Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We hope you’ve all had a good week. We have our fingers crossed that there will be no interruption to school with the latest Typhoon hovering close by. We will follow the same procedures as previously if necessary. Please refer to our website for procedures for inclement weather in the event of a high observatory warning hoisted during the day.

Monday 9 October - Half Day (Year 2 - 6) due to Parent Teacher Consultations

• School will end early on Monday 9th October, with buses available from 11:50 am and walkers collected at 11:57 am.

• Year 1 students and parents - No consultations on October 9th or 11th. Please refer to previous messages sent on the APP about the Open Afternoon on Monday 9 October. A reminder that if you are not able to attend the open day session, your child will return home at 11.50/11:57 am. Please remind your caregivers to pick them up from the bus or school.

School Uniforms

We are noticing a growing number of children wearing random sweatshirts, cardigans and/or multi-coloured jackets to school. Please order your winter garments online from the school uniform shop so you are prepared for the seasonal change. Please click on this link to order.

After-School Activities Shuttle Bus Service

Thank you all for your input to our survey. We have summarised the feedback here with information about the next steps.

School Ambassadors

We were delighted to announce that approximately 80 Year 6 students were awarded ambassador roles this week. We are thrilled the children are keen to take on leadership responsibility in an area they are passionate about. Well done Year 6 students!

IB - PYP Interactive Introduction Parent Workshop Tomorrow

Thanks to those parents who have enrolled for the workshop. We look forward to seeing you at our workshop tomorrow.

Warm regards,
Brenda
顧仁達

Next week is Swim Safety Week

In the swimming sessions next week, our students will be taught about swim safety.

All students need to bring in a big T-shirt to wear on swimming that day IN ADDITION to their usual swim kit. Please ensure this is white or light coloured as dark colours react with the swimming pool water.

This is a big safety component to our swimming programme. Students are introduced to what it feels like to be fully clothed when swimming. The children will also experience basic life saving techniques should they fall into a body of water.

THE STUDENTS WILL BE UNDER STRICT SUPERVISION BY THE AQUAKIDZ EXPERIENCED AND FULLY ACCREDITED SWIM TEACHERS AT ALL TIMES.

Year 6 Swim Gala

The Year 6 Swim Gala will take place at HKU Stanley Ho Swimming Pool on Friday 20th October for the students from 9.00 am to 12.15 pm approximately.

The gala will be an exciting morning of swimming participation, competition and house rivalry. The swimming gala is part of the Year 6 swimming programme and a celebration of the Kennedy students swimming ability. At the gala, each child will be given the opportunity to enter races at a level to match their swimming ability.

All of the Year 6 parents are invited to attend this event and cheer on the children. If you are interested in volunteering to help with this event, please fill in this form and I will be in touch with you soon.

Children from Year 3 and Year 6 have the opportunity to go across to Stanley Ho Sports Centre during their lunch time from Tuesday 31 October 2023. They will take their lunch (picnic style) to the HKU fields with a Senior Leadership Team member over one lunchtime each week and have their lunch play there. This has proved to be hugely popular with the children.

The schedule of classes going to the sports centre for lunch play is as follows :

Time : 12.30 to 1.20 pm (from 31 October onwards)

To enable us to supervise the children we need some parent volunteers who are willing to come across with us one or more days a week. The time commitment is 12.30 pm to 1.20 pm each day. If we get 4 or 5 mums/dads who can commit to a day or a few days each week that would be fabulous.

If you are keen to help as a parent volunteer, please complete the google form here and we will get in touch with you. All parent volunteers are required to complete the Child Protection declaration in the Gateway in advance prior to the supervision. Please click here for information on how to submit the Child Protection declaration.

We look forward to hearing from parents who are able to help. For your information, Year 4 and 5 students will have the opportunity to do this in Term 2.

Kennedy School PTA Greeting Card Competition RETURNS!

For many years, the Kennedy School PTA has organised an annual card competition at school - with winning entries printed on greeting cards available for sale as mixed packs. In response to feedback from our community, we have made a few changes to the competition this year.

Following the success of the family Mid-Autumn Festival lantern competition, we welcome families to work together on a card design. In addition, we are not limiting card designs to represent Christmas/Winter Holidays. We welcome designs that may represent any special occasion or cultural celebration. As a result, we hope to offer mixed-use packs of cards that can be used by families throughout the whole year.

The theme of this year’s card designs should be: ‘Together we belong, forever connected’

Guidelines:

• Entries should be submitted on A4 sized paper only

• The design can be landscape or portrait orientation

• Any media - drawing, painting, pen, ink, coloured pencils, pastels, charcoal or a mixture of these

• Please do not add the words ‘Kennedy School’ or ‘2023’

• The student’s name and class should be written on the back of the design

• Designs will only be shortlisted for judging that demonstrate the theme

• Deadline is Tuesday 31st October 2023 - to be submitted to the PTA Office

Winners will be announced by Friday 3rd November.

Winning designs will be printed in mixed packs of greeting cards, blank inside, for purchase by our community for use throughout the year.

Hint: Make a start now - but this could be a perfect family activity to complete over the Half Term break!

Kennedy School Festive Fair - Friday 17th November 6:00 - 8:30 pm

As announced last week, we are holding our first large-scale, whole-community event in four years this November. The event will be a revamped approach to an autumn community event for our school. It will be an evening to socialise, listen to musical performances from our students and staff, purchase gifts from a range of vendors, buy second hand books and have something to eat!

Vendors

Are you a small business owner or have contacts who you think sell products suitable for our primary school community?

Please submit a table registration form using the link below. The deadline is October 17th. We will review and confirm acceptance to ensure we have a balance of offerings for the community to enjoy.

VENDOR REGISTRATION

Volunteers

This event will only be a success if we enlist help from across our whole school community of parents and staff and we offer a number of opportunities to get involved.

If you are musical and would like to accompany the staff band - please mark it in the form!

VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION

Reminders:

AGM

A reminder the PTA will host their Annual General Meeting next Tuesday 10th October. Please refer to the App message sent last week here.

We actively encourage parents to join us for this key event.

Quiz Night - ONE WEEK TO GO!

Our Quiz Masters have been working hard behind the scenes to put together another event to remember.

There are a couple of spaces still available - as we work to put individual entries together. It could be a perfect opportunity for you to come and join in a community event and make new connections even if you don’t have a full team. We particularly encourage parents new to the school to join in the fun.

If you are thinking of joining in but haven’t put your name down yet please do so now - sign up for the event here.

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.

Updated Kennedy School Calendar 2023-24