Dear all,

Last weekend it was a real privilege for our staff to take part in a very stimulating staff development day. We all continue to learn from the very best practitioners and leaders across our education system to support our exciting, ongoing journey of improvement at JCSRS. I would like to thank our staff for sharing their expertise with others.

As we are preparing for the JCSRS staff development day on Monday 4th of October, we are reminded that open willingness to learn from one another, sharing best practice will benefit not only the students in our own schools, but also those in other schools.

Good teachers and learners understand that inactivity is the poison of success; we continue to take your children’s education very seriously and have that strong desire to learn from the very best to ensure we never become complacent and that we continue to provide them with absolutely every chance in life to achieve their true potential.

Please remember that students will not be coming to school on Monday 4th of October (Staff Professional Development Day) and that the following week the school is closed for autumn half term break. You can subscribe to our school calendar by clicking the applicable link on our website here.

If your child is using the bus service to make their way to school, please use the new email address schoolbus@jcsrs.edu.hk to contact the school about any bus related matters.

Thank you as always for your ongoing support and for being key stakeholders in our exciting journey.

Warm regards,

Anna

We would like to remind everyone that we have to maintain vigilance against respiratory tract infection at school.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) has recently received increased reports of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) outbreaks in schools.

Please remember that students should only attend school if they are feeling well.

Students with a fever of >37.5˚C forehead skin temperature, nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezes, sore throat, coughs, headaches, muscle aches, or generalised malaise should rest at home and not be sent to school. If a student develops any of these symptoms while at school, the parent/guardian will be asked to pick the student up from school and it is recommended by CHP that the student seek medical advice immediately.

The CHP has adopted the most stringent precautionary measures under which a school will be required to suspend all classes or relevant levels immediately for five days if an outbreak of URTI or other respiratory infections in the school is established. The school concerned will also be included in a compulsory testing notice, under which staff and students of the school will be required to undergo a COVID-19 testing.

Please continue to let us know if your child is ill by emailing our Nurse Christine (christine.cheung(at)jcsrs.edu.hk) with a description of symptoms. Also, if your child has seen a doctor and been confirmed with an illness, please send a copy of the doctor’s note.

Thank you for your support on this matter.

Priority Area: Professional Learning

4. Professional learning at JCSRS is action focused and prioritised as a critical strategic enabler.

On Saturday September 25th JCSRS staff connected online for a jam packed day of online professional learning with ESF colleagues across the Foundation.

Staff were invited to engage in a wide range of professional learning workshops around key themes linked to ESF strategic planning. Presenters included world leading experts along with  ESF colleagues sharing proven practices and initiatives to enhance student learning.   

JCSRS was well represented with presentations delivered by:

• May Henderson and Cheryl Lam; Speech and Language Therapists sharing our whole school approach to Total Communication.

• Robyn Turnbull; Occupational Therapist presenting  on Sensory Integration implications for learning.

• Holly Manning; Silver class teacher sharing the work she has developed with students in her role as a Lego based therapy trainer.

A sample of staff learning reflections are shared below.

Click to enlarge.

Today we welcomed parents to our first AAC meetup. This first session was held on Zoom with an introduction to AAC. It was great to see all the parents there and we hope to see everybody in November when we will be able to host the session face to face.

Click to see our presentation slides and watch the presentation recording.

If families are interested in purchasing any communication apps, many are on sale throughout October as it is AAC awareness month.

Click to enlarge.

In the last newsletter, I shared some of the learning that was happening within 4 subjects for the different pathways in our school. This week, I will introduce 4 more subjects in an attempt to show how our new curriculum is personalised to our learners.

Foundation Pathway - Literacy

Literacy is woven through so many aspects of learning. It includes speaking, listening, reading and writing. Our new curriculum recognises that students in various pathways need to build their literacy skills and learn how to apply them in a functional way. Here in the Foundation Pathway, students are learning about letter sounds and letter formation as the foundation to reading, writing and spelling.

Builders Pathway - Independence

Students in the builders pathway have been exploring classroom and daily care routines. At the start of term, the focus of independence was to learn and recall classroom routines for packing and unpacking bags and taking care of belongings. This has now been extended to personal care routines such as brushing teeth and using the bathroom independently.

Independent Living and Learning Pathway - PE

PE is delivered to all 6 pathways in the school. This term, the Independent Living and Learning Pathway students have been working on developing their swimming stroke and speed as well as accuracy in a rally in badminton.

Post 16 Pathway - Visual Art

Our Visual Arts curriculum is based on a clear learning progression of skills, techniques and attitudes. Our Post 16 Pathway has been exploring the techniques related to collaging to create beautiful and impactful pieces of artwork.

AAC Top Tips! Modelling continued. In previous newsletters modelling has been mentioned as a strategy to support AAC users learn language. It is a vital aspect of AAC use as we need to show the learners where the words are stored.

Top tips!

• Explore the app yourself. Spend a short time, as often as possible to explore the app by yourself or with other adults in the family. Learn where different words are and how to find them.

• Use the search function on your talker to find words.

• When talking to your child, use the talker as well. You don’t have to press every word you say, just some of the important ones (or the ones you know).

Modelling video - here is a reminder of the video to help see what modelling looks like.