Principal's message

Dear Parents and Guardians

We had a high-energy week two at KGV with our new Year 7 students maintaining their energy levels and building confidence day by day. It was like Christmas Day for some students this week with the handing out of the new laptops for those who opted into our laptop scheme. Thank you to the hundreds of parents who could attend the parent Laptop Induction session last night. A recording of the session will be sent out to parents today.

I shared the fantastic Year 13 IB Diploma and BTEC results in the newsletter last week. I can also share this week that our Year 11 students (current Year 12) achieved extraordinary (I)GCSE results, that were released yesterday. A few summary highlights include:

· 36.1% of the grades awarded were the very top marks of A*/9-8

· 60% of the grades awarded were in the A*/9-7 range

· 95.2% of the grades were passing grades A*- C/ 9-4

· The mean Grade Point Average was 6.65 (max 8)

· Just over 7% of our students achieved an incredible eight or more A*/9

We are excited about these results and proud of the hard work and dedication of our students and staff that underpin these results. Thank you to our proud parents, who are crucial to our students’ academic success.

Great schools secure academic success for all students and always look for ways to improve. Even though these academic results are impressive, we will keep striving for ways to improve the KGV student experience. This aligns with our KGV school vision that “we personalise learning so every person is supported and encouraged to achieve at a high level and to develop holistically to be the best person they can be”. The work for this academic year is full speed ahead, and we work as a learning community to ensure every student can ‘be their own remarkable.’

Of course at KGV, it is not just about academic achievement. Excitingly, our Challenge Week website launches today, with a range of activities available to students this year. Challenge Week will run from October 30th to November 3rd. Students in Years 8 to 12 will sign up for activities the week after next. Overseas travel has proven difficult with high prices and no access to group travel. Organising school trips requires significant lead time and we made the decision in April that we would focus only on our Year 11 language overseas trips this year. We hope to return to a full suite of overseas opportunities for next year.

I hope you all have a good weekend.

Kind Regards,

Mark Blackshaw

Principal, KGV School

Year 11 Message

Year 11 students have been focussed this week settling into the new year. 

Challenge Week is a part of our curriculum that addresses learning outside the classroom. It will run from October 30th to November 3rd. Many Year 11 students have signed up for overseas travel as a language immersion activity. We have close to 200 students travelling for language immersion. Unfortunately not all can travel for this. So if students do not study a language or there is no language immersion activity available, they will sign up for a HK based activity along with the rest of the school.

Challenge Week sign-up will be on September 6th and the range of activities on offer can be seen on the Challenge Week website here. Please discuss this with your child.

Year 10 Message

Year 10 students have almost completed the first full cycle of their timetable and will have been introduced to all their subjects and teachers. 

Tutor-led conferences are on September 4th. Please make an appointment to meet online with your child's tutor. This is your opportunity to build a relationship with them so you can work together to care for your child. Use the ESF App, tap Lionel and find the appointments link

Some students have asked about changing their option choices. Students can pick up a form from the Y10/11 office to request a change over the next week. Parents need to sign-off on any change. Not all change requests will be possible since some classes are full and some combinations may not work in an already existing timetable.

Challenge Week is a part of our curriculum that addresses learning outside the classroom. It will run from October 30th to November 3rd. Students will sign up for a HK-based activity on September 6th. The range of activities on offer can be seen on the Challenge Week website here. Please discuss this with your child.

Year 8 & 9 Message

We have had a productive week in Years 8 & 9, meeting new teachers, attending new subjects, finding new classrooms and meeting new classmates. In addition, on Wednesday, we had a Year 8 & 9 Assembly in the Hall and on Friday, we had a practice Fire Drill on the pitch. 

A reminder that Tuesday, 29 August, is the last CAS sign-up day. The next step is the allocation of CAS activities. If you have any questions, please direct them to the CAS Team. 

It is nearly time to release Challenge Week 2023 options and information. Students will be able to look at what is being offered in tutor time next week and will have time to talk about this with you at home. Sign-up will be in two weeks: Year 9 – Thursday, 7th September, and Year 8 – Friday, 8th September. 

Parents of Year 8 students and Parents of New Year 9 students only received an App message about Tutor Led Conferences on September 4. For Parents of Year 8 students, sign-up is now available on Lionel. For Parents of New Year 9 Parents only, sign up by emailing the tutor teacher directly. 

School Photos (Individual and Tutor Group Photo) will take place in the Hall from Monday to Thursday next week. Please make sure your child knows when their allotted time is.  

As parents, you can access Unit Information and see what your child is studying in CAT. You can view your child's subjects, unit outlines/dates, and assessment tasks/dates/results by logging into the parent app and accessing your child’s CCF page. Watch the video to help you navigate your way to CCF through the app: Logging into CCF via the ESF App. 

Have a great weekend!

Year 12 Message

Congratulations to our Year 12 students on an excellent set of IGCSE results!

As mentioned in our assembly, now that we have all of the GCSE data, from Monday 28th August students may collect a subject change request form from Mr Wightman, Ms Shum or Mr Grey in the Senior School curriculum office.

This is a 2 stage process that all students need to follow:

Firstly, the form will require students to have a conversation with the Head of Department of the subjects you are changing. If they agree to your request then you will need to ask them to politely sign in the appropriate place. Please note that they will be looking to see if you have met the pre-requisites that were in place when you were making your initial choices last year. They are not at liberty to sign the form.

Secondly, once you have all the required signatures you will then need to upload the form to this Google Form and complete the required sections: https://forms.gle/q9v88HWgrXaCaPGSA

Wishing you a great weekend!

Year 13 Message

Our Year 13 students continue to give their all at the beginning of this extremely important term.

We reminded our Year 13 students of the below items in this week’s assembly.

• The early leave / late arrival privilege is granted to Senior Students who meet and maintain expectations.
• This is only granted to Y13 students for lessons 1 and 5.
• The Year 13 team are concerned that a significant minority of students are not meeting expectations for overall attendance, punctuality and attending all scheduled lessons.
• Hopefully, early leave and late arrival will start in the coming weeks for Y13 students who met expectations over the past term.

Wishing you a great weekend.

Year 7 Message

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Thank you so much to those parents who were able to attend yesterday evening’s online Parent Session. It was wonderful to have so many of you engaging with KGV, working with our teachers to support your child, our student.

For those of you who missed the session, please click the link here for a recording. For those of you who wish to access the slides, please click here.

As parents, you can access Unit Information and see what your child is studying in CAT. You can view your child's subjects, unit outlines/dates, and assessment tasks/dates/results by logging into the parent app and accessing your child’s CCF page. Watch the video to help you navigate your way to CCF through the app: Logging into CCF via the ESF App.

A reminder that school photographs are being taken next week. All Year 7 photographs will be taken on Monday 28th August. Please click here to see the times for each tutor group. Please ask your child to write this time in their MYP planner to help them remember to be at the hall for their allocated slot.

Have a lovely weekend.

The  Year 7 Team

CAS

It’s great to see the amount of interest in the CAS program. There have been approximately 2800 active sign-ups in the last two weeks. Sign-up closes Tuesday 29th of August  and allocation is happening following this so please see some notes about what happens next:

• For any activities that are oversubscribed, the system will randomly allocate students.
• You will receive an email/App message informing you if you have been successfully placed in an activity. 
• If you are not allocated, you will remain on the waiting list and be notified when a space becomes available
• Activities will begin the week of September 11th. 
• There are a number of activities that still have space and you are welcome to browse Lionel and continue to sign up towards the end of next week. 
• For activities that require an additional fee, you will be notified of what that fee is and how to pay the provider. 

Remember to check the new KGV CAS Activities website especially designed and dedicated to all things relating to the activities program (https://www.kgvcasactivities.com/).

Useful links to help with the process:

• CAS Activity website             
• How to sign up – Student instructions
• How to sign up – Walkthrough video
• Parent Instructions (Pre-approving)
• Parent view (ESF App video)

Following a very successful pilot program in term 3 of 2023, we are excited and ready to announce the official launch of the 'KGV Lions' Chess Club, for the exclusive benefit of KGV students to develop chess proficiency, skill and performance. It is an opportunity for all students to take their chess to the next level.

Please complete this Google form if you wish your child to enrol on the program. (deadline – Tuesday 29th of August). 

• Application From (ONLY PARENTS SHOULD COMPLETE THE FORM).

In doing so, you agree to the fee of $1000 for the year-long program, which will be charged via the school e-payment system. The ESF App will then send a confirmation of the enrolment in the program.

If you have more than one child - please submit additional forms

Feedback Friday with the Principal

We’d like to invite you to join us at our upcoming Feedback Friday, a small group session where you can meet with our Principal, Mr Mark Blackshaw, who will be leading the discussion and focusing on a wide range of captivating topics that directly relate to school life.

Coming up sessions: 9:25-10:25 am, on Friday, September 1st, 15th and 29th.

Please click here to register. Each session is limited to 15 parents. A meeting link will be emailed to those registered a few days before the session/s.

For enquiries please contact the School Office at 2711 3029 or email ptsa@kgv.edu.hk

Student Wellbeing

Healthy Device Use Habits In Children With SEN

Glued to the screen?

FREE ONLINE EVENT!

Tuesday 12 September 2023

Starts At 7 pm

Presented By: Dr Mark Gandolfi, PhD, MSc, MS, BSc, Executive Director: Centre for Stress Management (HK-Thailand)

Parenting and educating wellbeing strategies for digital natives

Workshop Topics:

• Edutainment
• Managing the Spectrum of Boredom to Overstimulation
• Brain Exercises vs Brain Games
• Behaviour Management with Devices
• Future Learning Landscape: Collaborative Technology to Support Special Needs Children

See the attached flyer for more details.

Careers & H.E. Guidance

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

A very exciting September at KGV!

KGV Careers Fair, 4 Sep (12:30-14:30). The Fair is open to all students during lunch time. Students are welcome to check out the booths and ask industry experts about their work and experiences. We have enlisted guests from industries, like accounting, architecture, arts & design, aviation services, civil servants, computing/ICT, education, fire services, green technology, human resources, legal services, media production, medical doctor, performing arts, psychologist, sports & physiotherapy, veterinarian, etc.

KGV University Fair, 18 Sep (12:30-15:30). Over 120 institutions from around the world have already signed up to the Fair. All Y12 & Y13 students will be allocated Period 5 to attend the Fair. KGV parents are invited to join from 14:30 to 15:30. Check here for the latest list of participating institutions. Final information will be available in the next couple of weeks.

H.E. Visits @ KGV School (13:30-14:15). Due to the short duration, H.E. visits are open to students only.
6 Sep: University of Cambridge @ GLT
12 Sep: Purdue University @ SSC1-2
13 Sep: Bentley University, Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute & Emerson College @ SSC1-2
26 Sep: London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) @ GLT
27 Sep: CUHK Faculty of Medicine @ GLT

Year 13
We hope everyone has settled in for the first two weeks of this very challenging year.

• Y13 1-1 HE Session, starting week of 28 August. Appointment notifications were sent to students. We would appreciate parents’ help to remind students to attend the session on time.

Year 12

Students are welcome to find us in the Year 12-13 Office, if they would like any help from the Careers & H.E. Team.

• Google Classrooms.  Our HE Team is setting up Google Classrooms for Y12 students for communication on higher education issues.  Links should be sent out to students in the week of 28 August.

Our KGV Careers Calendar lists known H.E. events.
KGV is not responsible for the quality of any external events. All information is subject to change by event organisers.

International
21 Sep: Unifrog University Fair (student can log into Unifrog for details)

U.S.
29 Aug, 9 Sep & 20 Sep: Session with Brown, Columbia, Penn & Princeton (Virtual)
7 Sep: Discover USC Info Session (physical event in HK)
28 Sep: NYU/Northeastern Infor Session for ESF Students @ Sha Tin College

KGV Careers & H.E. Team

The Lion Yearbook 2022-2023

Great News... our Yearbook is off to the press and should be available at the end of September. We will email everyone in due time when it is ready for pickup, so please sit tight!

Thank you all for your support and patience!

28 August - 1 September