
Island School PTA Newsletter
March 2018
MESSAGE FROM THE CO-CHAIRS
This term has been a busy and challenging one. Our relocation to Tai Wai & Sha Tin Wai campuses had been smooth, with most of the logistics managed by Azeez, our ISPTA manager, and we are now fully settled into our main office in Tai Wai. Mr Lee, our internal auditor, is working closely with Azeez on centralizing all our systems and you may have noticed that we moved to google sign-up for events.
During the Chinese New Year break, Manju Anand, our newest ISPTA committee member, worked exceptionally hard and arranged to furnish our parent lounges on both Tai Wai and Sha Tin Wai campuses. Being mindful of the expenses, we managed this within a small budget. Now, we have a place for parents to go after your commute to the Shatin campuses, freshen up, relax and socialize, get a cup of tea or coffee, charge your phone, while visiting Island School. At the recent parent teacher consultations, parents had used the lounges in between their appointments. Hosting various events in the lounges is currently under discussion. Please do take a moment to fill out the link below to officially name our parent lounges.
The Easter holidays are upon us and many of you will travel. With the IGCSE and the IB Exams in April and May, it is study time for our Year 11 and Year 13. This is officially the last week of school for our Year 13 students and we wish them all the best in the upcoming exams and for a bright future at their chosen universities.
We have parent representatives for the Year 11 and Year 13 planning parent dinners after the respective dinner dance receptions. Do sign up below if you would like to join.
The parent’s WhatsApp groups managed by the ISPTA, have contributed tremendously in improving communication within the parent body and we have an able team of committee members that continue to update, answer queries and moderate the groups. Tarja Joro needs a special mention as she takes particular care of the Year 7 and 8.
We have received many inquiries for advertisements from businesses and are considering to include them in our next newsletter. If you are interested, please email pta@online.island.edu.hk for details.
We look forward to your engagement with the Island School PTA and would like to extend a warm welcome whenever you visit.
Alefiyah & Sheila
Island School PTA Co-chairs
UPCOMING EVENTS
Career fair
Important Events
Y13 Graduation & Cocktail Party – 25th May. Planning is well underway for a memorable Y13 graduation ceremony. Due to the smaller campus, there may be restrictions of 2 guests per student. On 28th May, the Dinner Dance will be held at the Aberdeen Marina Club.
Class of 2018 Year 13 Graduation Ceremony & Cocktail Party Sign up
Friday 25th May - Registration Form
Class of 2018 Year 13 Parents Dinner Sign up
Monday 28th May - Registration Form
Y11 Dinner Dance - 26th of April, the Year 11 students will have their Dinner dance at the Renaissance Harbor View hotel. Parents are invited for the cocktail hour, after which the parent reps are organising a dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Year 11 Parent Dinner Sign up
Thursday 26th April - Registration form
Graphic Display Calculators - Y8 & Y9-Y13
Current Y8 students will need GDC’s for Mathematics in school. The Y8 parents will receive a note from the Mathematics department regarding this.
The ISPTA is organising a pre-order for the GDC. We have arranged a discounted price of $1450 for Island School students.
Current Y9-13 students should already have one, but in case they need a replacement, they can join the pre-order.
Purchase for Graphic Display Calculators - GDC Sign up
Disclaimer: You are under no compulsion to purchase one in this pre-order. You can arrange to order via other means.
Mother Tongue Books collection
To support the library, ISPTA is reaching out to parents to donate mother tongue books in new or near-new condition in approximately Y7-8 reading level.
Island School library is looking to establish a collection of mother tongue books – books in languages spoken at homes of our Island School students. Library has already good collection of books in English, Chinese, Japanese, French and Spanish as those languages are taught at IS. What is missing are the other mother tongues: Hindi, Korean, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian, Dutch, Urdu, you name it!
This will be an ongoing project, and as books in some languages might be difficult to come by in Hong Kong, please keep the initiative in mind during your term break and summer travels!
For further questions, please contact our librarian, Mrs Emily Leung at emily.leung@online.island.edu.hk, or ISPTA through Tarja Joro at tarja.pta@icloud.com. Books can be dropped off at the library on either campuses.
CROSSROADS GLOBAL X-PERIENCE
Higher Education Coffee Morning
SAVE THE DATE!
Key Dates
- March 29th- End of Term
- April 16th- Back to school
- April 17th- Year 10- Shakespeare Day
- April 19th- Da Vinci House Family Day
- April 23rd to 27th- Book Week
- April 26th- Year 11 Dinner Dance
- April 27th- Dress as a literary character
- May 2nd- Year 8 TFL
- May 9th- Year 7 and Year 9 Parent Consultations
- May 16th- Year 7 and Year 9 Parent Consultations
- May 25th- Year 13 Graduation at Sha Tin Wai
- May 28th- Year 13 Dinner Dance
Please see school calendar at http://island.edu.hk/calendar/ for details and more events
Key dates for YEAR 13, IB & BTECH Students
- 30th March- IB Diploma Study Leave begins ( Students can come to school to see teachers and for revision. Contact your subject teachers to arrange.)
- 27th April- IB Examinations begin
- 18th May- IB Examinations end
- 23rd May- BTEC Lessons end
- 25th May- Graduation
- 28th May- Dinner Dance
- 5th July IB- Results
Key dates for year 11 students
- 26th April - Last Day of Entrance Year 11
- 26th April - Year 11 Dinner Dance
- 9th May - Year 11 IGCSE/GCSE examinations begin
- 20th June - Year 11 IGCSE/GCSE examinations end
- August End- IGCSE results
It's a good way to be in touch with other parents from your child’s year group and address queries, advice, ideas and help in settling down and being part of the Island School community.
We have seven WhatsApp groups managed by Parent Representatives of each year group, who help to connect the parent community. These groups are especially useful for parents who are new to Island School.
If you would like to sign up, you can email PTA at pta@online.island.edu.hk or alefiyah@gmail.com. Please include parent's name, child's name, phone contact & class.
PAST EVENTS
ISPTA Parents' Roundtable
Parents’ Roundtable – 30 November 2017
The Parents’ Round Table sessions were started with the objective for us all to engage in a constructive discussion and learning from the experiences of the parents who’ve gone before us. We steer the conversation towards the panel’s personal EXPERIENCE of the process, rather than the process per se.
The session on 30th November 2017 focused on past Y13 parents’ experiences around two questions:
1. Experience of how Elements courses feed into IB and how the Elements courses helped in the overall HE process/university application, and
2. University Choices - experience of applying to UK/USA/Canada/Australia
On the panel we had Cathy Ziengs (whose son was on Gap year), Patti Lam (whose daughter applied to UK and HK), Andy Lowe (whose son was admitted to an university in US for Liberal Arts) and Soundari Mukherjea (whose daughter was admitted to an university in US for Science). The parents found the discussion very useful in terms of providing overall perspective and allaying some of the anxieties. It was well attended with 38 parents from Years 10,11 and 12 present and rounded off with a lively Q&A session.
We plan to continue organising the Roundtable twice a year.
WInter Fair
This was our last fair at our Borrett Road campus, and it was an emotional goodbye. The fair was very well attended and enjoyed by all. ISPTA was in charge of food stalls, and once again our parent volunteers provided fair goers with international culinary delights. We went green, using reusable food stall plates and cutlery - students and site staff arranged washing & drying system to ensure constant supply of crockery for serving. We thank everyone for making this event a huge success!
Term2 Coffee Mornings
Y7, Y10, Y11 &Y13 Parent Coffee Mornings
Term 2 coffee mornings were well attended with positive feedback from parents. The informal sessions spurred discussion with teachers and parent issues were addressed. Parent feedback was also welcomed by the teachers and areas of improvement were identified. The coffee mornings for this current academic year provided an active platform for parents to share their concerns together and develop common voice to communicate concerns to teachers and the school. It will continue next year.
Discussions from Y11 Coffee Morning 6th December 2017
Discussions from Y7 Coffee Morning 14th February 2018
The NMKM Memorial Fund
Island School Council
Chair | Mr Michael Lok
ISPTA representative | Alefiyah Ebrahim
COMPAR ( Committee of Parents on ESF Board)
ISPTA representative | Alefiyah Ebrahim & Sheila Chan
Parent Representatives
Parent Lounges
The Tai Wai Lounge is located on the ground floor between the library and general office.
The Sha Tin Wai lounge is a cottage located away from the main school building at the bottom of the playground.
Tea, coffee and cookies are available.
Free wifi is available at both the Tai Wai & Sha Tin Wai Lounge.
Vote for naming the PTA Lounges
Parents, we have a very important task for you:
REQUEST FOR APPLE AND ANDROID CHARGERS
School Buses
Island School, in combination with Kwoon Chung bus company has taken over the organisation of the booking and operations from January 2018.
Kwoon Chung web site for Island School school buses can be accessed at https://school.kcm.com.hk/island/
Suggestions
If you do have any suggestions for improvement, please email us at pta@online.island.edu.hk
Please do leave your contact email or phone so we can update you on how we addressed your concern.
Newsletter published by our lovely ISPTA committee ladies
Island School PTA
Email: pta@online.island.edu.hk
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/online.island.edu.hk/island-school-pta/latest-news
Location: Island School, 波老 道沙田 Hong Kong
Phone: 2140 6806
Island School PTA is the owner of the copyright in all content of this publication. Distributing, modifying, copying or using any content of this publication in any manner for public or commercial purposes without written permission from Island School is strictly prohibited. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of Island School or the English Schools Foundation.