Parent Update - 22 April 2018

Parent Update - 22 April 2018

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents,

Welcome back after the holidays and I hope you and your family enjoyed the break together in whatever part of the world you were.  Certainly my wife and I had an amazing time visiting India.

 

A special welcome to all the new families who joined us at all three campuses.  It was a pleasure to meet some of you and I look forward to seeing all of you in the coming months.

 

Good luck to our Year 10 students who have been sitting their “mock” IGCSE exams and I wish them well for the best possible results.

 

Thank you for all your support for our “Wear Blue Day” to help raise awareness of Autism.  I will tell you of the final total raised for the Autism Partnership but what was more important was to see children talking about the condition and understanding more.

 

Year 2 went to the Zen organic farm and we were privileged to have Eloise Fisher, an acclaimed clarinetist and Juilliard alumnus, performing in the school and running workshops last Thursday. It is such an inspirational experience for our pupils to hear such a high-level performer personally in the school.

 

Of course, I enjoyed being quizmaster at the PTA Quiz Night which is always good fun. Ever since I appeared on BBC’s “Mastermind” many years ago, being a quizmaster has become my role!

 

On Friday Class 3D led a wonderful assembly and Audrey Du, 2E, was Principal for the Day.  Every year for one day, a different pupil or pupils has taken over from me for a day.  It was great to see Audrey in action and taking her role so seriously! You can see what she has to say about her experience here.

 

Yesterday I spoke at the SCMP Kindergarten Fair at the Marriott Hotel. The event was a very well attended with lots of families stopping by to learn more about our school. As places in our schools are filling up fast, if you know of anyone who has children who will be aged 3 and above by August, please encourage them to apply.

 

Enjoy your Sunday.

 

Best wishes,

 

Mr Brian Cooklin

Principal

 

NAKED LUNCH – Every Friday this term!

1 MAY

Public Holiday – school closed

12 MAY

4th ANNUAL NAIS PTA GALA DINNER – 7PM

 

SCROLL DOWN FOR TAI TAM AND SAI KUNG UPDATE

 

LAM TIN UPDATES

UPCOMING EVENTS

24-27 April

Year 4 Residential

 

26 APRIL

PTA MAHJONG NIGHT 7:00-9:00pm.

Click here to secure your space.

 

27 MAY

5B Class Assembly

 

30 APRIL

Book Week

Year 9 Nature Conservancy Trip

 

1 MAY

Public Holiday – school closed

 

3 MAY

Year 10 Parents Evening

 

4 MAY

Dress up as a book character day

 

10 MAY

BOOKS AND BUNS FUNDRAISER RETURNS

This year Sandringham and Windsor will be battling it out in this popular event to raise money for charity.

More information to follow shortly.

 

16 MAY

Annual PTA meeting on Wednesday May 16th at 6 PM

 

SAVE THE DATE - 18 MAY

Year 9 and 10 Careers Day

 

14 JUNE

Summer Concert – City Hall. Doors open 2pm, concert start time: 2.15pm.

 

MAY LUNCH MENU

Click here to see May’s tasty menu.

 

TIDY UP TIME LAPSE CHALLENGE UPDATE

We are pleased to report that over the holidays all four houses have made a start on our Tidy Up Time Lapse Challenge House Competition. The results are as follows:

 

Balmoral 1 Thanks to Luca in Year 7.

Windsor 1 : Thanks to Jenni in Year 8 for her video from Daimeisa Beach in Shenzhen.

Caernarfon 2 : Thanks to Mr Day for two great videos from Penang.

Sandringham 4: Thanks to Ryan in Year 7 and Natasha in year 1 (who has made 3 videos!).

 

There’s still six weeks to go to get your videos made so please start making plans to get to the beach and tidy up Hong Kong and help us reach the Global Goals on Sustainable Cities and Responsible Consumption.

You may join in another community beach clean-up event to take part in this competition. The following organisations may be useful contacts to join a public event.

Hong Kong Clean Up

The Nature Conservancy

 

The winning house will be announced in our 'Week Without Waste' between June 19th and 22nd. 

 

JUILLIARD ARTIST VISIT – ELOISE FISHER

We were delighted to have acclaimed clarinetist Eloise Fisher in school on Thursday this week to both perform for and work with our students. You can read more about Eloise here.

  

During her visit, Eloise performed for the whole school, playing a wide variety of pieces to demonstrate the versatility of the instrument and exploring some unusual sounds.  Students were transfixed throughout the performance and asked thoughtful questions about her career as a musician and her journey on the clarinet!

 

Eloise also led a 1:1 and group workshops  and at lunch time, a group of these students were able to have a chance to chat informally with Eloise in a fascinating discussion that ranged from all things musical through to how imagination has the power to change the world!

 

When reflecting on the visit, students from years 4 and 5 made the following comments:

Kiara Tagliente - 5A

‘I really enjoyed listening to the clarinet and I learned that the clarinet can make so many different sounds – I thought it could only make one!  I also learned that Bach didn’t write clarinet music because he didn’t know that they were invented. I thought it was because he didn’t like the clarinet.  Now I have learned many new things because of one clarinet!’

 

Ardi Tse – 4B

‘Eloise Fisher is my favourite Juilliard Artist for far because the voice from her clarinet is amazing. Her clarinet looks fresh and new so it could make a very beautiful sound.  She also played a lot of pieces and we got to ask a lot of questions based on our curiosity.  The sound is like playing a flute while someone else is singing into a microphone.’

 

Lucas Vandeweghe – 5A

‘I really enjoyed Eloise Fisher’s performance because I learned a lot about the clarinet and that it can make crazy sounds.  It was AWESOME!’

 

SUMMER PERFORMING ARTS WITH JUILLIARD

Registration for the Summer Arts Programmes 2018 is now open!  This year there are three available locations with a vocal programme running in Florida, a String programme in Shanghai and the flagship programme in Geneva which caters for dance, music and drama.

 

These programmes cater for a wide ability range and Nord Anglia students can enjoy a 15% discount. 

 

For more information and to contact our dedicated Summer Arts team for further details, please click here.

 

ASK THE ARTIST IS BACK!

We a thrilled that another opportunity has been arranged to ask questions of a professional working in the field of Performing Arts.   Following the success of the choreographer and dancer Reilly O’Flynn, we now have Juilliard alumna and multiple Grammy winning mezzo-soprano, Isabel Leonard who will be fielding questions from students across Nord Anglia through the Global Campus.

 

To read Isabel’s biography and listen to and watch her perform, please go to globalcampus.nae.school and explore the Juilliard link with your children who can then post questions on the wall.  You can ask her anything that you’re curious about, including questions about her practice routines and vocal exercises, motivation or inspiration, experiences performing on the world’s leading operatic stages, strategies for embodying different characters (and genders!), other the types of music she performs, her involvement with charities and foundations, or other curiosities that come to mind!

 

For a taster of her work, please enjoy this link to Sesame Street!

 

SUPER AUDREY SOARS IN THE GLOBAL CAMPUS LEGO CHALLENGE

The Global Campus has had a fantastic response to the Spring Term Lego Challenge ‘Design a Secret Hideout for a Superhero’ and it’s been incredibly difficult to select winners given the high standard of the entries. However, tough decisions have been made and we’re excited to announce that our own Audrey Marwood in Year 4 is among the 12 winners selected.

 

Audrey described her green creation as follows “My hideout belongs to Water Girl and Nature Boy. It’s special thing is the zip line and windmill.” If you’ve got a spare moment, please have a look through the amazing array of Lego Challenge entries from around the world which, can be found here.

 

We are pleased to announce the theme of the next Lego Challenge is combining STEAM and the Global Goals. This project aims to further develop students’ creativity and collaborative skills. We are asking that students work collaboratively to build a sustainable city. So that students across Nord Anglia can see each other’s solutions, please submit all Lego Challenge projects on GC Online by Friday, 25^h May 2018.

 

 

WEEK – TEACHER’S CHOICE

Year 1: Elsa Liu, Harry Thorell, Don Sun, Bethany Chow, Charlotte Harward

Year 2: Sebastian Macdonald, Lauren Dunlop, Sienna Cole, Ari Bogard, Summer Shan

Year 3: Adam Chan, Annette Cheung, Esther Millici, Charlie Burns, Harry Kilmartin

Year 4: Imogen Cole, Daniella Swanepoel,Erin Tohill, Yan Chang, Elina Lee

Year 5: John Ding, Lily  Waite, Roy Chi, Tahliah Ashford-Smith, Elena Carazzai

Year 6: Kyle Chan, Jude Wong, Calvin Te, Coco Bian, Johanna Torka

 

HIGH COMMENDATIONS – TEACHER’S CHOICE

Year 7: Philine Kotanko, Tommy Leung

Year 8: Allen Yang

Year 9: Emmylin Adler

Year 10: John Zhao

 

SECONDARY ASSEMBLY

In Assembly on Friday, we discussed what makes us all different and how we can celebrate these differences; age - birthday parties, talents - performances/exhibitions, nationalities - national days etc.

 

We then reflected on Autism Awareness Day and how this difference for some people is something that we can all embrace and recognise even though it is difficult to see, but something people around us are likely to be challenged by.

 

Students were then asked to consider what they have done to be different to those around them, to try and be the best they can be. Historical figures such as Rosa Parks, Picasso and Galileo Galilei would looked at as they had a huge impact on the world for daring to be different.

 

We then looked at what it is that is preventing us from being different, from being awesome! Fear of getting answers wrong or of failing? Fear of our friends reaction? Thinking that working hard is not cool.

 

At the close students were challenged to leave their fear at the start of a new term in their pursuit of daring to be different and daring to be awesome!

 

 

TAI TAM UPDATES

Message from the Deputy Head of School

 

Dear Parents,

 

Welcome back!  I hope you all had a fabulous Easter break.  It was lovely to have all the children back smiling and saying good morning to me bursting to tell me all about their holidays.

 

Our new topic in the EYFS ‘Tell us a story’ has started in Nursery with a familiar tale – The Gruffalo. I look forward to watching the puppet shows with the children retelling the story over the next week.  Reception children have been stomping with dinosaurs and into the magical castle world with all the characters that involves. Whilst Year 1 children are starting their journey through the Stone Age.  It is gearing up to be another exciting term full of wonder and learning.

 

Thank you to all of you for supporting Autism Awareness day by wearing blue on Wednesday and donating $10.  We are all special and unique and it is important for children to also understand this and develop an understanding of those whose brains work a little bit differently.  Here is a short clip which helps to explain a little more about Autism.

 

We have many events planned for this term including EYFS parents evening next week and a Maths Workshop and Celebration afternoon in a few weeks.  I do hope to see many of you there.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mrs. Katie Malone.

Deputy Head of School.

 

  

NOTICES

24 APRIL

EYFS Parent Consultation Evening from 3:00 – 6:00pm. Please make sure you have signed up for a time via Firefly.

 

26 APRIL

PTA MAHJONG NIGHT @Lam Tin 7:00-9:00pm

 

30 APRIL

Book Week – parent volunteers needed, if you are available we would love you to come and read a story to your child’s class.

 

1 MAY

Public Holiday – school closed

 

4 MAY

Dress up as a book character day.

 

10 MAY

Starfish and Turtles Assembly at 10:00.  Class parents are warmly invited.

 

12 MAY

PTA Gala Dinner – Save the date.

 

18 MAY

Maths Workshop 1:00 and Afternoon Celebration 1:45 – 2:30.  Our Maths workshop will be explaining about how we teach Maths through play followed by a celebration afternnon. 

 

21 MAY

Teacher INSET – Children NOT at school

 

31 MAY

Nursery Assembly at 10:00.  Nursery parents are warmly invited.

 

13 JUNE

Nursery and Reception Curriculum evening 6:00 – 7:30pm. 

 

14 JUNE

Year 1 into Year 2 Curriculum evening in our Lam Tin campus 6:30 – 8:00pm

 

21 JUNE

Year 1 Curriculum evening in our Lam Tin campus 6:30 – 8:00pm

 

STARS OF THE WEEK – Class Teachers
Congratulations! You should feel very proud of your achievements.

Nursery: Alice Cassidy
Lower Kindergarten: Oscar Brodie
Upper Kindergarten: Gabriel Lun

 

BLOGS

Please continue to check the blogs for weekly information about what your child has been learning in school.

 

NO NUTS
We are a ‘nut free school’ as we have several children with severe nut allergies.  This includes peanuts and tree nuts. Please remember this when packing your child’s snack and lunch. We cannot allow nut/nut products of any kind in the building.  For a snack, we suggest a small piece of fruit or bread.

 

SAI KUNG UPDATES

Message from the Head of School

Dear Parents,

 

Welcome back everybody! And a special welcome to all our new families. We are really pleased that you have joined our Sai Kung NAIPS family and we are looking forward to getting to know you all. The children have already integrated themselves beautifully, made friends and are all set to join in with our learning journey.

The children have jumped straight back into the busy life of our school and their smiles, laughter and general antics have certainly brightened all the staff. We held our EYFS parents evening on Wednesday which was a great chance to talk through the progress and attainment of each pupil. We also really appreciated all the parents who added observations to Tapestry over the holidays. It was wonderful to be able to see entries about how the children have extended their learning with their families over the break.

 

Our Angelfish have also been very busy, with two new children to join their class they have been really excited to show off their classroom and routines to their new friends. They have also started the Summer term with some amazing writing, which I was lucky enough to read some of.

 

All the children are making so much progress (and have grown so much!) since we started, it’s hard to believe that there is only one term left. We have a lot planned into it and we are looking forward to sharing the exciting learning with you. New curriculum information will go home shortly and please keep following your child’s blog so you can see what they are up to.

 

We will have another Celebration Afternoon in a few weeks and hopefully, many of you will make it.

 

Thank you to everyone who supported our ‘Autism Awareness’ Day. It was a really important occasion and the children enjoyed learning about how special and different everyone is, especially those people who have brains that work a bit differently. The message is really powerful and important. For those of you interested, there is a wonderful video which explains this really well here.

 

Kind regards,

Naima Charlier.

Head of School.

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

23 APRIL

MIT Week – please send in junk modelling

 

24 APRIL

Parents of children Transitioning to Lam Tin coffee morning and info session – 8:45am- 9:30am

 

26 APRIL

PTA MAHJONG NIGHT @Lam Tin 7:00-9:00pm

 

30 APRIL

Book Week

 

1 MAY

Public Holiday – school closed

 

4 MAY

Dress up as a book character day

 

11 MAY

Seahorses and Starfish assembly

 

12 MAY

PTA Gala Dinner – Save the date

 

18 MAY

How we teach Maths through Play Parent information session and celebration afternoon – 1pm

 

1 JUNE
Bumblebees and Caterpillars assembly

 

Curriculum Overviews - You can find detailed information about the curriculum for the coming term on our Firefly pages. Please do take a look and ask your teacher if you have any questions.

 

Blogs – please continue to check the blogs for weekly information about what your child has been learning in school. There is also a section of general photos from Sai Kung - you can find this in the “Welcome to Sai Kung” section of Firefly.