CWBS Newsletter – Friday 27 March

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Principal’s News

Dear Parents

Distance learning update – examples from each year level.

Year 1 students have been working hard at being creative. They read the book “Not a Box”. Students created their own box and turned it into something creative and then wrote about it.

Year 2 – Personal inquiries

Throughout this week, year 2 students have been developing their research and communication skills through personal inquiries into an animal.  Students all selected an animal and developed their own questions to guide their research. After using a range of materials to find the information,  they are now in the process of communicating their findings through an information report. 

Year 3 Master Chefs

Students in year 3 connected their learning to real-world skills by applying their understanding of procedural writing when following and creating recipes. Why don’t you try some at home, perhaps make some Aioli with Ruari, an Omelette with Praneel, or a Muffin in a Mug with Spencer. 

Y4 students have been exploring how to punctuate speech. The students had a conversation with a person or toy and then used success criteria to help correctly present what had been said.

Year 4 students have also been exploring symmetry. 

Students in Year 5 have been learning about how exploration has led to discoveries, challenges, opportunities and new understandings. This has involved a lot of research about explorations of the past. 

This work sample below, from Claire in 5K, shows how students can consider events from a variety of different perspectives.

Zoe, in 5R, has used her research to inspire some beautiful and thoughtful artwork.

Year 5 students have been using Padlet as a platform to share their learning with others.

Year 6 students inquired into society’s use of energy and the implications on the environment. Joshua Yu 6H made this entertaining and informative video about his solar-powered robot.

Seesaw connecting students and teachers

Teachers in the early years are continuing to refine their use of Seesaw as a tool to support distance learning.  The Seesaw portal allows teachers to both support instruction through videos and examples, and provide meaningful and timely feedback.  This is particularly powerful in Years One and Two where students can complete tasks online, discuss their learning through audio recordings, and post videos and images of their work.  

Music

It is great to see students continue to engage in musical activities during distance learning. Students have been making music creatively at home and sharing their learning activities on Seesaw. It is really wonderful to see so many talented students singing, dancing, playing instruments and exploring music resources online. Here are some online music resources students have been accessing from home for their music learning. 

The brighter side of distance learning 

We know there is so much great learning happening at home, both completing distance learning tasks and having quality time together as a family.  We would like you to share the amazing things your child is doing, so please upload a photo of your child enjoying their favourite distance learning activity on this dropbox link.  We will then collate and share photos from the whole school community.

Professional Development – Staff Distance Learning 

The Individual Needs team have been actively participating in distance learning opportunities provided by the SEN team at the ESF Centre. The learning has been valuable and as a result a request has been shared for the ESF team to make some of the learning available to parents, hopefully more on this soon. 

The focus areas have been:

• Emotional Check Ins 
• Mindfulness for students
• Supporting students with ASD to access their learning
• Flight, Fight or Freeze (stress and anxiety) 

A reminder for all parents, that we have a school counsellor, Anson Lam, who is available if your child needs additional support to address any social or emotional challenges. She can provide students with tools to help cope emotionally during this difficult time, and strategies for those with high anxiety. If you have any concerns about your child’s wellbeing and think counselling will help, please contact Kathy Derrick: kathy.derrick@cwbs.edu.hk  

Update on the suspension of classes due to Coronavirus.

The Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB) recently announced an extension of the suspension of classes in schools from 20 April until further notice. This means that distance learning at home for students will resume at the start of next term and continue until we hear otherwise.

End of term

We are getting close to the end of a very unusual term, certainly the strangest and most challenging in my many years of teaching and as a Principal.   Since the suspension of classes after Chinese New Year we have tried to ensure that the distance learning program provided has been engaging for students and meets their different learning needs whilst also trying to cater for the very different circumstances facing families.  Achieving this balance is difficult and does not always work entirely for every family, leading to some frustrations at times. In spite of all this I do thank you for your understanding and the terrific support that you have provided your children at home and without which distance learning would be much less successful.   Perhaps even more than when students are at school, distance learning has required parents and the school to work together and invest much time in students learning and wellbeing.

It will also be a very different Easter holiday break to the usual, with everyone having a break in Hong Kong given the current travel and social distancing restrictions.  In spite of that I hope that students and families are able to rest, relax and recharge a little so that we are all somewhat refreshed and ready to go again for Term 3. It will no doubt continue to be very challenging, given the ongoing global health and economic crisis.

I am available to talk to parents about any matter at all so please email me at chris.hamilton@cwbs.edu.hk or ring me at school on  23583221.

Best wishes…….stay safe and healthy over the coming Easter Break

Chris Hamilton

Principal

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