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Dear all,

We've only been back a few days after the Easter break, but there's already so much exciting news to share!

A celebration of art and collaboration

Our school underwent a stunning transformation into a state-of-the-art gallery for the JCSRS Art Exhibition, aligning perfectly with this year's theme. The opening night was nothing short of magical, showcasing our students' incredible talents and the power of collaboration across our community.

• Global competencies in action: while students honed their Critical Thinking skills through art, our staff demonstrated exceptional Collaboration, working with ESF secondary schools, the Nesbitt Centre, and Sha Tin Junior School (SJS) to create a joint exhibition. A special thank you to Jackie, Grace and the team for coordinating the wonderful collaborative music performance with SJS students during the opening night.

• Artist in residence: thanks to Karen's leadership, our partnership with a visiting artist has added vibrant, collaborative artwork to our meeting space.

• Pathways collaboration: thank you to all teachers, therapists, class teams and support staff for planning and delivering personalised learning experiences for our students.

• Exhibition curator: a huge thank you to Alfert, our Visual Arts teacher, whose vision and hard work brought this exhibition to life. Without him, it simply wouldn't have happened!

We were delighted to welcome our CEO, Belinda Greer, parents, ESF colleagues, and community members to the exhibition. Congratulations to all our students for their outstanding achievements – their pride in their work was truly inspiring.

Community highlights

• Autism Community Summit: a proud moment for JCSRS as our Vice Principal, Belinda, represented the school with distinction on the vocational panel. Thank you to the many families who attended and represented our school at the event.

  

• PTA milestone: last night's PTA meeting marked the establishment of the Association and the new JCSRS PTA Committee. I'm excited to work alongside these PTA founding members to strengthen home-school collaboration for the benefit of our students.

• Bus communication: we appreciate the feedback shared by parents at the PTA meeting and are committed to working with families and ESF to find solutions that align with policy while supporting effective communication.

Looking ahead

• Annual Review meetings: starting next week, these meetings are a valuable opportunity to reflect on your child's progress this year and plan for the next. I look forward to connecting with many of you.

• Parent ESF Survey results are included in this newsletter (see below) - thank you for your valuable feedback.

Final thanks

None of these achievements would be possible without the dedication of our staff, teachers, therapists, and support teams. Together, we're creating an environment where every student can be the best that they can be!

Warm regards,

Anna

Our students dedicated six weeks to creating art pieces for the 2025 JCSRS Art Exhibition, part of the school's NPDL project. During this time, all teachers collaborated on the planning, execution, and showcasing of the students' artwork, transforming our school hall into a vibrant mini art gallery that reflects the creativity and talent of our students.

The participation of The Nesbitt Centre and ESF schools, including IS, KGV, SIS and WIS, underscores the strong relationships, collaboration, and teamwork that define our community. This collective effort not only enhances the educational experience for our students but also fosters a sense of unity among the participating schools.

Each student's artistic journey has significantly contributed to the success of the exhibition, making it a rewarding experience for parents, teachers, visitors, and the entire ESF community. Thank you all for your support of this event.

Key strengths

1. Stronger alignment with school vision and values

   • Parents increasingly understand and support the school’s mission.

   • Improved leadership and transparent communication were acknowledged as strengths.

2. Student enjoyment and engagement

   • Many comments highlight students' happiness and motivation at school.

   • Positive student experience – high satisfaction with school activities (eg, camps, events) and strong student-teacher relationships were noted, with many parents reporting their children enjoy attending school.

3. Enhanced perception of safety

   • Parents feel more confident about their child’s safety.

   • Caring and supportive staff – parents consistently praised the dedication, patience, and expertise of teachers, EAs and therapists in nurturing students' well-being and progress.

   • Inclusive environment – the school’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, and individualised support was highlighted as exceptional.

4. Staff care and support

   • Staff are recognised for their dedication and warmth.

5. Child’s academic and social progress

   • Parents observe tangible growth in their child’s development.

Areas for improvement

1. Parent engagement: requests for more consistent teacher-parent communication, live-streamed/recorded parent sessions, and clearer guidance on supporting learning at home.

2. Long-term planning: suggestions to extend discussions beyond annual reviews to consider longer-term pathways for students.

3. Post-graduation support: parents expressed interest in enhanced networking or resources for students transitioning beyond JCSRS.

Over the course of two staff meetings, JCSRS teachers, therapists, EAs and support staff explored some benchmarks of Neurodiversity Affirming Practice in schools, such as to:

• value lived experiences of neurodivergent people;

• use neurodivergent affirming language;

• promote bodily autonomy;

• promote self-advocacy;

• respect sensory needs;

• learn and teach through strengths and interests;

• value neurodivergent communication;

• presume competence;

• adapt the environment, not the student.

The interactive sessions encouraged deep discussions of these themes with our students in mind. We reflected on the things that we do really well and those that we would like to keep working on as a school. One of the big takeaways was the acknowledgement of our unique opportunity to advocate for students and families to promote inclusion and acceptance beyond our walls and into the wider community.

At our PTA meeting last evening, we approved our new constitution and application to the Societies Office to register the PTA as a Society. This has taken some time, and we were delighted to have completed it. At the same time, we established a new PTA Committee to take us through to the AGM in August or September. The members of the Committee are:

• Phil Smith (Chair)

• Anna Smakowska (Principal)

• Hauke Otten (Deputy Chair)

• Riley Wang (Treasurer)

• Simon Jim (Secretary)

• May Henderson (Staff Representative, Honorary Member)

• Andrew Smith (Teacher Representative)

• Megan McCoy, Gemma King, Trina Bandopadhyay, Grace Ng, Yuri Zhou, Eddy So, Will Cheung, Ronald Wong (Parents)

• Denny Tse (PTA Representative to School Council)

I would like to thank all the members of the Committee for their support of the PTA.

We're looking forward to the three events in the PTA calendar over the next two months: theatre shows on 29th May, lunch for our graduating students on 13th June and a prospective teacher-parent social at a date to be determined - watch this space!

Phil Smith

JCSRS PTA Chair

The world is rich with diversity, which is reflected in the observances celebrated by its various cultures and populations. We hope that knowledge of the holidays and celebrations for diversity in this calendar can enhance our school's diversity and inclusion efforts.