Newsletter 10/2015-16
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
Football Tournament
East Asia Cup Cricket Tournament
Hong Kong Juniors Chess Club
‘You tell us’ Parent Teacher Consultation Survey
Government Vaccination
Important Safety Message
QBS Parent Directory
PTA News
Principal’s Comments
Welcome back to our next half term at QBS. I hope you enjoyed time with your family during the break. It is great to see the children in school again this week. They have been settled and busy in their classrooms all week. I have seen some very high standards of work in many areas of learning from all age groups across the school this week.
Important Dates for this Half Term
Please click here for important dates.
Temporary Change to QBS Entrance
Next week the renovated Japanese Garden and new playground space at the front of the school will be completed and ready for the students to use. The final area for refurbishment in the playground will be the small space immediately in front of the Reception. This work will commence next week and will be completed by the start of December. It means the large and small gates immediately in front of the Reception will be out of use for one month.
Early next week please be aware that a temporary entrance will be opened for visitors and walkers very close to the large and small school gates (end of the Hau Yuen Path cul-de-sac). There will be signs directing visitors to this temporary entrance and we thank you for your continued cooperation.
The bus gate will not be affected and will operate for students as normal.
Thank you QBS PTA
On Thursday the QBS PTA hosted a welcome party for new parents joining our community this year and it was well supported. New parents and staff were able to enjoy some food and drinks together. Thank you to all involved, your participation is greatly appreciated. The QBS PTA held the annual general meeting (AGM) also and recognised the work of the outgoing committee and the various contributions made by the group throughout the previous academic year. I would like to extend thanks to all 2014/2015 committee members:
- Mrs Michelle Saad
- Ms Amy Au
- Mrs Sandeep Mander
- Ms Susanna Kwan
- Mrs Jessica McGraw
- Mr Christopher Guest
- Ms Joyce Tsoi
- Ms Letty Chu
- Ms Iris Leung
- Ms Sue Yee
- Mr Neil Ringrose
- Ms Vanessa Mansfield
- Mr Colin Sercombe
- Mr Joe Butler
I would also like to welcome the 2015/2016 QBS PTA committee:
- Mrs Michelle Saad
- Mr Christopher Guest
- Mr John Lai
- Mrs Sandeep Mander
- Mrs Jessica McGraw
- Ms Letty Chu
- Ms Joyce Choi
- Mrs Rebecca Price
- Ms Sue Yee
- Mr Michael Dewey
- Ms Miranda Rauis
- Ms Janice Williams
- Mr Andrew Ogilvie
The PTA are still in need of two more parent reps for the committee. Please contact Mona Diwan if you are considering this role in our community. We would welcome new faces to the committee.
In my Principal’s Report at the PTA AGM I encouraged parents to read the QBS Annual Report 2014-2015 for a detailed summary of the previous academic year. If you have not read the report please click here.
QBS Camp Season Continues
This week the Year 5 students have been enjoying some great weather during their Treasure Island Camp. I am sure there will be some very tired Year 5s arriving home this weekend. Teachers have reported to me that it has been a successful week for the students and they have been quite proud of their attitude, effort and conduct away from the school environment. We hope you have enjoyed the photos on Qoodle. Please go the the Year 5 Atrium and click on the Year 5 Camp button to view the photos. Thank you to all staff involved and for the great parental support leading up to camp. We recognise the online registration caused some frustrations and have given Treasure Island very specific feedback about these problems on behalf of the QBS Year 5 parents.
Next week the Year 4 students will go to Bradbury Camp on Cheung Chau Island for their very first residential camp. Their itinerary is very busy and this will support all of them with the adjustment to being away from home for two nights. It is an exciting time for the students and also might be a time of some apprehension too. This is a natural feeling which you can support by talking openly with your child should they express any worries. We look forward to hearing about the Year 4 camp adventures next week.
We value the camp experience at QBS and its role in the development of our students. It is an important part of the curriculum we offer. To ensure a high quality camp for our students the leadership team, classroom and specialist teachers and support staff are involved. During the camp season there are some disruptions to normal specialist timetables.
QBS Sports
Best of luck to our students participating in the following sporting tournaments:
- DBIS Football Tournament (2 Boys Teams);
- Peak School Football Tournament (2 Girls Teams); and
- East Asia Cricket Tournament (Japan, HK Dragons and China) at Kowloon Cricket Club.
Well done to our girls football team for their super efforts at Hong Lok Yuen International School’s annual tournament earlier in the week. From all reports they played their best, had a great attitude and enjoyed the competition.
We have a very supportive group of teachers involved in coaching our students. Thank you to all of them for their ongoing work with the students.
Congratulations to Mrs Emma Bernardo one of our hard working education assistants. She is expecting a baby and we are delighted to hear this news.
Regards,
Football Tournament
Congratulations to our girls football team who travelled to Hong Lok Yuen on Wednesday to play in a 6-aside football tournament. It was a great experience for the girls and they are all looking forward to the tournament this weekend against the Peak School.
East Asia Cup Cricket Tournament
On Sunday there is the East Asia Cricket Tournament (Japan, HK Dragons and China) at Kowloon Cricket Club.
We have some QBS children playing between the adults games. For more information, please click here.
Hong Kong Juniors Chess Club
Hong Kong Junior Chess Championships 2015 Age Groups: U7, U9, U11, U13, U17
Organised by Hong Kong Juniors Chess Club & sponsored by Creative Secondary School, the Hong Kong Juniors Chess Championships 2015 will take place on 28 & 29 November 2015.
For more details please contact Ms. HO Yin Ping, Tournament Director. Phone: 9215 2682
E-mail: hoyinpinchess@gmail.com Website: www.hkjuniorchess.org
‘You tell us’ Parent Teacher Consultation Survey
It would be greatly appreciated if you could spend 5 minutes sharing your thoughts regarding our Parent Teacher Consultation in Term 1. As you know this was a ‘You tell us’ style consultation for parents to share relevant information about your child with their class teacher e.g. interests, friendships, successes etc. As this is a relatively new approach we would like to gather your opinions so we can further enhance how we communicate to you about your child’s learning at QBS. Please click here to access the survey.
Government Vaccination
The Government Immunisation team will be coming to Quarry Bay School on the 16th November 2015, to give Year 1 students their Mumps, Measles, Rubella Vaccine (MMR) and Year 6 their (MMR and Hep B)
Forms have been sent home this week. If you would like your child to have the vaccine at school please return the completed form along with the child’s original immunisation records by 4th November 2015 to your class teacher.
NO late forms will be accepted.
Regards,
Nurse Delia
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 be in the playground area. They need to know the child’s whereabouts at all times.
School cannot sanction the playing of football, dodge 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.
QBS Parent Directory
The QBS Parent Directory is now available for parents via Gateway. This directory contains the contact details of parents from QBS class groups. The directory is voluntary. Please be reminded the intention of the QBS Parent Directory is to support you connect with others for social events (e.g., playdates and birthday parties). We request that the details available within the QBS parent directory are not shared for commercial purposes.
The QBS Parent Directory will be managed by the PTA and liaison regarding it should be through Ms Mona Diwan (PTA Coordinator). The directory details will be refreshed on Gateway once per term only. Please understand that changes to contact details cannot be attended to on an ad hoc basis.
To access the QBS Parent Directory you will need to log into Gateway and then follow this sequence of tabs:
- Select Documents tab once you have logged into Gateway
- Select the School Documents tab
- Select the QBS Parent Directory folder (all QBS class groups will be located within this folder)
PTA News
Thank You
To all our new QBS parents, committee members, teachers and staff who attended the New Parents Cocktail and AGM last night. It was an enjoyable evening and great to meet you all over cocktails. We hope that the AGM has given you an in depth view and perspective of the works of the PTA and support given to school in the last academic year, as well as how we hope to continue the current and forthcoming academic years.
As mentioned by our Chairman, Michelle Saad, last night:
“We are as strong as our members!”
This is your PTA!
We require your support to help us build a strong QBS community – united together we can empower our students to make a difference !
Thank you for your continued support.
Please click here to view pictures.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Pizza Sale: 13th November 2015
[Details for this event will be announced in due course.]
We welcome parent volunteers who would like to help with the event to contact us as soon as possible at mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk
“CHRISTMAS FAYRE” : 4th December 2015
Our biggest, festive and funniest event of the year is coming up soon and preparations are under way.
We are pleased to invite commercial vendors for the event. We will have limited spaces available, so if you would like to participate as a vendor, please click here to download the form and send it to the PTA office as soon as possible. All vendor spaces are available on first come first serve basis. For further queries please do not hesitate to contact Mona Diwan (PTA Coordinator) on mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk.
We are pleased to invite parents and carers to run the “international food stalls” at the event. As in the past, we encourage parents to group together and run their food stalls, selling food specialities from their countries. This year we hope to have the following stalls:
- Korean
- Japanese
- Indian
- Chinese
- Malaysian
- Filipino
- Italian
- European
So if you would like to head your food stall please contact us at mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk asap. We will liaise with you and assist you closely to make all the arrangements of supplies for the event.
PTA Shop
Shop Enquires
Please do not hesitate to contact us on ptashop@qbs.edu.hk for any shop queries you may have. Our shop volunteer will be happy to assist.
Out-of-stock Items
The PTA Shop is out of stock of the below items:
- Eco-Friendly School Bags
- Eco-Friendly Book Bags – Navy
- Eco-Friendly Book Bags – Red
- Summer cardigans: All sizes
- Trackpants: All sizes (except 38)
- Navy socks (girls & boys): Size 19/20
- 2 in 1 Windbreakers: Size: 30 & 32
- Sweatshirt: Size 34
We are experiencing a slight delay in receiving our bags as we wait to obtain proper certification of RPET fabric from the supplier mill. The tentative delivery date is now scheduled for 10th November. We apologise for the delay and will inform you once the stock is available.
Notification of status of arrival of stocks will be given in the upcoming newsletters.
Winter Uniforms
Are available for purchase now (during shop hours only). You may download the order forms from the PTA Section of the website, to place your pre-orders. All pre-orders can be collected after you receive a call from our shop volunteer.
[Please remember to bring along a bag when you come to collect your orders.]
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”.