Principal's Message

Dear all,

When you step through the school door you are transported into a magical Maker’s Wonderland! All students (and staff) are learning and creating imaginative props and decorations and preparing their performances. Flowers, clocks, playing cards, hats, teapots and more are appearing all over the school. I can’t wait to see more.

The school mission statement Everyone Engaged drives the school's commitment to Learning Partnerships between staff, families and the wider community.

After the Christmas Shows, there will be opportunities for families and staff to gather and connect. You can also make donations to support the purchase of new musical instruments. Please read on to find out more.

I would like to thank all parents that were able to join the leadership team and me to talk about Home School Engagement during the Principal Meet-Up. 

• It was a great opportunity for us to celebrate what we do well: use of Seesaw to celebrate students learning, Parent Teacher Therapist Conferences to share specific goals and strategies, sharing useful information (ParentTV, wellbeing), appreciation of staff work and ensuring that parents are part of the learning and reflection process.

• It was encouraging to hear that many of the areas we are working on our parents will find useful and supportive: simplify and streamline communication, information sharing and access to school platforms, continue to strengthen feedback on students learning and how we use Seesaw to support learning at home, develop Parent Engagement Guide, signpost parents to right resources and apps, provide family education programmes, engage parents in curriculum work.

• It was supportive to hear what is important to our families so we can start focusing on it: share information on different suppliers, define what homework is at JCSRS and better support learning at home, facilitate more social events to strengthen our school community, create connections, celebrate students achievements, expand training opportunities and make the best use of staff and parents expertise.

We will share progress on all areas above and reach out to parents if we need help with some of them. An immediate action that will be visible in today's and future newsletters is a list of upcoming key dates for your reference and scheduling.

I would like to thank all staff and parents for supporting engagement by facilitating interaction and connection between home and school and for their involvement in the life of the school.

Next week, during our whole school assembly, we will be saying farewell to two students who are relocating. We will also be saying goodbye to two staff members who have made numerous contributions to our school community and will be greatly missed by us all: 

• Esther Lam, OT Educational Assistant

• Stephanie Wong, ST Educational Assistant

I am sure you will join me in wishing them all the best in their future adventures.

I hope that you will be able to join us during the Christmas Show to celebrate students' successes on stage and beyond and to experience the magic of Everyone being Happy, Learning and Engaged.

Warm regards,

Anna

Christmas Show Social

Gather and connect after our Christmas performance; sign-ups for supporting bake sale and sustainable gift stall

We are pleased to share that following the performance there will be opportunities for families and staff to gather and connect on the JCSRS playground.

This will also be a time when you may consider purchasing student-made products and our JCSRS cards and gift wrap, or making a donation to our bake sale, which you can enjoy in the outdoor shared space.

In the spirit of sustainable gifting, if you have any gift items at home that would be suitable for donation, we will set up a stall for this purpose. Items can be brought into school at any time.

All proceeds will go towards the purchase of musical instruments to support the expressive arts curriculum. Please liaise with Jackie Newman jackie.newman@jcsrs.edu.hk if you have any questions regarding the suitability of your proposed gift items.

If you are able to contribute to the bake sale either by providing goods or helping to run the stall, or if you have gifts to donate, please let us know by responding to this sign-up form.

We look forward to welcoming you all at this special time of year.

Dates For Your Diary

Full calendar and term dates here.

16 December	Last day of Term 1; students will finish lessons at 11.45 am with buses leaving school at 12 pm
9 January	First day of Term 2; Students return to school
17 January	Principal Meet Up, 9 am at Innovation House (school campus)
19 January	Mid-Year Reports shared with parents
23-27 January	CNY break
1-12 February	ESF Stakeholders Survey
2 February	AAC Meet-up, 9-10 am at Innovation House (school campus)
6 February	PTA meeting, 5 pm on Zoom
8 February	'What's next after JCSRS?' Graduates Information Evening, 5 pm at JCSRS
16 February	Parent/Carer Educational Technology Meet-up, Innovation House
1-3 March	Secondary Camp
2 March	IEPs shared with parents
6-7 March	Parent Teacher Therapist Conferences
8-13 March	Art Exhibition
20 March	PTA meeting, 5 pm on Zoom
28 March	Walkathon, Perth Street Sports Ground
31 March	Last day of Term 2; students will finish lessons at 11.45 am with buses leaving school at 12 pm

 

AAC Meetup

This week the Speech Therapy team welcomed families to our first AAC meetup of the school year. We had a short recap of topics from last year before practising finding core words. To round up, we discussed topics that would be useful for the coming workshops. Stay tuned for more information.

Here is a short video of the recap session:

NPDL Project: Maker's Wonderland

This term with the NPDL project Maker's Wonderland, the Creative Art, Literacy and Play, Leisure and Recreation subjects are the foci of our curriculum. Through the NPDL project learning, students have the opportunity to learn to be creative, to communicate effectively using persuasive language and to solve problems encountered. Planned learning fostered students’ appreciation for creating safe homes and communities. All classes have been making props and festive decorations for their own class, the Christmas show, and to raise funds for the community. Here are some of the feedback which we have received from the students.

Diamond Class

“I made a paper mache mushroom. I felt good making it with a blender.” by Aden

“I was sticking the box on top to make the rabbit hole. It was really fun! I really liked it.” by Jonathan

Pearl Class

“I am painting a construction vehicle for deconstructing the White Rabbit's house.” by Casper

“I am painting the queen's roses.” by Hannah

“We are colouring the White Rabbit's house.” by Pearl Class

Gold Class

“We made teapots for our props!” by Gold Class

Emerald Class

“We made props for Alice in Maker's Wonderland!” by Emerald Class

Silver Class

“We made props for the Christmas play! We had so much fun.” By Silver Class

Sapphire Class

“I made a box for props. I had a lot of fun.” by Saad

Jade Class

“I used persuasive language on the poster. I am sure that many people will come to the show. '' by Jessica

“I am creative. I made many fish for the fishermen and I made a phone call to communicate and it worked.“ by Sze Yan

Ruby Class

“I am very creative. I made Drink Me bottles for the play.“ by Larissa

“I have learned to communicate with others well to get the job done. I love teamwork.“ by Joshua

 

Jackie Newman, Creative Arts Coordinator

Student Achievement: Performing Arts

On 26th November, Katy McEwan from Jade class participated in a performance with Move For Life at Disneyland. She was awarded a certificate of Outstanding Academic Achievement in Disney Performing Arts.

My Joy, My Performance

On Saturday I went to Disneyland.

I had a performance with Move for Life.

All the performers wore blue costumes.

I felt great. I felt like a STAR.

By Katy McEwan

Student Artwork: Holiday Card

This year, seven students from JCSRS competed for their artwork to appear on the ESF Happy Holidays card. The students that participated were Kaleb Lam from Pearl class, Aden Chan from Diamond class, Joshua Wixon and Larissa Khoo from Ruby class, and Katy McEwan, Jessica Hudson and Marcus Chan from Jade class. They were amazingly talented and flexible, and took us on a creative journey with them.

A special thanks to Aadi’s mother, Sheetal, for her time and contribution to supporting our students.

Creative Art Team (Alfert, Kai Cho and Jackie)

By Aden, Joshua and Larissa

By Kaleb and Marcus

By Katy and Jessica

Core Vocabulary of the Month (4)

Click to open as PDF and access YouTube links!

SNNHK Christmas Drinks - 15 December

Tap to register.