Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope this message finds you well. As we move towards the Lunar New Year break, I would like to say well done to the Year 11 students who are just completing their mock exams. As they start to receive their feedback, they will be challenged to consider what they did well, their areas for improvement and how they will make these next steps in learning. This is a key part of their learning process, and the Year 11 teachers will be supporting the students every step of the way as they move towards their final exams. 

On Friday, there was a key moment for our new Year 12 Student Leadership team. They have been working alongside senior leaders to consider what we mean by leadership, how we live our values, and how they can make a difference for the KGV community. I am sure this was a challenging and rewarding day for them, and they will be sharing the outcomes of this work with the wider student community in due course.

Next week will bring a further festive feeling to KGV. The Chinese team is providing a wide range of experiences to help our students celebrate Lunar New Year. This includes a Chinese New Year Carnival in collaboration with Education University of Hong Kong on Wednesday that focuses on a range of cultural activities, plus our traditional assembly on Thursday. An exciting week lies ahead and a big thank you to all involved in these activities.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Best regards,

Mark Poulsum

Year 12 & 13 Message

We have had another very busy and successful week at KGV where our Year 12 students received a Drugs Information and Education talk during our assembly on Wednesday. Great fun was had by all and prizes were given out. Our students received valuable information around laws and responsibilities in Hong Kong from the visiting Hong Kong Police Force.

Our newly appointed student leaders took part in our Leadership Training day today and enjoyed presentations from our KGV Senior Leadership Team around managing their wellbeing, delivering on our Mission, Vision and Values, combined with managing meeting behaviours and building relationships. We hope the students enjoyed the training today and look forward to working with them as part of our KGV Leadership team this calendar year.

Many of our Year 13 students completed their Mock language orals this week and we continue to support our Year 13 students with supports and interventions where necessary in the coming weeks.

Wishing you a great weekend.

Year 10 students will be joined by their Year 11 peers again next week as the Year 11's return from their mock exams. In tutor time they will share their experiences and learnings. This will help Year 10's start to imagine what it will be like for them and start to get prepared.

Next week is shortened and we will finish at 12 pm on Thursday for the Lunar New Year break. 

On that day we hope to publish the semester 1 summary to families. This combines all the assessment results so far this year into a single document. This will be a good moment to discuss progress with your child and whether they believe they are on target to achieve their goals.

During their term two PSHE programme, Year 10 students will participate in weekly Relationships and Sexualities Education (RSE) lessons. Students will learn about healthy relationships, the human body, sexual behaviour, the reproductive cycle, and how to evaluate behaviours in digital relationships.

Year 10 lessons will cover topics such as;

• Healthy, empathetic and safe relationships
• Consent, contraceptives and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
• Digital safety in relationships

Relevant resources, curriculum documents and signposts for support are available on the PSHE website

Well done to all Year 11 students for completing a challenging set of mock examinations over the last two weeks. Year 11 students are back on their regular timetable next Monday. Please note that it is a shortened week and we finish at 12 pm on Thursday for the Lunar New Year.

Following the New Year break, students will begin to get feedback from their teachers regarding their performance in the mock exams. In class and during tutor time they will be asked to reflect on what went well during the mocks and to consider areas for improvement before the final exams. 

Exam leave for the final exams begins two weeks after the Spring break, giving students 8 weeks of classes to prepare.  Year 11 teachers and tutors will be supporting them intensely over the next 8 weeks. This period of time is very important for students to hone their revision skills and put in place suggestions from their mock exams.

Shortly after the New Year break we will publish a mock exam report with grades and specific feedback from each subject teacher. 

During their term two PSHE programme, Year 11 students will participate in weekly Relationships and Sexualities Education (RSE) lessons. Students will learn about healthy relationships, the human body, sexual behaviour, the reproductive cycle, and how to evaluate behaviours in digital relationships.

Year 11 students will participate in RSE lessons, which cover a range of topics, including;

Relevant resources, curriculum documents and signposts for support are available on the PSHE website

Congratulations to our Year 8 and 9 students who performed in the Year 8 and 9 Assembly this week: Penelope Hackett, Suri Ho, Hill Liu and Hailey Yuen, who played ‘Minor Swing’, made famous by Django Reinhardt. We also had an Oboe performance from Even Chan, who played “Gabriel’s Oboe” by Ennio Morricone.

If your child is not involved in KGV Music, Music CAS Clubs are available where students learn instruments in groups. Students should contact Ms Carlile to get involved. In addition, the Junior Orchestra starts straight after the CNY break on Tuesdays at 3.30 pm, and the Junior Choir starts after IH Music on Friday lunchtimes in March. If your child wants to get a band together, please get in touch with Mr Anderson in the Music Department. 

In our Assemblies this week, Mr Tranter focused on what it means to be a good audience member and how we should behave whether we are in an assembly on the field or in the hall: 

• No talking, eating or drinking

• We face the stage - we don’t sit in a circle, 

• We pay attention to what is being said and performed, 

• We leave our phones in our bags.  

• We show our appreciation appropriately.

In our Assembly, we also celebrated our Year 8 & 9 students who achieved our KGV Honour Student Award for Term 1. The award acknowledges those students who have met the KGV expectations of attendance, punctuality, uniformity, and positive behaviour. 

Lastly, we congratulated Owen Xu from 08R11, who achieved “Best in Year in the UK Maths Trust - Senior Mathematical Challenge 2023”. 

On Thursday, 8 February, we hope to publish the Semester 1 Summary to families. This combines all the assessment results this year into a single document. This will be an excellent moment to discuss progress with your child and whether they believe they are on target to achieve their goals.

Important Dates Coming Up: 

• Lunar New Year break is February 8th with a noon finish, and it is a casual dress day.

• Year 9 options will be open for final choices between February 20th and 25th

• Year 8 options will be available between February 26th and March 3rd for preliminary language choices in lessons)

MYP Approaches to Learning (ATL) Focus for our Parent Newsletter: Communication Skills - Giving and Receiving Feedback

Giving and receiving feedback mainly aims to improve or develop something. Feedback allows your child to keep learning. 

When giving or receiving back, it is essential to be clear about what is being said. Your child should see feedback as a positive; never think of it as a negative. Feedback may come from friends, parents, teachers or other members of your child's team. 

The following guidelines will help your child give and receive helpful information and feedback:

• Make the feedback meaningful; avoid saying what you think the other person wants to hear; feedback must be honest. 

• Exemplify your feedback points, as this will help make it more meaningful. 

• You can use the sandwich technique - please include a positive point before and after a point of constructive criticism. 

• Ask the person ‘what if’ questions: this helps them think about various alternatives and perspectives. 

• When you receive feedback, wait to respond immediately; critically think about it and then do the Pros, Cons, Issues Thinking Tool to check on it.

• Take care about what you say and hear, as people can tell you if you don't care and will stop engaging in feedback sessions with you.

• Never encourage or accept a “victim” mentality of blaming, justifying and storytelling; feedback only works if you are willing to accept it. 

One of the best ways for your child to develop their ability to give and receive feedback is to consider their Emotional Management, looking at how they manage their emotions and impulses. 

Additional Actions for Parents:

What are two things that you can do to improve your child's giving and receiving feedback?

Have a great weekend. 

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We have had another busy week in Year 7, supporting many students as they continue to develop the skills necessary to be successful members of the committee. We are hoping to organise a time to speak to all  Year 7 students and introduce a Year 7 Community Contract, where we commit to treating each other with kindness,  whilst demonstrating empathy and courage. We will share more information with you next week.

Next week is shortened and we will finish at 12 pm on Thursday for the Lunar New Year break. Thursday will also be a CNY-themed Dress Casual Day, where we will collect HK$20 per student for our school charities. We will also host a CNY assembly, where I know a number of our Year 7 students are performing.

Next Thursday, we hope to publish the semester 1 summary to families. This combines all the assessment results so far this year into a single document. This will be a good moment to discuss progress with your child and whether they believe they are on target to achieve their goals.

Have a good weekend.

The Year 7 Team

Careers & H.E. Guidance

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

Year 13
- Universities have started sending out offers. Students are most welcome to chat with their HE Counsellors any time.
- If students plan to take a gap year or apply to Australia after graduation, we would appreciate it if they can inform their HE Counsellors about their plans so that we can support them when it’s time for them to make their applications.
- In the coming months, we will be doing an exit presentation for students and parents highlighting important action points.

Year 12
- ESF University Fair on 2 Feb @ South Island School. The Careers & H.E. Team took a group of Year 12 students to the Fair.  Hope they had the opportunity to learn more about their post-KGV pathway options.
- Y12s’ 1-to-1 meeting with their HE Counsellors.  The meetings started earlier this week.  Students should be receiving email with their individual appointments.
- Term 2 is when we start engaging our Y12s on post-secondary aspects, including presentations, individual 1-to-1 meeting with HE Cousellors, parents evening, etc. Stay tuned.
- Google Classrooms. Our HE Team has set up Google Classrooms for Y12 students for communication on higher education issues.

Enrichment/Summer Programmes
- Students may start thinking about their plans for enrichment/summer. Our Careers website has a page that lists known opportunities by region. Check this page for ideas.
- KGV does not take responsibility for the content or quality of external events and courses.
- If students need school references to support their application to enrichment/summer programmes, they should email careers.office@kgv.edu.hk. Our normal lead time for teachers to work on recommendations is 4-6 working weeks.

KGV Careers Calendar
Check our KGV Careers Calendar for known H.E. events. Some highlighted events are:

KGV is not responsible for the quality of any external events. All information is subject to change by event organisers.

Visit @ KGV
22 Feb, after school: UCL, KCL & Imperial.
6 Mar, Lunch: Canadian universities mini-fair

Europe
13 Feb & 16 Feb: Carl Benz School Info Sessions

KGV Careers & H.E. Team

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

The KGV Careers Office coordinates all our student references including exit & summer schools.

For students’ privacy, parents must give KGV their permission to release their child’s reference to a specific list of schools they are applying to. KGV only liaise directly with those schools with parents' permission.

To facilitate a smooth reference process, parents are suggested to contact the Careers Office (careers.office@kgv.edu.hk) with a list of institutions and names of teachers nominated to write references. Please allow at least 4-6 working weeks for teachers to work on school references. School references for higher education applications are done in a separate process.

If students are pursuing gifted and talented programmes outside of KGV, they should contact Mr. Krishin Hotwani directly.

KGV Careers & H.E. Team

5 - 7 February

Please note that it will be half day of school on 8th February 2024; no lunches will be provided:

- Leo’s (7.30 am - 12.00 pm) for coffee, breakfast and pastries

- Main Canteen (10.30 am - 12.00 pm) for siu mai, fish ball and canned drinks