01 November 2019

Jockey Club Sarah Roe School’s latest newsletter is available to read now. Find out the latest news around the school and upcoming events.

  Principal’s Message

 Dates for your Diary

 Showcase – Emerald

 Challenger Little League Inaugural Season Opening

 Cardboard Collection

 The Power of Inclusion

 Christmas Fair

 Christmas Show

 KGV Winter Fair Poster

 8-week Mindful Parenting course

 World School Camps at RED DOOR

 International China Concern- WALK THE WALL Hong Kong

Principal’s Message

Last week was very busy ‘hosting’ the principal candidates. Thank you to all members of our community for your valuable input. Of course you will have seen the announcement from Belinda Greer that Anna Smakowska will take up the position in August 2020.

All our assemblies are a delight and last week’s get together was particularly joyous as we celebrated Diwali with costumes, dance and story. The students also enjoyed this special time in the playground making Rangoli. Thanks to Kelly, Alfert and everyone who participated.

Maths is a core area of our curriculum and we love sharing ideas and activities at the annual Maths day. Once again this year we had the support of students from KJS and KGV to lead activities and use devices and resources to communicate effectively with each other. Thanks Heidi for coordinating the day.

As you know the safety of our students and staff is paramount. We need to know who is in school and all visitors are asked to sign in at the front office. We have special arrangements for helpers who are here by special request. All other helpers are asked to drop off or collect students in the foyer. In the afternoon helpers are asked to arrive at 2.40 for the 2.45 dismissal. Could families please help us by reminding your domestic helper of these important arrangements.

It’s hard to believe that we are starting our Christmas Show planning. Later in this newsletter, you can see the invitation for our performance of Leon and the Place between for 11th December. On this day we will also have our Sustainable Christmas Fair. You can see later in this newsletter how you can support this excellent event and thanks Sally for her leadership.

Before that, we also hope to see you at the KGV Winter Fair on Saturday 7 December 4.00-7.30. Bring the whole family and enjoy the stalls and entertainment. Our stall will be selling a number of items that make excellent Christmas gifts. Our PTA is asking for families to share the running of the stall for the fair so please consider being part of this great event.

Kind Regards

Karin

Dates for Your Diary

Whole School Picnic – Friday 8 November

KGV Fair – Saturday 7 December

Christmas Show – Wednesday 11 December

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Showcase – Emerald

Welcome to Emerald Class. This year we added two new students and their families to our learning community. Welcome to Karis and Isabella. In our class, communication and function are embedded in the learning.

During the summer, we had some renovations take place in our classroom. The space created in Emerald Class is one where students are able to engage and learn directly from the environment. A variety of sensory panels have been installed to meet the different sensory needs and motivation communication. To use the panels, we have the student verbalise their request with their AAC device using a sensory communication folder with different choices to help. The folder contains the words and symbols students must use to request. Some examples of words in the folder are: I want, play, help, more music, bubbles, lights, sound. For some students, they use their AAC device to start/continue the light or sound on the panel. Students work on communicating their request to be able to play with the panels and is adapted accordingly based on each child’s communication needs. This has been a very motivating and much-needed addition to the class as it not only serves as a way to initiate communication, students also use the panels for self-regulation.

We continued work on our Material World unit focusing on the first learning intention “Explore the properties of materials.” Students spent time exploring different textures.  For Emerald Class students, we focus primarily on rough, smooth, hard, soft. All students worked on experiencing and familiarizing themselves with the different textures. They worked on identifying the texture using their AAC device and the booklet they made.  Some students worked on reading the text using their device, some by keyword and some with using the sentence starter “This is…”

We are off to a busy start to the school year and looking forward to all the learning and experiences to come.

Sandra Gee

Emerald Class Teacher

Challenger Little League Inaugural Season Opening

Thanks to all who supported the day.

We had five students from JCSRS and three other students representing the school on Sunday 20th October.

It was the season opener for the Little League baseball of Hong Kong and the start of a four school SEN Challenger program.

The Challenger program is a global program offering students with SEN the chance to play in a league and against other schools.

JCSRS have played softball for the last two years and it is now a formalised league within Hong Hong.  The program offers a once a month opportunity for students to play on a Saturday morning 9-11 at To Shek Baseball Field.

Well done to all players who played two games on Sunday. Please enjoy the photos of all players in their Little League sponsored outfits.

Cardboard Collection

We are collecting cardboard in preparation for our whole school Makers Day on Thursday 28th November. Please send in large or small boxes so that we can build and create!

Please send:

Clean, large or small cardboard boxes
Clean paper-towel tubes

More details on the event will follow soon!

The Power Of Inclusion

On Thursday 31 October 2019, a group of students from KGV came to Jockey Club Sarah Roe School to help out with the Maths Day. This is an annual whole-school event and students from both KGV and KJS supported students at JCSRS to participate in all the Maths activities set up in the hall.

The event aims to promote awareness of students with special educational needs. The event proved to be very successful and here are some of the comments from the KGV students :

“It was quite difficult to communicate with some of the students however it allowed us to understand them. I think it was quite an enjoyable time as the students were eager to learn. It also made me appreciate the things we can do that JCSRS students may find challenging.”

“This experience today was challenging, but it was very rewarding and satisfying to watch the hard work from both sides pay off as they succeeded in their challenges. It gave me a new perspective that I might not experience normally.”

 “The event was actually quite challenging and giving the kids information in ways which I haven’t done before was quite different. I hope to be able to join again next year”.

“Despite the fact that it was a tiring day, I believe the positives I took from participating was much more substantial than the negatives. It gave me a new perspective that I had not been exposed to in a normal classroom and I hope to continue giving back to the community in the foreseeable future”

“I think that it was a very rewarding and fun experience. It has taught me that not everyone is born lucky and taking part in this has shown the difficulties people with disabilities can stumble upon, even with simple tasks. I also learned ways of communicating non-verbally, such as pointing and showing”.

“This experience required us to be much more patient, as sometimes the people we were helping required more time to process and more clarity through methods such as signs or pictures. I enjoyed doing this because it was fun helping these people and was a challenge of communicating. I hope that I have this opportunity again.”

“Today’s experience was very challenging both physically and mentally to me. I helped me become more patient towards others as I had to sometimes repeat or slowly give out an instruction. I think overall this is a great experience because I was there to help people and through that having fun by myself. I think I really enjoyed this and hope that I can do this again next year.”

“It was an experience which made me feel grateful about myself and to think for the others. I learned that although they have a certain disability, they have a family, future, and most importantly the feeling.”

“The day was such a rewarding experience and allowed me to get to know the students better. I really enjoyed working with them and seeing the smile on their faces once they had completed the task. It was amazing to see all the students working so hard and helping each other too 🙂 I would definitely love to take part in more events like this.”

Christmas Fair

JCSRS will be holding a sustainability Christmas Fair on the same day as the Christmas Performance on Wednesday, 11th December starting at 11 am until 3 pm.

Families are kindly requested to support this event by donating items in good condition to be sold on the day; suggested donations are; toys, books, clothes and homeware (a great opportunity to have a good sort out)!

Items can be dropped off at school or sent in with your child on the school bus from now until 2nd December.

Thank you in advance for helping to make this event a great success and we look forward to seeing you all on the 11^th.

Any queries or further information please contact Sally Fryer: sally.fryer@jcsrs.edu.hk

Christmas show

KGV Winter Fair Poster

8-week Mindful Parenting course

World School Camps at RED DOOR

International China Concern- WALK THE WALL Hong Kong