Abacus Newsletter 10th September 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
- Supply Teachers and Educational Assistants
- K1 and Year 1 Application
- Mid Autumn Festival
- School Photos
- Curriculum Article – Self Regulation
- Links
- Class Pages
Coming Week Dates
Week Beginning – Monday 10th September |
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| Monday | |
| Tuesday | School Photos |
| Wednesday | School Photos |
| Thursday | |
| Friday | |
Next Week
Week Beginning – Monday 17th September |
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| Monday | Speech and Language Screenings |
| Tuesday | Speech and Language Screenings |
| Wednesday | Mid Autumn Festival Celebrations |
| Thursday | Fire Drill |
| Friday | |
Important Dates This Term
Tuesday 11th – Wednesday 12th September – School Photos
Monday 24th September – Staff Training – School Closed
Tuesday 25th September – School Closed for Public Holiday – Mid Autumn Festival
Monday 1st October – School Closed for Public Holiday – National Day
Friday 5th October – K2 Beach Trip
Monday 8th October – 11th October – Parent Conferences
Saturday 13th October – 21st October – Half Term Holiday – School Closed
Monday 22nd October – Staff Training – School Closed
Monday 23rd October – School Reopens
Friday 26th October – K1 Beach Trip
Saturday 24th November – Abacus School BBQ Fair
Wednesday 12th December – School Christmas Party
Thursday 13th December – Carol Concert and Last Day of Term 1 for Children
Friday 14th December – Staff Meeting – School Closed
Monday 7th January- Staff Meeting – Term 2 Begins
Although we are not governed by the statutory holidays for schools, we follow the ESF schools calendar. During every year we have 5 teacher training days built into the calendar. This is in addition to the contact days with children. These CPD days are added onto our calendar not removed from the contact days with children.
Please find the school calendar for Abacus Calendar for 2018-2019 here.
Supply Teachers and Educational Assistants
When our Teachers or Educational Assistants are sick or on training we cover them with a Supply Teacher or Educational Assistant. We are running a little bit short of options as many of our usual Supply Teachers and Educational Assistants have now secured permanent employment. If you are interested in working as a Supply Teacher, you are a qualified teacher and either have or would be interested in getting Hong Kong Teacher Registration we would love to hear from you.
Equally if you are a parent with some experience working with young children and would be interested in helping as a Supply Educational Assistant we would also be pleased to hear from you. Please contact Pauline in the office for more information kinder@abacus.edu.hk
K1 and Year 1 Application
Please don’t forget to apply for K1 and Year 1 for ESF schools and kindergartens. September is the application month and if you miss it you will have very little chance of securing a place. We would also be very grateful if you could complete this form to let us know where you have applied to and your school preference. This helps us to check your application has been received and also to negotiate visits for the schools. Please complete the form here.
Mid Autumn Festival Celebrations
Abacus will be celebrating Mid Autumn Festival on Wednesday 19th September. This event is for children only. Children can wear Chinese dress on this day and we will have a lantern parade.
School Photos
Don’t forget we will have school photos on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. So please make sure your child is appropriately dressed in school uniform. If your child is absent unfortunately there will be no opportunity to redo the photo.
Curriculum Information
Once a month we will be adding some curriculum information to the school newsletter to tell you more about our approach and the curriculum at Abacus. This month we are focussing on self regulation.
Developing Self Regulation
The children have settled into the new school year well and building good relationships with their teachers and classmates. Developing self regulation is a huge part of the settling process in childhood education. Click here if you would like to find out more about self regulation.
At Abacus we understand it is important that children’s behaviour is not perceived as a separate “issue”, but is considered as an integral component of developmental and environmental considerations. Therefore, the management of positive behaviours is directly linked to the kindergarten’s programme and management strategies, and overall physical set-up. Across the school we implement the ‘Zones of Regulation (as pictured below) which develops children’s awareness and management feelings and emotions in themselves and others. Throughout school there is a shared understanding of what the coloured zones represent and consistent language is used when staff and children are talking about their actions and feelings.
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 next year.
Class Pages
K1 English Class
Olivia Kane, Michelle Chan and Sue Tyson/ Penny Loveridge
K1 Bilingual Class
Hannah Smith, Allison Fung and Maria Lee
K2 English Class
Olivia Kotyck, Anita Jims and Jackie Henderson
K2 Bilingual Class
Danielle Evans, Susanne Liu and Bridgette Walker
