Abacus Newsletter 8th January 2018
Abacus Kindergarten’s latest newsletter available to read now. Find out the latest news from around the school and upcoming events.
- Coming Week
- Important Dates
- Welcome Back
- Gruffalo Trip
- Shoes
- ESF Primary Interview Information – K2 Children
- Links
- Class Pages
Coming Week Dates
Week Beginning – Monday 8th January |
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| Monday | Back to School |
| Tuesday | |
| Wednesday | |
| Thursday | |
| Friday | Gruffalo Trip |
Week Beginning – Monday 15th January |
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| Monday | |
| Tuesday | |
| Wednesday | Danielle and Liv out – Training |
| Thursday | Danielle and Liv out – Training |
| Friday | Danielle and Liv out – Training |
Important Dates
Friday 12th January – Whole School Gruffalo Trip
Friday 26th January – K1 Admissions – School Closed
Wednesday 14th February– Chinese New Year Performance
Thursday 15th February– School Closed for CNY – Staff Training day
Monday 26th February– School Reopens after CNY
Friday 23rd March – K1 Art Exhibition
Wednesday 28th March – Sports Day and Last Day of Term 2 for Children
Thursday 29th March – Staff Meeting
Monday 16th April – First Day of Term 3
Our school calendar can be found here
Welcome Back
We hope you all had a fantastic and restful break. We are refreshed and ready for the new term. We welcome Penny back to Abacus after her maternity leave today. Penny works with a child with individual needs. We will also welcome Hannah Smith on Thursday as our new part time Educational Assistant in the K2 Bilingual Class. Hannah has been working with us doing her teaching qualification before Christmas and will replace Laura Hamilton who has left for maternity leave. This will hopefully be an exciting term, with a strong ARTS emphasis in the K1 classes. This begins with our Gruffalo trip this Friday and ends with the art exhibition towards the end of this term. We hope all of our community members have a great term.
Gruffalo Trip – 12th January
This Friday we will all be heading to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in Wanchai to see ‘The Gruffalo’ show. Most of you have purchased tickets and will be coming with us. The performance begins at 12pm and we would ask all parents to arrive for 11.45 am please. We will be assembling in the foyer, then walk up and sit in our class groups. Tickets will be held by teachers and given out at the end of the performance for any parents who want to use them to obtain discount on future performances. When you enter the theatre, please wait to be seated in rows by the theatre staff and do not leave gaps between any children or adults, otherwise we will run out of seats. The performance will run for around an hour. Children do not have to wear school uniform on this day. Please note there is no school in the morning before the show and there will be no school on this day for children who are not attending the show.
Shoes
Please make sure your child wears appropriate shoes for school and that they fit properly. Shoes should be comfortable and safe for climbing and running etc. Please do not send your child to school in crocs or flipflops in the summer months as these do not stay on properly and make climbing and riding the bikes dangerous. We also ask that the shoes fasten with either velcro, a buckle or metal stud fastening. Children should not come to school in lace up shoes unless they can already tie their own laces.
ESF Primary Interview Information – K2 Children
Many of our K2 children will be interviewed at their respective future ESF schools in the coming weeks. We are making some great progress working with our ESF Primary schools lately to streamline the admissions process and make it less stressful for parents and children. Two new initiatives have been introduced this year. Some Primary schools such as Shatin Junior School are piloting a system where children from ESF Kindergartens are interviewed by the Primary School in the kindergarten setting. This is more natural and comfortable setting for the children and also enables professional conversations to take place between K2 and Year 1 teachers about children’s individual skills and support needs. These children will not then need to attend an interview at the Primary school.
Clearwater Bay school staff have already visited the children on several occasions last term to see them in their Kindergarten setting. They have also changed their process slightly this year, for Abacus children, the children’s class teachers will be present and part of the interview at CWBS, including the professional discussion post interview. This will mean the children have a familiar face in the room and teachers can share information and advocate for children who don’t cope so well in an unfamiliar situation such as an interview.
We hope this is just the beginning and working parties are working on streamlining this process further in preparation for next year.
For your child’s Primary interview the children should wear kindergarten uniform as this makes them easily identifiable. It is up to you whether the children come to school after or before their interview. Some children will be too tired and for others the timings of both sessions may clash. You do not need to notify the office about when your child will be absent from school for interview as we have a list.
Links
(All links open in a new tab/window)
Moodle – Your child’s portfolio and reports, class news, school news and photos.
Gateway – Change personal details, sign up for events and book parent consultations on Gateway.
The School Calendar – All important dates can be found here for this year.
Class Pages
K1 English Class
Liv Kotyck, Anita Jims and Michelle Chan
K1 Bilingual Class
Olivia Kane, Susanne Liu and Sue Tyson
K2 English Class
Fiona Hall, Bridgette Walker and Jackie Henderson
K2 Bilingual Class
Danielle Evans, Allison Fung and Hannah Smith/Julie Rose
