Unfortunately, I am not in a position to announce any changes to our current school day arrangements but we are planning for both a full day option and an extended day option e.g. 1pm finish, should either option become available in the near future.

ESF are talking to the EDB and we are hoping the EDB will reconsider their position on ESF Primary Schools not being allowed to open for the whole day.

As soon as there are any developments in this area, we will let you know but should they change their mind we will be able to move quite quickly.

We normally have 3 Way Conferences in Term 1 and then Parent Consultations in Term 2.  This year we are going to have the Parent Consultations in Term 1 as we feel it is very important that we get a chance to meet 1:1 with the parents at this time.  Parent consultations only involve the teacher and the parent and not the child.

Parent Consultations Arrangements

Please note that all the Parent Consultations will be conducted over Zoom

Classroom Teachers

26 November – 3.30pm – 7.30pm

30 November  – 1.00pm – 5:30pm (no zoom lessons for the children in the afternoon)

Specialists times

Chinese

23 November 1-4pm

26 November 3.30pm – 7.30pm

30 November 1pm – 5.30pm

2 December 1pm – 4pm

PE (Term 1 only) – Please book one slot per family

23 November 1pm-4pm

26 November 3.30pm – 7.30pm

30 November 1pm-5.30pm

Music (Term 2 only)

March, Term 2

All Bookings Open To Parents via Gateway

6 November | Friday | 9:00 AM

All Bookings Close To Parents via Gateway

20 November | Friday | 12:00 NN

We are noticing a growing number of families that are forgetting to do the temperature check in the morning.

This is actually a requirement as set by the EDB to ensure all our children are kept safe as they travel to school.  With the cooler weather fast approaching it is imperative that you check your child’s temperature and record it before allowing your child to leave the apartment.

You can either record it on the app or via the form (you will need to print it off).  Click HERE to download the form.

Please help us keep our children safe by ensuring they are free of fever before leaving home.

Over the Christmas holiday we are getting a PAU system installed at the school.  I am not actually aware of what the PAU stands for but I do know the following:

The PAU system that ESF will install at Peak School addresses 3 main issues

• Air flow – ensuring air outside the classroom is continuously mixed with air inside the classroom. This ensures the air levels are always at an optimal level which will obviously help children and teachers remain focused (there is scientific research around the impact of air quality in the classroom on learning).
• Humidity – the system would control the humidity which is a big issue for us up on the Peak. This reduces allergens which will be a big plus for a number of children and staff. Rooms at the correct humidity are also easier to heat or cool down (saving energy).
• Air Quality – the PAU system will filter the outside air before pumping clean air into the classrooms. This will include the filtration of PM2.5 and PM10 particles meaning when it is polluted, cleaner air will enter the classroom.  When the children are kept inside on high pollution days, we know they are safe in their classroom and breathing clean air.

Other pros include:

• There is little to no noise in the classrooms as the system is based outside
• ESF are paying for all of the work so there is no cost to the school!

Note

Owing to the terrific support of the PTA we have high quality air purifiers in each room and these will continue to support our air quality as well. However, they won’t have to work as hard, as cleaner air will be pumped into the classrooms rather than unfiltered air which is the case at the moment. It really is the best of both worlds that ensures our children and staff are kept safe and have optimal air quality all year round.

This week, under normal circumstances, the Year 6 children would have finished their Outward Bound camp on Friday having spent the week there.  For obvious reasons, our Year 4, 5 and 6 camps scheduled for late October and/or early November have been postponed.

We have rescheduled the camps in the hope that we can go in March.  We have been very fortunately to secure these dates but please appreciate if the situation does not improve dramatically, I cannot see us going camping in March.

Year 6 Camp – March 22-26 (last week of term)

Year 5 Camp – March 17-19

Year 4 Camp – March 24-26 (last week of term)

We will keep you updated during Term 2 regarding these camps.

It is not the news we wanted but unfortunately the EDB have made it clear to all the ESF Primary Schools that extending the school day is currently not an option.

Like you, we are fully aware that some International Schools have been granted permission to open for the full day for certain year groups and we are following up on this with EDB.  I have also met with my ESF cluster link trying to establish what options we have.

The key point here is that it is not an option for us to have all the children in all day, until the EDB change their position.

We continue to work on different plans in the hope that EDB will allow us to make changes to the length of the day but any plans that we come up with will also have to align with the other ESF Primary Schools.  We are currently modelling some different approaches to maximise/enhance face to face time at school for our children but these will be subject to both ESF and then EDB approval.

We are also fully aware that we have the threat of a 4th wave, and at all times our number 1 priority has been the safety of our school community members.   Any model we may be able to introduce in the coming weeks will be dictated by ensuring our children, staff and parents are kept safe.

With cases now being reported in schools across HK and more and more experts predicting a fourth wave, the reality is that we may end up having to revert back to Distance Learning before we even get a chance to extend the school day.  At the moment we are working on both possibilities, as a school, owing to the unpredictable nature of Covid 19.

You will have received a message from the school yesterday providing an update regarding the EDB grant.  Our initial plan was to put the envelopes into the school bags but ESF have since asked us to post the forms to you.  As you can appreciate this is time consuming task as we have to address each envelope and ensure the correct form has been placed inside.

New families to Peak School have to download their own form as per the instructions previously shared but existing parents will receive their form in the mail.

For existing parents – please make sure the address we have for you on Gateway is correct.  We are using the Gateway database to send out the forms so if the address is not up to date, you will not receive the form.

The deadline to have all the forms returned to Peak School is October 29 so we still have plenty of time fortunately.

This month we normally do the ISA assessments for our Year 4, 5 and 6 children but owing to Covid, these have been pushed into Term 2.  The assessments are a standardised assessment that focuses on the areas of reading, writing and Maths.

We are busy assessing the children in all areas of the curriculum and at the moment all the teachers are either completing or have completed 1:1 reading assessments with all their children to establish their reading level, their reading habits and their focus areas for future development.  We would normally have already done this but we were unable to complete these during distance learning.

Children are also competing pre and post assessments in specific areas of the curriculum so that we know where the children are at, the areas to develop and in regards to the post assessments we are able to determine how far they have travelled.

We are also continually assessing the children as we go (formative assessments).

These assessments combined will help frame discussions at the upcoming 3 Way Conferences which will be held in late November.

Normally, we have our Year 4, 5 and 6 camps in late October or early November.  Owing to Covid, these camps will not be going ahead this term.  We are not allowed to have any camps this term as well as school events such as sports day etc.

The good news is that we have been able to secure dates in Term 2 for the Year 5 and 6 camps.  We are in negotiations with the Year 4 camp provider in the hope we can secure dates in Term 2 also.  Of course, the situation in Term 2 might mean we are still unable to attend camps but it is good to know we do have back up dates in case we are able to proceed, even if it is just for day trips only.

We will provide an update at the beginning of Term 2, or earlier if we are able, regarding the camps and other sporting events.