Newsletter 20/2016-17
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
Chinese Online Reading Programme
Parent Teacher Consultations, Thursday 2nd March and Thursday 16th March
PTA News
Principal’s Comments
Key dates for Term 2
Please click here
Key dates for next week
- Wednesday the 22nd of February – Year 6 NGO day
Best of luck to all of our QBS students participating in rugby, cross country, netball, football and chess over the coming days. There are tournaments on and QBS will be well-represented by our students. I will be joining the students at these events to encourage them.
Thank you to 2W and 2C for a wonderful class assembly. It was very entertaining and showed everyone how much the students know about celebrations. There were plenty of smiling faces at the end of the assembly. Well done Year 2 students!
Supervision of students at after school clubs
Unfortunately we have had some incidents recently where students have been left alone in the playground after school either waiting for a club or after finishing a club. Students must have an adult with them if they are joining the after school clubs please. There is no staff supervision after school. Please understand we are monitoring this situation due to safety concerns for our students. Thank you to those families for supporting this request.
Active supervision of students during the after school clubs is expected and there have been times recently where staff have needed to remind some adults to do this. It would helpful if parents could remind their domestic helper or designated guardian that when waiting with children after school, they must actively supervise the children at all times.
After school play dates in the QBS playground are not allowed. We encourage children to socialise with friends beyond school. Unfortunately the school’s playground after school cannot be used for such activities. Thank you for your cooperation.
Regards,
Chinese Online Reading Programme
At QBS, we recognise the importance of Chinese learning in Hong Kong and the time many families put in to further support Chinese learning at home. Therefore, the Mandarin Department has purchased two programmes to support Chinese home learning: ‘Mandarin Matrix’ for Years 1 and 2 and non-native speakers and ‘Dudu Town’ for near-native speakers.
Mandarin Matrix
Year 1 and 2 students will be working on ‘Mandarin Matrix’ once a week in their classroom. Books are assigned to students for them to read online. Books are also read aloud to the students and there will be exercises to strengthen the children’s understanding of the words. This will increase the opportunity for students to listen to Mandarin. There are also related games for each programme which will allow students to learn in an interactive, fun and challenging way. Here is a glimpse into Mandarin Matrix.
Dudu Town
‘Dudu Town’ is a levelled online reader where students have to take an online quiz before being assigned books to read. Students have a wider choice of books that suit their language level to read at home. This video will further explain how it works.
Parents are greatly encouraged to use these resources at home with the children. Usernames and passwords had been given to students in their Term 1 handbook. The link to the webpage can be found on the Chinese Qoodle page. Feel free to approach the your child’s Chinese teacher if you need any help.
Regards
Ms Katherine ONG
Parent Teacher Consultations, Thursday 2nd March and Thursday 16th March
On Thursday the 2nd of March and Thursday the 16th of March, parents are invited to attend parent teacher consultations at school. We are looking forward to meeting you.
These 1-1 consultations between parents and the teacher will provide an important opportunity to discuss your child’s school experience and is one we value. During the consultation, student exercise books will be available. The teachers will share information on the progress your child is making, and also give suggested next steps. Teachers will also be interested to hear your perspective on how your child is enjoying the year. This is a teacher and parent event only and students do not attend on this occasion.
Please note that on Thursday the 2nd of March, school will close at 12.00noon for students so that parent teacher consultations may begin from 1.00pm. Thursday the 16th of March is a normal school day and all consultations will begin at 3.00pm.
6M parents – For parents of students in class 6M only, the appointment dates will be slightly different to those listed above. Thursday 2nd March appointments will be available as for other classes, however, the second appointment date will be Wednesday the 15th March instead of Thursday 16th March. There is no variation in the times available.
What do you need to do now:
All appointment bookings for the consultations are made through the Gateway system. The booking system opened in Gateway at 12noon on Monday the 13th of February. The deadline for bookings is 9am on Monday the 27th of February.
Gateway appointment bookings are available for your child’s class teacher, along with the Physical Education teachers (Mr Luke Schroder and Mr Rick Leone) and Expressive Arts teachers (Ms Ceri Hill and Ms Jess McGraw). As you will be aware, consultations with the Mandarin teachers are taking place on separate occasions this year. Class teacher appointments will be 15 minutes and specialist teacher appointments will be 5 minutes.
For specialist teachers, we hope that the 5 minute sessions mean that a significant number of parents are able to access the meetings. However, booking an appointment with specialists is optional, and there is not an expectation that all parents will book these.
As on previous occasions, Mr Keith Purton (Lead Teacher of Information Technologies) and Miss Anna Trunkfield (Lead Teacher, Librarian) will be available to parents for ‘drop-in’ discussions about their areas of the curriculum on both dates.
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.
If you need further help, please click here for step by step instructions on how to make a booking, you can also email ken.lee@qbs.edu.hk, who will be able to provide guidance and technical assistance. We will be unable, however, to make bookings directly on request.
We look forward to welcoming you to school again soon.
PTA News
Upcoming PTA Events
Term 2
- Paddyfield’s Winter Bookclub: February – March, 2017
- Readathon: 27th February – 20th March, 2017
- Hotdog Sizzle & Pizza Lunch (Upper School): 28th February, 2017
- Hotdog Sizzle & Pizza Lunch (Lower School): 1st March, 2017
Term 3
- Spring Disco (Years 1-4): To be confirmed
- Movie Afternoon (Years 5-6): To be confirmed
- New Year 1 Student – Induction Day: 2nd June, 2017
ON THE LOOK-OUT FOR EVENT-LEADERS:
The PTA is looking-out for parents who would be interested to be event leaders for any of the above events, with assistance and guidance from PTA Committee and Staff.
If Yes, please contact us immediately on mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk. We will be happy to furnish you with all related details.
Paddyfield’s Winter Bookclub
The Winter Bookclub catalogues/order forms have been distributed to all students to take home early this week. If you have not received them, please collect a copy from the PTA Office.
Deadline for all orders is: Wednesday, 22nd February 2017.
“Readathon 2017” – a Reading Marathon!
All students are requested to participate in this year’s “Readathon” and promote your love of reading.
LOTS OF PRIZES/AWARDS TO BE WON!
The “Readathon” Awards are:
- Top 3 Students – Lower School
- Top 3 Students – Upper School
- Top Class with Highest Consolidated Reading Time – Per Year Group
- Will receive: a) Pizza lunch for class students, teacher and EA; & b) $1000 Paddyfield gift voucher to order new classroom readers.
Guidelines & Forms: will be issued to all students on Tuesday, 21st February 2017, and will be available on Qoodle.
Deadline for all submission of all sponsorships is: Monday 20th March 2017.
Hotdog Sizzle & Pizza Lunch
Order forms with parent volunteer slips have been distributed to students to bring home today.
- Upper School (Year 4-6) will be held on: 28th February 2017
- Click here for Upper School Order Form.
- Lower School (Year 1-3) will be held on: 1st March 2017
- Click here for Lower School Order Form.
Please complete and send your order forms, volunteer slip and cash payment to the PTA Office as soon as possible.
Deadline for receipt of all orders is: Tuesday, 21st February, 2017.
This event is a “Bring Your Own Plate” Event!
School Buses
Term 3 Bus Fee – Post Dated Cheques
The fee will be banked in on Tuesday, 21st February 2017. You are requested to ensure that your account has sufficient funds to clear the payment. All returned/bounced cheques are subject to a surcharge of $100.00.
Early School Closure – Thursday, 2nd March 2017
School will close at 12:00noon due to Parent-Teacher Consultations.
School Bus Schedule for Early School Closure – click here.
Change in Travel: all notification of change in travel of your child on this day is to be emailed to pta@qbs.edu.hk not later than 10:ooam.
Change of bus travel arrangement:
We still have many parents who do not inform the PTA if their child/ren have a change in afternoon travel arrangements on the buses. The above results in a delay in departure of the buses from school, while the PTA and Senior Management of the school is looking for the missing students.
We therefore request your cooperation to notify us before 12:30pm of the 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 PTA via email at pta@qbs.edu.hk as well as copying the message to the Class Teacher/School before 12:30pm.)
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”