Glenealy School Newsletter
5th September 2018
Message from Brenda
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students,
It’s the fourth week of school and the children are certainly into good routines and are enjoying their new units of inquiry and the myriad of learning activities throughout their school day. We’ve been particularly impressed with our Year 1 students who have settled quickly and are thriving already.
Website Update
We have updated our website with all of the School’s Guiding Statements. This section now includes our Definition of High Quality Learning and our Definition of Global Citizenship. Please take a look here.
At the strategic presentation on the evening of the Meet the Teacher we also made reference to our newly developed Positive Relationship Policy. I’m sure you will find this interesting and informative to read through. This is now posted on our website along with ESF Child Protection Policy documents. Please familiarise yourself with this section of the website too.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Our SEL assembly this week focused on how to be an ‘Includer’. Includers notice those who feel left out and make an effort to include them. The following Top 5 tips for being an includer were shared with the children:
· Notice and use empathy
· Introduce yourself
· Invite others to join you and your group
· Dare to be different
· Be Kind
Please see this reading for further ideas on how to encourage and support your child in becoming an includer:
http://www.pbs.org/parents/expert-tips-advice/2016/06/be-an-includer/
A thank you message from the Shiu family
Thank you for your tremendous support and generosity. Our family was so moved by the strong community spirit shown by the schools.
The assistance will prove to be a great help to our family. Gavin has exhausted his sick leave having been in hospital since January. Natalie now has to face the loss of months of school but her determination to receive treatment is encouraging.
The school community has impressive generosity and kindness. We are so proud to be part of that community. We are pleased that the awareness of Leukaemia has been usefully enhanced too.
Thank you once more for such wonderful support.
From the Shiu Family
Parent/Class Directory
The PTA will be sending you an email today regarding this. As many of you know, each school year a Parent Directory for each class is posted on Gateway and this is visible to other parents in that year group. This Directory allows parents to get in touch with each other and makes it easier to organise birthday invitations, playdates and similar social occasions. Please look out for this email today as we are tidying up our database and need to know if you do NOT want to be part of the directory. Thanks for following up.
Workshops for Parents held at Glenealy School
Technology - Creating a Safer Internet Environment at home on PC and Mac. Take back control of your child’s laptop! Attend the workshop on Thursday 4th October (pm) and bring these devices with you. Be guided as to how to make these devices safer for your child. This will be a hands-on, informative workshop. Please click here to register for this workshop.
Some of you were unable to make the previous technology workshop last week which focussed on creating a safer internet environment for mobile devices (iphone, ipad, tablets etc). We received outstanding feedback from the parents who attended and are considering putting on another session running from 8.15-9.45am one morning. If you are keen for us to run another session please register your interest with our Tech Coach Heather. hdarling@glenealy.edu.hk
Island School Information Evening
We have already received replies from about 50 parents. To assist with arrangements, please Click here to RSVP. For further information on this evening, please refer to the detailed description in here.
School Counsellor - Erin Donahue
Each Tuesday, beginning 4th September 2018, Erin will work at school to provide counselling for students. If you feel your child would benefit from school-based counselling, please make contact with the classroom teacher, Jennine Harding or one of the Senior Management Team who will be able to organise this for you, we use a part school-funded model. For further information about Erin, please click here.
Kind regards
Brenda
Dates for your Diary
Thursday 6th September
PTA Family Bingo Night 5:00 pm -7:00 pm in The Centre
Deadline for all Vision Screening and Immunisation forms to be returned
(Please see details below from the Medical Room)
Monday 10th September
Deadline to return Dental Service forms
(Please see details below from the Medical Room)
Thursday 13th September
Island School Information Evening for parents 6:00 pm -7:15 pm in The Centre
Friday 14th September
Year 6 Bake Sale 3:00 pm in playground
Monday 17th September
Glenealy Vision Screening
Thursday 20th September
Y1 and Y6 Immunisations
Monday 24th September
CPD Day - No students in school
Tuesday 25th September
Public Holiday- The day following Mid Autumn Festival
Thursday 27th September
PTA AGM (More details to follow)
Monday 1st October
Public Holiday- National Day
Tuesday 2nd October
Happy Valley Sports Programme (Y4 - Y6) starts this week
Thursday 4th October
Creating a Safer Internet Environment Information evening - adults only 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
(Details and registration below)
Tuesday 9th October (pm) and Thursday 11th October (pm)
Three Way Student Conferences
Monday 15th October
Mid-Term holiday
Monday 22nd October
School resumes
PTA News
Family Bingo Night – SOLD OUT!
All tickets for the family Bingo Night are now SOLD OUT! Please note that no tickets will be issued on the night, due to health and safety restrictions.
If you have already booked your tickets, a reminder that the doors will open at 5.00 p.m. with first call at 5.30 p.m. this Thursday, 6th September. Please make sure that you check in downstairs in the playground on arrival.
You cannot enter without a ticket and tickets will not be issued until payment is received. If you have not yet paid, please send in your cheque (payable to Glenealy School PTA Ltd.) immediately and make sure that your child’s name and class is written on the back. Payments can be left in the PTA Tray in the school office.
Additional pizza and refreshments will be sold at the event.
We would like to thank our primary sponsor, Bookazine for generously providing prizes for the event. As well, this year we have some special star prizes donated by different Hong Kong businesses – please see below to see a list of our sponsors.
Year 6 Fundraiser – Love our Planet
Year 6 will be kick-starting the school year’s fundraisers with a bake sale on Friday 14th September. It will be themed “Love Our Earth”. The aim is to be as environmentally-friendly as possible, striving for zero waste!
Join Year 6 for plenty of delicious goodies, fun games and an exciting jumble sale of pre-loved treasures! Don’t forget to bring along your own empty snack boxes to store your yummy treats.
PTA Welcome Coffee Morning – Thank you
Thank you to everyone who came to the PTA coffee morning last week. It was great to meet so many new parents and to catch up with existing families.
Socks offer – discount for Glenealy families
The PTA is partnering with Eureka Bamboo Socks to offer high quality, eco-friendly socks to Glenealy families at a special discount rate of 15% off. Navy blue and white uniform socks and white sports socks can be purchased online here. To claim your discount, please enter the code GLENEALY15% at checkout. For every order placed, Eureka will donate a pair of socks to a charity of the school’s choice.
Please note that purchase is optional – navy blue and white socks from other suppliers continue to be acceptable. A reminder that navy or white can be worn with shorts and skorts, while navy blue is preferred for winter wear with trousers and long pants.
PTA Subscriptions
Thank you to all families who have paid their PTA Subscriptions for the 2018-19 school year. If you have not yet paid, please forward your payment as soon as possible. Your family will have received an invoice from ESF Centre for PTA Subscriptions. Payments can be left in the PTA Tray in the office or posted directly to ESF Centre (details on the invoice). The PTA thanks you for your support.
Open Day Invite from South Island School
Year 1 and Year 7 Admissions
Year 1 Central Application period for children born in 2014 commences on 1st September and closes on 30th September 2018. Please click here for Year 1 key dates.
For Year 6 students, the submission of the Year 7 secondary transfer application on Gateway commences on Monday 3rd September and closes on Friday 14th September 2018.
Allocation for secondary schools will be determined by residential zone at the start of Year 6.
For further details, parents should refer to the information available on the ESF website at http://www.esf.edu.hk/year6-to-year7-key-dates/ for key dates and http://www.esf.edu.hk/esf-zones for school zones.
Please note, ESF reserves the right to redirect students based on majority of transferring cohorts in primary school should there be overcapacity at any of the secondary schools.
Year 7 offer letters will be sent to parents from the respective secondary schools on Friday 30th November 2018 and the Year 7 deposit payment deadline to secure their secondary school place is Friday 14th December 2018.
News from the Medical room
Student Health Service and Dental Care
This is an optional service provided by the Hong Kong Government.
Forms will be sent to out today via the children and the deadline to return them is Monday 10th September.
Please note that there is a $30 charge for this service.
Payment by cheque should be made out to "Glenealy School."
If paying by cash, can we kindly ask for notes only, no coins (for administrative purposes), thank you.
Glenealy School Vision Screening
Will take place on Monday 17th September with Suzan Salnikow
Please click here for the flyer.
Interested parents may print out the form and return it along with their cheque to the class teacher if you wish to enrol for this service. The deadline for enrolment is Thursday 6th September.
Year 1 and Year 6 Immunisations
The Department of Health Immunisation Team will visit the school on Thursday 20th September.
Forms must be returned completed (either by consent or refusal) along with their immunisation records to their class teacher by Thursday 6th September.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the school nurse on
The Centre for Educational Neuroscience in the UK has been studying effects of video games and children, an important area of research as 97% of American teens play video games. Although not conclusive, their studies suggest that the more violent games a user plays, the steeper the increase in violent behaviour. There are some positive outcomes of gaming, for example ‘pro-social’ games, where players have to work together to achieve an objective, seem to encourage pro-social behaviour outside of the game and gaming improves hand eye co-ordination. However, it is worth noting that while there are no conclusive results yet, the longer term effects of these types of games are yet to be determined.
An alternative use for a tablet other than gaming could be to create digital art, the Procreate app allows for beautiful art work to be created. Here is a link to HK digital artist Rob Sketcherman’s website showing his amazing HK city scenes. Procreate is a paid app, cheaper alternatives are Autodesk Sketchbook and Artrage.
Important Reminder
Has your child's visa status changed?
As a reminder, all children attending an ESF school need the appropriate and valid visa status to do so. Please inform the school if your child's visa status changes. For more information refer to the Immigration section on the ESF website.
Useful School Forms
Medical Authorisation Form - required should your child need to take medication whilst at school, on a school trip or camp
ESF/Glenealy Calendar for 2018/19
Please refer closely to this calendar for any important events, (e.g . booking your holidays) for the next academic year.
Read the Glenealy Globe Hall of Fame for their column.
Extra Curricular Activities Term 1 2018-19
Disclaimer Notice: Glenealy School does not endorse or represent the accuracy, truthfulness or reliability of these advertisements placed by outside agencies.
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Michelle - 6020 5476
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namrata.bindra@foundationge.com
TUESDAY
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- READ FOR MEANING (Reading)
Mary Barker - 2523 0062 / 9401 4559