Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope you are all doing well. It seems that the COVID situation in Hong Kong will need some time to play out. It was announced this week that the timing of the compulsory universal testing (CUT) programme is still to be confirmed, but it looks likely that it will not happen this school term. We have contingency plans in place if and when the CUT process is instigated. Our plans focus on continuing learning, and providing flexibility for staff, students and families to complete the required tests.

At a press conference this week, the Hong Kong Chief Executive confirmed that children’s education is a high priority and as such, the Government is committed to resuming face-to-face in-person classes as soon as possible. We are hopeful that we can work with ESF and the EDB to have students back to school, at some stage after the Easter vacation in Term 3. 

At this stage, we are expecting exams for our Year 11 and Year 13 students to continue as scheduled. KGV and ESF are meeting with the Exam Boards regularly, and further updates will be coming out before the Easter holidays. There is an expectation from the Exam Boards, that we do all we can to enable our students the opportunity to sit the exams.

Again, I want to thank all our staff, students, and parents for all their support across the last few months. Our staff has been outstanding in maintaining their energy and positivity to deliver online lessons over such a sustained period. Our students are consistently engaging in online lessons, connecting with peers and completing set work. Importantly, our parents are also balancing so many work and family demands, and still providing the vital support to enable online learning to happen at home. Just a reminder to please contact your child’s tutor in the first instance, if you have any questions or concerns. It is evident that we have a whole community effort, as we are united to do all we can to ensure learning is progressing, and to keep our students connected and well.

We have been holding our usual parent Friday Feedback sessions, and they have been well attended of late. It is a great opportunity to hear parental feedback and to share our thoughts. The next session is online on Friday, 25 March at 10.30 am. Here is the link https://forms.gle/YEuW84DiBSsDc1Jp6  if you would like to register to attend.

With all that is going on, I hope you may get a chance to get outside this weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather. 

Please reach out if you have any questions, or you have suggestions on how we can do more to help ‘your child, our student’, in any way.

Stay safe.

Kind Regards,

Mark Blackshaw

Principal, KGV School

Please make sure you have booked for the Year 10 learning review next Tuesday, 15 March. This is the only time when we can get all Y10 teachers together at the same time. Please note that it is not possible for every teacher to meet with every parent, in some cases a teacher may have more than one Y10 class. If you are unable to get a booking, please email the teacher with any specific questions.

Please continue to encourage and support your child as they continue to learn, study and revise remotely. Get in touch with the tutor if you have concerns over their progress or wellbeing.

Year 10, Term 2 summaries are scheduled for release one week after Easter, but data is available live in the CCF system as assessments and grading are completed.

In Year 11, we continue to finish the syllabus for each subject and to revise and prepare for exams. We are in direct contact with each exam board and they are closely monitoring the situation in Hong Kong. They are confident exams will go ahead.

This week, Pearson Edexcel demonstrated its flexibility by altering procedures to allow German, French and Spanish oral exams to be completed online. These are likely to run next week and will contribute to final exam grades.

We will continue to meet with the GCSE exam boards and will keep you updated on any developments.

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We had an excellent Year 7 assembly on Tuesday this week, where Aaorhi Agarwal and Gemma Yeung spoke eloquently and knowledgeable about International Women's Day and their current involvement in the HK Model United Nations. I was so impressed by their confidence and enthusiasm in this space. Well done to these remarkable Year 7 students. 

Mr. Turner, our MYP coordinator led our Year 7 students through a session on ‘feed-forward’. After students had spent last week focusing on whenever they received feedback, this week they have been set the challenge of identifying when teachers give ‘feed-forward’ tips i.e. what they need to do next to take their learning even further.

This week, we are looking to collect feedback from our parents, around how our online learning programme is landing at home. Please can I ask you to take a couple of minutes to help us understand the impact of online learning in your home? Please click here for the questions. The deadline for completion is Wednesday, 16 March.

Thank you to those parents who responded to last week’s requests to a) upload their child’s vaccination records b) let us know if your family is leaving Hong Kong.

Have a good weekend.

The Year 7 Team

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

This week, as a community, we celebrated and acknowledged International Women's Day, as part of our ongoing Inclusion and Equity strategy. Tutors worked with students and looked at raising the profile of women through a variety of activities. This week was also ‘KGV Kindness Week’ where we continue to look to make kindness the norm.

Mr. Davidson, Mr. Tranter and our tutors are holding 1:1 discussions with students over the next couple of weeks, looking at academics, as well as how students are finding online learning. They will reach out to you individually should we feel we need your support in helping your child be successful. In the meantime, if your child is starting to struggle at home, please contact your child’s tutor and we will see how we can work together.

This week, we are looking to collect feedback from our parents, around how our online learning programme is landing at home. Please can I ask you to take a couple of minutes to help us understand the impact of online learning in your home. Please click here for the questions. The deadline for completion is Wednesday, 16 March.

Thank you to those parents who responded to last week’s requests to a) upload their child’s vaccination records b) let us know if your family is leaving Hong Kong.

Have a good weekend.

The Year 8 Team

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

This week, as a community, we celebrated and acknowledged International Women's Day, as part of our ongoing Inclusion and Equity strategy. Tutors worked with students on raising the profile of women through a variety of activities. This week was also ‘KGV Kindness Week’ where we continue to look to make kindness the norm.

The Year 9 students were also involved in their next Community Project day. The aims during the day were to develop their group's ideas and complete the first draft of their ‘Proposal for ACTION’.  To do this, students considered a relevant Global Context for their project and explored different ideas for taking action. Students also spent time planning for checkpoint meeting 2 with their supervisor, which will take place in the next week. It would be really helpful to ask your child what their group is planning as this will give them an opportunity to communicate out loud the details of their project.

This week, we are looking to collect feedback from our parents, around how our online learning programme is landing at home. Please can I ask you to take a couple of minutes to help us understand the impact of online learning in your home. Please click here for the questions. The deadline for completion is Wednesday, 16 March.

Thank you to those parents who responded to last week’s requests to a) upload their child’s vaccination records b) let us know if your family is leaving Hong Kong.

Have a good weekend

The Year 9 Team

We held a Zoom assembly today for all of our Year 12 and 13 students to mark the end of Kindness Week. Our Year 12 and 13 teams were blown away yet again by the positivity and resilience of our students. Our students have exemplified their maturity in their understanding, kindness and respect that has been shown to us during these extremely challenging weeks and we sincerely thank them and you for your continuous support.

We continue to communicate with IBO and Pearson in relation to our BTEC and IB students and the difficulties they are having. We are determined that our KGV students will not be disadvantaged as a result of the current measures imposed in Hong Kong.

Once again, I wish to reassure you that as soon as we are aware of any changes to the proposed examinations we will of course notify you immediately.

A reminder that our Monday timetable has a Period 3 and 5 swap for next week, to allow for a change in subjects to be asynchronous.

Wishing you a great weekend.

We held a Zoom assembly today for all of our Year 12 and 13 students to mark the end of Kindness Week. Our Year 12 and 13 teams were blown away yet again by the positivity and resilience of our students. Our students have exemplified their maturity in their understanding, kindness and respect that has been shown to us during these extremely challenging weeks and we sincerely thank them and you for your continuous support.

Year 12, Term 2 summaries are scheduled for release one week after Easter, but data is available live in the CCF system as assessments and grading are completed.

A reminder that our Monday timetable has Period 3 and 5 swap for the next week, to allow for a change in subjects to be asynchronous.

Wishing you a great weekend.

Parents will be able to access an audio recording of the weekly newsletter in Mandarin, Korean and Hindi. These audio recordings will be available to parents by the Monday following the issuing of the newsletter. Please click here to access where the recordings will be stored. This is a new initiative and we are very much in a trial stage. If you have any feedback on how we could improve, or indeed could offer a translation service for us in another language, please email me at carole.beer@kgv.edu.hk.

Mon 14 Mar Monday Only P3 and 5 swap (live on Lionel)

Tue 15 Mar Year 10 Learning Review 

Wed 16 to Thu 17 Mar Year 11 European Language Orals 

Y13 Higher Education applications
Communication between students & their H.E. Counsellors are key. This is especially so when application deadlines for many institutions are fast approaching. Submitting an application without informing the H.E. Counsellor in advance may result in missed relevant documents to support applications. Students are reminded that they MUST inform their H.E. Counsellors of applications they are making, to ensure that supporting documents are sent in time.

Y12 1-1 H.E. meeting
The HE Counsellors are continuing the 1-1 meetings with our Y12 students. The meeting is an opportunity for students to discuss their post-KGV plans and intentions. Students have received their appointment details. They need to complete a questionnaire at least 48 hours before their meeting to facilitate a meaningful and constructive conversation with their H.E. Counsellors. Parents are reminded that students will be individually online with their own H.E. Counsellor during these one-to-one conversations, please reach out to the Careers Team (careers.office@kgv.edu.hk) if this is of concern.

Details of the Yr 12 HE presentation series will be released to the Yr 12’s during tutor time on the 16 March.

Careers Website
Our website is full of information on, summer/enrichment programmes, scholarships, careers & higher education resources, etc. Check this link for more.

External Events
Our Careers Calendar lists many university events. Refer to the Calendar for event details and registration links. Some highlights in the coming weeks:

U.K.
- 15 Mar: Loughborough University – Student Experience
- 17 Mar: University of Warwick: Just Ask: STEM Student Panels
- 30 Mar-22 Apr: University of Cambridge Subject Masterclass Series for Y12 students

Europe
- Various dates in March: Les Roches Masterclasses
- 12 Mar: Utrecht University Bachelor’s Open Day
- 17 Mar: Bocconi University Open Class for High School Students: Economics & Sustainability
- 19 Mar: Hanze UAS, Groningen Webinar
- 19 Mar: Tilburg University Online Bachelor’s Open Day
- 26 Mar: Franklin University, Switzerland Virtual Open Day

U.S.A.
- 14-18 Mar: US Consulate Education Connection Progra

Hong Kong
- 19 Mar: CityU Undergraduate Open Day

Australia
- 22 Mar: Charles Darwin University Live Info Session: International Students

KGV Careers Team

School reference (non-higher education purposes) (Link to policy on Lionel)

The Careers Office coordinates all KGV student references including exit & summer schools. All requests should be directed to careers.office@kgv.edu.hk. Please allow at least 4-6 work weeks for teachers to work on school references. School references for higher education applications are done in a separate process.

Friday 25 March 2022, 10:30am

We are committed to supporting 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 personalised, 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 online from 10:30am to 11:15am, and are limited to 15 parents.

Our upcoming session will be on Friday, 25 March 2022.

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 this form.

Our congratulations to Kasper Wu (Year 8) for his accomplishment in The Hong Kong Environmental Writers’ Competition 2021.

Kasper achieved the top prize in the Junior Category of the Hong Kong Environmental Writers’ Competition. The theme of the Year was ‘Tackling Air Pollution and its Effects in Urban Communities’. His winning piece is a critical essay “Portray the “Clean air for good health" under the shared clear sky from a new perspective of the imminent aging problem in Hong Kong” with his primary research of the perception on air pollution’s impact on health in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Environmental Writers’ Competition is organized by the Clean Air Student Council and the Clean Air Network (https://www.hongkongcan.org/hk/) for all secondary school students in Hong Kong. Each year, The Clean Air Conference serves as a platform for writers and students from different schools to gather together and learn more on the issue of air pollution and sustainability.