Dear all,

I trust that you all had a relaxing and enjoyable Lunar New Year break despite the challenging circumstances.

We are all encouraged by how our students are engaging with the learning and showing great attitude in all Zoom sessions despite the circumstance. What we hear from both parents, teachers and students is that they love connecting with their teachers, EAs, and peers. Social connectedness and a sense of belonging are some of the biggest protective factors in optimising mental health and wellbeing. We want to keep building opportunities for connections and maintaining strong relationships with each other.

I would like to thank all parents that responded to teachers' requests for feedback on distance learning. Special thanks also go to parents that attended the new NPDL project planning session on Wednesday and the Principal Meet-Up session today. Today I have listened to parents' stories that demonstrated to me the importance of sharing your experiences to help empower others and to make a positive change. Please keep sharing your stories with each other and with the wider school community.  We are using your stories, your feedback, suggestions and ideas to keep developing the ways we connect and build relationships as the whole school community and to inform our current distance learning approach and practices.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you need support with anything.

I am looking forward to connecting with students and parents over the next few weeks. 

Stay safe,

Anna

On Wednesday evening it was a pleasure to introduce our upcoming whole school project during a parent Zoom session. This is a whole school project culminating in a three- part published digital cookbook developed in partnership with our local (parent) community and shared globally online.

Please find the slide deck introducing the project here to find out more details of the plans so far. Please reach out to Belinda McLaughlin if you would like to access a recording of the Zoom presentation.

We would like to invite our families to support and contribute to this project.

Please take a moment to complete this short Google Form if you would like to be involved and can support the project in any of these ways:

• Sharing family favourite recipes

• Expertise with Digital platforms

• Expertise with food preparation/cooking

• Any other ideas

Class teachers will be in touch with more details about the project in the coming weeks.

Save the Date: March 30th 4.00 - 5.00pm.

Youth Mental Health First Aid

JCSRS will be hosting an online information session delivered by Shirralee Sisson from Positive Wellbeing HK. This 60-minute Zoom session designed specifically for our community will focus on raising awareness around Youth Mental Health, providing information on signs, symptoms and next steps in identifying and supporting the mental health of our youth. The session is suitable for families/staff supporting students of all ages who are interested to understand more about this topic. More details to follow soon. Please note this session will only be offered in a live format.

On 27th January we ran our 3rd AAC meetup on Zoom. It’s always great to see you all and share ideas and tips.

We hope these practical tips will help you and your family explore AAC and encourage its use at home as well as out and about.

You can find the presentation here.