13 May 2016

Newsletter 33/2015-16

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
 Important Safety Message
 Parents as Partners Coffee Morning
 QBS Aquathon Team
 Expressive Arts News – Music celebration concert
 Sharing for a Cause
 Summer Basketball Program
 PTA News

Principal’s Comments

Important dates for your attention:

  • Please click here for all the key dates in Term 3 at QBS.
  • Wednesday the 18th of May at 6.00pm – South Island School MYP Presentation (QBS Hall)

QBS Parents – South Island School MYP Presentation (Wednesday the 18th of May at 6.00pm, QBS Hall)
In a recent newsletter there was a message from Mr Graham Silverthorne, Principal at South Island School about the implementation of the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Program (MYP). Please click here to read this message. QBS parents are invited to attend a presentation about the Middle Years Program (MYP) at South Island School (SIS). Staff from SIS will present the curriculum changes and answer questions. Parents are encouraged to attend so that they are informed about this curriculum change for Years 7/8/9 at SIS. Please register your attendance by clicking here. The presentation will be held in the QBS Hall at 6.00pm on Wednesday the 18th of May.

Celebration of Learning Day – Friday 10th June 2016

In the near future we will be inviting parents to the Celebration of Learning Day at QBS, which will take place on Friday the 10th of June. This is an important day in our school calendar where your child will guide you through a range of learning engagements to showcase his or her progress this year. In the classrooms there will be a selection of activities which promote and celebrate the learning of the children. The event is entirely student led and is very enjoyable for parents and students. It is an expectation that all students participate in the student led Celebration of Learning Day.

On the day, lessons as usual will not take place. Instead, students and parents should attend school for one of five hour-long sessions across the day. The sessions can be booked on the Gateway, with bookings opening on Thursday the 26th May at 12pm, and closing on Monday the 6th June at 8:30am. The sessions will take place at the following times: 8:15-9:15, 9:30-10:30, 10:50-11:50, 12:00-13:00, 13:40-14:40.

Areas of the curriculum taught by specialist teachers will also be part of the day with prompts for sharing and examples of student learning available. Specialist teachers will be available at the following locations and you are welcome to drop in to see the specialists at any point in the day, no appointments are needed.

  • Physical Education: Gym – Y1 and 2, Outdoor Areas – Y3, 4, 5 and 6
  • Mandarin: Hall
  • Expressive Arts: Expressive Arts Rooms
  • Information Technology: IT Suite (Y1,2,3) and classrooms (Y4, 5, 6)

The Learning Centre will also be open on the day to allow summer book borrowing to take place for the Year 1 and Year 2 students. Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will borrow for summer at a later date.

On the day, students should wear their PE kit so they can share some of their PE learning experiences.

We look forward to welcoming you into school on 10th June. Please watch for Gateway booking details in the near future.

Five Simple Steps to a Healthy Family Media Diet

You may find this link of interest. It provides parents with simple steps to a balanced approach to media in the family. Please click here to read more.

Regards,

MinaD2

Important Safety Message

Some students are being left unsupervised in the playground after school finishes. Students are not permitted to wander around the school or playground after school finishes.

The children must stay with the adult who is supervising them.

Sometimes students are unsupervised for up to one and a half hours after school. This is extremely concerning as students are at risk of accidents. There is no playground supervision of children by staff after school finishes.

Please do not leave your child in the playground without supervision after school. Students waiting for clubs must have a supervising adult with them. These students need to be actively supervised by an adult (parent, grandparent, driver or helper).

The adult who is supervising the child must know the child’s whereabouts at all times.

School cannot sanction the playing of football, down ball or the use school sports equipment after school.

If your child does not participate in any after school activity they are to go home immediately after the end of the school day. Only children in clubs should remain after school and this is going to be monitored in the future. Parents will be contacted if unsupervised children are left at school or supervision is not adequate.

This is for the safety and well being of your children.

Parents as Partners Coffee Morning

New Class, New Year Group Next Year: How Can I Support my Child?

As the weeks go by this term, our students become excited about moving up to their new year group in August, with a different teacher and a chance to make new friends. It is an exciting time full of new opportunities. It can also be a little unsettling and can make some children feel insecure and anxious. How can you help prepare your child to feel positive, organised and ready for their next step?

Come along to our Coffee Morning to discuss how you can best support your child through this transition. There will be a short presentation and also a chance to chat with other parents about strategies which they have used and had success with.

Tuesday 24th May 2016, 8.30 to 9.30 am in the Amphitheatre, Learning Centre

QBS Aquathon Team

We were very proud of our Aquathon Teams who participated in an inter-school event hosted by Kellet Kowloon. All team members were tasked with completing a 250m swim followed by a 1km run. Please see a photo of the team below.

Sport

Expressive Arts News – Music celebration concert

To celebrate the hard work of the music clubs, QBS are proud to announce a Music Celebration Concert on Friday 17th June at 9:00am in the school hall. The concert will consist of children from a wide variety of music clubs such as: Junior choir, Recorder club, Chinese drumming club, Orchestra, Rock band and Senior choir.

The children will then have the opportunity to perform to the rest of the school in the assembly later that day. All the children are looking forward to the concert and have been working hard on their performance pieces. Further details around clothing for the performance will be emailed at a later date.

If you have any further questions at this stage, please do not hesitate to contact me via email ceri.hill@qbs.edu.hk

Miss Ceri Hill
Lead teacher of the Expressive Arts (Music, Dance and Drama)

Sharing for a Cause

This year we are very excited to be able to support Kids4Kids campaign, ‘Sharing for a cause’. This campaign’s goal is to alleviate ‘invisible poverty’ in Hong Kong by providing some of our poorest families with stationary and computer items. We are a donation centre so you can drop off your items in our gym. These donations will then be collected and distributed to families in need.

Below are two photos that show the type of items that will be collected.

Capture

CaptureB

Here is a link to a video to show how to pack computer items.
The types of items we are not collecting are:

  • Old, unusable
  • Non-hygenic
  • Broken
  • Missing parts

The campaign starts on May 1st and runs for the whole month. If you would like to know more about the campaign then click here. It is a fantastic way to spring clean for a good cause!

Summer Basketball Program

The QBS Dreams basketball program has now started, however there are a few more places available.

Venue: Youth Outreach, 2 Holy Cross Path, Sai Wan Ho, HK
Times: Wednesdays, 4-5pm

Please click here to view the times, dates and registration for the course.

In addition to the above opportunity, a Youth Summer Basketball Camp has been set up for students. Please click the link below to find out more.

Dreams Sports Youth Basketball Program

PTA News

Thank you

A big Thank You to all our super parent volunteer team, our teachers and staff of QBS and PTA, for your support in promoting, organising and operating the event.

The event was indeed a big success amongst all our students who had been looking forward to it for the past few days, with continuous excitement building up.

Today we managed to distribute 62 Cheese Pizzas and 90 Pepperoni Pizzas to all students, which would not have been possible at all without your support. Thank you.

2016/2017

Your PTA looks forward to planning and organising more fun-filled, and exciting events in the new academic year. If you would like to join our Event Organising Team in the upcoming year, then please send an email to mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk expressing your interest NOW!

Paddyfield’s Spring BookClub

All orders are due to be delivered before the end of this academic year.

PTA School Buses

Bus application details for the upcoming academic year will be sent out next week. Please look out for it.

PTA Shop

New QBS Sports Performance Kits (Year 4, 5, & 6 students only)
The kits have arrived and available for purchase now.
[All cheques issued in payment for the kits will be banked in next week – please ensure you have sufficient funds to cover your payments. All returned cheques are subject to HK$100 admin charge.]

Feedback or Suggestions

If you have any feedback or suggestions you would like to give on our event or services provided, please email directly to: ptasuggestions@qbs.edu.hk. Your email will directly be received by our Chairman who will reply 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”.