21 Jun 2019

21 June 2019

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

Student Art Exhibition – congratulations Darius

Principal’s Message

We are so very proud of our graduating students. Congratulations to – Cole, Cindy, Jimmy, Varun and Gavin. We look forward to hearing all about their lives beyond school and we do love to keep in touch with our graduates and their families. We hope you are able to come along for special occasions and stay in touch with us. At the graduation ceremony we recognised and thanked all their families who have been our partners for the education journey. We also thanked the many staff who have gone over and above what is expected to ensure our students are the best they can be.

2019 graduating students

The art exhibition at the Fringe club of Darius Kwok’s paintings was outstanding. Thank you Jackie, Darius’ family and our PTA for organising and supporting this event. Jackie has more details later in the newsletter.

We also congratulate our three young men – Cole, Gavin and Oliver who have successfully completed their work placement at ESF Centre. On Wednesday they proudly received their certificates and enjoyed a morning tea with our CEO Belinda Greer and members of the ESF staff who have supported their work. Well done Jenny and the team for coordinating this.

Last Friday seven of our students took part in our jointly organised Aquathon with the Peak school. Alongside JCSRS students, there were students from our partner ESF primary school swimming 10 lengths and then running 1km on the KGV field. All students were cheered along by other competitors and it was lovely to see Michael’s friends cheering him on the KGV field all the way until the finish.

Fifteen students have been taking part in the Special Olympic Golf sessions for the past three weeks. Putting, swing drills and driving have all improved in both primary and secondary students. Perhaps in the future we will have more students being part of the Special Olympics training squad.

Thanks Mike and Martin

Congratulations to Eva, Oliver, William, Josh, Jessica, Harvey and Brandon on your amazing performance at West Island School ESF Evening of Dance. We opened the show and we received resounding applause for our dance. Thank you to Holly, Mari and Maidee and all the parents who braved the storms to go along on the night. You can see the video below.

For the second year in a row, we also welcomed a group of Discovery College drama students who shared short performances in our hall. The students added to our learning for our unit on ‘Looking After Myself’. We all enjoyed the show and hope they come back again next year. Thanks Holly for coordinating this.

We had a very special visitor last week. Jasper is a therapy dog and was just wonderful with our students. We all hope Jasper can come back again more often.

Thank you to all the families who are as enthusiastic as us in saving our planet!!! Our compost bins are often overflowing with food waste and the students are enjoying turning this into beautiful soil for our garden. We are asking that you don’t send any food waste in for the last week of school as we are so busy ‘tidying up’ for the end of the school year. Let’s start again with the same enthusiasm in August.

I hope the final parent meeting for the year went well. We are excited that we have been able to update the VLE platform (thank you Carol) and we hope that you find it a lot more user-friendly. The staff put a huge amount of time and effort into collecting evidence of student learning. We love to celebrate the successes and achievements with you. I know you can now ‘like’ the photos and other work that is on your son or daughter’s page. Perhaps you can do this with them to show how much you also like their work. Next year we have even more to share with you. Please come along to our Meet the Teacher, Welcome Presentation and PTA AGM on Thursday 22nd August.

Next week there are still a number of special events including a trip to the cinema and pizza party/water play day (always a lot of fun). Reminder that on our last day of the school year – Friday 28 June we have an assembly in our hall at 11 am. This includes student awards including the Principals’ award and some farewells. Please do come along if you can. Remember school finishes at 11.30 and we will see you all again on Wednesday 14 August for a half day – 8.50-11.30 and back to usual routine on Thursday 15th. Please pay attention to the calendar on our website. The 2019-20 school year is again full of learning, fun and partnerships.

I am sure you have all received my email about JCSRS Transitions……….

Since 2014 I have been very proud to be the principal of this fabulous school. I have had the privilege of working with fantastic students and their families as well as a team of colleagues and School Council members who are outstanding in every way.

Together we have achieved a lot and I can only see our school continuing to grow and develop in the future. My time as principal will come to an end in June 2020 and it is now time to begin the search for our next leader. You will notice that the position of Principal of JCSRS will be advertised on the ESF website next week. I will be working with the ESF team to ensure our special school is in special hands.

The school community will be invited to play an active role in choosing the next principal. I will let you know about the process once it gets underway.

I wish you all a happy end to the school year and a safe and enjoyable summer break.

Kind Regards

Karin

Dates for Your Diary

Cinema trip – Wednesday 26 June

Pizza party and Water play – Thursday 27 June

Last day and assembly – Friday 28 June. Farewell assembly at 10.45-11.30. School finishes at 11.30

First day back for 2019-20 school year – Wednesday 14 August 8.50-11.30

Full days for students from Thursday 15 August

Graduation

ESF Evening of Dance

On Tuesday 11th June, six students performed at the ESF Evening of Dance at West Island School. The students performed a dance to the song Runaway Baby by Bruno Mars and opened the show. They had been working on the dance during Friday enrichment sessions and they were absolutely amazing. A huge well done to Oliver, William, Joshua, Eva, Harvey, Brandon and Jessica. A big thank you also goes to Maidee and Mari who oversaw the practice sessions and choreographed the dance.

Student Art Exhibition – Congratulations Darius

Darius’ art exhibition at the Fringe Club on the 14 June 2019 has proven yet again that JCSRS is full of talented students. The event was co-organised by Silver class and W.M. Construction Limited. Over 200 people from the families and the community joined us to celebrate Darius’ achievement. A reporter from the South China Morning Post interviewed Darius to highlight his success to raise awareness of autism. With the support of the PTA (particularly Sandra Feran, Sandra Lee and Sarah Clifford), we raised over $132,900. This generous amount will be added to the funds already raised to purchase a new school bus next year. This will benefit all students greatly as they can enjoy a comfortable and safe ride to and from school and for numerous school trips to enrich their learning in the community.

Darius Kwok art show and auction for ESF Jockey Club Sarah Roe School in Hong Kong.

Jackie Newman, Silver Class teacher

Summer Sports Camp 2019

Rainbow Summer Camp

Summer camp opportunity for students with SEN and disabilities aged 5-19 run by professional dancer and founder of ‘Move for Life’ Joshua Keefe. Josh has created an exciting summer camp opportunity with a range of fun activities including dancing, art and sensory activities. Please see poster attached for details on ‘Rainbow Summer Camp’ and sign up.