26 March 2021

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

Library Update

NPDL (Deep Learning) Project – We Are the World Exhibition

Total Communication at JCSRS

PTA Funded Physiotherapy Equipment

Expressive Arts – Move For Life

As today marks the last day of a really busy term I would like to thank all staff, students, parents and the school council for their continued hard work and commitment to the life of the school.

Over the last couple of weeks, all students continued to develop their knowledge of how they can be responsible for our environment and how art can convey a powerful message. All art pieces and documentations of students learning over the last few weeks are near completion and will all be displayed in our 2021 Art Exhibition (see more information on this below).

End of the term is often time to say goodbye to some staff. This term we are bidding farewell to our Occupational Therapy Educational Assistant, Angelica Balad. I would like to thank her for the support that she has offered to our students and staff over the last few months.

As we all work hard to restart a degree of normality and hope that the most challenging chapter is coming to the end, the words of child psychologist and author Maria Robinson echo true to many of us. We acknowledge the challenges that we were faced with and recognise the uncertainty of the road ahead. We will work together towards the endings we all want which are underpinned by the whole school community’s determination and a strong commitment to student learning and welfare.

I wish you all a very happy Easter holiday.

Kind regards,

Anna

You will be aware that the current ESF guidelines advise that students may only borrow home reading books to take home to limit any chance of contamination offsite. At the moment, students cannot borrow library books to take home though many are borrowing and keeping them in the classroom to allow students to read for pleasure and to have free choice in the materials they read. Once returned, these books are ‘quarantined’ for 3 or more days before being returned to the general collection. ESF are constantly monitoring the guidelines and will let us know once it is safe to resume sending more books home.

In order to encourage the timely and safe return of all books, I would like to remind families of the following:

• Currently, Students may take 1 home reading book home per week. Over shorter holidays, teachers may send an additional book

• No books may be borrowed over the summer break

• A notice will be sent home in student bags for books that are not returned within 3 weeks

• Books that are not returned within 8 weeks of borrowing will be considered ‘lost’ and a fine will be issued for $100 to replace the book in our collection

Thank you for helping us to look after these precious resources.

Wincy and Karen

(Library Assistant and Curriculum Lead Teacher)

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Please make a note and save the date for our Art Exhibition in May 2021. All JCSRS students have been creative busy bees over the past month, collaborating and planning art works that link with our current unit “We Are the World”.

As well as researching their given information linked to an environmental problem, the students have been acquiring new art skills and techniques. So far it has been exciting to see examples of printmaking, collage work, clay moulding, sewing with fabrics and impressive mark-making using recycled objects! Each student will share their understanding through the creation of an artwork (either class-based or an individual piece) that will demonstrate a powerful message to the audience.

We are excited to exhibit our artworks and present them to you on May 12th. Sadly however, due to COVID restrictions the Visual Arts Gallery remains closed but we are optimistic that it will reopen in time for our exhibition. As you will see, the location on the invitation is still to be confirmed. I will be in touch in mid-April with the location for the event. Please add May 12th to 17th in your diaries.

Sally Fryer

Art Coordinator

AAC Top Tips – Core Words

AAC Tip of the week! Using core words with your child will help to build their vocabulary. Watch this story with your child and model the words suggested as you go.

Core vocabulary refers to the small number of words that make up >70-90% of what we say on a daily basis. These words are relevant across contexts and can have many meanings. Some examples of core vocabulary include: stop, go, get, more, turn, mine, on, off, up, down, that.

In March, we received the final items from a physiotherapy equipment order, generously funded by the PTA. This equipment included several kinds of mobility support walkers, an electric muscle stimulator machine, two stability frames to facilitate independent standing and an orthotic device to improve the user’s gait pattern.

Due to the high cost of some of these items, they are not covered by the designated school physiotherapy equipment budget and so the PTA generously offered to provide the necessary additional funding.

The cost involved in purchasing this sort of equipment often makes it inaccessible to many families for individual purchase. There are also limited options to rent this type of equipment in Hong Kong and local suppliers often do not have demonstration units in all sizes for trial purposes.

Having our own equipment in a range of sizes at school provides the opportunity for us to see how the student will benefit, allowing families to make a more informed decision about purchase. They are also able to use the equipment in school and borrow it during holidays, therefore reducing the need to purchase this expensive equipment that their child may quickly outgrow or progress beyond the need for.

Thank you so much to the PTA for their support in securing these much needed resources for our students with challenges to their mobility.

As part of our enrichment programme this term, we have been working with Move For Life dance company to create bespoke movement, dance and wellbeing sessions for students to access during distance learning.

Koala Bop is a specifically created dance programme for students with special needs. Through the sessions they learn how to feel the beat, understand listening to music and also how to enjoy the simple act of moving to music.

Dancing also improves critical thinking. Like the question “how can I communicate with my body to make it do something specific, at a specific time?” or “how can I communicate with several body parts at the same time?” Dancing is a direct channel to joy, once you start dancing, happiness is inevitable.

For more information about the company please visit their website here.