Glenealy School Newsletter
5th December 2019
Message from Chris
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Another successful week has flown by, and we begin to turn our attention to the end of term. As a reminder, school finishes at 12.00 pm on Friday 13th December. Children will need to be collected at 12.00 pm from school. For our children who take the bus - they will also depart from school at 12.00 pm on Friday 13th, so please be ready to collect children from their usual stops. For those attending after school activities, parents will need to check with the providers for timings and schedule. If the classes are later in the afternoon, children will need to go home and return at the appropriate time.
Last Friday was an extremely successful day for our children as we held our first House Challenge Day! This was an exciting and engaging day of healthy competition, team work, intrinsic reward and achievement. You can find a full report from Andy Pattison below. Whilst we would like to congratulate Caine House on their overall points victory, the way all the children pulled together in their House teams was nothing short of inspiring. We have included a selection of photos in this Newsletter for you to enjoy. The children had a huge amount of fun throughout the day. This is the precursor to our full Sports Day which we look forward to after the Christmas break (date TBC). I would like to extend my thanks to the students from Island School who so ably supported the activities during the day, and to Andy Pattison, our PE Leader, who delivered such a fabulous, fun and rewarding day for our children. The day was such a success we will be looking at ways in which we can make this a regular event on the calendar.
In another fabulous experience today, our children performed brilliantly in the Robin Hood Pantomime. The children have been rehearsing and practising for the show with great enthusiasm and had a fantastic time performing. A huge amount of fun all around. I would like to extend a special thanks to David Benzie and all the teachers who worked together to put on this fantastic show for children and parents.
A reminder that class Christmas Parties will be taking place on Wednesday 11th December and children are invited to wear casual festive themed clothes on that day. Please remember to send in food with the students in the morning and not to the Office later in the day.
We are also looking forward to seeing you all at the Christmas Carol event on Thursday 12th at 2:00 pm in the covered playground downstairs next week. The PTA will be running the Sausage Sizzle afterwards, with food available for purchase. This should be a great Christmas event for children and parents to enjoy.
We have much to look forward to in the New Year, including our Chinese New Year Celebrations on the morning of Thursday 23rd January 2020 - please mark this in your diaries. We also look forward to our previously postponed School Fair on the 21st of February 2020.
I wish you all a great last school week of the term, and look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Carol event on Thursday December 12th at 2:00 pm.
Best Regards,
Chris
Dates for your Diary 2019
Friday 6th December
PTA sale of second hand uniforms - Playground 3:00 pm
Wednesday 11th December
Class parties - casual clothes
Thursday 12th December
Glenealy School Christmas Carols - Covered Playground 2:00 pm
PTA Sausage Sizzle and refreshments - Playground 3:00 pm
PTA sale of second hand uniforms - Playground 3:00 pm
Friday 13th December
End of Term 1 - school closes at 12:00 noon
Dates for your Diary 2020
Monday 6th January 2020
School resumes for Term 2
Monday 13th January
Tetrapaks collection - Playground 8:00 am - 8:30 am
Thursday 23rd January
Chinese New Year Celebrations
Wednesday 12th February
Assessment at Glenealy - Parent Workshop
Friday 21st February
School Fair
Wednesday 4th March
Inquiry at Glenealy - Parent Circle
Friday 3rd April
End of Term 2 - school closes at 3:00 pm
PTA News
Christmas Concert Sausage Sizzle
Join us after the Christmas Carol Concert on 12th December at 3:00 pm for hot dogs, popcorn and drinks. Relax and catch up with friends before the Christmas break.
Gently used uniform collection and sales
With the change in the weather we would like to offer families the opportunity to purchase gently used new style school uniforms. Sales of secondhand uniform will be held in the playground on:
Friday 6th December - 3:00 pm
&
Thursday 12th December - 3:00 pm
(after the school Carol Concert)
Uniform Collections
Clear out your cupboards and be more sustainable at the same time!
We will gratefully accept all donations of uniform for resale in the PTA Uniform Hut in the playground. The Uniform Hut will be open every morning at 8.15 a.m. from Monday 25th November until Thursday 12th December. Please ensure that all donations are clean and in good condition for re-sale.
News from the P.E Dept.
House Challenge Day
All students and staff had a fantastic time last Friday as we all took part in our first House Challenge Day. Many students and indeed many staff came into school creatively displaying their House colours in support of their team.
The event had a community feel as former Glenealy teacher, Mr. Alex Sommerville, brought along some Glenealy alumni from Island School to support our activities. These students had a huge impact on the day as organisers and positive role models.
All morning, students competed in their teams across a wide range of relay races, cooperative challenges, tug-of-war contests, and skills events. Every child contributed points towards their House team total and enthusiastically supported their teammates throughout the day.
Each House across every year group achieved success in different events, culminating in all scores being added together to give us our House Challenge Champions. The final results are below - congratulations to Caine House!
Caine 2,648 points
Kennedy 2,487 points
Bowen 2,348 points
Robinson 2,350 points
The fun continued in our closing assembly as students sang a brand new sports song led by Mr. Benzie (including dance moves!) and all those who had dressed up for the day got to pose and give us a twirl. We finished by reflecting on the various intrinsic rewards felt by everyone throughout the day to top off an incredibly fun and positive experience.
Netball B & C Team Tournament
Mrs. Walters and I had the pleasure of taking 22 Year 5 and 6 girls to Wong Chuk Hang yesterday afternoon for a 20-team netball tournament. It was fantastic to see the progress the teams have made since September both in terms of performance and results. Each individual has improved in their skills and knowledge of the game also.
I hope that this experience has inspired the girls to continue their netball journey whether it be by playing in Year 6 next year, participating at their secondary school, or joining a club. We are very proud of the girls’ efforts and attitude. Also, we would like to thank all of the parents who came to support both teams. Finally, please wish our Netball A Team the best of luck as they travel to Harrow International School this Saturday to compete in the HKPSSA (Hong Kong Primary Schools Sports Association) Netball Championships.
Tetrapaks Collection Update
We ran our 5th Tetrapak collection drive this week. Huge thanks to the families who have been collecting and cleaning the tetrapaks at home. This week we collected 74.5 Kg of tetrapaks, saving them from the Hong Kong landfills. Thanks to the parents and children who helped with the collection on the day. Special mention to the 2 classes with the most families participating in the collection; they were 1L and 3R - well done and please keep collecting!
Please make a note of the collection dates for next term:
Monday 13th January
Monday 10th February
Monday 16th March
Parents as Partners 2019/20
We would like to thank parents for their survey suggestions for our Parents as Partners events this year. We may add to this programme over the year, but wanted to share the current schedule with parents at this time.
Details of timings, and registration for each workshop, will be announced closer to each event.
Assessment at Glenealy - Building Understanding for Parents
Workshop
Wednesday 12th February 2020
Inquiry at Glenealy
Parent Circle
Wednesday 4th March 2020
Social Emotional Learning at Glenealy-Building Resilience
Workshop
Wednesday 29th April 2020
Understanding the Teaching of Language at Glenealy
Parent Circle
Term 3 - Date To be confirmed
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, you may 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