Middle School Parents' Weekly Notice
08 September 2017
News 1.Principal's Message 2.Head of Middle School's message 3.Notice: Community, Activity, Service (CAS) Fee 4.Updated Key Calendar dates 2017/18 5.Swimming Gala 2017 6.CAS CoCurricular Activities & Events 7.Music Department CAS Activities
8.KGV Lion awards 9.Student Travel Subsidy Scheme 10.PTSA 11.Careers & H.E. Guidance Update 12.Parent Challenge Week meetings 13.Canteen update
Dear Parents It was a pleasure to be part of the student led conferences and information meetings on Monday afternoon this week. The idea of the student led conferences is to hand much of the responsibility for the meetings to our students as they share their learning progress with their parents and teacher. The process creates a sense of personal ownership and responsibility as each student talks about their learning and what they have achieved and their goals moving forward. The feedback from the parents I spoke to on the night was really positive, with many parents commenting on how their son and daughter felt a sense of belonging and connectedness to our school. This connection to each and every student is something we are working hard to achieve and further develop. We endeavor to connect with one student and one conversation at a time. Parent involvement, communication and feedback is another aspect of our school that we continue to strengthen. The idea that education is a threeway partnership between the school, student and parent(s) is a big part of the philosophy of KGV. All the research shows that when parents are connected to the school and have knowledge about the learning progress of their son or daughter, this has a positive impact on academic achievement and wellbeing. In an attempt to further connect and respond to the ideas and concerns of parents, I am initiating a ‘Feedback Friday’ forum from 8 .15 to 9.00am most Friday mornings in our Learning Resource Centre (LRC). I am inviting up to 15 parents each week to come in for ‘cup of tea’ and to have a chat, ask questions and provide feedback about our school. The first ‘Feedback Friday’ will be on Friday 29th September in the LRC from 8.15 to 9.00am. Registration details will appear shortly on the PTSA newsletter. Warm regards
Mark Blackshaw Principal
Dear Parents, As a school we are always looking to make our communication with our community as efficient as possible. At this time, we are reviewing all the ways in which information is sent out and the number of different channels that it comes from. One of the first areas of overlap identified is the Year 7 Parent Bulletin. Much, if not all of this is a repeat of what is in the main Middle School Bulletin. As a result of this, from this week there will no longer be a Year 7 specific parent bulletin. All information will be contained within the Middle School Parent Bulletin. This does require engagement on your part and I would like to draw your attention to the information in the bulletin this week about the KGV Swim Gala. This event takes place next week on Friday 15th September and as a school we will be at Kowloon Tsai Park pool for the day. All school buses will take students directly to the venue and will also pick them up from by Kowloon Tsai Park at the end of the day. Please make sure your child speaks to the driver of their bus to ensure that they know where to expect to find the bus at the end of the gala. All students who make their own way to school will need to make their own way to Kowloon Tsai Park. Registration will be from 7.45am to 8.15am, for which students should bring their Octopus Card to swipe in. At the end of the day all students will be dismissed directly from the venue itself. The day itself will be finished by around 1.30pm, which gives a slightly earlier finish than normal. Weatherwise it is important to be prepared – your child should have sun screen, a hat, a drink as well as snacks to see them through this event. Please do get in touch with us at school should you have questions about any aspect of the arrangements for the gala. Finally, a big thank you for parents of Year 7 and 10 students who joined us for the Student Led Conferences on Monday of this week. Have a good weekend.
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Finally, a big thank you for parents of Year 7 and 10 students who joined us for the Student Led Conferences on Monday of this week. Have a good weekend.
James Fisher Learning Director: Head of Middle School
Notice: Community, Activity, Service (CAS) Fee As most parents will be aware, an activities fee was introduced at the beginning of this year for our Community, Activity and Service (CAS) program. This CAS fee was approved by our KGV School Council meeting on March 1st, 2017. We have had to introduce this fee to sustain our programme and have delayed the introduction of this for as long as possible (other ESF schools have charged for some time, and at a higher rate). Our finances now compel us to choose this path. Please be assured that the money from the activities fee is ringfenced to support our CAS programme only. We have planned our budget to ensure that we cover all of the costs for the activities, which does include transportation, registration fees, coaching, external facilities hiring and resource development. The fund will also support the activity to expand the diversity of CAS offerings. There are over 140 activities currently planned as part of the CAS program. We also wish to highlight that: All teachers at our school contribute and lead or assist in CAS activities No KGV teachers or staff are paid to run CAS activities. CAS is part of our staff commitment. Teacher involvement in CAS is a long standing tradition at KGV. This involvement does not negatively impact the work of our teachers in delivering our core business of teaching and learning in the classroom.
Mark BLACKSHAW Principal
Updated Key Calendar dates 2017/18 Please click here for updated calendar.
Swimming Gala 2017 Friday 9th September 7:45 am 1:30 pm Please view the beneath links for more details. Gala Guide for parents Gala notes for students Gala Information Kowloon Tsai Map Charles RIDING Head of PE
CAS CoCurricular Activities & Events CAS CoCurricular Activities & Events It was a welcome week as most CoCurricular Activities began. Next week it will be the start of Contemporary Dance, Chinese Instruments, Guitar, Tap Dance, and Ukulele in the Performing Arts area. For Sports we have Archery, Year 7 Basketball and Year 89 Basketball Development, Fencing, Year 7 Football and Year 813 Football development, Mixed Little League Lacrosse, Taekwondo and Tennis. Over the past week we’ve had some issues concerning our system that prevented some students from signing up. Please know that we are looking into it and will have a solution very soon. Meanwhile, please ask your child to go and visit the Activities Office for support. The fixtures season has begun, and to see what team is competing you can click on this link from our school website http://www.kgv.edu.hk/sportintroduction/fixtures/. And to catch up on all our sports fixtures results please click here http://www.kgv.edu.hk/sport
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looking into it and will have a solution very soon. Meanwhile, please ask your child to go and visit the Activities Office for support. The fixtures season has begun, and to see what team is competing you can click on this link from our school website http://www.kgv.edu.hk/sportintroduction/fixtures/. And to catch up on all our sports fixtures results please click here http://www.kgv.edu.hk/sport introduction/fixtures/ Support our Sports Teams by liking us on Facebook KGVSport and Instagram kgvsport.
Scarlet IP Manager Activities
Music Department CAS Activities Music Department CAS Activities: There are a few spare places still available for the following Music CAS groups. Please sign up on LIONel via CAS. Guitar group: Monday 2.15pm Ukulele group year 7: Monday 2.15pm Ukulele group year 8+: Monday 2.34pm Chinese Ensemble: Thursday 3.30pm We would also like to encourage students that are learning orchestral instruments to come and get involved in the KGV or Training Orchestra, plus the Year 7 Choir or KGV Choir. These ensembles offer great experience for developing musical skills and opportunities for performing to an audience. Please contact
[email protected] for more information. Instrumental Music lessons & Instrument Hire: There are also instruments still available to hire for the year if students would like to sign up for lessons: Trombones, French horns, Bassoons, Tenor Saxophones, Flutes, and Clarinets. Bass Guitar small group lessons has also been added to the list. Please contact
[email protected] for more information. Alexandra CARLILE Head of Music
KGV Lion awards KGV Lion awards The Lion award is a prestigious prize awarded to students during KGV Speech day on November 17th this year. It is a prize that recognises outstanding effort, impact or achievement outside the prizes we already have for schoolbased academic and cocurricula activities. Over the next few weeks, students may nominate fellow students or themselves. If you know of an outstanding story, please encourage your child to share it with us through the nomination system.
Tim CARRELL Vice Principal
Student Travel Subsidy Scheme The Student Travel Subsidy (STS) Scheme provides travel subsidy to needy students who is residing beyond 10 minutes walking distance from school, travelling to school by public transport and can pass the means test.
To apply for STS Scheme, applicant can download the application documents from the Student Finance Office (SFO) Webpage and submit the completed application form together with copies of the relevant supporting documents directly to SFO by post.
Successful applicants will receive Eligibility Certificates (EC) from SFO. Applicants should return the completed ECs to the general office of school within two weeks from the issue date of ECs for processing. Schools will certify the studentapplicants’ status and attendance and then forward the ECs to the SFO.
PTSA Feedback Friday with the Principal We have organized personalized, small group sessions every Friday morning to provide parents an opportunity to come in, to chat with the Principal, Mark Blackshaw on various topics or areas they would like to discuss. Sessions will run from 8:15 am 9:15 am. Each session is limited to 10 parents.
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morning to provide parents an opportunity to come in, to chat with the Principal, Mark Blackshaw on various topics or areas they would like to discuss. Sessions will run from 8:15 am 9:15 am. Each session is limited to 10 parents. If you would like to attend a session this term, please sign in our form. https://goo.gl/GsaMGA
Y7 Parents Coffee morning Tuesday 19 September, 8am – 9am Leo’s café, KGV Join us for a coffee morning to meet and chat with members of Senior leadership team and councilors. Focus will be on new students transition and induction. Please sign up on : https://goo.gl/forms/8r9aPZMa4SoQ3J6r1 For enquires contact Rishika,
[email protected] or 2760 6660
PTSA Annual General Meeting – Wednesday 27 September 2017 6:30pm Guilford Lecture theatre
The KGV PTSA comprises a committee of parents who work closely with the school to help build community spirit, improve liaison between staff, parent and student bodies and undertake various functions such as fundraising and educational events that benefit the community. Each year an Annual General Meeting is held to which all members of the King George V community are invited. The KGV PTSA encourages you to attend this meeting as it is an ideal opportunity for you to share your views and discuss matters of common concern to the King George V School community. Think about joining the PTSA Executive Committee for 20172018! All you have to do is fill in the Nomination form and get this signed by an existing PTSA committee member. Click here to download the nomination form. Rishika CHANDIRAMANI PTSA Manager
Careers & H.E. Guidance Update Careers Office has our own web page where all H.E.related information is updated. Check out the web page for regular updates: https://sites.google.com/a/kgv.hk/kgvcareersheguidance/home
Parent Challenge Week meetings Parent Challenge Week meetings Meetings will be held for overseas trips so you can meet the leaders, find out about the activity and travel arrangements and ask questions. Rooms for each trip will be listed in the foyer. Save the date, Monday September 25th at 5:30pm.
Tim CARRELL Vice Principal
Canteen update Please click here for the update.
King George V School, 2 Tin Kwong Road, Homantin, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2711 3029 Fax:(852) 2760 7116 Copyright © King George V School. All rights reserved.
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