Newsletter- 19/01/24
Kowloon Junior School’s latest newsletter is available to read now.
Dates for Your Diary
8 February Chinese New Year Dress Up Day
9-19 February Term Break
21 February International Mother Language Day (Library)
29 February- 1 March Y4 Camp
4-8 March Book Week
5-7 March Book Fair
13-14 March Author Visit- Kev Payne
16 March KJS PTA School Fair
21 March Year 1 and Year 2 Fun Field Day
22 March Last Day of Term (school ends at 12:00)
9 April First Day of Term 3
Team Events
Please see below for the following team events that some of our students will be taking part in this term. As always those involved will be notified nearer the time.
6 February Kowloon Schools Cross Country Festival
23 February Kowloon Schools Basketball Festival
27 February Kowloon Schools Tag Festival
2 March ESF Cross Country Festival
15 March HKPSSA Tag Rugby Festival
16 March HKPSSA Cross Country Festival
20 March HKPSSA Basketball Festival
Principal’s Message
Dear Families,
I hope this message newsletter finds you well.
I had the opportunity to visit the ESF Centre this week, where I met with other school principals. It was amazing to connect with them and exchange ideas about the successful start to the year our pupils have had. The ESF community has a strong vision to provide the best possible experiences and education for our students, ensuring a happy and safe learning environment.
As part of our commitment to enhancing the learning experience, we are exploring new learning technologies. One of the key initiatives is the implementation of a new learning platform. This platform will enable you as parents to stay informed about your child’s week-to-week learning progress and activities here at KJS. We are excited about this opportunity to enhance communication and collaboration between home and school.
Our preparations for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration are in full swing. Students have been eagerly participating in various activities and performances to mark this important occasion. We look forward to celebrating together as a school community.
A reminder that later today, your child’s mid-year report will be sent out via the ESF app (see further information below). We hope you find them valuable in understanding your child’s development and progress so far. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher or the school office.
Lastly, I would like to remind everyone to be prepared for a change in weather next week. There is a forecasted drop in temperature, so please ensure that your children are appropriately dressed and wrapped up to stay warm and comfortable during school hours.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
Mr Gavin MacGregor
Principal
Release of Mid-Year Report
Dear KJS families,
Assessment is central to our goal of supporting students in the development of knowledge, conceptual understanding and transferable skills. One of the main goals of assessment is to have teachers and students who demonstrate assessment capability and parents and legal guardians who are informed about their child’s current learning targets and how best to support them in making progress. We aim to involve teachers and students collaboratively in monitoring, documenting, measuring and reporting on learning. This collaboration in turn helps to develop our students as reflective thinkers who are increasingly able to identify their own strengths and areas for development, taking initiative and action to set and achieve personal targets.
Our mid-year reports serve as one aspect of our multiple reporting opportunities throughout the year, along with 3-way conferences, student led conferences and unit reporting.
Details:
¨ Your child’s report will be available via the app on Friday (19 January) after 5pm.
¨ To access the report please follow these instructions.
We strongly encourage you to sit with your child and review the report. This will hopefully lead to some useful discussions around your child’s strengths and stretches.
Kind regards,
The KJS Senior Leadership Team
Chinese New Year Celebrations
Dear KJS families,
xīn nián kuài lè
As Chinese New Year approaches, we wanted to let you know that children are invited to wear traditional Chinese clothing or anything red to school on Thursday, February 8th. If they do not have red or Chinese clothing please send them to school in their regular KJS uniform.
Our Chinese New Year celebrations that week will consist of a whole school assembly, a performance from a local Lion Dance troupe and of course all of the ongoing cultural celebrations taking place during Mandarin lessons. We will be sure to get photos and videos uploaded to our KJS community Facebook page.
Warm Regards,
Mrs. Doucette and the Chinese team!
Message from School Nurse
Finally we come to the cooler time of the year with a nice breeze and colder weather!
Unfortunately, with colder weather comes coughs, colds, runny noses, and fevers. As
informed by CHP, Hong Kong has entered the 2023/2024 winter influenza season. We would
like to ask parents to check your child’s body temperature and any symptoms before coming
to school.
Please keep children home from school for the following symptoms and remain out until the
symptoms have stopped for 48 hours (without the use of medicine):
■ Temperature of 37.5 °C or higher
■ Diarrhoea or Vomiting
■ Suspicious undiagnosed rash and/or itch
■ Frequent, congested cough
■ Yellow or green drainage from nose and/or eyes
It may indicate your child may be carrying something contagious.
Thank you for helping us to build a healthier and safer environment in our school.
Parents Talks
Emotional Regulation
Have you noticed why children sometimes have difficulty managing their emotions when they are upset or anxious? It’s common for babies to cry, toddlers to tantrum and occasionally for primary school students to explode like a ferocious volcano. This is how they communicate their feelings and needs when feeling stressed.. Even as grown ups, we at times will verbally express our discontent when we are exasperated when things don’t go according to our plan.
Feeling discombobulated can make us feel helpless as our strong emotions get the best of us. Anger, frustration, sadness and anxiety are some of the powerful emotions that everyone experiences from time to time when faced with challenging situations. Our intense emotions not only affect how we function throughout the course of the day but our perception and understanding of the situation we’re facing. These emotions serve as an important barometer of our internal states and how to best respond to a situation. For children, this can affect how they feel about being at school, dealing with friends and most of all, their sense of selves.
This presentation will focus on how emotions play a significant role in our daily lives and its primary function in regulating one’s emotional state. A quick overview of Zone of Regulation also will be presented to help parents understand how we can help them develop age appropriate skills in making decisions by acknowledging and managing their emotions.
Date: 7 February 2024
Location: Kowloon Junior School, 1st Floor Library
Time: 3-3:45pm
Attendees: KJS parents
Facilitator: Ian Ong, Student Counsellor
Light refreshments will be provided
*Registration through the gateway will open at 4pm on Monday 15 January and close on Monday, 5th February at 4pm (Under “Activity” on Gateway)
Flexible Thinking in Children
We certainly heard about the benefits of thinking outside the box and being creative in finding novel solutions. Flexible thinking follows that same notion. It is an adaptive process that we teach children so they are able to develop important skills such as assessing the situation, problem solving and tolerating uncertainty. This talk dovetails the previous presentation on executive function in children and links with growth mindset.
Generally, children are resilient and hardy. Despite facing uncertain or difficult situations, they are able to find ways to cope and adjust without major worries. However, some children require extra time and patience when they transition to a new school or dealing with challenging learning tasks. Some may benefit from additional support to help them manage and sort through struggles and emotions they may encounter.
Goal: To learn more about flexible thinking and how it helps foster Growth Mindset. How can we help young learners be more adaptive when dealing with challenging situations at home, at school and in the community? Identify the benefits of teaching flexible thinking and tolerance. This endeavour is part of helping children gain important life skills to become more independent, internalise success and boost self confidence.
Date: 24 January 2024
Location: Kowloon Junior School, 1st Floor Library
Time: 3-3:45pm
Attendees: KJS parents
Facilitator: Ian Ong, Student Counsellor
Light refreshments will be provided
*Registration through the gateway will open at 4pm on Monday 8 January and close on Monday, 22rd January at 4pm (Under “Activity” on Gateway)
News from the PTA
Hello KJS Community,
The countdown and planning has started for the biggest event of the PTA calendar- the School Fair!
Saturday 16th March KJS PTA School Fair
Save the date and mark your calendars! This year, the theme is “KJS Over the Years” and we will be taking a trip down Memory Lane to look at the fabulous history of KJS.
Did you know that KJS is over 120 years old? It was first established in 1902! We have a grand history and plan to celebrate it together at the Fair.
All of the KJS community, siblings, families and alumni are welcome. More details on attending will be shared soon.
Volunteers and donations are welcome, we will need all the community’s help and support to make this a successful event. The more parents that get involved, the better this event will be.
We will have games, marketplace stalls, delicious food, music, performances, a DJ, a gardening stall, a book stall, drinks, a snack bar and some surprises!
To reflect the wonderful diversity of our school community we would like to ask parents to team up and take a table to showcase their wonderful culinary skills. The Korean families have already volunteered and we encourage other communities to also step forward with their cultural specialities.
For those kind parents who have committed to a donation, please arrange to have them sent in to the PTA Office asap so we can start organising them. If you have any questions, please contact Rekha in the PTA Office on 3765-8709 or email pta@kjs.edu.hk
Remember that all proceeds go directly back to the school and your children.
Lonnie Bedwell visits KJS- Postponed
Due to circumstances beyond our control and to a variety of factors, Lonnie Bedwell’s trip to Hong Kong that was scheduled for next week has been postponed at this time.
We are hoping to reschedule this for later in the year, but will keep you updated of the new arrangements. We are very sorry for any disappointment this may have caused but hope this project can be re-visited when his trip is reconfirmed.
Chartwells Lunch service -Ordering window now open.
15th-25th of each month.
Please remember to order your child’s meals during this time, the last day for ordering is Thursday 25 January for February meals.
Reminders have been sent to all parents via the ESF App and the Chartwells App. To ensure you get the messages, make sure your phone settings are modified to allow the notifications.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Chartwells directly via WhatsApp at 9551 6983 or email kjs@compass-hk.com. Their operating hours are Monday to Friday, from 8:00 to 17:00.
We look forward to your continued support and increasing involvement in the school. Please contact Rekha in the PTA office to drop by for a chat or coffee on any weekday during term time, we would love to get to meet each of our wonderful parents.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Best wishes,
The KJS PTA Team
ESF Explore
Curious if fencing is the right fit for you? Join our trial class at KJS, provided ESF Explore to experience the unique charisma of this captivating sport
Enrol Now: Hyperlink here
Student Success
Thank you for sharing your child’s achievements with us over the past year.
While individual achievements are undoubtedly significant and provide a source of pride for both the student and their family, sharing every student’s accomplishments on our social media channels is no longer feasible. Our intention is to create an inclusive environment where all students, regardless of their individual accomplishments, feel valued and celebrated.
That being said, we encourage you to share your child’s achievements with their teacher and peers, as well as within your personal social media networks. This way, your child’s accomplishments can be recognized and celebrated by those who know them best.
We appreciate your understanding and support as we continue to navigate the post-pandemic educational landscape. Our school community’s strength lies in our collective efforts to celebrate the diverse talents, achievements, and experiences of all our students.
Disclaimer
- Kowloon Junior School, English Schools Foundation and its affiliates shall take no responsibility for any activities, events, and services that are organised by other organisations or individuals and are mentioned in our newsletters.
- Our newsletters may contain direct marketing materials that are related to students’ daily school activities and the KJS community. Parents who choose not to receive such materials should use their own discretion.
- In accordance with our Personal Data Handling Policy, Kowloon Junior School 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 office@kjs.edu.hk.
