28 Feb 2019

Family Bauhinia Newsletter (February 2019)

Family Bauhinia’s latest newsletter is available to read now. Find out the latest news and upcoming events on Volume 7, Issue 6.

> Message from the Vice Principal

> Family Bauhinia Celebrating Achievements

> Appropriate Computer and Smartphone Use – Self-Regulation

> Power Down Day (Friday 8 March)

> Year 8 Options Forms Due (Friday 8 March)

> Chinese School Production: Butterfly Lovers (11 – 13 March)

> Meeting regarding Transition to Secondary School (Tuesday 19 March)

> Important Dates For Your Diary

Message from the Vice Principal

Dear Bauhinia Parents,

Welcome back! We hope you and your children have had a relaxing Chinese New Year break. It has been wonderful to hear the amazing holiday stories. From family gatherings in Hong Kong to overseas trips, the students have been very eager to share.

We only have six more weeks until Easter Holidays! As usual, it will be a very busy few weeks, but we intend to enjoy every moment we have with Family Bauhinia.

I would like to thank all parents for supporting the new reporting schedule for Year 7 and Year 8 and coming along to the MYP assessment and reporting presentation held in January. We have been trying to make communication between home and school stronger and these events go along way to better understand your needs. We also had a very successful Year 8 options evening which allowed for us to answer many of your questions to support this process. We hope to offer more information sessions in the future – if you have areas of school life you would like us to address, please let us know.

As a parent, you would have received a link to the CIS Community Survey for Parents. The results of the survey will help us to shape the direction of the school development plan. We are really hoping for a high return rate on the survey because we want every member of the community to contribute to this plan. In hopes to make the completion of the survey easier, we will be sending you an SMS with a link to the survey. The survey is available in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The survey will open in your language setting – see below:

English	Chinese	Japanese	Korean

We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new students and families to SIS and Family Bauhinia:

Phoebe Lin (7B1)
Jaden Lam (8K1)
Arya Joshi (8N1)
Lucy Kim (8N2)
Charlotte Fong (8N2)

Thank you for your continued support. To find out what we have been up to and what to expect in the coming month, please see below some of the highlights.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Andrews
Vice Principal / Director of Middle School & MYP Coordinator

MYP Assessment and Reporting Presentation

Year 8 Options Presentation

Message from Head of Year 7

The recent Student Led Conferences (SLC) were a busy and informative evening for all. It was great to have the chance to speak with some of you during this time. We hope that you enjoyed the chance to catch up with your child’s teachers.

Recent inter house events have highlighted some outstanding dedication and team spirit amongst the students. The cross country was by invite and the students who took part really gave it their all – well done to them all. The gymnastics event relied on students to volunteer to take part. It was fantastic to see so many in Year 7 do this, even in activities where students were not feeling most comfortable. Excellent examples of risk taking and enthusiasm – well done. The true spirit of inter house. Racketathon (boys) inter-house is a similar event on 15 March table tennis, tennis and badminton so it would be great to see lots of our Year 7 boys join in the fun.

Andy Thums
Head of Year 7

Message from Head of Year 8

It was great to see so many parents supporting the Year 8 Options Evening on 12 February. If you or your child still have any questions regarding the Options process or subject choices please do ask either, myself and or your child’s subject teacher. Please remember the deadline for the submission of Options online form is 8 March.

The Wellbeing Representatives have already met this term and have began to discuss the next Family Bauhinia social event to celebrate the coming of the Easter holidays. Students would like to host a disco for all of year 7 and 8 students on 4 April at lunch time, please encourage your child to put on their dancing shoes and join the party!

The Year 8 Personal Learning Curriculum (PLC) over the next four weeks will be focusing on Digital Citizenship. Several of the activities that your child will be engaging in have been taken from the book ‘Digital Citizenship in Action’, by Kristen Mattson, which we would recommend you to read. Please take the time to talk with your child to see how as a family you could support this important area of their education.

Victoria Butcher
Head of Year 8

Family Bauhinia Celebrating Achievements

For the months of February, we have noted some students who have Made a Difference in the SIS community. We are incredibly proud of our students and how they Make a Difference in a variety of ways to make SIS a wonderful place to be. Please see below the names of some of the children who have Made a Difference this month.

Family Bauhinia Achievements

Nathan Liu 7M1 – rising star

Nathan and his team 611 dance crew, entered the 2019 rookie stars dance challenge in the senior school section and finished joint third. We are very impressed with Nathan’s achievements and commend him for his dedication to commitment to the Arts – well done Nathan!

Spanish Delights

Well done to our Year 8 Spanish students who enquired into food from various Spanish speaking countries. Students then worked collaboratively to prepare the dish at home and bring into school for a tasting session.

World Languages & InSoc – Stanley field trip

In order to consolidate and extend the fantastic learning students experience in their InSoc and European Languages lessons, we took the whole of Year 7 to Stanley on Wednesday 27th February 2019 to put into practice what they have been studying in class. We had fantastic weather and the cohort represented SIS very well in their behaviour around Stanley. They even had a quick game of team sports during lunchtime! It was wonderful to see them all enjoying and making the most of the day, and there was lots of evidence of support, collaboration and leadership across both activities.

The day was divided into two parts:

In European Languages, students took part in a treasure hunt around the town using directions and key vocabulary in the language they study, with pupils meeting teachers at various different checkpoints along the way to receive a stamp or take a photo.
In Individuals and Societies, students focused on putting their Stanley Identity Tourist Guides into action by evaluating how user-friendly and informative they were, which would later help support part of their Critical Thinking assessment objective. During this Identity Unit they have been exploring Hong Kong through various lenses such as; Historical, Geographical, Economical & Beliefs and Values which they should have incorporated into their design and focus of their tourist guide of Stanley. They also developed the key ATLs of collaboration and thinking during this unit.

Syrita Nicholas Sam Thater
Head of Individuals and Society Head of World Languages

Appropriate Computer and Smartphone Use – Self-Regulation

Very often we get concerns from parents, staff and students about the amount of time being spent on computers and smartphones. There is so much at our fingertips now that it is hard to pull away from the constant bombardment of information and images.

Everyone is different and requires different strategies to reduce the amount of time on electronic devices. Below are some suggestions that have been shared by members of our school that have worked for their families (it is not only children who can get caught up on computers and smartphones!)

Limit Computer Use: You can set a limit by setting a timer. When it goes off, close and turn off your computer. Move yourself away from the computer to clear and refocus your mind. Screen Time is also a handy function that is now accessible on smartphones.

Only use the computer for necessary tasks: Do not install games or apps that may distract you from homework tasks.

Move the computer or smartphone to an open area: Sometimes taking it out of the child’s bedroom is sufficient to reduce the usage, and it makes it easier to monitor.

Help children find space for face to face conversations: Teach children to put phones down during key conversation times such as dinner, travelling together in a car, bus, or other modes of transportation.

We all want our children to be happy and develop strong interpersonal skills in this digital age. Self-regulation is key to helping children make appropriate choices.

Another area that we must reinforce with our children is the use of social media. It is important to note that both Instagram and Facebook require that users are at least 13 years old to have an account. The age is there because although the children are knowledgeable about cyber safety, they may not have developed the skills to navigate responsibility in the digital world. If your child has an account please make sure to talk to them about:

How to to improve our digital responsibility

1. Become an upstander when you witness cyber-hate – tell someone

2. See something—say something. Discuss offline about online inappropriate behaviour.

3. Think twice, post once. 15 minutes of humour is never worth a lifetime of humiliation.

4. Guidelines for safe sharing online.

a. Do not share too much information
b. Do not share inappropriate material – consider how you would feel if your words or images went viral
c. Make sure you know who you are sharing with – do not ‘friend’ someone you do not know
d. Do not share in haste – picture yourself in the photo you are sharing. Would you want this to happen to you?
e. Ask permission before you share any images or videos of others

5. Be constructive with your comments, not combative. (Hate can perpetuates hate, click out if you can’t control yourself). Anger is temporary, the Internet is forever

The goal is to work together, home and school, to support our students to navigate in the digital world and become model digital citizens.

Bahay MaD Week

Power Down Day (Friday 8 March)

The Sustainability Council have worked with the Bahay MAD Council to arrange a Green Week beginning 4 March. There are a number of events happening that week, with the main one on Friday 8th – the annual POWER DOWN DAY! We are asking all staff and students on this day to avoid using any power at all – this includes phones and laptops.

We are encouraging students to be out of classrooms at break and lunch, to socialise and enjoy being outside. Students and teachers can access sports equipment on that day to encourage outdoor play. As a family, you too can consider your electricity use and what you can do to Make a Difference!

SIS Sustainability Council

Year 8 Options Forms Due (Friday 8 March)

Thank you to all Year 8 parents who joined us for the Options for Year 9 presentation that was held on Tuesday 12 February. The presentation gave information on the different subjects that the students could choose from for Year 9 as well as the options process. Information regarding the evening, including the PowerPoint, can be found on our website or by clicking here (under Options Information > Year 8 going to Year 9).

Options forms with choices for next academic year are due in on Friday 8 March.

‘SIS Goes MaD’ 2019

The ‘SIS Goes MaD’ 2019 registration was closed last Friday.

Placement Announcement will be on 11 March 2019. Both student & parents will receive separate emails for the allocation confirmation and the deposit payment.

Please take note of the following important dates listed:

Placement Announcement: 11 March 2019
Deposit Deadline: 29 March 2019
Balance Deadline: 13 June 2019

Chinese School Production: Butterfly Lovers (11-13 March)

We are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity taking place at South Island School in March; a chance to attend the inaugural production of Butterfly Lovers 《梁祝》. Butterfly Lovers is one of China’s four great folktales and is often known as the Chinese Romeo and Juliet.

The play, performed by our students, is in Mandarin, English and some Cantonese, with English subtitles and fantastic music throughout. You and your family have three showtimes to choose from and the details of the performances can be found below:

Butterfly Lovers (梁祝)

Date: Monday 11 March, Tuesday 12 March, Wednesday 13 March
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: The Hall, 2/F, South Island School

Meeting regarding Transition to Secondary School (Tuesday 19 March)

ESF is looking to better understand transition of our students from Primary to Secondary Schools and they would like hear your views. Please see below a message from Adam Hughes, the Director of Education, that was sent to all ESF Primary and Secondary Schools:

As part of our ongoing commitment to engage with the wider ESF family, myself along with Trish Oliver (Leaning and Teaching Adviser, K-13 Transition) and Dave Findlay (Leaning and Teaching Adviser, MYP Secondary, 7-9) will be meeting with groups of Year 6 and 7 students and parents in order to understand their perceptions and experiences around transition. This will help to inform a foundation-wide approach to primary-secondary transition which will emerge over the coming months.

If you would like to take part and share your views, please email to ahiggs@sis.edu.hk (Ms. Angelie Higgs) by no later than Friday 8 March and Ms. Higgs will add you to the group.

The details are:

Date: Tuesday 19 March
Time: 2:15 pm – 3:00 pm
Venue: South Island School (Conference Room)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday February Babies!

Important Dates For Your Diary

March 2019

1 Mar – Sports photographs
1-2 Mar – ESF Computer Conference @ SIS
5 Mar – IB Recital Concert @ Hall (6:00 pm)
8 Mar – Power Down Day
8 Mar – Year 8 Options form due
8 Mar – Inter-house Racket-a-thon (Boys)
11 Mar – Placement announcement for ‘SIS goes MaD’ 2019
11-13 Mar – Chinese School Production: The Chinese Musical, Butterfly Lovers (梁祝)
12 Mar – Year 9 Community Project Parent’s Information Evening @ The Space (5:30 pm)
15 Mar – Year 7 Inter-House Waterpolo
22 Mar – Year 8 Inter-House Gecko Maths
26 Mar – IGCSE Recital Concert @ Hall (6:00pm)
29 Mar – Term 2 activities end
29 Mar – Deposit deadline for ‘SIS goes MaD’ 2019 (please click here for details)
30 Mar – Innovation

April 2019

3 Apr – Sports Award
4 Apr – Family Bauhinia Disco Party @Hall (12:35 – 1:10pm)
5 Apr – Public holiday (school closed)
12 Apr – Years 7 & 8 Evidencer 2
12 Apr – Last day of Term 2
15-26 Apr – Easter Holidays
29 Apr – First day of Term 3 (this is week 2)

All dates 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.

Carolyn Andrews
Vice Principal / Director of Middle School & MYP Coordinator