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GSIS Gazette – Issue #5
27th September 2019Principal's Column
Next week, we are celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. There will be an assembly in the IB Hall with presentations and interviews with witnesses, as well as other events which our students and staff are looking forward to.
The history behind the Berlin Wall is fascinating and dramatic. In June 1961, 19,000 East Germans escaped to West Germany, passing through the capital city, Berlin, on their journey. This alerted the Russians who were ruling their part of Germany with communism, to the fact that people were trying to flee their regime. The Berlin Wall was therefore erected.
It stood for 10,316 days, was almost 12 feet tall and 9 inches thick. It was made of concrete and wire fencing. On the East German side, there were soldiers with weapons to deter people from trying to escape, as well as dog patrols and a strip of sand that revealed footprints so soldiers could see where people were trying to escape.
On 9th November, 1989, the Berlin Wall “fell” as the East German Government suddenly allowed their citizens to pass through to the Western side. This was a major development which had momentous implications on German history.
I wish you all a happy weekend.
Ulrich Weghoff
Principal
Parents@GSIS
It is fantastic to see how much well-being week has developed and grown at the school during the last few years. In support of the event Parents@GSIS sponsored this week’s showing of the LIKE movie - a documentary filmed using Hong Kong students and their perspectives on how social media affects them. Following the screening we were lucky to have Declan Burke (Director of Technology) as well as Jeanette Geisel and Tanya Lau from the School Counselling team lead a discussion on their personal findings at GSIS and how we can all work together and lead by example to ensure that our children have a more balanced approach towards technology and its impact on their daily lives. Those who attended provided us with some great feedback and we always welcome your ideas and suggestions of events that you would like to see hosted by Parents@GSIS - please email us at parents@gsis.edu.hk
During next week the students will have lots of wonderful activities commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Parents@GSIS are supporting and have collaborated with teachers on the event and specifically the decorating, building and demolishing of a wall built of cardboard boxes. We look forward to seeing the completed project and please do ask your kids to share details of the event with you.
For a list of our activities planned for October please check out the Parents@GSIS blog at https://parentsatgsis.blogspot.com/search/label/EN
Anouska Mutreja
Chair of Parents@GSIS
Updates and Announcements
Workshop: Give effective feedback and support your child
If it's said every child has unlimited potential, do you agree? Are we unleashing our children's potential or limiting theirs?
What do you do to shape your child's behaviours?
- Tell them 'I am disappointed with you.'
- Tell them 'That's not the right way to do it!'
- Ask them to think of another way to achieve desirable outcomes?
Shaping your child's behaviour, unleashing their potential isn't something we can achieve by giving orders, judgements, criticisms, etc, but by giving effective feedback. So how? What's the core essence of effective feedback?
Parents@GSIS in conjunction with the GSIS support team headed by Sue Edwards is delighted to bring you this workshop in which Susanna Wong will demonstrate and explain how to better motivate and support our children by giving effective feedback.
Ms Susanna Wong BBA, PGDE, MA is a Certified Master Trainer of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) from NLP University, USA and a Certified Master Hypnotherapist. Being a professional in the field of talent development, Susanna is also an instructor and course designer for the Gifted and Talented programs at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Having years of teaching, coaching and mentoring experience in different local and international schools, institutes and organizations, she has also conducted various training workshops, talks, and seminars including Parent-child Communication, Parent-child Feedback and Parent Interviews in HK, Macau, Mainland China, Barcelona, Berlin, Bangkok, and California. Ms Wong already held workshops about Parent-Child Communication for the GSIS in the past year.
When: Thursday, October 10 from 7 pm to 9 pm
Where: GSIS Peak Campus
The workshop is sponsored by Parents@GSIS and free for GSIS parents and staff.
If you are interested in joining this workshop please sign up at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe907p5BU3CtgZaH55rZvNYER_-s-_YUr-7tz7U-X40Iz_cRg/viewform
We look forward to meeting you at this interesting workshop.
Kind regards
Monika Ganswindt
Parents@GSIS
Sue Edwards
Head of Student Support & Inclusion
50th Gala Music Concert Tickets
50th Gala Music Concert, An Evening of Celebration at Ocean Park
Friday, 29th November
Performance 1 5-6pm
Performance 2 7-8pm
We’re looking forward to a wonderful community event of celebration and music on Friday, 29th November. Our talented Primary and Secondary students will perform an uplifting music programme to include the premiere of our new school song composed by world-renowned Christopher Tin and our unique virtual choir.
General Admission tickets can be purchased on our website from Tuesday, 1st October at 9am.
Tickets cost HK$100 each and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis while stocks last. Each family can purchase a maximum of 4 tickets for one performance only.
An email will be sent to parents of all performing students today with a link to purchase priority tickets only.
Suzannah Denness
Director of Marketing & Communications
From Head of German International Stream
Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Dear Parents
GSIS has been a flagship school within German Schools Abroad for the past 50 years. In its early days, it was dominated by German elements, but over the years it continuously developed into an international school that is constantly striving to meet the challenges of our global world.
The German Stream became the German International Stream and the German Abitur became the German International Abitur (DIA), which meets the highest international standards and gives our students access to renowned educational institutions throughout the world.
Bilingualism or multilingualism is a valuable asset and a great potential, which more and more students in the German International Stream acquire naturally and which the German Schools Abroad take into account. The German curriculum as well as the German International Abitur provide the perfect framework for subjects taught bilingually or in English, which we initially offered for Geography (from grade 7) and History (from grade 8). Starting from this school year, we have expanded the bilingual program to include Biology, initially in grades 5 and 8, in order to expand it over the next 3 years all the way to grade 10.
Since summer, the bilingual concept has also found its way into our Kindergarten. In addition to a German-speaking group, we now offer bilingual groups German/English and German/Mandarin, which are taught by native-speaking teachers. In a next step, we will expand this concept to the German Preschool.
In the Primary Department we place special emphasis on strengthening the German language skills of all students in order to prepare them to successfully master the language requirements for academic lessons in Secondary school. At the same time, we foster their foreign language competence by teaching English through native speakers. Furthermore, students can develop their Mandarin skills.
The gradual introduction of bilingual Biology lessons in August marked the beginning of a series of changes in secondary education which further enhance the potential of the German International Abitur. Starting in October, we will be teaching a further subject in English, Music, in grades 11 and 12. We are also planning to offer English lessons for the near-native groups in grades 5 to 7 by a native English teacher as of school year 2020/21. In addition, we are currently exploring the possibility to offer Mandarin as a second foreign language as a qualifying subject in grades 11 and 12.
As a foreign language teacher, I am of course very pleased about the consistent development of bilingualism from Kindergarten to Secondary school, which is in line with the growing international character of our stream and our global lifestyle.
I wish you a wonderful weekend.
Grit Cichon
Deputy Principal / Head of German International Stream
Kindergarten Corner
Dear Parents
We would like to inform you that we will have Techni Photo as this year’s school photographer. They will be at the Pok Fu Lam campus on the following days (please see the attachment):
Wednesday, 9 October 2019 and Thursday, 10 October 2019
Considering that this year´s background for the photos will be white again, may we ask you to take this into account when choosing your child´s clothing. Furthermore please be informed that the background for individual photos will be generally blue, alternatively a white background can be individually requested.
You will be informed in a separate email about the details for the photo orders.
Kind regards
Sophie Burdel
Head of Kindergarten
Eileen Mah
Deputy Head of Kindergarten
Attachments
https://mygsis.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Photoweek-PFL_2019-2.pdf
Updates and Announcements
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Looking for what's been going on in class this week?Check out the class Weebly blogs. |
Primary Corner
Photo days in PFL
Who doesn't also like to look at the old school photos. The best friend with the freckles and Hansli with the tooth gap.
Please don't forget that the photo days in PFL will take place on 9th / 10th October 2019.
30 Years Fall of the Berlin Wall
The primary school also participates in the "Fall of the Wall" project of the secondary school. After an introduction by three K12 students, the primary students now design their own "stones" for the wall. The stones will be built into a wall once for the secondary on October 3 and for the primary on October 4 to torn down the wall in memory of the event in Berlin. The whole event will be framed with a short assembly.
Priska Erni
Head of German Primary Department
Updates and Announcements
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Looking for what's been going on in class this week?Check out the class Weebly blogs. |
Secondary Corner
Cultural Exchange
Next Wednesday we will welcome the Big Band of the Angelaschule Osnabrück at GSIS for a small musical exchange. The musicians from Germany will visit the GSIS Jazz Band during rehearsal. Afterwards the GSIS Jazz Band and the Big Band of the Angelaschule will give a joint concert for our students. We are very much looking forward to this visit and the musical experience!
30 Years Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Day of German Unity on 3 October is not a holiday for us at the German Swiss International School Hong Kong, but we take it as an opportunity to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The preparations for an assembly with presentations on the historical context, interviews with contemporary witnesses and musical contributions are in full swing. K10 students and several English Secondary classes are working on the completion of a bilingual timeline on the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall, which will be exhibited in the M400 area. For classes K10 to K12, the program starts already before the assembly on 3 October: Business College students will hold presentations to give them further background information on the historical and political context of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The photos below show our senior students working on motifs for the wall, the collapse of which will be the symbolic highlight of the event. I am particularly pleased to see so many different parties involved in the preparations for the Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall - students from both streams and of all ages, teachers and parents.
Class tests and exams
As already mentioned last week you can find the dates for class tests in the Veracross portal and no longer on the GSIS homepage. In some cases the dates might change again, therefore please check back from time to time. The portal is being updated regularly.
Wiebke Langer
Head of German Secondary Department
Motive der K08, 
Motive der K08, 
Die Mauer wird selbst zum Motiv – hier mit aktuellem Bezug zum Brexit, 
Der Oberstufenkurs Kunst interpretiert klassische Mauermotive neu, 
Der Oberstufenkurs Kunst interpretiert klassische Mauermotive neu(Click thumbnail/s to enlarge image)
From Head of English International Stream
We have all been wearing a green ribbon over the past few days to mark our fourth annual Wellbeing Week. Over the past few days all year groups enjoyed a forum with Anisha Abraham (https://dranishaabraham.com/) who spoke with older year groups about managing stress and mediating their relationship with social media; Anisha discussed sleep & screen time and puberty with the younger year groups and these student workshops were followed up with parent meetings. Please do connect with your children about what they discussed with Anisha during the week and share any ongoing questions or concerns with the pastoral teams at school.
Students also enjoyed a series of workshops with our visiting theatre company, Kepow!, which were aimed at reducing that ‘critical inner voice’ through forum theatre techniques, this residency also included a practical parent workshop. Breaktimes have incorporated a series of activities such as colouring, nature walks, yoga, knitting, badminton and a wonderful gratitude board that will evolve into an installation very soon. On Tuesday evening there was a screening of the film Like that explored our ongoing relationship with social media and reminded us of how this can affect the way we interact with each other as friends and families. In Pokfulam, the pupils enjoyed a visit from The Kids on the Block Puppet Theatre to performing Healthy Snack.
Of course, wellbeing does not just take place in a singular week of the school year. We all have a responsibility to continually monitor the wellbeing of our students, as well as our own so that we can be most effective for those who depend on us. The Wellbeing Week creates the time for us to talk, listen and reflect on our experiences and interactions with each other whilst exploring strategies to help us cope with what can be an increasingly stressful world. The events and activities serve as an excellent reminder of some of the core principles of wellbeing and the ongoing conversations we need to have with our children to ensure that their voice is heard and we can collectively guide them.
Our increased focus on wellbeing has been an important factor in a number of our strategic decisions over recent years, increasing the number of school counsellors so that we can provide social and emotional support throughout the school, appointing a Head of Student Support and an additional Individual Needs teacher in the ESD to provide guidance to families and students, extending the contact time for students to be with their class teachers, refining the core programme to provide a coordinated Personal, Social & Health Education course and introducing additional time for cross-stream activities and complete.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to Wellbeing Week. I look forward to further embedding these principles in the fabric of our school through the relationships that we forge, particularly the home-school partnership. Education should not be a trial of endurance, with every second of time scheduled, it should be a joyful, enriching, self-fulfilling process that provides the foundations for a successful life. As such, one of our core functions as a school is to inform and guide students, families and staff about the importance of monitoring and managing our wellbeing so that we can navigate the challenges ahead.
Have a wonderful week
Simon Misso-Veness
Deputy Principal / Head of English International Stream
Kindergarten Corner
Dear Parents
We would like to inform you that we will have Techni Photo as this year’s school photographer. They will be at the Pok Fu Lam campus on the following days (please see the attachment):
Wednesday, 9 October 2019 and Thursday, 10 October 2019
Considering that this year´s background for the photos will be white again, may we ask you to take this into account when choosing your child´s clothing. Furthermore please be informed that the background for individual photos will be generally blue, alternatively a white background can be individually requested.
You will be informed in a separate email about the details for the photo orders.
Kind regards
Sophie Burdel
Head of Kindergarten
Eileen Mah
Deputy Head of Kindergarten
Attachments
Updates and Announcements
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Looking for what's been going on in class this week?Check out the class Weebly blogs. |
Primary Corner
Dear Parents,
This week has been full of Wellbeing Week activities for students, staff and parents. Thank you to all who were able to attend one of Dr Anisha Abraham’s parent events. Student wellbeing is an important component of education, and we are thrilled that everyone is recognizing this.
Upcoming dates:
- 2 October - KPR Departmental Secretary election
- 9 October - Specialist Curriculum Evening
Save the date:
- 13 December - The Peak Primary Christmas Sing-Along (evening family event). More details TBA.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Kim Cunningham
Head of English Primary Department
Donna Morley
Deputy Head of English Primary Department
(Click thumbnail/s to enlarge image)
Updates and Announcements
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Looking for what's been going on in class this week?Check out the class Weebly blogs. |
Secondary Corner
As our Wellbeing week draws to an end, I would like to thank our school counsellors and all the other teachers for organising the week and the activities. I hope that your children have enjoyed the week and that it has given them a chance to think about wellbeing.
Next week, we celebrate two events of immense importance to China and Germany. The National Day of the People's Republic of China, of course, falls on October the 1st (no school as this is a public holiday). On Thursday 3rd October, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
With only two school weeks before Discovery Week, the days ahead will be very busy. Most yeargroups will have their first major assessments, or "tests", of the academic year. Whilst it is important that students prepare properly for these assessments, they should not over-prepare or allow themselves to become stressed on account of what are only checkpoints in the learning process. Please monitor your children and, if you feel they are under undue pressure, contact their Class Teacher or Head of Year for advice.
Ken Stevenson
Head of English Secondary Department
