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Kowloon Junior School - ESF https://www.kjs.edu.hk/newsletter-12-09-18/ Export date: Sat Apr 20 10:04:40 2024 / +0000 GMT |
Newsletter- 12/09/18 Kowloon Junior School's latest newsletter is available to read now. Dates for Your DiaryFriday 14 September KJS Lantern Festival & PTA AGM 5:00pm Tuesday 18 September ESF Secondary Music Festival Wednesday 19 September Scholastic Order Deadline Monday 24 September Staff Continuous Professional Development Day - No school Tuesday 25 September Mid Autumn Festival - No school Monday 1 October National Day - No school Wednesday 3 October Parent Workshop: Your Child and Technology 15 to 19 October Mid Term Break - No school 29 October to 1 November Photo Days 1 November 3-Way Conference (after school) Monday 5 November Staff Continuous Professional Development Day - No school Wednesday 7 November Y1 Immunization Friday 9 November Quiz Night / Bingo Night 15 and 16 November School Musical 19 to 21 November Y4 Camp Friday 2 November ESF Orchestra Day 27 to 30 November Y5 Camp 3 to 7 December Y6 Camp Friday 14 December Last day of term - half day 17 December to 4 January Term Break - No school Monday 7 January First day of Term 2 Friday 11 January Y6 Immunization Dear Parents, I had the pleasure of attending a mini conference in New Zealand over the last 5 days with 15 exceptional educators from around the country. I have been meeting with these leading lights in NZ education for 12 years and every time I meet with them I come away challenged, refreshed and inspired. Our first speaker was Chris Clay Friday and he challenged us to think about true collaboration to maximise teachers and EA skills and knowledge and ‘Powerful Knowledge', making school a place where knowledge and learning is so powerful that it opens the mind to things children cannot access if they didn't go to school. The group also explored the power of the arts, wellbeing for staff and children and student agency. I have returned challenged and inspired to continue to make KJS a success for every child through the lens of AAROW. In my absence we had wonderful learning continuing across the school as evidenced in our curriculum updates. The PTA and School Council met over the last week. The PTA continue to work tirelessly to support the school and we have the PTA AGM coming up this Friday at the Lantern Festival so please come along and support your child and your school. At the School Council meeting we shared with the Council the ‘Wellbeing Plan' for the year ahead, the progress we have made toward our academic goals and a raft of other initiatives. You may be aware our goal is to have 95% of our children leaving KJS ‘at' or ‘above' their chronological age by Year 6 based on InCAS results (we are also developing other measures to complement InCAS). We made a 7% gain in 2017/18 and have moved to 87% achieving ‘at' or ‘above' so we are well on the way to our goal! We also shared the very positive qualitative data following our first two weeks focus on relationship and wellbeing. The results have affirmed our belief that spending the first two weeks engaging children in meaningful learning experiences and getting to know them as children rather than testing them, creates a more productive, trusting and healthy learning environment. Speaking of healthy learning environments please see the very important workshop below coming up in October. This is a must with Kevin Tibble from ESF coming to support you to keep your child safe online. Get in early as places are limited and we know Kevin's workshops have been extremely well received at other ESF schools. Kind regards 亲切的问候, सधन्यवाद Neill O'Reilly Principal Parent WorkshopWorkshop title: Your Child and Technology (how to take back control!) Date/Time: 3 October 5:00-6:30pm Workshop information: In this workshop we will look at how to setup basic device control and content filtering to limit the length of time your child spends using their device and to reduce the chance they view inappropriate material. This will be a very interactive, hands on learning opportunity. To get the most out of this workshop we are asking parents to please bring any mobile devices your children currently use (excluding laptops). Please sign up via gateway or click here.  IMPORTANT: Y6 to Y7 Transfer ApplicationThis is an important reminder to all Y6 parents. If you wish your child to transfer to an ESF secondary school, you are required to submit a transfer application for Year 7 (available only on Gateway 1) by Friday 14 September 2018. If you no longer require a Y7 place for your child at an ESF secondary school, please continue to login to Gateway to indicate you do not require a place.  Applications are processed according to current residential address at the time of application; change of residential address following submission of application and prior to entry to Year 7 will not be considered. For further details, please refer to the information available on the ESF website at http://www.esf.edu.hk/year6-to-year7-key-dates/ 2 for key dates and http://www.esf.edu.hk/esf-zones 3 for school zones. Message from Y4 TeamDear parents/guardians, As part of our learning and inquiry into how consumer choices affect people's lives and the environment, the Year 4 students and teachers would like to ask you to place any plastic waste from your Mid-Autumn Festival PTA picnic in the plastic only waste bins. You will see these signs on bins around the playground:  Thank you very much for your support! We are looking forward to seeing all of our KJS families this Friday evening. NEW Extra Curricular Club on offer!Tournament of the Minds offers teams of students the opportunity to solve authentic, open-ended challenges that foster creative, divergent thinking whilst developing collaborative enterprise, excellence and teamwork. If your child is in Year 5 or 6 and would like to join a KJS TOM team please sign up on gateway. This year we will be focusing on the Social Sciences/STEM challenge, which will lead up to a HK competition in March. The sign up will open on Friday at 3pm. PTA UpdateLantern Festival and Annual General Meeting  The Lantern Festival and our PTA Annual General Meeting is on Friday 14 September 2018 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. We are looking for volunteers to help us.  If you can help, please let us know at pta@kjs.edu.hk. On Friday, the PTA will set up for the Lantern Festival and the AGM from 4:00pm to 5:00pm in the playground and the school hall. The AGM will be held from 5:00pm to 5:30pm in the school hall. The Lantern Festival will begin from 5:30pm onwards in the playground. The Lantern Parade will begin from 6:00pm; please inform the children to follow the instructions given by the teachers and stay with the group as they move along the parade.  This will be a family affair; please come along with your children, grandparents, aunties and other members of your family. Please note that this will be an alcohol-free event.  Bring along a picnic mat, some refreshments and a reusable bottle of water - bottles can be refilled at our water stations. We are making a stronger effort at making our school green and sustainable; let's be mindful of the waste we create. We suggest the children make their own Lanterns and avoid single-use plastic.  We look forward to seeing you and your families on Friday. Thank you. Student Success |
