Dear Parents

During the past week Hong Kong once again saw massive unrest throughout the city which deeply troubles us all. Both you as parents and we as educators are concerned about our students and the future of Hong Kong. Such concerns certainly are justified as the unrest has taken on new dimensions. Young people especially identify very strongly with the question of how to shape the future of this city. Thereby the problem of the justification of violence as a means to an end arises repeatedly.

We, as GSIS management, and our teachers, assure you that we oppose the use of violence as a means of achieving political goals and that we also communicate this philosophy to our students. We are convinced that everyone should have the right to freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is the foundation of democracy. However, freedom of expression has its limits when it causes harm to another person or to society.

Last week's riots have repeatedly crossed these lines on both sides. And we condemn this and we also convey it to our students.

The protests this week also affected the school and bus operations and kept the Crisis Management Team busy. This team meets and communicates regularly and tries to assess the situation objectively, taking into account all available sources of information. Ultimately, however, all decisions must be made with a predictive character in mind. This is done to the best of our knowledge and belief and in the hope that we always make the right decisions for all our students.

It is our biggest hope that a political agreement can be reached for Hong Kong, non-violently and with reasonable means, which hopefully will soon make any Crisis Team meeting superfluous.

As you learned from my letter yesterday, the current situation unfortunately has also led to the cancellation of our Bund-Länder-Inspektion (BLI), which was scheduled for next week. We will inform you as soon as we have information on the new date.

I wish you a pleasant and above all a safe weekend.

I would like to extend a big thank you to everyone for their support, time and energy to ensure that we were able to offer all the students and staff a cupcake on Monday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the school. There was a wonderful array of cupcakes on offer and I am always amazed at the generosity of our community and what can be done when we all work together. Thank you!

Supporting Global Initiatives - 12 days of Giftmas

During the week, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Global Initiatives ECA and meet with the students to hear about the charities that they have chosen to support during the year. It was wonderful to see their drive, commitment and passion to help those less fortunate. One of the charities they have chosen to support is Vision First, which works towards improving the livelihood of refugees in Hong Kong. They have already presented their inventive idea of 12 days of Giftmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ULnumcsJtI) to the students in Secondary and we hope that the GSIS community will support them with donations of clothes, shoes, dry food, crockery, stationery and toiletries during December. There will be more details to follow but please start sorting/collecting now. For more information please contact Julia Surman (JSurman@gsis.edu.hk).

Advent wreath decorating

It has been an annual tradition for parents and staff to get together over some Christmas treats and start getting in the festive mood by decorating advent wreaths. This year we are very happy to be able to offer four special events where we will provide all the materials including pine cones, candles and all things glittery that you need to make your own unique wreath. The wreath and decorations are available to purchase at cost price. Please note that we only have a limited number of places still available so sign up at http://bit.ly/2Knoqla if you would like to join.

There are two sessions for traditional wreath decorating on Tuesday, 26th November at 10:00 am - 12:00 pm and 7:00 - 9:00 pm open to everyone and we will be holding an additional lunchtime session for staff. This year we are also offering a session on alternative eco-friendly modern wreath designs on Wednesday, 27th November from 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

Christmas dinner

We would love for you to join us and get into the spirit of Christmas amongst your friends from Parents@GSIS. This year we will be enjoying a Christmas Dinner in a private function room at the prestigious Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Central.

When: Monday, 2nd December at 7 pm.

Where: The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, North Block, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central

The price of the dinner is 760 HKD per person including drinks (wine, beer, soft drinks, and more). Please click http://bit.ly/2Qii3Dg to see the menu, which includes a vegetarian option. Places are limited so if you would like to join, please sign up here http://bit.ly/32nKQca  as soon as possible. We look forward to celebrating with you.

Hiking Group - MacLehose Trail

Finally, a reminder that the hiking group will be continuing their adventures along different sections of the MacLehose Trail. Join them on Monday when they attempt a variation of section 5 from Kowloon Peak to the iconic Lion Rock. Sign up here: http://bit.ly/2qeJ4gn

When: Monday, November 18th 8:15 am- 1:30 pm (early exit possible around 11:30 am).

Where: MTR Station Diamond Hill, Exit A1

(Click thumbnail/s to enlarge image)

GSIS Peak EPD & GPD: Term 2 2019/20 Afternoon Programme (AA's Afternoon Activities/ECA's Extra Curricular Activities)

Dear Parents

To complement our academic programme, the GSIS Primary Department offers a rich and diverse afternoon programme of Extra-Curricular Activities (ECAs) and Afternoon Activities (AAs).

The ECAs are mostly teacher-led courses and are free of charge, whereas the AAs are conducted by external providers and therefore carry a course fee.

Both ECAs & AAs are offered at our Primary Peak Campus, in English or German (depending on the activity), from Monday to Friday after core lessons have ended for the day.

In the academic year 2019/20, the ECA and AA programs will again be offered in 3 terms.

• Please note that all ECAs not marked in colour need to be booked each term, and therefore need to be rebooked for Term 2.
• All ECAs marked in yellow run on a yearly basis and therefore do not need to be rebooked for Term 2.
• Online Booking for Term 2 of ECA's/AA's for Primary Peak Campus students opens on Friday, 22 November 2019 at 10:00 am and closes on Tuesday, 26 November 2019 at 4:00 pm.
• Allocation of selected AA/ECAs will take place approximately 2 days after booking closed.

All ECA/AA bookings will take place via the SchoolsBuddy booking system again.

Detailed course descriptions will be available on our website under following link shortly:
https://mygsis.gsis.edu.hk/learning/outside-the-classroom/eca/peak-primary/

You will require your Schools Buddy login to gain access to the booking system under following link:
https://gsis.schoolsbuddy.net

Please kindly note that only the competitive Sport ECAs for K05 are linked with the Primary ECAs.

Please take care to check the activity details, such as activity type, time, terms & conditions and course fees carefully to avoid any incorrect selections.

If your child is enrolled in an activity starting at 2:00pm and does not have a core lesson from 12:35 to 1:15 pm, they will need to be enrolled in an additional ECA or AA during this time, as all teachers will either be teaching core lessons or ECAs and will not be available for general supervision.

For those children who do not want to attend any other ECA during this time, we offer the ECA lunch. The ECA lunch must also be booked through the SchoolsBuddy booking system.

The ECA/AA programme for Term 2 will commence on Monday, 6 January 2020.

Please find attached the following documents for your reference:

• Tentative ECA (Extra-Curricular Activities) Schedule (Term 2) 2019/20
• Tentative AA (Afternoon Activities) Schedule (Term 2) 2019/20
• ECA/AA Term Calendar, Term 2

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

With warm regards

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