Newsletter 14/2018-19
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
Smart Watches / Mobile Phones on School Buses
Photos on School Site
Parking Restrictions in Wai Tsui Crescent
QBS Hour of Code
Donation to West Morninghope
School Photos
School Fayre & Food Containers
ESF Run 2019
PTA News
Principal’s Comments
Key dates for Term 1
Please click here
Key dates for the upcoming week:
- Thursday the 29th of November – School photos for teams/new students/absentees
- Friday the 30th of November – Christmas Fayre
Well done to our Year 5 students for their very successful market day this week. I managed to buy myself some very lovely decorations for the family Christmas tree. The depth of learning throughout this unit of inquiry has been significant and students were confidently sharing their views on potential profit and loss within their groups.
Year 2 hosted an art gallery morning. The students shared some fantastic poetry and artwork with parents. Their dancing and poetry recital was enjoyable. The learning process was impressive and the students were confident as they explained how they were inspired to create their pieces of art.
QBS Football Teams
Well done to all of our QBS footballers. They competed in a tournament this week at King’s Park. The coaches of the teams reported that all of our students played their best and enjoyed some wins and losses throughout the day. Best of luck to our teams competing in the tournament at KGV this weekend.
Parents as Partners – Community Conversations
An invitation to attend our school’s ‘community conversations’ morning has been sent home to all parents this week. It is hoped this Parents as Partners’ event at 8.30am-9.30am on the 6th of December will help us shape up a series of events for parents to promote greater discussion about school. Please consider attending if you are able to do so.
‘Communication App’ Trial
Staff recognise that the volume of online information sent to parents is a constant aspect of weekly school life and we would like to work on improving how this is shared/sourced in our school community. In Term 2 we plan to launch a trial of an app designed to streamline school communications which are sent home to parents (eg newsletter, email, urgent alerts, calendar events etc). Planning has commenced to explore the potential of this app and arrange for it to be set up for QBS with the service provider. A sample group of parents will be approached in the near future to join the trial. It is hoped this trial will be successful so QBS may have a helpful tool to improve the way we provide online communications and information for parents.
New Staff
Miss Ellie Knight and Mrs Holly Raymond joined QBS after mid term break. Both of these new staff have prepared introductions for parents.
Miss Ellie Knight – Year 2 EA
Hi, I am Ellie Knight and I recently moved from UK to Hong Kong. I have always been passionate about working with children and helping them in any way that I can so that they can grow to have positive and successful futures. After studying Social Work at University, I worked as a Special Educational Needs Teaching Assistant for a year and then spent the past four years working as a Child Protection Social Worker in London. I am thrilled to be working as an Educational Assistant at QBS School whereby I have met fantastic teachers, students and parents. During my leisure time I love to spend time with my friends and family exploring new places, hiking and eating great food!
Mrs Holly Raymond – Year 4 EA
Originally for the UK, I’ve spent the past 10 years in Australia and Hong Kong and being in Hong Kong for the past 7 years, I truly call this place home. Having spent the past 20 years working in marketing, communications and advertising, I’m excited about this current and brand new chapter in my life – working with the children at QBS, supporting the great community of teaching staff. Already, just 4 weeks in I’ve been incredibly inspired by what and how the students learn. It’s wonderful. In my spare time you can find me drinking lattes, trying to stay away from the cookies and spending fabulously fun time with my husband and 2 young children.
ESF Annual Recruitment
Next week I will be involved in the annual recruitment of new teaching staff for ESF primary schools and will be working at ESF Centre in Quarry Bay. I will be checking my emails so if I may be of assistance please do not hesitate to contact me. Mr Michael Dewey (Vice Principal) will be acting Principal next week at QBS and available to support students, staff and parents.
Regards
Smart Watches / Mobile Phones on School Buses
As you will know, we have recently reviewed the use of smart watches in school and requested that smart watches are not worn or used during the school day, in order to allow students to focus on their learning. Could we please also request that smartwatches, and phones, are not used on the school buses? We have the same expectations on the buses as in the school, so would be grateful if students could ensure that any phones or smartwatches are kept in bags whilst riding the school bus. Thank you.
Photos on School Site
A polite reminder that taking photos on the school site at the start and end of the day is discouraged, for reasons of student privacy. It would be appreciated if any adults involved in drop off or collection of students could be made aware of this request. Thank you in advance for your support.
Parking Restrictions in Wai Tsui Crescent
Shue Yan University Graduation Ceremonies will be held at the following times and dates. Special traffic arrangements will be in place and access to Wai Tsui Crescent will be restricted.
Thursday 29th November 2:30 – 4:00pm
Friday 30th November 2:30 – 3:30pm
QBS Hour of Code
All students will be invited to take part in a world wide event the “Hour of Code” during the week 3rd – 7th December. 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
Donation to West Morninghope
This term, Quarry Bay’s Student Voice are reaching out to support West Morninghope School, located in Chai Wan. It is a school for disabled children. The school helps the students develop self respect, self discipline, self confidence and independence. They also teach the children life skills such as, personal hygiene, how to cook, how to dress, safety and how to communicate in English.
At QBS we like to support our community, so the student voice are taking action by asking all the students to donate a small Christmas gift to the children at West Morninghope School. These gifts will be delivered on Monday 11th December 2018, so that the children can have an enjoyable Christmas.
The types of gifts that would be suitable to donate are: stuffed toys, simple puzzles, easy children books or easy duplo/lego packs.
Once you have bought the gift, please wrap it, attach a note to say whether it is suitable for a boy or girl (or both) and what age it would be appropriate for. Bring the gift to 4S where it will be stored until it can placed under the Christmas tree in the school hall. Helpers from year 5 and 6 will deliver the gifts to the children at West Morninghope School on everyone’s behalf.
Thanks for your support and cooperation.
From: Student Voice reps, Mrs Kanthan, Ms Ferriday and Mr Sercombe
School Photos
The photographer will be in school on Thursday 29th November to take photos for the teams, new students/staff as well as absentees. Please click here for details.
Organising teachers will inform the students to be involved.
School Fayre & Food Containers
The school’s Green Team and the PTA have been in communication, regarding the food stalls at next week’s Christmas Fayre. We would like to encourage families to bring in their own containers to eat from. We will still provide paper plates but would encourage everyone to make an effort to help our environment.
Plastic Recycling Bins are also now available at school, please recycle any ‘one use’ plastics at the Fayre.
ESF Run 2019
Last year ESF hosted the first ESF HK RUN to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the English Schools Foundation.
It was great to have so many students, parents and teachers participating and we would like to promote the event within the QBS community again.
Entry is now open and filling up fast – please click the link below to get involved.
https://www.esf.edu.hk/event/esf-hong-kong-run-2018/
PTA News
Upcoming PTA event
QBS PTA Christmas Fayre
Our most awaited event of the year is just a week away – Friday, November 30, 2018
If you would like to help out as a parent volunteer, please click here to fill out the google form.
Your support is greatly appreciated.
QBS PTA
PTA Shop
Please note that the shop is permanently closed. Uniforms can now be ordered online at www.schooluniform.hk
School Buses
Parents and caregivers must ensure that there is at least ONE adult present at the bus stop 5 minutes prior to the bus arrival timings for pickups.
For queries regarding buses, Purnima Sharma (QBS Bus Coordinator) can be contacted via schoolbus@qbs.edu.hk. Please be reminded NOT to send Bus related emails to pta@qbs.edu.hk
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.
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 Operation”