Hillside News 1 September 2020

Hillside Kindergarten’s latest newsletter is now available to read.

Important Dates

Click HERE for the Full Hillside Calendar and instructions to subscribe.

Head of School’s Message

Dear Parents

Disclaimer: This newsletter was prepared prior to the EDB announcement. We are very excited to be welcoming the children within a month’s time and will be in touch again next week once we have the final approval of our return-to-school plan. All plans will be developed in accordance with the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) and Education Bureau (EDB) guidelines to ensure the safety of our students. 

What a start to the year! We thank you so much for your support and patience as we conclude our induction period and begin our regular class zooms. Thank you for participating in the one-on-one induction sessions in the last two weeks, we hope you found it valuable just as we did!

You would have noticed that we have launched dedicated class websites to help keep all distance learning materials centralised. We hope this will make finding all the links and information you need for your child’s distance learning easier! We would suggest families bookmark this site on their browsers/ devices for easy access. Please take a look at the video clip for a quick tour around the website.

As the class zooms begin, please allow me to reiterate these following points to help your child with distance learning:

• Routines! Routines bring security, predictability and ownership. Eat breakfast, get changed, time for school…etc.
• Ensure your child is ready and wearing appropriate clothing ahead of time. Many will want to wear their uniform, and this is a great option to bring a sense of belonging.
• Consider the space to support learning e.g. quiet space and a suitable zoom background. Be mindful of what others might see or hear! Here’s a helpful article by Leith Stewart, an occupational therapist, who has worked with children in ESF and HK for many years: Setting a suitable home space for learning, and in this post by AL-inclusive Therapy, there are some sitting options for younger children.
• Build-in “time to be and time to do” In this second article, Leith talks about why you should add play to your online learning schedule.
• Wellbeing: It’s essential to keep a balance of stagnant screen time, brain breaks, friendship, exercise, diet, hydration, rest and sleep. On this note, we have seconded coaches from ESF Sports to run sessions for each class starting from the week commencing 7 September. These are weekly live zoom sessions designed in a sequence to build up otor skills. Please refer to your class time-table for your slot.
• Make sure your child has their name showing on the zoom.
• Make sure there is no one recording the zoom to be respectful to others.

In the Parent Webinar at the start of the year, we talked about a mental shift from “How will my child learn if they’re not in school?” to “How can I ensure my child acquires the skills needed for learning anywhere?” We hope to work in partnership with our parent community in supporting our children’s learning. It is now, more than ever, that we need to come together and build strong home-school partnerships. As the saying goes “it takes a village to raise a child”!

Thank you and kind regards

Audrey
Head of School

Inspiring Futures

In accordance with our Personal Data Handling Policy, ESF Hillside and English Schools Foundation may place your child’s photos, name, school work, activities and accomplishments in our newsletters or other publications (including but not limited to our websites and social media sites).  If you would like to opt-out, please email the school office at kinder@hillside.edu.hk.