Dear Parents,

Reminder: Friday 31st October will be our annual Dress Up Day. We are suggesting parents make an online donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to support the work they do for children in Hong Kong. I look forward to seeing everyone in their costumes and fancy dress! Please do not send any sweets/candy to school on the day. Families are welcome to share at the gate at pick-up time if they wish. 

Save the Date

We will be holding a class Christmas sing-along with families in the school garden on the following dates. Please save the date and time, and more details will follow. The school sessions will continue as usual on those days for the other classes.

Tuesday 2nd December Giraffes 9am/1.30pm & Ladybirds 10am/2.30pm

Wednesday 3rd December Elephants  9am/1.30pm & Butterflies  10am/2.30pm

Thursday 4th December Pandas 9am/1.30pm & Caterpillars 10am/2.30pm

Friday 5th December Tigers 9am/1.30pm & Bumblebees 10am/2.30pm

Best wishes, 
Suzannah

Parents

I hope that you all had a great mid-term break and enjoyed the many wonderful activities that take place around Mid-Autumn Festival. It is such a magical time of year. As someone who has adopted Hong Kong as their home for more than a decade, it is a time of year that I look forward to immensely.

I wrote to you last after Super Typhon Ragasa had finally dissipated and moved on from us. It was an incredible few days, amongst a few months that have reminded us of the power and influence of Mother Nature.

I wanted to provide you with an update on what we have been doing since then. 

You will recall that I said that, in the face of what appears to be weather that is changing with each passing year, we were going to review areas such as how we deliver on-line learning. That work is progressing well and I hope to be in a position to let you know about the outcome in the coming weeks.

We have also taken this opportunity to broaden this work out. 

Our young people, your children, spend 500 weeks at school. This may sound like a lot but, as you know all too well, that time passes by at an incredibly fast pace. 

The key thing about those 500 weeks is, of course, that time only moves in one direction. We do not get the chance to go back and do things again. Every student has that set period of time in school - and it is our responsibility as teachers and leaders to make sure that we squeeze every bit of value out of every moment for every student.

While we have developed strong protocols for online learning - and these will be further strengthened by the work of our review - we all know that the optimal situation, for a whole host of reasons, is to have the students in school with their teachers and classmates.

So, we have decided that we need to look at ways in which we can both maximise the time our students have in school - and provide a consistent approach to areas that directly impact you, our families. So, we are going to be carrying out a review into the way in which we carry out activities such as the K2-Y1 transition and parent/teacher and three way conferences. 

Where we can streamline processes to get more time for our students to be in school, then that is what we will do.

We have also made a decision about the ESF-wide CPD day that is scheduled to take place towards the end of February. As you know, we place an incredible amount of importance in making sure that our staff have every opportunity to develop and enhance their skills. This is something that makes ESF stand out not just here in Hong Kong, but globally as well.

However, we recognise that this year has been truly exceptional in terms of the disruption we have faced due to the weather. In the past few months alone, there have been a total of eight days where our ability to conduct face-to-face learning has been disrupted for all or some of our schools. This is double what we saw last year.

So, in order to counter this exceptional situation, we are taking exceptional measures. The CPD day in February will revert back to being a teaching day - and our schools will be open to students. Your Principal will be in touch with you shortly to talk about the specifics of how that is going to happen. 

As always, I want to thank you for all of the support that you give to your school and to ESF. We are an exceptional organisation - and all of us know just how important the role that you play in helping us to do what we do: helping every student be the best that they can be.

Belinda Greer

Chief Executive Officer
English Schools Foundation 
 

Dear Parents, 

In line with the earlier message from our CEO, Belinda Greer, we will be making a change to the calendar. Monday, 23rd February, was originally scheduled as a professional learning day for staff, but will now be a school day. Children will be able to come to school as normal.  If you have already scheduled travel on that day, please let us know.

If you have any questions or comments about this change, please don't hesitate to contact me directly. 

Kind regards, 
Suzannah

Dear Families,

There is no better way to spread festive cheer than to support others less fortunate, particularly children, who will not otherwise receive a gift.

This year, our school will be supporting Box of Hope, enabling your family to support children in Hong Kong and South East Asia who are living in abject poverty. The child who will receive your gift is currently supported by a charity focused on child/family welfare services.

Donating a gift is easy - each student will bring home today a gift label that must be attached to a gift box or bag.  Please use the checklist on the label to ensure you include all the requested items. This is very important.

Box of Hope kindly asks that:

1. Students create gifts for children aged 12+, as the demand for gifts for children under five has significantly declined (in line with Hong Kong Government data on birth rates), while the need for gifts for older children is rapidly increasing.

2. Please include all of the categories on the gift label, to make sure all the gifts are as fair as possible.

3. We ask that you kindly consider donating HK$30 to help pay for the gift delivery. Donations can be made using the QR code on the label; please DO NOT put money inside the gift.

4. If you are participating in this community action, you may send boxes to school between Monday 27 October and Thursday 6 November.

The Box of Hope website  http://www.boxofhope.org contains hints and tips on how to create your gift and is full of information on the children they support. Please do look out for their social media pages, including their YouTube channel. 

The festive season is traditionally a time for kindness, generosity and thoughts of children and families less fortunate. We appreciate your support in helping our school share kindness with others.

Many thanks for your support.

Warm regards,
ESF Tsing Yi Kindergarten

Dear Parents, 

We were so excited to welcome the children back to school today! October is an exciting month for us. Please note the upcoming dates. 

Monday 20th October Diwali
As many in our school community celebrate Diwali, we invite families to join the celebrations by sending their children to school wearing traditional celebration clothes or brightly coloured clothes instead of uniform on this date. 

Monday 27th October - Thursday 6th November Box Of Hope Collection
We are delighted to support the Box of Hope again this year, bringing joy to disadvantaged children in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Please drop your gift boxes off at school.

Friday 31st October Dress-Up Day
On our Annual Dress-Up Day, children can attend school in costume/fancy dress/non-uniform attire if they wish. This year, we are again supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Hong Kong. You can learn more about their work and read their wish stories here, and make an online donation if you are inspired to do so. 

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in their costumes!

We continue to urge you all to remain vigilant about your child's health by checking their temperature daily and keeping them at home if they are unwell. We are closely following the CHP recommendations for health and hygiene, and recently had a visit from the CHP team as part of a regular check on our practices, in addition to our regular support with handwashing at school. We can work together to try to minimise seasonal sickness in our community.

As we move forward with the rest of Term 1, please do not hesitate to contact me directly with any questions or concerns you may have.

Kind regards, 
Suzannah