BRADBURY NEWSLETTER – 4 MAY 2018
Greetings to the Bradbury School Community.
What a great day we had last Friday! Our Action Day was one that our whole community got behind and supported. It was a day where we all came together and enjoyed a variety of activities that support our focus on global citizenship. Many thanks to Carol Farrington and Amanda Bremner for their superb organization, dedication and commitment—because of your efforts we have all had the opportunity to make a difference!
Over the next week we have our IB/CIS visitors in the school to reauthorise/reaccredit us as an IB World School and a CIS accredited school. Their visit is the culmination of 18 months of review for all of our school community. Thanks to Amanda Bremner and Steve Fennelly for your leadership in this process. We can expect the final report around the end of June and we will share this with you.
Please take a moment to read my blog. In this, I try to address issues that parents may have concerns or questions about. In my latest one, I explain how we compile class lists.
Sandra Webster
Principal
Important Dates
| DATE | EVENT | TIME |
| 07 May 2018 (Monday) –
11 May 2018 (Friday) |
CIS/IB Visit Team Evaluation | |
| 15 May 2018 (Tuesday) | Y3 Market Day | |
| 21 May 2018 (Monday) | CPD Day – No Classes | —– |
| 22 May 2018 (Tuesday) | Buddha’s Birthday – No Classes | —– |
| 23 May 2018 (Wednesday) | An Evening of STEAM | 5:00—6:00 p.m. |
| 29 May 2018 (Tuesday) | Y5/Y6 Student Led Conference | |
| 01 June 2018 (Friday) | New Year 1 Visits | |
| 06 June 2018 (Wednesday) | Y3/Y4 Student Led Conference | |
| 14 June 2018 (Thursday) | The School Production | 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. |
| 14 June 2018 (Thursday) | Y1/Y2 Student Led Conference | |
| 18 June 2018 (Monday) | Dragon Boat Festival – No Classes | —– |
| 19 June 2018 (Tuesday) | Year 3 & Year 4 Disco | 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. |
| 20 June 2018 (Wednesday) | Year 5 & Year 6 Disco | 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. |
| 21 June 2018 (Thursday) | Year 1 & Year 2 Disco | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. |
| 22 June 2018 (Friday) | Year 6 Celebration of Achievement Assembly (please note this is the new date) | 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. |
| 29 June 2018 (Friday) | Last Day of Term 3
(School ends at 12 noon) |
12:00 noon |
Action Day 2018
By Carol Farrington, Action Leader
Action Day was truly amazing –
The whole Bradbury community working together for other people showing commitment, cooperation, empathy, enthusiasm, respect. Students, parents and staff were taking action for domestic helpers, the poor of Hong Kong, the elderly at St Mary’s Home, other students by playing with and teaching each other, the environment by encouraging energy saving.
The total number of toiletry items collected was a staggering 19,204!
Many parents, family members and friends became involved in this, for the benefit of those less fortunate than us.
The most outstanding collections were by:
1C (only 16 children) 580 2T – 1120
2R – 1921 3SP – 2693
4T – 1502 5F – 3848
So, a mighty “Thank you” from us to everyone who helped before and on the day.
Action Day 2018
By Amanda Bremner, PYP Leader
Bradbury Action Day 2018 was amazing! A huge thank you to all the families who contributed items for the packed toiletries and to parents and extended family members who came to support year group action events on the day. It was nice to see students interacting with community members, learning new skills and celebrating people who regularly help them in some way. A huge thank you also to all the parents who helped out in some way on the day, the extra hands were mush appreciated.
As well as the practical activities on the day, it was inspiring to see students sharing their learning from units of inquiry and applying that learning to help others. There were some wonderful photos taken on the day which we will post on the school website.
Sunshine action is also in need of families to help distribute food bags to people in need on Saturday 12th May. If you have time, there are various locations you can join in the distributions:
9:00 a.m.-12:00 noon Caritas Lai Kok Elderly Centre明愛麗閣長者中心 (150 cases)
九龍Sham Shui Po深水埗 Lai Kok Estate麗閣邨 Lai Ho Building麗荷樓3樓307-310室 Tel: 2729 5858
No. of volunteers needed: 50-60 volunteers
Nearest MTR Station: Cheung Sha Wan MTR exit A
9:30 a.m.-12:00 noon Caritas Shatin Elderly Centre明愛沙田長者中心 (40 cases) Tel: 26911427
No. of volunteers needed: 40 volunteers
10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon Ying Ka Fung Women Support Group 燕嘉鳳婦女服務社 (120 cases)
Lai King Estate – On King House G/Floor – Mob: Ms. Lee Mob: 9788 0906
No. of volunteers needed: 10-15 volunteers
Nearest MTR Station: Lai King MTR exit A3
10:30 a.m.-12:30 noon Kwai Chung Elderly Self-Mutual Help Centre -葵涌長者互助社 (180 cases) 葵涌Kwai Chung 坑坪街 遊樂場Hang Ping Street Playground (Stone House石屋) Tel: 2401 2071
No. of volunteers needed: 30 volunteers
Nearest MTR Station: Kwai Hing MTR exit B
2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. PHAB香港傷健協會坪洲長者暨青少年鄰舍中心 Ping Chau Island Centre (30 cases) tel: 2983 9000 ..Meet at Central Ferry at 12:45 noon, Sunny will lead this event
If you are interested to join please contact Sunny for info whatsapp +852 68884028 📧 sunshine@sunshine-action.org
Y1/Y2 Sports Day
Library News
By Jane Thompson, Teacher Librarian & Connie Leung, Library Assistant
BATTLE OF THE BOOKS
A huge well done to all the students who represented Bradbury School in the Hong Kong Battle of the Books. The competition was held at Chinese International School. The team consisted of twelve students who all battled hard in a very close and nail-biting competition!
SOUTH AFRICA MOBILE LIBRARY-ENGLISH BOOKS FOR COLLECTION
Thank you to all the families who made donations to this worthwhile cause. All the books collected were boxed during Bradbury Action Day and have now been delivered to Sony HK for shipping to South Africa. A big thank you to Joy Agon who coordinated teams of Year Six students to sort and box the books.
BORROWING OTHER LANGUAGES BOOKS REMINDER
All students from Years One to Six have now had their number of loans increased by one book. The extra book is to encourage and enable children to borrow books in another language and must be used for this purpose only. Our Chinese Department have recently purchased some lovely new books for the library and these will be out on the shelves shortly. The new loan system will commence on Monday 16th April and will look like this:
Years 1, 2 & 3: 2 books of choice plus one other language book (3 in total)
Years 4, 5 & 6: 3 books of choice plus one other language book (4 in total)
P.T.A. News
By Julia Dunn, PTA Chairperson, Catherine Hufton, Vice Chairman & Lin Gong, Bradbury School PTA Limited
YEAR BOOK ORDERING
The PTA, with support from the School, will produce a Bradbury School 2017-2018 Year Book. The Year Book is a beautiful memento of the school year and records the variety of activities your child has and will continue to experience at Bradbury school.
The book will be predominantly a colour publication in A4 size. It will feature photographs and pictures with a contribution from every class in the School. The book is due for release in June 2018.
Each of our Bradbury families will receive their first copy of the Year Book as part of their PTA Membership Fee. If you would like to have any extra copy, please complete the order form and return it to your class teacher by Monday, 14th May 2018 so that the print run can be arranged. The cost of each extra copy of our Year Book is HK$150.
SCHOOL DISCO
Disco dates have now been confirmed:
Tuesday 19 June – Yr3/4
Wednesday 20 June – Yr 5/6
Thursday 21 June – Yr 1/2
We encourage classes to use these as end of year parties and more information will be sent to you via your class parents closer to the time.
As always, if you have any comments, ideas or suggestions for events or spending plans, or if you are interested in joining the PTA committee please email pta@bradbury.edu.hk.
Julia Dunn
PTA Chairperson
Email: pta@bradbury.edu.hk.
Website: https://www.bradbury.edu.hk/pta-2/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BradburyschoolPTA/
Follow Your Dreams
Hong Kong Young Writer’s Awards entry by Amelia Chow, Year 6
I blocked everything out. All I did was think. I started to panic. This is my dream job interview at Rob Mills’ Office. The flight is delayed. I need to find a way to get there. I’m not missing this opportunity. I’m not giving up.
This is…Marine, uh… Tullamarine Airport! I need to get to Perth Airport! I’m going to Perth somehow. Someway. Sometime. There’s three other people that are going to Perth! I run up to them and ask them what they’re doing in Perth, a city in Western Australia. There’s a slight problem. All of them want my job. But if we don’t work together, none of us would get the job. If we do work together, one of us would get the job. It’s worth trying. To get there. At least.
Gabrielle, Jay, Spencer and I all want the interior designing job. We all agree on getting there as quick as possible. There’s a voice in my head, telling me that we won’t be able to get to Perth. I’ve got to ignore the negative thoughts. Firstly, we have to come up with a plan. How to get there? Plane? Car? Hike?
In the end, we decide to catch a flight to Perth. Suddenly, an announcement comes on, and I get nervous, and scared. “Everybody, a sandstorm is coming towards us now, and we will keep you safe in our shelter room. Nobody will let you out of the airport unless you have something really important to do. Our staff will lead you to the room, please don’t leave the airport. Thank you for your kind attention.”
After that, all four of us start to panic, we have to think of another way to get to Perth. Quickly, we start to plan, again. Sooner or later, we decided to hike to Ballarat, it will be our first stop. We make up an excuse to try to sneak out of the airport. The guard believed us and let us go. Well, our excuse wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either. We quickly went over to Target and bought some clothes, food and especially water. When we stepped into Target, there was almost nothing in the store. We went over to the food and drinks section, and there was enough for us four. Just enough. After our visit to Target, we set off towards our first stop, Ballarat.
Hiking for a day is hard. And we did it. We arrived at Ballarat, a city northwest of Melbourne. Ballarat was famous for its antique structures and special atmosphere. The buildings were old and they looked amazing. Most of them looked like churches and towers, mostly brown. Oh, I wish I could design the insides of one of them! Over the last 20 hours, we only ate once, and we were hungry, really hungry. So, we sat down and had food, at 2 o’clock in the morning. Good thing I brought my pocket money just in case! Down the street, there was a small shop that was open. We hurried down there and asked if we could get a few things from the shop, but the shop owner told us to leave because he was going home to prepare for the sandstorm. The voice is in my head again. It’s saying we will run out of money and the shop owner won’t let us get anything. The voice keeps making me annoyed. I’ll just ignore it. After asking for five minutes, he finally let us buy food and water. With food and water with us, we decided to head towards Port Augusta, our next stop.
Gabrielle finds a car rental store nearby, and we choose to rental a car. Alex gives us bad news. We have no money left. We start to panic and I give my diamond necklace and my matching earrings to the car rental store. We get a Mercedes, for one day. So, we made use of the time and started driving towards Port Augusta, a city in South Australia because there was the same car rental store in Port Augusta. We could just drop the car off in Port Augusta. Without wasting time, we start to drive.
After driving for seven hours, finally we arrived at Port Augusta. It was a little chilly, so we bought some jackets. Port Augusta was beautiful. The sea views, at the sunsets were incredible. We had about $10 left to use, so we were panicking. Gabrielle and I decided to cut off our hair and give it to charity. To make wigs, and we got some money. It was for good, and we wanted to make children happy. Spencer searched up our next stop for us to take a break at, he told us to go to Perth. Without thinking, Gabrielle booked us a flight to Adelaide. She was eager to get to Rob Mills’ Office.
When we arrived, we decided to get some food. Ooh! McDonalds is right around the corner!
We bumped into Jessica Cox, the world’s first licensed armless pilot. We were on the same table as her, so we took some time to talk with her. We told her about the interviews and the sandstorm. Then, she said, “Well, you guys can come with me to Perth. I’m going as well because I need to renew my Airline Transport Pilot Licence there.” After I heard that, I was so thankful, and it was such a coincidence that we saw Jessica Cox at Port Augusta.
After eating, Jessica let us into her private jet. When I stepped into the plane, what catches my eyes are the soft velvet couches, the marble tables, the shimmering bright lights, and most of all, the cockpit. It wasn’t an ordinary cockpit; it didn’t really look different to the passenger area. The jet looked small from the outside, but it was huge in the inside. Jessica and her co-pilot, Arthur started up the engine, and we started to go down the runway. Soon, after that, I fell asleep on the soft velvet couch. A few hours later, we arrived at Perth Airport, and we couldn’t have thanked Jessica enough for the flight. Straight away, we left for our job interviews. The voice keeps coming back into my head! It’s saying that I won’t get the job! The voice keeps annoying me! Let me just ignore it.
In the end, Rob Mills accepted all four of us to work for his company. Throughout this journey, I learnt how to cooperate with people, and that everything is going to be okay in the end, and if it’s not okay, it’s not going to be the end. If negative thoughts come to you, just block them out and ignore them. Everyone needs to try new things, all the time. And never, give up on your dreams.
Chess Champion – Lennon McCombe
By Therese Gallen, Vice Principal
Congratulations to Lennon in 1G who is showing his talent as a chess player.
He has now competed in two Hong Kong tournaments with students ranging from 5-18 yrs old, and has done very well in both.
Keep up the great work Lennon – see pictures below of Lennon competing in the South Island School Tournament , and placing 4th runner up in the Hong Kong Juniors Rapid Chess Championship 2018.
Spellbulary 2018
By Therese Gallen, Vice Principal
SPELLING COMPETITION
Interested students might like to test their spelling skills and word knowledge in the SPELLBULARY, spelling ‘competition’.
The competition is run by The Kelly Yang Project – a writing and debating centre here in Hong Kong. This is a city wide ‘spelling bee’ and is open to children aged 6-12 years old.
Students can register independently, and parents can attend with them.
The Spellbulary competition will be held on Sunday, May 6, 2018, in Sheung Wan.
Attached is an event poster with registration information. You can also refer to this short video for an idea of how the competition works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZUmIP9KvG0. Registration forms can be downloaded here.
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
Adventure Sports Academy Ltd. – Soccer & Basketball Training, contact Eilis Cheung at 3998 4042 or info@adventuresportsacademy.com
Website: www.adventuresportsacademy.com
Backershagen B.V. (LanguageOne) – Global Mother Tongue Education, contact Leandra Lok at 5501 5262 or
leandra.lok@languageone.nl Website: www.languageone.nl
Brilliant Learning International Ltd. (Sanskriti) – Sanskriti/Hindi Language Class, contact Geetanjali Dhar at 3563 4300 or info@sanskritiglobal.org Website: www.sanskritiglobal.org
CentreStage Studios HK Ltd. – Singing, Acting, Dancing – Ballet, Jazz, Tap Dance, contact Imogen Taylor or Kaijah Bell at 5236 7960 or 2689 2272 or admin@centrestagestudioshk.com
Website: www.centrestagestudioshk.com
Discovery Dome Hong Kong Ltd. – Astronomy Club with a Portable Mobile Planetarium, contact Lorne Ali at 9754 4081 or lorneali@hotmail.com
Website www.discoverydome.hk
Foundation Academy Ltd. – Foundation’s Filmmaker, contact Foundation Academy at 3107 8810 or
academy@foundationge.com Website: http://www.foundationacademy.co/filmmaker/
HoYinPingChess – Chess Class, Holiday Camp, contact Yin Ping Ho at 9215 2682 or hoyinpingchess@gmail.com Website: www.hoyinpingchess.com/index/lesson.html / www.hoyinpingchess.com/index/camp.html
Hong Kong Star Basketball Training Centre Limited – Basketball, contact Yuki Lai at 9669 4280 or yukilai@hk-bbstc.com Website: www.hk-bbstc.org
Move For Life Ltd. – “Move” Dance Class, contact Rosie Martin at 5491 2473 or info@moveforlife.asia Website: www.moveforlife.asia
Starlit Voice Ltd. – LAMDA Musical Theatre & Group Drama, contact Vincent Warren at 2108 2182 or info@starlit.hk Website: www.starlitvoice.com
Swedish Cultural Society – Swedish Language and Culture, contact Linda at 9316-6599 or svenskaskolanhongkong@hotmail.com
Website: www.svenskaskolan.hk
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.
