Hip, hip, hooray! Congratulations to our IBDP Class of 2023 🎓! Last Thursday marked a milestone in the lives of 58 students from our English International Stream as they marched down the stage in the IB Hall. Family and friends were gathered to celebrate this memorable moment. We wish all our graduates the very best as they embark on their next adventure!
#GSIS #GermanSwissInternationalSchool #InternationalSchool #HongKong #EducationalExcellence #InternationalBaccalaureate #IBDP #GraduationDay
Congratulations 🎉🎈🎊
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Dear Members of the School Community
When I narrowly lost a badminton match to one of my students in my PE class some time ago, I thought, 'how great that my student won'. It was still fun and my loss is insignificant against the joy my student felt at winning.
I remember the character of the famous Donald Duck, who also suffered many a defeat. He would then throw himself on his duck belly and drum his fists violently on the floor. Afterwards, he always got up again to face new adventures and adversities in life, be it a quarrel with the neighbour, the rebelliousness of his nephew or a dispute with his miserly Uncle Scrooge.
We know another Donald who also took a severe beating recently. There are winners and losers in life and we all know a bad loser when we see one, and we all know what a tantrum looks like. It’s one thing to spit the dummy or throw your toys off the pram, but perhaps this Donald believes that his continued rejection of the reality of his loss makes him appear stronger and to be a fighter.
"Real greatness only shows itself in defeat", Heinrich Mann formulated so aptly in his novel "The Little Town". And true greatness in defeat probably means to be happy for the winner and congratulating them on their success.
Success is fleeting anyway. If you were the shining winner yesterday, you can be the sad loser tomorrow. That's the way life works, at work, in love, in sport. To win all the time is very unlikely and would perhaps make us arrogant. If we lose all the time, we become discouraged. It is therefore good to be able to gather a balanced wealth of experience of victories and defeats in life. This is good for us because we have to learn how to deal with both victory and defeat.
This fate is certainly also known to our students, who also suffer successes and failures. Of course, we want to make them winners. But you don't learn from victories alone, you also learn from defeats. To get up, you have to have fallen. In my American years, I learned that in the USA, failure is not understood as failure and punished with contempt, but as an incentive and opportunity to start over. So every school day also offers a chance for a new beginning, to possibly turn a good sport into a shining and hopefully good winner.
It is difficult to imagine the Donald-in-denial as the one who picks themselves up, because those who do not want to learn from mistakes must be responsible for the consequences.
I wish you a relaxing weekend.
| Ulrich Weghoff Principal |
No updates / announcements this week.
Dear Parents
Next week we are going to celebrate Fasching at the Peak Campus. This will happen during break times.
At our Pok Fu Lam Campus the class teacher will choose a day and keep you updated what day they are celebrating this great festival.
If you are not familiar with Fasching - you can find some more information about it here.
We would appreciate it if all children come in costume. While the theme is free, please refrain from sending your children along dressed as soldiers and/or carrying toy weapons. Roller skates, high heels or other outdoor equipment also should not be brought to school.
Next week the first semester finishes. The K03 and K04 classes will receive their reports.
All K04 classes are at school on Friday, 29. January and will bring home their reports. The K03 classes will get their report cards the following week on Tuesday when they are at school.
We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting a Parent Effectiveness Training Workshop on Wednesday, 3rd February from 12:30pm-2:00pm (Lunch and Learn) via Zoom. Please register HERE by Friday, 29th January if you would like to attend.
The workshop is titled “What To Do When Your Child Is Upset” and will be led by Odette Umali. Ms Umali is the founder of Gordon Parenting and a certified Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.) Instructor. You can learn more at https://gordonparenting.com/ and you can check out the poster for this event.
Those that register will be sent the Zoom link and the handout on Monday, 1st February.
We hope you can take advantage of this opportunity to learn, grow and be encouraged as a parent in the new year!
In the name of Alexandra Neumann-Hillebrand and the counsellor team.
 Head of German Primary Department |  Deputy Head of German Primary Department |
No updates / announcements this week.
Dear Parents
On 29 January (or their next day on campus following 29 January), the GSD students will receive their reports for the first half-year of 2020-21. The results reflect the written and oral performances on average for the whole semester.
In K05–K09, the reports further reflect the student's work attitude and motivation as well as their social competences such as team spirit and behaviour with their classmates. This information had previously been documented through comments in the report, but starting from the 2020-21 academic year will be integrated in the report via the known student evaluation forms.
We hope that the feedback on the report card will be cause for joy. Should you be worried however about your child's performance in one or more subjects, please contact the respective subject teacher (if you have not done so already). You are also most welcome to contact our counselling & support team, Mrs Rötsch (Learning Support Teacher / SRoetsch@gsis.edu.hk) and Mrs Dellinger (School Counsellor / JDellinger@gsis.edu.hk).
Dear Parents
As per the KMK's decision to introduce a communications test as a possibility for both the Abitur and Mittlerer Schulabschluss, the English and French departments would like to inform you that in the second half-year of 2020/21 one of the written class tests will be replaced by an oral communications test. This serves to best support and enhance the students' communication skills.
The above applies to the following year groups:
The communications test will contain monologue and dialogue elements, covering topics that have been taught in class, and will be conducted in groups of 2 or 3 students. Evaluation and grading is based on standard assessment sheets and is carried out by a team of two subject teachers. The students will be prepared for this new test format in class.
Please do not hesitate to contact our Subject Heads should you have further questions.
Kind regards
Mrs Wagner (English / JWagner@gsis.edu.hk) and
Mrs Zhang-Preis (Französisch / KZhang-Preis@gsis.edu.hk)
 Head of German Secondary Department |  |
No updates / announcements this week.
Dear Parents
It has been wonderful to welcome groups of students back to school in phases this week as we continue to navigate the ongoing restrictions designed to minimize the spread of this increasingly virulent virus. The year appears to have started with some genuine hope borne from news of the vaccine that is starting to reach the people it needs to reach; I am sure we are all looking forward to similar news in Hong Kong very soon.
As a school, we are extremely grateful to the senior staff who have been rescheduling classes on a daily basis to ensure a smooth, staggered return that meets all the regulations, to our support staff who have been preparing and maintaining a safe environment for learning and to our faculty staff who continue to work in an unfamiliar medium but do so with commitment, energy and optimism. Students with whom I have spoken have been delighted to return to school and there is a genuine feeling of gratitude and understanding amongst them. We will continue to do all we can as a community to ensure we provide the best opportunities for all in these days of constraint.
Most students thrive on social interaction, particularly when learning, and social media platforms can fill this deficit, especially when schools are closed and children can be more isolated. Without restraint or guidance young people can soon be balancing a range of simultaneous chats, threads and posts whilst they are engaged with schoolwork that might require in itself a Google meet, shared documents, uploading, downloading and accessing websites. Young people are potentially in a vulnerable space and the temptations are powerful.
We all know that most young people migrated from Facebook as soon as their parents got an account but did you know that the age limit for setting up an account is 13? This is the same for Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and Discord, whilst for WhatsApp, it is 16. There is a reason for this. Social media interaction involves a different set of rules that need to be taught in order to avoid dependency, anxiety or distress, as these skills are not innate, even for digital natives. Setting limits to online activity through negotiation, discussing digital safety, using filtering software or apps that will limit screentime as well as modelling our own online behaviour will all help support students to navigate their interactions and maintain their wellbeing.
Over recent years we have seen the social and political impact of a weaponised news feed and a flagrant disregard for the truth in pursuit of power. In his fascinating book, Democracy Hacked (2018), Martin Moore highlights our tacit acceptance that “tech platforms like Google and Facebook, which were built to do specific jobs like search the web or connect with friends, have come to perform so many others – including fundamental civic functions like informing people’s vote, delivering the news and giving people a public voice”. In this virtual landscape, it is increasingly important to develop critical thinking, to explicitly teach how to distinguish between truth and fiction or when information, that informs our decisions, is being manipulated in front of our eyes. We all encounter this in our daily lives when opinions or impressions are fanned into an imagined reality by social media.
We teach our students digital citizenship as part of their core programme and we also seek to teach our students to think critically and to acknowledge academic honesty in a range of fields, particularly in their interaction with third party media. This occurs more explicitly as students progress through the school and develop their cognitive capacity; the IBDP students take a course on epistemology or Theory of Knowledge as part of their Diploma. Given the events of the past few years, it could be argued that one of the biggest challenges for modern democracies is epistemological i.e. awareness and understanding of how we know what we know rather than just consuming content; developing a critical mindset, one that does not just accept information because it appears on our screen, is an essential feature of our life toolkit.
I am taking part in this online forum tomorrow morning with two other Principals based in Hong Kong, discussing the way we seek to achieve a balance between whole-person education and academic achievement, do join me if you can.
Best wishes
| Simon Misso-Veness Deputy Principal / Head of English International Stream |
No updates / announcements this week.
Dear Parents,
The EPD is pleased to announce that we have hired a part-time PE teacher. As announced in December, Andrew Champion accepted the position of Head of PE and Sports ECAs. This meant that we needed to find a part-time replacement for him. Jamie Tsung has accepted a position as a part-time PE teacher for the remainder of this school year. Jamie has a Bachelor of Science in Sports Coaching Sciences from the University of Worcester and his PGCE from the University of Sunderland. He has experience with supply teaching at CIS and FSIS, teaching courses at Hong Kong University Space, and coaching youth rugby. Jamie is a member of the Hong Kong Rugby Union. We are excited to bring in an individual with an extensive background in sports and coaching to the EPD.
We have been evaluating the EPD reporting processes which were created in the Spring of 2018 and implemented in the Autumn of 2018. Prior to this time the EPD sent out reports twice per year. For the past two years, we have been sending out three reports per year. The system of sharing information with parents is meaningful, but a written report each term is not necessary. We will continue setting targets and supporting children to achieve them, as in the natural process of learning. These targets will be documented for use in the classroom and discussed with parents during the March PIDs instead of issuing a written report prior to the Easter break. We will continue with the full end of year summary report in June.
Next week we will celebrate Fasching at the Peak Campus during break times. At our Pok Fu Lam Campus, our Year 1 teachers will plan the celebration which works with their unique schedule. If you are new to GSIS, you can find more information about Fasching here.
This is a wonderful opportunity for children to come to school in costume. While the theme is free, please refrain from sending your children along dressed as soldiers and/or carrying toy weapons. Roller skates, high heels or other outdoor equipment also should not be brought to school.
We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting a Parent Effectiveness Training Workshop on Wednesday, 3rd February from 12:30pm-2:00pm (Lunch and Learn) via Zoom. Please register HERE by Friday, 29th January if you would like to attend.
The workshop is titled “What To Do When Your Child Is Upset” and will be led by Odette Umali. Ms Umali is the founder of Gordon Parenting and a certified Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.) Instructor. You can learn more at https://gordonparenting.com/ and you can check out the poster for this event.
Those that register will be sent the Zoom link and the handout on Monday, 1st February.
We hope you can take advantage of this opportunity to learn, grow and be encouraged as a parent in the new year! Arrangements have been made by Paige Marquard - please contact her if you have any questions - PMarquard@gsis.edu.hk.
 Head of English Primary Department |  Deputy Head of English Primary Department |
No updates / announcements this week.
No updates / announcements this week.
