Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We had a successful Dress Pink Day, which coincided with over 100 prospective parents visiting our school and being impressed by our community culture.

Congratulations to the nominated and elected house leaders. Please see more details below.

The family lantern competition was fantastic, with the creative use of recycled materials and some amazing designs. Thank you for getting involved.

Thanks to the Kennedy School Chinese team for the informative parent workshops over the last couple of weeks and thank you to parents for your interest and attendance.

Important update for Parent/Teacher Consultations (Years 2 to 6):

• New dates: Monday, October 9th (12:30 pm to 6:15 pm) and Wednesday, October 11th (3:15 pm to 6:00 pm).

• Each consultation will be 15 minutes via Zoom.

• School will end early on Monday, with buses available from 11:50 am, and walkers collected at 11:57 am. This will enable us to have more time with each set of parents by starting the consultations at 12:30 pm that day.

• The booking system will open next week.

• External provider clubs will continue on Monday, while all clubs will continue on Wednesday.

• Parent feedback indicates that the efficiency of Zoom works well for these consultations. We will ensure that after the mid-term break, we provide opportunities for parents and caregivers to come to school to be involved in learning and to get a feel for learning in the classroom and beyond.

Year 1 students and parents:

• No consultations on October 9th or 11th.

• Children are encouraged to stay at school on October 9th for a full day of learning.

• Parents and caregivers are invited to come to school to join in with their child's learning as part of an open day on Monday 9th. More details will follow.

• Regular school day for Year 1 on Wednesday.

Buses for After-School Activities

You will recall me sending a note to you earlier in the week about this. Our first option is working with the local transport/minibus providers to get a greater number of buses released between 4 to 5 pm. This worked well one day this week. We will also be contacting Paul Zimmerman, the elected councillor in the Southern District representing Pokfulam constituency for support to help us with this.

We are also exploring a user-paid shuttle bus service to Kennedy Town MTR. Please complete this survey by Thursday 28 September to help us assess the level of interest for this service.

Thank you for your support. More information will follow soon.

Warm regards,
Brenda
顧仁達

An Interactive Introduction to The Primary Years Programme (PYP)

Details: Friday 6 October, 8:30 - 9:30 am, School Hall

Topic: The learner profile; approaches to learning; inquiry; concepts; transdisciplinary themes.

You may have heard many of these words and phrases in your interactions with Kennedy School. Have you ever wondered what these words really mean in the context of your child’s learning? If so, this in-person workshop is for you!

The Primary Years Programme - an interactive introduction, is designed for anyone who is interested in learning about the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP).

As this workshop is interactive, numbers are limited, so please reserve your place by signing up on this form before Friday, 29 September. Places will be reserved on a ‘first come’ basis. On the form, you will also have the opportunity to ask any specific questions you may have so that we can tailor the workshop to your needs.

We look forward to welcoming you to the workshop!

Congratulations to our 8 new House Captains! The Year 5 and 6 students went to the polls last week to select their choice of House Captains. Each house voted for its preferred leaders following the rousing and persuasive speeches that were delivered earlier in the week. We're delighted to announce that the successful applicants are:

Phoenix: Myra Lee & Shankar Balasubramaniam

Lions: Sofia Huang & Maddy Stice

Dragons: Michael Yuen & Phoebe Hung

Unicorns: Riyana Panwar & Charlie Booth

House Captains are part of the Student Leadership team at Kennedy School. They lead students in supporting school-wide causes and represent the school to prospective families and the wider community. We will see a lot of the House Captains as they go about their weekly responsibilities which also include managing the house points system.

The House Captains elections also herald the beginning of leadership season at Kennedy School. All Year 6 students are encouraged to step forward for a variety of leadership positions which include Arts, Sports, Chinese Language, Library, Friendly Schools, Innovation and Safe Squad Ambassadors. All of these roles help to foster a sense of ownership and responsibility among students whilst also helping to improve our school. We are very proud of our Ambassadors and cannot wait to introduce them to the wider community very soon!

Techni Photo will be in school from Monday 25 September to Friday 29 September to take individual portrait photos as well as class photos of the children. On the day the children have their photograph taken, they should be in their formal school uniform. Their hair accessories should be in plain school colours of purple, grey, black or white.

After the photos have been taken, Techni Photo will send order forms to school for distribution to all students. Please look out for these which should arrive after few weeks.

The photo schedule is as follows:

The EDB has announced the EDB Student Grant for 2023/24.

ESF Schools and Kindergartens are NOT included in the e-submission channel (using the "iAM Smart +" App) therefore, paper application forms are still required for our parents this year.

EDB will distribute the student grant paper application forms and verify the student status via schools. Schools will distribute the forms to parents from 3 October 2023 onwards.

We are looking to source additional resources for the Early Years classrooms to drive inquiry through play but we strive to be more sustainable. So in the spirit of being an eco-friendly school, we are looking to give pre-loved items a home and save them from the landfills before purchasing any brand new items. For anyone that may be clearing out equipment in play areas at home, we ask that if you have items that are still in good working condition that you consider donating to school.

Donations can be dropped off at the school reception from Monday 25 September until Friday 29 September.

Role play items

Do you have any hand puppets, puppet theatres, fancy dress costumes, or role play kits e.g. doctor, vet, shop, kitchen? Photographs for your reference:

Loose parts play items

The children love to use their imaginations and play with loose parts and we are looking to restock our stations with small items such as:

• bottle tops

• corks

• buttons

• ribbon

• Beads

• pine cones

• wooden clothes pegs

• wooden sticks

• metal washers

• large nuts and bolts

• padlocks and keys

• decorative pebbles/gemstones

• wooden photo frames

• cork boards/mats

• wooden trays

• wooden baskets

• metal pots

Photographs for your reference:

AGM

A reminder the PTA will host their Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 10th October at 5.00 pm - please refer to the App message sent earlier this week here. We actively encourage parents to join us for this key event.

Quiz Night

Get ready for an incredible night at the highly anticipated Quiz Night!

Gather your friends and other fellow class parents and sign up for the event here.

Don’t forget if you would like to come but don’t have a full team you can still register - we can help connect you with other parents.

We are still looking for a variety of prizes for quiz night, such as gift vouchers, gift sets, unique experiences, or anything else you think would be suitable for our event. If you or your friend are a small business owner and want to donate prizes, please email us at cichen@kennedy.edu.hk.

Zebratasty School Lunch

Registration for OCTOBER hot lunch delivery is now open. All details you need regarding the optional hot lunch service may be found on the website

Hot Lunch Service (optional)

https://www.kennedy.edu.hk/hot-lunch-service/

Yearband Led Dress Up Day

Last week, the school was a vision in pink as we encouraged students and staff to follow our Year 6 lead and dress in pink for the day. A huge thank you to everyone’s kind donations - Year 6 raised HK$13,501 which they will use for science workshops later this year.

The next Yearband Led dress up day will take place on 24th November when Year 4 will be in charge - stay tuned nearer the time to find out what they would like everyone to wear to school and what they are raising funds for!

1. Chinese Learning Links

   1. Year 1 Weekly Learning Notice

   2. Year 2 Weekly Learning Notice

   3. Year 3 Weekly Learning Notice

   4. Year 4 Weekly Learning Notice

   5. Year 5 Weekly Learning Notice

   6. Year 6 Weekly Learning Notice

2. School Uniform Guide

3. School Uniform Shop

4. Term 1 Swimming Schedule

5. Here are the Inclement Weather Procedures which is also located on the school website.

6. Updated Kennedy School Calendar 2023-24