CWBS Newsletter – Friday 30 August

Principal’s News Diary Dates Library News Music NewsKinder & Year 1 Admissions and Year 6 Transfer to Secondary Schools in 2020-21Invite to Parent Workshop – Professor Yong ZhaoWIS Open Day Adverts  Disclaimer

Principal’s News

Year 1 students – start of the year

Our year 1 students are settling into BIG school very well.  They have worked through the staggered start whereby reduced numbers of students come for just the morning, progressing to the whole class coming for the morning to finally on Tuesday of this week……..all students coming for the whole day.   We do  find the staggered start helps students to familiarise themselves with their new school environment, get to know their teacher and the Education Assistant and meet and interact with peers.  It is a very big transition with high social and emotional demands on students which can leave them very tired at the end of the day.   It is advisable to allow for this by not planning too many extra-curricular activities for students after school, especially in term 1.  Lots of rest and plenty of sleep (9-11 hours) are recommended so that students are fresh and ready to start each new school day.

Assemblies

Last Friday saw the first of our regular Friday afternoon school assemblies at 1.50pm.   This was hosted by Year 4 who shared some of the activities they have undertaken in the first two weeks of the year as they get to know each other and develop their class essential agreements for how they will work during the year.  (Here are two examples of Year 4 class agreements. )

Assemblies are held throughout the year either for the Early Childhood Team of Years 1-3 or for the Primary Team of Years 4-6  These are held separately due to space limitations in the hall.  Assemblies are always hosted by one particular year level and parents of students in that year level are invited to attend.  Please note however, that again, due to space limitations, it is not possible for other parents to attend.

Parent information nights

We held our beginning of the year parent information nights this week with Years 1-3 (Tuesday) and Years 4-6 (Thursday).  These sessions enable parents to meet their child’s teacher as well as  introducing other  teachers in the year level.  The initial whole year level presentation gives an overview of the program for that year level as well as some of the classroom routines and organisational details.  There is then the opportunity to visit individual classrooms and ask any specific questions that you might have.

Our specialist teachers information night for parents is being held next Wednesday 4th September from 6.30-7.30pm in the hall.  Do come along and find out more about the specialist programs in which your child participates,  including Chinese, Music , PE, Library and Individual Needs.  All parents are most welcome to attend.

Building community through the PYP and international mindedness

At the core of the Primary Years Programme framework lies the philosophy of international mindedness, which is encapsulated by the IB Learner Profile. As an IB school we promote intercultural understanding and respect, which very much aligns with our mission and core values. The concept of international mindedness is relatively new in education, its importance has increased as globalization has made our world smaller, and information gathering and sharing more accessible.    At CWBS we aim to develop internationally minded students who are interculturally competent with the understanding and skills to be active citizens in a globalised world. It is important that students know and respect themselves and others, and can take action to support peace and sustainability in local and global communities. We actively actively develop international mindedness through embedding the IB learner profile in all that we do, developing each student’s values and attributes as follows:

• Inquirers: we are enthusiastic explorers who find things out, ask questions and make connections
• Knowledgeable: we seek and share ideas, information and experiences to understand the changing world
• Thinkers: we think in lots of different ways to ask questions, solve problems and make decisions
• Communicators: we listen and talk to others, sharing clearly our ideas and feelings
• Principled: we are responsible, respectful, honest and fair
• Open-minded: we listen very carefully to other people’s ideas and try hard to understand them
• Caring: we are friendly, kind and thoughtful towards everyone and everything
• Risk-Takers: we believe in ourselves and have the courage and confidence to try new things and face new challenges
• Balanced: we understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for ourselves and others
• Reflective: we think, do and review

At CWBS we have approximately 40 nationalities represented within our school, which provides us with rich opportunities to explore the concept of being internationally minded, and opportunities to apply our learnings each and every day.

As a school community we all have a commitment to promote international mindedness. This week we will celebrate ‘Our Cultural Story’ day, where we celebrate the diversity of our learners (including staff and parents). Throughout the year we provide opportunities for our students to learn about issues that have local, national and global significance, leading to an understanding that individuals while different, share many commonalities.

Annual levy acquittal

The acquittal of last year’s annual levy is included below. This details the initial levy, the cost of trips undertaken throughout the year and the remaining balance (if any) that is to be rolled up and deducted from this years levy. Details of the new levy for this year will be sent by email in a couple of weeks.

Staffing News – My last year at CWBS

This will be my eighth and last year as Principal at CWBS.   Late last year I had one of those ‘milestone’ birthdays which took me up to ESF’s very hard edged retirement age. (60)  It has been an absolute honor and a pleasure to be principal of CWBS.   I have greatly enjoyed working with students, staff and parents over that time to develop and build the school to what it is today…….a great school of which we can all be very proud!.  I am really looking forward to working with everyone again this year to ensure that it is a very successful year  for all our students as well as for the adults, staff and parents, in our learning community.

Chris Hamilton

Principal

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Diary Dates

Wednesday 4 Sept      Specialist teachers Parent information night 6.30-7.30pm

Friday 6 Sept               PTA sausage sizzle lunch

Friday 6 Sept               Years 4-6 Assembly (Year 5 hosting)

Friday 13 Sept             CPD day all staff – School closed for students.

Monday 16 Sept           PTA Annual General Meeting 6.30pm

Tuesday 17 Sept           School Council meeting 4.45pm 

Friday 20 Sept               PTA Family bingo 6.30pm – 7.45pm

Library News

Mother Tongue Story Sessions (Lunchtime)

At CWBS we are spoilt with the range of nationalities that our community represents.  To support our students in their mother tongue, we have in previous years run weekly story reading & activity sessions in a variety of languages.  If you are free on a Friday during a lunch time this term from week beginning 2nd September 12:20pm-1:00pm and would be interested in reading a story/activity to students in your home language, please click on the link below to register.

For more information, click here 

Thank you for your support.

Music News

Kinder & Year 1 Admissions and Year 6 Transfer to Secondary School in 2020-21

Parents with young children should note that the ESF admissions timeline for joining kindergarten at Abacus or Year 1 at CWBS in the 2019-20 school year is about to commence.  The enrolment period is from 1 – 30 September, the online application is available on the ESF website.

Parents with a Year 6 student transferring to an ESF secondary school in 2020-21 will need to complete the transfer application form, available on Gateway starting from 2 September. The deadline to submit the transfer form is 13 September. 

Invite to Parent Workshop – Professor Yong Zhao 

WIS Open Day 

Adverts

For more information, click here 

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.