Newsletter 36/2017-18
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
Council of International Schools Accreditation
Celebration of Learning – Friday 15th June
Summer Book Borrowing 2018
Installation of large Touch Screen TVs
Aquathon
QBS Cricket
ESF Summer Camps
PTA News
Principal’s Comments
Key dates for Term 3
Please click here
Key dates for next week:
- Tuesday the 12th of June – Year 6 Graduation Lunch
- Friday the 15th of June – Celebration of Learning Day
2018/2019 QBS/ESF Calendar
The QBS/ESF calendar for the 2018/2019 school year can be viewed here. Please plan family holidays and trips outside of school term time.
Student Absences 2018/2019
In the coming academic year there will be changes to the way parents report all of their child’s absences from school. These changes will improve the monitoring of student absences across classes and year levels. There will be more details in the near future about the steps required to report your child’s absence from August 2018.
Student Arrival Time Before School
Increasingly staff have observed students arriving at school in the mornings very early. Some students are being left at school without supervision as early as 7.15am. Please do not leave your child in the playground without supervision prior to 7.50am. Staff are not on supervision duty prior to 7.50am daily.
All students are required to be at school by 8.15am daily and late arrivals must register at Reception on the ground floor. Teaching and learning begins promptly at 8.15am daily. Arriving late to school hinders learning and routines.
Staffing Changes in 2018/2019
Sadly we will say goodbye to some teachers at the end of June as they begin new experiences beyond the QBS community. Teaching staff leaving QBS include: Mr Andrew Ogilive, Miss Vicky Wang, Miss Katie Trethewy and Mrs Ivy Chan. Support staff leaving QBS include: Mrs Gail Fortes and Ah Ying. These colleagues have made valuable contributions to the lives of students and families at QBS and will be missed. Their dedication, loyalty and hard work has been for the benefit of students. On behalf of all community members I would like to extend gratitude to these valued colleagues and wish each of them all the very best in the future.
In August 2018 QBS will welcome three new teaching staff. These teachers include: Mr David Rolls, Mrs Cecilia Lau and Miss Millie Chan. These teachers are joining the QBS community with enthusiasm. Please click here to view their introductions.
In the 2018/2019 academic year Mr Colin Young will have the opportunity to take on the school’s leadership role of Curriculum Coordinator. Currently Mr Young is Lead Teacher in Year 5. He is looking forward to this leadership opportunity in our school. Mrs Sarah Moore has accepted a one year teaching position at QBS and will continue to teach in Year 2 for the duration of Mr Young’s appointment to the Curriculum Coordinator position.
2018/2019 Teaching Staff Placements (including specialists and leadership team)
Please click here to view the all teaching staff placements for the 2018/2019 school year. Education Assistant placements are not yet finalised.
Regards,
Council of International Schools Accreditation
As you will be aware, earlier this term we welcomed visitors from the Council of International Schools (CIS) to Quarry Bay as part of our ongoing process of re-accreditation. CIS is a global non-profit organisation that supports schools in providing high quality international education. The visit was positive and successful, with many strengths of our school being affirmed by our visitors.
The next step in the re-accreditation process involves a period of self study, which colleagues across the school will be undertaking next academic year. In order to inform this next stage, all stakeholders are given the opportunity to share their opinions about the school. Today, an email will be sent to all parents asking that they complete a short questionnaire. We would be extremely grateful if all parents could take a short time to complete this survey, which will be open until the penultimate day of term – Thursday 28th of June.
The survey is available in multiple languages, and should take no more than 15 minutes to complete. CIS ask that both parents / guardians in a family complete the survey. Please click here for a link to the email providing further details.
We very much value your views, and hope to have a high response rate to this request. Thank you in advance for your time in completing the survey.
Celebration of Learning – Friday 15th June
We are looking forward to welcoming parents into school next Friday for the Celebration of Learning Event. This is an important day in the calendar, where your child will guide you through a range of learning engagements to showcase their progress this year. For further details, please click here.
The booking for the event is still open. Please could all parents reserve a time by next Monday, 11th June. It is an expectation that all students participate in the Celebration of Learning Day.
To book an appointment please log into Gateway with the following link: https://qbs.tg.esf.edu.hk and (click to book or update) under Parent Consultation.
A reminder – 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.
Please note, there has been a slight change of venue for the Physical Education sessions. All year groups from 1-6 will now take place in the gym. On the day, all students should wear PE in order to be able to participate in these activities.
We look forward to welcoming you into school on 15th June.
Summer Book Borrowing 2018
We are offering Summer Borrowing to those children currently in Years 1 – 5 who will be continuing their learning with us in August 2018. Each child will be allowed to borrow up to 10 books. We have run this program for many years now and it has proven to be very popular with both children and parents. Please click here for details.
Installation of large Touch Screen TVs
QBS PTA has agreed to fund the installation of large Touch Screen TVs in all classrooms to replace the current interactive whiteboards and projectors. The first batch of TVs have already been installed in all Year 1, Year 4 and our Expressive Arts classrooms and will be installed in the other classrooms in the coming few years. These TVs support 4K video and we will be well placed to take advantage of high resolution digital media in teaching our students. Students have unanimously given positive feedback about the improved quality of the display.
With the support of our PTA, we have been able to provide this equipment for our students which is well beyond standard provision. Thank you to our hard working PTA Committee and to our community who have supported fund raising events.
Aquathon
The QBS Aquathon Teams have been very active recently and competed to in 2 races at Kellet Kowloon and King George V School. They are all consistently improving on their personal best times and are looking forward to racing again on June 9th.
QBS Cricket
The QBS Cricket Team have been battling the hot and sunny weather every Tuesday in their after school practice sessions and most recently in 2 tournaments.
The first tournament took place at Happy Valley and the second at Kings Park. There was some fantastic cricket played and the team enjoyed some very exciting victories against other schools, whist finally losing out to Discovery Bay School in a semi final.
The team ended the season with a high scoring win over Harrow School.
ESF Summer Camps
Please click here for details.
PTA News
School Buses
Please note that there will be no school bus service on June 15, 2018 as QBS has “Celebration of Learning Day”.
For queries regarding buses, please email notify Purnima on schoolbus@qbs.edu.hk
PTA Shop
The shop will be permanently closed from June 17, 2018 onwards.
For queries on uniforms please do not hesitate to contact Amy directly on ptashop@qbs.edu.hk for any shop queries you may have.
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”