Hillside Newsletter 6 September 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.
| 12 September | K2 Meet the Teacher (Rescheduled) |
| 24 September | Parent Workshop: Introduction to PYP |
| 30 September | ESF-wide CPD Day (School Closed) |
| 2 October | Parent Workshop: Importance of Open Play |
| 7-11 October | Mid-term Break |
Principal’s Message
Dear Parents
We have had a wonderful start to the new school year. The K2 floor is buzzing with energy and the children are ready to learn, whilst the majority of the K1s have settled well into the new routines with just a handful of new children still adjusting to the new environment. Thank you for your support in making this smooth start to the academic year.
It was also wonderful to see so many K2 Hillside parents at the ESF Year 1 Admissions information session held at ESF Centre. I appreciated the opportunity to talk to many of you at the event and hope you found the information helpful.
We would like to request parents to please inform us if a change needs to be made to your child’s going home routines. For example, if your child is being collected as a ‘walker’ instead of going on the bus home please do write a note in your child’s diary or call us on 2540-0066 (NOT EMAIL) to inform us of this arrangement. Please also inform the bus company to ensure the bus helper of your child’s bus will be informed. It is very important for you to inform us as soon as possible, for any changes to normal going home routines.
On this note, please be reminded to always have your pick-up cards with you when you collect your child at school or from the school bus for safety reasons.
If you drive your children to school, please be reminded not to park in front of the Hillside or Bradbury exit gates. Please keep in mind of parking etiquettes and that we are in a school zone. Be swift and no unnecessary honking. Parking is always going to problematic given our location and limitations on Stubbs Road, and we thank you in advance for your cooperation with this request.
Have a lovely weekend.
Kind Regards
Audrey
Acting Head of School
ESF K1 and Y1 Admissions 2020-2021 Academic Year
Y1 Admissions (2015 births): A kind reminder to all K2 parents, ESF Year 1 application period is from 1 – 30 September. Applications will close on 30 September. An auto-acknowledgement email containing your application reference number will be sent upon online submission on http://www.esf.edu.hk/application-form Don’t forget to upload all supporting documents requested by 8 October 2019.
K1 Admissions (2017 births): The ESF K1 application period is from 1 – 30 September. Applications will close on 30 September. This is the first cohort of children entering K1 to benefit from the ESF K-13 Through-train System. They will be guaranteed a place at an ESF primary school, providing they are able to benefit from a mainstream, English education.
To apply you will need to complete the online application via the ESF Kindergarten website. Please make sure younger siblings APPLY ON-TIME on http://www.esf.edu.hk/kindergartens-application-form/. Don’t forget to upload all supporting documents requested by 8 October 2019.
On this note, we will be conducting our play visit/interviews for our 2020/21 K1 intake in January 2020. Please note that this will be a school closure day for current Hillside students. The reason for having a school closure day is to enable us to conduct the majority of our K1 play visits / interviews on one day, rather than spreading them over a three-week period as this causes major disruptions to regular classroom programs (as teachers need to be constantly released from teaching duties to conduct the play visits/interviews).
Hillside Learning Hub
We would like to introduce our new families to the “Hillside Learning Hub” (https://hshub.hillside.edu.hk). We hope this will be a more convenient way, for parents and teachers, to share the children’s learning journey. You will be able to access your child’s individual ePortfolio and reports via an authenticated link whenever a teacher updates your child’s records.
You will also find learning blogs on the platform along with parent participation sign-ups. The sign-up forms are not open until late September.
Parents can access all general school information via our school website https://www.hillside.edu.hk/ Helpful info includes: school calendar (subscribe!), old newsletter archives, weather and medical matters.
You can access the Learning Hub via ESF Gatewayand clicking on VLE. Please contact us on kinder@hillside.edu.hk if you any difficulties accessing these platforms.
K2 Meet the Teacher (Rescheduled)
We cordially invite those K2 parents who would like to meet their child’s teacher to come along to Hillside on Thursday, 12 September to say hello and see their child’s classroom from 4.15-5.00pm.
Please note: This “meet and greet” session is intended to serve as an informal opportunity for parents to meet your child’s new teacher and see their new classroom. It is not intended to be a time to discuss your child’s progress formally. Parents are not required to make an appointment.
Parent Workshops
The Introduction to the Primary Years Program (PYP)
When: Tuesday, 24 September, 1-2pm; Where: Hillside
This is an opportunity for you to learn more about the curriculum and our PYP Program of Inquiry.
To attend the sessions, please call the Hillside office to reserve your place, but note that once a session reaches “capacity”, we will add you to our waiting list for possible openings or you may be asked if you can come on another day. The slides for our parent presentations will be shared at a later time with parents.
The Importance of Open Play
When: Wednesday, 2 October, 4-5pm; Where: Hillside
This workshop aims to demonstrate what active learning looks like at Hillside, particularly during our Open Play time. We hope parents will take away ideas on how to support and extend learning at home.
We will share different learning opportunities with parents and explain the learning intention behind each one (with the aim of enabling parents to reinforce and extend their child’s learning at home). We hope that this parent workshop will provide parents in attendance with a bank of ideas and activities to do with their child at home.
What Matters: Effects and Side Effects of Education
When: Saturday, 7 September, 9-10:30am; Where: Quarry Bay School
We are delighted to be in the position to offer to our ESF parents’ community, Prof Yong Zhao’s following Keynote: ” What Matters: Effects and Side Effects of Education “. In this presentation, Professor Yong Zhao brings extensive evidence to show that every child has both potential and need to become great. To help each and every child achieve their greatness, we need a different kind of education that focuses on enhancing the unique strengths and passion of each child. Education is to help each and every child discover and develop their strengths and passions with the goal to create value for others and the world. To do so, we need to make education personalizable by the child, instead of personalized for the child.
This is on a first-come, first-served – maximum 300 places Registration link: http://bit.ly/Zhao_2019
Uniform Swap
At Hillside, we are taking steps in becoming an ‘eco-friendly school’ by minimising the impact of our human footprint on our planet. As such, we would like to provide a forum for interested parents to connect and recycle their “too small” uniform items.
If you are interested to buy, sell or giveaway second-hand uniform, please leave a post HERE to connect with other parents.
Learning Blogs
Please click on the links below to visit our year group learning blogs on the Hillside Learning Hub. Please contact kinder@hillside.edu.hk if you cannot access the Learning Hub.
| K1 Learning | K2 Learning |
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
