Newsletter 31/2015-16

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

 Student Voice Welcomes West Morning Hope School

 New Qoodle

 Sharing for a Cause

 Important Safety Message

 Second Hand Uniforms

 Immunisations Form

 QBS Sports Performance Kit

 Dreams Sports Basketball

 PTA News

Principal’s Comments

Important dates for your attention:

• Please click here for all the key dates in Term 3 at QBS.

Next week is a shorter week due to the public holiday and professional development. I hope the students have an enjoyable few days with family before returning to school on Wednesday the 4th of May. Year 5 and Year 6 Athletics Days are approaching and parents are welcome to visit this event. Please click here (Year 5 / Year 6) to read Mr Schroder’s email which was sent to Year 5 and Year 6 parents earlier this week. On Thursday West Morning Hope students visited QBS and enjoyed the 2W and 2L class assembly about being a friend. It was a successful visit and good to welcome a local school community into QBS for this event. Please read about this visit below. The 2016 QBS Year Book needs a front and back cover design and our students are invited to share their ideas with Ms Yee. Please encourage your child to read the details about the Year Book covers on Qoodle.

Regards,

Student Voice Welcomes West Morning Hope School

On Thursday morning, the Student Voice were delighted to host 20 students from West Morning Hope School. As you might be aware, West Morning Hope School is a local school that caters for children with a wide range of learning disabilities and needs. During their visit to Quarry Bay School the students from West Morning Hope were able to watch a rehearsal of the 2L/2W assembly. Following this, they then joined some of the Quarry Bay School students to perform some of the songs from the show.

The visit was enjoyed greatly by the students from both West Morning Hope School and Quarry Bay School. We look forward to continuing to extend and develop the link between our two schools.

New Qoodle

In the coming school year, most ESF schools will be moving their Online Learning Platforms (in our case Qoodle) to a new version which is more suited to the use of mobile devices.

This has been a very time-consuming process at QBS as it is not possible to simply upgrade our existing Qoodle. We have had to recreate all the courses on the new platform and will gradually move the content across. We have used this opportunity to review the rationale and purpose of Qoodle in consultation with staff and students. This process has resulted in us developing our new Qoodle with the main purpose as providing a safe online environment to support our students learning. We have also reviewed the way Home Learning is accessed on Qoodle. On the new Qoodle, all Home Learning will be accessed via the Year Group course (e.g., weekly/fortnightly class and Mandarin Home Learning tasks).

We hope this will be provide a more consistent experience for students and will reflect the school’s updated Home Learning Policy. We are aiming for the new version of Qoodle to come online in the last week of term. The content for English, Maths and the first Unit of Inquiry for all year groups will have already been moved across. The rest of the content will be reviewed and transferred to the new Qoodle as it is needed throughout the school year 2016/17. A few pieces of information on the old Qoodle which were aimed at parents and staff will be moved to other platforms. Parents will receive full information about this at a later date.

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.

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!

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.

Second Hand Uniforms

The Summer second hand uniforms will be on sale outside the medical room starting from the 4th of May. There are many sizes, so please come have have a browse.

Also please NOTE that we can no longer take any donations at the moment. We do not have any more space to store them.

Immunisations Form

The immunisations forms for DPTP have been sent out for Year 1 and Year 6 students. Please send in the consent (original records) or refusal by the 4th of May. No forms will be accepted after this date. The immunisations will be held on Wednesday 11th of May.

QBS Sports Performance Kit

With the help of our kit manufacturer Tsunami Sports we have created a new and improved QBS Sports Performance Kit. This is a multi-purpose kit which will suit all physical activities that we offer at school.

The kit is a secondary option for children in Year 4-6 who are involved in QBS sport and may want to purchase an additional kit to supplement their current P.E. kit. We appreciate that washing P.E kit on a daily basis isn’t always possible.

The kit is made of a lightweight breathable Eco-friendly fabric, is anti-bacterial, and will be particularly useful in the warmer summer months in term 3.

We will be encouraging children who are involved in extra-curricular sports clubs in term 3 to wear this to their club, if they have purchased one. Children are also welcome to wear this kit to school on days when they have their P.E lessons.

As you can see from the designs, the logos on the kit ensure that children will be well recognised outside of school as a representative of QBS, ESF and Hong Kong.

You may collect an order form for the kit from the PTA Shop.

Dreams Sports Basketball

To follow up the basketball club from last term, we have arranged a weekly time at an external venue for interested students to attend a training course delivered by the Dreams Sports Academy.

This is an external club, which I would recommend to any children interested in playing more basketball on a weekly basis in Term 3 and beyond. The court is an excellent venue and the Dreams Sports Coaches have been a great addition to our basketball program in Term 2. Many of our children had the opportunity to play at the venue in Term 2 and really enjoyed their time there.

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

Early registration is encouraged.

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

As this is an external program – all additional inquiries must be made directly with the Dreams Sports Academy.

PTA News

Upcoming Events

Term 3 will feature a host of exciting events, as below, so please mark your diaries accordingly:

• Pizza Sale: 13th May 2016
• Paddyfield’s Spring Bookclub: May/June 2016

Pizza Sale – Order Forms

Please complete and send in your orders to the PTA office. Payment in cash ONLY please. The deadline for all orders is 6th May 2016.

Pizza Sale – Parent Volunteers

We would like to request for parent volunteers to help with the pizza sales. If you are available, please send an email to mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk, titled “Pizza Volunteer”, to enable us to send you further information by return email. Looking forward to your support.

PTA School Buses

URGENT: Release of Students by Bus Escort

Please be reminded that all Bus Escorts will only allow students off the bus once the parent/carer of the student comes up to the bus to ask for the student.

• All uncollected students will be brought back to school directly at the end of the route. Parents/carers will be required to collect the students from school reception, and settle the Bus Escort’s overtime pay and transportation charges to PTA.
• Therefore to avoid the above all parents/carers are required to arrive at the bus stop 5 minutes ahead of the bus arrival time.

Notification to PTA and Class Teachers

All parents/carers are responsible to inform the PTA and class teacher simultaneously for any of the below – by EMAIL only (instructions by phone will NOT be entertained):
[Student name, class number and bus number is to be stated on all correspondence]

• Change in standard travel plans on the Bus;
• Any after-school activities your child which requires a change in travel plans;
• If you child is absent on a particular day;
• If your child does not travel to school in the morning but requires travel on the bus in afternoon; &
• If you child is a walker.

PTA Email: pta@qbs.edu.hk.

PTA Shop

Summer uniform
It is mandatory for all students to come to school in correct summer uniform ONLY commencing 4th May 2016.

QBS Sports Performance Kits (Year 4, 5, & 6 students only):

The kits have arrived!

All Students are requested to collect your pre-ordered kits from the PTA Shop during shop operation hours. [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”.