Dear Parents and Guardians,

It was a rather odd feeling this week, arriving at school and not needing to stop for a temperature check or complete any other COVID checks! Most of our students are not wearing masks now; and participating in various activities. It is wonderful that many of our students are starting to enjoy the full range of KGV experiences for the first time. It is incredible that our current Year 10s were in Year 7 in February 2020 when the pandemic started to impact and close schools. The KGV student experience for more than three years has been anything than usual, and it is pleasing for them to experience nearly a whole year without interruptions to face-to-face learning. 

I would again like to thank the parent community for all their support since the pandemic started to impact CNY in 2020. The crisis has strengthened our KGV community and built higher trust and confidence in our partnerships with parents. This places us in a strong position as we move through this phase of the pandemic to take KGV to an even better place in supporting our students to be their remarkable versions of themselves. 

We are working hard with our Year 11 and Year 13 students in the final few weeks of their face-to-face classes. Our teachers will support our students during the exam period and be available for face-to-face and online exam tutorials for every scheduled lesson on the student’s current timetable. We also offer a range of subject-specific holiday tutorial programmes across the Easter break. These programmes will be run by teachers who can do so across the holidays.

I look forward to experiencing some ‘Rock Music’ at tonight's annual KGV Lion Rock show. My ears may still be ringing tomorrow morning, as I well and truly show my age!

I hope you all have a good weekend.  

Mark Blackshaw

Principal, KGV School

Year 8 & 9 Message

Several competitions, activities and significant events have taken place for Maths Week. All students enthusiastically participated in the Interhouse Maths Relays, proudly representing their houses. Congratulations to all those who participated in the daily maths competitions. When writing this newsletter, Avery Leung of 9C10 won the ‘Samurai Sudoku’, and Estella Lau of 8C05 won the ‘Carl the Kangaroo’ competition. 

The Music Department is encouraging students to sign up for Friday Lunch Choirs. If students are interested, they should sign up on their Lionel CAS activities page and go along on Friday at lunchtime. Years 7-8 in MS202 and Years 9-13 in MS201.

As we head into the last two weeks of Term 2, it is good to remind your child of our KGV Expectations:

• swipe in by 8:10 am. 

  • KGV School promotes excellent punctuality records across all years to ensure that students and staff have the maximum possible time to enable effective teaching and learning to be carried out. A reminder is that students who swipe into school after 8.10 am are considered late. With two weeks of Term 2 left, a few Year 8 & 9 students are accumulating many 'unexplained lates' to school. Please see our KGV Punctuality Guidelines for more information and our tiered response. 

• be in complete and correct uniform (including shoes). 

  • A reminder that when students are in KGV uniform, including PE and Drama shorts, skorts and shirts, all items should be ESF/KGV branded items and comply with our KGV Dress Code. 

• check timetables and bring PE or Drama kit as necessary

• bring the correct textbooks and stationery according to their timetable

• use lockers to store items throughout the school day

Interhouse Maths Relay

Have a great weekend.

Year 12 Message

We have had a hugely successful InterHouse Maths Week at KGV, and our Year 12 students displayed excellent numerical (and athletic) ability in today’s Maths relay. Well done to everyone for taking part in what was another example of our fantastic KGV House spirit back in action!

We wish our Year 12 BTEC students the very best of luck as they begin their Internships on Monday. We hope this proves to be an invaluable learning experience for them; I’m sure that they can use it to their advantage as they begin to network and build important and lasting relationships with possible future employers.

There is also a great buzz around our campus in the build-up to Lion Rock Festival this evening, and no earplugs are required!

Wishing you a great weekend.

Year 13 Message

We are working closely with our Year 13 students in the final few weeks of their time at KGV. Our BTEC students will continue after the Easter break to finish off any outstanding units of work. Our Year 13 teachers will support our students during the exam period and be available for face-to-face and online exam tutorials for scheduled lessons on the student’s current timetable. As Mr Blackshaw has stated, we also offer a range of subject-specific holiday tutorial programmes across the Easter break. These programmes will be run by teachers who have availability across the holidays.

Finally, there is also a great buzz around our campus in the build-up to Lion Rock Festival this evening, and no earplugs are required!

Wishing you a great weekend.

Year 10 Message

We ran an assembly for Year 10 students this week where Mr Blackshaw discussed a whole school review of our curriculum and how they might be involved in providing input and suggestions.

We also talked about the use of AI tools, in particular chatGPT, as revision and study helpers and how they need to take care with the use of these tools for school assignments and assessments.

We spent some time discussing the nature of stress so that students can become better at managing this and reminded them of the importance of sleep and the impact it can have.

We continue to work with our Year 10 students on uniform standards. They are improving, although some need a reminder that PE kit is only worn to and from school, if you have PE period one or period 5.

Year 7 Message

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We have enjoyed a week full of Maths! Inter-House Maths competitions have taken place this week, with a special celebration for Pi day!

We continue to support our Year 7 students and reinforce our values of Courage, Honesty and Empathy. If you could talk to them at home about these values, we would appreciate this.

As we come towards the end of Term 2, we want our Year 7s to finish strong. Please remind them of the need to wear their uniform smartly and be fully prepared for lessons, bringing with them all their necessary equipment. 

Next week we will be selling tickets for our annual Evening of Music and Dance, due to take place on Thursday 30th March at 6.30 pm. Tickets are $40, and students can buy them at lunchtime. Parents are also invited to what is always a highlight in the KGV calendar.

Have a good weekend.

Year 11 Message

There are only 15 more days of lessons for our Year 11 students before their study leave begins. Friday, 21 April, will be the last day of lessons, one week after the Easter break.

In assembly this week, we talked about the use of AI tools, in particular chatGPT, as revision and study helpers and how they can be thoughtful with the prompts they provide in order to get quizzes, explanations, feedback and targeted assistance from them.

We also spent some time discussing the nature of stress so that students can become better at managing this, and we reminded them of the importance of sleep and the impact it can have.

The finalised timings for GCSE exams are being worked on now, and we hope to have these to you soon. In the meantime, here are the dates for each GCSE exam this year.

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.

HE Resources via Google Classroom for Y12 & Y13. All resources for higher education applications are available via Google Classroom, including internal deadlines. Students should look out for announcements & reminders. Y13s should ensure they are keeping their paces with applications.

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 the 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.

Year 13

• Close communication with HE Counsellors. Apart from keeping to internal deadlines, students should work closely with their HE Counsellors and keep informed of their HE applications. Any missed communication may result is a delay in providing necessary support for applications, which may result in missed offers.
• Application Status & Offers. Applicants are starting to receive offer decisions. Students should have regular communications with their HE Counsellors on their application status.
• IBO Result Service.  Students doing IBDP or IB courses are recommended to subscribe to the IBO Result Service that sends student’s final results to the institution they specify.  Students were briefed at Tutor Time on 2 Mar on how to do this.  Our Exam Office is coordinating this service and an email was sent to Y13 students about subscribing to this service.  For queries about IBO Result Service, please email exam@kgv.edu.hk.
• Y13 Exit plan.  Careers & H.E. Team briefed our Class of 2023 on exit plan at Tutor Time on 16 March.  A parent presentation is planned after the Easter break.

Year 12

• 1-1 session with HE Counsellors. The 1-to-1 meetings are completed, except for those who missed their schedule appointments. These students should reach to their individual H.E. Counsellor at the soonest.
• BTEC Internship (W1: 20-24 March; W2: 27-31 March). We are very excited for our BTEC students’ internships starting next week.  All students have received details of their individual internships, and are reminded etiquettes and expectations.  We sincerely hope that they will have a great experience in the coming two weeks.

KGV School References

The KGV Careers Office is coordinating all references for students. KGV School has a closed reference policy. School references are treated with the strictest confidentiality and are sent only to the institution that makes a request. Students and their families do not get to see their school reference.

• Reference for Y13s’ higher education application: All current Y13 students have a school reference in place as one of the support school documents. There is no need for students to make a request. Students should work closely with their H.E. Counsellor for their applications.
• References for non-higher education purposes, including potential exit, summer school, scholarship, etc.: Parents should inform the Careers Office by email, providing purpose and contact for sending the reference. The normal lead time for teachers to work on school references is 4-6 working weeks.

University Events on the KGV Careers Calendar

Highlight of upcoming events:

University visit @ KGV, during lunch time at Senior Student Common Room

17 Mar: Massey (New Zealand) & Falmouth
20 Mar: Leeds Beckett
21 Mar: Nottingham, York, Cardiff, Leicester, Durham, Exeter, York & Huddersfield
17 Apr: BMHS
18 Apr: Calgary
19 Apr: Keele

Hong Kong
19 Mar: HKOSA Youth Summit 2023
26 Mar: HK Aspiring Medics & Scientists Conference
1 Apr: BEC x NESS Green Jobs Fair

U.K.
Mar-Apr (various dates): UCL Spring into STEM Lecture Series
24 Mar: U of Bath Parent session: Supporting your child: Student finance, scholarships, bursaries & budgeting

Europe
Mar-Apr (various dates): Carl Benz School of Engineering webinars

Canada / U.S.
March (various dates): Toronto Metropolitan University various sessions and mock lectures

Australia
1 Apr: U of Sydney – Meet Sydney Virtual Info Session

KGV Careers & H.E. Team

KGV Sporting Stories

Congratulations to Chloe Chiu in Year 8, who just returned from her inline roller competition in Singapore, representing Hong Kong in the 7th ASEAN Open Inline Freestyle Championship. In this competition, there were more than 100 competitors from 11 countries.

Chloe participated in three events and won gold and silver medals in two events for Hong Kong!  

Chloe won a gold medal in the Youth Women category (13-18 yr olds) for Speed Slalom and a silver medal in the Youth Women category for Battle Slide.

On Tuesday the 14th of March, students, parents and teachers took part in an event to support ‘My Freedom Day’ in a big way with its annual Sweatshop Challenge. King George V International School and Hong Kong International School participated simultaneously in a unique challenge that tested their endurance and bring awareness to a critical issue. The challenge involved spending one hour performing a repetitive task - putting nuts on bolts and taking them off - while simulating the harsh realities of working for no pay.

The experience was a powerful one for the particpants, who then joined a feedback session to reflect on their emotions and share their experiences.  The challenge doesn't end there! KGV students will compete to see who can raise the most awareness on modern slavery in Hong Kong, with the help of Photography Prop Kits provided by the organizers. 

Students are encouraged along with their friends to come down to the KGV reception over the next few days to take photos. 

For social engagements, students should tag the school's social media account (kgv_hk for Instagram, and ESF King George V School for Facebook) with the following hashtags to be counted as one entry in the competition:

• #SweatshopChallenge
• #MyFreedomDay
• #SlaveFreeWorld

For 20-24 March