Dear parents and caregivers,

This week the school hosted the first of two official openings for our new Borrett Road Campus. As many know, the redevelopment was a partnership between ESF and the Hong Kong Government.

The nature of the partnership meant that there were unprecedented political and jurisdictional hurdles to overcome and this most certainly added to the complexity of making this dream become reality.

The first phase of the opening acknowledged the strong partnership between EDB and ESF as well as celebrating the critical role that  international education plays in positioning Hong Kong as Asia’s world city.

The second phase of the opening will occur in conjunction with the IS Fair and will be an Island School community event to celebrate this tremendous milestone.

The Fair will be held on 21 April and students have commenced working with the ISPTA on both aspects of this much anticipated event.

It is sure to be one of the highlights of recent years, with alumni invited to attend. The festivities will include the launch of the” Life Time Friends” project which will give community members the opportunity to immortalise their support of our school by sponsoring a tile in the special commemorative gallery.

All families are asked to save the date, 21 April 2023.

 
Best wishes,
Mr Stephen Loggie
Principal, Island School

Coming Soon:
IS Celebration Back to Borrett Hoodie!

Students, with support from the PTA, have designed a hoodie to celebrate our return to Borrett Road. These all-seasonw hoodie that can be customized and worn as part of the uniform throughout the year. Watch this space next week for ordering information.

Secretary for Education Officially Opens the Campus 

The Secretary for Education, Dr Christine Choi Yuk-lin, JP, today declared the new Island School campus officially open.
Dr Choi, said: 

“The English Schools Foundation (ESF) is one of our close partners in the development of a vibrant international school sector. Since the establishment of its first school in 1967, ESF has been committed to the provision of quality education and all-round development to our youths through constantly enhancing the teaching and learning environment. This new campus at Borrett Road showcases the Hong Kong SAR Government’s commitment to building a vibrant international school sector and strengthening our role as an international city. I am very pleased that the project was well delivered amidst the difficult times when Hong Kong was hard hit by the COVID-19 epidemic. I wish you all every success and hope you can reach new heights in your teaching and learning on this new campus.”


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Thank you to those of you that were able to attend the Pathways Through LOTE  Zoom coffee morning today. I do hope the session answered any questions you might still have had regarding the 7-13 language pathways available to our students. However, please don’t hesitate to contact the school if you would like further clarification.
 
The slides used for the presentation on Pathways Through LOTE  are attached here. 
 
Slides
Recording

Gayle Marshall, Vice Principal

Message from the Middle Phase

Student Wellbeing: The AWE Survey
 
On Tuesday 17th January all students at Island School will complete an online survey assessing their wellbeing. This happens every year across all ESF schools for all students in Year 4 to Year 13. The Assessing Wellbeing in Education (AWE) survey will help schools to measure and track the wellbeing of their school community through Positive Education-based online wellbeing assessments. 
 
The AWE survey consists of a collection of validated psychometric scales and scientifically informed questions from psychology literature that assess various aspects of wellbeing. The AWE survey covers all major theories of wellbeing, rather than one particular theory or perspective. Filling in the 14 questions should take no longer than 15 minutes and will happen during Registration where students will receive technical support from their tutor. 
 
The school will receive data about each student’s wellbeing, and also anonymised data related to year groups and the whole school. This will guide the school to help individual students and inform whole school plans. The individual student data will only be shared with those who need to see it such as the student's Tutor, Head of House or School Counsellor.
 
We shared details of this survey with students through a video message this week. This outlined that  students will receive a copy of their own report by email and will have the option to enter up to three email addresses of others with whom to share their report. We would encourage you to ask your student to share their report with you.

Further information is available at www.awesomeschools.com. 

Mark Jobling, Vice Principal Middle Phase

Merit Award Winners
Congratulations to all the Merit winners this week

Message from the Senior Phase

Year 11 Option choices
Next week, students and parents will receive notification of the option choices students have been allocated for Year 12 next year.  If students have not been allocated their first or back-up options, Heads of House will work with students to re-select and parents will be kept informed. 
 
Year 11 Elements lessons in Term 2
Year 11 students complete their Elements courses at the start of February. Elements lesson time will then be used to support students’ key competency development.  These competencies are essential for upcoming iGCSE exams, the Year 11 Exhibition and studies beyond Year 11.  At Island School, we refer to this as The Bridge Programme - a programme that aims to bridge different parts of students’ education, and we are excited to begin this work with Year 11. 
 
Y11 Study Leave begins: 21 April. 
Year 13 Dinner Dance: 2 May
 
Year 13 - Some key dates 
Please save the date for a Zoom Parent Information session. 
Topic: Supporting your child to prepare for IBDP exams
Date: Tuesday, January 31st
Time: 5pm 
The Zoom link will be shared directly with parents after the Lunar New Year break.  The session will focus on how parents can support students preparing for IBDP examinations and the Senior Phase Team will also give an overview of the term ahead. 
 
The final parts of the IBDP Core are currently being completed with Year 13. 
The TOK essay is due the week of 6 February.
CAS Exit Interviews will take place before 10 February.
 
Year 13 Practice Exams take place in the week of 27 February and the timetable for this week will be released by the end of next week. Additional practice exams that can not be accommodated in lesson time will be scheduled outside of the practice exam week in Phase Time or after school and students will be given advance notice of these assessments. 
 
Year 13 Study Leave: 31 March.
IBDP Exams begin: 27 April.
Graduation: 23 May.
Year 13 Dinner Dance: 25 May.

Beth Hall, Vice Principal, Senior Phase. 

Upcoming Events 

• 16-20th : Year 7 & 8 TFL

• 17th: IGCSE Mathematics Examination

• 17th: Awe Survey

• 18th: Year 12 (IB & BTEC) Museum Trip

• 18th: Girls Rising Women in STEM talk

• 19th: Year 8 Guest Speaker 

• 19th: ESF University Fair - Day 1: Europe (online)

•  20th: Year 10 Handball Inter House

• 20th: Parent Open Day

Message from the Head Students

Official Opening Ceremony, Wednesday, 11 January
 
This week we had the honour to attend Island School’s Official Opening Ceremony on Wednesday, 11th January, where we celebrated our new campus with 100+ distinguished guests, including The Secretary for Education, Dr Christine Choi Yuk-lin, JP, Dr Kim Mak, BBS JP, ESF Chairman, Mrs Belinda Greer, ESF Chief Executive Officer, and ESF and Island School’s partners. 

When welcoming guests to the ceremony Charlie Lam, Head Students said, "Island School is a truly unique place that brings out the best in us. Every day, students are empowered to pursue academic excellence, to serve our community, to gratify our passions and to realise our full potential.
In a truly collaborative, truly international environment, we connect with friends from all over the world. Students may come and go, but the Island School spirit remains strong in all of us. 
 
Being back in one campus equipped with world-class facilities has brought student agency to new heights. From excelling in inter-school sports to collaborating on Christmas charity events, as a community, we have grown, flourished and shone.
 
Whole School Walk, Friday, 10 February
 
Now in its fourth year, the whole school walk funds the Nicola and Kenneth Bursaries, which support students in severe financial need. Bursaries are typically used to cover tutoring costs, exam fees or textbooks. Sometimes they are spent on essential living costs such as food or transport.

Connected Communities Chinese New Year Gifts, Friday, 20 January
 
The Connected Communities Committee are organising a present collection drive. This collection drive will take place during break and lunchtime next week to further express Island School’s gratitude towards the Sha Tin Wai community.  
Gifts will be transported to Sha Tin Wai on the afternoon of Friday, 20 January, so please get all gifts in by the deadline. Students who donated their presents will be recorded on Google Sheets and may receive a coupon for an upcoming pizza party hosted by the Committee. Please contact Angus Leung (12N), Yimo Yao (12E), Katrina Hon (11R) and Yee Ka Lau (11R) if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you!
 
Please don’t hesitate to contact us at headstudents@online.island.edu.hk with any questions, queries or concerns.
 
Kind regards,
Fiorelli Wong (13R), Sam Hui (13W), Angela Chen (13D), Charlie Lam (13E)

ISPTA Chinese New Year Events

Island School Chinese New Year Decoration Days

During the Christmas break, volunteers helped decorate the campus for CNY. Students entered a campus filled with traditional lanterns and decorations, ready to celebrate this important festival. 

Click here to see photos of the campus.

Wishing Tree for the Year of the Rabbit

To celebrate CNY, a peach blossom tree has been placed on the school campus. ISPTA would like to invite families to hang their wishes for the Year of the Rabbit onto the tree. Please write your wish and place them inside a Lai See packet that can be hung onto the tree on/before 20th January. A collection box for the wishes is beside the tree on LG1.

ISPTA Term 1 Newsletter

Our Term 1 Newsletter is out, have a look at a recap of last term’s highlights.

To contact ISPTA, please email pta@online.island.edu.hk
To learn more about the ISPTA, visit https://island.edu.hk/pta-home/

You can see previous news items at http://island.edu.hk/island-news/. 

Don’t forget to Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/islandschool/ for more photos and videos of school life.