Dear Parents and Guardians,

As you will likely be aware, next week is the mid-term break. Many of our students will appreciate the break and the chance to recharge for the second half of the term, which finishes on December 16th.

We return to school on Monday 24th of October, and then we have our Challenge Week activities the week after. We have worked hard to finalise arrangements for the 50-plus activities on offer. The Challenge Week programme is extensive and provides a range of activities for students to challenge themselves and engage in experiential learning.

We are looking to try a new approach to parent and teacher interviews (called Learning Reviews) this year. We discussed the concept in some detail with parents at our recent PTSA meeting, where they endorsed our opinion that parents see the Learning Reviews with subject teachers as a valuable type of reporting and feedback. The challenge in the past is that scheduled interviews across an evening for a specific year level never provide enough appointment slots for parents to see all the teachers they wish to see.

To address this, we plan to concentrate all Learning Review interviews on two days, Wednesday, 23rd November and Thursday, 1 December and the evening of December 6th. We expect that these times will provide enough opportunity for every parent to speak to all subject teachers of their son or daughter. On the two days of interviews, students will be provided with detailed work they can access online via Google Classrooms.

Thank you to all parents who have updated the ESF App with vaccination records. We appreciate that some of you may arrange for students to receive an injection during the holidays and the following weeks. Please keep updating vaccination records via the ESF App by tapping on the Lionel VLE, scrolling down to COVID-19 Vaccination Pass and tapping on the blue ‘here’ button.

Please note that during the half-term break, teachers may set an automated email response this week. If you need urgent assistance, please get in touch with the School Reception at 2711 3029 or office@kgv.edu.hk; otherwise, the teacher will reply as needed when school resumes.

Have a good weekend.

Mark Blackshaw

Principal, KGV School

We hope students enjoy a well-earned break next week and return refreshed on 24 October. 

Congratulations to Saanvi Bhandari in Y11 who won second place in an essay writing competition titled “What Gandhi means to me” organised by the Consulate General of India.

There are a number of assessments happening over the next month or so and we are reminding students that these produce feedback and should be helpful in their preparation for the final exams. While we want students to prepare and take the assessments seriously, we don't want them to be anxious or overly worried about the results. They are the feedback and only help them prepare for the actual exams next year in May.

Please watch out for any signs of anxiety with your child and get in touch if we can help.

This week, students were reminded of the senior school academic pathways available to them in Year 12. We will ask them to make preliminary choices in November. These choices are indicative only and can be changed when we make the actual choices next February. Here is the options presentation given by Mr Wightman. Your child has access to detailed subject descriptions through Lionel.

We hope our Year 10 students enjoy some time to rest next week and return with enthusiasm on 24 October.

There are a number of assessments happening over the next month or two and we are reminding students that these produce feedback and should be helpful in their preparation for the final exams. While we want students to prepare and take the assessments seriously, we don't want them to be anxious or overly worried about the results. They are the feedback and only help them get ready for the actual exams in May 2024.

Please watch out for any signs of anxiety with your child and get in touch if we can help.

We held an assembly this week for our Year 12 and 13 students where we discussed the importance of our Senior Students acting as positive role models for our younger students around our campus. We value our Senior Students’ support and assistance in ensuring KGV is an inclusive and welcoming place for all.

We wish all of our Year 12 and 13 students a pleased and restful half-term break.

Our Year 8/9 Student Council was launched during Tutor Time on Thursday. Mr. Tranter went through some organisational points and our student representatives were given the opportunity to provide feedback. Before our next meeting, student representatives will be allowed to give feedback to their tutor groups and collect student opinions to bring back to the council. 

Half term break is here! 

Please encourage and support your child to have a good balance of indoor and outdoor activities over the mid-term break. One approach that promotes balance and wellbeing is ‘The KG5 Ways to Wellbeing’ which encourage us to: CONNECT - Talk & Listen, Be There, Feel Connected, BE ACTIVE - Do what you can. Enjoy what you do, TAKE NOTICE - Remember the simple things that give you joy, KEEP LEARNING - Embrace new experiences, See opportunities, Surprise yourself, GIVE - Your time, Your words, Your presence. For more wellbeing support please see our KGV wellbeing website https://sites.google.com/kgv.hk/wellbeing/home 

We hope students enjoy their well-earned break and return refreshed on October 24th.

Year 7 Message

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We made it to the half term break! Your children, our students have done an amazing job over the past 8 weeks. We have seen them grow in confidence and have enjoyed watching them grow into impressive KGV students.

Students fully deserve a real break and need time to relax, refresh and to get ready for the opportunities ahead in the next half term,

We will spend the first week back making sure students are ready for Challenge Week. It has been wonderful to see them take part in our cycling at tutor time. If your child is nervous or just needs a bit more practice, please can you help them to spend a bit of time over the holiday developing their cycling skills.

A reminder that we have a Year 7 Parent Challenge Week Information Session on Tuesday 25th October, online at 6.30pm. We will run through the activities and help you prepare for the week. All of the activities will start and finish at KGV, but we do have some flexibility around the day students spend in Sai Kung, and can allow students to meet the bus in Sai Kung and/or make their own transport arrangements home. If you live in Sai Kung and/or would like to take advantage of this arrangement, please click here. This form also highlights which day your child will be in Sai Kung. This arrangement is only possible for the Sai Kung day.

Wishing you and your family a lovely half term break. 

The Year 7 team

Careers & H.E. Guidance

Our email address: careers.office@kgv.edu.hk.

KGV Careers Website is another platform where we share information and resources on higher education, scholarship, external events, enrichment programmes and many more.

Year 13

• 1-1 H.E. meetings. Most of our Y13 students should have met with their HE Counsellors to discuss their post-KGV moves. If they haven’t done so, they should get in touch with the Careers Team at the soonest.
• Student official full names are used on school transcripts. We would like to ask parents to check that their children’s official full name in school record matches that on their identity documents. This is especially so when students are known in school by their preferred names which may not be their official names. Unmatched names may cause difficulties with university offers.
• Google Classroom. All resources for Y13 higher education applications are available via Google Classroom, including internal deadlines.  Please be mindful of upcoming internal deadlines: 26 Oct for USA & HK early applications.

University Events on the KGV Careers Calendar

Highlight of upcoming events:

Hong Kong
15 Oct: CUHK Info Day
15 Oct: CUHK-Tsinghua University Dual Degree Programme in Economics web sessions
22 Oct: CityU Info Day
22 Oct: HKBU Info Day
29 Oct: HKU Info Day
29 Oct: Education University Info Day
5 Nov: HKUST Info Day

U.K.
19 Oct: LSE Discovery Sessions - Undergraduate
21 Oct: The Medic Portal Webinar: Tips for the BMAT Essay
21 Oct: St. George's University Webinar: How to become a doctor in the UK
22 Oct: UAL Art & Design Portfolio Workshop
25-28 Oct: University of Edinburgh – Engineering Virtual Sessions
28 Oct: The Medic Portal Webinar: Introduction to Med School Interviews (2023 entry)
28 Oct: Cambridge Applicant Webinar Series

U.S.A. / Canada
15 Oct: U of Toronto Virtual Fall Campus Day
18 Oct: Augustana Possible webinar
19 Oct: UC Personal Insight Question Workshop for First Year Students
20 Oct: Northeast Public Universities At A Glance
27 Oct: EducationUSA 101: Intro to U.S. Higher Education (Cantonese)

Japan
22, 29 Oct: Ritsumeikan University Mini Lectures Series

Europe
15 Oct: Saint Leo University Fall Virtual Open House
22 Oct: RCSI Undergraduate Virtual Open Day
27 Oct: Bocconi University Open Classes for High School Students
27 Oct: EU Business School Webinar

KGV Careers Team

Parent Resources 

As part of our parent partnership, we would like to share with you two recordings of recent talks we have hosted on very important topics, Sleep and Friendships, found from our recent wellbeing survey. Sleep and friendships are crucial to the wellbeing and belonging of a teen and we hope that these resources will support you and your family.  

Understanding Teenage Friendships and Loneliness
The slides for this talk

Sleep Management for Better Performance

 
Our Prepare to Fly Challenge Week activity is seeking individuals who may work or know of people who work in the aviation industry to provide a short talk to our students.
 
There is strong interest in this activity because of its links to aviation and we are keen to get a wide range of speakers to talk to our students about their life working in the aviation industry (any sector). 
 
The talk will take place during week Monday 31st October - Friday 4th November 2022 (excluding Wednesday 2nd November), during school hours and to approximately ten students at a time.
 
If you or you know someone who may be interested in speaking to our students please contact Mr Grey (greyt2@kgv.hk) or Mr Hotwani (hotwak1@kgv.hk)  for further information.