eNews Issue 36

What an evening! Last night we graduated 19 students from Hong Kong Academy. The theatre was full with family, friends, faculty and staff offering congratulations and wishing these young people well. Their achievements are too many to detail in an eNews but suffice it to say, they have set the bar high for future classes in every pathway to individual excellence.

 

But as I said in my speech last night, in the midst of all the justified talk of achievement and success, we don’t want to lose sight of what it means to be happy. I’ve yet to find a school mission statement that mentions happiness, joy or even fun. But a meaningful education, and a meaningful life, certainly includes happiness, joy and fun.

 

Our graduates are now embarking on the next phase of their lifelong educations. As the list of their university choices shows, they are leaving Hong Kong to go literally all over the world. We wish them success - and happiness, joy & fun!

eNews Issue 35

It’s hard to believe that graduation is next week and the end of the school year is right around the corner. This week our Grade 12's finished up their exams. Exams are a standard aspect of any educational process but at HKA we don’t want to lose sight of the students’ pathways to individual excellence and the individual expression of a rigorous international education. We are very proud of their achievements!

 

I also wanted to share with you that we’ve been playing host quite a lot in recent days to Hong Kong-wide school events. Hong Kong’s major debate tournament took place on campus last Saturday, with HKA’s own Gwen Slaughter, Grade 9, placing first in the Impromptu category. Well done to all our students who competed and you can read more later in this eNews.

 

The city’s Battle of the Books finals were yesterday in the Theatre. HKA’s team earned a spot in the finals when they placed first several weeks ago at a preliminary competition. Congratulations to the team: Graham Campbell, Kazuki Clark, Jean Dumrongjaroen, Anna Loretan, Candice Lui, Alex Oakley, Luca Salvatori, Carter Sutsko, Emil Tullberg, Oskar Tullberg, Audrey Wahking and Zara Warbanoff with congratulations also going to PLK Choi Kai Yau School who won overall.

 

We also hosted the ACAMIS Spring board meeting this week. As many of you know, our participation in ACAMIS is extremely important, especially as impacts sports. I’m privileged to serve on the board and I was very happy to host my colleagues at our beautiful campus.

 

HKA also held its Annual General Meeting this week as well to approve the school’s budget and welcome new board members. Thanks to those of you who attended.

 

eNews Issue 34

The school has really been buzzing this week with the Grade 5 Exhibition. This is our students’ culminating work in the PYP and compellingly embodies the notion of a rigorous international education. Well done, Grade 5, and many thanks to the Grade 5 teachers and exhibition mentors.

 

The Secondary School teachers have reviewed all the Grade 10 personal projects as one of the culminating MYP experiences. The projects demonstrate how each student has embarked on a personal challenge and interest throughout the year. Each tells a story of how they have extended their thinking, pushed themselves physically, provided products/services and what they have learned along the way. Congratulations to the Grade 10 students.

 

Looking ahead, I’d like to personally invite you to the school’s Annual General Meeting next Wednesday, 20th May at 6pm. If you plan to attend, please rsvp online by Monday to let us know. Then on 9th June, we will host our annual Volunteer Appreciation Brunch at 10am. HKA is fortunate to have literally hundreds of volunteers who contribute daily to the school. Please rsvp online by 29th May so we can plan for this special morning.

 

I’m also happy to let you know that we are now able to switch on the “nearby families” function in Veracross (VC) under ‘Directory’. This feature makes it possible to search families who live near you (whose information is available in VC). We hope this will make it easier to plan play-dates and get togethers.

eNews Issue 33

As Head of School, one of my main concerns is the safety of our students, including before school as they arrive and after school as they leave. We are fortunate to have a bus bay for drop-off and pick-up, and overall, our system of buses, “walker walkers” and “private vehicle walkers” works well. However, we are having an increasing safety issue with cars parking illegally on Wai Man Road and Mei Yuen Road both in the morning and the afternoon, with students walking across those streets amidst busy traffic, often unaccompanied.

 

For students arriving or leaving by car, please either 1) proceed through the bus bay in the designated private vehicle lanes or 2) park in one of the nearby car parks and walk safely to and from campus. This is imperative for the safety of the students and also helps us maintain strong and positive relations with local law enforcement.

 

A major highlight of this week were the EC and PS Music Concerts. Well done to our budding musicians and many thanks to their teacher, Mr. Antolini. It was a great morning, with many parents enjoying some social time over coffee between the two concerts. Thanks for attending!

Lastly, please join me in wishing our G12 students luck as they continue their IB exams. These exams are taking place over several weeks and represent a real milestone for our students.

eNews Issue 32

It was a short week this week, but a full one nonetheless! The Secondary School celebrated “Allusion Day” today and the halls were filled with students dressed as allusions to characters in Shakespeare plays. As you’ll see from the photos, togas were extremely popular! In the Primary School, Maths Family Fun Night lived up to its name with enjoyable activities around mathematics. It’s great to see the intersection of joy and rigour in learning!

It’s important week for us parents, too, with the Board of Trustees election. Adrian Valenzuela will be joining the Board and we welcome him and thank him for his willingness to serve.

eNews Issue 31

At Hong Kong Academy, we understand that assessing (what we used to call “testing” when I was a child) a student’s knowledge is a highly nuanced activity. While pop quizzes and standardised testing serve an important purpose, they are only one part of a much bigger picture. We think of assessments as being “formative” and “summative”. That’s ed-speak, so to declutter the jargon, a “formative” assessment is when we monitor a student’s progress to provide feedback we can use to enhance their learning. This type of assessment is continuous and frequent and allows teachers to adjust or change strategies or content as needed. A “summative” assessment is when we evaluate a student’s learning at the end of a unit or course of study, giving us the opportunity to evaluate the end product such as a final exam. We believe that the right mix of these two different types of “tests” give us a solid understanding of a student’s growth over time.

  

While we don’t over emphasise the need for standardised tests, we do make every effort to use certain tests wisely, such as the International School Assessment (ISA). The tests are completed by HKA students in Grades 3-9 every October. We communicated the school’s results to parents at an evening meeting earlier this week. ISA allows us to take a snapshot of where our students are and how they compare to other students around the world. It’s a “health check” that confirms that HKA students are learning and growing and it is further proof that students from HKA can transition to other schools when they move. We know this from ample anecdotal evidence as well but the ISA results provide that information in a standard form.

 

If you have any questions about assessment at HKA, please feel free to contact me, Virginia Hunt or Doug Musco.

eNews Issue 30

Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope you all had a good holiday. I know the students are generally eager to head out on their vacations but I also see how excited they are when they return to campus after a break. We learn best when we learn together and a school is a very special community indeed.

A part of that community spirit is giving. At HKA, we’ve penned a Culture of Philanthropy statement to describe giving at HKA. We believe that our students, our faculty and our parents are gifts in and of themselves and are grateful for everyone’s presence. People give in different ways, including time, expertise and finance with all gifts being valued.

I had the pleasure this week of attending and presenting at the annual Asia-Pacific Conference of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). At this conference, advancement professionals from schools and universities all over Asia gathered to talk about the ways in which they “advance” their schools’ missions and programmes by raising resources in their communities. It was inspiring to hear so many stories of generosity and support in other schools that so closely mirror the support we receive at HKA.