Abacus Newsletter 13th August 2018
Abacus Kindergarten’s latest newsletter available to read now. Find out the latest news from around the school and upcoming events.
Coming Week Dates
Week Beginning – Monday 13th August |
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| Monday | K2 Children Start School |
| Tuesday | K1 Children Start – Story Sharing |
| Wednesday | K1 – Half sessions |
| Thursday | K1 – Half sessions |
| Friday | K1 – Full Session |
Next Week
Week Beginning – Monday 20th August |
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| Monday | |
| Tuesday | |
| Wednesday | K1 Meet The Teacher Evening K1 AM – 4.30 pm K1 PM – 5.15 pm |
| Thursday | |
| Friday | |
Important Dates This Term
Wednesday 23rd August – K1 Meet the Teacher Evening
Tuesday 28th August – K2 Meet the Teacher and Admissions Meeting
Tuesday 11th – Wednesday 12th September – School Photos
Monday 24th September – Staff Training – School Closed
Tuesday 25th September – School Closed for Public Holiday – Mid Autumn Festival
Monday 1st October – School Closed for Public Holiday – National Day
Friday 5th October – K2 Beach Trip
Monday 8th October – 11th October – Parent Conferences
Saturday 13th October – 21st October – Half Term Holiday – School Closed
Monday 22nd October – Staff Training – School Closed
Monday 23rd October – School Reopens
Friday 26th October – K1 Beach Trip
Saturday 24th November – Abacus School BBQ Fair
Wednesday 12th December – School Christmas Party
Thursday 13th December – Carol Concert and Last Day of Term 1 for Children
Friday 14th December – Staff Meeting – School Closed
Monday 7th January- Staff Meeting – Term 2 Begins
Although we are not governed by the statutory holidays for schools, we follow the ESF schools calendar. During every year we have 5 teacher training days built into the calendar. This is in addition to the contact days with children. These CPD days are added onto our calendar not removed from the contact days with children.
Please find the school calendar for Abacus Calendar for 2018-2019 here.
Welcome
A warm welcome to all of our new families at Abacus. We look forward to seeing you and your children again tomorrow when your children begin their new school. Welcome back to all of our returning students, it has been lovely to see how much the children have grown up over the summer and how proud they are to be in K2 now. We have a very busy term ahead and we have put a list of important dates above for you to try and make things easier for you to plan your work schedules. This newsletter will be sent out every 1-2 weeks when there is information to disseminate.
Arrival and Departures
The first few weeks of school can be extremely chaotic at Abacus as many more parents bring their children to school for drop off in the first few weeks. We ask that you please take time to read and remember the car park guidelines and stick to the plan when parking. Please park close together with small gaps between the car doors to enable more cars to fit into the car park. Please also drive extremely carefully in and out of the car park as there are many young children walking in and around it.
You will be asked to show your child’s pick up pass in the first few weeks if you are a parent as the teachers and bus Mums are still learning to recognise you. After the first few weeks cards only need to be presented if a different person is picking up your child for some reason. Please also remember to write in your child’s diary or call school is someone different is picking them up from school.
Can I also remind parents that the school sessions are from 8.30-11.30am and 12.30-1.30pm. Before and in between sessions teachers are busy getting things ready for the day or having lunch. They also need to reset the whole space between 11.30 and 12.30 and also eat lunch. We also have playgroup running after school. Therefore, please stick to the following guidelines to support these processes.
- Children should not be on school premises at all before 8.15am or 12.20pm
- Children will need to be watched by their own parent between 8.15 am and 8.30am and delivered to the classroom door when the bell rings – the bus children are brought in by our Educational Assistants. Teachers are preparing at this time and there is no teacher supervision in the playground.
- For the PM session the doors will be opened at 12.25pm and children should proceed directly to their classroom to unpack
- All children should be picked up on time and not go onto the playground after their session. (It has been set up for the PM session or Playgroup and this causes more work for teachers.
We thank – you very much for your co-operation on these matters, it will help keep the children safe and allow Abacus to run smoothly.
Teaching Teams
Welcome to Fiona Hall who was interviewed and appointed as our temporary VP/PYP coordinator for 1 year. Fiona has many years teaching experience and is highly regarded as a teacher. She has been successfully leading several curriculum areas and initiatives at Abacus as well as providing training and support for other kindergartens and schools in Hong Kong. We believe Fiona will be a great addition to the leadership team this year.
Hannah Smith was interviewed as a class teacher in January and has now been offered a 1 year teaching role to fill the teaching role vacated by Fiona. Hannah holds a Bachelors Degree and a PGCE in Early Years Education. Maria Lee and Penny Loveridge have also joined us to complete the teams as Educational Assistants.
These are the class placements for each class.
K1 English Class – Olivia Kane, Michelle Chan and Sue Tyson/ Penny Loveridge
K1 Bilingual Class – Hannah Smith, Allison Fung and Maria Lee
K2 English Class – Olivia Kotyck, Anita Jims and Jackie Henderson
K2 Bilingual Class – Danielle Evans, Susanne Liu and Bridgette Walker
Links
(All links open in a new tab/window)
Moodle – Your child’s portfolio and reports, class news, school news and photos.
Gateway – Change personal details, sign up for events and book parent consultations on Gateway.
The School Calendar – All important dates can be found here for next year.
Class Pages
K1 English Class
Olivia Kane, Michelle Chan and Sue Tyson/ Penny Loveridge
K1 Bilingual Class
Hannah Smith, Allison Fung and Maria Lee
K2 English Class
Olivia Kotyck, Anita Jims and Jackie Henderson
K2 Bilingual Class
Danielle Evans, Susanne Liu and Bridgette Walker
