Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Remember it’s the Meet the Year Group Session today

Zoom links Invitations were sent via the ESF App yesterday - please click on the link to join this evening.

• Years 1, 2, and 5: 5:00-5:45 pm

• Years 3, 4, and 6: 5:45-6:30 pm

Severe Weather Arrangement

To prepare for potential severe weather, please review our weather procedures here. If extreme weather occurs, I will send all notifications through the ESF APP.

West Island School Visit

Rudi Dray and I had a great reunion with our former Year 6 Kennedy students at WIS. We were thrilled to hear how well they’ve adapted to their new school and the positive feedback from their teachers. It was a lovely afternoon catching up.

New Staff Introductions

We would like to introduce that following staff to the school community:

Parent Workshops

We are planning a series of parent workshops this year. To ensure they are valuable, we would like your input. Please take a few minutes to fill out this short survey. Your feedback will help us tailor the workshops to your specific needs. Thank you!

Warm regards,
Brenda
顧仁達

Kennedy Swimming 

Swimming lessons have got off to a great start with the sunny weather. The swimming coaches are very pleased with the students and have just one request - please ensure that goggles are fitted properly before they are sent to school on swimming days. 

Class teachers need to be notified by email in advance if your child is not swimming for any reason. As a general rule, if your child is well enough to come to school, they should be swimming unless a doctor’s note is provided. 

This is next week’s swimming schedule:

Complete Term 1 Swimming Timetable 

Staff-Run Extracurricular Activities (ECAs) Information

Staff-run ECAs start next week. As a reminder, the following clubs take place before school.

• Y5/6 Boys and Girls Football Club

• Y3/4 Boys and Girls Football Club

• Y5/6 AFL Club

These clubs run from 7.00 to 8.00 am at HKU’s Pitch 2. Students attending these morning clubs will need to be dropped off directly at HKU Pitch 2 at 7.00 am. Our staff will then escort the students back to school in time for the start of the school day. 

Uniform arrangements for now are that students should wear their PE kit for sports ECAs before school and bring an extra PE shirt if they wish to change before school begins. PE kit can be worn for the day for students with a morning sports club. This arrangement will be trialled and may need to be adjusted in the future. For students with an after school sports club, they should change from their regular school uniform to a sports kit before the club begins.

Yoga Lessons Start Next Week

Students in Year 2 and Year 4 will begin weekly yoga sessions next week with a specialist Yoga instructor. This will supplement the learning that the students are doing in class as they inquire into how to keep their bodies healthy as part of the Who We Are unit of inquiry. Students are recommended to wear their PE kit for the Yoga session. Year 2 (and 4R) will have their yoga session on Monday and Year 4 on Thursday. 

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to audition for Kennedy School’s own Rock Band. We have had an overwhelming response. To enable more students to audition, we have changed our plan and will open auditions to ANY Year 5 and 6er who can come to the auditions next week.

Here is the plan:

Students will need to prepare a short piece to perform/sing and they will be required to do extra but simple vocal, rhythm, and chord-based tasks to show off their skills. We can’t wait to see what they can do!

Date: 3 to 6 September 2024

Venue: Music Room

Time: Lunchtime (12.30 pm) and After School (2.57 pm)

Bring: Lunch (for lunchtime auditions) and anything else they need.

*If your child is not taking the school bus that day, please inform your class teacher.

**If your child is unable to make any of these times, we can arrange other times to audition the students.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

As part of the extensive and diverse Expressive Arts programme here at Kennedy School, we would like to offer you the opportunity for your child to learn a musical instrument on a one-to-one or group basis.

Instrumental tuition helps students in numerous ways. Here is a link you may wish to refer to:

http://musiced.about.com/od/beginnersguide/a/pinst.htm

If you would like to start lessons you should contact the teachers directly.

The lessons are FEE PAYING and will take place during snack time or directly after school.

Fees depend on the group size and the teachers. Some lessons can be delivered in different languages. For more details, please contact the tutors below:

Please note these important dates for the year.

It’s all go at the PTA!

Last Week’s Dress up

A fantastic Olympic Dress Up day last Friday saw a medal worthy $10,793 raised! That deserves a gold! Monies raised will go towards a fabulous experience for Year 5. Let’s try and raise that donation at the next Dress Up day.

And here it is!!

Dress up Day – Friday 6th September

Don’t forget Year 6 lead the next Dress Up day for the WHOLE SCHOOL. It’s a PJs day! COMFY, COZY and just FUN! Donate your $20 (or more!) on PJ Dress Up day. All donations are fed back into Year 6 for that extra sparkle!

Parent Coffee Morning - 6 September

We will host an informative coffee morning on 6 September at 8:30 am for all parents. It’s a time to meet other parents, ask questions and find out about events we have coming up. Please RSVP here so we can prepare a comfortable morning for you.

Thank you! to all the parents who volunteered to be class parents. All classes are now covered and you will mostly likely have had communication with your class parent already.

Volunteers

We are always on the lookout for Volunteers.

We are looking for volunteers for the Festive Fair - 15th November 2024. We are creating a volunteer committee and have many roles to fill. Fair Date 15th November but between now and then we will be arranging information and planning meetings. Be part of our biggest event of the year! Please email pta@kennedy.edu.hk to volunteer.

Love TO BAKE?

We are always looking for baking volunteers for our coffee mornings. If you love baking and want to donate your baked/cooked goods for our coffee mornings please let us know. We have two coming up soon.

Coffee Mornings:

6th September

11th September

THE SPACE by The PTA

Finally, The Space by the PTA has a soft launch!! It is a gorgeous, relaxing community space where parents, teachers and staff can mingle and plan. Pop in to say hello, have a coffee, buy preloved uniform or collaborate with us.

Feel free to visit The Space by the PTA (Located at the ground floor to the left of Year 1 classrooms.) Help us continue to build on the community spirit that's always been strong! Watch this space for updates coming soon …

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

Hot Lunches with Zebratasty

The order window for October 2024 meals is open till 24 September. Orders placed after this date will incur late fees $8 per meal.

Separately, sick leave cancellation has to reach Zebratasty before 8:00 am on that day.

Register/edit your hot lunches here

Note: Please remember to keep the system updated with your child’s new class and use the same name used in school.

Pre-Loved Uniforms

Thank you so much for all your preloved uniforms. We look forward to receiving more, so please drop them into “The Space by the PTA” and come and take a look at our ever growing preloved collection.

Reuse, reduce, recycle.

PTA Opening Hours

Our opening hours are Monday to Friday 8:15 am-12:15 pm or by appointment. Contact us on PTA@kennedy.edu.hk for enquiries or to appointments.

1. Chinese Weekly Learning Links:

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

2. Term 1 Swimming Schedule

3. School Calendar 2024/25

4. Inclement Weather Procedures

5. Hot Lunch Service

6. Start of school Medical reminders letter

7. School Uniform Guide

8. School Uniform Shop