Feedback has been shown to be one of the most powerful tools to improve learning. As parents, coaches, colleagues, and teachers we give feedback all the time to others to support learning and to promote changes in behaviour or progress towards a goal.

In education, one powerful strategy to enable feedback to students and teachers is called formative assessment. Formative assessment provides the answers to the questions:

·   Is learning on track?

·   What needs to change?

·   Where does learning go next?

It can be immediate (a specific question, thumbs up-thumbs down) or planned (a quiz or short task). It can be built into every lesson and it can be a common task across the year level that aligns to the knowledge and skills of the final assessment (assignment, test, oral presentation, etc.) at the end of the unit. The assessment at the end of the unit is called the summative assessment task.

As a school, we are focusing in particular, on improving the quality and consistency of the formative (during the unit of work) task. It is important to have quality summative tasks, but the power really lies in the formative task.

We are also striving to get better at the feedback we provide to students. It is known that feedback is the “breakfast of champions”, and we are determined to promote and build upon the strong feedback that our students are already getting. We are planning to do a review of the work we have been doing in this area, and would like parent feedback. If you are available to participate in an online parent focus group, we would very much like to hear your thoughts. The online session is planned for 4.30 to 5.30pm on Monday 11 October. You can register here.

Improving the feedback we give students is a key strategy to ensure that we deliver on our School Vision to personalise learning so each and every person is supported and encouraged to achieve at a high level, and to develop holistically to be the best person they can be.

Thank you to all the parents who have uploaded their child’s vaccination certificate. If you have not had the chance yet, Please use this form to submit the vaccination certificate for your child(ren) with one or more vaccine doses. It requires a Google account to upload the certificate. If you do not have a Google account, please ask your child to use their school account to complete the form. As a suggestion, you can take a photo of the vaccination certificate on a phone, save this to a file and upload it to the Google Form. You just need the photo to capture the bottom part of the certificate, below the dotted line. 

Thank you, and enjoy the long weekend.

Mark Blackshaw

Principal KGV School

We hope that families enjoy the long weekend and Year 10 students return to make the most of the last week before half-term break.

Challenge Week is fast approaching and many families will have received invoices for the activity their child has chosen. Staff will update the website page for each activity over the next few weeks and everything you need to know will be available there.

Please continue to engage your child in conversation about their studies. Reading the nightly homelearning app message is a great way to do this.

1:1 conversations are going on during tutor time at the moment. The tutor is a key person for your child. They are the one teacher who knows your child best and knows the whole journey they are on. They are vital to ensuring that we adequately care for each student in the school. Please remember to reach out to them if you think there is anything they should know in order to support, encourage and care for your child.

We hope that families enjoy the long weekend and Year 10 students return to make the most of the last week before half-term break.

Challenge Week is fast approaching and many families will have received invoices for the activity their child has chosen. Staff will update the website page for each activity over the next few weeks and everything you need to know will be available there.

Please continue to engage your child in conversation about their studies. Reading the nightly homelearning app message is a great way to do this.

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

In the blink of an eye another week comes to end and in one more week we are at the mid-term break. The Year 7 students continue to ‘be their own remarkable’ and impress us on a daily basis. 

Thank you again to those parents who came along to this week’s session where the Year 7 team spoke about the assessment data points, what they mean and how to access them. A reminder that a recording of the session was made - please click here 

Following our staff CPD last Saturday, a number of staff are trialling an explicit approach to teaching and learning, using the SLANT acronym. Following months of online learning where students could ‘mute’ the teacher, complete work from bed/ sat informally at desks, we are promoting strategies to encourage more activity learning. With students sitting up straight (S), leaning slightly forward in their chairs (L), asking questions (A), nodding to show listening and understanding (N) and taking notes (T) this strategy promotes engagement and student agency. We are beginning to see some noticeable improvements around classrooms. 

A couple of housekeeping points;

• I have followed up with a handful of parents still to complete their KGV Challenge Week forms. Please check App messages.

• There are a number of you who have yet to complete the form provided by our Challenge Week external provider. Please click here and complete asap

• Please download the Student Grant form (please click here) and complete. Return to school by 8th October (please write your child's tutor group in pencil at the top of the form

• There will be a Challenge Week online session for parents in the week commencing 18 October.

Enjoy the Public Holiday tomorrow and the long weekend.

The Year 7 Team

Dear Parents and Caregivers

In the blink of an eye another week comes to end and in one more week we are at the mid-term break. The Year 8 students continue to ‘be their own remarkable’ and impress us on a daily basis. 

A couple of housekeeping matters for this week;

• You will be receiving information regarding your child’s Challenge Week choice. Please look out for emails from the leader of the trip and make sure your child’s medical information is updated in LIONEL.

• Student Grant forms will be given to students during tutor time on Monday and must be completed and returned by Friday 8 October

Enjoy the Public Holiday tomorrow and the long weekend.

The Year 8 Team

Dear Parents and Caregivers

In the blink of an eye another week comes to end and in one more week we are at the mid-term break. The Year 9 students continue to ‘be their own remarkable’ and impress us on a daily basis. 

A couple of housekeeping matters for this week;

• You will be receiving information regarding your child’s Challenge Week choice. Please look out for emails from the leader of the trip and make sure your child’s medical information is updated in LIONEL.

• Student Grant forms will be given to students during tutor time on Monday and must be completed and returned by Friday 8 October

• Information regarding option choices will be made available to parents in next week’s newsletter. Year 9 students will be making preliminary decisions regarding their options in the week after Challenge Week

Enjoy the Public Holiday tomorrow and the long weekend.

The Year 9 Team

Year 12 tutor 1:1 meetings will begin over the next two weeks. During these meetings our tutors will be discussing goals and helping our students to set personalised targets.

Wishing you a great weekend.

As Year 13 students continue to have their 1:1 meetings with our HE Counsellors, our Year 13 tutors will begin their 1:1 meetings with your son/daughter in the coming weeks. During these meetings our tutors will be discussing goals and helping our students to set personalised targets.

Wishing you a great weekend.

Careers & H.E. Guidance

Year 11-13

Communications on Careers & H.E. The Careers Office sends out information via various channels: Student Bulletin, Careers website, Parents Newsletter, etc. Our website is regularly updated with news, enrichment programmes, scholarships and various resources.

On-campus visits. We had the largest turnout when University of Hong Kong visited us on campus yesterday. More visits are in the pipeline:

22 Oct, 13:30-14:15 @ GLT – HKUST General Admissions
27 Oct, 13:30-14:15 @ GLT – HKUST School of Science. Speaker: Prof. Angela WU, Assistant Professor (KGV alumnus, Class of 2011).

The Careers Calendar lists many university events, some of them are specific for ESF students. Refer to the Calendar for event details and registration links. Highlights of events in the coming week:

U.K.
30 Sep - UCAS/Discover Scotland
2 Oct – University of Edinburgh Virtual Open Day
5 Oct – KCL Virtual Info Session (for ESF students)
5 Oct – UCAS: Create Your Future London 2021
6 Oct – “Discovery Study in the North East” virtual session

U.S.A.
25-30 Sep - UCLA Fall Open House
30 Sep – Boston University Virtual Session (for ESF students)
30 Sep - Hear from Bates, Davidson, Oberlin, and Occidental Colleges!
3 Oct – Discover USC Virtually

Canada
4 Oct onwards – UofT various webinars for prospective students
6 Oct – University of Waterloo Virtual Tour

Japan
5 Oct – Ritsumeikan University Virtual Session (for ESF students)

Europe
3 Oct - Virtually Orange: The Online Dutch University Festival

Multi-regions
30 Sep - Unifrog University Fair: for students in Asia
4-8 Oct – Unifrog’s Global HE Week

Year 13
Year 13 1-1 H.E. meetings are still continuing. We would appreciate parents reminding their children about the meetings. They will be discussing the progress of their H.E. applications and how we can support them in the process. For those who have missed their sessions, they should contact their individual H.E. Counsellor to reschedule as soon as possible.

KGV Careers Team (careers.office@kgv.edu.hk)

Friday 1 Oct - Public Holiday 

Mon 11 Oct to Fri 15 Oct - Half Term Break 

Wed 27 Oct, 7pm - Online Speech Day 2021

Mon 1 Nov - Challenge Week

The Education Bureau has announced this year’s student grant of $2,500 which KGV students are eligible to receive.  

We are currently processing the forms for our students.  For Y7 students, parents are required to download a blank form (Form A), fill out the details and return back to the Y7 office next week.  Please indicate your child’s Tutor group on the top of the form in pencil.

For Y8-Y13 a preprinted form will be distributed to students, early next week. Please check, sign and return the form to the tutor before 8 October. 

The funds will be deposited into your indicated bank account as last year.

For more details about this grant please explore this website 

For enquiries contact Kiran, Engagement Manager, kiran.budhrani@kgv.edu.hk

Sodexo Service

For next week menu, please view in the attachment.

Please charge up your Octopus Cards with credit before coming to school.

5:45pm - 6:45pm
Guilford Lecture Theatre, KGV School

The KGV PTSA comprises a committee of parents who work closely with the school to help build community spirit, improve liaison between staff, parent and student bodies and undertake various functions that benefit the community.  These include community engagement through social, cultural and fundraising events, educational workshops, a uniform and stationery shop and an exclusive student Identity card amongst others.

Each year an Annual General Meeting is held to which all members of the King George V community are invited. The KGV PTSA encourages you to attend this meeting as it is an ideal opportunity for you to share your views and discuss matters.

For attendance please send us an email at, ptsa@kgv.edu.hk  or enquire at 2760 6660

Think about joining the PTSA Executive Committee for 2021-2022!

All you have to do is fill in the Nomination form and get this signed by an existing PTSA committee member and return to the PTSA office.

Please send your expression of interest to Kiran,KGV Engagement Manager at ptsa@kgv.edu.hk  or enquire at 2760 6660

Congratulations to Elena (Year 13), who won the first prize of the Land Economy Essay Competition hosted by the Fitzwilliam College at the University of Cambridge! Over a hundred essays were submitted for the competition this year. Elena was invited to a prize-giving ceremony at the University of Cambridge in September. Elena is passionate about climate change and wrote on whether governments should be accountable for losses and damages caused by climate change. She was very grateful to have Mr. Goff’s guidance throughout her study of economics and the preparation of this essay.

Elena's Reflection: I was lucky that I received a prompt greatly adhering to my personal interests, almost tailor-made I’d say. Climate Change is something that I hope to dedicate my future to, whether in my career or community. A prompt on climate change, through disciplines of Economics, Law, and Climate sciences, (running the risk of sounding cheesy) was nothing less than perfect to me. Throughout this journey, I was fortunate enough to have guidance from both Mr Goff, Mr Wray, and many others, inspiring, motivating, and educating me. Thank you.