Dear Parents,

It has been wonderful this week to hear KGV abuzz again with student chatter and laughter! Having all our students back across this week has been a real thrill for both students and teachers. One of the challenges of the current pandemic is social isolation and reduced opportunities for face-to-face human connection. Having our students into school this week reinforced the value and importance of real time connection and the power of peer-to-peer interaction. Our sense of belonging to a purpose and a place received a boost this week, and we hope to offer more opportunities in the weeks ahead for our students to be at school and in the ‘natural’ environment.

Looking ahead, we are hopeful that after the Chinese New Year break, we can increase the number of days our students are in school. We are likely to get an EDB update early in the CNY break regarding what the second half of this term looks like. We will communicate with you our plans for the weeks ahead as we know it. What we can guarantee is that our decisions will be driven by ensuring we maximise the learning and well-being of all students, whilst maintaining our highest standards of health and safety for both students and staff.

Thank you again for your ongoing support and I hope you have a good weekend.

Kind regards, 

Mark Blackshaw

Year 13 BTEC Students: Mon 1 Feb, Tues 2 Feb, Wed 3 Feb.

Year 13 IB Students: Thurs 4 Feb.

Thank you and kind regards,

Mr McKeague

Year 12 BTEC Students: Mon 1 Feb, Tues 2 Feb, Wed 3 Feb, Mon 8 Feb, Tues 9 Feb, Wed 10 Feb.

Year 12 IB Students: Fri 5 Feb.

Thank you and kind regards,

Mr McKeague

Year 10 students will attend school next Thursday 4 Feb. We will be in touch soon with a schedule for days of attendance following CNY.

The Year 10 Learning Review is scheduled for 4 March. This is a chance for you to meet the teachers of your child and discuss academic issues. We will remind you to make bookings immediately after the Chinese New Year break.

Please note the parent seminars being offered by Elevate in the newsletter below. We have found these very useful for parents and highly recommend them.

We are still waiting to hear back from the GCSE and IGCSE exam boards. Right now, the information we have says that IGCSE exams will proceed.

Year 11 students are completing a structured reflection process during tutor time where they are thinking carefully about their preparation for and experience during the mock exams. This will form the basis for 1:1 conversations with their tutors once mock exam results are returned. These conversations are to help students target their efforts ahead of the final exams.

We will produce a mock exam summary report for you on the last day of term. This will show grades and feedback for all the mock exams in a single document. It will be shared with you via an App message.

Please note the parent seminars being offered by Elevate in the Newsletter below. These are highly recommended for parens.

Dear Parents,

We loved seeing our amazing Year 7 students in school this week! They certainly brought a breath of fresh air to the campus and the school field was filled with lots of (socially distanced!) excitement, fun and games of football and cricket! We look forward to seeing them all again on Monday.

We are also looking forward to seeing you all on Tuesday in our online Year 7 Learning Review. Thank you to those parents who have already signed up to meet some of their child’s teachers. A reminder that the system closes on Monday 1 February, 6:00pm. 

As most of your appointments will last 5 minutes, we wanted to make sure that the focus of your conversations with the teachers was on your child and their progress. Therefore, our Heads of Department have put together a bank of videos which give an overview of the curriculum covered in their subject areas through the year. We'll send you a link on Tuesday to a website which contains this video as well as advice on how to prepare for the Learning Review.

As your child is integral to the Learning Review meetings, we have cancelled period 5 lessons on Tuesday 2 February, to enable them to fully participate in the event. We will send through a feedback form for you to complete next Friday to help us to continually improve on our parent communications. 

Thank you to those parents who attended yesterday’s Music Academy information session. Our Year 7 students have the option of joining one of three Academy programmes in Year 8. Rugby, Netball and Music Academies run in Year 8. All Year 7 students will hear from the teachers leading these courses in tutor time next week.

Have a lovely weekend.

Dear Parents,

We loved seeing our amazing Year 8 & 9 students in school this week. They certainly brought a breath of fresh air to the campus and the school field was filled with lots of (socially distanced!) excitement, fun and games of football and cricket! We look forward to seeing them all again on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

Tuesday 2 February, is the Year 8 face-to-face learning day which means that students will access their period 5 lessons asynchronously. They should complete their Period 5 work when they arrive home from school and have eaten their lunch!

Tuesday 2 February is also the day for the Year 9 Community Project launch. Students will not follow normal lessons on this day, but rather have a specially designed programme of activities led by Mr Beard and Mr Shiel. Year 9 Students will attend school on Wednesday for their face-to-face lessons. 

Have a great weekend.

Wed 10 Feb: Last day of school before Term 2 mid-term break

Mon 22 Feb: First day of school after Term 2 mid-term break

• Our Career website is full of H.E. news & resources, scholarships, events, summer/enrichment programmes and many othes.
• This calendar lists H.E. events and taster lectures offered by universities around the world and is updated regularly.
• We also share other H.E. news and information on our Facebook page. You can find us here.

KGV Music Academy Parent Presentation

Any families wanting to find out more, please make an appointment for next Tuesday's year 7 learning review. If you are unable to get an appointment on the system you can email your child's music teacher directly and we will be in touch. 

Best wishes - Ms Alex Carlile

We are committed to support our parents through their journey at KGV, therefore have created several opportunities for you to engage with the school. ‘Feedback Friday‘ is one such opportunity for you to engage in a personalized, small group session on a Friday morning, to chat with the Principal, Mark Blackshaw on various topics or areas you would like to discuss.

Sessions will run from 8:30 am - 9:30 am, and is limited to 15 parents.

Our upcoming session will be on, Friday 5 February 2021.

*Due to COVID-19, for now we will conduct these sessions online. Once you sign up for a session/s, a link will be sent to you closer to the time of the meeting.

If you would like to attend this or other sessions this term, please sign up on the form.

https://forms.gle/hw5DF8p6K21v239i7

For enquires contact Kiran at ptsa@kgv.edu.hk

Year 7 Parents and Students are warmly invited to join our information evening to find out more about our new Netball Academy that will begin next year for students entering Year 8.

The Netball Academy is open to all students who are striving to succeed in their sporting ambitions. The academy pathway focuses on Netball, however, all sporting codes are encouraged to apply as the programme focuses on developing well rounded and well educated athletes. Areas of focus:

• Further development of fundamental movement skills.
• Apply the transferable skills from netball to a variety of sports/activities.
• Develop components of fitness (cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, muscular endurance, power, speed, strength, agility, balance, coordination, reaction).
• Develop knowledge of warm-up, cool down, muscles, methods of training, hydration, nutrition, recovery.
• Sports Psychology - goal setting, feedback, motivation and mental prep, anxiety, relaxation techniques, personality types, character traits.
• Sportsmanship, Injuries (types, prevention, recovery).
• Performance pathways - School, Club, HK Netball Academies, and beyond.

Thursday 4 February, 7pm, online: https://meet.google.com/ksj-wyzm-upu

Anna Pinder

KGV Netball Academy

Topics Covered:

• Motivation (1st February): How to help your child set goals, motivate themselves regularly and consistently throughout the school year, and take initiative in their work.
• Time- Management (23rd February): How to resolve battles over homework and workload, get on the same page and help balance life & academic
• Note-Making (16th March): Help your child to create an efficient, succinct, and useful set of notes for their subjects that will quicken and deepen their revision
• Memory (29th March): How to assist your child in memorising vast amounts of information in a fraction of the time it would take using old methods such as copying out notes or reciting information.

Register here: https://get.elevatecoaching.info/sg/register

Message from the community

Do you have a spare Ipad or device that you don't use and could donate to help patients in Kwong Wah Hospital?

KGV Alumni Dr Peter Woo and Desiree Wong are desperately seeking your help!

Due to restrictions imposed by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority in response to the pandemic, visitors are not allowed into the hospitals to visit their terminally ill relatives.

Dr Woo is a neuro-sugeon at Kwong Wah hospital, who has recently seen too many patients pass away without friends or family by their side. Having witnessed this heart wrenching situation he has called alumni for help. Desiree and others devised a plan to provide virtual visits for patients who are critically ill. These volunteers walk around the wards with Ipads giving patients a few minutes to talk to their families virtually. Unfortunately due to limited resources many patients still miss the opportunity to connect with their family.

I am now reaching out to you requesting your support to gather either Ipads or devices with a screen large enough to use for virtual meetings. Desiree will gather volunteers to bring these devices to patients and help them log on. Due to the limited number of volunteers allowed into the wards, meeting times will still be limited but the aim is to give patients an opportunity each day to see their loved ones.

If you have a spare electronic device and charger that you can donate, please drop it off to the School's reception with your name on it. We will pass it onto Dr Woo from you.

Thank you.

We would like to congratulate Keyush on his recent success in the University of Waterloo Canadian Senior Mathematics Contest. He obtained excellent results and was awarded medals and certificates of distinction. Congratulations to Keyush!

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