Issue No. 1 (28 August 2020)

Congratulations to all the students and teachers who worked so hard to give us our best ever set of (I)GCSE results at South Island School this year.

This time around, we had to deal with the unprecedented situation of distance learning for many months, coupled with the cancellation of the final examinations, and some very late adjustments to the final grades by the exam boards! Yet, amidst such complicated circumstances, our students have managed to very truly excel themselves overall, coming out with results which are once again, statistically, our very best ever. 

Of course, as in any year, there will be some students who are happier with their final grades than others. However, we do know that all of our students have all worked hard, to the very best of their abilities – and that they have now created a very strong learning platform for your IBDP, IBCP or BTEC studies. Please take the time to celebrate your achievements, whatever they are!

Thank you, and congratulations to all who contributed to the outcomes – students, subject teachers, tutors, Heads of House – and of course, our community of supportive parents, who have done so much to ensure the ongoing success of our distance learning programmes.

Headline Statistics

The statistics show that:

• 98% of our students achieved 5 or more A*-C / 9-4 grades;
• The mean grade for subjects was A or 7;
• 66% of all grades were A/A* or the equivalent  9-7
• 22 students had a mean overall grade of both A* and 9 across all their subjects

These statistics compare very favourably indeed with previous years!

Top scores 2020

Not everyone can get a top grade, or top grades would cease to have any meaning. Therefore, we must always applaud those who have achieved the very top grades. This year, 62% of grades on the A*-G scale were A*/A, and 50.5% of grades on the 9-1 scale were 9 or 8, with so many of our students achieving one or more of these top grades. 

Amongst these successes, 6 students – Chloe Jazzy Lau, Andrea George, Rachel Luk, Alice Saito, Aiswarya Rambhatla and Mihika Khandelwal – scored top grades in every subject they sat. A further 4 students scored a top grade in all except one of their subjects – Justin Lam, Toby Mak, Valerie Shiu and Maddy Yates. 

We congratulate you on your exceptional achievements, alongside our congratulations for the achievements of all of our students!

Congratulations to the following SIS students who took part in the above writing competition last academic year and have achieved excellent results! 

The 6th and 7th Dragon Young Writers Awards龙少年文学奖

• 3rd Award (Junior) 初中组三等奖2020：
  • 歐陽卓人10CX202 (Instructor：Ms Echo Huang)
• Merit Award (Junior) 初中组优秀奖2020:
  • JasmineYAN 甄巧盈 10CN201 (Instructor: Ms Gladys Zhai)
  • Kristie Lee 10CX201李嘉倩 (Instructor: Ms Gladys Zhai)
  • Phoebe Lin 09CX101林心琦 (Instructor: Ms Gladys Zhai)
• 3rd Award (Junior) 初中组三等奖2019：
  • Anson Li李凌杰10CN201 (Instructor: Echo Huang)
• 3rd Award(Senior)高中组三等奖2019： 
  • Mavis Fu Hiu Yan 13CN602傅晓恩 (Instructor: Danni Li)

The Dragon Young Writers Awards invite students from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Mainland China to take part in the competition every year with the aim of promoting  Chinese culture.  We are really pleased to see that SIS students are keeping up a really positive learning attitude, and have achieved such amazing results despite the current situation. Well done to everyone involved! 

Mr Roberts, Lead teacher of Food has been producing some great resources to support students in their skills development in the kitchen.  If you would like to learn how to make fish pie this video is for you!

Scouts including a number of SIS students were busy this summer: they successfully completed 20 and 30 kilometer expeditions in early July, during a brief window of face-to-face activities.

It’s a step-by-step programme, catering to all levels. The younger ones hiked 9K with leaders at the back, while the senior scouts hiked 20K & 30K on their own. Lionel (just finishing Y10) was the overall organiser of the 30K expedition, with Lucas (Y9) in charge of 20K.

150th Hong Kong Scouts switched to online learning after Chinese New Year, when COVID-19 struck. Senior Scouts taught core skills including navigation, first aid, meteorology, wildlife identification and prepared to hit the ground running.

Plan A was an overnight hike/camp in February on Lantau. Lionel, Lucas and Zheng Hao did multiple recces from Big Buddha to the remote Fanlau peninsula.

When the Hong Kong Scouting Association told us we could only resume face-to-face activities in summer, we had to switch to Plan B because of the heat: carrying out expeditions at night, which had never been attempted before.

150th motto is: “Safe, Fun, a Learning Experience.”
The Scouts had to go back to the drawing board. They did multiple recces, went on night hikes with their families, and eventually mapped out completely new routes. They organised practice night hikes in Aberdeen Country Park and on Dragon’s Back. The final expedition started in Big Wave Bay, up Dragon’s Back, down around Tai Tam Bay, and around the Tai Tam reservoirs.

A total of 11 senior Scouts took part in the final expeditions (9 from SIS International):
30K
(Y10): Lionel (expedition leader), Josh, Johnathon
20K
(Y9): Lucas, Brendan, David, Justin, Zheng Hao.
(Y8): Wilfred youngest member was Wilfred

Scouts had many wildlife encounters along the way: a Chinese water dragon during a recce near the Peak, families of wild boars, giant Nephila spiders.

Well done, Scouts! That was quite an achievement. They now have all the skills to take their friends and families on expeditions.

If anyone is interested in joining, email: 150sjgleaders@gmail.com