 Feb – Save the date!

Superstar flautist Jasmine Choi will be in school

COMMUNITY CHOIR

After a fabulous performance at the Christmas concert in December, Community Choir will start again with the ECA’s on Monday (23^rd January). For those of you wanting to join our ranks this term, we rehearse in the music room on the second floor, between 4pm-5pm. All are welcome, and I look forward to seeing you there!

SUMMER PERFORMING ARTS WITH JUILLIARD 2017

This summer, give your child the chance to explore their creative talents and work with renowned artists in one of the most beautiful cities in the world — Geneva, Switzerland. Sound good? Read all about it here.

COMING SOON … AFTER SCHOOL ARTS WITH JUILLIARD

We are getting excited about the After School Arts with Juilliard music lesson programme that will soon be offered at NAIS, offering specialised teaching from Juilliard-affiliated musicians to students. More detailed information to come shortly so stay tuned!

GLOBAL LIBRARY NEWS - Chinese New Year Competition

Rebecca, Judy and Kelly from Year 9 would like to say Xīn Nián Kuài Lè and wish all of NAIS HK a Happy Chinese New Year and a warm welcome to the Year of the Rooster. To celebrate the New Year, they suggest you all read the moving and beautifully illustrated New York Times award-winning picture book A New Year’s Reunion by Yu-Li Qiong, which is part of the Under 8s section of the Global Library that can be found in the school library. The girls are excited to announce that they will be meeting and conducting a bilingual interview with Yu Li Qiong this weekend using questions from Year 3 and Year 8. They also hope to involve the rest of Nord Anglia's Global Campus by announcing a competition to win a signed copy of A New Year’s Reunion.

The competition is open to all Nord Anglia staff and pupils. We would like you to either take a photo or draw a picture of what Chinese New Year looks like in Hong Kong or any other city around the world. Alternatively, you could submit a photo or drawing of another festival that takes place wherever you are spending the holidays. Please submit your entries by taking a photo of it and adding it to the Padlet on the New Year’s Reunion page on the Global Library section on Global Campus Online along with your name and class. You can see Rebecca, Kelly and Judy introduce the competition in this video: https://vimeo.com/200122016

The girls hope to announce the winners of the competition and share a video of their interview by the end of February. If you have any questions, please contact david.robinson@nais.hk for more information.

GLOBAL CAMPUS: HONG KONG TO TANZANIA via COSTA RICA!

International connections have been in the air this week as Year 9 students prepare for their upcoming Global Campus Worldwide trip to Tanzania. To prepare for the trip, students have been spending Global Campus lessons practising Swahili, researching Tanzanian wildlife, history, geography and social issues. To help with this, many students have read a fantastic novel from the Global Library: A Girl Called Problem by American writer Katie Quirk. The novel, set in nineteen sixties Tanzania, tells the story of teenager Shida (whose name means problem) after her village is moved and modernised as a result of Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere’s post-independence socialist government. The novel is a real page turner as a mystery develops when malevolent forces try ruin the new village and prevent Shida gaining greater freedom than her socially-ostracised mother.

Year 9 were then given a thrilling chance to discuss the plot and themes of the novel, life in Tanzania and wider issues via a live video conference with Katie Quirk herself from her current home in Costa Rica. The students explored the themes and characterisation which bring the book to life and where Quirk took her inspirations from. Quirk lived in Tanzania for two years so she was able to discuss how Year 9 should best prepare for their trip as well as touch upon wider issues in Tanzanian society such as the amazing wildlife, gender inequality and polygamy, the political history and Tanzanian’s remarkable stability and success in comparison to much of the region. We also heard an amazing story about Quirk’s friendship with a local Tanzanian girl called Modesta who she befriended and then helped through school and college and now works with a media company in Tanzanian who promote positive public health messages.

The discussion included wider issues about great books to read, being a writer and ended up with Quirk's comments on President Elect Donald Trump’s election. The students excelled in the discussion and Quirk commented afterwards that the student’s questions were some of the best she has ever been asked.

We hope to share a video of the event with you soon and the book A Girl Called Problem can be found in the school library and is recommended to parents and students.

STARS OF THE WEEK – Teachers’ Choice

Another week and more successes to celebrate. Congratulations to the following students:

Year 1: Charlotte Tsai, Oryana Hilditch, Skye Letcher, Max Brynolf, Alba Alguacil

Year 2: Toby Foo, Oliver Southeren, Maya Fukada, Diana Xu, Caden Soong

Year 3: Cloris Zhao, Lisa Boschini, Jia Han Lai, Kristin Knowles, Yuri Takaku

Year 4: William Drud, Juanma Farias Flocco, William Graves, Jack Cooper, Poko Lau

Year 5: Martine Bratsberg, Archer Voon, Charlotte Li, Bronte Marner, Eugene Li

Year 6: Vashanna Hogervorst, Sherise Cheung, Vita Tang, Kimmy Kwok

HIGH COMMENDATION AWARDS – Teachers’ Choice

Year 7: Charlotte Knowles

Year 8: Jack Wirawan

Year 9: Annie Bai

Photos can be found here.

PRIMARY ASSEMBLY – Class 1A

Today we were entertained by a fantastic assembly from Year 1A. They roared into life entertaining us all about dinosaurs and singing a great song to round of a stellar performance. Mr Bishop then announced the winners of the inter house basketball competition. Key Stage 1 was won by Caernarfon and Key Stage 2 by Windsor, well done to both Houses.

See their smiley faces here.

SECONDARY ASSEMBLY

In the Secondary assembly, Mr Cross congratulated the Year 9 students after a successful options evening. He applauded their mature attitude and the way they had approached their teachers with sensible questions about the IGCSE course, the requirements, the course content and what their future paths and careers might be. Mr Kilgallon also congratulated our Spanish students for performing well in the Language Perfect online assessments. They came 1^st in Hong Kong and China, and ranked 3^rd among all Nord Anglia’s schools across the globe. Quite an achievement. Finally, highly commended certificates were awarded to Charlotte Knowles, Annie Bai and Jack Wirrawan.

Check out our Facebook to see some great photos here.

FEBRUARY LUNCH MENU

Just a little reminder that the February lunch menu has been posted onto the website and Firefly. Please send in your lunch forms ASAP. https://naishk.fireflycloud.asia/school-life/school-lunch

FACEBOOK

Make sure you don’t miss out on what’s happening in school! Check that you have changed your settings and selected the “turn on the notifications” from our posts.

KEY CONTACTS

Quick list guide of who to email for what:

Bus related - bus@nais.hk
ECAs - Tom.Ferguson@nais.hk
Homework related – Class Teacher (firstname.secondname@nais.hk)
Pastoral related - david.sheehan@nais.hk
School Lunches - katherine.chan@nais.hk
Admissions and Marketing related – admissions@nais.hk
General enquiry - receptionist@nais.hk
Absences - Class Teacher and receptionist@nais.hk if your child is sick or for medical reasons, and Sarah.Harley@nais.hk (Year 1-4), Christian.Bishop@nais.hk (Year 5-9) to request a leave of absence.