Dear all, 

It was strange for everyone to be saying our ‘in person’ goodbyes to primary students last week and secondary students this week. 

I am sure that students will continue to show their perseverance and enthusiasm next week as we end the half-term online. As always, staff are impressed by the students’ adaptability and resilience, which has also been shown in abundance by staff and parents! I would like to thank all parents for their support and our staff for their quick response. Our focus is on continuity of learning and connection with our students as we lead into the Chinese New Year holiday.

Despite the obvious ongoing challenges that we have to face as a school community, we already have had so many positive things to celebrate this term and can be really proud of all our fantastic achievements. I am sure they will continue after the break as we all have a high commitment for our students to be their best. 

I would like to wish all students, parents, carers, and school council a peaceful and happy Year of the Tiger.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Anna

Due to the tightening of the anti-pandemic control measures, and not being able to host the meeting face to face, we have decided to postpone the first Principal Meet Up event to after the Lunar New Year break.

The meeting will now take place on Friday 11th of February at 9.15 am on Zoom. Please use this form to sign up.

AAC Top Tips: Helping Beginning Communicators Expand Their Sentences - Part 3

Learners gain skills more quickly when we provide a lot of instruction with different materials and in various activities. This means you can teach your child to use core vocabulary across many settings and in different contexts.

AAC Morning Meet Up

We look forward to seeing our AAC families on zoom on 27th January at 12:30 for our next AAC meetup. You can use this link to sign up.

Priority Area: Digital Modernisation

At JCSRS, we aim to ensure that the modern digital school environment provides a range of resources to facilitate and expand teaching and learning.

We are happy to share with you some of the updates which have taken place so far this academic year.

• You will have been invited by your class teacher to join Seesaw. This is an online platform that allows us to share students' learning with parents. Please contact your child’s class teacher if you have not yet signed up or aren’t sure how to access Seesaw.

• We have recently expanded our student devices by purchasing more Chromebooks.

• Class smartboards continue to be updated around the school.

• We have updated the curriculum to enhance student learning around digital citizenship.

• Our online IXL learning platform has been enhanced to now include literacy and numeracy. It has also been updated to better match up with our new curriculum.

We would like to thank staff and parents for their support when implementing new online platforms both at school and at home. We will keep you informed of any future updates.

Hope
by Sze Yan

Hope is getting healthier.

Hope is looking beautiful.

Hope is meeting nice people.

Hope is letting covid go.

Hope is coming back to school after the Chinese New Year's holiday.

Hope is looking forward to a Happy New Year!

I hope you hope the same things, too!

Our physio and occupational therapy teams put together a fun but tricky treat for the senior students this week. The rope obstacle course is a fun way to develop motor planning as well as control of movement. And the students loved the challenge!

Build your own obstacle course at home during this time of online learning. Using what you have in the house, like chairs, couches, cushions and boxes can make a fun and challenging obstacle course. Crawl under the chairs, balance while walking cushion to cushion, crawl over the couch, and climb into the box – and then back again. Or use masking tape to create the ‘spider web’ obstacle like our therapists.

Obstacle courses develop motor awareness and challenge motor planning skills. So, it is a great way to get the body ready before the thinking work begins with your teacher on Zoom.

Therapy Team

Spotlight: Rare Disease Day

Rare Disease Day is the globally-coordinated movement on rare diseases, working towards equity in social opportunity, healthcare, and access to diagnosis and therapies for people living with a rare disease. The European Union defines a disease or condition as rare if it affects fewer than 1 in 2,000 people within the general population. Currently, there are over 6,000 known rare diseases and new conditions are being described through medical literature on a regular basis.

Since its creation in 2008, Rare Disease Day has played a critical part in building an international rare disease community that is multi-disease, global, and diverse– but united in purpose.

Rare Disease Day is observed every year on 28 February (or 29 in leap years) — the rarest day of the year.

Rare Disease Day was set up and is coordinated by EURORDIS and 65+ national alliance patient organisation partners. Rare Disease Day provides an energy and focal point that enables rare diseases advocacy work to progress on the local, national and international levels.

The zebra has become the official symbol of rare diseases in the United States. In honor of our shared mascot we wear striped clothing and accessories to show our support of those lives impacted by a rare disease.  Wearing stripes can start a conversation that helps others learn the facts about the prevalence and challenges of rare diseases. Take a picture of your striped look and share it on social media with the hashtags #ShowYourStripes and #RareDiseaseDay.

Further information:

• Rare Disease Day
• FAQs About Rare Diseases
• Rare Disease Hong Kong