Principal's Message

Dear KGV Families,

I hope this email finds you well. This week has been an exciting one with KGV in full flow. We enjoyed a range of sports events, visits to KJS theatre performances, Y12 students participating in AYP, and planning towards our Chinese New Year Celebrations. It has also been great to see so many students participating in CAS activities as our programme for term 2 started. Such a rich range of experiences could not happen without the dedication of KGV staff, and I would like to share my appreciation of their work. 

ESF and KGV are fully committed to continuing to provide opportunities to further develop our talented staff. I am pleased to announce a pioneering pilot programme set to commence after the Lunar New Year, involving a vice principal swap between KGV and Island School. 

Kiely Murphy, one of KGV’s Vice Principals, will swap with Gayle Marshall who is a Vice Principal at Island School.

This initiative will run for 18 months, subject to review and the option to extend at the end of this time. We believe this will provide an invaluable opportunity for our vice principals to exchange ideas, strategies, and best practices with other secondary school leaders and teams. The programme aims to enhance leadership skills, foster collaboration, and enrich the educational experiences of our students and staff. I  look forward to the positive impact this programme will have on our leaders and school communities.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Kiely for her outstanding leadership over the last 5 years. Her expertise, professionalism and caring nature has made a significant difference to our community and I know she will have a positive impact at Island School as she continues to develop her senior leadership experience. I am sure Kiely will keep in close contact with the KGV community across the next 18 months.

Have an enjoyable weekend ahead.

Best regards,

Mark Poulsum

Important dates for our Year 13 Students below:

3 April Y13 IB Students Last Official Day - Study Leave 

28 May Graduation Ceremony

30 May Graduation Dinner

The Lunar New Year break starts at 12:15 today and students will return to school on Tuesday February 4th.

On behalf of the Year 12 & 13 team, I hope you have a lovely Lunar New Year holiday with your family.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Year 10 Message

Year 10 students continue to have tutor time to themselves as the Year 11s are on study leave.

Please be aware that next Friday is a dress casual day with HK$20 donations going to our school charities.

School finishes at 12 pm with buses going at 12.15 pm.

Year 12 & 13 Message

We would like to congratulate our Year 13 students for making it through to the end of their Mock Exams!

We want to commend the students on their can-do attitude and positivity throughout the 2 weeks.

A reminder that next Friday is a dress casual with HK$20 donations going to our school charities. School finishes at 12pm with buses going at 12.15pm.

Also, a reminder of the email below, sent to all students regarding our KGV campus security:

Dear Students,

As we start a new term, we wanted to bring to your attention the campus expectations we have once school finishes.

Monday

Students are expected to leave the KGV by 2.30pm unless they

• are participating in a planned CAS activity and are supervised by a member of staff

• are working in the Learning Resources Centre (LRC)

For those students who have CAS activities and those in the LRC, a message will be broadcast across the campus, reminding them to clear the site by 5pm.

Tuesday-Friday

Students are expected to leave the KGV site by 3.45pm unless they

• are participating in a planned CAS activity and are supervised by a member of staff

• are working in the Learning Resources Centre

For those students who have CAS activities and those in the LRC, a message will be broadcast across the campus, reminding them to clear the site by 5pm.

Please speak to your parents/ caregivers about these arrangements.

Wishing you a great weekend.

Year 7 Message

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

It has been wonderful to go around lessons this week to see students receiving positive feedback on their learning. Students are focused on developing the skills they need to be successful learners. A number of students have received formal 'recognitions' for their efforts. Parents, please check your emails as this is an excellent way for our home-school partnerships to be strengthened as we work together to support your child, our student. 

Students have been getting used to the after school arrangements, with students asked to clear the site by 3.45 pm if they are not involved in a supervised CAS session. They can work in the Learning Resources Centre, but we do not allow unsupervised playing/ hanging out on the site. Your child's safety is our utmost priority. 

Next week, you will receive your child's End of Semester One report. This report will contain Levels awarded to your child for set assessments in subject areas. Please read through the report carefully and if you have any questions around MYP grading, please contact our MYP co-ordinator Mr Rowan Turner (rowan.turner@kgv.edu.hk). This report is the first communicated academic report and indicates the academic success of Semester One. At KGV, success is measured in many ways, and our Year 7 tutors will work with students after the break to identify what success means to them and to identify areas for development in the next Semester. Learning is an ongoing process and we want to continue to make sure our students are equipped with the skills and attitudes to make them life-long learners.

Next Friday is our Lunar New Year celebration. It is a Lunar New Year-themed, dress casual day which will end at 12 pm. School buses have been arranged to leave the campus at 12.15 pm.

Have a great weekend.

The Year 7 Team.

Year 8 & 9 Message

Week 2 of Term 2 is here, and KGV is buzzing with activity! Seeing students actively engaged in their classrooms and our CAS Programme this week has been exciting. If your child is not participating in a CAS activity, it’s an excellent opportunity to discuss the reasons and explore ways for them to get involved.

Please note that Friday, 24th January, will be a shortened day in observance of Chinese New Year (CNY) featuring a CNY Assembly on the field. Next Friday, students can dress casually (CNY theme) with a HK$20 donation to our school charities. School will finish at noon, with buses departing at 12.15 PM.

On Thursday, 23rd January, your child's Semester One report will be available. This report will include the grades for specific assessments in various subjects and reflect your child's academic achievements for the semester.

In our ongoing commitment to ensure KGV students feel known, heard, safe, and successful, please encourage your child to complete their reflection on Pages 48 and 49 of the KGV MYP Journal. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss which ATL skills have been most helpful this week and how they can apply them across their subjects to enhance their learning.

Have a great weekend.

Year 11 Message

Yeaer 11 students continue their study leave for the mock exams.

Please ensure your child is taking the mock exams seriously, but remembers that they are just a practice run and a learning opportunity. If you see signs of undue stress or anxiety, please reach out.

Students have been reminded to:

• Use lockers for their bags while sitting their exams
• wear their correct uniform and use layers underneath if it is cold
• to follow the exam timetable to ensure they are organised.

Here is the presentation we went over with all students last week outlining all the exam rules and processes.

SWIMMING

We would like to congratulate Eunis Man on her recent involvement in the Swimming World Championships in Budapest. Eunis was competing in the open womans category, competing against Olympians and world record holders. Eunis said it was an amazon experience being able to compete and rub shoulders with the best athletes in swimming. Amazing achievements considering Eunis is 15 years of age.

Eunis competed in the 100m breaststroke where she placed 32nd out of 65 competitors in a time of 1:06.61, 3 seconds off the fastest time for heats. She also competed in the 50m breaststroke finishing 44th out of 60 competitors. It is an amazing achievement to compete at world championships at such a young age and Eunis’ swimming is going from strength to strength. Well done Eunis and we all wish you good luck for upcoming competitions.

KGV Equestrian Team

Well done to the KGV equestrian team who competed in the HK Equestrian Lower Division mini meet on Friday. We had some great performances within the team and achieved the following results.

Intro level:

Raina Law- Dressage 1st, Jumping 2nd
Prelim level:

Megan Ho- Jumping 2nd

Alex Chan- Dressage 5th

Maisie Woolcott-Brown - Dressage 1st

Careers & Guidance

Year 13
Students applying to the UK for higher education should have completed their UCAS applications by now and informed their HE Counsellors of their applications.  The UCAS external deadline is on 29 Jan 2025.  Since this deadline is during the Lunar New Year break, students must complete their UCAS applications by 23 Jan, end of school, so that the H.E. Team can complete all necessary documents by the UCAS deadline.

Students should continue to keep their H.E. Counsellors informed about their applications and regularly check Google Classroom for updates and resources related to higher education.

Year 12
Unifest @ SIS on 16 Jan.  The H.E. Team took a group of Y12 students to Unifest hosted by a group of U.K. Universities.  The group had a good experience learning about studying in the U.K and the universities directly from their representatives.

We are exploring opportunities for campus visits at local universities in Term 3 and will share information with students and parents once details are confirmed.

Google Classrooms for Y12s are set up to share H.E.-related information is shared.

The Y12 1-1 H.E. meeting is starting on 4 Feb.  The HE Team will be speaking to Y12 students on 23 Jan about these meetings.  Full information on making appointments and details of the meets are shared to students via Google Classroom.

Y12 Parents Evening - 23 Jan, 6 pm.  This session will focus on how we can support our students as they navigate their post-KGV pathways. A Zoom link will be sent to all Y12 parents by 22 Jan. To ensure you receive our communications, please make sure your contact information on Lionel is up-to-date.

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.

H.E. Visits @ KGV School. Due to the short duration, H.E. visits are open to students only.
23 Jan: CUHK Medicine, (LRC2)
12 Feb: UCL+KCL+Imperial (LRC1)

H.K.
16-19 Jan 2025: HKTDC Education & Careers Expo
21 Jan: HKU 2025 Campus Admissions Talk

U.K.
22 Jan: University of York: Law Taster & Information Session
Various dates from 29 Jan onwards: Falmouth University online event, various topics

Canada
27-29 Jan: SFU virtual campus tours led by students

Europe
1 Feb: SciencesPo (France) Virtual Open House Day 2025
25 Feb: Stay informed about Dutch universities

Singapore
18 Jan: SMU International Student Virtual Day

Others
25 Jan: SGU's School of Medicine Info Session

KGV Careers & H.E. Team

We are excited about the project our Year 10 students have initiated. Year 10 students raised money this year through the mini-enterprise activity, marketing and selling products over a two-week period before the winter break.

The Year 10 classes are now using the funds raised to support struggling businesses through a micro-financing platform named Kiva. The classes will follow the progress of the sponsored businesses and use the experience as a case study to learn more about business.

See the project webpage here for the businesses our students have chosen to support and the amount each has been loaned.

The KGV Careers Office coordinates all our student references and grade summaries, including potential exit & summer programmes.

For students’ privacy, parental permission is required before KGV can release student information to external parties. KGV will only proceed with requests once parental permission has been received.

To request a school reference or grade summary, parents are kindly asked to complete this form.  Please allow at least four working weeks for teachers to prepare the references.

School references for higher education applications are managed in a separate process.

If students are pursuing external extension programmes outside of KGV, they should read and follow the information on this website: https://sites.google.com/kgv.hk/kgv-extension-opportunities .

KGV Careers & H.E. Team

20 - 24 January 2025

Please be reminded that, NO LUNCH will be provided on 24th January 2025.