Work With Us

9 Oct 2015

Newsletter 8/2015-16

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
 QBS Parent Directory
 Parent Classroom Volunteers at QBS
 Year 1
 So You Think You Can Dance
 Donation to Philippines in Oct 2015
 Important Safety Message
 Launch of ESF Strategic Plan 2015-2020
 PTA News

Principal’s Comments

QBS PTA Shake and Shimmer Disco

Well done to all of our dancers at the Shake and Shimmer Disco! It was a lovely evening for the children and they seemed to have lots of fun. We also enjoyed the finalists from the QBS So You Think You Can Dance Competition. Thank you to the PTA for their organisation and those regular parent helpers for making it happen. I’d also like to recognise the QBS staff for their support too.

QBS PTA

This hard-working group of parents keep our school community going and always need willing volunteers for events and activities at school. Please consider being part of their work at QBS. The PTA are the group who put the ‘icing on the cake’ in our school and we couldn’t do things without them. The QBS PTA have previously pledged $2.5million HKD for the Learning Centre redevelopment and will continue to respond to needs of our school. Suggestions from parents for things such as the purchase of more mosquito machines, a better outdoor sound system and outdoor stage lighting for concerts are the types of things the PTA would fundraise for so this important group need people to support, get involved and get things done.

The annual AGM is approaching and new parent members are needed for the PTA Committee. Please contact Mrs Mona Diwan (PTA Coordinator) to find out how you might become involved in the PTA.

QBS Annual Report 2014-2015

Each year we are required to report to the ESF Board on the previous academic year. This is an executive summary for board members and is required by all ESF schools. This week the QBS Annual Report 2014-2015 was ratified by the QBS School Council. If you would like to read it please click here.

QBS in Print

We thought you might like to read the articles about ESF in the October Expat Parent magazine. Click here to read about QBS.

QBS Camp Season Begins

Next week I am looking forward to going on camp with Year 6 to Outward Bound. I feel excited about sleeping in a tent, jumping from the jetty and enjoying camp food. I will be out of school from Monday through until Friday next week. During my absence Ms Sue Yee (Vice Principal Years 1-3) will be Acting Principal. Mr Andy Thompson will be Acting Vice Principal for Years 1-3 during the week as Sue will be committed to other duties. Please do not hesitate to contact them if you need assistance when I am out of school. I will be monitoring my emails but not on a regular basis next week due to camp.

Year 4 and Year 5 will have their annual camps when we return from the half term break.

Ms Jenny Van Gaalen (4V teacher) has announced some very exciting news last week. Her adoption has been confirmed and she will take leave immediately after the half term break to look after her young son. Congratulations to Jenny and all the best for the coming months from us at QBS. Jenny will return to teach 4V in January 2016. Ms Mona Abidi (Lead Teacher) will teach 4V during Ms Van Gaalen’s absence. Ms Abidi is an experienced teacher and will take good care of 4V.

Regards,

MinaD2

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)

Parent Classroom Volunteers at QBS

Dear Parents,

We are very keen to start our parent volunteer program at QBS after half term. This program is where parents volunteer some time to help the teachers in the classrooms.

All parents that wish to come into school on a regular basis to support the learning in the classroom are welcome to come to school on Wednesday 14th October between 8.30-9.00am.

This will be a short introduction to the role of the parent volunteer in the classroom and an opportunity to sign up to help in school.

Any questions regarding the meeting please contact sue.yee@qbs.edu.hk

Thanks

Year 1

As part of our Inquiry in to How We Organise Ourselves, the children in year one would like to interview professionals from the wider community to enhance their understanding of how community systems function.

We are particularly looking for a Pilot, a Chef, a Police Officer, a Fire Fighter, a hair dresser and a shop or restaurant worker.

We would like volunteers to come in to our classroom on the week commencing 26th October. Please contact Miss Brien if you know anyone who would be willing to be interviewed by the children in Year 1. brieng1@quarrybaykids.com

So You Think You Can Dance

Congratulations to the dancers who danced last night and in assembly this morning. The semi-finalists also received certificates in assembly to celebrate their achievement. A special thank you to our fantastic presenters James, Jesse and Emma who did a fantastic job of keeping the show going. Here are a few pictures of the dancers and even a picture of the special ‘Teachers’ dance’ which was a surprise for the children and one that they really enjoyed!

Dance_1 Dance_2

Donation to Philippines in Oct 2015

Dear QBS community,

Hope Of God Church Hong Kong (www.hopehk.org) collects donations of clothes and basic necessities every October for sending out to Philippines. Details are as follows:

Donation to Philippines in Oct 2015

To continue passing the care & love to Philippines people in Christmas Season, we are going to collect donation and ship to Philippines, please encourage friends and families to donate.

  • Collection Date : 12th -15th Oct 2015
  • Collection point : In the Gym of QBS
  • Item : For all ages, summer clothes, slippers and shoes, basic daily necessities, plastic utensils, toys, etc. (unbreakable items)

Remark : Kindly make sure all things are washed and cleaned.

There were total 27 boxes of donation sent out last 2 years. Thank you for your love and kind support.

Regards
Miss Katherine Ong

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:

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,

Signature_Belinda Greer

Belinda Greer
Chief Executive Officer

PTA News

“Shake & Shimmer” Disco & “So You Think You Can Dance” competition

A big thank you to all our parents attending, all our students attending and taking part in the “So You Think You Can Dance” Competition, as well as all our teacher and parent volunteers, and support and site Staff, without whom this event would not have been successful.

Last but not the least, a special appreciation to our very own Ms Ceri Hill for working hard in organising the dance competition, in which the student finalists’ performances were the highlight of the evening. So it goes without say that “QBS has Talent!”

UPCOMING EVENTS

Parents Cocktail & Annual General Meeting: 29th October 2015

This is our most important event of the year, when we invite new and existing parents to join all the teachers and PTA members for a cocktail event, followed by the Annual General Meeting.

The AGM is aimed to give all parents and teachers an overview of the past achievements and accomplishments of the PTA and School, in the past year, as well as updating all on future projects and plans.

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

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.

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”.

Recent News