No update this week.
Kindergarten Corner
Dear Parents
With the increasing number of Coronavirus cases in Hong Kong, this has sparked an uncertainty of Kindergarten being able to reopen on December 7th. As we have not had any official information from the Hong Kong Education Bureau regarding any extensions during the time we had to submit our Gazette contribution, we are only able to share with you the possibilities of our plans. Therefore, here are our Online Advent Season plans for Kindergarten.
Starting Tuesday, 1 - 18 December, at 11:30 am
Live Advent Calendar Stories (only on school days)
Please click on this link to enjoy the live stories presented by the staff at PFL
https://peopleofpfl.weebly.com/advent-calendar-stories.html
On Monday, 7 December Individual Class with St. Nikolaus
All the live readings are also recorded and later uploaded on YouTube in order that your child/children may choose to revisit the stories later in the day/week.
We are also planning the visit of St. Nicholas. If it is online, he will speak to the children within their class and read from his “Golden Book”. You will receive a little gift from St. Nikolaus for your children via mail. However, please follow the instructions of the class teacher when handing over the gift :). If the children are back, St.Nick will be here in person to speak with the children.
Even if the Kindergarten should reopen on December 7th, it would be unlikely that we will have a Kindergarten Christmas event with children and parents. Rest assured, we will find an online alternative for this too. Do keep an eye out for our Advent surprise!
Wishing you and your families a wonderful and peaceful 1st Sunday of Advent.
With kind regards
Sophie Burdel Head of Kindergarten Email | Eileen Mah Deputy Head of Kindergarten Email |
Departmental News and Announcements
No updates / announcements this week.
Primary Corner
Dear Parents,
The past week has been challenging, as we moved to home learning for half of our students and watch the news each day to determine what will happen with the other year levels. As communicated previously, our plans are in place should we need to make a shift to online learning for Years 4-6. While we are disappointed our Year 1-3 students are not in the building, we will try our best to help them celebrate some of our traditional events of the Christmas season, such as Nikolaus. The children have been quite resilient and are demonstrating their flexibility in their ability to learn in a variety of environments! Please do not hesitate to reach out to Class Teachers, Specialist teachers, or one of us should you have any questions.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Kim Cunningham Head of English Primary Email | Donna Morley Deputy Head of English Primary Email |
https://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Screenshot-2020-11-25-at-2.14.09-PM.png, https://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Screenshot-2020-11-25-at-2.12.44-PM.png, https://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Screenshot-2020-11-25-at-2.13.07-PM.png, https://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Screenshot-2020-11-25-at-2.13.53-PM.png, https://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Screenshot-2020-11-25-at-2.12.16-PM.png
(Click thumbnail/s to enlarge image)Departmental News and Announcements
EPD – Responsible User Agreement for Online LearningDear Parents
Please review the attached Agreement which was part of the Roadmap to Online Learning sent to all parents in August.
Kind regards
Kim Cunningham Head of English Primary Department Email |
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Attachmentshttps://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Responsible_User_Agreement.pdf
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Secondary Corner
The Week Past
Thank you, as always, to the KPR reps for meeting with us this week and sharing a great deal of valuable feedback on various matters.
The Week(s) to come
As the Christmas break draws nigh, unfortunately without the usual festivities such as the Christmas Bazaar, we nonetheless hope to mark the end of term with such celebrations as can currently take place. Chief amongst these will be the Christmas concert, which will be presented in an online format, and the recordings for which will be made on the 10th December. Thank you to Mr Goldring, Ms Haines and all the performers for your efforts in bringing some well needed Christmas cheer.
Sadly, as previously noted, we say goodbye to two long-serving and well-respected teachers at the end of term. Both Mr Munt and Ms Schuurman will be leaving Hong Kong to return to their home countries. They take with them all our very best wishes for a successful and happy future with their families.
Two new teachers will join the ESD team in January. Ms Katherine Etchells-Bailey will be teaching Physical Education, and will take over Mr Munt’s PE classes, whilst Mr Jonathan Chan-Combrink will be teaching Social and Cultural Anthropology to our Y12 & 13 classes in place of Ms Schuurman.
Ms Etchells-Bailey has taught PE at a number of international schools in Hong Kong and brings with her a great deal of experience and expertise, particularly in coaching Hockey, but also a number of other sports.
Mr Chan-Combrink is a Canadian-qualified humanities specialist with a background in anthropology. He is currently studying for his doctorate in education and will be joining GSIS on a part time basis. Since it is not ideal for IB Diploma students to change teachers at this juncture in the course, Ms Schuurman has kindly agreed to continue to be available online to teach the Y12 & 13 classes, in partnership with Mr Chan-Combrink, for the coming months. The time difference between Hong Kong and Canada, where Ms Schuurman will be based, is quite challenging, but we are working to ensure that Ms Schuurman can team teach the classes for at least some of the lessons, as well as offering her expert guidance outside of the school day to individual students. The exact details of the arrangements for the SCA classes will be communicated to the students and parents concerned as soon as possible.
Mr Munt’s Economics classes will be taught by Ms Majithia from January onwards and Ms Schuurman’s History classes will be taught by one of Ms McCarrick, Mr Santella or Ms Surman and, again, the precise details will be sent to the parents and students concerned soon.
Ken Stevenson Head of English Secondary Email |
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Departmental News and Announcements
No updates / announcements this week.