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📅 Save the date! Our highly anticipated annual Christmas Bazaar will take place on Saturday, 2 December 2023. 🎄 The GSIS community of students, parents, staff, alumni, and friends, will come together for this special event. It promises to be a delightful occasion filled with laughter and festive cheer to ring in the holiday season as well as support our school!
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GSIS Gazette – Issue #54
25th June 2021
CONTENTS
- Principal's Column
- Managing Director's Update
- News from the Board
- Community Committee
- Schoolwide News
- German International Stream
- English International Stream
- Book Reviews
- Alumni
- This Week in Images
Dear Members of the School Community
As we are publishing this last edition of the Gazette before the summer holidays, the last day of school of the 2020/21 academic year is just around the corner. On Wednesday next week, our students and their teachers will go on their well-deserved break.
We have all experienced and survived intense times together in the past school years. On several occasions I have spoken about how well GSIS has come through the crisis. By now the crisis topic is no longer a special one, because we are all so used to hearing about it and living through it.
In 1997, Asia experienced a major economic crisis that put the school in a difficult position by significantly decreasing the student body at that time.Today, the period of Hong Kong protests, the change in political circumstances and especially the COVID-19 pandemic yet again pose great challenges to the school.
I am glad that now, at the end of the school year and looking to the future, we can be quite optimistic. Restrictions are still expected in Hong Kong for the next few months and you will all continue to face the problem of juggling holiday plans, the desire to see your family members in other countries and the quarantine conditions in Hong Kong. Every day, you too will no doubt be scanning the news for information that points to a relaxation of the quarantine measures. In the meantime, there are already clear indications that the conditions will improve.
For me, the time of goodbyes and farewells has come. My first flight after more than a year will be a one-way flight, which will take my wife and me eastwards with a slightly longer stopover in California, finally returning to Germany after five years in New York and three years in Hong Kong.
Recently it has often been said that I would certainly have imagined my last professional years differently. This is a very theoretical assumption, because from my previous experiences as Principal of the German International School New York I could already take with me that in such a fast-paced, demanding, breathless, competitive, dynamic environment as New York and also Hong Kong, the management of a high-ranking public school would not be a place of rest.
Of course, when I arrived in Hong Kong in July 2018, I could not foresee what other challenges would come my way on top of the usual tasks. Nevertheless, and also looking back, I can only confirm that even if I had known everything beforehand, I would still have come to Hong Kong and to GSIS. I have not regretted the time and I have seen the many challenges as something that can be mastered together in a strong team. I am extremely grateful to the Senior Management Team, all Staff for their incredible support and tremendous level of commitment, reliability and team spirit, which has enabled us to manoeuvre GSIS through rough seas and shoals.
I would also like to thank all of you, dear parents, for your perseverance, for the manifold support, the well-intentioned advice, which reached me time and again, and also for your constructive criticism. Above all, I would like to thank you for the great trust you have placed in the reliability and strength of the GSIS education. I hope that we have not disappointed you, but on the contrary have been able to convince you even more of the excellent education your children receive at GSIS.
I wish you and your families all the best and good luck for your future journey!
Kind regards, a nice weekend and a wonderful summer
| Ulrich Weghoff Principal |
Dear Parents
This has been another extraordinary year in so many respects but I feel honoured to lead the administration teams at GSIS and to ensure that we continue to celebrate this wonderful school, whilst working together to further develop and enhance the school and its students. I remain committed to securing the very best possible outcomes and successes in all that we do.
Sadly, at the end of an academic year, it is always a time when we say farewell to a number of our students and staff, some of whom have been with us for many years. This is the nature of international schools as families return to their home country or to other international locations. Of course, we are welcoming a number of new students and staff on our return in August and we are looking forward to them joining our vibrant community. To those leaving, I wish you safe travels and the best of luck in the future.
After three years as Principal, we also say a sad goodbye to a truly excellent colleague, Herr Ulrich Weghoff, who leaves us to enjoy a well-deserved retirement life back in Wiesbaden, Germany. As I look back on my time as Managing Director at GSIS, my overriding memory of Uli will be a passionate, kind and composed educator who is truly committed to the fortunes of our school and students in both streams. We have been privileged to have such a Principal and on behalf of the Senior Management Team, I would like to thank him for the outstanding contribution that he has made. Teaching is one of the few professions that can genuinely influence lives and when he looks back over his career, Uli can justifiably be proud of the significant impact he has made to the personal development of many thousands of students in different countries. I am sure that you will all want to join me in thanking Herr Weghoff and to wish him a long and happy retirement.
A big thank you to you all for your continued support and cooperation throughout the school year. Our community remains a community that is, at its core, forward thinking and determinately innovative in its approach to educating and supporting students.
Finally, as GSIS embarks on a new chapter with Dr Dirk Bennhardt as Principal, we are looking forward to making great strides in a number of areas and to continuing our partnership with you, our parents.
| Clare Chiu Managing Director |
Community Committee
It has been a crazy year but as we end another school year we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone in the community - staff, parents and students for working together and keeping the school open. As a token of thanks to all members of staff we have prepared a small gift and a personalised note, which the staff will receive before they leave for their well earned summer holidays. You have shared so many positive comments and fun stories about the staff and it is wonderful to read how inspiring, hard working, dedicated and well regarded our staff are.
Whilst most of our events have been online this year we hope that after the summer we can kick start the community events with a welcome back to school event in person - more details to come soon. In addition we hope that we can restart our in-person book clubs, hiking groups, cooking lessons, educational speakers, charity work and much, much more. As always if you would like to share any ideas or suggestions for or get involved with community building events for the new school year please reach out via communitycommittee@gsis.edu.hk
Our bookclub members have shared some great reading recommendations that you may like to try during the holidays.
- Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (EBC) - A perspective of the world through the eyes of an artificial friend Klara who was bought to provide companionship
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (EBC)- Historical fiction - A story of survival and the haves and have-nots during the Great Depression.
- The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (EBC & GBC) - A true story. Everything that Moth and Raynor still own fits in a backpack. With a small tent, they set out to hike England's famous Southwest coastal path. There they struggle with prejudice, rejection but the trip brings them back to life and opens the door to a new future.
- The exchange by Julie Clark (GBC) - The story of two women who meet at New York Airport and decide to swap their flight tickets and thus their lives. The book is full of surprises and suspense.
- A simple life by Min Jin Lee (GBC) - As Korean immigrants, Sunja and her sons live in Japan like second-class people.The sons challenge their fate - one makes it to the best university in the country, the other is drawn to the criminal underworld of the yakuza.
Please get in touch if you are interested in joining either the English or German book clubs.
Whether you are travelling or staying in Hong Kong we wish you all an enjoyable summer and look forward to reconnecting in the new school year.
| Community Committee |
Schoolwide News
German International Stream
From Head of Stream
Dear Parents
We are nearly there – the long-awaited summer break is just around the corner. Looking back, many of us will say: The second school year in the midst of the worldwide Corona crisis and in which highlights such as the Christmas Bazaar, concerts, theatre performances, sports festivals and others again could not take place, is fortunately coming to an end.
In the summer of 2020, we began the holidays with a mixture of uncertainty and hope – uncertainty about the new normality in the post-COVID-19 era, hope for a quick stabilisation of the situation. Over the course of this school year, we have had to continue to be patient, as well as accept restrictions in our personal lives and school routine. This seems to be paying off now, as recent developments in Hong Kong are optimistic about a relaxing summer holiday and a largely normal school day from August onwards.
The long periods of online learning this school year have also taught us that distance learning can be successful if there is a high level of openness, engagement and communication on both sides. We would particularly like to thank you for your positive and appreciative feedback. We were happy to use your questions and constructive suggestions to further develop our online learning programme and to make improvements where necessary.
The biggest thanks, however, go to you for all the time and energy you spent supporting your children in their learning at home. In this way, you played a decisive role in enabling us to successfully manage the multiple changes between online phases and face-to-face teaching. Now we hope that these times are over and that we can return to classroom teaching in the coming school year.
The end of a school year is also a time to say goodbye to loved ones from our school community who will be greatly missed when we return in August. Many students will be moving back to Germany or elsewhere abroad with their families. I hope that each and every one of them will take with them fond memories of their time at GSIS and wish them a good start at their new school.
The following colleagues will be leaving us in the summer to take up new professional challenges at schools in Germany or another location abroad. All the best and a successful start at your new place of work.
- Kindergarten: Jessica Zaulig
- Primary Department: Neela Kafi (volunteer), Hannah Zickler (volunteer)
- Secondary Department: Wiebke Langer, Rafael Mariaca, Ece Nicolaus, Susan Rötsch, Petra Weghoff, Ulrich Weghoff
I would like to thank all colleagues for their great work with our students and their great commitment to all members of our school community.
My very special thanks go to our Principal, Ulrich Weghoff, who will be taking his well-deserved retirement in the summer after a turbulent and challenging three years at GSIS. During his time as Principal, he has decisively shaped our school, persistently driven school development processes and steered the German education path at GSIS in a very modern direction. Mission and Vision, Strategic Plan, Bilingualism, 50th Anniversary Celebration – these are just a few examples of his successful work at our school that will continue to remind us of his contribution in the future.
I would like to thank Mr and Mrs Weghoff for their close and trusting cooperation and wish them a good start into their new and hopefully much more relaxed phase of life. All the best!
I wish you and your children, as well as all colleagues, a wonderful holiday and a relaxing summer and I look forward to seeing you again in August.
Best regards
| Grit Cichon Deputy Principal / Head of German International Stream |
Kindergarten Corner
Dear Parents
Here is the last edition of the Gazette before the summer holidays, as we are now close to the end of the academic year. The last couple of weeks have been busy as several special and exciting events were lined up for your children. We hope you enjoyed the photographs your child’s class teachers shared with you, and there are even more events to come!!
We would like to give you some vital information about the remaining three school days.
As already announced, there will be a year-end theatre performance by Faust for your children, and they will be performing “The Ugly Duckling”.
The following classes will watch the play on Monday, 28th June:
- Dragonflies
- Ladybirds
- Bumblebees
The following classes will see the play on Tuesday, 29th June:
- Raupen
- Tausendfüßler
- Schmetterlinge
- Crickets
Important school matters:
- Library books borrowed for the holidays will be sent home on Tuesday, June 29.
- On the last day of school, Wednesday, 30th June 2021, the school will end at 10.45 am. Your children will arrive home earlier by bus. We will send you the amended arrival times by email next week.
- We will hand out the final reports of the kindergarten children on the last day of school.
- We will email you information about the start of the new school year as soon as possible.
Finally, we would like to end by thanking you for your support and collaboration throughout this unprecedented year. For those of you who are leaving GSIS and Hong Kong, we wish you all the best for your future venture and for the rest; we look forward to another exciting year ahead.
Have a happy and restful summer!
 Head of Kindergarten |  Deputy Head of Kindergarten and Deputy Child Protection Officer Pok Fu Lam Campus |
Departmental News and Announcements
No updates / announcements this week.
Primary Corner
Dear Parents
Primary Competitions
Last Friday we celebrated all the students who took part in the Lesekönig, the Antolin and Mathekänguru competitions.
Lesekönig and Antolin are all about reading and the goal of these competitions is to motivate the students to read a lot and foster an interest in books. As books can open the world not only knowledge but also to another world full of fantasy and creativity.
I proudly can say that all the students participated with eagerness and such a commitment that they not only made the class teacher proud but also myself.
Lost and Found
Please help to remind your children to go down to the hall and check the lost and found corner. We have a number of water bottles, jackets and jumpers waiting for collection.
Sports Carnival
As announced, please see for yourself what fun our Sports Carnival was!
Thanks again to Mr Deingruber and Mr Champion for organising this great event.
Appreciation Video
After a year of special challenges, we are looking forward to a more normal year. In remembrance of last year, all our students from EPD and GPD created a tree. This tree symbolizes that even if it is hard there can be some growth, maybe not in the expected ways, but maybe even more colourful.
Each hand of the tree also is a sign of saying thank you. We want to thank you - dear parents, for all the support and help we received last year and who helped to let the tree grow. We are very grateful to have such a great parent community who appreciated the work of all the teachers and students.
THANK YOU very much.
Please watch the growth of our tree in this video.
Last Day of School
I shortly want to remind you that on Wednesday, 30 June school on all campuses will finish at 10.45. The students will bring home their reports and I am sure they will proudly show you the results they achieved this school year.
We wish you all a very happy and restful summer holiday!
 Head of German Primary Department |  Deputy Head of German Primary Department |
Departmental News and Announcements
No updates / announcements this week.
Secondary Corner
Review of the 2020/21 school year
The start of the school year with online classes was not easy for everyone involved, especially for our new students. Fortunately, after a few weeks we were able to gradually open the school and almost return to the normal school routine in the second half of the term.
Due to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many events unfortunately could not take place as usual, including Discovery Week. Nevertheless, we were able to enjoy some special activities, such as the project days in October and June. In addition, individual departments organised other activities, such as an "Alphorn" workshop in music as well as an online language exchange in French with the French International School in Hong Kong and a geography excursion to the Sai Kung UNESCO Geopark. The competitions "Jugend Debattiert", "Antolin" (reading competition) and "Känguru" (mathematics) could also take place – "Jugend Debattiert", however, in online format.
A selection of photos of the different projects at the end of the school year can be found below.
In addition to digitisation and the expansion of bilingual lessons in Biology, a major focus of lesson development this school year was the introduction of the Fasttrack programme. At the beginning of the school year, the first 12 non-German-speaking students were admitted to Year 6. The Fasttrack programme gives them the opportunity to be integrated into the German school system within one to two years. Already in March, all Fasttrack students passed the ÖSD language diploma A1 exam with good to excellent results. At the end of June, they took the ÖSD language diploma A2 exam. The results of the exam are not yet available – but it appears that these exams also went well.
The commitment of our students and their above-average drive and motivation is also reflected in the Abitur results:
Our Abitur students of the graduating class of 2021 achieved a very pleasing result with a grade point average of 2.3. Out of 12 students, four achieved an Abitur grade better than 2. We wish the graduates all the best for their future.
K10 Graduation Ceremony
The K10 students have all passed their Mittlerer Schulabschluss and we wish them lots of success for their final two years at GSIS. We wish all students who are leaving GSIS all the best for their future.
Outlook for the start of the 2021 school year
The following information and date announcements are preliminary and subject to change. We will inform you of possible changes in good time before the start of the school year.
On 17 August, the school year will first begin with an event for all newcomers to the German and English Secondary departments.
Newcomer Event
We cordially invite all families new to GSIS as well as the new K05 students with their parents to this event, also on behalf of our new Principal, Dr. Bennhardt.
Date: Tuesday, 17 August, 10:00 - 11:30 am.
Venue: Ingrid Buchholtz Hall
First day of school
For all classes, lessons begin on Wednesday, 18 August at 7:40 am. with class teacher lessons.
| Class Teacher | Deputy Class Teacher | Room Lesson 1 |
|
| K05A | Ms Fehse | Ms Hoskins | M316 |
| K05B | Mr Indrich | Ms Rautenberg | M317 |
| K06A | Mr Lederer | Mr Gresch | M301 |
| K06B | Ms Jentsch | Mr Fehse | M401 |
| K07A | Mr Summe | Ms Zhang-Preis | M510 |
| K07B | Mr Leitner | Ms Biere-Chiang | M511 |
| K08A | Ms Wagner | Mr Kronbach | L104 |
| K09A | Ms Cox | Mr Weinhardt | L105 |
| K10A | Mr Hahn | Ms Cichon | M416 |
| K11A | Ms Wrobel | Mr Weinhardt | L103 |
| K12A | Mr Schlichting | Ms Cichon | L106 |
For K07 to K12, lessons according to the timetable start from Lesson 3.
For K05 and K06, lessons begin according to the timetable from Lesson 5. Classes end at 1:15 pm during the first week of school. Afternoon classes begin on Monday, 23 August.
Some of your child's afternoon lessons will take place fortnightly. This is then marked with a small A or B in the upper right corner of the timetable. The division of the school year into A and B weeks can be found in the school calendar on the Veracross portal from the new school year.
Extra-curricular activities will start from September onwards, once the courses have been selected (homework room, Mandarin, etc.).
Please note the following for K05: K05 students participate in sports ECAs of the Primary Department. This concerns in particular competitive sports. If you are interested, please register your children with the Primary ECAs. A list will be sent to you in good time at the beginning of school.
At the beginning of the new academic year, the class teachers of each class hold a parents' evening. The dates are as follows:
| 25/8 | 6:00 PM | K05A/B |
| 7:30 PM | K11+K12 | |
| 31/8 | 6:00 PM | K06A/B+K07A/B |
| 2/9 | 6:00 PM | K08+K09 |
| 8/9 | 6:00 PM | K10 |
You can find the school calendar on our website. There you will find more information about the school year and planned activities. Please note that dates may be changed.
Mr Banke will be available in the school administration office until 8 July and then again from 9 August 2021.
We wish you all a wonderful holiday and look forward to seeing you again in the new school year. To the families who will be leaving Hong Kong, we wish you all the best!
Thanks and farewell
Dear Parents
After three intensive and exciting years at GSIS, I will be returning to Munich with my family at the beginning of July. I have enjoyed working with our students and have always found the intensive collegial exchange between all departments and in the Senior Management Team as well as the excellent cooperation within the German Secondary School staff very enriching.
During my time in Hong Kong, I met many interesting people from all parts of the world and was able to gain very valuable experience. It is not easy for me to say goodbye to GSIS, but at the same time I am looking forward to my new tasks in the school management team of Gymnasium Grünwald.
I would like to thank you all very much for the trustful cooperation and wish you and your families all the best in the future.
Kind regards and goodbye!
 Head of German Secondary Department |  Deputy Head of German Secondary Department |
Departmental News and Announcements
No updates / announcements this week.
English International Stream
From Head of Stream
Dear Parents
I am sure that we are all very pleased to have finished this academic year with a return to (almost) regular schooling. I would like to take a moment to reflect on the effort and commitment that this has taken from our students, parents and all our staff.
We have all been confronted by numerous individual challenges and the pressing need to adapt our responses throughout the pandemic, some of which we could control and much that we could not. Recent events forced us to re-imagine how things needed to be done and we have certainly pulled together to focus on what is most important amidst a plethora of competing opinions and directives. The path that has delivered us to where we are today is strewn with compromise and dissatisfaction but broadly we have stayed together as a community bonded by the understanding that we have shared interests and a common commitment to providing the best education for our students. Let us hope that 2021/22 will be a more predictable school year.
One of the key areas of continued focus next year will be for teachers from Kindergarten to Year 13 to ensure that students are working at the expected level for GSIS, that there are no gaps in knowledge brought about by remote learning and if any are identified, that we work with families to ensure that suitable support and interventions are put in place. We rely on open communication between home and school as well as the professionalism and expertise of our classroom and specialist teachers. The continuity and progression of learning throughout the school is a high priority for us as are the frameworks for achievement and the pedagogy to ensure academic excellence.
As we reach the end of the academic year, it is great to see some of the usual events returning to school life, such as the Year 6 Transition Days and Graduation. A series of music performances have been keeping students entertained during lunchtimes in the Secondary Department and the filming of this year’s theatre production is now complete. Thanks to Jessica McCarroll, Don Benson, Anushka Abraham, Jennifer McLachlan, Billy Goldring and Chris Hoskins for their leadership of these events. Congratulations also to the Primary Department who were able to coordinate a series of trips recently for students to learn beyond the classroom; thank you to Donna Morley and all the EPD staff who arranged and accompanied these trips.
Discovery Week 2021
After a two-year hiatus, we are very pleased to confirm that we will run a range of enrichment activities for secondary students three days next term from 20th to 22nd October as part of a return to Discovery Week. Many activities will run offsite in and around Hong Kong and there will be a number of on-campus options offered by our staff. Year 12 will remain in school to focus on their IB Core and Group 4 Science project and Year 13 will also remain in school to focus on university applications, coursework completion and reviewing effective strategies for revision.
Use of Technology
Please do review the article under the schoolwide section in this week’s Gazette. We have experienced a growing number of issues related to students’ use of technology, particularly in the Secondary Departments, and we wish to emphasise the House Rules pertaining to technology and mobile devices as well as some additional steps in order to address some poor decisions that some of our students are making. We will follow up with presentations during assemblies early next term to ensure that students understand the rationale for these expectations as well as feedback forums for parents.
KPR Election & Meeting Timeline
As a school, we have a strong commitment to inviting and responding to feedback from parents. This is one of the features we rely on to ensure ongoing school improvement and we value the process highly. In the ESD we have also introduced regular consultation of students’ opinions through a school-wide student survey focused on their online learning experience & wellbeing which was followed up through Student Voice sessions coordinated by the elected Student Representatives who are also members of the School Council.
The KPRs facilitate the exchange of ideas and concerns, the flow of relevant information, and make recommendations to the appropriate parties within the school whether Class Teacher, Head of Department or Head of Stream. Please take some time over the coming weeks to review the Klassenpflegschafts-Representative page on the website https://www.gsis.edu.hk/aboutus/people/parents/kpr/ as all parents are part of this process whether taking office or voting for them.
The key dates for next year’s KPR elections and meetings are as follows, further details will be sent nearer the time:
| 31/8 |
KPR Elections Y07, Y08
|
| 1/9 |
KPR Elections Y01, Y09, Y10, Y11 & Y12
|
| 2/9 |
KPR Elections Y02, Y03, Y04, Y05, Y06
|
| 9/9 |
KPR Elections KG
|
| 28/9 |
KPR Election of Departmental Secretaries (tbc)
|
KPR Coffee Mornings & Parents’ Meetings can be held after the KPR elections and before 22.10.21 so that agenda items can be collated before the first meeting of KPR Secretaries & SMT on 4th November.
I would like to wish you and your families a restful but enriching summer break and look forward to welcoming you back to school in mid-August.
| Simon Misso-Veness Deputy Principal / Head of English International Stream |
Kindergarten Corner
Dear Parents
Here is the last edition of the Gazette before the summer holidays, as we are now close to the end of the academic year. The last couple of weeks have been busy as several special and exciting events were lined up for your children. We hope you enjoyed the photographs your child’s class teachers shared with you, and there are even more events to come!!
We would like to give you some vital information about the remaining three school days.
As already announced, there will be a year-end theatre performance by Faust for your children, and they will be performing “The Ugly Duckling”.
The following classes will watch the play on Monday, 28th June:
- Dragonflies
- Ladybirds
- Bumblebees
The following classes will see the play on Tuesday, 29th June:
- Raupen
- Tausendfüßler
- Schmetterlinge
- Crickets
Important school matters:
- Library books borrowed for the holidays will be sent home on Tuesday, June 29.
- On the last day of school, Wednesday, 30th June 2021, the school will end at 10.45 am. Your children will arrive home earlier by bus. We will send you the amended arrival times by email next week.
- We will hand out the final reports of the kindergarten children on the last day of school.
- We will email you information about the start of the new school year as soon as possible.
Finally, we would like to end by thanking you for your support and collaboration throughout this unprecedented year. For those of you who are leaving GSIS and Hong Kong, we wish you all the best for your future venture and for the rest; we look forward to another exciting year ahead.
Have a happy and restful summer!
Head of Kindergarten | Deputy Head of Kindergarten and Deputy Child Protection Officer Pok Fu Lam Campus |
Departmental News and Announcements
No updates / announcements this week.
Primary Corner
Dear Parents
As a culmination of our year, we held a KPR meeting last week to discuss our accomplishments of 2020/2021 and what 2021/2022 will bring. The minutes of that meeting and the presentation will be shared with all parents as soon as we have time to get them completed! As a result of a KPR discussion, we did want to share with you that the EPD will be providing school supplies for all of the students next year. We do recommend that students bring a pencil pouch and that they keep one at home with materials as well. We hope that this will help your beginning of the school year go a little smoother.
Class lists will be emailed home on Monday. As shared previously, much work goes into our class blending, starting with student sociograms. This year we received an overwhelming number of parent requests (50+), which made the job much more difficult. Please be aware that we recorded every request and did look at parent preferences. However, it is not possible to grant all requests, especially if it meant that a child was not placed with preferred friends.
Sports Carnival
As announced, please see for yourself what fun our Sports Carnival was!
Thanks again to Mr Deingruber and Mr Champion for organising this great event.
Appreciation video
After a year of special challenges, we are looking forward to a more normal year. In remembrance of the last year, all our students from EPD and GPD created an appreciation tree. This tree symbolizes that even if it is hard there can be some growth, maybe not in the expected ways, but maybe even more colourful. Each hand of the tree also is a sign of saying thank you. We want to thank you - dear parents, for all the support and help we received last year and who helped to let the tree grow. We are very grateful to have such a great parent community who appreciated the work of all the teachers and students.
THANK YOU very much.
Please watch the growth of our tree in the below video.
New Staff
Resham Premchand will be joining Year 6. Resham has experience teaching primary in Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. She is also a Lecturer at the University of Hong Kong. Resham is a graduate of Bryn Mawr in the US and holds a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, UK. Resham currently resides in Hong Kong and is already getting to know her colleagues through supply work and participation in staff and handover meetings.
Julia Kroger will be joining the EPD as a DaF teacher. Julia joins us from Germany where she has been working in a primary school teaching German. She has a PhD in French Literature and Culture as well. She obtained her PGCE from the University of York in the UK in Modern Languages. Julia will be moving from Germany in early July.
Emalyn Bernardo will be a new Teaching Assistant, working mainly with Year 2 and 3. Ema will be joining us as a teaching assistant, working mainly with Years 2 and 3. She has lived in Hong Kong since 2006 and has worked in international schools in Hong Kong for the past 8 years. She also brings to us a background in Behavioural and Physical Therapy.
In addition to our new staff members, we have also hired two maternity cover teachers for Ms Varty and Ms Marsh. While their maternity cover will not begin until October, we will bring them in well in advance so that they become familiar with our students, practices and routines.
We wish you all a very happy and restful summer holiday!
 Head of English Primary Department |  Deputy Head of English Primary Department |
Departmental News and Announcements
No updates / announcements this week.
Looking for what's been going on in class this week?
Secondary Corner
The Year Past
And so the year draws to a close. It has been an unusual year, and I wish to thank all students, teachers, support staff and families for their hard work and support. It is a tribute to the resilience and dedication of all members of our community that we have not only survived, but thrived and grown through adversity.
I wish everyone a relaxing, restful and happy summer. To those students and families moving on from our school, or from these shores, best of luck in your ongoing journey and we hope to see you back for a visit at some point in the future.
On the staff front, we say farewell to a number of respected teachers and other staff. They take with them our most heartfelt thanks for all that they have done in their time at GSIS and our best wishes for future happiness and success. Staff leaving are: Shelley Ho (Chinese); Zara Clayton (English & IBDP Coordinator); Edwina Moffat (ESD Secretary); Petra Lemm-Markus (DaF); Barbara Hlavaty (DaF); Isaac Samwel (Geography).
Joining us in August are the following new staff: Sean Wray (IBDP Coordinator; Economics and History); Emily Hill (Art); Lisa Mangles (DaF); Petra Leunig (DaF); Beatrice Ugolini (University Counsellor); Lin Jing (Chinese); Libby Donohoe (Science); Sapna Ramanathan (Geography); Laura Maddison (Counsellor).
Please make them all welcome.
We are currently recruiting for an ESD Secretary, if you know of anyone who may be interested and qualified, please direct them to: https://www.gsis.edu.hk/careers/job-openings/
The Year to come
The plans for the start of school are:
- All newcomers to GSIS, together with their parents, will be invited into school on the morning of Tuesday 17 August for a welcome event. An invitation to this event will be sent out in due course.
- On Wednesday 18 August, school begins for Y07, Y10 and Y12 students and this day will be dedicated to induction programmes for these yeargroups, as they begin the next phase of their schooling.At the start of the day, Year 7 students should go to the sportshall, Y10 to the IB Hall and Y12 to the Cafeteria. Any students who do not know where to go should go to reception, where assistance will be on hand to guide them to where they need to be.
- On Thursday 19 August, school begins for Y08, Y09, Y11 & Y13. On this day, all students in all yeargroups will be in school and regular lessons will take place.
The day will begin with a class period. The venues for this will be posted near the school entrance
- From Friday 20 August onwards, the normal timetable applies.
Of course, the plans may need to change, depending upon the situation in Hong Kong and the regulations in place in August. Any changes will be communicated to students and parents as and when they arise.
Addendum - Examination Results
The IBDP Results will be issued to students on July 6th.
For students (primarily Y11) who have written other exams (IGCSE, IAS) the results are released in August (10th for IAS, 12th for IGCSE).
We wish all students the best of luck with the results and look forward to celebrating another successful year of examinations.
However, as is always the case with public examinations, there are always uncertainties around outcomes. We very much hope that all our students attain the results that their hard work merits. If you, or your children, do receive a result that is not quite what we expected, there are appeals processes in place for the IBDP and the IGCSE/IAS results. The details of these are quite complicated, and we advise you, in the strongest possible terms, to be patient and to follow the advice from the school and our staff in deciding on whether an appeal is required or justified and how best to proceed with any appeal. It is invariably best to wait, digest and consider before demanding action. Whatever their nature, exam results must be taken in context and our experienced team of subject leaders, university counsellors, and senior staff are best placed to offer specific and individual advice on the outcomes of examinations and their implications. The relevant staff will be working on the results process over the summer break and every student will receive the specific and directed support that they need
Year 13 students and parents will receive more details on the IBDP results process via email in the next week. For Y11 and other students who have taken IGCSE/IAS a similar email will be sent in early August.
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Departmental News and Announcements
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Alumni
Upcoming Events 2021
Community Networking Breakfast
Friday 17 Sep 2021
08:00 - 11:00 HKT
LRC, Mid Levels
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Annual Alumni Reception
Wednesday 24 Nov 2021
18:00 - 22:00 HKT
Watermark, Central
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Community Committee's Christmas Bazaar
Saturday 27 Nov 2021
German Swiss International School
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