Hillside News 5 October 2020
Hillside Kindergarten’s latest newsletter is now available to read.
Important Dates
Click HERE for the Full Hillside Calendar and instructions to subscribe.
| 5 October | All Classes Resume to Normal 3-hours |
| 19-23 October | Term Break |
Head of School’s Message
Dear Parents
We hope you’ve had a nice long weekend! And for those of you who celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, we wish the round moon brings your family happiness and good health.
Diversity Calendar
At Hillside, we foster an environment where we celebrate individuality and diversity. Hence, awareness and inclusion is a daily practice. On this note, we want to be respectful and inclusive when creating our calendar. Please share any key festivals or celebrations from your culture with us HERE to help us put together our diversity calendar. Some of the local celebrations will still be included in our school calendar to make connections with the local culture, but we are committed to being multicultural and inclusive.
Bus Update
Over the past few days, we have been liaising with Kwoon Chung (KCM), our outsourced bus company. From our understanding, all families who have signed up for the bus service over the summer or before the start of the school year have a secured bus place already. At the moment, all the Hillside buses are fully subscribed, apart from the South Side bus. To accommodate new subscriptions from September onwards, KCM will need some time to re-assign larger buses and re-route some of the bus lines; hence, they have yet to confirm the final start date for these new sign-ups.
Knowing KCM services numerous schools across Hong Kong, we have requested that they pay attention to details, particularly those to do with safety concerns. For example, all parties holding the most up-to-date and accurate information: name lists, bus timetables, and bus stops. We also provided feedback on communication – while we appreciate that they are inundated with enquiries, it is important to maintain and provide timely communication.
Every start of the school year, we observe that it will take some time for the city to absorb the school traffic, and for everyone to adjust to the bus routes and routines. We will continue to follow-up with KCM as we work through the bus arrangements, and we ask you to please bear with us in the interim.
HK Government’s Student Grant Scheme
The Hong Kong government recently announced that every student is eligible to receive a HK$2,500 Student Grant. Click here to read the full letter. Please note that ESF is working with the EDB on a centralised arrangement for ESF schools and will be able to provide more information to you over the next few days.
ESF App Transition
We now have 100% app signups! We will be sending whole school or group messages via the app from now on and we will progressively add links to enhance the use of the app. However, the best way to communicate 1:1 with your child’s teacher remains a normal email. For any urgent messages, the best way is to call us on 2540 0066.
It has been lovely to see all the happy faces returning to school, and I look forward to getting to work with all the children in person!
Thank you as always,
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.
