BRADBURY NEWSLETTER – 10 JANUARY 2020
致白普理學生家長
Greetings to the Bradbury School Community
A very warm welcome back to Term 2. This term is a busy one, full of exciting learning opportunities. This newsletter contains some important information about the action we are taking to support WWF Australia in their efforts to save animals endangered by the bushfires currently raging across Australia. Our thoughts are with all of our Bradbury families impacted in some way by this tragedy.
I am happy to let you know that we can at last replace some forms of communication with the ESF App – details inside.
You would all be no doubt delighted with the news of the government student grant. ESF have sent out a notice to all parents on this topic, and it is repeated in this newsletter, just in case you missed it.
Best,
Sandra Webster
Principal
Bradbury School App
By Stephen Fennelly, Vice Principal
We have heard that the latest version of the app will be sent to the app store on Friday 17th January.
We will launch the app as the main conduit of information from school to home once the children return to school after Chinese New Year (app store allowing, of course).
This will take the place of the school newsletter, class/year group emails and SMS messaging in case of emergencies.
We are really pleased that we are able to take this step forward and take part in the first phase of ESF Schools using the ESF app.
Important Dates
N.B. Dates and Activities may change from time to time. Please check the online calendar for the weekly updates on www.bradbury.edu.hk calendar. Thank you.
| DATE | EVENT | TIME |
| 13 January 2020 | Term 2 After School Activities Starts | |
| 14 January 2020 | Year 3 / Year 4 Sports Day | |
| 16 January 2020 | Year 5 Cake Sale | 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 |
| 16 January 2020 | Incoming Year 1 Interviews | 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. |
| 16 January 2020 –
17 January 2020 |
SIS Experience | 8:30 a.m. |
| 20 January 2020 –
21 January 2020 |
Incoming Year 1 Interviews | 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. |
| 22 January 2020 | Chinese New Year Celebrations/
Lion Dance in School |
1:30 p.m. |
| 23 January 2020 | CPD DAY (NO CLASSES) | —– |
| 24 January 2020 –
31 January 2020 (inclusive) |
Chinese New Year Holidays (No Classes) | —– |
| 03 February 2020 | Back to School | 8:30 a.m. |
| 05 February 2020 | Y1 Kids Festival Performance Trip | 8:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. |
| 06 February 2020 | Year 6 Vaccinations | |
| 13 February 2020 | School Production ( new date) | |
| 14 February 2020 | 4A/4B Class Assembly | 8:45 a.m. |
| 19 February 2020 | Feeding the Homeless | TBC |
| 20 February 2020 | Year 4 Cake Sale | 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. |
| 21 February 2020 | 3C/3L Class Assembly | 8:45 a.m. |
| 28 February 2020 | 2E/2F Class Assembly | 8:45 a.m. |
| 04 March 2020 | Parent Consultations 1 | 3:00 p.m. |
| 04 March 2020 | Year 5/ 6 Sports Day | |
| 12 March 2020 | Parent Consultations 2 | 3:00 p.m. |
| 13 March 2020 | 1P/1Z Class Assembly | 8:45 a.m. |
| 19 March 2020 | Year 3 Cake Sale | 10:00 a.m. |
| 20 March 2020 | 4S/4V Class Assembly | 8:45 a.m. |
| 01 April 2020 | Year 6 Exhibition | TBC |
| 03 April 2020 | Last Day for the Reading in Unusual Places
Photo Competition & Book Trailer Submission |
|
| 03 April 2020 | Last Day of Term 2 | —– |
| 06 April 2020 –
17 April 2020 |
Easter Break | ___ |
Bushfire Donations
By Mike McKee, Vice Principal and Amanda Bremner, PYP Coordinator
A kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Lake Conjola, Australia, on Tuesday, Dec. 31 2019. This fire season has been one of the worst in Australia’s history. (Matthew Abbott/The New York Times)
You are no doubt aware of the horrendous bush fires sweeping across Australia which has displaced many people, killed animals and livestock and cut off access to basic necessities. As a school we encourage our community to take collective action and be internationally minded so that we can make a difference in response to issues or opportunities.
Calls have gone out from various charities and groups for money (as opposed to clothing or food donations) at this time so the decision can be made by individuals on how it is used and needed.
We have many Australian families, including staff, at Bradbury, to whom we would like to show support for the work to bring the fires under control.
The Student Council talked through action initiative options to help raise awareness of this disaster and some much needed money for the numerous firefighters, animals and people who have lost their homes, access to food, and are working round the clock to get the fires under control.
The Student Council have decided on a dress casual day and lunchtime movie on Wednesday 15th January. The donations from those that choose to dress casual and attend the movie will be collected in classrooms on this day. The School Council chose for the funds raised to go to World Wildlife Fund-Australia who are working specifically to save and rehabilitate animals.
Today at our assembly, the Student Council spoke to the whole school on the bush fires and let the students know about the fundraisers.
The movie being shown on Wednesday is ‘Toy Story 3’ which is G rated.
Chinese New Year 2020
By Lynette Pang, Head of the Chinese Department
The Year of the Rat is around the corner! At school, children have been learning about Chinese New Year customs and traditions. They will be able to help you with New Year decorations and to share some legends from the festival with you.
To lift the festive spirit, the Chinese Team is organizing a New Year fair for the morning of January 22nd (Wednesday) 2020. All students will participate in a range of cultural activities during their session. In the afternoon, the Lion Dance performance will start at 1:30pm.
All students are invited to come dressed in Chinese costumes on the day. This is an optional choice and children are also able to wear their regular school uniform.
We wish you and your family a prosperous year of the Rat!
HELP NEEDED!
We are looking for parent volunteers to help with the activities on the morning of January 22nd (Wednesday) from 8.20 am – 12:30 noon. If you are available, please contact me at lynette.pang@bradbury.edu.hk On the day we will show you what to do and we promise that it will be lots of fun. We thank you for your time in advance.
亲爱的家长：
您好！
中国新年将至，我校将于1月22日举行“中国新年日”活动。届时，我们会设置各种活动让学生体验中国文化。由于活动较多，我们需要多名家长义工的帮助，具体时间是1月22日上午8：20-12：30。如果您有意前来帮忙，请发邮件与彭老师联系lynette.pang@bradbury.edu.hk. 谢谢!
DTP Vaccinations for Year 6 (2019-2020)
By Lauren Lau, Health Professional
Please note that the School Immunization Team of the Health Department, has been rescheduled to the 6th of February (Thursday) to offer the Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Poliomyelitis (DTP) vaccination.
If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Bradbury School Action Day – 8th May 2020
By Sam Nicholls, Action Coordinator & Amanda Bremner, PYP Coordinator
This academic year we will, once again, have a whole school Action Day to celebrate and share the integration of action within our students’ learning experiences. Action Learning is the acquisition of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that empower us to be socially responsible citizens and to take authentic, sustainable action within the local and global community.
The Action Day is scheduled for the Friday the 8th of May. On this day there will be a variety of events happening, including packing bags of toiletries. These will be distributed to some of Hong Kong’s most needy and vulnerable people with the assistance of the charity Sunshine Action. Our aim is that up to 3000 hygiene bags will be packed by students and parent volunteers.
So, we’d like you to collect UNUSED toiletry items from any hotel that you visit during the forthcoming holiday and subsequent weeks right up to the end of April. Every day millions of unused and partly used toiletry items are thrown away by hotels and end up in landfills, so our community action will have an environmental, as well as a service element to it. The children can bring the items such as shampoo, conditioner, shaving kits, toothbrush sets, body wash/gel and soap, into school and placed in the boxes that are in the school foyer. Each year group will be assigned one main hygiene item to collect for their year group.
So… let’s get collecting!!!
US hotels throw out an estimated two million bars of soap daily. (CREDIT: CLEAN THE WORLD)
Library News
By Jane Thompson, Teacher Librarian and Connie Leung, Library Assistant
READING IN UNUSUAL PLACES
Thank you to all families who have put in entries for the Reading in Unusual Places competition. There is still plenty of time to enter. All entries will be displayed in a photo gallery in the library. Please note that you can only submit one photo per student. We recommend that you do not alter the image in any away e.g. cropping or re-sizing. We will endeavour to acknowledge your entry via return email. Please check with us if you don’t receive this email.
Email entries to me at jane.thompson@bradbury.edu.hk.
(A sample of some enteries)
BOOK TRAILER:
Make a movie of your favourite story or a short scene from your favourite book. You, your friends and family can star in it if you wish. The movie should be no more than 4 minutes long and should be sent to Mrs Thompson as an ‘imp4’ file (using an iPad to make the movie will be fine.) Take a look at some professional book trailers online to help inspire your creation!
There will be prizes for the most creative in both competitions. We will be accepting entries from Monday January 6th and the competition will close on Friday 3rd April.
PTA News
By Monica Brennand, PTA Chairperson & Lin Gong, PTA Administrator
Happy New Year from the PTA, we hope you had an enjoyable and restful Christmas break!
We are pleased to announce that the Winter Night Market raised HK$295, 818 which will contribute towards purchasing air purifiers. We hope to have these in the school by the end of the term.
For those of you who have not yet collected your raffle prizes, please remember to do so before 17th January.
Important Dates 2020
16th January Year 5 Cake Sale
20th February Year 4 Cake Sale
19th March Year 3 Cake Sale
14th May Sausage Sizzle
28th May Year 2 Cake Sale
We are in the process of planning more school events in term two and three so please watch this space!
Year 5 Cake Sale
The Year 5 cake sale will be held on Thursday, 16th January 2020. We would be grateful if each year 5 Student could contribute one dozen (only) individual sized cakes for this event. Please have your child deliver the cakes to the school hall on Thursday morning. If you would like your container returned, please clearly label both the top and bottom with your child’s name and class. Please remember:
- NO NUTS OR NO NUTS PRODUCTS (incl. NUTELLA)
- NO INDIVIDUAL PLASTIC WRAPPING REQUIRED
Although brownies and cupcakes are very popular, there is a school wide focus on health this year. To encourage children to make healthier choices we would love to see some alternatives that more nutritious and lower in sugar.
Volunteers – we require 9 helpers on the day between 9:30am and 11:00am, please email your class parent or the PTA at pta@bradbury.edu.hk or call 2893 2256 if you can help.
If you would like your child/children to buy a cake, please provide them with $10 and they will have an
opportunity to buy a cake at morning break on Thursday.
Reminders
STUDENT ABSENCES
We are closely monitoring attendance in school.
If your child is ill and is unable to attend school, please inform the class teacher by email or telephone school, 2574-8249, explaining the reason for the absence.
NB// We are required to inform EDB of all absences of seven consecutive days or longer.
TOYS, VALUABLES AND JEWELLERY
We like to encourage imaginative and cooperative play in the playground and children may bring small toys to school to use at playtime if they wish. However, the children are responsible for their own belongings that they bring to school. As a result, we suggest that children do not bring anything into school that is easily broken, of sentimental value, or expensive as we cannot take responsibility if they are lost.
We also ask that your children do not wear jewellery to school and carefully note the following:
- No jewellery whatsoever may be worn during P.E. lessons for obvious safety reasons.
- Only small STUD earings may be worn to school. These should not be worn on P.E. DAYS unless your child is able to remove them and replace them unaided.
- If your child wears a piece of essential religious jewellery, please contact the Principal.
Eco Tips
Third-Party Organised After School Activities
Dear Parents,
The following companies are currently hiring our facilities to provide extra curricular activities for students. You may browse the school website under “LIFE AT BRADBURY” for their programs and enroll your child directly to the company:
ESF Sports, contact 2711 1280 or sports@esf.org.hk website: www.esf.org.hk
Soccer & Basketball Training – Adventure Sports Academy Ltd, contact Eilis Cheung at 3998 4042 or info@adventuresportsacademy.com
website: www.adventuresportsacademy.com
Sanskriti/Hindi Language Class – Brilliant Learning International Ltd., contact Geetanjali Dhar at 3563 4300 or info@sanskritiglobal.org website: www.sanskritiglobal.org
Chess Class & Camp – HoYinPingChess, contact Yin Ping Ho at 9215 2682 or hoyinpingchess@gmail.com website: www.hoyinpingchess.com/index/lesson.html / www.hoyinpingchess.com/index/camp.html
Swedish Language and Culture – Swedish Cultural Society, contact Linda at 9316-6599 or svenskaskolanhongkong@hotmail.com
Website: www.svenskaskolan.hk
SeeWrite, Creative Writing, contact Vickie Yeung at 2559 9882 or info@seewritehk.com website: www.seewritehk.com
N.B. Bradbury School is not responsible for the quality and safety of programmes offered by third parties. However, please note that all hirers are required to provide third party liability insurance. Parents are urged to take steps to ensure that they are satisfied with any and all aspects of the after school programme(s) they elect to opt in to.
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