28 Mar 2018

Family Bauhinia Newsletter (March 2018)

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

> Celebrating Family Bauhinia Achievements

> Professional Development and Workshops in support of our children

> After School Activities (Term 3, 2017-18)

> Important Dates for your Diary

Vice Principal’s Comments

Dear Bauhinia Parents,

As we complete Term 2 of the school year, it is a good time to reflect on the amazing school community we have here at South Island School. There is always so much happening around the school, some of it well publicized, and some of it behind the scenes.

Last week we appointed our new Student Council for next academic year including our new Head Girl, Mahira Kumar (12K1) and Head Boy, Austin Gigi (12B1) who will lead the school next year as well as Head Girl, Wing-Ka Lau (12S1) and Head Boy, Jimmy Standing (12S2) for Family Bauhinia. I am always impressed with the level of maturity and ability our students possess and their desire to use their skills to Make a Difference in our school. Looking at the students in Family Bauhinia, I can’t help but wonder which of these amazing students is our future Head Girl and Head Boy!

This edition of the Family Bauhinia Newsletter is a celebration of day to day accomplishments of our students and the school community.

As you can see we have modified the format of the Family Bauhinia Newsletter. This is in response to your feedback from the previous Newsletter, we hope these changes allow for easier access to the information. Thank you to all parents who completed the survey.

If you have your family are traveling or staying in Hong Kong for the end of term break, we would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy holiday.

Carolyn Andrews

Celebrating Family Bauhinia Achievements

Professional Development and Workshops in support of our Children

March has been a fantastic month for professional development and learning in support of the children in our care. The PTA have offered many seminars/workshops which very well attended by parents from Year 7-13 which demonstrates how strong the community at South Island School is. Our most recent PTA Parent Education Evening was about Parenting the Teen Brain with presenter Mark Gandalfi and the next one on April 19th, Parenting Tips on the Use of Laptops at SIS. We also hosted a Community Project parent presentation to outline the purpose and the benefits of the project led by our Head of Inter-D, Ms. Chile Le.

Battle of the Books (BoB)

The HK Battle of the Books is an inter-school competition designed to introduce students to a variety of reading material, build teamwork skills and simply foster enjoyment in reading. Each year South Island School enters a team of enthusiastic readers and this year is no different. The team is hard at work and will be ready for the ‘battle’. The team is coached by Year 12 students, Tom Fay, Christy Li, Joshua Chu and Ashley Lau under the watchful and caring eye of our Librarian Betty Ow. With all the books the students have read – we are already very successful! Well done team!

The members of the team are: Leela Teffaine (7B2), Jason Choi (7C1), Lucas Chan (7C2), Marcus Lau (7K1), Om Sodhani (7K2), Avirah George (7N2), Zoe Lee (8B1), Ji ln Lam (8M1), Selina Yeung (8M2), Anjelica Law (8S1), Weiyu Yang (8B2) and Zoe Chan (9K2)

MYP Update – Science

The next unit of work in Year 7 is entitled “Travelling to BioBlitz”. The Statement of Inquiry is: Effective dispersal mechanisms contribute to the relationships between living organisms that enable a rich and sustainable biodiversity.

This will involve the students exploring the biodiversity of the environment around South Island School and may involve a visit along Lady Clementi’s Ride in the woodland across the road from school. At all times the students will be fully supervised. During the science lessons there will be a ‘fact finding trip’ of the Biodiversity around school. To record their observations students will be asked to upload an App called iNaturalist onto their phone (The App is for age group 4+ and is free and easy to use, but will need parental permission). Students will be asked to log into the SIS Biodiversity Project. Observations made will be added into a database that can be added to over the next year.

After the Easter break and between Friday 27th and Monday 30th April the students will be taking part in the City Nature Challenge. All observations made over this weekend will be entered in the City Nature Challenge. Hong Kong is one of over 60 cities to take part in this global event. Lots more information can be found on the City Nature Challenge web site, http://citynaturechallenge.org/

Please do support your children in this exciting event and help them find interesting organisms, particularly over the weekend of April 27th to 30th.

Mrs. Su Cowland

Director of Science

End of Term Arrangments

End of Term 2 is Thursday March 29th and it is also a dress casual day for the students. It is Sports Themed in support of Children’s Heart Foundation and raise awareness about CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH. Students will be dismissed at 12.55 pm and buses will leave at 1.20 pm.

We look forward to seeing the students back and ready for Term 3 on Monday April 16th (Week 2)

Inter-House Schedules

After School Activities (Term 3, 2017-18)

How to Sign up: Please click here for instructions on how to sign up for after school activities.

Thursday, April 19th (15.30) – Friday, April 20th 2018 (12.30)	VIEW ONLY
Friday, April 20th (12.35) – Sunday, April 22nd 2018 (23.59)*	SIGN-UP Period
Monday, April 23rd (15.30) – Tuesday, April 24th 2018 (15.30)	PROCESSING
Tuesday, April 24th 2018 (18.30)	Allocations Confirmed
Thursday, April 26th 2018 (15.30)	Payment Due
Wednesday, May 2nd – Friday, June 15th 2018	Activity Period

* Students may sign up at any time during SIGN-UP period. Please note that sign up is NOT first-come-first-served, so it does not matter when a student signs up during the sign up period.

Activity Allocation

Students may choose up to 4 activities.
Allocation for each activity will be selected in random order. This is to make it fair for all students. It is NOT first come first served.

On Tuesday April 24th, allocations will be finalized. Students are to check the status of their activities after this time in the VLE.

Cancel Activities

E-mail cli@sis.edu.hk (Ms Clara Li) or visit the PE Office to cancel a booked activity.

Extra information:

Activities will run from Wednesday May 2nd – Friday June 15th
Activity buses for After School Activities will operate starting from Wednesday, May 2nd

All activities incurring an additional fee must be paid for and appropriate forms signed by Thursday April 26th or the allocation will be given to the next student on the list.

Important Dates for your Diary

March 2018

Mar 29 – Last day of Term 2
- Sports Themed Dress Casual Day in support of Children’s Heart Foundation and raise awareness about CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH
Mar 30 to April 15 – Easter Holidays

April 2018

Apr 16 – First day of Term 3 (this is a Week 2)
Apr 19 (15:30) – Term 3 after school activities schedule opens (VIEW only)
Apr 19 – PTA Parent Education Evening: Parenting Tips on the Use of Laptops at SIS (6 pm@The Space)
Apr 20 (12:35) – Term 3 after school activities sign-up opens
Apr 22 (23:59) – Term 3 after school activities sign-up closes
Apr 24 (18:30) – Term 3 after school activities allocations confirmed
Apr 26 (15:30) – Term 3 after school activities payment due
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 8 to 11 – LSC Camp (please refer to LSC Newsletter)
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 31 – Year 6 Parents Evening

June 2018

Jun 1 – Cross ESF Pastoral Day
Jun 1 – SIS Films Award
Jun 7 – Balance deadline for ‘SIS goes MaD 2018’
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 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 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

As always, please let me know if you have any questions regarding the above information.

Carolyn Andrews

Vice Principal

Learning Director, Family Bauhinia

South Island School

> Vice Principal’s Comments