27 Apr 2018

Family Bauhinia Newsletter (April 2018)

Family Bauhinia’s latest newsletter is available to read now. Find out the latest news and upcoming events.

> Celebrating Student Achievemens in Family Bauhinia

> Primary School Visits – Class Perspective

> Inter-House Calendar (Term 3, 2017-18)

> Important Dates For Your Diary

Vice Principal’s Comments

Dear Family Bauhinia Parents,

Welcome back from your Easter holidays, we hope you were able to relax and enjoy some time as family. It was cool weather here in HK and we took advantage with some fantastic hikes around Hong Kong!

We are now into our last couple of months of the term for the year and, as always, there will be plenty of action in Family Bauhinia! Please find below some highlights of the month and what is coming up for the remainder of the year.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or something you wish to share with the Family in future Newsletters.

Carolyn Andrews

Vice Principal

Learning Director, Family Bauhinia

South Island School

Celebrating Student Achievements in Family Bauhinia

Primary School Visits – Class Perspective

Some of the SIS staff came to QBS to spend the afternoon with us. This was great because they came to find out what we are doing to get ready for our Exhibition. They spent the whole time chatting to us, asking us questions and trying to understand our unit of inquiry. They were very impressed by our enthusiasm, as well as our ideas. Now they can’t wait to come to our actual Exhibition and see how our knowledge and understanding has grown. Ms. Andrews is the Vice Principal of SIS and is also a teacher in a lot of different subjects. She spent the end of the day in 6A. She answered many questions. She talked about our next visit to SIS and what its going to be like in secondary school. This visit from the SIS teachers is a relief as we are a little nervous about secondary school!

Janvi Mundra and Durga Nair (QBS – 6A)

Curriculum Update

Pastoral Learning Curriculum:

Sleep – Affordable well being for everyone

In Year 8 recently during our PLC time (pastoral learning curriculum) tutors have been engaging students in highlighting the importance of sleep toward our health as well as the impact it can have on our learning. A book that comes highly recommended from neuroscientist Matthew Walker (Why we sleep) has stressed the importance of sleep in our lives. One of the main factors is that it helps to consolidate what we have learnt in a day so that a good night’s sleep supports the long term memory of learning that has taken place. Here is an article regarding this book: http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/10/17/whywesleep/

Are you getting a good 8 hours sleep a night regularly? If so, this could help you live longer, enhance your memory, help your creativity, make you feel happier, less anxious, keep you slim, as well as warding off many illnesses even colds and flu. In Hong Kong, I find a good set of ear plugs will help too!

Mr. Andy Thums (Head of Year 8)

Angst Screening

All ESF secondary schools have collaborated and paid for the rights to screen an important film in every ESF secondary school during May. ‘Angst’ is a 56-minute film and virtual reality experience that explores anxiety, its causes, effects and what we can do about it. The filmmakers’ goal is to have a global conversation and raise awareness around anxiety. ‘Angst’ features candid interviews with kids and young adults who suffer, or have suffered, from anxiety and what they’ve learned about it. The film includes discussions with mental health experts about the causes of anxiety and its sociological effects, as well as help, resources and tools.

This is a thought-provoking film which we hope will give the students an insight into a condition that affects many young people in our society. However, more importantly, we hope that the film and discussion will give practical resources and advice that students find useful as they move through the sometimes stressful environments of school, university, and the world of employment.

We will watch the film in our InterD lessons during the week of May 7th – 11th and parents will also have an opportunity to come into school and watch the film on Tuesday May 8th at 5.00 pm. During the screening, we will have a panel discussion to further explore questions regarding the film.

If you would like more information about this film and why and how it was made, please access the following link: https://angstmovie.com/about/

Middle Years Programme (MYP) Update:

All ESF Secondary Schools are in the process of being accredited as IBMYP schools. South Island School will be the first of all ESF Secondary Schools to be reviewed by an IB team. The tentative dates for the review are September 10 – 11 2018. The Year 7 students are in the process of completing the first year of MYP and will continue with the MYP framework in Year 8. MYP is simply a framework to deliver our curriculum but this framework has resulted in more clarity in what our students are learning, how it is assessed and a more consistent approach in reporting. More information on the programme can be found here under the 7-9 curriculum. In this section on our website, you will also find the curriculum overviews for each subject area.

We will run a session on the MYP framework early next term, but if you have any questions regarding the programme, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Ms. Carolyn Andrews (MYP Coordinator)

Reporting Schedule

The Progress Check Cards will be available on iSAMS on the following dates:

Year 7 PCC 3 – Thursday June 28^th (This is a data report including tutor comment)
Year 8 PCC 3 – Wednesday May 23^rd (This is a data report including tutor comment)
Year 8 Student Led Consultation (SLC) – Thursday May 24^th information on booking appointments will be sent separately

Year 7 PCC explanation (MYP grading):

Your child’s teachers will give a rating to express how engaged they have been with their learning in each subject as well as a grading for each criterion (there are 4) for each subject group. The criterion for each subject can be found here. Tutors will also comment as a review of the year for your child. This report has been developed to meet the requirements of the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP)

Attainment : Based on assessments for each criterion (A,B,C,D) on a scale of 1-8
Engagement : How a student has engaged with the subject material since the last reporting period (same as Year 8 below 1-4)
Attendance : The attendance record is dated from August 2017 until the date of this PCC

Year 8 PCC explanation (non-MYP grading):

Your child’s teachers will give a rating from 1 to 4 in each of the following areas: attainment and engagement.

Attainment : Based on assessments and class work since the last reporting period
Engagement : How a student has engaged with the subject material since the last reporting period
Attendance : The attendance record is dated from August 2017 until the date of this PCC

Explanation of Awards

For the Year 8 Data Report, a teacher’s comment will be included to explain the nature of the concern where a 1 or 2 has been awarded. If your child receives a 3 or a 4, comments are not usually given as they are progressing as expected.

TO ACCESS THE PCC IN THE ISAMS PARENT PORTAL (LAPTOP OR DESKTOP), PLEASE FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW:

1) Login in to iSAMS (Parent Portal)

2) Click ‘School Profile‘ (at the top banner)

– click ‘School Reports‘

– click ‘View (child) School Reports‘

3) You can choose between ‘view‘ or ‘download‘ the reports

– ‘view‘ is a quick view

– ‘download‘ is a full report with the explanation of ratings

TO ACCESS THE PCC IN THE ISAMS PARENT APP (QUICK VIEW ONLY), PLEASE FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW:

1) Login in to iSAMS (Parent App)

2) Click ‘My children‘ at the bottom banner

3) Select your child’s name

4) Select ‘Assessments & Reports‘

5) Select ‘PCC2 Y07 (2016)‘ and you can view the report (quick view only)

SIS goes MaD 2018

Please note that your child has been allocated to their ‘SIS goes MaD 2018’ trip. In order to complete the confirmation process, we require a few items to be finalised:

All parents must give permission by signing the electronic consent form ‘SIS Goes MaD 2018’ Parent Consent Form – one consent form per child (Please note that this consent form is different than the general low-risk consent form that you sign at the beginning of each year). Thanks to those who have already completed the electronic consent form during the time of the allocation announcement on February 28^th, 2018.
All students traveling overseas for ‘SIS goes MaD’ need to Upload their travel documents to the school VLE. As VLE access is only available to students, please kindly remind them to complete this procedure as soon as possible.
Balance Payment is due on before 7^th of June for all trips. In mid-May, an individual email will be sent to parents and students to inform parents the exact balance needed for their child’s/children’s particular trip.

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Yokee Kwan (ykwan@sis.edu.hk).

Mr. Darin Slethaug (Vice Principal)

Inter-House Calendar (Term 3, 2017-18)

Important Dates for Your Diary

APRIL 2018

Apr 26 (15:30) – Term 3 after school activities payment due
Apr 27 – Year 7 Inter-house Netball
Apr 30 – CPD Day (school closed for students)

MAY 2018

May 1 – Public Holiday (school closed)
May 2 – Term 3 After School Activities begin
May 7 to 11 – Screening of the film ‘Angst’
May 8 – PTA Parent Evening (Screening of the film ‘Angst’)
May 8 to 11 – LSC Camp (please refer to LSC Newsletter)
May 11 – Year 8 Inter-house Netball
May 22 – Public Holiday (school closed)
May 23 – Year 8 PCC3 live on iSAMS at 4.00 pm
May 24 – Year 8 Student Led Consultations
May 25 – Year 7 Inter-house SIS 3Ball
May 31 – Year 6 Parents Evening

JUNE 2018

Jun 1 – Cross ESF Pastoral Day
Jun 1 – SIS Films Award
Jun 1 – Year 8 Inter-house Gecko Maths
Jun 7 – Deadline for ‘SIS goes MaD 2018’ balance payment
Jun 8 – Swim Gala
Jun 11 – Year 8 Public Speaking Competition
Jun 15 – Term 3 after school activities finish
Jun 18 – Public Holiday (school closed)
Jun 19 – CPD Day (school closed for students)
Jun 22 – Year 8 Inter-house Waterpolo
Jun 26 – Gala Concert
Jun 28 – Year 7 PCC3 live on iSAMS at 4.00 pm
Jun 28 – Family Bauhinia Celebration
Jun 29 – Last day of Term 3

All dates including whole school events and information can be found on our school calendar. To view the calendar, please go to our website and click on the link School Calendar

> Vice Principal’s Comments