Bradbury School 7th October 2016
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PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE |
| Greetings to everyone!
What a perfect night our recent school picnic was. Thank you all for coming along and helping to build our great school community. Thank you also to the parents who attended our recent Year 1 morning tea. Both events are aimed at making you feel welcome in our school and to help you to get to know us better. Morning teas for Year 2 – Year 6 parents are scheduled later in the year, so please do come along to your group’s morning tea if you are able. We look forward to welcoming you all at our Parent-Teacher interviews – these are always a great opportunity for a quick catch up with your child’s class teacher. These are short, just ten minutes long, so if you do need more time, please make a follow up appointment with the teacher, so other parents are not kept waiting. My best for a wonderful midterm break. I am looking forward to spending time in New Zealand with my family, and being ‘Nana’ for a week. Sandra Webster Principal |
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IMPORTANT DATES |
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SHOES AND UNIFORM REMINDER |
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| A reminder that school uniform shoes are black. These need to be sturdy school shoes, not party or slipon shoes, which may be hazardous in the wet or on stairs. Sports shoes should be white, or if you have difficulty locating these, a small coloured insert is acceptable. No coloured laces, lights or wheels. Sports shoes should only be worn on timetabled specialist PE days. We encourage our students to take pride in wearing the correct uniform and additional, non-uniform items should be left at home. No nail polish, stick on tattoos or jewelry is to be worn.
Sandra Webster – Principal |
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PROJECTILE TOYS |
| Over the past few weeks a number of students have brought in ‘BeyBlades” and other types of ratchet operated projectile toys.
These toys present a safety risk to other students as they fly at speed and can hit faces and eyes. Even used ‘after hours’ while waiting for after school activities they still present a risk and usually end up over the fence in the jungle and cannot be retrieved. If your child owns toys of this type could you please check that they are not bringing them to school. Thank you for your support with this. Therese Gallen – Vice Principal/Lower Phase Leader |
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E.S.F. PRIMARY ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE |
| Year 4 Ecodudes recently attended the ESF Primary Environmental Conference “Take it Outside” held at Discovery College. Students participated in a variety of workshops throughout the day which aimed to develop sustainable practices. The students thoroughly enjoyed the workshops and are developing an action plan for Bradbury.
Amanda Bremner – P.Y.P. Co-ordinator |
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HOME READING |
| It was great to see over 70 parents attend our “Home Reading” information session held on 14 September.
The slides from that presentation are now available on the school website under the drop down- Communications/Parent Information Evenings. If you were unable to attend the session the slides will give you an overview of the discussion. There are also additional copies of the “Helping Your Child With Home Reading” handout, which was distributed at the session, available from Ms. Fritzi at the front office. Happy reading at home! Therese Gallen – Vice Principal (Lower Phase)/English Leader |
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LIBRARY NEWS |
| Please take a look at our library page on The Buzz. We have updated it with many useful links to websites including the usernames and passwords to sites we have subscribed to. The link to our new Book Recommendation Library Blog is also on the library page. The Year 5 & 6 students added a class post to the blog last week and they will be posting individual recommendations this week. To access The Buzz you will need your child’s username and password.
We have a Book Exchange system in the library. If your child would like to use the Book Exchange then they will need to bring in a book from home to exchange with one they would like on the shelf. Please ensure that the book to be exchanged is in good condition. For the past week we have had a photo display of The Other Hundred in the library. The photographs have been supplied by ESF and most schools within the foundation will have an opportunity to display them. The Other Hundred is a worldwide program with the aim of providing pictures aimed at understanding the many different people who make up our world. A series of 100 photo-stories have been collected and we are displaying a selection of these stories until Friday 21 October. Please feel free to come into the library and take a look at the amazing lives and innovations of people from around the globe. Finally, we are still looking to increase our number of board games for the children to play with in the library during break times. If you have any games for two players that are in good condition which you no longer need then we would be delighted to receive them. Any games would be great but we are particularly looking for Connect Four, Mastermind/Code Cracker, Simon, draughts, Othello/Reverse. Mastermind Simon Othello/Reverse Connect Four
Jane Thompson – Teacher Librarian & Connie Leung – Library Assistant |
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PARENT VOLUNTEERS IN CLASSES |
| If you were unable to attend the morning meeting for parent volunteers last 06 October, please make sure that you pick up a copy of the “Parent Volunteer Programme-Bradbury School”and the “Volunteer Declaration” from Ms Fritzi at the front office, next time you are in school.
You are required to complete the volunteer declaration form and give it to the teacher of the class that you are helping out in. If you were helping out in school last year, you still need to complete a new one each year. This is a standard requirement as part of our child protection safety checks for all adults who work with students at Bradbury. Please also carefully read the information on the hand-out about safety, respect, support, ethics, behaviour and dress. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Therese Gallen – Vice Principal |
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P.T.A. NEWS |
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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2 December – WINTER NIGHT MARKET
AGM/ TAPAS AND WINE EVENING I would like to say a big thank you to all of the parents who attended our AGM on Monday. We had a great turnout and I hope you all found it to be an interesting and informative evening. It also gave parents an opportunity to meet and chat to the committee over a few glasses of wine and some delicious food. A big thank you to Sav Winslow an ex Bradbury parent who created a delicious selection of amazing Indian tapas. During the meeting we elected five new members on to the PTA Executive committee: Silke Schafer – Honorary Treasurer Alice Li-Papworth – Honorary Secretary Emma Oliver Nyree Chung Katie Francis I am excited to welcome them onto the committee and look forward to working together this year. I know you will all join me in thanking them for volunteering, especially Silke, who has agreed to be our new treasurer and Alice, who will be our new Secretary. I would also like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to our outgoing Treasurer Anna Chapman for her help and support over the last year. Please look for the PTA Committee Member information, and our Audited Accounts on the PTA page of the school website. AGM meeting minutes will be added in the next few weeks. If you have any questions, please email the PTA.
WINTER NIGHT MARKET UPDATE WE NEED YOUR HELP! VOLUNTEERS – We need volunteers to organize and run the craft stall and we will need lots of volunteers on the night to man food stalls and games – if you are willing to donate any of your time to help with this fun, festive event, please contact your class parent or the PTA Please also keep an eye out for emails from your CLASS PARENT. They will be contacting you over the next few weeks asking donations for the Night Market including: • Items for Year Group Hampers • Silent Auction and Tombola Prizes • Used books / New and Gently Used Toys. Don’t forget to check out and like our Facebook page for all the PTA news and upcoming event details! Julia Dunn – PTA Chairperson
Email: pta@bradbury.edu.hk.
Website: https://www.bradbury.edu.hk/pta-2/
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PARKING |
| Thank you for being considerate drivers! We have far fewer incidents of cars double parking before and after school, which is greatly appreciated. |
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P.E. FOCUS |
| This year’s PE focus will aim to increase awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle across the school.
After half term, we will be introducing one of the first initiatives, a new program called B.A.M.(Bradbury Active Mornings). The aim is to get the kids moving, increasing their blood flow which in turn releases dopamine, or adrenaline and serotonin chemicals released in their bodies which activates their brains, settling them nicely into the school day. With some children sitting on transport for over an hour to get to school, this small burst of aerobic activity will hopefully put them in a better mood to focus and give them a brighter start for learning. We have trialled it with the Y6 pupils with success and we plan to phase it in throughout this academic year for all year groups. Please watch the video for a sample of what we are doing. In addition, this will be paired with active ‘brain breaks’ within class, allowing pupils to reset after long periods of time focussed on a particular task in class. During a recent Staff Meeting, the topic of healthy eating was addressed and discussed in detail. With many opinions on this, it provided a lot of ‘food for thought’. The PE focus group will continue to drive this and will reveal our thoughts and plans in the near future. If you have any ideas to enhance the promotion of Healthy Lifestyles for children, which you have previously experienced with ‘healthy eating’ or if you work within the industry and want to offer your opinion, please feel free to email me at ally.maclay@bradbury.edu.hk
WATCH THIS SPACE!
After School Activities The After School Activities programme is in full flow with all participants enjoying the opportunity to take part in a number of activities. The chance to sign up for the Term 2 – After School Activities will take place from 28 November. Please keep an eye out for the reminders nearer the time.
Netball The Y5 and Y6 netball girls were involved in a series of matches with Peak School on Wednesday evening and enjoyed success with one of the teams winning all 3 matches. It is great to see the self proclaimed “Bradbury Unicorns” hard work pay off, with the help of Valley Sports Academy coach, Chanelle Candy, Ms. Sigrid Balle and Mrs. Liz Worley. Well done to all involved. Ally Maclay – Head of P.E. |
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PLEASE DONATE YOUR OLD SHOES TO ESCAPADE SPORTS |
| UNWANTED ADULT RUNNING SHOES…
If you want to put your unneeded adult running shoes to good use, they can be dropped off at Escapade Sports, 19, Leighton Road, Causeway Bay (opposite Craigengower Cricket Club). However, we at Bradbury School do not currently have any means of passing on old shoes for re use. Thank you. Carol Farrington – Year 5 Teacher |
