6 November 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

Walkathon

Vocational Learning

Fundraiser

Enrichment

Celebrating Student Success

Student Wellbeing

Dear Parents,

The vision for our students is to be the best that they can be. We can only achieve this vision by achieving strong partnership between home and school. The IEP meetings this week are essential elements of us working together to achieve success. It is really critical for us to find out what achievements are the most important to you and what you want your children to learn. Thank you to all parents that were able to meet with their class teachers and therapists. If you were not able to attend the IEP meeting please get in touch with your class teacher to discuss your child’s IEP targets.

All staff have worked on enriching our provision with a range of activities that support learning of students. Last week all students took part in their first round of Enrichment activities. This week a group of students went to their first vocational placement at the Swire Hotel. Both learning opportunities were a huge success. I want to thank all staff for the time and effort put into planning and preparing engaging activities that support students personal and academic growth and develop their independent living skills.

The next couple of weeks will also be enriched by various exciting opportunities like Diwali Assembly on Friday 13th of November (come dressed in a traditional Indian wear or bright and colourful clothes) and Walkathon on 18th of November.

Unfortunately, Sports Day this year will have to be cancelled (or at least postponed till next term). We know how important this event is to our school and how it supports development of the community spirit. Our Christmas show will also be moved to an online platform. Together with the PTA we are discussing different options for bringing the community together and for ways of connecting and engaging in a shared activity. Please let us know if you have any suggestions and ideas.

Christmas Show

This year the Christmas show will be a digital show and shared with you in the last week of term.

Please pick a photo of your child with family/friends (1-2) that you would normally be visiting over the Christmas break but due to world circumstances will unlikely be able to this year.

These will feature in the Christmas show. Deadline to submit a photo is 20th November. Please email it to your child’s class teacher.

School Improvement and Parent Survey

Over the last two weeks all staff engaged in their Professional Reflection and Development meetings which offer them an invaluable opportunity to reflect on their professional growth and to share their aspirations and detailed action plans for their areas of responsibility. All of this contributes to the school development and improvement of students learning.

We would like to take this opportunity to obtain your feedback to find out how you would like the school to be developed further.

We are at the very exciting stage of the school improvement process. We are shaping the school improvement priorities for the following three years at the time when the whole ESF community is focusing on diversity, equality and inclusion agenda. We have a unique opportunity to be ambitious, to think big and to re-define our vision and aspirations for the school with the full support of the ESF executive management team.

Please share with us your views on the school improvement by completing the survey here.

The survey will close on Monday 16th of November.

Kind regards,

Anna

Supporting Charities in Asia

This year we will hold our annual Walkathon at KGV sports ground on Wednesday 18th November 2020 at 13:00 – 14:30.

Walkathon is a sponsored walk to raise money for a charity. During the Walkathon students will walk around the sports ground as many times as they can within the time limit.

This year we will be aiming to raise money for two charities:

• Masarang Foundation and their work in restoring rainforests.
• Angels for Children, a HK based charity focusing on improving children’s lives in South East Asia.

Our JCSRS Student Council will be leading the direction of the raised donations.

Students should wear their PE uniform on the day. They will also need to bring a bottle of water, sunscreen and a hat.

We encourage you to discuss the purpose of the event with your child including the impact their efforts will make in supporting our two selected charities.

You can find a sponsor sheet here.

We look forward to seeing you at the event.

After a hiatus of over nine months, this week marked the return and introduction to off site vocational learning for four Jade class students. Ella, Paolo, Harvey and Oliver (along with our Occupational Therapist Jon and ESF Job Coach Tereasa) had a successful start to their first day on the job at East Hotel.

The students were introduced to a range of work tasks across a variety of settings within the hotel. This included: guest room, where students engaged in bed making and toiletry bag assembly; lobby – greeting and opening the door for guests; laundry room – towel and staff uniform folding; and cafe, where students participated in napkin folding.

Many thanks to the support of the staff at the East hotel where our students are provided an opportunity to experience vocational education in a supportive and inclusive environment.

“Just in time for Christmas” – Announcing the launch of the 2020 JCSRS Fundraising drive.

During Distance Learning our students created art pieces later developed into a series of greeting cards, calendars and wrapping paper. The Jade class team were then set to work packaging the items as part of vocational learning.

You can show your support of this whole school initiative by making a purchase and sharing this flyer with your family and friends. Our goods are selling quickly so you don’t want to miss out.

Link to order here: https://form.jotform.com/203018349501447

Many thanks to Sally Fryer for her artistic direction, Jackie Newman and the Jade class team for their vocational skills and big thanks to the Schaus Family for their generous sponsorship of this project.

Profits raised will contribute to increasing the student book collection of the JCSR library.
(Belinda McLaughlin; Vice Principal)

The purpose of the enrichment program at JCSRS is to provide students with a choice of activities to help them develop interests, build on skills and provide opportunities for social and extended learning. This term students were given the opportunity to choose from the following enrichment activities:

• ICT Club
• Drama Club
• Wellness
• Sensory Play
• Science Club
• Rugby
• Choir
• Sing and Sign

During class time students were given the opportunity to find out about each activity and make two choices of which activities they would like to join. Each student was allocated to one of their preferred choices.

Our first enrichment session was last Friday and the students had a lot of fun in their chosen activities:

In Choir and Sing and Sign students are preparing a performance for the Christmas Show; in Wellness students joined a nature walk around the KGV field; in Drama Club students engaged with turn taking and confidence building activities; in Science Club students made a chemical reaction using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar; in Sensory Play students explored through paint and a range of other sensory experiences; in ICT Club students used Bee Bots and Coding Caterpillar; and finally in rugby some students practiced for the school rugby team whilst others trained with HKRU – there was a lot of opportunity for students to try something new in each activity.

Enrichment activities will run until Chinese New Year, when students will have an opportunity to reflect on the sessions they joined and choose new activities for Term 2 and 3.

JCSRS student wins the Hebe Haven Yacht Club Open Dinghy Race

Congratulations to Leo Purdie who competed in 6 races over 2 days to win the Hansa 303 Double handed division at the Hebe Haven Yacht Club Open Dinghy Race.

Sailing side by side with his long term sailing partner Joel Felipe the team pushed hard over the weekend to beat out 11 boats in their category for the overall top spot.

Leo has been sailing in the JCSRS Sailability program for many years as well as in the Sailability program on Saturdays.

Leo always sails with great focus, coordination and stamina and truly loves the sport.

If you would like your son or daughter to be introduced to sailing then we provide our Tuesday course each Tuesday in Term 1. Alternatively you can sail on Saturdays with Sailability. Please contact Kay Rawbone at kay@sailability.org.hk for further details.

Mountain Bike Course on Lantau Island

Following up from the summer Mountain Bike course with Mountain Bike Hong Kong, Harvey (JCSRS), Maxx and Lok (KGV LS) completed another 2 days on the bikes. This time they headed up to the bike park on Lantau Island. If you haven’t been and can ride I’d very much recommend it for a half/day out. It’s becoming the centre of MTB in Hong Kong with many trails being developed.

It was great to see the boys developing their skills and courage on the trail. From starting to bike a few years ago at school and furthering their abilities in Team Fear Adventure races they have all come a long way. These pathways are also available to your child. If you would like your child to learn to ride and progress further then MBHK offers beginner courses. Please send me an email if you are interested and we can look into putting on a course at JCSRS. Ideally potential riders would be aged 7/8 and up.
(Mike Watson; PE Teacher)

Over the coming weeks a selection of secondary students will be participating in the Assessing Wellbeing in Education (AWE) survey reflective of all students in Years 4-13 across ESF schools. The AWE assessment will help schools to measure and track the wellbeing of their school community through Positive Education based online wellbeing assessments. Details will follow for students involved in the survey.