Newsletter 18/2018-19
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
QBS Girls Football Teams in Action
Chinese Qoodle Page
Seeking for parents volunteer for Chinese New Year activities
ESF website survey for parents
Guiding Statements Survey Reminder
QBS Clubs
External Sports Clubs at Quarry Bay School
Lost and Found
ESF Run 2019
ESF Sports
Valley Netball Club
School Bus
Principal’s Comments
Key dates for Term 2
Please click here
Key dates for the upcoming week:
- Monday the 14th of January – ESF/Private clubs, QBS Academic clubs, QBS Sports clubs start
- Tuesday the 15th of January – Year 6 Visit to South Island School 6A and 6T
- Wednesday the 16th of January – Year 6 Visit to South Island School 6A and 6T
- Thursday the 17th of January
- Year 6 Visit to South Island School 6B and 6F
- Year 1 Trip to Disneyland
- Friday the 18th of January – Year 6 Visit to South Island School 6B and 6F
Welcome Back
Happy New Year to all families and welcome back to Term 2. I hope everyone had an enjoyable time with family and friends. The students have returned to school energised and happy. Students have been settled and focussed in classrooms this week following their holiday break. I am looking forward to another busy and productive term at QBS.
On the final day of Term 1 the junior choir sang for ESF Centre staff at their annual Christmas party in the Quarry Bay office on the final day of term. The students did a great performance and enjoyed their VIP treatment.
It was great to hear the QBS girls competed well in the tournament at King’s Park this week. They enjoyed the day, played very well and were great ambassadors for QBS.
Year 6 Transition
Next week our Year 6 students will commence their transition visits to South Island School (SIS) as they prepare for their move from primary to secondary school. This is a significant change for a student and staff work collaboratively with SIS and other destination secondary schools to ensure a successful and positive transition. If parents have any queries about the experience please contact your child’s Year 6 teacher or Mr Michael Dewey (Vice Principal).
Technology
As we begin a new school term I would encourage parents to consider their child’s ‘screen time’, bed time, supervision of access to online devices and, in particular, use of social media at home. Unfortunately this academic year students have found themselves in difficult situations with technology and particularly social media (ie WhatsApp) at home. These incidents tend to follow a pattern – a child has no boundaries or supervision of technology use or devices at home.
Whilst technology is part of daily life in our ever changing world, it is essential that responsible use of devices and various apps, social media etc is monitored at home. Unrestricted use of technology leads to some unhealthy behaviours in young people if parents are not actively involved in setting family media agreements around use of devices etc. One simple rule is recommended for for all families to use in their media agreement – no devices in sleeping spaces and set a time for all devices to be switched off in the evening.
Mandarin
Please read the updates in this newsletter from the Mandarin teachers about this important area of the curriculum at QBS. There are some changes to Qoodle organisation of resources to support Mandarin at home and parent help is needed for activities at Chinese New Year.
Regards
QBS Girls Football Teams in Action
Earlier in the week the girls football team travelled to Kings Park to compete in the Hong Kong Primary Schools Sports Association (HKPSSA) finals.
It was great to have so many girls involved as we took 2 teams to compete. Both teams played well and enjoyed the day, with the Q.B.S A team winning the Plate competition. Many of our girls are in Year 4 and 5 so they will have many tournaments to look forward to in the future.
Chinese Qoodle Page
Dear Parents/Carers,
The Chinese department had updated the Chinese section of the Qoodle page (as shown below). The Qoodle page allows students to access Chinese learning at home.
Once children click onto their respective year level and group they are provided with access to the resources for listening and speaking Chinese.
A link will also be provided to access the online Chinese reading. If your child is unsure of their online reading username and password, then it can be found on the folder of their red book bag.
Updates to the Qoodle page will continue as the team introduce new learning to the students.
We hope that the students enjoy the updated Qoodle area.
Please feel free to contact a member of the Chinese team if you have any questions or queries.
Regards,
Ms Katherine ONG
Mandarin Teacher (Leader)
Seeking for parents volunteer for Chinese New Year activities
Dear Parents/Carers,
Happy 2019, it has been wonderful to see the students back in school.
In a few weeks time it will be Chinese New Year, a much celebrated festival in Hong Kong.
As part of our Chinese New Year celebrations at QBS we are looking for volunteers to help with the following events:
Dumpling making with year 1-6 (whole day)
Year 1 -2 will be making sweet rice balls
Year 3-6 will be making savoury dumplings
- 23 Jan 2019 (Wed) 8:05 – 2:30 pm
- 24 Jan 2019 (Thurs) 8:05 – 2:30 pm
Please fill in the following google doc and record your name (also record your child’s name, class and your email address).
Chinese Activity Day for year 1-6 (whole day)
Parents are invited to lead activities e.g. craft (paper cutting, calligraphy), games (Chinese chess, flying chess, tangrams ) and sports (Chinese yoyo, skipping, shuttlecocks).
Also, we would like to invite parents from different countries and cultures e.g. Japanese, Korean, Indian etc. to share games or crafts. This will allow our students the chance to broaden their perspectives.
29 Jan 2019 (Tues) 8:15 – 2:30 pm
Please click here to fill in the form to indicate your availability.
Note : Please be reminded that you need to complete the Volunteer Worker Registration & Declaration Form if you are coming into school to support.
We hope to hear from you soon.
Kind Regards,
Ms Katherine ONG
ESF website survey for parents
Dear all,
Hope you’re having a great start for the year!
As you know our websites have been running for a few years since the last revamp. We are now conducting a survey so as to understand how our websites should be improved to help parents in their information search and decision making.
It would be great if you could help by inviting your parent community to fill out a simple questionnaire at this link: https://goo.gl/forms/qjDRSqRvXDqKp7jW2 (deadline: 17 January).
Any questions feel free to let me know. Thank you very much!
Susanna Chiu
Communications Manager
English Schools Foundation
Guiding Statements Survey Reminder
Dear Parents,
We are currently in the process of reviewing our Guiding Statements, which articulate our Vision and Mission for the students of QBS. along with our Learning and Teaching Principles (see below).
As part of that review process we would like to seek the views of all members of the QBS community, including you, the parents. Please take a moment to consider your hopes for your child around the following:
- What do you want your child’s experience at QBS to be like?
- What sort of people do you hope they will be, both every day and when they move on from the QBS community?
We would love to hear your thoughts. Please take a few moments to respond to the question below by completing the survey linked here.
The survey will close on Monday 28th January. Thank you in advance for your participation.
What are the 5 words you would like to use to best describe your child, both everyday and when they move on from QBS?
Mr Michael DEWEY
Vice Principal(Yr 4-6)
QBS Clubs
The Gateway was updated today , 11th January 2019 regarding your child’s activity. Please check the status under the ‘My Activities’ tab for both Academic Clubs and Sports clubs. It will either say ‘Accepted’ or ‘Not Accepted’.
NOTE : There needs to be an adult at school before the club starts and after it ends.
External Sports Clubs at Quarry Bay School
Please note that we have a number of clubs which continue throughout all 3 terms for the very popular activities such as, gymnastics, football, basketball and netball.
These sports clubs take place on Mondays and Fridays after school and also on a Saturday morning.
These can be accessed by clicking on the banners through the following link. These clubs suit all ages, however are particularly popular with the lower school.
Lost and Found
There are still quite a lot of items such as uniform, drinking bottle, container in the Lost and Found. Please could we ask parents to claim any lost property before the end of next week, ie. Friday 18th January. All lost items will be displayed outside the gym and any items unclaimed at the end of the term will be donated to charity.
ESF Run 2019
The Race Packs have arrived at Quarry Bay School. You should have received an email from the organisers to confirm this.
You may now collect your race pack from the 3/F reception between 8:15am and 3:15pm daily.
ESF Sports
Term 2 enrolling now. Please click here for details.
Valley Netball Club
We have a new netball club taking place after school on a Friday. Please see the details below.
Valley Netball Classes @ QBS
School Bus
All parents are obligated to inform the buses if your child has been registered for after school activities in Term 2. Please notify us via email at schoolbus@qbs.edu.hk immediately, as it will involve a change to your child’s regular bus travel arrangement.
Unfortunately we still have many parents who do not inform if their child/ren have after school activities or a change in afternoon travel arrangements on the buses. The above results in a delay in departure of the buses from school, while Principals, teachers and staff of the school are looking for the missing students.
We therefore request your cooperation to notify us before 12:00pm on a normal school day, and 10:00am on an early school closure day, for change in travel arrangement of your child. This procedure is imperative and in the best interest and safety of your child.
(Parents are requested to inform school via email at schoolbus@qbs.edu.hk as well as copying the message to the class teacher/school before 12:30pm.)