Monday 30 November 2015

Community Fair Thank You!

HKA’s Annual Community Fair was once again a resounding success. About 1,000 of us enjoyed fantastic food and engaging performances and the fun never stopped on the Sports Pitch and in the Arts and Crafts venues.


As always, volunteers were the key to this tremendous success. A special thanks to Hilde Santens, Jessica Kong and their team for co-ordinating the cultural food portion of the event. Volunteers also powered much of the arts and crafts and assisted with sports and for that we are also grateful. Secondary School student volunteers were out in force this year, too, helping in many capacities. Thank you!

Staff worked hard to make this happen, too, and special thanks go to our facilities, cleaning and operations teams, our technology team and our security guards. Special thanks to Nick Antolini, Andy Birch, Fanny Chan, Aaron Cook, Laura Cowan, Leanne Dunlap, Michael Helmsley, Lee Holt, Virginia Hunt, Enrico Milo and Angela Reilly.

We’re continuing the tradition of the Community Fair cookbook. More information about how to share your recipes will be out later this week. In the meantime, check out the photos from the day. Login to Veracross and view well over 100 great photos in our portal links photo gallery under 'School Events'. If you have any photos you would like to share with the community then you can do so via our upload page.

Friday 27 November 2015

eNews Issue 15

If you missed it last weekend, make plans now for the next HKACO Cocktail Party. Special thanks to the CO leadership for all their work for a wonderful evening. Good food, great wine and dancing as well! Looking forward to the next one.

We had more expressly educational events on campus this week, too, including Erma Anderson’s maths presentation. Erma is an internationally known expert on best practice in maths pedagogy and we’re very fortunate that she was on campus to work with our faculty and to share her knowledge with parents.

It’s great to have visiting specialists, but we also have our own in-house experts. The Grade 3 Science Exhibition, looking at body systems, was a big success this morning. It was great to see so many parents supporting the Primary School students. Thank you and check out the photos in the school gallery!

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at the annual Community Fair. If you’re new to HKA, you’re in for a treat! Please remember to bring your own food container and utensils. We aim to make this a waste-free event.

Friday 20 November 2015

eNews Issue 14

HKA has a wide-reaching presence in Sai Kung, throughout Hong Kong and throughout the world. I’m making plans now to be in London and Boston for faculty recruiting and am looking forward to seeing alumni and former families in those cities on 27th January (Boston)and 4th February (London). Please let your network of former HKA families know about these events and forward this email to them so that they can RSVP.

Our network of former families are compelling ambassadors for the school and are often cited as a reason why a prospective family chooses HKA. Closer to home, we are all ambassadors for HKA. I was reminded of this fact again this week when the school received an unsolicited email from a Sai Kung resident complimenting some of our students with whom she had interacted in Sai Kung. The students in Sai Kung were not officially representing the school but they still were effective ambassadors for our learning community.

Our students represent the school in more official capacities as well. Last weekend, several students participated in a local debate contest and achieved high marks in various categories, receiving high recognition from the judges. The week before, students participated in a local drama festival, ISTA, and at the Global Issues Network Conference. Our sports teams are also our ambassadors, especially with their commitment to fair play and good sportsmanship when they represent HKA.

And supporting it all is you, the parent community. Thank you for all you do for HKA!

Friday 13 November 2015

eNews Issue 13

Global citizenship is something we take seriously at HKA. Ultimately, we learn in order to engage the world around us in ways we find meaningful and relevant. Our students do a tremendous job with this and inspire us all. This weekend, several members of the HKA community will participate in the 24 Hour Run to stop human trafficking. And also this weekend, some of our students will be attending the Global Issues Network Hong Kong conference, while others will be at the Senior Public Speaking Championships in HK where questions of how we engage our world will also be front and centre.

Earlier this week, we hosted Damien Pitter from Yokohama International School to learn more about an initiative called the Global Citizen Diploma (GCD). The GCD is designed to complement the rigour of the academic programme by recognising learning that has taken place within the larger context of school and in the world beyond. For students in Grades 9-12, it will provide a more formalised structure for engaging in learning beyond the classroom and tools for documenting their personal stories about community engagement.

We focus a lot on the rigours of learning at HKA and we also have a lot of fun! Thanks to everyone who attended the Movie Nights last Friday and Saturday. All in all, we hosted about 250 people over two nights. The kids had a great time (the cotton candy maker was particularly popular). I did my part by volunteering to chaperone the parents on the Verandah to make sure no wine was spilled! Thanks to all the volunteers who made the evening such a success! At the end of the two evenings, in addition to having a great time together, we raisedover HK$40,000 for the school’s Rock the Park Annual Fund campaign.

Friday 6 November 2015

eNews Issue 12

At HKA, we are always pleased to welcome visitors to our campus. The last 10 days have been especially busy, with the ACAMIS volleyball tournament and the Next Frontier Inclusion (NFI) conference. At ACAMIS, our girls took the top spot among the six schools competing, and our boys fought hard. Well done and congratulations!

As the athletes were departing, 130 educators were arriving for our second NFI conversation about inclusive education and the mutual benefit of being an inclusive community - the fact that we all learn better when we learn together. Over 49 schools were represented, with 29 from Hong Kong alone. Our faculty led the workshops and provided an exceptional quality of professional development for the participants. The student and parent panels were particularly well received, with our students receiving a standing ovation.

And the fun continues. We have about 300 people signed up for movie nights this weekend. See you there!

eNews Issue 11

I’m writing to you today from the EARCOS conference in Bangkok. EARCOS is the East Asia Regional Council of Schools and is a leading professional organisations in international education. Several members of the HKA team are presenting at the conference as well as attending, and I have the privilege of serving on the EARCOS Board of Directors.

While I haven’t been on campus much this week, I’ve been glad to hear reports of the new speed bumps and mirror in the bus bay. We take student safety very seriously and these new features will improve our arrival and dismissal processes for those arriving by vehicles. For those of you picking up your students on foot, please remember to park legally and cross the road safely at appropriate crossing areas.

It’s a big week at HKA, with the ACAMIS Volleyball Tournament on campus and a group of our students heading off to ISTA this weekend. Good luck, and for those in Grades 9-12, enjoy the No Submission Monday weekend!

And for next week, looking forward to seeing you at Movie Nights! Friday’s feature is The Incredibles and Saturday is Pirates of the Caribbean. Please sign up in advance for food so that we have a sense of numbers. Thanks!