Abacus Newsletter 27th August 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
- Buses
- Dengue Fever
- Nuts and Healthy Snacks
- Play Based Learning
- Links
- Class Pages
Coming Week Dates
Week Beginning – Monday 27th August |
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| Monday | |
| Tuesday | K2 Admissions and Meet the Teacher Meetings |
| Wednesday | |
| Thursday | |
| Friday | |
Next Week
Week Beginning – Monday 3rd September |
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| Monday | |
| Tuesday | BBQ Fair Meeting K1 Meet The Teacher Evening K1 AM – 4.30 pm K1 PM – 5.15 pm |
| Wednesday | |
| Thursday | |
| Friday | |
Important Dates This Term
Tuesday 28th August – K2 Meet the Teacher and Admissions Meeting
Tuesday 4th September – K1 Meet the Teacher Evening
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.
Buses
Thank you very much for your patience last week with the car park and buses. Hopefully, this is resolved now and the car park is back to normal. If your child is travelling on the bus they will have a coloured tag on their school bags. Please, leave these on the bags as they identify which bus your child will be travelling on.
Dengue Fever
As you may be aware there have been a few cases of dengue fever in Hong Kong and at least one of these has been in the Clearwater Bay area. Asa response to this we have been stepping up our mosquito deterrent procedures at Abacus. We already spray monthly we a spray that is safe for children and is also safe for other flora and fauna. ESF centre have introduced another spray for the next few months which is also safe for children. Our cleaners are working hard to ensure that there is as little standing water around school as possible and if they cannot remove it in places such as the drains that they have added bleach to make sure that the mosquito larvae cannot survive. We suggest that you step up your child’s mosquito prevention measures in addition, with additional patches or preventative lotion, whichever you are comfortable with.
No Nuts and Healthy Snacks
Please be reminded that Abacus is a nut free school. We have several children who are seriously allergic to nuts, even contact with nut residue can caused them to be hospitalised. There should be no nuts in school and this includes peanut butter and biscuits containing nuts. If your helper makes your child’s snacks please ensure that they are aware of this. We also encourage a healthy snack and would prefer parents not to send in cake, chocolate, crisps and chocolate biscuits etc with their children.
Play Based Learning
At Abacus we value play as the central mode for inquiry. Our play based, inquiry curriculum aims to capitalise upon and enhance children’s natural curiosity and wonder about their world. Open ended, inquiry-based play allows for children to learn through their prefered learning style and to encounter a number of inquiry processes, including:
exploring, wondering and questioning;
experimenting and playing with possibilities;
making connections between previous learning and current thinking;
making predictions and acting purposefully to see what happens;
collecting data and reporting findings;
clarifying existing ideas and reappraising perceptions of events;
deepening understanding through the application of a concept;
making and testing theories;
researching and seeking information;
taking and defending a position;
solving problems in a variety of ways; and
reflecting on learning.
To find out more information about the importance of play based learning between you and your child please click here.
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
