Glenealy School Newsletter
27th Aug 2020
Message from Chris
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
It has been another busy week for children getting on with home learning. The children are continuing to try really hard to access the learning, whilst building relationships with their teachers. We also really appreciate the support of families at the moment working as partners with us to set up systems for the students. We know it is a challenge to balance with other commitments and we are grateful, as it does ensure that children continue to learn during this period.
Teachers and children are settling into the routines well in different year groups. We have also noticed that children have been completing more of the tasks independently and have been sharing their work more confidently across the school which is great to see.
Technology Support - Parent Appointments
Our IT team of Dixon Nguyen and Cindy Xu have been supporting our parents and children from afar over the past two weeks. We know many parents have contacted them as we delivered hundreds of Zoom sessions in homes and supported students with their other online challenges. Although technology issues have reduced steadily over the last two weeks, we want to enhance our support and provide additional face to face sessions next week.
If you have a technical problem you want to resolve, or even something you would like to be able to use a little better or are confused about, Dixon will be offering 10 or 15 minute on school site, in person, appointments next week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 9.00am and 11am.
If you would like to arrange a tech appointment please email Dixon with your availability during these times to tech@glenealy.edu.hk . Appointments will be strictly on a one to one basis in order to observe social distancing requirements on site. In the meantime if you have any tech issues please contact Dixon and Cindy at the address above and they will do all they can to resolve the problem.
On another note, it is worth a reminder that we have gone to great lengths to ensure our Zoom spaces are safe. We had a number of questions this week about why we have ‘walled’ our Zoom sessions to only be accessible to Glenealy Gmail accounts. The reason for this is that it is the safest and most secure way to ensure that no one from outside the organisation can join our children’s meeting. We also use “Waiting Rooms” as an additional layer of security.
Zoom Parent Conferences
Over the next two weeks we will be holding Zoom Parent-Teacher sessions in order for you to connect directly with your child’s class teacher. These conferences are an opportunity to meet your child’s class teacher and share information about how they are doing during this home learning period. It will also continue to build on our partnerships that will serve us well as we move through this unusual year. These will be held on Friday the 4th and Friday the 11th of September. We will send detailed instructions about the conferences early next week. However the first thing to do is to book a time. You are able to do this by going to Gateway and clicking on “Parent Consultation”. A separate communication will be sent to you after the time slot has been booked.
Please note that on both Friday the 4th and Friday the 11th of September we will be running a modified programme for the children’s learning. Learning activities on these two Fridays will consist of accessible independent learning tasks. We will take the time to extend the very successful ‘Reflection Day’ activities instigated last year. This will give the children the space to catch up on anything they needed to complete from the learning during the week. Teachers will provide the daily timetable for these days as normal.
Teachers will still register the children in the morning, with EAs available throughout the day to provide support for children if needed. There will not however be extended Zoom sessions with the class teacher on these two days. We will also run the Zoom assemblies as usual.
Parent Feedback on Distance Learning
As a school we are always seeking to reflect upon and improve our provision for children and parents. This past couple of weeks has been hugely challenging for families, children and staff. There have also been lots of successes in these most difficult of times. We are seeking feedback at this early juncture about our approach. Please take a minute or two to complete the short ten question survey attached here.
Year 1 and Year 7 Admissions - Important information for parents
The Year 1 Central Application period for children born in 2016 will commence on 1st September and will close on 30th September 2020. Please click here for Year 1 key dates.
For Year 6 students, the submission of the Year 7 secondary transfer application on Gateway will commence on Tuesday 1st September and will close on Friday 18th September 2020.
Allocation for secondary schools will be determined by residential zone at the start of Year 6. Should any parents be planning to move residential addresses, two proofs of the new address must be submitted to the school for verification and confirmation before the parents submit their Gateway Y7 form.
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 the majority of transferring cohorts in primary school should there be overcapacity at any of the secondary schools. All newly joined Year 6 students are guaranteed a place in Year 7, but not necessarily in their school of zone.
If you require any clarification or further information on this, please contact our Admissions Officer, Rekha Mahbubani, via email on enquiry@glenealy.edu.hk
Saying Goodbye
After 26 years of dedicated service, this Friday we are saying farewell to our longest serving current staff member, our Office Manager, Mrs Pam Stanley. Pam is the unsung hero of Glenealy School. Not only does she have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the inner workings of ESF, she always knows who we need to contact to get things done. No problem is too big for Pam to solve. She ensures that everything runs smoothly at school and that we have everything we need, from Post-Its to pencils and even people. She has also helped to ensure that you have the resources you need during distance learning and has embraced the world of Zoom which shows that even after all this time there are still new things to learn and Pam has adapted to the online environment with her characteristic ease and flexibility. There is no project, event or performance at Glenealy school over the last 26 years that Pam hasn’t been a vital part of. We are so grateful to her for everything she has done for us and for being such a wise, efficient and caring member of our amazing Glenealy Community. We will miss you Pam and wish you all the very best for your retirement. Enjoy your well earned break overseas and we look forward to seeing you in Hong Kong and at Glenealy soon. As we always say to the students who move on to new adventures ‘You will always be part of the Glenealy Community and you will always be welcome’ Thank you Pam.
I hope you all have a great week to come.
Best regards,
Chris