Dear Members of the School Community

Over the past weeks and months, we have been constantly responding as a school to the changing circumstances in Hong Kong with regard to the COVID-19 situation and trying to find the most appropriate and suitable solutions. Since the EDB's announcement of the option to open the school fully for morning classes if all teachers and staff regularly undergo testing, there have been heated discussions in all Hong Kong schools and their communities on how to deal with this regulation.

It is no secret that ESF schools have taken this route after a petition by about 500 parents to urgently resume schools on the basis of testing all school employees. You may also be aware that shortly after the ESF schools’ resumption was announced, other parents started a counter-petition against the opening, also with nearly 500 votes. The emails I receive further reveal (at times in a rather frank manner) the conflicting positions in our school community, which are put forward with strong inner conviction.

I am aware that there can be no single right decision in this tricky situation. There are voices that claim that our decisions are determined by the teaching staff. There are others who say that we are determined by the parents. Yet others state that the decisions are driven by the Board. I can assure you that we as School Management comprehensively analyse and discuss the given and developing circumstances and make our decisions to the best of our knowledge and belief on the basis of the most objective considerations possible.

At GSIS, we adhere to the fundamental principle of offering solutions that are as mutually agreeable as possible, that take the different points of view, concerns and questions seriously and include them in our considerations. Therefore, it is not advisable to jump on spontaneous suggestions such as cancelling or shortening the Easter holidays. We have shortened the summer holidays in return for the extended Christmas holidays and communicated this in a very timely manner. A further interference with the fixed school year holidays by shortening the Easter holidays at short notice would throw the entire school community, students and teachers into turmoil. Incidentally, no other school does this either and it is not necessary, as we could certainly complete our curricular programme with our online learning as well as the subsequent hybrid learning.

As you could already see from our last email to you on Tuesday, we have decided to open GSIS in compliance with the EDB guidelines after the Easter holidays. The EDB guidelines only allow schools to open for half days, but with classes from 7:40 am – 1:15 pm we will be able to cover most of the lessons in face-to-face classes.

Whether we will manage without petitions and counter-petitions, I do not dare to predict here, but I ask you on this occasion for your support in cultivating a mutually respectful and appreciative school community.

Please also be aware of the current new developments regarding an outbreak in a particular gym. The impact has resulted in individual schools being temporarily closed as ‘close contacts’ have been verified and to prevent further spread of the virus. We will keep you updated should there also be an impact on GSIS.

Have a good weekend

Dear Members,

One of the key priorities for the GSIS Board is the extension of the lease for the Pok Fu Lam Campus. In its first Board Meeting on 8th December 2020, the GSIS Association established an External Affairs Task Force (EATF) to focus on communication and interaction with various external stakeholders, including the Education Bureau (“EDB”) in the Pok Fu Lam Campus matter.

As at the time of the current board's appointment:

All GSIS School Managers (SM) and the Supervisor from the former GSIS Boards had resigned from their posts. Given that the process for appointing SMs requires at least 50% of existing SMs supporting the appointment and no SMs remained during the handover period, this left the EDB in an unprecedented situation.

The EDB had written to GSIS seeking clarification and comfort regarding 1) the status of the Articles of Association (AoA) amendments; 2) details of the AGM (including evidence of adherence to the Harris Decision); and 3) school governance generally.

The above are factors for consideration to renew the Pok Fu Lam Campus lease. The first meeting with the EDB was held on 18th December 2020 to introduce the current Board and the proposed Supervisor/ SMs and discuss the issues referred above. Following the meeting, the EATF submitted the revised AoA to the Inland Revenue Department and the Companies Registry. The EATF also produced over 250 pages of submissions and documentation in response to the EDB queries on 30th December 2020.

The submitted documents are currently with relevant governmental departments for processing and approval.

Since the submissions, the EATF and the Managing Director continuously engages in discussions with the EDB and will promptly address any further questions or requests for information if necessary.

Warmest regards

The External Affairs Taskforce

We are excited to be starting our cooking themed events next week. Summer Ni (Board & Community Committee member as well as avid cook) is looking forward to sharing her personal recipe for making the traditional Chinese dish of steamed egg with minced pork. The event will be hosted online on Thursday 18th March at 6pm. We will send you a list of ingredients to buy in advance and you can cook along with Summer and enjoy the dish for a family dinner or just watch and learn how to make for a later date.

Sign up via our online Google Form. As always if you have ideas, which you would like to see or host please do get in touch at communitycommittee@gsis.edu.hk. 

Thank you to those who have already signed up to help with this year’s Christmas Bazaar. We have had a great response already but we will be needing a big team of volunteers so please do let us know if you can help in any capacity however big or small.

Kindergarten Corner

Dear Parents

This Friday we would like to share about our Kindergarten Sports Days. All our children were eager to participate and mastered the individual sports tasks with fun and dedication. Each class followed a scheduled time and activity, and the entire Pok Fu Lam campus transformed into a sports ground. 

On both days, we started with a "warm up" and "join in" activity in the Hall followed by Sports stations set-up in the playground, the gym, the terrace and the rooftop of our school . This also gave the children a chance to discover parts of the building they have not seen before. 

Each Sports Day ended with the medal ceremony on the playground, where each class was honored individually. 

We are very proud of our "Sport Champions" and hope they enjoyed their Sports Day as much as we did.

In today's Gazette we are able to give you a glimpse of our Sports Days. Please watch out for more photos on our social media sites in the coming week and surely the teachers will share short videos and more photos on Seesaw.

Sophie Burdel Head of Kindergarten Email

Eileen Mah Deputy Head of Kindergarten and Deputy Child Protection Officer Pok Fu Lam Campus Email

Primary Corner

Dear Parents

Registration parents´ workshop

Next week we will be hosting a 2nd Parent Workshop by Ms Odette Umali of Gordon Parenting. The workshop is titled, “How to Prevent and Handle Parent-Child Conflict.”

Who: Primary Parents (EPD and GPD)

Date: Wednesday, 17th March, 2021

Time: 12:30pm (Lunch and Learn)

Mode: Zoom

Registration: Please register HERE by 1pm on Tuesday, 16th March to receive the handout and Zoom link

 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/ . 

We hope you can take advantage of this opportunity to learn and be encouraged as a parent! 

HK Students Aid Society

We are delighted to announce that with our Chinese New Year Lai See collection we were able to raise HKD 40.286.90, which will benefit the "The Hong Kong Student Aid Society Limited". 

A cheque was presented to the charity's Chief Executive Officer Candy Yeung on Tuesday, 9 March 2021.

We would like to thank you and your children very much for your generosity towards this worthy cause. The donations will help children and youth with a less fortunate background. 

One of the projects of the HKSAS is to find their students special skills and support them to develop these skills, so they can have a brighter future.

Rain and foggy weather

It is the humid season again. Please be reminded that all the students need to have a raincoat in their school bags to prevent them from getting soaked wet on their way to the bus. The pavement to the busses and also the parking area is quite crowded, there is not really space for umbrellas. Therefore please don't give the students an umbrella, it is a challenge to handle them in the crowd.

Priska Erni Head of German Primary Department Email

Inga Riedel-Narayan Deputy Head of German Primary Department Email

Secondary Corner