Dear Parents and caregiver

Our school culture is driven by our values of which compel all students and staff to do their best in all school endeavours.

There are many programs, routines and events that we implement that sustain this culture by inspiring and mentoring students and recognising collective and individual achievement.

Award ceremonies play an important role in bringing our school together to celebrate achievement and this year we are bringing mid-year awards for both middle and junior phases.

This initiative will create more opportunities for the tremendous work of our students to be appropriately recognised and serve as a reminder to us all that much more can be achieved in the second half of our school year.  

The purpose of these events is to acknowledge personal achievement at many levels. Awards are presented for:

• Principal’s medals for outstanding academic achievement
• Islander awards for students who engage fully in school life
• Spirit awards to students who embody the school values
• Special awards in Sporting and cultural achievements
• Commitment to community service 

At the events students will be reminded that not everyone can be the best but that everyone can do their best.

Many of the awards are peer nominated and voted and this ensures that very student has some input into the acknowledgement process.

Parents of recipients will be personally invited to attend if their young person is receiving an award however all parents are welcome to join in these important celebrations via an online feed.

We’d love to have as many parents as possible present, so please save the following days.
Tuesday 27th June - specific times will be confirmed in due course.


Best wishes,
Mr. Stephen Loggie
Principal, Island School

Election of Parent Members of the School Council

Dear Parents,

ESF Elections

Election of Parent Members of the School Council

I write to give notice of the election of TWO Parent Members to casual vacancies on the School Council of Island School.

The term of office of School Council members is three years. Each parent of a student attending Island School, who is not an employee of ESF, is eligible to stand for election to the School Council.
Should you wish to nominate yourself for election please complete the nomination form attached. 

You are invited to prepare a brief personal statement (no more than 300 words) setting out your relevant experience and stating what you would hope to contribute to the Council and the School. 

A copy of any personal statement, received from nominees for election as a parent member on Island School School Council, will be sent to all parents of students attending Island School.

Please note that all personal data received will be processed only as necessary and in accordance with ESF’s personal data handling policy available on the ESF website.

Completed nomination forms, together with the optional personal statement, should be signed and handed in/posted to the school office. Should you wish to email the nomination form and personal statement you may send these to schoolcouncil@online.island.edu.hk.

The last date for the receipt of nomination forms and the optional personal statements is 31 May 2023.

Ballot papers will be issued on 2 June 23.  

Our school will be using an e-voting system to run the election. Starting from 2 June 23, parents can vote by logging into Gateway and accessing the e-voting platform. The e-voting will close at 5pm on 16 June 23.

Yours sincerely,
Stephen Loggie
Principal

Att – Nomination Form (E2)  / Candidate’s Statement (E3) 

Operations Update

Ocean Park Visit

We are very excited to share that we will be facilitating a visit to Ocean Park for students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12. The aim of the trip is to provide a much welcomed opportunity for our students and staff to interact and socialise, which is much needed after the challenges that have been endured throughout covid. We hope the event proves to be an exhilarating and thoroughly enjoyable occasion away from the classroom, for all concerned. 

The school buses will drop off at Ocean Park. Given the easy access to the MTR, students will be dismissed directly from the venue at 15:00. 

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the PTA, who have financed this wonderful experience. Thank you. 

Events: 

• April 26th - June 20th: IGCSE Exam Period
• 22nd - 26th: Y12 Practical Exams
• 23rd - 25th: Y10 Food Practical Assessment (Information)
• 23rd: Y13 Awards
• 23rd: (16:00) Y13 Graduation & Reception
• 24th: Run Your Own Business Trade Fair
• 25th: Y13 Dinner Dance (All staff invited to the 6-7pm Cocktail Hour at the Aberdeen Marina Club)

Sports Fixtures:

• 22nd May: U12 Boys Football @Sandy Bay
• 22nd May: U16 Girls Volleyball @HKA 
• 24th May: U12 Boys Volleyball @ASHK 

Gavin Fausset, Vice Principal Operations

Upcoming events:

We had an assembly with Year 10 students this week to discuss the upcoming Practice Exams (May 29 - June 2). Our message has been to focus on the experience and the feedback that comes from this, not the grades, which are for our internal records only and do not contribute to the iGCSE course.



Merit Award Winners

Message from the Senior Phase

Congratulations to Year 13 who finish their DP exams today. Next week, we look forward to celebrating Year 13 at the Awards and Graduation Ceremonies and at the Dinner Dance.

Awards and Graduation- May 23rd

1.40 pm: Student buses depart from Admiralty 

14:00: Students and parents of students receiving an award arrive on campus

14:30- 15:30:  Awards Ceremony. This will be live-streamed so parents can watch off-campus, and it will be available to watch at a later date.

15:15: Parent buses depart from Admiralty for those who registered for the bus service

15:30-15:45: Parents arrive on campus for Graduation and gather in the library

16:00- 17:45 Graduation

17:45- 18:45: PTA-hosted reception and photo taking

19:00 - Student buses depart for House Dinners, and parents leave campus (buses to Admiralty for parents).

Dinner Dance- May 25th

All Year 13 parents are very warmly invited to join Y13 students and school staff from 6-7 pm for the pre-Dinner Dance cocktail hour at the Aberdeen Marina Club.  



Year 12 Practice Exams Next Week

Parents may access the Y12 practice exam timetable here. This week, tutors have spoken to Year 12 about how they should manage their time during study leave and below are some key reminders.

• Students are not required to attend registration but must swipe in/ sign in when they arrive on campus.
• BTEC lessons continue during study leave, and BTEC students are excused from classes when they have a DP practice exam.
• Students may come to school during study leave and study in the Senior Learning Hub or the Library.
• Students must arrive on campus 30 minutes before an exam starts and must be outside the exam room 15 minutes before the start of an exam.
• If a student is unwell and unable to take a practice exam, they or their parents should email Ms. Tse.

Natasha Tse, Exams Officer: natasha.tse@online.island.edu.hk

On Monday, May 29th breakfast will be provided for Y12 to welcome them back following their exams, students will attend registration and lessons 1-2.  Lessons 3-8, IBDP Mathematicians will be involved in the Maths IA day.

Good luck to Year 12!

Year 11 Sign off Procedures

It’s time for Year 11 students to start returning textbooks to school. Students may use the books for their final revision but should return them following their subject examination day at the latest. Please refer to the details here. 

In addition, please kindly be advised that all items from student lockers should be emptied by Tuesday, 20 June 2023. After this date, locks will be dismantled and all items inside the lockers will be discarded or donated to relevant departments.


HE Events

Unifrog Parent Information Session

This week Ms Tyan, one of the Island School Higher Education counselors presented information on the Unifrog platform to parents of students from Year 7-12. 
Unifrog is a whole-school careers and destinations platform for students that is used across all ESF schools. We encourage parents to conduct independent research in order to have a better understanding of what career and university options are available for students. Parents can use Unifrog and explore features of the platform such as: personality tests, subjects, and careers libraries, and also various resources ranging from assistance in writing personal statements/essays to access to virtual undergraduate lectures and webinars and study options around the world.

Parents can log into this platform by:
Go to https://www.unifrog.org/sign-in and click ‘Been given a Sign up Code?’
You’ll be asked for some details and a sign up code. Please use this code 'ISHKParents'. 

The recording of the Unifrog information session can be found here.


Upcoming Events

Click here for the HE website and to register for HE events     

Beth Hall, Vice Principal, Senior Phase.

Congratulations to our Year 13 students and families on completion of the IB exams.
 
We look forward to seeing you at the Graduation Reception next Tuesday afternoon !

Island School Spring Fair

Relive the smiles, cuisines, games and stalls of the wonderful evening by clicking here.

Looking Ahead: Getting Involved 

Our successful events such as the Spring Fair are possible with the help of our dedicated parent volunteers. Next academic year, we will be in full swing with our cultural events and there will be many opportunities to be involved. Please fill out this online form if you would like to help and at the same time meet other parents and feel more connected to school life. We will be in touch!

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.