Glenealy School Newsletter
24th May 2017
Message from Brenda
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students
Year 6 Excursion to Shenzhen
What an exciting and interesting time the students had up in Shenzhen. They visited many cultural elements in the China Splendid Park, used Mandarin to communicate when ordering food, shopping (including lots of bargaining) and also talking with their buddies at our sister school in Shenzhen. They were involved in a range of other activities that were equally as engaging for everyone. The children were buzzing in the playground talking about all the experiences they had. Many thanks to Dave Buckley who led the excursion and to the staff and parents who attended. We couldn’t have done this without you!
Members from left to right:
Top: Trish Oliver (Teacher rep), Asit Shah (Community rep, Chair of Finance Committee), Dave Buckley (Teacher rep), David Whalley (ESF rep)
Middle: Nick Phillips (Parent elected rep - Chair of Facilities Committee), Judy Vas (School Council Chair and Chair of Staffing Committee and ESF Board member), Brenda Cook (Principal and ESF Board member), Christine Meaney (PTA rep and ESF Board member)
Front: Dixon Nguyen (Support staff rep), Elaine Wang (Community rep)
At the end of this academic year, many of our long standing SC members will be leaving us having served 6 years with us. (As per the ESF ordinance, the maximum time allowed to serve on the same School Council). All members have undertaken their roles on a voluntary basis and have been prepared to share their knowledge skills and expertise for the good of the school as a whole.
We have been so privileged to have Judy Vas as our Chair and on our Council for the past 6 years. Judy’s leadership has taken the school from strength to strength, ensuring a clear focus and vision and an unwavering focus on what is best for the students to ensure we are enabling them to fulfill the vision of ESF and mission of Glenealy School. Judy has been a superb partner and critical friend and has been extremely dedicated and passionate about her role within the school. Thank you Judy.
Nick Phillips our elected parent rep on the SC who has served for 6 years, has been instrumental in working with the school team to plan the 6 year facilities redevelopment strategy. As you will know the opening of the Centre this year was the final piece of work in this 6 year plan. Outstanding! Nick also worked closely with a team to spearhead a donation programme with the GS community which in total raised 1 million dollars for this project! Nick is always present in the school, highly involved and a positive and active contributor. He has represented the parent body superbly. Thank you Nick.
Trish Oliver and Dave Buckley, the elected staff members on the SC have offered great insight, comments, feedback and perspective to the meetings and workings of the SC. Trish has been on the SC for 4 years and will leave due to her seconded post to ESF Centre. Trish has been a leader in the redevelopment and design of our new facilities and certainly has left her 'mark' on the school.
Dave has served his 6 years on the SC, he is keen to continue as a co-opted member and we have welcomed this with open arms as he has a breadth and depth of knowledge to contribute.
A big thank you to all School Council members for all the support and guidance you have offered myself and the school over the last year.
Would you like to join the School Council?
There will be a parent election early next academic year to replace Nick. Please look out for notices in the newsletter in August and make sure you vote! If you would like any further information in the interim I am happy to put you in contact with Nick Phillips to give you further details.
New School Uniform
You will have received an email over the last week from Christine the Chair of PTA and myself about our new look uniform including details about phase in etc. This is an exciting project and we are all eager to see the new ‘look’ in the future. A big thank you to Christine and members of the PTA committee and parent stakeholders group for helping us with the project. If you haven’t already done so, please read the email closely so you clearly understand the phase in process.
Kind regards
Brenda
Student Withdrawal - deadline June 1st
A reminder that all forms must be received before June 1st.
Uniform Message for Year 6 Parents and Leavers
In the coming school year, Glenealy School will introduce a new look for our school uniform.
The PTA are working to ensure that the uniform change is responsibly managed to minimise waste and we need your help. We are asking Year 6 parents and leavers to support our commitment to the environment by donating your unwanted Glenealy uniform back to the school. We will continue to accept donations of second-hand uniform this year and next year.
Wearable items will be shipped to offshore charities to benefit impoverished communities. Items that are not fit for wear will be sent for recycling.
As many parents are aware, the PTA have been experiencing issues relating to uniform supply and delivery for some time. Thank you to all our parents and caregivers for your patience and forbearance this year.
If you have any questions, or would like further information regarding any aspect of Glenealy’s school uniform, please contact either Brenda or Christine (email: pta@glenealy.net.)
Dates for the Diary
Thursday May 25th
Last day of Uniform Shop opening 8.20 - 8.45am
Monday May 29th
Glenealy CPD day - school closed for students
Tuesday May 30th
Public holiday - school closed
Thursday June 1st
Deadline to submit student withdrawal form for leavers
June 5th - 9th
Green Week
Thursday June 15th
Annual reports available on Gateway
Friday June 16th
Year 4 'Games Galore' fundraiser (during school hours)
Thursday June 22nd
Year 5 show - Singin' in the Rain @ 7pm
Tuesday 27th June
Year 6 Graduation @ 8.30am
Wednesday June 28th
Year 6 Party at Kowloon Cricket Club
Friday June 30th
- Leavers assembly @ 11.15am in the Centre
- Last day of school - school finishes at 12pm
PTA News
Year 1 Hawaiian Celebration
Congratulations to our Year 1 students and parents on a fantastic bake sale! The games and treats put a smile on everyone’s face, and the Hawaiian theme was a hit. Your efforts raised over $12,000 for future school projects. Thank you to all who contributed to make this event a success.
Uniform Shop End-of-Term Closing
Please be advised that the PTA Uniform Shop will close at the end of May for stocktake and audit. The last opening will be this Thursday, 25th May. All stock items have been reduced to at or below cost. Please stop in for a bargain!
Glenealy Top Tech Tip
In-app Purchases and Restrictions
For families sharing a devices, especially families with younger kids, in-app purchases can lead to a rather nasty surprise once the iTunes bill comes, which is why it can be important to turn off in-app purchases on your iPad or iPhone, especially if one of your children uses it to play games.
In fact, a study unveiled that in-app transactions account for more than 70% of app revenue, and parents have found that some of this revenue is generated by small kids playing a seemingly free game.
You can use Restrictions to prevent unintentional or unauthorized purchases from your iTunes Store account. You can require a password for purchases, prevent certain types of purchases, or disable purchasing completely. Find out how here.
If you use Family Sharing, you can let your child initiate purchases with Ask to Buy.
Scholastic Books Orders
All students should now have received and brought home their Scholastic book order today, if they placed one.
If your child did place an order and they did not receive it, please contact toliver@glenealy.edu.hk in the library.
This will be the last order for the school year.
The Library Team
Useful School Forms
Medical Authorisation Form - required should your child need to take medication whilst at school, on a school trip or camp
ESF 2016/17 Calendar
Please click here to view the calendar online. We do ask when planning your family holidays that you refer to the holiday periods as indicated on the calendar and try to take your holiday during these times.
Extra Curricular Activities and Camps
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