🏀 Led by Coach Tommy Vogel from ALBA BERLIN Basketball Academy, come and join us this Christmas holiday with our 4-day basketball camp where all skill levels are welcome! Improve your dribbling, shooting, decision making, and more. Plus, each participant gets an ALBA BERLIN T-Shirt, official camp certificate, and a chance to win ALBA BERLIN prizes! Register today.
🗓️ Date: 27 - 30 December 2023
📍 Venue: Lower Building Sports Hall (L401), German Swiss International School, 11 Guildford Road, The Peak, Hong Kong
For more information and registration, please visit docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfAqhThpHyK6T8s9mlkzoBKdB6THz11yRNzyyBCDOKLySmv4A/viewform
#GSIS #GermanSwissInternationalSchool #InternationalSchool #HongKong #EducationalExcellence #GSISEasterCamp @albaberlinacademy.asia
Dear Members of the School Community
With the EDB's approval of 5 February 2021, we have been admitting a significant portion of the student body to face-to-face classes on a daily basis after the Chinese New Year holidays. Based on our calculation of the number of students to be admitted amounting to one third on the basis of the maximum capacity, we are able to admit considerably more than one third of the actual student body.Thus, we are well on our way towards full resumption, should the infection figures continue to remain low and the EDB clearly regulate its guidelines for opening schools in the future.
While we are in full swing with regard to the current school year and are fully focused on a strategy of successful hybrid learning, we are also looking ahead to the next school year.
For the English International Stream, this means first and foremost designing and carrying out the admission procedure for new students, selecting the students who fit in with GSIS and its special profile.
For the German International Stream, this means continuing to strive for stable student numbers by strengthening the bilingual programme in the Kindergarten and in preschool (DVOR), as well as accepting a group of students into our Fast Track Programme again this year. You may already have come across our advertisements for admission to the bilingual Kindergarten in various print media.
The bilingual Kindergarten in the German International Stream is an excellent entry opportunity for non-German speaking children. Both German speaking children and non-German speaking children learn two languages through daily use in a continuous immersion programme. Two teachers per group teach German and English or German and Mandarin. All children are linguistically prepared for the continuation of the bilingual programme in the preschool in a two-year course. While the linguistic distribution of the two languages is still 50 : 50 in the Kindergarten, the proportion of German is increased to about 75% in the German preschool. Afterwards, in the German Primary Department, from grade 1 to 4, great emphasis is placed on the further development of German language skills (reading, writing, speaking), preparing for the transition to the German Secondary Department, which begins in grade 5. After all children have consolidated their German language skills, bilingual language development can be reinforced again in the secondary school from Grade 5 onwards through successive bilingual and English-language offerings in the subjects Biology (bilingual from Grade 5), Geography (in English from Grade 7) and History (bilingual from Grade 8). The bilingual education leads to the German International Abitur examination with English-language components of up to 50%.
Our increasing number of registrations for the bilingual German/English group up to the opening of a waiting list testifies to the attractiveness of this programme, which is embedded in a seamless concept from Kindergarten through Abitur.
When I look at our graduating students, I am always amazed at their pronounced fluency in at least two languages. There is hardly a better guarantor for a successful professional career than pronounced multilingualism. Developing this and gearing our language concept to it is a particular speciality of the German International Stream.
Despite the extraordinarily difficult two school years during the Hong Kong protests and especially the COVID-19 pandemic, the special appeal of the GSIS in both streams has never waned and gives me a good feeling for its successful further development in the years to come.
Have a nice and relaxing weekend
| Ulrich Weghoff Principal |
It was great to see such energy and activity in school this week, and it was especially wonderful to see our Kindergarten students back in Pokfulam with their friends and teachers. There are photos in the ‘Highlights This Week’ section showing many happy faces and excited Kindergarten children, as well as our Primary and Secondary students.
It has been encouraging this week to see some concrete indications of a vaccination programme rolling out in Hong Kong which provides significant hope. The Hong Kong government has also recently made some positive comments regarding the possibility of gradually resuming face-to-face classes in the near future, and I continue to be fully engaged with the EDB, advocating for a return to normal school operations as a priority.
Please let me take this opportunity to reassure you that the school has, all along, explored different options with the EDB in an attempt to bring back as many students as possible. In May and August 2020, we were one of the very few schools that managed to bring back students for maximum and full resumption through early and thorough applications to and communications with the EDB. Our meal schedules and space allocation plans won the trust and approval of the EDB.
This same spirit, determination and effort continues to be our approach with the EDB at the highest levels. In our most recent application dated 10th February, the school endeavoured to bring back our Kindergarten and Primary students more frequently than planned by having shortened morning and afternoon sessions. Unfortunately, the EDB did not approve this application given the current pandemic situation and we were only allowed to bring back on-campus ⅓ of maximum capacity permitted, as per their recent guidelines. Despite that, the resumption plan we have right now allows us to bring back more than 60% of registered students each day by the average.
In the last two weeks, we have received mostly positive feedback from parents supporting the school's resumption plan which is very encouraging. We are equally mindful of concerns and suggestions received regarding the fortnightly testing to staff. Yesterday, we held a meeting with the KPR secretaries from all departments which went well and we look forward to sharing key points with the community.
I have also just conducted my first in-person Coffee Morning this year and I look forward to sharing any key discussions with you next week. These coffee mornings are a great, relaxed social event, especially useful for new parents, to mingle with other parents, share views, and to ask any questions you may have. I do hope you will be able to join us at the future events and I encourage you to come along to as many as you can.
On another topic, many of you will have noticed that the turnstile project at our Lower Building, Peak Campus is nearly complete. This new turnstile and entry card system will provide enhanced security to safeguard all our community. It means that at every campus, we now have one main gate through which all people enter and exit which are staffed at all times by security teams. This is particularly crucial in the global pandemic context when controlled access is very much one of the first steps to safeguard our campus and the community. The implementation schedule is below.
| 22.02.21 -
05.03.21 |
Turnstile testing and Card Preparation
|
| 08.03.21 -
19.03.21 |
Trial Run and Pre-Launch:
|
| 22.03.21 | Formal Launch:
|
As ever, I am very grateful for the vigilance of the school community in helping us keep everyone safe. We have come a long way and it’s hard to believe that it is a year since Covid-19 emerged and started to affect us all around the world. A return to more normal times is in sight and we will be sure to let you know of any updates from the EDB.
I wish you all a happy weekend.
| Clare Chiu Managing Director |
Dear GSIS Community
We wanted to give you a quick update on the involvement with the Swiss and the fostering of 'Swissness' at our school. The Board believes that cultivating the Swiss legacy of the school alongside its German, Hong Kong and International heritage adds a valuable dimension to the education of the students, as well as the governance of the school.
Since taking up our positions on the Board, we have therefore actively engaged with both the Swiss Consulate in Hong Kong as well as the relevant government body in Bern, Switzerland, the Bundesamt für Kultur ('BAK'). We have had enjoyable discussions with both and have explained to them how the school is working to nurture and grow its 'Swissness', and how as a school we would like to better cooperate with the Swiss community. The Consulate and the BAK have welcomed the open communication and will be monitoring the progress of the school regarding these efforts, and the possible introduction of the formerly requested Article changes. While they confirmed that the official cooperation with the school has been stopped, and that a collaboration is not desired at this point, they also indicated that this could potentially be re-evaluated in the future.
We are encouraged by the friendly exchange with the BAK and the Swiss Consulate and hope we can all work together as a community to achieve a renewed cooperation of GSIS with the Swiss authorities. We have a list of ideas we are working on, but please do not hesitate to reach out to us with any suggestions on how GSIS can improve its 'Swissness' and the cooperation with the Swiss community.
Sincerely,
The GSIS Association Board
Kung Hei Fat Choi - wishing you and your families a wonderful year of the Ox.
A big thank you for all the support that we have been receiving and it is wonderful to have so many members of the community reach out and participate in our recent events. Congratulations to the winners of our Fasching photo competition who each won a box of delicious doughnuts.
Last night saw the revival of the GSIS quiz night and we were delighted to see more than 30 teams of staff, alumni, students and parents participating. It was a fun night for all involved with some great questions covering a range of topics including animals, science/history, sports, movies as well as Germany, Switzerland and Hong Kong. Thank you to all those who joined in the fun.
Congratulations to the winners who will be receiving a goodie bag of prizes for their team.
Winner - Team FatCat with 40,355 and 47 out of 56 was Tammy Zhou and Sissi Li
2nd place - Team Moon - Edward and Henry Moon
3rd place - Die Berliners - Jai & Shaan Mutreja
We are looking forward to bringing more fun events to the community and if you have any ideas or would like to help please send us an email us at communitycommittee@gsis.edu.hk
| Community Committee |
Dear Parents
The Year of the Ox seems a promising year as it ushered back the return of the Kindergarten children and the PFL Campus was once again filled with loads of chattering and laughter. The children all have been very excited to return to school and settled in very well.
Beside the permission from the EDB to have 1/3 of our student capacity return to school each day, we at Pok Fu Lam tried to think outside the box and ask the school management to propose a morning/afternoon model to the EDB. Unfortunately, the EDB declined our proposal.
Nevertheless, the resumption of school means that our children will have face-to-face teaching and in addition, experience the following events in person.
Kindly mark this down in your diaries:
For future planned events like Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations and Parents’ Information Days, more information will be shared at a later stage.
On another note we would like to inform you that we will have to bid farewell to two of our colleagues in the Kindergarten at the end of this academic year.
Frau Jessica Zaulig, class teacher of DKTA from the German Kindergarten International Stream, has been with GSIS for the past 6 years. She will return to Germany to further her career path and to spend time with her family members.
Mr Troy Decoff, the Learning Support teacher for the English International Stream at PFL who has worked for GSIS in the past 10 years will be returning to Canada with his family.
Please join us in wishing Frau Zaulig and Mr Decoff well in their new endeavours.
They will be very much missed by all at GSIS!
Today is the fifteenth and final day of the Chinese New Year, which is also known as the “First Night Festival” (yuánxiāo jié) which marks the first full moon of the New Year.
Lanterns are lit and carried, and is it also known as the Spring Lantern Festival. On this day, families gather and eat “tangyuan”, glutinous rice balls in sweet soup, which symbolises reunion.
We would like to wish each and every one a Happy Spring Lantern Festival.
 Head of Kindergarten |  Deputy Head of Kindergarten and Deputy Child Protection Officer Pok Fu Lam Campus |
No updates / announcements this week.
Dear Parents
The more the merrier - this is our motto at school. After we had only one class per week back at primary school after the Christmas break, we are happy now to welcome two classes, two or three times per week. And of course we can't wait to get more classes in.
We have tried numerous creative ways - including the use of the Secondary buildings - to bring more Primary students back at Pok Fu Lam and the Peak and have made several applications to the EDB. We were successful in our application to use building capacity numbers instead of enrolment numbers. Our capacity numbers are set and registered by EDB. Some of our other ideas were not approved, but we are fortunate to bring in many more Primary level students each day by using the capacity formula.
We hope that you've all done your bookings for the PIDs next week for DVOR and the following week for all classes at the Peak Campus. We are looking forward to seeing you.
 Head of German Primary Department |  Deputy Head of German Primary Department |
No updates / announcements this week.
Dear Parents
The Year of the Ox seems a promising year as it ushered back the return of the Kindergarten children and the PFL Campus was once again filled with loads of chattering and laughter. The children all have been very excited to return to school and settled in very well.
Beside the permission from the EDB to have 1/3 of our student capacity return to school each day, we at Pok Fu Lam tried to think outside the box and ask the school management to propose a morning/afternoon model to the EDB. Unfortunately, the EDB declined our proposal.
Nevertheless, the resumption of school means that our children will have face-to-face teaching and in addition, experience the following events in person.
Kindly mark this down in your diaries:
For future planned events like Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations and Parents’ Information Days, more information will be shared at a later stage.
On another note we would like to inform you that we will have to bid farewell to two of our colleagues in the Kindergarten at the end of this academic year.
Frau Jessica Zaulig, class teacher of DKTA from the German Kindergarten International Stream, has been with GSIS for the past 6 years. She will return to Germany to further her career path and to spend time with her family members.
Mr Troy Decoff, the Learning Support teacher for the English International Stream at PFL who has worked for GSIS in the past 10 years will be returning to Canada with his family.
Please join us in wishing Frau Zaulig and Mr Decoff well in their new endeavours.
They will be very much missed by all at GSIS!
Today is the fifteenth and final day of the Chinese New Year, which is also known as the “First Night Festival” (yuánxiāo jié) which marks the first full moon of the New Year.
Lanterns are lit and carried, and is it also known as the Spring Lantern Festival. On this day, families gather and eat “tangyuan”, glutinous rice balls in sweet soup, which symbolises reunion.
We would like to wish each and every one a Happy Spring Lantern Festival.
Head of Kindergarten | Deputy Head of Kindergarten and Deputy Child Protection Officer Pok Fu Lam Campus |
No updates / announcements this week.
Dear Parents,
We have loved seeing full buses and so many more students in the building this week. Like you, we wish to have every student attend every day. After having only one class per week back at primary school after the Christmas break, we are happy now to welcome two classes, two or three times per week. And of course, we can't wait to get more classes in.
We have tried numerous creative ways - including the use of Secondary buildings - to bring more Primary students back at Pok Fu Lam and the Peak and have made several applications to the EDB. We were successful in our application to use building capacity numbers instead of enrolment numbers. Our capacity numbers are set and registered by EDB. Some of our other ideas were not approved, but we are fortunate to bring in many more Primary level students each day by using the capacity formula.
We hope that you've all done your bookings for the PIDs next week for Year 1 and the following week for all classes at the Peak Campus.
Our teachers devote several hours each month to professional development activities. Yesterday we took part in the fourth of a series of workshops on Reading Comprehension Strategies led by Tabitha Johnson and Stephanie Gilchrist. Attached are a few pictures of our faculty continuing their learning!
Enjoy your weekend!
 Head of English Primary Department |  Deputy Head of English Primary Department |
No updates / announcements this week.
