24 Nov 2017

Newsletter 14/2017-18

Quarry Bay School’s latest newsletter is available to read now. Find out the latest news around the school and upcoming events.

 Principal’s Comments
 Save The Children’s Christmas Jumper Day
 QBS Hour of Code
 Club News
 The 4th International Zhou Youguang Cup Chinese Talent Show
  PTA News

Principal’s Comments

Key dates for Term 1

Please click here

Key dates for next week:

  • Wednesday the 29th of November – Immunisations for Year 6
  • Friday the 1st of December – Christmas Fayre

It has certainly been a busy week at QBS. We have had photographs taken of all our sporting, expressive arts and student voice groups, pizza lunches and hosted the Hong Kong/Taiwan/South China Professional Development teachers’ network group. In the midst of all this ‘busyness’, it has been business as usual in the classrooms where the students have been productive and focussed on their learning.

Everyone enjoyed the 4S and 4T class assembly on Friday. The students shared their learning with energy and enthusiasm. It was a pleasure to watch them. The students were particularly excited to be given the opportunity to share their recent learning about animal adaptations with parents after the assembly. Thank you to the Year 4 parents for supporting the students and being involved with life at school.

Next week I will be involved in the annual ESF teacher recruitment interviews. This recruitment process takes place each year and Principals from across the ESF are involved in the selection of teaching staff for the coming academic year. I will be out of school on teacher interview panels on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Ms Yee (Vice Principal) will be Acting Principal on Monday and Tuesday. Mr Dewey (Vice Principal) will be Acting Principal on Wednesday and Friday. Please do not hesitate to contact Ms Yee or Mr Dewey if you need assistance.

Finally, I hope to see many families next Friday night at the QBS Christmas Fayre. The PTA members are working very hard to plan and organise a lovely community event. Please support our school and its hardworking PTA by joining the celebrations next Friday evening. It will be lots of fun for everyone.

For your information, on Saturday Hau Yuen Path will be closed to traffic due to the CIS Fair. No vehicles will be able to access the street between 8am and 6pm on Saturday the 24th of November.

Regards,

MinaD2

Save The Children’s Christmas Jumper Day

Dear Parents,

Student Voice has an announcement about an exciting upcoming charity event.

On Friday 15th December QBS will be taking part in Save The Children’s Christmas Jumper Day. QBS students and staff will be wearing their crazy Christmas jumpers to school to support this great charity. Donations of $20 or more will help children like us around the world. Find out more here!

Jumpers can be homemade or shop bought. Get creative!

Thank you!

QBS Hour of Code

“Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer
because it teaches you how to think.”
— STEVE JOBS, THE LOST INTERVIEW

It is now widely recognised that learning to code helps students develop important problem solving and thinking skills which can be applied to other aspects of their lives. In the past, coding or programming involved entering vast amounts of code and was quite laborious for students. Nowadays, several free apps and flash based web sites have been developed which make coding visual and fun allowing almost all students to participate creatively and become an inventor themselves.

We would like to invite all students to take part in a world wide event the “Hour of Code” during the week beginning 01.12.17 – 07.12.17. All year groups will be given an orientation to the Hour of Code during an ICT lesson with Mr Purton during the week and assigned a particular course. Links to the activities will be placed on the front page of Qoodle and a sticker with log in details stuck in student diaries. We would encourage students to continue these activities at home.

Further information about the world wide event “Hour of Code” can be found at https://hourofcode.com/us

 

Club News

QBS Clubs Term 1

Term 1 QBS Academic Clubs will finish the 17th November and the QBS Sports Clubs will finish 24th November.

Here are some clubs that will run longer than the Term 1 dates

  • Last day of Chinese Dance 4th Dec
  • Last day of Chinese Orchestra 28th Nov
  • Last day of Drama 7th Dec
  • Last day of Dance club 8th Dec
  • Last day of Orchestra 6th Dec
  • Last Day of Lego 28th Nov
  • Last day of Rugby 12th Dec

Drama, Dance and Orchestra club have a technical run through on Monday 11th December after school. This is 2:45- 3:45 pm
Also the children need to be back in school on Wednesday 13th December for 5pm for the 6pm Panto.

QBS Clubs Term 2

It is the time of year to start thinking about QBS Term 2 clubs. Please click here for all the information needed on how to register.

The 4th International Zhou Youguang Cup Chinese Talent Show ( Hong Kong), 2018

To better promote Chinese Culture and to strengthen Chinese education amongst Hong Kong’s youngsters, Quarry Bay School together with other schools are going to hold the 4th Zhou Youguang Cup Chinese Talent Show in April, 2018 at 6 ESF primary schools and Australian International School.

We also aim to use this event to showcase young Chinese learners’ talent and to offer them a platform for communication. Here are some basic information of the Chinese Talent Show:

A snapshot: Please click here to watch a video about last year’s Chinese Talent Show.

Participants: Students of 4-11 years old, in kindergarten, primary or secondary schools

Competition groups:

  • Chinese Native Speakers – both parents are of Chinese origin, and using Chinese as her/his first
    language.
  • Non Chinese Native Speakers – with one or two non-background parents, or using other languages
    as first language despite the fact that parents are of Chinese origin.

Use of Language:
Putonghua is the only accepted language in speech items. Both simplified and traditional Chinese characters are accepted in writing items.

Key Regulaions:

  • Every participant should select competition items matching their age as well as their year level ( For Quarry Bay School students, Year 1 students aged 5 will be allocated in Kindergarten group, Year 1 students aged 6 will be allocated in Lower Primary group; Year 2 /3 students will be allocated in Lower Primary group; Year 4/5 will be allocated in Middle Primary Group and Year 6 students will be allocated in Upper Primary Group)
  • Every participant can choose no more than three competition items that match their age group.

Prizes:

  • Any participants whose total score from three competition items is the highest will be awarded the title of “champion”;
  • Champions will get a certificate of award and a special cup; they will also be qualified to enter the national final;
  • Each item from each group will have one first prize, one second prize and one third prize (a certificate will be awarded); additionally, there will be several awards of excellence (a certificate will be given to the winners).
  • One or two extraordinary participants from this year’s event will be chosen to be the “Chinese Culture Ambassador”; they will become the image ambassador showing up on Hong Kong region’s poster for the year.

Please click here for detailed information.

Registration Period: 25th November 2017 – 26th January 2018

Registration Methods and Payment:

Online Registration:

A cross cheque collected by School office:

  • The cheque is made payable to: HONG KONG ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF PINYIN QUALITY EDUCATION (PYQE) ;
  • Please write down your child’s name and competition items at the back of the cheque ( cash is not acceptable).

PTA News

UPCOMING EVENTS

PIZZA LUNCH (Lower School and Upper School)

Thank you to all students and our parent volunteers for participating. We apologise to those students who received their pizza late due to a delay in delivery from our caterer. We work towards improving the arrival time of the pizzas in future.


FRIDAY, 1ST DECEMBER 2017 : “CHRISTMAS FAYRE”

Our biggest, festive and fun event of the year is coming up soon and preparations are underway.

We are pleased to inform you that we have a large number of Commercial Vendors who will be selling a large variety of gifts and seasonal products this year.

Event Coupons

All food and drinks stalls (except Hot Dog and Crepe stalls) and games stalls will operate using coupons only. So if you have not yet ordered your coupons in advance – please do so by submitting your coupon order form to the PTA office before Wednesday, 29 November 2017. Click here for Coupon Order Form.

Preparations are underway with our INTERNATIONAL FOOD STALLS. This is your last chance to sign up to support any one of the below stalls. In the past, we encourage parents to group together and run their food stalls, selling food specialities from their countries.

  • Korean
  • Japanese
  • Indian
  • Chinese
  • Malaysian
  • Filipino
  • Italian
  • French

So if you would like to head your food stall please contact us on ptaevents@qbs.edu.hk or mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk asap.

BAKE STALL: Are you a good baker? If yes, register to bake for our bake stall now at: mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk.

TOMBOLA: Are you interested in operating the booth? Or making a contribution? Or donating an item (new items only please)? If yes, please let us know by email at: mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk, or you may bring them directly to us at the PTA Office.

2ND HAND BOOKS (in useable condition): Please drop off items in drop boxes outside the PTA Office.

WHITE ELEPHANT STALL (items donated are to be in useable conditions): Please drop off items in drop boxes outside the PTA Office. If you would like to help to run the stall – please let us know at: mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk.

PARENT VOLUNTEERS – CHRISTMAS FAYRE:
We will require support and assistance of parents to make this event a success, as in past years. So if you would like to support or help in any way, please let us know immediately by email at: mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk or click here to download Xmas Parent Volunteer Form

PARENT VOLUNTEERS – GIFT HAMPER WRAPPING
(will be done on 29th November 2017 at 9:45am – outside the PTA Office):
We request help from parent volunteers who would like to help in wrapping the Class Hampers. Please email us at mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk if you are interested asap.

DONATION CONTRIBUTIONS
If you would like to contribute with a donation (by cheque) towards the event, please download the Donation Form here. Please complete and send it into the PTA office. All donations above $100 are subject to tax exemption for which a receipt will be issued.
[ALL proceeds raised at PTA events will be given as donation to school to enhance learning facilities for the betterment and benefit of all the students to make a difference! ]


PTA SCHOOL BUS SERVICE

All Term 2 cheques have been banked in this week. [All returned cheques are subject to $100 surcharge.]


PTA SHOP

The PTA is pleased to announce Ms Amy Tsoi as our Shop Supervisor. She will be available to serve your shopping requirements or queries during shop operating hours. Please do not hesitate to contact Amy directly on ptashop@qbs.edu.hk for any shop queries you may have. Amy will be happy to assist.

  • Uniform transition update
    As per our previous notification, the current uniform design is in the process of being phased-out in the transition to the new ESF uniform. All outerwear designs are currently undergoing a review process and we are therefore unable to confirm the actual date of availability, which means that there are uniform items which are currently out of stock. (Click here for the out of stock item list.)
    As a temporary measure you may opt to purchase, externally, a similar item (i.e. design and colour) to the uniform for your child to wear until stocks arrive.
  • Winter uniform

November will be transition month for uniforms. Students can opt to either wear summer or winter uniforms. A combination or mixture of both is not allowed.
With effect from 1st December, all students are required to wear winter uniform only.


Feedback or Suggestions

If you have any feedback or suggestions you would like to make for our events or services provided, please email them directly to: ptasuggestions@qbs.edu.hk. Your email will be received directly by our Chairman, who will reply to you at the earliest available moment.

HELP US – IN OUR DRIVE FOR A GREENER ENVIRONMENT

We request all parents to support a greener environment by BYOB “bring your own bag” when you come to purchase items from the shop.

[With immediate effect the PTA Shop will no longer provide any shopping bags].

Please contact us on 2566 4242 (ask to transfer to PTA), or 2887 1004 for further queries, or by email to pta@qbs.edu.hk, during operation hours.

“Click here for PTA Office and Shop Operation”