Hillside Newsletter 3 November 2017
Hillside Kindergarten’s latest newsletter available to read now. Find out the latest news from around the school and upcoming events.
Important Dates
Click HERE for the Full Hillside Calendar and instructions to subscribe.
| 10 November 2017 | Sports Day (Bradbury School upper and lower playground) |
| 6 December 2017 | ESF 50th Anniversary Gala (HK Convention and Exhibition Centre) |
| 14 December 2017 | Last Day of Term |
| 8 January 2017 | School Resumes for Term 2 |
| 15 January 2018 | Theatre Trip: The Gruffalo (HK Academy of Performing Arts) |
Principal’s Message
Dear Parents
Thank you to those of you who were able to attend the Parent Teacher Conferences held these last two weeks. We’ve moved the conferences to this time of the year to give the K1s a bit more time to settle and the K2s time before the Y1 interviews to look at next steps. We hope you found it helpful.
One of the tasks I have as Principal of Hillside is to prepare an Annual Report for the past academic year. As I wrote this report I was amazed at how much we did and achieved at Hillside in the last academic year. I believe in keeping our parents fully informed and I thought rather than write about the report in this newsletter we would share a copy for your information – I hope you find the Hillside International Kindergarten Annual Report to be informative and entertaining. Please click HERE to view the full Annual Report 2016/17.
We have shared Hillside’s Key Development Priorities for 2017/18 with those who attended the Home-School Partnership and the Introduction to the Primary Years Programme (PYP) parent sessions. At Hillside we all value the development of positive partnership, and we know that this is an overall important factor in ensuring the children’s success. Please click HERE to access the presentations for your information.
If you do have any questions after reading our reports, please do not hesitate in getting in contact with me.
NEXT FRIDAY: Hillside Sports Fun Day – Friday, 10 November
We cordially invite all parents to join us at our annual Hillside Sports Fun Day on Friday, 10 November at Bradbury School – utilizing Bradbury’s upper playground for K2 children and the and lower playground for K1 children).
The day will begin at 9:00AM for all children (both morning and afternoon classes) with a welcome and a warm up. Please do not arrive before 8:45AM so that we have time to set all the activities and equipment in Bradbury’s upper and lower playgrounds before the children arrive. The day will conclude around 11:15AM with a break built into the rotational activities to rest those little bodies. Parents can also take their child for a break whenever they feel their child may need one. Don’t forget to bring a snack and a drink for break time!
Due to both the AM and PM classes coming together for this event, we, unfortunately, do not have the capacity for additional children (such as siblings) to attend this event. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding with this request.
Please note: We will meet all families at the Bradbury School, and there will be no classes operating at Hillside and no school bus service on this date. More information will follow closer to the event.
SPORTS FUN DAY CLASS T-SHIRTS
We would like the children to wear a coloured t-shirt to add to the atmosphere on the day. Please have your child wear a (predominantly) plain, coloured t-shirt to the event according to the list below. The t-shirts do not have to be identical!
| DOLPHINS | PINK | GECKO | YELLOW | |
| PANDA | WHITE | DRAGON | RED | |
| MONKEY | PURPLE | TIGER | ORANGE | |
| FROG | GREEN | TURTLE | BLUE |
Parent Workshop – Young Learners and Technology
You are cordially invited to a parent workshop on “Young Learners and Technology” that will be held on Wednesday, 22 November, from 1-2pm at Hillside. In this parent workshop, our ESF Learning Technology Advisor, Kevin Tibble will share some ideas with us on the effective use of technology and how to approach this important skill with young learners.
Please call the Hillside office on 2540-0066 to reserve a place if you wish to attend this workshop.
We are planning to offer more parent workshops throughout the school year and would appreciate if you could help us by completing a survey to express your interest. Click HERE to access the survey.
Parent Volunteers
Thank you for all the recent parent participation and volunteers, we are very fortunate to have so many parents assisting us to enhance teaching and learning opportunities and also making it even safer for the children by providing us with an extra hand, as well as keeping an extra eye.
Please be reminded to limit your number of sign-ups to allow all parents an opportunity on the rosters throughout the term.
At Hillside regular volunteering opportunities include:
- “Open Play” Time Parent Volunteer – Parents who wish to come along during this time have the choice of being stationed at an activity or spending the time with their child. This part of the session is approximately 60 minutes in length (10:00-11:00 / 13:45-14:45).
- Mystery Reader – Parents who wish to read stories to your child’s class can sign-up to be a “mystery reader”, please refer to the sign-up below for specific dates and times.
Please also read important information on the Parent Volunteer Guidance Notes. Please click HERE for the guidance notes.
K2 Friday Assembly and Learner Profile Awards
Last Friday, Vice Principal Audrey Tang and I commenced our regular weekly assembly with the children in K2. Our focus for the first assembly was learning how we need to behave in an assembly setting (such as sitting quietly, listening to the speaker at the front, not calling out and participating in the assembly songs and dances). For their first assembly, both the AM and PM class did a wonderful job and Audrey and I were impressed with the high level of attention displayed by the children.
As an IB PYP school we strive to help every child develop a set of personal attributes called the ‘Learner Profile’. These ten attributes are:
Inquirers, Thinkers, Communicators, Risk-takers, Knowledgeable, Principled, Caring, Open-Minded, Balanced and Reflective
Each week the K2 teachers will nominate two to four children from each AM and PM class that have demonstrated a particular attribute of the Learner Profile. We recognise the children for their efforts by presenting them with a Learner Profile certificate at assembly.
ESF 50th Anniversary Gala
To celebrate the ending of the 50th Anniversary celebrations, ESF is holding a Gala Dinner on the evening of 6 December at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in Wan Chai. We are hoping that this final event of our 50th Anniversary calendar will be a joyous occasion to end a year of celebration with the entire ESF community. Kindly refer to attachment for the e-poster (click HERE) of the upcoming ESF 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner.
Details of the Gala Dinner:
Date: Wednesday, 6 December 2017
Time: 7:00pm (Reception begins at 6pm)
Venue: Grand Ballroom, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC)
Early Bird Price: $1,700 (early bird offer valid until 1st November 2017)
Sales of tickets are already available through ESF website at http://www.esf.edu.hk/gala
Amount raised through the recent ‘Dress Casual Day Fundraiser’ held at Hillside on Thursday, 12 October 2017
Dress Casual Day celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year and Hillside decided to support this well- established fundraiser. Since its debut in 1993, Dress Casual Day has successfully raised more than HK$410 million with the generous support of over 9 million accumulated participants. Of this, nearly HK$209 million was raised through the education sector, accounting for 51% of the total donations.
Hillside families generously supported the Dress Casual Day and the total amount raised was $28,700. All donations received from the Hillside community have been directed to community support projects that have an impact on improving the lives and welfare of children in Hong Kong. As always we thank our generous Hillside community for supporting this important and worthwhile community fundraising event.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Kind Regards
Chris
Principal
Class Blogs
Please click on the links below to visit our class blogs on the Hillside Learning Hub for your child’s latest class news and photo gallery. Please contact kinder@hillside.edu.hk if you cannot access the Learning Hub.
| Dolphin | Dragon |
| Frog | Gecko |
| Monkey | TigerAM TigerPM |
| Panda | Turtle |
| Chinese | |
| Parent Volunteer Sign-up | |
Inspiring Futures
Data Privacy The information we collect from you is in accordance with the ESF Personal Data Handling Policy and its related Personal Information Collection Statements (“PICS”). Our PICS statement is available online. http://www.esf.edu.hk/privacy
