Hillside Newsletter 4 April 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.
| 5 April | Public Holiday (School Closed) |
| 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
I’m starting this newsletter with a sad good-bye to our principal, Chris Duncan. You would have received a letter from our CEO explaining that Chris has decided to resign from his post last week. As some of you might know, he suffered from some heart issues in recent years. He has decided that it is the right time for him to take a step back and focus on his overall health and also spending time with his family. The Hillside team is sad to lose him, but we support his decision. Chris is inspiring as a leader and passionate as an educator, he has been just wonderful to work with, and he will be sorely missed. We wish him all the best in the new chapter of his life!
ESF Centre will be sharing new recruitment plans in due course, and in the interim, I will be the Acting Head of School to maintain consistency for the children, families and staff. Hillside will be operating as per usual, and all planned events will continue ahead. Thank you to all your encouraging words, I will continue to do my best as I take on these temporary responsibilities. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about any issues.
Enjoy the long weekend as this Friday is a public holiday!
Kind Regards
Audrey
Acting Head of School
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent-Teachers Consultations (PTC) are coming up, you will need to login to your Gateway account to book your appointment. The online sign-up will be available from Monday onwards and will close on the Friday prior to your week of PTCs. Please follow the instructions HERE on how to make a booking.
Please note classes will continue as per normal throughout the PTC weeks. The appointments are about 10-15 minutes long for each child. Please appreciate that these are the dates when we have arranged cover for teachers and we would like to keep to them as much as possible. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us on 2540-0066.
| K1 | Dolphins | Frogs | Monkeys | Pandas |
| Date | 7 May
8 May |
9 May
10 May |
9 May
10 May |
7 May
8 May |
| K2 | Dragons | Geckos | Tiger | Turtles |
| Date | 14 May
15 May |
16 May
17 May |
16 May
17 May |
14 May
15 May |
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). Don’t forget to bring the storybook along to share if you have a copy of the book.
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!!
K1s: Advance Fees for Returning Children and Leavers Withdrawl Process
For current K1 children returning in K2, you will receive an email outlining the details of payment for advance fees. The advance fees will be debited from your designated bank account on 1 August 2019 and will be used to offset September 2019 school fees. Auto-debit for school fees will commence on 1 October 2019. Please see the following link for details on the new school fees for 2019/20 https://www.esf.edu.hk/2019/03/25/fees-2019-20-hillside/
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
