31 Oct 2019

Family Bauhinia Newsletter (October 2019)

Family Bauhinia’s latest newsletter is available to read now. Find out the latest news and upcoming events on Volume 8, Issue 3.

> Message from the Head of Post-11 Learning

> Message from the Vice Principal (Well-Being and Guidance)

> Welcome to the Family Bauhinia

> Celebrating Student Achievements

> Casa MaD Week – Box of Hope 2019

> Shtepi MaD Week – Room to Read and Love Reading

Message from the Head of Post-11 Learning

Dear Family Bauhinia Parents,

Welcome back from the mid-term break! August and September were busy for all of our students, but looking forward it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Some of the highlights from October and upcoming events in November are:

Read-a-thon
Diwali Night
MaD Week
Guiding Day
Athletics Day
Nightfest
Mill on the Floss – School Production

Our Making a Difference (MaD) week is almost upon us, our Y8 students will be spreading their wings to experience activities across Hong Kong and Asia (we can’t wait to hear their stories). For our Y7 students, they have a jam-packed week ahead of them. It is a great chance for our students to get to know each other better outside of the school setting.

It has been such a positive month, we have collected some school highlights along with student achievements and have shared them below. Also in this Newsletter, you will find what is coming up for the month of November – a collection of these dates can be found at the end of the Newsletter for your convenience.

If you have any questions or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Shaine Bushell
Head of Post-11 Learning
MYP Coordinator

Message from the Vice Principal (Well-Being and Guidance)

This week all South Island students have completed the bi-annual AWE (Assessing Well-Being in Education) survey. The AWE survey consists of a collection of validated psychometric scales and scientifically informed questions that assess various aspects of well-being. Each student will also receive her/his own personalised well-being report. These reports are written in plain English with easily interpretable graphs that track changes overtime so the students can monitor their own progress.

The pastoral team will be alerted to any students who generate a low-wellbeing, low happiness or high-bullying score from the survey. Tutors will follow up with these students to ensure that they are well supported. We encourage students to talk to their families and friends about the results. Having conversations about well-being, both what is going well and what is not going so well, is an effective first step towards improving well-being. Students can also talk to tutors, Heads of Year/House and counsellors, as always.

We have a Well-Being Committee at South Island and they will be analysing the overall anonymous results to identify areas of the school to focus on improving this academic year. The goal of the Committee is to ensure the school experience is one where everyone can flourish.

The energy that your children brought to their very first Inter-house competition this term was tremendous! The dodgeball competition was a huge success as all the children fought with everything they had to win the event. In my eyes all the students were winners as the team spirit they demonstrated throughout the afternoon was outstanding. As my parents used to say “It’s not about the win, but the taking part that counts.” Please encourage this view with your children as it does make for a more enjoyable time during House events.

Lucie Purves
Vice Principal (Well-Being and Guidance)

Welcome to the Family Bauhinia

A very warm welcome to the new Year 8 student joining us this month:

JUNG Eunsol (Ariel)

8N2

Celebrating Student Achievements

Annika Li (7B2)

On 7-12 October, Annika took part in the 20th International Meeting on Juvenile Art in Evora, Portugal. Participants included children from Bulgaria, Egypt, India, Slovenia, Israel, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Hong Kong. Annika was one of the youngest participants.

During the week, Annika thoroughly enjoyed on-site watercolour painting as well as charcoal sketching of historical architecture in Sertorius Square, Roman Temple, Monsaraz medieval village, St Francis Church and Giraldo Square. Annika’s favourite spot was the famous Chapel of Bones which was decorated with real skulls and bones on its pillars and walls!

All in all, it has been a wonderful artistic experience for Annika.

Chapel of Bones

Giraldo Square

Michelle Wong (8N2)

Michelle took part in the Cup of Kindness Charity Event on 13 October and came in first place.

This is an event where all members of the Hong Kong Golf Club can participate. This year there were about 200 participants. The format was ‘better ball’, where in teams of two, you each play individually, and then use the better score of each hole.

Congratulations Michelle!

Family Bauhinia Fun

7M1 – Tutor Time Fun: Getting their game faces on ahead of inter-house

7C1 – Friday fun with the Y13 Form Links

Wacky Wednesdays

In the Space every Wednesday lunchtime, have a little more fun than usual. Music is usually played and there is a vibrant atmosphere each Wednesday. We invited students to perform at this time to showcase their talents, alongside adding to the fun of this event. Recently Andreas Cheng has been in charge of the sounds as our master DJ. Big thank you for helping to make Wednesday’s just that bit more wacky Andreas.

Values in Action

Family Bauhinia MaD Representatives

The Family Bauhinia MaD team has been busy preparing their first kindness mat to be passed on to ImpactHK later in the year. The mat takes quite a while to construct but is designed to help provide more sleeping comfort for the homeless. We are planning a visit ImpactHK later this month to take part in a kindness walk, as well as prepare and deliver lunch for those in need.

Here are some of the reps making the kindness mat:

Andy Thums
Head of Year 8

SIS Goes MaD – Year 7 Camp

MaD Week is nearly upon us! Our Year 8 students will be going on trips of their choice which could be local or overseas and our Year 7 students will be attending the annual Year 7 camp.

For students staying in school, school buses will run with all days following a Monday schedule. NO activity buses will run this week and there will be NO late start on Tuesday and NO early finish on Friday.

Please see below a brief overview of the schedules for Year 7 MaD week:

Family Bauhinia Read-a-thon

Read-a-thon is an annual event jointly organised by the Family Bauhinia and the Learning Resources Centre to put the school philosophy of ‘Making a Difference’ into action. All Year 7 and 8 students are invited to participate. During the period of Read-a-thon (18 Oct to 28 Nov 2019), students are guided by their English teachers and school librarians to explore the gems in reading. They are encouraged to extend their reading comfort zone to enjoy books in a variety of genres. Prizes and activities are provided to engage them in reading, to motivate them in sharing their reading pleasure with peers through writing books reviews and making book trailers, and to inspire them in offering their helping hands to make a difference to a global community. The money raised will go to the charity ORBIS – the Flying Eye Hospital whose motto is ‘Saving Sight Worldwide’. The full details of the Read-a-thon Programme can be found on the Library VLE page (here).

Ms Betty Ow
School Librarian

Inter-House Events

Year 7 Old Style Bench Ball

Friday 25 October saw Year 7 come together for their second inter-house event of the year. It was great to see the students have so much fun – but what was even better to see was the excellent sportsmanship displayed by students. We saw students cheering and supporting other teams, shaking opponents hands at the end of the game and celebrating in the successes of all students – this is what being a family is all about!

The next year 7 event will be Inter-house Gecko Maths – 6 December.

Updated Inter-house Calendar

Athletics Day

Inter-House Athletics is an annual highly anticipated school event where students compete in athletic events for their Houses. The entire school body will be at this event it truly is an amazing sight to see the students and staff out in their house shirts supporting each other. This will be a new experience for many of our students and parents but one that will create wonderful memories.

Students are currently undertaking athletics training in their PE lessons – which are acting as heats for this year’s event. The students with the best results will make it through to compete in events on Athletics Finals Day. Students will be notified as to who has been selected prior to the event. This will be via email and will be posted on the windows of the PE classroom in the sports hall.

THE DETAILS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

WHEN: Friday, 22 November 2019

WHERE: Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground

WHAT TIME: 8:00am to 1:00pm

HOW TO GET THERE: Students will take their usual school bus, which will take them directly to the sports field. At the end of the event, students will take their regular bus home from the stadium. If students come by car or local transport, they must arrive at the field no later than 8:00am. There will also be an additional bus leaving from the school for students and teachers, which will leave at 7:15am SHARP!

WHAT TO WEAR: House T-shirt, PE shorts and anything in your house colour to accessorise!

WHAT TO BRING: Water, food for the morning, sunscreen/hat, jacket/sweater in case of cooler weather, a small amount of money for snacks/water. NO LAPTOPS or VALUABLES, please.

Finally, in the event of bad weather, please check the school website. If the Athletics Finals Day is cancelled, it will be announced on the school website and the buses will bring the students to school and a normal day will resume.

Casa MaD Week – Box of Hope 2019

Box of Hope is back this year, so please start collecting your empty shoeboxes. This year we have a target of 300 boxes. Collection date 11 November 2019.

What to include:

Something to love
Something to do
Something useful
Something fun
Something to wear

Help Casa and SIS bring a smile to underprivileged children.

Casa Student Leadership Team 2019 – 2020

Shtepi MaD Week – Room to Read and Love Reading

The annual Shtepi MaD Week was another roaring success! The final event – dress as a book character day – allowed our students to show their creative sides!

Click here or Facebook logo for more photos!

School Philosophy Poster and Logo Competition

Back in September a design competition was launched as an opportunity for students to create a graphic representation of the school’s mission statement and philosophy. To bring them to life for all members of the SIS community. Students from all year groups were invited to enter the competition to design this graphic which will be used on the school website and will be displayed throughout the school for the future.

The following students from Bauhinia get a special mention in the SIS graphics design competition due to their outstanding designs submitted:

Andrea Lau – 7N2

Annika Li – 7B2

Curriculum Update

Year 8 InSoc Trip

In Year 8 Individuals and Society classes (InSoc), the students are inquiring into, “Global interactions impact upon the sustainability of resources and globalisation of culture”. They have been learning about globalisation and how it has impacted on our resources, ideas and culture.

During this unit they have investigated through a historic/economic lens focusing on:

Spice Trade
Slave Trade and Colonisation
Development of Transports (of goods and people)
Globalisation and Sustainable Development

To complete the unit, we are investigating globalisation through a geographical lens – How has globalisation impacted on Hong Kong. To support this inquiry, the students will conduct a field study in the local area of Aberdeen High Street and their focus question will be, ‘Is Aberdeen a Clone Town?’

We will take half the year group at a time to Aberdeen High Street and across to the promenade during a two-hour lesson. To make the most of the trip, we would like to have parent volunteers to keep the groups small and maximise participation. Each accompanying adult will work with a group of 10 students as they walk around and conduct two forms of data collection:

Clone Town Survey
Environmental Quality Analysis

We invite parents/guardians to join us on the trip and have the chance to get involved in their child’s learning. We need at least 16 parent/guardian volunteers to help support our teachers who will be running these trips.

Please find below the dates and the classes that will be attending the visit:

GROUP A – Tuesday 3 December 12:35pm – 3:00pm
Classes:

        08IS101 – Ava Khalfaoui / Sonisha Kripalani
        08IS102 – Urvashi Sharma / Sonisha Kripalani
        08IS103 – Adam Tait
        08IS104 – Isabella Rodriguez

GROUP B – Tuesday 3 December 10:35am – 12:35pm
Classes:

        08IS105 – Lucy Edwards / Trevor Wong
        08IS106 – Syrita Nicholas
        08IS107 – Isabella Rodriguez / Adam Tait
        08IS108 – Gary Donovan / Ben Edwards

If you are available to accompany us, please could you contact me, snicholas@sis.edu.hk. I will follow up with more details closer to the date.

Thank you in advance for your support,

Syrita Nicholas
Leader of Individuals and Society

Year 13 Animation Experts and Year 8 Global Thinking Lessons

The Y8 students are currently working on a stop-motion animation project in their Global Thinking lessons. The students have been asked to create a stop-motion video about an area of Digital Citizenship that they have studied. They are really enjoying this creative and collaborative project which supports the development of media skills and enables them to demonstrate the synthesis of ideas learned in class. The Y8 students will share their videos with Year 7 students early next term to teach them about Digital Citizenship. Some videos may be selected to enter into the SIS Animation Awards in Term 3.

Cai Rose Verderese and Sei Young Joung our very talented and creative Y13 animation experts and leaders of the SIS Animation Club shared their knowledge with the Y8 students. On Tuesday, 22 October and Friday, 25 October, Cai and Sei Young demonstrated to the Y8 students how to create stop-motion animation in our Global Thinking lessons. Y8 students learned many tips and tricks. It was a great opportunity for our Y8 students to connect with senior students and learn from experts! Here are some photos of the sessions.

Chile Le
Head of Interdisciplinary Learning

Term One Reporting

Progress Check Cards (PCCs) – Live on iSAMS October

Just a reminder that PCC1 for Year 7, 8 and 9 are available on iSAMS. Please see below how to access.

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

1) Login into iSAMS (Parent Portal)

2) Click ‘School Profile’ (at the top banner)
– click ‘School Reports’
– click ‘View (child) School Reports’

3) Click on ‘download’ the reports

TO ACCESS THE PCC IN THE iSAMS PARENT APP, PLEASE FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW:

Login into iSAMS (Parent App)
Click ‘My children’ at the bottom banner
Select your child’s name
Select ‘Assessments & Reports’
Select the report to download

Guiding Day Tuesday – 19 November

You should have received communication by email about how to schedule an appointment with your child’s tutor. The purpose of Guiding Day is to provide a valuable opportunity for a meeting between the Tutor, student and parents. During this meeting, students are asked to reflect on their learning, discuss and plan their targets for this academic year and raise any issues or concerns they may have. Attendance is compulsory for students, even if the parents are unable to attend. Students are expected to lead the discussion and will be given allocated tutor time to prepare for Guiding Day; as part of the discussion students will be expected to share their Evidencer ePortfolio. The ePortfolios are a record of students’ academic, social and pastoral learning at South Island School. Students need to wear their school uniform to their appointment.

If you have any questions about Guiding Day, please do get in touch with your child’s Tutor.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Lucie Purves
Vice Principal – Well-Being and Guidance

Evidencer – Making Learning Visible

Our aim at South Island School is to engage our community in the learning process – making the learning, and the amazing work our students create, visible. This can be achieved through events like Open Day, Curriculum Evenings and Student-Led Consultations. However, parents and guardians need to wait for these to happen – we would like them to be able to see their child’s work at any point during the year. Thus we are supporting our students in developing a digital portfolio of work that shows their passion along with examples of their classwork.

We want these portfolios to be more than just a collection of activities and tasks; they should become tools of communication that weave together the voices of the student, the teacher and the parent.

We want to see the Evidencer tool on the VLE to become a living document where students get to reflect on their evidence of learning, set goals for future learning and share what they have achieved with teachers and, most importantly, parents. Therefore lesson, and Pastoral Learning Curriculum (PLC) time, will be given over to allow students space and time to curate and reflect on the evidence they have collected. These reflections are to be shared with parents/guardians who will be encouraged to ask questions – hopefully getting an answer to that age-old question, “So, what did you do in school today?”

Years 7 and 8 students will be writing and sharing their first reflections with parents towards the end of the term. More details will be sent in a separate email to support this important event in our reporting calendar but feel free to chat with your child about the Evidence they are collecting.