15 Sep 2017

Hillside Newsletter 15 September 2017

Hillside Kindergarten’s latest newsletter 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.

 1-30 September Application period for the 2018-19 Year 1 Admissions (current K2s) 

Application period for the 2018-19 K1 Admissions (2015 births) 
2-6 October Mid-Term Break
10 November Sports Day (venue: Bradbury School)
15 January 2018 Theatre Trip: The Gruffalo
Principal’s Message

Dear Parents

As I write this newsletter I am currently in Bandung, Indonesia undertaking an IB School Evaluation visit. I always enjoy visiting other schools across the Asia-Pacific region as it provides me with new ideas and options about how we can continue to enhance our program at Hillside. At the same time, these visits often reaffirm to me that Hillside is a truly outstanding school, offering a wonderful Early Years educational program delivered by a team of highly qualified and dedicated staff.

Thank you to those of you who have attended the Home-School Partnership and the Introduction to the Primary Years Programme (PYP) parent session last week. At Hillside we all value the development of a positive partnership, and we know that this is an overall important factor in ensuring the children’s success. Please click HERE to access the presentations for your information.

I would also like to thank all of our staff for working so hard to create a stimulating and welcoming learning environment for the children. At Hillside we are committed to working collaboratively with the children, parents and staff as we strive to meet the ESF and Hillside Mission Statement:

Our mission is to inspire creativity and nurture the global citizens and leaders of the future. We will do this by creating joyful learning environments, led by a community of exceptional teachers, who bring out the best in every child through a personalized approach to learning and by inspiring curious minds.

Professional Development Days for Hillside Staff – School Closure Days

To ensure that we offer the highest quality educational programme here at Hillside, it is essential that we provide high quality and regular professional development for all staff. It is ESF policy to provide at least 5 days of Professional Development for staff and the following dates have been set this year for to undertake professional development. The entire Hillside Staff will be undertaking a CPD day this Saturday, with Anne Van Dam, who is an experienced Early Years and IB PYP educator. We will be looking at “The Skilful Practitioner: Noticing Children’s Development in Play.”
Please make note of these dates as the Kindergarten will be closed on each of the following days:

• Saturday, 16 September 2017
• Friday, 20 October 2017
• Thursday, 15 February 2018
• Monday, 30 April 2018
• Monday, 21 May 2018

In addition to the above dates, the Kindergarten will be closed for children on Friday, 26 January 2018 as all staff will be involved in the Admissions Interview process for the 2018/19 K1 intake.

ESF 50th Anniversary Marathon

The ESF 50th Anniversary Marathon is the major community engagement event organized by the English Schools Foundation (ESF) among the 50th-anniversary calendar of events. It will be comprised of a running course of 1km to 10km along the Central Harbour front, with adjacent community activities and carnival at Edinburgh Place in Central. For full details, please refer to the event poster HERE.

SAVE THE DATE: Hillside Sports Fun Day – Friday, 10 November

We cordially invite all parents to join us at our annual Hillside Sports Fun Day on Friday, 10 November at Bradbury School). The day will begin at 09:00AM for all children (both morning and afternoon classes) with a welcome and a warm up. Please do not arrive before 08:45AM so that we have time to set all the activities and equipment on the pitches before the children arrive. The day will conclude around 11:15AM with a break built into the rotational activities to rest those little bodies. Parents can also take their child for a break whenever they feel their child may need one.
Due to both the AM and PM classes coming together for this event we will have reached the maximum number of participants allowed on the pitch, therefore we do not have the capacity for additional children (such as siblings) to attend. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding with this request.

Please note: We will meet all families at the Bradbury School, and there will be no classes operating at Hillside and no school bus service on this date. More information will follow closer to the event.

SAVE THE DATE: Theatre Trip for Hillside – “Kids Fest 2018” – Monday, 15 January

We have received information from HK ‘Kids Fest’ 2018 about an upcoming opportunity for the Hillside children to see a live theatre production. Over a number of past years, Hillside children, staff and parents have attended this event and we have always found the live theatre productions to be of an extremely high standard, along with being well targeted to the age group of our children.

We are pleased to inform you that we have secured a booking for the entire theatre (for both the Hillside AM and PM sessions) to see the production titled The Gruffalo. The date for Hillside to attend this production is Monday, 15 January 2018. We believe this will be a great experience for our children and we are excited to be able to accommodate the whole school to see this production on one day!

We will meet all attending families directly at the venue; please do not come to the Kindergarten on that day and the school buses will not operate. The show runs for approximately an hour. The morning families are invited to the 9:45 show and the afternoon families are invited to the 12:00noon show.

We get a special school discount price of $215 for each ticket. We will start taking bookings later this term. More information will follow closer to the event.

ESF Year 1 Admissions for the 2018-19 academic year (K2 only)

A kind reminder to all K2 parents, Year 1 application period is from 1st – 30th September 2017. An auto-acknowledgement email containing your application reference number will be sent upon online submission on http://www.esf.edu.hk/application-form

The deadline to lodge an application for an ESF Year 1 place is the 30th September 2017.
Don’t forget to send all supporting documents requested to ESF Centre by 6th October 2017.

Please note you will be required to submit a “copy of one of your child’s kindergarten reports.” If you didn’t save it last year, you can still login to Gateway to print or save it as a PDF under the ARR section.

ESF K1 Admissions for the 2018-2019 academic year (for children born in 2015)

The ESF K1 application period for the 2018-2019 academic year is from 1st – 30th September. To apply you will need to complete the online application via the ESF Kindergarten website. As a place at Hillside is in such high demand, please make sure you APPLY ON-TIME on http://www.esf.edu.hk/kindergartens-application-form/. Late applications are always processed after the on-time applications – and this is also the case for a late sibling applications. Please also remind your friends (who may be seeking a K1 place for their child in the 2018/19 academic year) about this important application process.

Don’t forget to send all supporting documents to ESF International Kindergarten Hillside by 6th October 2017.

Parking Reminder

Can we please remind parents and care-givers that drive their children to and from Hillside to please be aware of where you are parking and to not park in the grounds of Bradbury School or in front of the Exit gates of either Bradbury School or Hillside Kindergarten. Please do not leave your car parked on Stubbs Road for extended periods when dropping off your child as we all know there are very limited parking places. Parking is always going to problematic given our location on Stubbs Road and we thank you in advance for your cooperation with this request.

ESF After School Programs at Hillside Kindergarten

I’d like to introduce you to the after school classes offered by ESF Language & Learning and ESF Sports. The Clever Cubs and Bright Bears English Kindergarten programs complement students’ learning at the kindergarten and are also play-based, focusing on developing English communication skills to give greater confidence in the language. Students learn English through conversation, role-play, rhymes and stories using everyday topics that are familiar to help comprehension. There’s an emphasis on pronunciation and the expansion of vocabulary. Phonics and grammar are developed in a progressive curriculum. There’s also a Drama class for the more theatrical students and those wanting to develop their self-confidence in speaking and expressing themselves. For budding little linguists, there are also Spanish classes for kindergarten students on Saturdays which is a fun, gentle introduction to a new language.

Please visit the website www.esf.org.hk for class details and enrollment.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Kind Regards
Chris
Principal

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
Parent Volunteer Sign-up

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

Recent News

ESF K1 Central Application
Posted on23 Aug 2021