Glenealy School Newsletter
21st November 2019
Message from Chris
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
It was truly fantastic to see the children back at school yesterday with classes resuming. The school was alive with our incredibly positive children who couldn’t wait to catch up with their friends. It was also lovely to see so many of our parent community on the playground yesterday morning. We held assemblies with all the children, and the class teachers are reporting that the children had a great day and are quickly getting back into their learning.
With children back in school we begin to turn our attention moving towards the Christmas holiday break. Trees and decorations have been going up in school this week, to the great excitement of our children, and we are preparing in earnest for our Christmas programme.
In particular, for your diary, please make note of Thursday 12th December. At 2:00 pm on the 12th December in the covered playground we will be holding our Christmas Carol community event; so please get your singing voices ready! Food and drinks will also be available to purchase after the carols, provided by the PTA, this being a great opportunity for us all to enjoy some pre-holiday community cheer.
In addition to the Christmas Carols, we have a Junior Choir Concert (Years 2 and 3) and a student performance of ‘Robin Hood’ for parents of those children who are involved to look forward to. All the dates are listed in this Newsletter below.
In order to support our community, I am delighted to announce an excellent opportunity for parents. Kim Ho, who is a counsellor at St John’s, has offered to come and provide a parent information session which will cover advice and guidance on dealing with anxiety and give parents support on how to talk to children during challenging situations, such as the one we face now in Hong Kong. This session will be held on Wednesday 27th November at 8.45 am next week in The Centre. We anticipate this will be a very popular and useful session, and we encourage parents to sign up here as soon as possible.
Many parents have asked about our arrangements for Sports Day, which was due to be held next Friday 29th November, at the Kowloon Cricket Club. We have considered all options carefully and taken the difficult decision to postpone our Sports Day at this time, due to the potential for transport disruption and the risk of late cancellation. As an alternative, we are currently in discussion with the Hong Kong Cricket Club, along with other venues, to rearrange the Sports Day at a closer and more convenient venue some time in February 2020. By moving the event closer to the school, we hope to reduce the risk of travel disruption, increase the safety of the children and hopefully improve the convenience for our parents. Although the date is yet to be confirmed, we are optimistic we will be able to rearrange the Sports Day for a date in February 2020. As soon as we have a firm date, I will write to you so you can add it to your diaries. We recognise the children will be disappointed with this postponement, so we have planned an activity day (just for the children) - which we are calling a “House Challenge Day” on Friday next week, whereupon we will run sports activities using our school site for all year groups, encouraging some healthy competition and challenge between the Houses. I will let you know as soon as we have an alternative date for a full Sports Day and look forward to this fantastic community event in February 2020.
On a different note, I would like to thank all our parents who have signed up for one of our Consultation Groups over the last few weeks. These groups are to gather parent views on a range of areas of school life. We will be writing to parents who signed up with further details in the next couple of days. Your views on our school development are very important to us, and these groups will be crucial in planning our pathway forward for the coming years. The groups will also help inform surveys which we will send to all parents.
Finally, I want to thank you, our community, for your support over the past term, and although the term has not developed in the way many of us anticipated, the current situation provides an opportunity for us to collectively reflect our key strengths; our strong parent relationships, our children’s joy at school, our staff team’s resolve and our joint commitment to provide our children with the best education and opportunities that we can. Once again, I would like to thank you for all of your support over the last couple of weeks and look forward to a calmer period as we move towards the Christmas break. As ever, if you have any questions or concerns, the doors of our teachers, leadership team and myself are always open.
Best Regards,
Chris
Dates for your Diary
Thursday 28th November
Junior Choir Concert 8:30-9:30 am in The Centre
Friday 29th November
House Challenge Day
Monday 2nd December
Tetrapaks Collection
Wednesday 4th December
Influenza vaccine 2nd dose for all students who have opted for this vaccination
Thursday 5th December
"Robin Hood" perfomances
Thursday 12th December
Glenealy School Christmas Carols - Playground 2:00 pm
Friday 13th December
End of Term 1 - school closes at 12:00 noon
Monday 6th January 2020
School resumes for Term 2
PTA News
Glenealy Fair – postponed until 21st February 2020
We are all desperately disappointed to postpone the Fair until February. In light of the very challenging times in Hong Kong at the moment we feel it’s appropriate to reschedule the Fair until a time when we hope we can all enjoy it to its fullest. Our thanks to all those that had offered to volunteer.
In the meantime please hold onto your gently used uniform, accessories, bottles for water or wine and books. We will gladly relieve you of these closer to the fair in February.
Glenealy Uniform goes global
Following a collection for unwanted uniforms at the start of term, we recently sent 6 large bags to the charity Cross Roads. This was gratefully received and will be sent for use overseas.
There was also some stock of old style uniform remaining in the shop following the transition to the new uniform. Much of this was donated to Island School who have taken it to Cambodia as part of their Quest Week. The emphasis of Quest Week is creativity, action and service. The students donated the Glenealy uniform to a local school.
Below is the letter of thanks received:
Dear Glenealy PTA,
Thank you for generously donating school uniforms to Husk Cambodia and Kompheim Community School. Students from Island School recently volunteered with Husk at Kompheim Community School during their annual Quest Week Trip. In Cambodia, only 30% of children finish primary school. The School's main focus is providing free English classes to students in the local community, supplementing their government education and keeping them in school. The school teaches 530 students of all ages and seeks to give students the skills they will need to support future careers in Siem Reap.
I have attached some photos of Mr Lim, accepting donations on behalf of Husk. I have also attached some photos of the school.
Thanks again for your support
Maryanne McPhee
News from Music Department
Robin Hood Pantomime
This year's pantomime performance of Robin Hood is scheduled for Thursday December 5th. The performances will take place during the school day and parents of participating students will be sent an invitation to come and enjoy the show.
Christmas Carols
Please mark your calendars for Thursday December 12th at 2:00 pm to come and join us for the Glenealy School Christmas Carols, everyone is welcome.
Late ordering of school photos
Online ordering of School photos from Techni photo:
The deadline for ordering student photos via the school has now passed, but you are still able to order via Techni photo’s online ordering service. Please note there will be a small surcharge for this.
1. Go the techni-photo web site http://www.techni-photo.com/order/ (Please use the latest Google Chrome Browser on your computer or laptop. You are advised not to use any smart phone to place your orders).
2. Select “Order”.
3. With the proof card provided to you please input the “Unique Code” and “Last Name” as it is shown on the proof card. (Please note it is case sensitive, and needs to be exactly as shown on the card).
Year 3 Peak Walk
The students of Year 3 had an amazing time on Wednesday 6th November walking the Morning Trail as part of their inquiry into habitats. They loved learning about plants using the iNatuarlist app and seeing the many wonderful living things surrounding them during their walk. Many thanks to the parents who helped the students with their learning! Xie Xie Ni!
Mrs Kalsi and Mrs Rutkowski
Box of Hope
They have been picked up today and will be distributed to under privileged children all over Asia.
For those who didn't manage to send them to us at the school, please contact the organisers at
www.boxofhope.org for details of direct drop off locations.
Winter Uniforms
Girls wearing tights are reminded that they should be in plain navy blue.
Please contact the PTA Office if you would like to arrange a size fitting.
More details may be found here.
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 initial 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