24 August 2020

Jockey Club Sarah Roe School’s latest newsletter is available to read now. Find out the latest news around the school and upcoming events.

  Principal’s Message

 Election of Parent Member of the School Council

A warm welcome to the new school year! A special welcome to our new students and families.

The following new staff are starting with us this term:

• Principal – Anna Smakowska
• Office Manager – Queenie Au
• IT Technician – Jeff Wong
• Physiotherapy Educational Assistant – Angelo Bernando (New to position but not new to JCSRS)
• Educational Assistants: Myrla Lunday, Ival Bautista, Novia Trottier, Pia Fortich
• Occupational Therapist – Daena Ramos (Stepping into role of OT for Term 1)

Distance Learning

The focus on Building our Learning Community, through the ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ unit of inquiry, has seen a range of learning engagements giving students and teachers the chance to learn more about themselves and each other.

We are working hard to ensure the best possible experience for children within the EDB and HK Government direction.

We absolutely recognize the fact that we are unable to deliver what we would in school. However, that said, we want it to be the best possible experience – carefully planned with their children’s needs at the heart of the planning. We are keen to listen to parents and work with you to make sure we improve on what we do. We are constantly adapting and evolving our approach to improve the experience for the children and parents.

We agreed that providing consistency and familiarity for students based on last year’s model would be a consideration in starting the school year. However, reflection and review of our current model to best support the needs of our students is a given. Our aim this year is to build on the strengths of last year’s distance learning and enhance the student experience.

Attendance

Class teachers will record student attendance. Students are encouraged to engage with all aspects of the distance learning provision by joining live sessions and also undertaking and submitting independent learning tasks. Students will be marked present if they have engaged with the learning via these different modes.

Meet the Teacher Evening

On Thursday 10th September we will be holding an information evening and an opportunity to meet the teachers. We will begin the evening at 4 pm with a short presentation by school leaders on the school curriculum. You can then meet with your class teachers and therapists to discuss the year ahead. If we are not able to meet in person we will hold all sessions online (more details to follow).

We look forward to connecting with parents during these sessions. Remember that we greatly value our partnership with you and that soon we will also have formal meetings to discuss Individual Learning Plans for each child.

ESF App Sign Up

Thank you to all the parents who have now signed up for the ESF App. We intend to move exclusively across to this mode for all whole school communications at the end of this week. Please download and sign up for the app by this Friday, 28th August.

PTA

On Thursday 27th August 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm there is the PTA AGM and I encourage you to come along and be part of this friendly and hardworking group of parents and teachers. This a unique opportunity to gather in person. We encourage all parents to physically attend the AGM and your involvement will help us shape the direction of the school. Please email your nomination for all committee positions in advance of the meeting or bring them with you.

Please RSVP to jcsrs.pta(at)jcsrs(dot)edu(dot)hk on whether you can participate in the AGM physically. For those who are not able to attend in person we will send you an invitation to the Zoom meeting so you can join from home (you will not be able to vote if you are joining via Zoom).

I will be joining the AGM, so it will be a great opportunity for me to introduce myself to you, talk about my vision for the school, and answer some of the questions we may have.

I am looking forward to meeting you all. As always, please know that if you have any concerns (or indeed positive feedback) you are welcome to contact your child’s teacher, Belinda or me.

Warm Regards,

Anna

JCSRS is seeking candidates for election to a Parent Member position on the School Council. Candidates must be an existing parent of JCSRS and must not be an employee of ESF. The term of office of School Council members is three years. Deadline to send your nominations back to school via post or email is 24th of August. Being part of the school council is an excellent opportunity to support the school in bringing in positive change and improvements.

Please refer to this Letter from the Principal for details.