Bradbury Newsletter 20th November 2015
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PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE |
| Dear Parents,
Well our big event is finally here – our annual Winter Nightmarket! This is a great family event and our major fundraiser for the year, so, please come along and support your school tonight. To make it easier for you, the P.T.A. has organized a shuttle bus operating from the G.P.O. and HKCC. Both start at 17:00 and run until 20:30, as there is absolutely no parking at school. Many thanks to our team of hard working P.T.A. members, supported by a host of volunteers. It was a fantastic surprise to find out this week that Bradbury School has been awarded $619,500 from the Environment and Conservation Fund towards the greening of our school rooftop. This is a huge undertaking but we are very excited about the possibilities these funds offer us towards improved sustainability features we can implement.
Many thanks to Amanda Bremner and Lorinda Thomas for spending many hours completing the application form on our behalf.
See you all tonight!
Sandra Webster – Principal |
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2016 HONG KONG YOUNG WRITERS AWARDS |
| Bradbury School has registered for this year’s Hong Kong Young Writers Awards. The theme for 2016 is “New Tales of the Terracotta Warriors” and all entries should be based around this theme.
“ This year’s topic explores the vast and extraordinary Terracotta Warriors. Otherwise known as the Terracotta Army, over 8,000 sculptures represent what were Qin Shi Huang’s armies. Qin Shi Huang was the First Emperor of China, famous for conquering and uniting all the warring states of China, also uniting the diverse state walls into what is now known as the Great Wall of China. The Terracotta Warriors were tasked to protect their Emperor in the afterlife, discovered in 1974; the Terracotta Warriors have been buried for close to 2200 years! The Terracotta Warriors are special, in that each figure is so unique that it has been said that they were based on real soldiers.” HKYWA website The competition is open to student from all Year levels and we encourage students to take part and get busy writing over the next few months. The categories are: · Fiction · Non-Fiction · Poetry · Cover Art I will run a series of lunch-time sessions between now and the end of term for interested students to help get them started and to allow them to ‘check in’ as they work on their entry. These will be advertised to students each week and announced over the loudspeakers on the day. The first one will be on Wednesday, next week (Nov 25). In these sessions we will talk about the story of the Terracotta Warriors and aim to inspire some good ideas, and also outline the rules of the competition with the students. You can also access online information about the competition at home on www.hkywa.com ( although at the moment there are no resources up about this year’s theme, as they have done in past years) A very important rule to take notice of is the rule about no parental involvement or assistance from others being allowed – “ All entries must be the students’ own, un-aided work” . Whilst we would expect that students will chat about their ideas with family members, and even get feedback and suggestions about their drafts, we cannot forward any entries to the competition that appear to not be the students own work. Entries will be due into school by Friday, January 8 (to either myself or Ms Fritzi at the front office). Entries can be hand-written or printed off to hand in at school. All entries will be included in a foyer display and a panel of teachers will select the entries will be forwarded to the competition. Each school is limited to submitting 10 written entries and 5 Art entries. Word limits for entries are : · Fiction and non-fiction o Years 1, 2 and 3 – up to 500 words o Years 4, 5 and 6 –up to 1000 words · Poetry – no limit · Cover Art– must be on A3 paper size and portrait orientation . Pieces of A3 paper will be available on request from Ms Fritzi at the front office.
Therese Gallen – Vice Principal/Lower Phase Leader |
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BRADBURY UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS |
| We would love for you to be involved in the following community events:
Hike for Hunger – 13 December 2015 9:00 am -1:00 pm This is a 11 km walk from Mount Parker Road to Tai Tam Reservoir Road. Donations will go to supporting children in Cambodia and a ‘Long Term Living and Support Programme’ in HK. We would love to have a Bradbury team consisting of students, staff and parents attend this event. Fortune Food Bags for Xmas We will be packing and distributing food bags to those in need for Christmas. 5 December – Packing food bags 9:00 am-1:00pm Chi Kwok Secondary School 12 December – Distributing food bags 9:00 am-1:00pm Lai King Estate Kowloon. Both students, staff and parents are welcome at both events.
If you are interested in participating in any of the events above, please let Ms. Fritzi in the office know and more details will follow.
Feeding the Homeless – Term 2 As part of our school ‘Action’ focus, Bradbury is working with Sunshine Action to help people in need and is looking to take sustainable action in our community. Through a care programme for street sleepers and the homeless, Bradbury will be regularly delivering around 80 -100 hot meals to people in need throughout the year. For next term, the event will be happening on:
Monday, 29 February 2016 Monday, 30 May 2016
For each trip, we can accommodate a maximum of 25 people (15 upper school students and 10 adults). The cost is $350 per person/students (donations on or above this are gratefully received) and this money will be put towards paying for the hot meals, snacks and drinks we deliver on the evening. Participants will meet at the Nam Cheong MTR Station Exit A at 5.45pm and the event usually last around 1.5 hours.
Amanda Bremner – PYP Coordinator/Clayton Heggie – Y6 Teacher |
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MEDICAL NEWS: HAND, FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE (HKMD) |
| Please observe your child for Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) as we have recently found a few students in school that have contracted hand, foot and mouth disease.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a viral infection commonly seen in children. The main symptoms of HFMD are fever, sore throat and skin rash over the hands and feet. Please see the doctor promptly if you find that your child has develop symptoms of the hand, foot and mouth disease. Please contact the school. Transmission: Contact with nose and throat discharges. Saliva, fluids from blisters, or contact with stool of infected persons. Main signs and symptoms:
Prevention:
Lauren Lau – Health Professional |
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BOXES OF HOPE |
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Thank you all for your support. I have heard that our Boxes of Hope have now been sent to orphanages around Hong Kong. Steve Fennelly – Vice Principal/Upper Phase |
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P.T.A. NEWS |
| The winter uniform is now available at the P.T.A. Shop. Please find attached the winter uniform order forms.
Thank you. Lin Gong – P.T.A. Administrator |
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BRADBURY SCHOOL – 11 NOVEMBER NETBALL FRIENDLY FIXTURES |
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| Bradbury School played against German Swiss International School (GSIS) and Glenealy School on 11 November 2015 in a friendly fixture. All three schools pitched their skills against one another in a series of fiercely competitive and exciting games which saw the players catching, passing, running and shooting extremely well. The Bradbury School representatives fought courageously and performed progressively better with each game, gaining the confidence and understanding they needed to keep possession and bring the ball down towards our shooting third for our Goal Shooters (GS) and Goal Attackers (GA) to score under pressure.
Eventually, we were drew against GSIS and were defeated by Glenealy School at the end of the fixtures. However, each and every player communicated well, played with strength and determination whilst having fun! Well done to all who represented Bradbury School in the tournament and keep your heads up as we enter in another few tournaments with renewed strength, insight and drive to excel! Please do not hesitate to congratulate the girls who played on 11 November 2015 if you see them around the school. They are:
Sigrid Balle (Y6 Teacher)/Liz Worley (Y2 E.A.) |
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P.S.E. NEWS |
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MINDSETS AND EFFORT
C. Farrington – P.S.E. Leader |
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INVITATION TO ISLAND SCHOOL PRODUCTION |
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YEAR 5 CAMP |
| Wow! What an amazing couple of weeks we have had in Year 5!
Students from 5C and 5G went on their camp from Monday 9 November to Wednesday 11 November, whilst 5B and 5S travelled up to Chong Hing Water Sports Centre on Monday 16 November and returned this Wednesday. The children tried kayaking and dragon boating, with quite a few students ‘testing out’ their buoyancy aids in the lake! The teachers were also soaked by the students (and each other!) as the kayaks and dragon boats passed each other in these sessions! On land, the students had a go at archery, orienteering, making structures, designing safe egg containers and loads of collaborative games…Phew! I’d like to thank all of the students for their excellent participation and the parents for your support. A huge thanks also needs to go to the teachers who volunteered to come on Year 5 camp with the class teachers and I as the camp would not have been possible without them. These teachers, in addition to the class teachers were; Claudia Tarr, Amanda Bremner, Zac Dickinson, Tom Flaherty, Therese Gallen, Catherine Blacklaws, Cassily Lu, Anika MacDonald, Katie Townsend, Carrie Sun and Zoe O’Reilly. And thanks also go to, of course, the Year 5 class teachers who organised so much; Matt Cook, Rebecca Glick, Melanie Broomfield and Jill Shepherd.
Steve Fennelly – Vice Principal and Upper Phase Leader
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INQUIRY |
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We encourage our students to inquire and investigate and use primary sources of information, rather than rely on secondary sources such as the internet. Imagine our delight when one of our students, Joseph Ellul, class 6B, took the initiative to send some of his questions to Sir David Attenborough and received a lovely handwritten reply. I think Joe’s face says it all about his enquiry success. Sandra Webster – Principal
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BATTLE OF THE BOOKS |
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Get ready for the………BATTLE OF THE BOOKS We will be running a series of lunchtime book discussion sessions in the next few weeks for Year 5 and 6 students interested in taking part in this year’s Battle of The Books Competition. These will be advertised to students next week. Practice sessions for the competition will then be run after the Xmas break with a selected team attending the final competition in May. In the meantime, any interested students should GET READING! The Battle of the Books list is available from Ms Bousfield in the library and we now have multiple copies of the required books available for borrowing. Therese Gallen – Vice Principal/English Leader |
