Hillside Newsletter 22 March 2019
Hillside Kindergarten’s latest newsletter is 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.
| 8-9 April | Hillside Book Fair |
| 11 April | Book Character Parade! (Last Day of Term) |
| 12 – 26 April | Easter Break |
| 29 April | First Day of Term 3 |
Principal’s Message
Dear Parents
Thank you to those of you who have attended the Bringing Active Learning Home earlier this week. At Hillside we all value the development of a positive home-school partnership, and we know that this is an overall important factor in ensuring the children’s success. We hope you were able to have some takeaways and a better understanding of the learning possibilities through the lens of the Arts. Please click HERE to access the handouts or visit your class blogs for more descriptors and information on the session.
We are very excited as ESF moves toward a “Through-Train Education System” in August 2020. Please read this latest announcement HERE.
With this move, we hope to bridge the gap between the kindergarten and primary classroom setting to ensure a smooth transition for our children. We will continue to work closely with our primary colleagues through various collaboration and development opportunities. The power of play is emphasised now more than ever, and supported with the roll-out of the new enhanced PYP curriculum framework.
We all know that playing and interacting with our children is very important and has a range of benefits; however, giving children the chance to find out and build their own knowledge is just as valuable. Play encourages a child to be imaginative and helps to increase self-confidence as the children have opportunities to try things and figure out things on their own. Here’s a short paper from the Lego Foundation on What do we mean by: Learning Through Play – “Though learning happens right from birth, you may wonder how we build more complex, higher-order skills such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and problem-solving. One approach – often overlooked – is play!” Please click HERE for the full article.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kind Regards
Audrey and the Hillside Team
Hillside Book Fair – Monday 8 April and Tuesday 9 April 2019
As parents and educators, it is important for us to foster a love of reading. With such a focus and reliance on Information Technology in our current world, it is important that we provide ample opportunities for children to connect with books (with words and pictures) rather than just text on a screen. On this note, Hillside will be hosting our book fair in partnership with Bookazine on 8 and 9 April.
Each class has been allocated a time slot on their given book fair day. In small groups, accompanied by the Class Teachers and Educational Assistants, the children will come down to the Resource Room on the ground floor (this will be the venue for our Book Fair). They will have the opportunity to browse the books on offer, and if they have money to make a book purchase, the adults in the room will assist the children to do this.
Parents are invited to join your child’s class to assist children with choosing suitable books (schedule to follow closer to the time). Parents are also very welcome to collect their child from class at a time that is convenient during the school day to purchase books. A wide range of age-appropriate fiction and non-fiction books will be available for purchase. 15% of the total books purchased will be returned to Hillside in the form of book credits, allowing us to obtain more new books for our Hillside library. Please note that it is not compulsory for your child to purchase a book – the choice is up to you.
Please feel free to visit Bookazine site to look at some of the books that might be available at our Book Fair and also to look at the price range for these children’s books. Click HERE for Bookazine link.
Funds raised through the Book Fair will be spent purchasing new titles, along with buying those everyday classic and favourite story books as our Kindergarten is now over 19 years old, many of our well-loved books in our collection really do need to be refreshed and replaced. Last year our book fair enabled us to purchase over $10,000 worth of books from Bookazine for our school library and we are hoping, through your much-appreciated support, that our Hillside book fair this year will be just as successful!!!
Hillside Book Fair – Class Visit Schedule
Monday 8 April
| AM Session | Class | PM Session |
| 9:00-9:20 | Frog | 12:45-1:05 |
| 9:25-9:45 | Dolphin | 1:10-1:30 |
| 9:45-10:30 | Open Play | 1:30-2:15 |
| 10:35-10:55 | Gecko | 2:20-2:40 |
| 11:00-11:20 | Tiger | 2:45-3:05 |
Tuesday 9 April
| AM Session | Class | PM Session |
| 9:00-9:20 | Panda | 12:45-1:05 |
| 9:25-9:45 | Monkey | 1:10-1:30 |
| 9:45-10:30 | Open Play | 1:30-2:15 |
| 10:35-10:55 | Dragon | 2:20-2:40 |
| 11:00-11:20 | Turtle | 2:45-3:05 |
Hillside Book Character Parade – Thursday 11 April 2019
As a fun way to conclude our Book Celebration Week and End of Term 2, we will be having a Book Character Parade. This will take place on Thursday 11 April. We would like, if possible, all of the children to come to school on this day dressed as a character from a book/story that they enjoy. Costumes do not need to be elaborate or detailed – just something fun (and safe) for the children to wear (please note all children will need to have suitable footwear on this day as the parade will take place in our outside play area).
Unfortunately, due to space limitations in our outdoor play area, we will not be able to accommodate parents and caregivers at the parade – however, we can be sure of lots of photos being taken and uploaded onto the class blogs!!
K1 Leavers – Withdrawal Notice
If your child is currently in K1 and you have decided that your child will not be continuing at Hillside for K2, it would be appreciated if you could let us know as soon as possible to assist us with our planning. Please submit a completed Withdrawal Notice Form (available HERE) to the kindergarten at least two months prior to your child’s last day of school. The debenture will not be redeemed without the two-month advance notice of withdrawal. It is the parents’ responsibility to confirm with individual kindergartens the receipt of the Withdrawal Notice Form.
If you do have any questions please do not hesitate to contact our Senior Administrator, Jasmine Lau, by phone or by email admissions@hillside.edu.hk for assistance.
For K2 students who are graduating by the end of June, there is no need to submit the withdrawal notice and the debenture certificate.
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 | |
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
