Parent Update - 6 May 2018

Parent Update - 6 May 2018

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

 

Dear Parents,

 

The English essayist, Joseph Addison said that “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” In other words, reading is indispensable for our wellbeing. Apart from stimulating our imagination, transporting us to other worlds and forcing us to think differently, reading also allows us to access information that we may not otherwise have known.

 

Reading is the key to every child’s success and continued development – that is why Book Week was such a powerful focus in all of our campuses last week. From author visits, to parent volunteers reading favourite stories, to fun assemblies with all of us dressing as favourite book characters, it has been wonderful to enjoy the power and pleasure of reading.

 

Read anything and everything with your children and get them to expand their horizons by reading lots of different types of writing with varied levels of difficulty. It is the best way to challenge and exercise their minds.

 

Good luck to our under – 14 Basketball teams who travelled to Shanghai this weekend for the Nord Anglia Education Regional Games, and to our pupils and staff representing the school this week at the M.I.T. Science Fair for NAE schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

Yesterday, we had a booth at the American Chamber’s Education Expo and I spokie about our STEAM projects with a couple of our students. It’s always good fun to showcase what we do in school and what makes us different from other schools.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

Best wishes,

 

Brian Cooklin.

Principal.

 

 

21 MAY

Teacher INSET – Children NOT at school

 

22 MAY

Public Holiday – School Closed

 

12 June

Auction of Promises Charity Event – Balmoral. More details to follow soon.

 

ADVENTURES AT MIT … If you haven't already been following, check out what our students have been up to during their week at MIT. #NAEMIT

 

 

SCROLL DOWN FOR TAI TAM AND SAI KUNG UPDATE

 

LAM TIN UPDATES

HEAD OF CAMPUS MESSAGE

 

Dear Parents,

 

After last week’s musical beginnings, this week’s focus was all things Literary. Monday’s whole school assembly led by Mr De Sousa focused on nouns, adjectives, verbs and nonsense words. The highlight was a short sketch written by volunteer pupils and improvised by ‘volunteer’ staff. Thank you to Mr Ferguson, Mr Cross and Miss Day for their starring roles. Mr De Sousa reinforced how important and enjoyable reading is and how everyone chooses different texts and genres to suit their interests.

 

It has been lovely to walk through the library this week and see so many parents reading their favourite books to groups of children. Sharing a love of reading across the school. This is our first whole school Book Week and we have celebrated across all three sites.

 

I do hope this becomes a regular fixture in the school calendar.

 

I wish you all a good weekend,

 

Sarah Harley.

Assistant Principal.

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

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.

 

14 MAY

IB Parents Evening: 5.30 - 7pm in The Hub

 

16 MAY

Annual PTA meeting on Wednesday May 16th at 6 PM

 

18 MAY

Year 9 and 10 Careers Day

 

21 MAY

Teacher INSET – Children NOT at school

 

22 MAY

Public Holiday – school closed

 

12 JUNE

Auction of Promises Charity Event – Balmoral

 

14 JUNE

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

 

 TIDY UP TIME LAPSE CHALLENGE UPDATE

 

The Tidy Up Time Lapse House Challenge is really gaining momentum. We’ve had 29 amazing entries so far from locations all over Hong Kong from Sai Kung to Lamma Island and even as far afield as Shenzhen, the Philippines and Malaysia.

 

The importance of this cause to reduce the plastic waste in our oceans was brought home by Henry Hallin Lovkist from 4D whose family found a sea turtle on Long Ke beach which sadly died possibly due to litter and pollution. Thanks to the Year 4 team for their class clean up on Cheung Chau.  

 

There’s still time for everyone to join in with the closing date for uploads of 31, May so please try and get out over the weekends ahead  If you can’t make time-lapse videos, remember normal videos or before and after photos are perfectly acceptable too. Here are the current scores. Click on the house name to access the Padlet page.

 

First Place: Sandringham  with 13 videos

Second Place Caernarfon  8 videos

Joint Third Place: Windsor  and Balmoral both with 4 videos

 

The full instructions and a safety reminder can be found on the relevant Firefly pages.

 

AND THE HOUSE BOOK QUIZ WINNERS ARE …

1^st Sandringham  11 points

2^nd Windsor            8 points

3^rd Caernarfon       6 points

4^th Balmoral           5 points

 

AUCTION OF PROMISES CHARITY EVENT – BALMORAL

Balmoral will be running the Auction of Promises again this year.  All monies this year will go to their charity, Changing Young Lives.  Last year, staff donated their time and expertise by contributing a promise to the parents and pupils. These included activities such as a rocket making lesson with Mr MacKinnon in the Science lab and, of course, the 'Principal for the Day' with Mr Cooklin. 

 

 

WRITE THE BOOKS YOU LOVE TO READ!

On Thursday 3^rd May 2018, we were lucky enough to have the successful Hong Kong based author, Jordan Rivet visit the school.

 

Jordan Rivet began writing travel pieces when she first moved to Hong Kong, but soon realised that she simply wanted to write the books she loved to read: Dystopian and Science Fiction. Jordan held a workshop for every KS3 class about reading and creative writing, which was thoroughly rewarding and enjoyable.

 

On the day, the students were given tips on how to start with a small idea and build on it. They were given guidance on building characters, setting and plot and how to focus on the small details in order to have a successful ‘big picture’.

 

Jordan emphasised how important free writing is and that you must think about what keeps you turning pages when you’re reading a book and to use that as inspiration. She explained that the goal with writing fiction is to make the reader feel like they are in your world, but that the challenge was to make them think about their own world in a new way; a very philosophical and poignant concept.

 

Everyone involved gained a lot from the workshop and engaged in a fascinating Q&A session at the end. The students created some exciting – and often frightening – dystopian worlds, with thanks to Jordan’s advice to ‘not be afraid of a blank page’!

 

We hope students enjoy the Dystopian Fiction unit in Year 9 and are inspired to read Jordan Rivet’s novels, and of course,  literature in general!

 

IB PARENTS EVENING

14 May, 5.30 - 7pm in The Hub.

 

We are delighted to invite you to another IB parents’ evening for an update on this exciting phase in the IB Diploma implementation at NAIS HK.

 

As shared in the last meeting, we are on schedule with our planning and our IB appointed consultant, Mr. Chris Taylor has been working with us since March and will be coming to our school at the end of June for a consultation visit.

  

   

SUMMER PERFORMING ARTS WITH JUILLIARD | STRINGS, SHANGHAI 2018

The application deadline is fast approaching so don’t miss your chance to attend this fantasic programme.

 

STARS OF THE WEEK – MANDARIN

Year 1: Oscar Li, Andy Wang, Haruka Shiratori, Eliza Taylor, Alfie Finch

Year 2: Connor Hirst, Yuji Takaku, Ari Bogard, Sean Chiu, Cisy Li

Year 3: Aanav Shankardass, Terry Ye, Eva Hau, Dimitris Vallas, Carson Wong

Year 4: Paris Yung, Henry Zarin, Jessica Mackley, Lawrence Lee, Claire Cheng

Year 5: Rory Wallwork, Taisiya Bogucharskaya, Yash Madnani, Ilaria Heasman, Dylan Shim

Year 6: Rufus Goggins, Jude Wong, Mary Zhang, Ananya Rajakumar, Mancy Mok

 

HIGH COMMENDATIONS – MANDARIN

Year 7: Jorge Abad Verhagen, Isabelle Farran

Year 8: Ronan Brown

Year 9: Celina Ji

Year 10: Luciano Mattoli, Hannah Hawkins

 

 

TAI TAM UPDATES

Message from the Deputy Head of School

 

Dear Parents,

 

What a wonderful celebration of books we have had this week!  It has been great to see so many of you who have been able to give up time to come and read a story in class - the children have loved it and have been so excited for you to come and share your favourite books with us. The joy of reading to your child never goes away; it is such a precious time for us as parents to share those wonderful adventures that happen between the pages. Even when your child can read their own story it is just as important to keep up those special reading times as they get older.

 

During our Book Week, we have had daily challenges with all teachers sticking a ‘clue’ on their door for our book detective trail.  The logic and understanding of the children in guessing the stories has been brilliant and they have impressed me with their conclusions and explanations. 

 

Friday was the highlight of my week though, with the superb costumes from both adults and children.  Thank you to all the parents who were able to join us to experience Reception sharing their stories. It can be frustrating for many of us when we are asked repeatedly to read the same story over and over again but this is such a crucial part of children’s language development and for them to be able to use these ideas in their writing.

 

Next week we have our ‘Books and Buns’ event on Friday which is to raise money for our Sandringham and Windsor charities.  Children who would like to bake some cakes to sell from these houses please do fill in the form and contact Mr Reid and Miss Blackwood.  All children will then be able to buy a cake for $10 on Friday 11^th May.  Mr Reid and Miss Blackwood will also be coming over to judge the winning entry.

 

Another day to put in the diary is for our End of Year Celebrations, more details will follow soon but Nursery celebrations will take place on Wednesday, 20 June and Reception and Year 1 will take place on Friday, 22 June.  We hope you can join us for this special event.

 

Summer has finally arrived, stay cool and enjoy your weekend.

 

Have a wonderful weekend.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mrs. Katie Malone.

Deputy Head of School.

 

NOTICES

 

11 MAY

Books and Buns House Charity event (details to be sent our separately)

 

18 MAY

Maths Workshop 1:00pm and Afternoon Celebration 1:45 – 2:30pm.  Our Maths workshop will be explaining about how we teach Maths through play followed by a celebration afternnon.  Please email Cora.Tang@nais.hk to let her know if you can come.

 

21 MAY

Teacher INSET – Children NOT at school

 

22 MAY

Public Holiday – School Closed

 

31 MAY

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

 

7 JUNE

Starfish and Turtles Assembly at 10:00.  Class 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

 

20 JUNE

Nursery End of Year Celebration – parents invited

 

21 JUNE

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

 

22 JUNE

Reception and Year 1 End of Year Celebration – parents invited

 

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

Nursery: Connor Wong
Lower Kindergarten: Adrianna Braga
Upper Kindergarten: Timothy Goh

 

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,

 

We hope you enjoyed celebrating reading with us during our ‘Book Week’, this week. The children started the week with a book quiz in assembly, then they visited the local library, enjoyed parent volunteers reading in class and had a great time dressing as their favourite characters on Friday. Reading is such an essential life-long skill and fostering a love of this is one of our key aims in school.

 

Next week, we will extend our celebration with a yearly charity favourite: our House ‘Books and Buns’ event. In Sai Kung, we will hold this event next Friday. You will have received details in a letter from our Heads of House for Sandringham and Windsor. Mr Reid and Miss Blackwood will be over visiting us on Friday to judge the competition and read to all the children. It’s a fun event and raises money for charity so please try to get involved and remember to send your child to school next Friday with 10 HKD if they want to buy a ‘bun’!

 

As always, the children have been busy with their learning and are developing their skills and abilities every day. I really enjoyed seeing the Snow White work in Mandarin, tasting the Year 1’s stone age bread and dodging out of the way as the children have refined their catching and throwing skills in PE. It’s a busy, busy time.

 

I will see some of you next week for our Seahorses and Starfish class assembly and I hope to see many more of you on the 18^th for our celebration afternoon.

 

 

Enjoy the weekend.

 

Kind regards,

 

Naima Charlier.

Head of School.

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

 

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.

 

 

11 MAY

Seahorses and Starfish Class Assembly 9.00am

Books and Buns House Charity event (details to be sent our separately)

 

18 MAY

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

 

21 MAY

Teacher INSET – Children NOT at school

 

22 MAY

Public Holiday – school closed

 

1 JUNE
Bumblebees and Caterpillars Class Assembly 9.00am

 

21 JUNE

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

Reception and Year 1 End of Year Celebration: 9:00am – parents invited

 

22 JUNE

Nursery End of Year Picnic: 9:00-10:00am – parents invited

 

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

Nursery: Cruz Adams, Daniela Lang
Lower Kindergarten: Seren Hayman, Gary Chen, Matthen Downs, Elisabeth Bostam
Upper Kindergarten: Samson Jadav

 

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.