14 Feb 2018

Hillside Newsletter 14 February 2018

Hillside Kindergarten’s latest newsletter available to read now. Find out the latest news from around the school and upcoming events.

Important Dates

Click HERE for the Full Hillside Calendar and instructions to subscribe.

 15 – 23 February  Chinese New Year Break
 27 February  Lion Dance (rescheduled date)
 1 – 2 March  Hillside Book Fair
 6 – 7 March  School Photo Days
 17 March  ESF 50th Anniversary Carnival – King George V School
 28 March  Last Day of Term
 29 March – 13 April  Easter Break
Principal’s Message

Dear Parents

We are sorry that the children had a rather disruptive end just before our Chinese New Year break due to the directive issued from the Education Bureau (EDB) and Centre of Health Protection (CHP) to suspend all Kindergarten and Primary school classes as a health and safety measure to prevent the spread of influenza across Hong Kong schools.

As always in these unique situations, it has been wonderful to see the Hillside community coming together to support each other. Firstly, I would like to thank my staff for keeping the learning programmes going. Creating and uploading relevant and engaging content on the Hillside Learning Hub is not an easy task when you are catering for three and four-year-olds. My staff amazed me with their willingness to ‘put themselves out there’ and perform, for example, cooking shows, story-telling, songs, dance – all recorded and loaded up onto the Class Blogs for the benefit of the children learning at home. Thank you to all the parents who emailed to say that they appreciated the daily activities and communication from both the class teacher, as well as the Hillside Leadership team.

CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS: Lion Dance Performance at Hillside – Tuesday 27 February 2018

One event we missed out on due to the class suspensions was the Chinese New Year Lion Dance performance that we had booked for the children to enjoy. Fortunately, we have been able to negotiate a new date with this performance dance troupe will now take place on the first week back after the break, Tuesday 27 February. Please feel free to have your child wear their Chinese New Year outfit on this day.

Hillside Book Fair

As parents and educators, it is important for us to foster a love of reading. With such a focus and reliance on Information Technology in our current world, it is important that we provide ample opportunities for children to connect with books (with words and pictures) rather than just text on a screen. On this note, Hillside will be hosting our annual book fair in partnership with Bookazine on Thursday 1 March and Friday 2 March.

Each class has been allocated a time slot on their given book fair day and about seven children at a time from that class. Accompanied by the Class Teachers and Educational Assistants, the children will come down to the Resource Room on the ground floor (this will be the venue for our Book Fair). They will have the opportunity to browse the books on offer, and if they have money to make a book purchase, the adults in the room will assist the children to do this.

Parents are invited to join your child’s class to assist children with choosing suitable books (please see the schedule below for when classes groups will be taken to the Book Fair). Parents are also very welcome to collect their child from class at a time that is convenient during the school day to purchase books. A wide range of age-appropriate fiction and non-fiction books will be available for purchase. 15% of the total books purchased will be returned to Hillside in the form of book credits, allowing us to obtain more new books for our Hillside library. Please note that it is not compulsory for your child to purchase a book – the choice is up to you.

Please feel free to visit Bookazine site to look at some of the books that might be available at our Book Fair and also to look at the price range for these children’s books. Click HERE for Bookazine link.

Funds raised through the Bookfair will be spent purchasing new titles, along with buying those everyday classic and favourite story books as our Kindergarten is now over 18 years old, many of our well-loved books in our collection really do need to be refreshed and replaced. Last year our book fair enabled us to purchase over $10,000 worth of books from Bookazine for our school library and we are hoping, through your much-appreciated support, that our Hillside book fair this year will be just as successful!!!

Hillside Book Fair – Class Visit Schedule

Thursday 1 March

AM Session Class PM Session
9:00-9:20 Frog 12:45-1:05
9:25-9:45 Panda 1:10-1:30
9:45-10:39 Open Play 1:30-2:15
10:35-10:55 Dragon 2:20-2:40
11:00-11:20 Tiger 2:45-3:05

 

Thursday 2 March

AM Session Class PM Session
9:00-9:20 Dolphin 12:45-1:05
9:25-9:45 Monkey 1:10-1:30
9:45-10:39 Open Play 1:30-2:15
10:35-10:55 Gecko 2:20-2:40
11:00-11:20 Turtle 2:45-3:05
School Photo Days

We have scheduled Peter Inglis, a professional photographer, to come on the Tuesday 6 March and Wednesday 7 March 2018. We have worked with Peter in the past and he has been wonderful with the children. Peter has a selection of puppets and tricks along with lots of patience to make the children smile. The children are now developing their confidence and characters; I’m sure there will be lots of fun sessions throughout the day. Peter will be taking photographs of individual children and their class.

**Please note that we will not force children to be photographed against their wishes. Siblings will also get an opportunity to be photographed together. A whole school photograph will also be taken.

When available, you will be able to view the proofs online. More details will follow. There is no obligation to purchase.

Photo Day Schedule

Tuesday 6 March Wednesday 7 March
Frog Monkey
Panda Dolphin
Dragon Gecko
Tiger Turtle
ESF 50th Anniversary Carnival

The ESF 50th Anniversary Carnival is the finale in the series of 50th-anniversary celebrations. Join us to enjoy the student performances, exciting game stalls, sports activities and international cuisines! It is going to be a wonderful family event on a Saturday afternoon!

Details of the Event:
Date: Saturday, 17 March 2018
Program: Student’s performance, game stalls, food and catering, etc
Location: King George V School
Open to: Public (including ESF Students, Parents, Staff, Alumni and friends)
Admission fee: $120 (Adult), $60 (Children)

Please visit the website for full details and to order your tickets now! http://www.esf.edu.hk/event/esf50-carnival/

Have a happy Chinese New Year!

Kind Regards
Chris
Principal

Class Blogs

Please click on the links below to visit our class blogs on the Hillside Learning Hub for your child’s latest class news and photo gallery. Please contact kinder@hillside.edu.hk if you cannot access the Learning Hub.

Dolphin Dragon
Frog Gecko
Monkey TigerAM    TigerPM
Panda Turtle
Chinese
Parent Volunteer Sign-up

Inspiring Futures

Data Privacy The information we collect from you is in accordance with the ESF Personal Data Handling Policy and its related Personal Information Collection Statements (“PICS”). Our PICS statement is available online. http://www.esf.edu.hk/privacy