CWBS Newsletter – Friday 14 August
Principal’s News Used Clothes Recycling Programme Disclaimer
Principal’s News
Welcome
Welcome to the new year at Clearwater Bay School. Beginning the new school year online has certainly made for an unusual start, but we have been delighted to connect with students this week. There have been lots of smiles, and we have been impressed by how well students have engaged with their learning.
The focus on wellbeing and community, through the ‘Who we are’ unit of inquiry, has seen a range of learning engagements giving students and teachers the chance to learn more about themselves and each other. Games and team building, stories and songs, as well as scavenger hunts and other creative activities have begun the process of forming the relationships that will underpin and support student learning and wellbeing this year.
New Staff
This week we have welcomed several new colleagues to our team. In the Y1 team, Ms Rhena Bowie has joined us as class teacher. Ms Irene Lau has joined us as our new Chinese teacher, and Mrs Janine Hudson has joined as our new Teacher Librarian. To our team of educational assistants, we welcome Ms Alina Wasi and Ms Iola Tsui, both of whom will be supporting Y2 students, and also Ms Jasmine Li, who will be supporting students in Chinese. Ms Helen Read has joined the senior leadership team as Teaching and Learning Coach, having been a valued member of our class teaching group for several years. I am very pleased to have now begun my time as Principal at CWBS.
Distance Learning Provision
Earlier this week, a summary of our distance learning plan was shared. Please click on the link here if you would like to access this overview. Our aim this year is to build on the strengths of last year’s distance learning and enhance the student experience. In particular, live contact with teachers will be enhanced. Daily check in and check outs will continue, with students also benefiting from live lessons with class teachers regularly during each week. From Monday 24th August, specialist teachers for PE, Music, ICT and our Teacher Librarian will begin connecting live with students, building on the lessons already led by the Chinese team.
Zoom Calls
An important element of our distance learning provision is video calls via Zoom. Please see the link here for our guidance for participants.
Attendance
Class teachers will continue to record student attendance using the Gateway system. Students are encouraged to engage with all aspects of the distance learning provision by joining live sessions and also undertaking and submitting independent learning tasks. Students will be marked present if they have engaged with the learning via these different modes.
Parent Information Evenings
Parent information evenings will be taking place online in the near future. They are scheduled for 25th August (Years 1-3) and 27th August (Years 4-6). A specialist information evening will also take place online on 2nd September. More details will follow next week. We look forward to connecting with parents during these sessions.
ESF App sign up
Thank you to all those parents who have now signed up for the ESF app. We intend to move exclusively across to this mode for all whole school communications at the end of next week. Please download and sign up for the app by next Thursday, 20th August.
Gateway Information
Please ensure the following information has been updated on Gateway for the new school year. It is very important that the information is up to date and accurate.
- Medical Information
- Parent contact details
- Emergency contact details
PYP – Learner profile attributes at CWBS
At CWBS we use the attributes of the learner profile to develop emotional, social, personal and intellectual growth in our students. The development of these attributes helps our students understand what it means to be internationally minded, active and caring community members who respect themselves, others and the world around them (IB 2018). We encourage you to support your children at home to use this language.
Art by Casper Wu Y6 19/20
Chinese groupings Year 2-Year 6
It was wonderful to have so many of our students on their Chinese zoom links this week. At the commencement of each year the Chinese teachers assess students in Y2-6 to ensure that they are placed in the correct groups to support their learning.
To ensure we have enough information and can assess appropriately you will be notified by the end of week 5 (Friday 11 September) as to which grouping your child will be in and who their teacher will be for this year.
As we have around 30 new students from Year 2-6, it takes time to ensure we place students in their appropriate groupings according to their level of learning.
A variety of distance learning assessments will be used to help with placing students in groups. From our assessments over the last couple of years, we can see that the level of Chinese proficiency has increased across the school. This is very exciting for our Chinese program as it means the standard continues to increase.
Year 1 students will stay in their own classroom for Chinese lessons for term 1 and will move to a grouping system based on their language learning in term 2.
Michael Dewey
Principal
Used Clothes Recycling Programme
We have been informed by FoE(HK) that the used clothes recycling programme will be suspended for three months due to the Covid-19 situation. The collection box in the car park will be closed during this time.
Disclaimer
Clearwater Bay School (CWBS) reserves the right to accept or reject any advertisement submitted for CWBS publications and on its websites. However, CWBS does not attempt to investigate or verify advertisements appearing in CWBS´s publications and on its websites. The appearance of advertising in CWBS´s publications and on its websites in no way implies endorsement or approval by CWBS of any advertising claims or of the advertiser, its product, or services. CWBS disclaims any liability whatsoever in connection with advertising appearing in CWBS´s publications and on its websites.