Monthly Newsletter ( November 2024)
> PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
> UPCOMING EVENTS & INFORMATION
> RECENT HAPPENINGS
> STUDENT CELEBRATIONS
> NOVEMBER WEEKLY NEWSLETTERS
> KEY DATES & REMINDERS
Principal’s Message
Principal’s Vlog
What Talented Students we have at South Island School!
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Last Friday, our school had the wonderful opportunity to participate in Athletics Day at Siu Sai Wan Sports Grounds. The day turned out to be exceptional! We were fortunate with the weather, which contributed to our students performing at their best—running faster, jumping higher, and throwing farther. In fact, numerous school records were broken throughout the day! Mr. Atkinson remarked, “I can’t remember an Athletics Day that has had more records broken!”
Congratulations to our record breakers:
- Year 7 Girls 800m: Clemence Williamson – 2:52 (Broke record from 2009)
- Year 8 Girls 800m: Penelope Wilde – 2:38 (Broke record from 1994!)
- Year 8 Boys 100m: Adam Pepall – 12.40 (Broke record from 1998)
- Year 10 Girls 100m: Maggie Dowding (Broke record from 1995)
- Year 7 Boys Vortex Throw: Markus Slethaug – 36.70m (Broke record from 2023)
- Year 8 Boys 200m: Adam Pepall – 26.25 (Broke record from 2011)
- Year 12 Girls Shot Put: Ahlia Koram – 9.11m (Broke record from 1997)
I was particularly impressed by the students who participated in events for their House, even if it wasn’t their strongest area. As I always remind them, every House point counts! The relay races at the end of the day were incredibly competitive, and the cheers from the stands grew louder with each runner crossing the finish line. After tallying the points, Maison House emerged victorious, claiming the coveted Athletics trophy—this marks their first win in many years, so congratulations to them!
On an exhilarating note, our Girls Grade A Rugby team has also been riding high, having recently been crowned A Grade champions at the end of October. This is the first time in nearly a decade that SIS has won this tournament. They followed this achievement by securing another impressive victory at the Bill Williams 7 Tournament. I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing the team and learning about their successes, challenges, and inspirations. I encourage you to watch their insights in this week’s Vlog; I hope future rugby players find motivation in their stories.
Shifting focus from the sports field, the Arts team is treating us to an incredible Arts Week filled with engaging activities for our students. A keyboard has been set up outside my office, and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the diverse range of tunes being played! The House artwork created by our Year 7 students during MaD week is now displayed, and it looks absolutely stunning. I loved watching the older students walk by this afternoon, stopping to admire the creativity of the Year 7s.
On Monday night, 30 talented musical students from SIS participated in a concert at the Hong Kong City Hall auditorium, performing alongside peers from the 7 Secondary ESF schools. The showcase highlighted their remarkable musical abilities, featuring large junior and senior choirs, classical masterpieces, vibrant jazz, and captivating movie score covers. The performance was truly inspirational!
A heartfelt thank you to our parents who came out to support their child(ren) at these events. It’s wonderful to see our community come together to appreciate the opportunities our students have to perform in such fantastic venues here in Hong Kong.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
Helen Thew
Principal of South Island School
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UPCOMING EVENTS & INFORMATION
(1) SCHOOL PHOTOS
Kind Reminder to Parents that the school photos will take place on Dec 2nd-4th (Week 1)
Please see the schedule HERE, thanks.
* Please make sure you ARRIVE ON TIME
* For Tutor group photos, all students must come to school in the correct school uniform unless they have PE. If this is the case, please can the white SIS PE shirt be worn for PE, rather than the coloured House shirt.
* For Y7-9 the Family Bauhinia Photo will take place at the Lower Playground. Family Bauhinia students please wear House Shirts for this photo.
* For the House photos students please bring your House shirt to change into for your House photo! These photos will take place at the Lower Playground.
(2) SOPHOS UPDATE
All Mac laptops used in school must have the Sophos Endpoint Antivirus software up-to-date, in order to maintain connectivity with the school network.
Why This Is Important
The Sophos Endpoint Antivirus is crucial in protecting your child’s laptop from malware and ransomware threats. If the antivirus software becomes non-functional, your child’s laptop may be at risk of cyber threats.
Thank you to all parents who have already updated the Sophos Endpoint Antivirus software on their child(ren)’s laptop.
If you have not yet done so please take note of the email that you will receive from our ICT department explaining what you will need to do to complete this task.
(3) LOST PROPERTY
Our new Y12 Prefects have kindly organised the lost property onto tables in the foyer.
The lost items will be in the foyer until Monday. After this they will be donated or disposed of.
Students if you have lost items at school, please come and look for them in the foyer before Monday.
A reminder that if you label your property (especially clothing and water bottles) it is much easier for it to get returned to you.
(4) MAKE A BOOK AT CHRISTMAS!
Dear All,
We are getting close to the end of term 🎉 and Christmas🎄is coming!
This week, the LRC has launched the ‘Make a Wish‘ activity. Please encourage your students to borrow their Christmas readings from the LRC and get a chance to win a book of their choice! You can find more details on the poster.
We are celebrating Christmas with reading 📚🎁 🎄❄️⛄ 🎉. There will be additional activities during the last week of the term. Check out our festive and special Christmas-themed book display, which is now in place!
Happy Reading 📚 and Merry Christmas! 🎄❄️🎉
Betty Ow
Librarian | South Island School
(5) WORLD MATHEMATICS COMPETITION
The World Mathematics Competition (WMC) collaborated with ESF to host the inaugural ESF-wide World Mathematics Competition on 19th and 26th October at Renaissance College. The competition comprised seven rounds, featuring a mix of team and individual challenges.
A total of 118 students from Years 7 to 9 across seven ESF schools participated in the competition. Among the 18 students from SIS who took part, Annecy Ng (Year 8) secured the 15th position, Zoe Wang (Year 9) achieved 13th place, and Jayden Chan (Year 9) claimed the 2nd spot overall. These results are truly outstanding.
Moreover, Jayden has been invited to compete in the Finals round in Melbourne, Australia, scheduled for 15th to 21st December.
Congratulations on these remarkable accomplishments!
(6) PTA MESSAGE
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PHASE LEADER MESSAGES
Message from Head of Phase Year 7-9:
The past month has been an exciting and engaging time for our Family Bauhinia students, marked by a series of vibrant events that fostered community spirit, creativity, and leadership.
Box of Hope
This term the Family Bauhinia MaD Council reps have been planning and preparing for this year’s Box of Hope drive. Thank you to all students and families who donated boxes of hope. The collection has been a huge success and a show of the generosity of the SIS community.
Space
The Space continues to be the place to go for fun, chat and games at breaks and lunches. Thanks to the PTA we have some new activities for the students to enjoy.A new air hockey table and two Connect 4 games.
Yr.7 MAD Week
MAD Week (Making a Difference Week) was a resounding success, with all Yr 7 participating in various activities aimed at promoting social awareness, building their new community and navigating their first term at SIS. Here are some wonderful videos and photo albums that hopefully captures their experience. We are excited to also get the Artwork they created hung for the school community to enjoy, encapsulating their connection and celebration of their HOUSE SPIRIT..
Y7 Camp Photos – Bahay Casa Shtepi
Y7 Camp Photos – Maison Namas Kuca
Musicfest
Musicfest was another highlight of the month, bringing together talented students from across the school to showcase their musical abilities. From solo performances to ensemble acts, the event celebrated the diverse musical talents within our community. Family Bauhinia students participated enthusiastically, displaying their skills in various genres. Please click here for footage
Ms Syrita Nicholas
Message from Head of Phase Year 10-11:
It is a hectic time within the IGCSE phase of the school.
While our Year 10 students have focused on settling into a new phase, mainly focusing on transition in their enrichment lessons. This transition process has included expectations of the phase, how to deal with stress and ensuring clarity around key academic expectations such as academic honesty and integrity.
For Year 11, they have been busy this month as they have sat their mock examinations and started their Options Process for applications to the Senior School. Mock examinations started with language orals and continued with written examinations from 18-29 November.
The options process runs concurrently with the examinations, with students participating in several supportive sessions in their enrichment lessons, including assemblies from the Head of Phase and Higher Education Team plus 1:1 meetings with their Heads of House. Options forms will be submitted by 8 December.
While juggling the pressure of these important events, all students in the phase have continued to play an active role in life around the school, participating in Music Fest, the school production and a team of Year 11s are just starting to plan out the logistics for the end of Phase dinner dance, coming up on 31 March 2025.
One other noteworthy event is the upcoming celebrations of our previous Year 11 students, 4 of whom will be recognised this month by Cambridge and Pearson for their outstanding IGCSE examination achievements in the 2024 exam series. Well done to Junhyeok Lee, Maxwell Miller, Shuyao Ma, and Sophie Aranha for their exceptional achievements.
Ms Laura Beaumont
Message from Head of Phase Year 12-13:
It has been a fantastic month for our Year 12 and 13 students. Year 13 students have submitted their Extended Essay and their Internal Assessments in most subjects. They are now making preparations for their Mock exams in January, which will give students their main opportunity to practise IB exam procedures. Many applications to higher education institutions have been submitted and some offers have begun coming in. Throughout all this, I have been impressed with the leadership our Year 13 students have shown in events like Nightfest, Emilia, and Diwali.
This month, our Year 12 students completed their Collaborative Sciences Project on 19-20 November, planning and running exciting and meaningful scientific investigations on the theme of “Modern Living”. Diploma Programme students also began the preliminary stages of the Extended Essay on 21 November – exploring topics of interest and looking at previous examples before deciding on what subject they want to pursue for this challenging 4000-word independently completed essay. Like the Year 13s, throughout all this, students have been generous with their time and energies. Along with the three events listed above, I was particularly proud to see the involvement of Year 12 students in FrightFest and the Year 11 Options Evening on 5 November.
Mr Hin-Hey Lam
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RECENT HAPPENINGS
(1) THE HKISSF AQUATHON
From left to right: Chloe Herminjard, Ruby Ramsay, Letitia Chui, Charlie Fraser
The HKISSF aquathon was held at the sports institute. Four students competed in the event for South Island School consisting of a 300m swim and 1.4km run for the U16 girls and a 200m swim and 1.4km run for the U14 boys. All the students did a great job and we look forward to trying to build the team for next year’s event.
(2) B GRADE NETBALL MATCH REPORT
Left to right: Liora Turner, Lois Lu, Adelaide Williamson, Maggie Dowding, Louise Lindsay, Cassandra Skoett, Kiana Lin and Ruby Ramsay
The B grade netball girls played their toughest match this season against KGV. First quarter we started off a little bit shaky but after our GA (Louise Lindsay) and our GS (Lois Lui) got a few goals in we started to pick it up and we’re feeling a lot more confident from being down 3-1 to winning the first quarter 10-5. Second quarter we continued with the positive energy and kept scoring until we more than doubled our goals in the first quarter. Our WA (Ruby Ramsay) and our C (Cassandra Skoett) had some great play around the circle’s edge feeding into our shooters finishing this quarter 21-9. Third quarter KGV picked it up a little bit and got 4 goals before we could score our first. We kept our heads high and still managed to grab 5 more goals in this quarter finishing the third with the score being 26-16. Our final quarter we played so well and our defensive duo Maggie Dowding in GD and Kiana Lin in GK made some great interceptions and were great at backing each other up. In the end the score ended up being 35-18!! The B grade girls are undefeated and are looking forward to our next game on 4th December!!
Maggie Dowding
(3) THE U12 BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM
The U12 Boys Basketball team played a much taller Malvern College on Tuesday for our first home game of the season. Our SIS boys were a vastly better team as compared to last week and have improved their individual and team play. SIS kept the game close for the first half and were only behind by 3 points at halftime . Unfortunately in the second half Malvern scored on some key possessions and South Island lost the game 38- 25 at the final buzzer.
(4) Y7 RUGBY BOYS
A learning curve experience for our Y7 rugby boys today at King’s Park against KGV. After some weak tackles, KGV led 3 tries to 1 at half time. Our tackling improved in the second half and the boys were able to hold on to the ball for longer periods in attack. The game finished 4-2, with a late try to KGV – a disappointing result because it could easily have been a draw with the opportunities we had.
The boys know they didn’t give 100% on the field and lost a game they could have won on another day. This could serve as an important lesson for them with finals day on 10th December and every game counting that day.
Team: Issac Ku, Hayden Wong, Branson Ho, Stefan Yip, Jake Christal, Vincent Murphy, Kieran Marshall-Brown, Kwaku Koram, Markus Slethaug, Jonathan Kwong, Tommy Tettamanti, Luca Cassiago, Reuben Mowser
(5) U12 GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM
Our U12 girls basketball team played their second fixture of the season in the ISSFHK league. It was tough going from the outset against an undefeated and strong team from VSA. Our girls worked hard and improved as the game progressed but the mercy rule came into effect in the 2nd quarter when VSA gained a 20 point differential and the tie was officially over. The rest of the game was played out as a friendly where we progressed and captain Angie Wong scored a great long range basket. Notable performances from Arianna Li Calzi & Claire Wong.
(6) U16 GIRLS’ BASKETBALL SQUAD AGAINST DBIS
Another strong win for the U16 Girls’ basketball squad against DBIS. The girls dominated from the outset, taking an 8 point lead going into the second quarter. The team once again remained calm under pressure allowing them to focus on their game plan. The defence was exceptionally strong. Despite some aggressive offence the girls only conceded 4 baskets throughout the whole game, 3 being in the first half. Top scorer for our team goes to Vee Lee with 10 points. A shout out to Gianna Lui for some awesome rebounding. The game finished 20-8 to SIS. Well done ladies!
Vee Lee, Dana Cheung, Jade Wong, Becky Chan, Gianna Lui, Hannah Song, Kayla Ng, Ingrid Fong, Ema Sato-Ra, Hailey Lo, Karina Lee,
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STUDENT CELEBRATIONS
(1) Anya Reeves (8B2) – Macbeth Singapore
Congratulations to Anya Reeves 8B2 for going on tour with the cast and crew of Macbeth to Singapore. Anya has had a wonderful learning experience performing on stage both here in Hong Kong and also in Singapore. We look forward to seeing Anya on stage again in the near future!
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MONTH WEEKLY NEWSLETTERS
Linked below are this month’s weekly newsletters:
- End of Week Newsletter – 22 Nov
- End of Week Newsletter – 15 Nov
- End of Week Newsletter – 8 Nov
- End of Week Newsletter – 1 Nov
REMINDERS & KEY DATES
December
- 2nd to 4th – School Photo Days
- 6th – Family Bauhinia Dance Fest
- 11th – Christmas Concert
- 13th – End of Term Assemblies & Final Day of Term 1
January
- 6th – First Day of Term 2
Please access the latest school calendar HERE and the 2024-2025 Calendar HERE
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If your child has a particular highlight or achievement you would like to share with the community, please email a short description and photo to ebulletin@sis.edu.hk