Newsletter 7/2015-16
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
Parents as Partners
Y5s Taking Action to make a Difference at QBS
ISA Assessments for Year 4 & 6
Digital Citizenship Resources for Parents
Online Learning Resources
Charity News
Important Safety Message
Launch of ESF Strategic Plan 2015-2020
PTA News
Principal’s Comments
It has been a rather short week at QBS for students due to public holidays and the ESF professional development day for all staff. We look forward to the students returning to school next Monday the 5th of October. We will then only have two full weeks before our October half term break so there will be a busy fortnight ahead for all.
Please be reminded of the following key dates approaching at QBS:
- 5th of October – International Teachers’ Day (three cheers for QBS teachers)
- 7th and 8th of October – Year 4 and Year 6 ISA assessments (please see the information about ISA for parents in this edition of the eNews)
- 8th of October – QBS PTA Disco
- 12th of October to 16th of October – Year 6 Outward Bound Camp
- 14th of October – Year 1 and Year 2 Reading Workshop for Parents and Helpers
So You Think You Can Dance
Ms Hill has done another great job motivating our students to dance. Thank you Ms Hill! The last few weeks have seen many students dancing in the playground, corridors and spaces all over the school. The effort from the students to do their best through dance has been so impressive and really delightful to watch. The judges along the way have had some very difficult decisions to make. The finalists will dance for the whole school at assembly next week. Thank you for supporting this important aspect of performance and the arts.
Playground Spaces
Thank you for your continued patience with our playground refurbishment. There are two areas we look forward to having returned to us in the coming weeks. I have had a peek at the astro pitch near the old Japanese garden area and it is a wonderful addition for our students. The large area at the front of the school will remain closed through until the end of October. Once the space at the front of QBS is returned to us parents will have a much nicer environment available to them for the afternoon pick ups and waiting area during clubs. I continue to advocate for a rapid completion of all the summer playground work and thank all parents for their understanding.
Regards,
Parents as Partners
It is such a joy to see more and more parents involved in our everyday life at Quarry Bay School. We have seen parents coming in to develop Maths resources for our Y1 students to use in class. The Learning Centre has a team of parents who work alongside Anna and May on a regular basis. Several parents came along and supported our Elderly friends on their visit to our school earlier this month. So many books have been dropped off for Book Drive for Li Sing School. We have had a parent coming in to run How to Keep Healthy talks for our Y3 students. The Chinese department feel well supported by a large group of parents who have given up their time to support the Lantern Walk and then to create hundreds of Mooncakes! Many parents are signed up to come and train as our QBS Gardening Experts in late October. Some parents are preparing to come in and work with the teachers, teaching them some art skills which the teachers can then take back to their own students. It is a busy time at QBS and we are so glad the community is so involved!
Are you keen to help at QBS? Please email: mona.abidi@qbs.edu.hk
Y5s Taking Action to make a Difference at QBS
As the Y5s come to the end of their unit about Conflicts and Resolutions, they have been sharing their learning and understanding with our younger students in Y3. They are taking Action in order to make a difference at school. Class 5G have been raising awareness amongst the younger students. They decided to share a strategy which all our students can use when they face a minor conflict. Sometimes, a small problem can be sorted out between the students. This encourages our students to be more responsible and more independent. The strategy is called WITTS. See the posters they have created and shared with the Y3s. Take some time to try this strategy at home too and let your child practice at home.
ISA Assessments for Year 4 & 6
Dear Parents,
Next week, students in Year 4 and 6 will sit the International Schools’ Assessment (ISA). The assessments will take place on the 7th and 8th October, as listed on the QBS calendar . The ISA assessment has been specially developed to measure skills in mathematical literacy, reading and writing of students in international schools. ISA is based on the internationally endorsed reading and mathematical literacy frameworks of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It is designed and developed in Australia by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
ESF students have completed these assessments in previous years, and as last year, will be undertaking the reading and mathematical components as well as the writing component of the assessment. We will receive the results of the assessment early next term and will pass on information about your child to you in the form of an individual report. This will give you a detailed record of your child’s performance in relation to scales that describe increasingly advanced skills in mathematical literacy, reading literacy and writing.
Your child will complete a reading literacy test, a mathematical literacy test and two writing tests, each of which takes between 45 minutes and one hour to administer. The tests include both multiple-choice and open-ended tasks. Students do not ‘prepare’ for the tests, since they are consistent with what students learn on a regular basis through the Primary Years Programme (PYP).
Please do not hesitate to contact me if there are any questions about the testing procedures.
Mr Michael DEWEY
Vice Principal(Yr 4-6)
Digital Citizenship Resources for Parents
The well being of our children is of prime concern to us all. Technology has made increasing inroads in to the lives of our children both at home and at school. This has created both benefits but also potentially negative challenges for teachers and parents. Digital citizenship is forming a greater part of what we teach at school but we also need support from parents in monitoring their children’s use of technology outside school and in discussing and reinforcing the need to use it responsibly. To help parents in this regard, we have put some links to resources in the Digital Citizenship course in a special parents section which is accessible from the first page of Qoodle. We particularly recommend viewing the appropriate family media agreement as well as the Common Sense Media web site which contains a wealth of helpful information for parents.
Online Learning Resources
We have recently purchased a number of new online learning subscriptions from leading e-learning publishers. We have put links to these in the Online Learning Resources course on Qoodle which is accessible from the front page. The course contains login details and indications of the year groups of students which they are aimed at. Whilst we think these resources are suitable for children, some have links to external sites which might eventually lead students to inappropriate material. For this reason, parental supervision is always recommended.
Charity News
Last week the Justice Club, in connection with the Student Voice held our first dress casual day of the year. We were aiming to raise near HK$10000 to help the links we have established with:
- HK refugees
- Lai Sing Primary School
- The elderly home in Chai Wan
Our fabulous community here at QBS, again have opened their hearts and helped us to raise HK$11500. Thank you on behalf of the Justice Club and the Student Voice.
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.
Launch of ESF Strategic Plan 2015-2020
Dear parents,
ESF is moving into a new era. To prepare for this, ESF has engaged in an extensive strategic planning process involving members from the advisory committees and the ESF Board. After a year’s work, the refreshed ESF vision and mission along with the ESF Strategic Plan for 2015-2020 have now been approved by the Board and ready for launch.
Town-hall meetings to share the Plan with all of you are organised and I hope you will be able to attend:
- Monday, 5 October: ESF Centre
- Tuesday, 13 October: Renaissance College
All presentations will be held from 7 pm to 8 pm. If you wish to attend, please click here to register.
For any enquiries, please write to news@esfcentre.edu.hk.
Thank you and I look forward to seeing you at the meetings.
Yours sincerely,
Belinda Greer
Chief Executive Officer
PTA News
UPCOMING EVENTS
“SHAKE & SHIMMER DISCO” : 8th October 2015
Application forms for tickets have been sent home via the students. The deadline for submission of applications is 5th October 2015. Please send it in asap. Please click here for poster.
Parent Volunteers – Disco: If you would like to help with the Disco event, please confirm by email to mona.diwan@qbs.edu.hk specifying which area you would like to assist with.
We will be requiring your support in the following areas:
- Decorations (pre-disco)
- Bar/Drinks Counter
- Popcorn Stall
- Food Counters: Pizza / Hotdog
- Cupcake Counter (if you would like to bake cupcakes for the event please contact us asap)
Shuttle bus service for the Event:
Please click here for the shuttle bus service details. The shuttle bus service is offered in courtesy of our bus provider Jackson Coach Hire Services Ltd on selected routes only.
“CHRISTMAS FAYRE” : 4th December 2015
Our biggest, festive and fun event of the year is coming up soon and preparations are underway.
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 School Buses
* After-School Activities: have started already. You are required to inform PTA at pta@qbs.edu.hk of the days you child will not be travelling on the bus due to the after-school activity.
PTA Shop
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
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 mid-October. We apologise for the delay and will inform you once the stock is available.
Parakito Mosquito Bands
New design Bands and Refills are available for purchase now!
Winter Uniforms
Will be available for purchase from 27th October onwards. You may contact us to obtain order forms or download them from the PTA Section of the website, to place your pre-orders. All pre-orders can be collected after 27th October.
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”.