CONTENTS
- Principal's Column
- Community Committee
- Schoolwide News
- German International Stream
- English International Stream
- Student Achievements & Initiatives
- Wellbeing Corner
- Highlights of the Week
Connect with GSIS
📅 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!
#GSIS #GermanSwissInternationalSchool #InternationalSchool #HongKong #EducationalExcellence #GSISChristmasBazaar
It is open for public for registration？
GSIS Gazette – Issue #66
12th November 2021
Principal's Column
Dear Parents
I would like to start with expressing my heartfelt thanks to you. Your flexibility, thoughtfulness and support during this challenging week has truly been exemplary.
The week began with the one-day closure of our Peak campus due to the traffic situation caused by the landslide, and now ends with several days of precautionary closure of our PokFuLam campus on the instructions of the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection (CHP) to prevent the spread of URTI. All members of our community have shown full commitment and made everything possible to ensure safety and a normal school day for our students as soon as possible.
I would also like to express my sincere thanks to our staff and students. We have all become highly crisis-proof as a result of the intensive experiences of recent years. Nevertheless, the emergence of ever new ad hoc situations wears on our minds and leaves its mark. I would like to thank everyone for their highly professional work and wish them all much strength and energy for the coming period.
Despite the adversities we enjoyed an active school life this week, with events and activities in our departments of both Streams. For details on events and activities, I would like to refer you to the respective departmental contributions as well as the school-wide news in this Gazette issue.
I would like to extend a very special thank you to our German Consul General, Stefanie Seedig, who joined us for the November 9, 1989 commemoration event here at school this Tuesday together with Manuel Grösch from the Consulate’s Cultural Department. After a very impressive lecture, Mrs Seedig moved on to a fruitful exchange with our GSD and ESD students and then dismissed an extremely inspired student body back to the classroom. Again, thank you very much and we look forward to our continued collaboration.
Now I wish you a relaxing weekend.
| Dr Dirk Bennhardt Principal |
Community Committee
Beach clean up winners
A huge thank you to all the students, parents and staff who participated in beach cleanups across Hong Kong! It is great to see the GSIS Community support the Environmental Protection Club and have fun whilst doing your part to keep Hong Kong clean. We received so many great entries that it was difficult to select the winners, but here they are:
Most rubbish bags collected - K02A & K04A families clean up with 50 people on Lamma Island
Most unusual item - Group of K07B students on rocky bay beach who found items including a radio, metal grate, helmet and golf balls
Remote beach - Iman Al-Ali Y05C, Rayan Al-Ali Y04B, Brian Chan Y04C, Rochelle Chang Y04B, Charles Ciemniak Y04C, Malia Ingram Y04B and Miko Sandaya Y04B who cleaned up Tai Tong Wan & Cheung Sha Wan on Tung Ping Chau - it is the easternmost outlying island of Hong Kong
Trash art - Talia Lam Y05C who cleaned up Repulse Bay beach and made a beautiful centerpiece from a bottle, rope and bit and bobs that she found
Youngest entrants - Well done to our youngest entrants, all from Y01C - Clayton Tu who cleaned up repulse Bay beach with his dad, Isabella Bertoli who cleaned up Tai O with her parents and made some beautiful trash art, and Harvey Wang who worked hard at Rubbish Bay in Cape D‘Aguilar with friends and family
A huge well done to everyone who took part! It was fantastic to read all your stories about the beaches that you visited and the strange objects you found. We will be in touch with the winners to share prizes over the next week.
Christmas card art competition
We received nearly 200 entries for our GSIS Christmas card art competition - it is fantastic to have so many talented artists of all ages and to have received entries from Kindergarten all the way to K12/Y13. We have selected 12 fun and festive designs to be part of the GSIS Christmas card collection. The winners will receive a pack of their own cards and members of the GSIS community can order a variety pack of the Christmas cards from our online shop at https://www.gsis.edu.hk/product-category/german-christmas-goodies/. (We also still have a few Christmas goodies on offer).
The winning designs were from
- Jason Chong (KG1L)
- Aarya Joshi (K03B)
- Ria Kashyap (Y06B)
- Josiana Wagner (K06A)
- Adrian Kan (Y07D)
- Oliver Müksch (Y07D)
- Kai Greiffenhagen (K07A)
- Greta Höptner (K07A)
- Francesco Monti (K07B)
- Kathryn Arisandy (K08A)
- Mingyi Brummer (K08A)
- Käthe Rautenberg (K11A)
Christmas Wreaths
Many of you have been writing to ask if we will be hosting our annual advent wreath decorating sessions. The wreaths have been ordered, the decorations have been bought and we are hoping to host decorating sessions the week commencing Monday 29th November. It is a great tradition where members of the GSIS Community come together over some festive treats and start getting into the Christmas spirit by decorating wreaths. We will provide everything you need from pine cones, candles to all things glittery. Please join us in a relaxed and fun atmosphere to create your own unique wreath. We are offering the following sessions:
- Tuesday morning, 30th November 10:30am -12:30pm (Parents)
- Wednesday morning, 1st December 11:00am -1:00pm (Parents)
- Wednesday afternoon, 1st December 4pm - 6pm (Staff)
- Wednesday evening, 1st December 6pm - 8pm (Parents/Staff)
All sessions will be in the exam room in the Lower Building.
Sign up for events and purchasing your wreaths is available through the following link:
Register HerePlease note that we have a limited number of wreaths and we do not expect any additional decorated wreaths for sale so if you would like a wreath please sign up to one of the sessions above as soon as possible. The wreaths have all been ordered but are subject to delivery in Hong Kong during the next few weeks.
Summer’s Kitchen
We announced last week that Summer would be showing our community how to make her famous pretzels soon, and the date and time have now been finalised. Please join Summer on Thursday the 25th November, at 6pm, to learn how to make traditional German pretzels.
Here are the ingredients so that you can get prepared:
- 500g strong flour
- 20g butter
- 260ml water
- 8g salt
- 5g yeast
Alkali water bath for dipping pretzels - to make the alkali bath you will need to use either lye (caustic soda) or baking soda. Lye can be corrosive and you need to wear gloves and take care while using it, but it will give you the traditional dark, shiny pretzel crust. Baking soda is safer to work with but your pretzels will be slightly paler and less shiny.
Please sign up for the cooking class using this link, we’re looking forward to cooking with you! https://forms.gle/UZHRHhGULDvTkcxC6
| Community Committee |
Schoolwide News
Movember
In support of men’s health and Movember a group of Secondary Male teachers are growing Mo’s for the month of November. Be sure to check back next week to see the progress with their Mo's.
|
Julian Lewis House Coordinator, Head of PE, Physical Education Teacher |
Minutes of the Meeting of KPR Secretaries and School Management on 3 November 2021
Dear Parents
Thank you again for all your constructive feedback that has reached us via the KPR Secretaries Team in our meeting on 3 November 2021.
Attached to this article, please find the meeting minutes. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions.
Best regards and a great weekend
|
Dr Dirk Bennhardt Principal |
Attachments
https://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/211103_Minutes_KPR_Secretaries_School_Management.pdf
University Guidance: Upcoming Events
The following events are suitable and available to all students and parents of students in Y10-Y13 and K09-K12:
INTERNAL GSIS EXCLUSIVE EVENT
BUSINESS GEMS- WITH KING'S COLLEGE LONDON, IE UNIVERSITY, BOCCONI, HKUST, SKIDMORE COLLEGE
Wednesday 17 November 7:00pm HKT
University representatives with top business programs will present on the ins and outs of pursuing an undergraduate degree in business including covering the topic of Why Business and Why Now?
EXTERNAL UNIVERSITY EVENTS
CANADA: STUDY IN CANADA WEBINAR
Tuesday 16 November 11:00am EST (17 November 12:00am HKT)
Join us to learn more about studying in Canada! Through this event you will learn about what Canada has to offer international students, get an overview of Canadian Study Permit and Immigration Process and meet with representatives from select Canadian universities.
HK: HONG KONG LAUREATE FORUM
Masterminds, Masterclasses
16-18 November 5:00pm-7:00pm HKT
Venue (for in-person participation): Auditorium, The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups Building, 21 Pak Fuk Road, North Point, Hong Kong (Exit C of Quarry Bay MTR Station)
"Masterminds, Masterclasses" is a flagship programme in 2021 for the prelude to the inaugural Hong Kong Laureate Forum (the Forum). It comprises a Hybrid Seminar with world-renowned scientists as speakers, including Shaw Laureates, recipients of Breakthrough Prize, CNRS Gold Medal, Fields Medal and Royal Medal, for extensive international audiences in three disciplines of science, namely Life Science and Medicine, Astronomy and Mathematical Sciences.
Each seminar includes presentations by world-renowned scientists, followed by a panel discussion. The presentations will cover not only research topics and their applications, but also the presenters’ research journeys and the experience that they gained during the process. As such, the presentations would definitely be thought-provoking and inspirational. They would appeal to a vast and diverse audience, in particular fellow scientists, young scientists and the younger generation who are interested in science.
You may enroll in at least one of these seminars:
- 16 November - Life Science and Medicine
- 17 November – Astronomy
- 18 November - Mathematical Sciences
HK: CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
CUHK School of Architecture Guided Tour and Sharing Sessions
Saturday 20 November 11:00am-1:15pm or 12:00pm-2:15pm HKT
Venue: CUHK School of Architecture
We will share latest programme and admissions information about our Bachelor of Social Science (Architectural Studies) programme through chat with our professors and students, coupled with an exclusive guided tour to our School Building.
SINGAPORE: VIRTUAL INFORMATION SESSIONS
Singapore International School Hong Kong (SISHK) will be co-hosting an admissions information session and a virtual open house with Singaporean universities for SISHK and IB students in Hong Kong.
Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Virtual Session
Monday 15 November 7:00pm-8:00pm HKT
SUSS offers programs in the areas of business, education, finance, humanities, social sciences, and social services.
National University of Singapore (NUS) Open House
Saturday 13 November 9:30am-3:30pm HKT
Five sessions are available:
SOUTH KOREA: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK KOREA (SUNY KOREA)
Voice of History Makers
This program is a series of online sessions organized by the Student Ambassadors of SUNY Korea in which prospective students can have casual conversations and build relationships with the students currently enjoying the campus life in Songdo International City, South Korea.
Please note that the sessions will be presented on a monthly basis, and each session will alternately be presided over by Stony Brook University and FIT students. Thus, please check the date and the school/program the speakers represent before you register for the event.
It will be an opportunity to chat about what campus life at SUNY Korea is like and imagine how your campus life would like to be. Anyone who desires to have some interactive talks with our students, please click here to sign up.
UK: VIRTUAL MASTERCLASS
Study UK East Asia Virtual Masterclass Series
15 - 26 November 4:00pm-5:45pm HKT
The British Council East Asia team is hosting these online taster lectures and would like to invite students to join our live event.
Esteemed academic speakers from 7 UK universities will cover a wide range of disciplines.
For more details about the programme, speaker profiles and registration, please click here.
UK: UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Virtual Subject Masterclasses
17 November - 10 December
Our highly popular Virtual Subject Masterclasses for high achieving Year 12 (or equivalent) students are returning with 16 subjects available to explore. We are also happy to welcome Year 13 (or equivalent) students along to this series to help them learn more about the subject they may have applied to study here.
Students will be able to experience Cambridge teaching, gain an insight into course content and structure, and learn more about what it's like to study here. Our academic staff will be presenting live lectures and taster sessions, providing more details about course admissions, and will be joined by our student ambassadors for a live Q&A.
Magdalene College Preparing for Interview Webinar
17 November
Students will learn what the interviews look like, why we use them, and how best to prepare. Attendees will be invited to develop their critical thinking skills and practice working through a set of example questions, to inform their preparation for interviews.
Robotics for Girls Webinar
27 November
Hosted by Cambridge University Robotics and aimed at girls in Years 9-11 who show a particular interest or ability in Mathematics and Science. Participants will learn simple blocks to achieve pretty complex robotic manoeuvres, then test their creativity and new skills in two challenges. No previous experience of coding or robotics is required.
Cambridge Sixth Form Law Conference
Hybrid event: 4-7 April 2022
Application deadline: 31 December
A conference for Year 12 students who may be interested in studying Law at degree level. Students will gain a balanced view of the Law, both as an academic subject and as a profession, and also to offer an insight into life as a Cambridge undergraduate.
UK: UCAS/DISCOVERY APPRENTICESHIPS FAIR
Tuesday 30 November 10:00am-6:00pm UKT (6:00pm-2:00am HKT)
Book your place now for a day of inspiration, information, and live employers. Featuring everything you need to discover if an apprenticeship might be right for you – all packed into one day, and online. Plus, your chance to explore what apprenticeship opportunities are out there right now.
You can come along for the entire event or dip in for just an hour. Whatever it takes to get the answers and advice you need.
- Meet and chat with big name employers including the NHS, PwC, and Rolls-Royce
- Discover popular apprenticeships and where they can take you
- Join live interview clinics and CV workshops
- Take part in Q&As with employers
- Get tips on how to ace your apprenticeship application
- Hear what it’s really like from current apprentices
- Find out how to land your dream apprenticeship
UK: MEDLINK 2021
Virtual Information Session
11-15 December
The Medlink Team is connected to a web of professionals based in medical schools across the UK and around the world. We have helped tens of thousands of students reach medical school. When the UCAT (UKCAT) was launched it was Medlink that was chosen as the platform to announce it to the world. Medlink held the first-ever UK exhibition that was exclusively for medical schools and medical students.
We are delighted to invite you and your students to the largest live and virtual event for future doctors, medical professionals and vets in the world. With over 92 exhibitors, £187,000 worth of scholarships, the Royal Colleges, UCAT, UK and overseas universities, Oxbridge cracking the code, exam success and so very much more, including the MIX where students get to meet and make friends with the people they will be at university with.
For details and registration please click here.
UK: NEW COLLEGE OF THE HUMANITIES (NCH)
NCH London 2022 Essay Competition
We are delighted to launch our 2022 Essay Competition! Our popular and prestigious essay competition is an opportunity for students to show both their academic potential and passion in the humanities and social sciences with the chance to win a cash prize.
We are inviting essay entries from ambitious and talented students from around the world, who are in their penultimate year of secondary education (equivalent to Year 12 in England).
Our selection of essay titles engages across a contemporary range of humanities and social sciences questions.
The following cash prizes will be awarded in each subject:
First prize £1,000, second prize £500, third prize £250
You can find full details of the competition including the essay titles, competition rules, answers to FAQs and registration procedure here.
UK: STEM & MEDICINE SUMMER EXPERIENCES
July & August 2022
InvestIN is a London-based organisation led by a group of experienced professionals from some of the world's most competitive careers. We exist to provide students with an immersive experience of their dream career before they start university, so they can get a head-start over their competition.
We are delighted to share with you the most innovative and all-encompassing set of STEM & Medicine Summer Experiences we have ever created. Up to 15 days of life-changing experiences in London, with UCL accommodation available.
Young Doctor Summer Experience: we have secured exclusive access for you to view a live surgery: the surgeon will talk you through each step as it happens.
Young Engineer Summer Experience: we have privately hired a Boeing 747 jumbo jet for you to explore alongside aerospace engineers from the likes of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
You may join in-person or live online:
Students aged 12-14 Register
Students aged 15-18 Register
INTERNATIONAL: EDHEC BUSINESS SCHOOL
Webinar: Introduction to EDHEC International BBA
Tuesday 16 November 7:00pm-8:00 pm HKT
Operating from campuses in Lille, Nice, Paris, London and Singapore, EDHEC is one of the world’s top 20 business schools. Fully international and directly connected to the business world, EDHEC is a school for business, where excellence in teaching and research focuses on innovation to stimulate entrepreneurship and creativity. The EDHEC Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) is ranked the number 1 in France, and students can choose from a Business Management track or Global Business track, with up to 18 months of professional experience via placements or internships.
 Claire Wilkins |
 Beatrice Ugolini |
German International Stream
Kindergarten Corner
Dear Parents
It has undoubtedly been a very trying week for the school as a whole.
Firstly, the school closure on Monday at the Peak was due to the landslide caused by a burst pipe. On Thursday, CHP informed us of the closure at the PFL campus due to excessive and increasing numbers of students with symptoms of influenza-like illness. PFL campus will be closed for the next five days for deep and professional cleaning, whilst it will be a good circuit breaker for many.
Should your child feel unwell, please keep them home and not arrange for any playdates or after school activities. Plenty of rest but also outdoor exercises are the best way to keep them fit and healthy.
Here are a couple of reminders:
1. Parents’ Information Days:
Monday, 15 and Tuesday, 16 November, both online
2. Sports Day:
GKG Thursday, 25 November
EKG Friday, 26 November
As part of our preparation for Sports Day, our children will be learning the House Team Chants, which you can refer to in our News & Announcements. Please note that your child will need to wear their House Team shirts on Sports Day and if you cannot get them, please wear any block-coloured polo shirt that matches your House Team.
On Thursday all Kindergarten Classes enjoyed their “Cozy Lantern Morning”. The transformation of the Gym created the right atmosphere where the children sang their lantern songs, paraded with their lanterns and listened to a story under the cozy tent.
Finally, we thank you all for participating and giving generously to the Box of Hope. We have enclosed a photo of all the donated boxes in our playground. We managed to collect a total of 182 boxes.
There will be news about our Christmas activities in our upcoming newsletter.
In the meantime, thank you all for your cooperation regarding the compulsory testing for Kindergarten children.
Have a nice weekend.
 Head of Kindergarten |  Deputy Head of Kindergarten and Deputy Child Protection Officer Pok Fu Lam Campus |
Departmental News and Announcements
Primary Corner
Dear Parents
Thank you for your patience this week as we experienced yet another change!
Some of our newer families have not previously experienced non-weather related short school closures and are unfamiliar with our short closure arrangements.
Short closures under an emergency situation will result in work being set for students to complete asynchronously at home. A short closure is one-day, or the first day of an emergency multi-day closure.
Extended closures are defined as when the school campus is closed to students for two or more school days due to external factors beyond the control of the school. With the extended closure, online synchronous lessons will be provided starting on day 2 or 3 of the extended closure.
Box of Hope
On Wednesday, our main corridor looked like Santa´s storeroom where he collected all the presents. We hope that these presents will be a nice surprise for some of the underprivileged children here in HK. The students at the Peak and Pok Fu Lam Campus brought in over 400 boxes which were collected yesterday by Box of Hope.
Thank you all for taking the time to talk to your kid about what it means to not have everything and how good we feel after we helped somebody.
I am sure all these gifts will make one child here in Hong Kong very happy.
St. Martin in DVOR
Yesterday it was St. Martin. DVOR students prepared for this day for a couple of weeks. they heard the story of St. Martin and of course, they sang “ Ich geh mit meiner Laterne” which is the most famous song around this time of year.
They met in the Gym which was completely dark and the only light came from the squirrel and fox lanterns. Together they sang a few songs, walked in the dark and heard a story under the roof of the big tent which was built for this occasion.
If you have time in the evening, please take the chance and go for a walk when it is dark outside to see the glow of the lanterns yourself.
Vorlesetag
Reading aloud connects: whether young or old, analogue or digital, at a big performance or in a cosy atmosphere. For the duration of a story, readers and listeners experience a shared adventure and share funny, sad and exciting moments. To celebrate this togetherness and the great longing for a reunion, our motto this year is "Friendship and Cohesion". Great stories about unusual, animalistic and courageous encounters will inspire young and old children alike.
This year, the German primary school is once again taking part in the nationwide reading aloud day. We are happy to welcome readers from all over Hong Kong.
Last week the class pages were updated - did you already check out the newest information and had a look at the pictures?
We wish you a lovely weekend!
 Head of German Primary Department |  Deputy Head of German Primary Department |
Departmental News and Announcements
No updates / announcements this week.
Looking for what's been going on in class this month?
Secondary Corner
Dear Parents
In his speech on 9th November, the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, referred to the special importance of this day for our country.
On Tuesday, the German Secondary Department also held a commemorative event on the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, 1989. On this occasion we were joined by the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Hong Kong, Mrs Stefanie Seedig, and the Head of Culture, Mr Manuel Grösch.
With music contributions from the time of the Peaceful Revolution in the GDR (“Wind of Change” and “Freiheit”) as well as speeches in memory of the people who peacefully fought for their freedom 32 years ago, the participants remembered this important day in world history together. In autumn 1989 the GDR opened its borders and the fall of the Iron Curtain was sealed.
In her speech, Mrs Seedig then referred to the special position of November 9th in German history and also recalled the Reichspogromnacht of 1938. That night, direct and targeted acts of violence against the Jewish population began in National Socialist Germany. It was the signal from the Nazis for the largest genocide in Europe.
The proclamation of the German Republic on November 9, 1918 by Philipp Scheidemann in Berlin and the associated departure into democracy in Germany was also mentioned.
In a subsequent discussion with the Consul General, the students in K10, K11 and K12 were able to exchange interesting facts and details.
It was an event that recalled the important chapters in German history that are inextricably linked with 9th November.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students as well as Mr Fehse and Mr Banke, who made a significant contribution to the success of this event.
In honour of the Fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, our Secondary students put together an assembly to...
Posted by German Swiss International School - GSIS on Tuesday, 9 November 2021
 Head of German Secondary Department |  Deputy Head of German Secondary Department |
Departmental News and Announcements
English International Stream
Kindergarten Corner
Dear Parents
It has undoubtedly been a very trying week for the school as a whole.
Firstly, the school closure on Monday at the Peak was due to the landslide caused by a burst pipe. On Thursday, CHP informed us of the closure at the PFL campus due to excessive and increasing numbers of students with symptoms of influenza-like illness. PFL campus will be closed for the next five days for deep and professional cleaning, whilst it will be a good circuit breaker for many.
Should your child feel unwell, please keep them home and not arrange for any playdates or after school activities. Plenty of rest but also outdoor exercises are the best way to keep them fit and healthy.
Here are a couple of reminders:
1. Parents’ Information Days:
Monday, 15 and Tuesday, 16 November, both online
2. Sports Day:
GKG Thursday, 25 November
EKG Friday, 26 November
As part of our preparation for Sports Day, our children will be learning the House Team Chants, which you can refer to in our News & Announcements. Please note that your child will need to wear their House Team shirts on Sports Day and if you cannot get them, please wear any block-coloured polo shirt that matches your House Team.
On Thursday all Kindergarten Classes enjoyed their “Cozy Lantern Morning”. The transformation of the Gym created the right atmosphere where the children sang their lantern songs, paraded with their lanterns and listened to a story under the cozy tent.
Finally, we thank you all for participating and giving generously to the Box of Hope. We have enclosed a photo of all the donated boxes in our playground. We managed to collect a total of 182 boxes.
There will be news about our Christmas activities in our upcoming newsletter.
In the meantime, thank you all for your cooperation regarding the compulsory testing for Kindergarten children.
Have a nice weekend.
Head of Kindergarten | Deputy Head of Kindergarten and Deputy Child Protection Officer Pok Fu Lam Campus |
Departmental News and Announcements
Primary Corner
Dear Parents
Thank you for your patience this week as we experienced two more changes!
Some of our newer families have not previously experienced non-weather related short school closures and are unfamiliar with our short closure arrangements.
Short closures under an emergency situation will result in work being set for students to complete asynchronously at home. A short closure is one-day, or the first day of an emergency multi-day closure.
Extended closures are defined as when the school campus is closed to students for two or more school days due to external factors beyond the control of the school. With the extended closure, online synchronous lessons will be provided starting on day 2 or 3 of the extended closure.
Box of Hope
On Wednesday, our main corridor looked like Santa´s storeroom where he collected all the presents. We hope that these presents will be a nice surprise for some of the underprivileged children here in HK. The students at the Peak and Pok Fu Lam Campus brought in over 400 boxes which were collected yesterday by Box of Hope.
Thank you all for taking the time to talk to your child about what it means to not have everything and how good we feel after we helped somebody.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the wonderful weather!
 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?
EPD: Year 1EPD: Year 2EPD: Year 3EPD: Year 4EPD: Year 5EPD: Year 6EPD: MandarinEPD: DaFEPD: PEEPD: MusicEPD: ArtEPD: Library
Secondary Corner
Departmental News and Announcements
No updates / announcements this week.
Student Achievements & Initiatives
Housing Environment Advancement in high Temperatures (H.E.A.T)
The Problem
For people such as ourselves who are able to afford high power air conditioning, home provides refuge from Hong Kong’s brutal summer heat. For the 200,000 Hong Kongers who live in cage homes, however, home is a metal furnace, confining the worst of the summer heat into poorly air-conditioned (if at all!) cages three times smaller than the city’s jail cells.
In the peak of summer, Hong Kong’s cage homes can reach temperatures of over 35 degrees. This, combined with Hong Kong’s incredibly high average summer humidity of 82%, means that the perceived heat (a measure of how hot an environment feels to our bodies) is a whopping 57 degrees, putting residents at extreme risk of heat stroke.
Use of Funds
All money donated online through SimplyGiving will go directly to Crossroads Foundation, one of Hong Kong’s largest and most reputable non-profits, and will be used to purchase fans after the fundraising period is over. We have also established connections with a representative from TCL, a reputable Chinese electronics, and have identified a fan model. This fan is a 10-inch box fan, and costs $56 HKD with free shipping. Note that these fans only require 45W, making them over a 100 times more energy efficient than air conditioners.
80% of the fans we purchase will be distributed directly to cage home communities in Sham Shui Po, Yau Tsim Mong, Yuen Long, and To Kwa Wan. The remaining 20% of fans will be stored by Crossroads and will be donated to other disadvantaged communities such as refugees.
Fundraising Plan
Our fundraising campaign began on October 23, and will end on December 18. In addition to fundraising online, we also plan to fundraise in school. In order to raise money, we plan to implement an incentive based donation system. This will increase engagement and interest in our organization and cause.
In addition to reaching out to parents via the GSIS advancement office,. We also plan to host raffles for universally coveted items such as playstations and virtual reality headsets, which students would have to donate one fan’s worth of money to buy into.
Note that the money required to purchase these prizes will NOT come from donations, and instead will be paid out of H.E.A.T’s operating budget.
Our fundraising timeline is shown below:
Late October
- Fundraising begins - SimplyGiving
Early/Mid November
- In-school fundraising begins
Early December
- 2-week in-school fan drive begins. We want to hold the fan drive during the main fundraising campaign to ensure that it gets as much attention as possible. We also hope to take advantage of Christmas goodwill.
18th December (start of Xmas break)
- End of in-school fan drive - End of in-school fundraising
End of March/Start of April
- Fundraising ends - SimplyGiving - Ordering of fans begins - Distribution begins
All funds from fundraising remain with Crossroads until the fans are ordered.
Further information can be found on our website. Thank you for your time, and we hope that you are able to make a donation to help those who need it the most. H.E.A.T HK
Christmas card competition 2021/2022
Over the autumn break, almost all students of the German International Stream from grade 5 to grade 12 made Christmas cards to participate in this year's GSIS Christmas card competition.
The results showed a wide range of designs. Thematically, they included Santa Claus travelling to Hong Kong, Christmas with a mask, the presents and the Christmas tree in the most diverse decorations.
There were drawn and painted cards, pop-up cards, collages and cards created on the computer with image editing programmes.
Let's keep our fingers crossed for all our students that their efforts will pay off!
https://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/K05A-Annika-Lau-scaled.jpg, https://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/K06A-Josiana-Wagner-scaled.jpg, https://www.gsis.edu.hk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/K09-Ryan-Krusche-scaled.jpg
(Click thumbnail/s to enlarge image)
| Karsta Rautenberg Head of Art, Art Teacher, French Teacher |
Awards / Art Competition by the Goethe-Institut
From September to October this year, all students in grades 6 and 7 whose native language is not German worked on comics on the theme of "Covid and I." In doing so, we participated in the art competition by the Hong Kong Goethe-Institut.
This competition was aimed at all Hong Kong students whose native language is not German. There were age groups over 16 years and under 16 years.
On Saturday, 7 November 2021, the awardees received their prizes in a ceremony at the Goethe Festival.
We are incredibly proud that students from German Swiss International School won the 3rd prize, the 2nd prize and the 1st prize! This is an incredible artistic best performance by our award winners Yolanda Wong, Jayme Choy and Lily Lirk!
Yolanda Wong from K06A won 3rd prize with a very detailed, lovingly accurate drawing of the struggle between humans and the virus-contaminated air. In it, she addresses numerous issues such as hoarding toilet paper and rice at the beginning of the pandemic, remedies for boredom in quarantine, and the many facets of online learning.
Jayme Choy from K07A won second prize with a boldly designed comic about the virus fighting against humans. To do this, Jayme endowed her virus with feelings and thoughts like a human being, personifying it. Thus, the Corona virus is initially happy to have the whole world and all the food in the restaurants to itself. Later, however, it feels sorry for the sad people and leaves the earth again.
Lily Lirk from K06B received first prize and won a trip to Germany. Her comic shows the story of her family and herself at the beginning of the Corona pandemic. The richly detailed images powerfully tell the story of concern for sick family members, the loneliness of quarantine, and the hope for a positive ending. In doing so, Lily works with both appearance colors and symbolic colors. For example, the final image of the reunited family is in positive orange.
In all the works, the hope for a positive end to the pandemic prevails.
The certificates and prizes were presented by Eva Korb, Deputy Director of the Goethe-Institut.
The jury included John Chan, the famous author of the cartoon cat Din Dong. He personally expressed his appreciation to each prize winner.
By the way, the students' works can be seen both in our school on the 4th floor and in the Goethe-Institut on the 13th floor. It is worth going there! Congratulations Lily, Jayme and Yolanda!
| Karsta Rautenberg Head of Art, Art Teacher, French Teacher |
Novice Chess Tournament U7
Congratulations to Theodore (Y03C) for winning Second Place in the Novice Chess Tournament U7 by Active Kids HK.
Wellbeing Corner
Studies show that regular mindfulness meditation can reduce stress, anxious thoughts and low mood, and improve attention and performance.
Here are some resources for those of you looking for some short guided meditations to get you started:
- App - Smiling Mind
- Playing Attention - Mindfulness in Schools Project
- Loving Kindness Practice - Mindful
- Beditation - Mindfulness in Schools Project
- What is Mindfulness Meditation - verywellmind.com
For further resources or information, please feel free to contact us.
Best wishes,
Your school counsellors
| Your School Counsellors |
