Glenealy School Newsletter
20th February 2019
Message from Brenda
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students
Thanks to the PTA and to the Year 6 leaders for running two fun Discos for the children last week. We have also had some Year 6 leaders taking action as ‘ Fitness Gurus’ in the playground in the morning, encouraging students, parents/caregivers and teachers to start the day with fun and fitness. This has been a great way to start the day, as you’ll see from the pictures above.
Student Led Conferences (SLCs) this week.
We look forward to seeing you at school with your child for their Student Led Conference this week. Please refer to the Gateway for your appointment and plan to spend at least 40 minutes with your child at school to be fully involved in their learning journey. Children should not be left unsupervised around the school or on the playgrounds during the Thursday evening or Friday daytime. The library will be open during these sessions if you need to drop off a sibling during their brother or sister’s conference (No pre-schoolers please).
The teachers will be taking a break on Thursday evening between 5:00 - 5:30 pm and during snack time (10:45 - 11:15 am) and lunch time (12:45 - 1:30 pm) on Friday. Please note that the Music, P.E. and Mandarin sessions will also take a break during these times. Due to extracurricular activities, these sessions will also close promptly on Friday at 3:00 pm, as will all classrooms.
As a reminder, school will be closed for SLCs on Friday, there will be no school lessons this day and children will not come to school unless they have a consultation on that day. Children who are attending consultations are not required to wear school uniform.
Each year there is a little bit of confusion with some parents as to why the teacher doesn’t feed back more information at the consultation part of the SLC. This is intentional. The SLC is set up to be a celebration of your child’s learning and development, led and initiated by them. This gives the students ownership of the day and a sense of pride in their school by being able to show you what they can do and how they learn.
Having read your child’s mid-year report and after attending the SLC, if you still have questions or queries about your child’s progress or learning, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher for an appointment at an alternative time.
A reminder about Drop Off and Pick Up times
Thank you to all of our community for adapting to the new gate system which seems to be working really well. Just a reminder that the drop off time for students in the morning should be no earlier than 8:00 am and if students are arriving in school before 8:15 am then they must be accompanied by a responsible adult who can supervise them closely during this time. School staff are on duty from 8:15 am - 8:30 am.
Students arriving on the bus are in the care of the bus supervisor who hands over to the school supervising team at 8:15 am.
Any students who make their own way to and from school must not arrive before 8:15 am and must leave the school by 3:15 pm. If they are attending activities which start later than 3:15 pm they must be closely supervised by a responsible adult.
Siblings of students in activities must also be closely supervised after 3:15 pm.
Thanks for working together to ensure the safety of all our students.
Evaluation and Accreditation
As most of you will be aware from previous communication, our school has an important evaluation/accreditation visit coming up in early March with two accreditation organisations: the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO).
The visit will take place from Sunday 3rd March until Friday 8th March. About 6-8 weeks after the visit, the school will receive a written report outlining commendations and recommendations which will help the school to validate our strengths and give focus areas to help the school to continuously improve.
This process includes a rigorous evaluation against internationally-agreed standards, a blend of support and challenge focused on the school’s development and self study documentation, and a peer-based review model that brings together international educators from across the world.
During the week the visiting team will be involved in a number of activities including: meeting with a variety of stakeholders (staff, parents, students and School Council members) and observing learning and operations within the school environment to get a holistic view of the provision of education at Glenealy School. When you see the visiting team members in the school please make them feel welcome.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Assembly ‘What is a Caring Global Citizen?’
This week’s SEL assembly focused on developing and sharing perspectives about what it means to be a ‘Caring Global Citizen’ A group of Year 6 students were asked to give their personal opinions. They shared insightful and personalised views about their passions and what being a caring global citizen means to them. Their definitions ranged from caring about their own well-being, their families, their communities and the planet (everyone and everything that lives on land or in the oceans). This excellent video which looks at how we can make a difference encapsulates their and our approach as a school to being a Caring Global Citizen.
Kind regards,
Brenda.
Dates for your Diary
Thursday 21st February
Student-Led Conferences 3:15 pm - 7:00 pm
Friday 22nd February
Student-Led Conferences 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Year 1 and 6 Immunisation forms submission deadline
Sunday 3rd March - Friday 8th March
CIS and IB Team Evaluation Visit
Friday 22nd March
Glenealy's Got Talent show 2:00 pm
Tuesday 26th March
School Council Meeting 12:45 pm - 2:00 pm
Thursday 4th April
ESF Choral Concert- Queen Elizabeth Stadium
Friday 5th April
Ching Ming Festival-school closed
Friday 12th April
End of Term 2 - school closes at 12:00 noon
Monday 29th April
Start of Term 3
Wednesday 1st May
Labour Day -school closed
Monday 13th May
Day following Buddha's Birthday- school closed
PTA News
Lunchtime Student Discos
The children had a great time eating pizza and dancing at the PTA Discos last week. A big thank you to all the parent volunteers that helped out on the day.
News from the Medical Room
Year 1 & Year 6 Parents
Immunisations will take place on 13th March 2019.
You should have received the forms in your child's bag already.
Please complete, in English either the acceptance or refusal part of the form and return to school with the child's original immunisation record.
These records will be kept safe in school until after the immunisations have taken place.
Please return the completed forms back to school this Friday 22nd February, once we have the signed forms we have to collate information for the Government School Immunisation Team prior to them arriving, hence the short turn around time.
Your assistance would be appreciated. If you have any queries, do not hesitate to contact me.
Sue
School Nurse
Lost property
As many parents will be coming into school this week, could we request you to check if there is anything there that belongs to your child.
Any remaining items will be donated to charity at the end of this term.
Kid Power Programme
UNICEF Kid Power Bands Update
We hope to distribute the bands early next week in preparation for the start of the programme on March 1st. Some top tips and answers to FAQs will be shared once the bands have been given out.
We are finalising some logistics this week to ensure that the distribution goes as smoothly as possible and then our students will be ready to get stepping!
Warm Regards,
Andy Pattison.
ESF Chinese Talent Show
ESF Centre.
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.
Exciting news from the Marvellous Media Mavericks.
Read more in The Hall of Fame.
Extra Curricular Activities Term 2 2018-19
Disclaimer Notice: Glenealy School does not endorse or represent the accuracy, truthfulness or reliability of these advertisements placed by outside agencies.
- ESF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES - Soccer
2711 1280
- BANANA ART CLUB (Art)
Michelle - 6020 5476
- FOUNDATION ACADEMY (Film Makers)
Namrata Bindra -3107 8810
namrata.bindra@foundationge.com
TUESDAY
- ESF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES - Sports Clubs & Tennis
2711 1280
Website: http://www.esf.org.hk/index.asp
- Brownies
Penny Donowho - 9181 7318
- CHESS CLUB
Yin Ping Ho 2884 1420 / 9215 2682
- CENTER STAGE STUDIOS (Musical Theatre)
Imogen Taylor - 5236 7960
admin@centrestagestudioshk.com
WEDNESDAY
- ESF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES - Basketball
2711 1280
website: http://www.esf.org.hk/index.asp
- THE CLASSROOM BY MG (Litteracy)
Mary Godridge - 9103 4378
THURSDAY
- ESF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES - Tennis
2711 1280
Website: http://www.esf.org.hk/index.asp
- APPDEV-X (Coding)
- ACTIVE KIDS (Stormy Chefs)
Elsie - 3480 4199
FRIDAY
- ESF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES - Tennis & Gymnastics
2711 1280
Website: http://www.esf.org.hk/index.asp
- MOK'S TAEKWONDO SELF-DEFENCE (Tae Kwon Do)
Charles Mok - 9494 7636
- ACTIVE KIDS (Science Adventures)
Elsie - 3480 4199
- BRILLIANT LEARNING (Sanskriti)
Geetnajali Dhar - 9830 0612
geetanjali@sanskritiglobal.org
SATURDAY
- ESF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES - Tennis & Gymnastics
2711 1280
Website: http://www.esf.org.hk/index.asp
- READ FOR MEANING (Reading)
Mary Barker - 2523 0062 / 9401 4559