Kellett Dragon Issue 6 - Jun 2013

06 JUNE 2013

JUNE 2013

CONTENT WHOLE SCHOOL

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

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KELLETT NEWS

5

FEATURE

6-7

Congratulations Kellett Cares Staff Leavers Welcome to Our New Staff Photography Competition 2012/13

KELLETT NEWS

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The Annual Fund 2012

Preparatory

Preparatory HIGHLIGHTS Head of Preparatory School School Council Reception to P6

Arts & languages Chinese Studies Music French Library Art Highlights ICT

9-13

Sport

20-21

Extras

22

Physical Education

Extr Curricular Activities World Maths Day

Senior

Senior HIGHLIGHTS

23-30

Head of Senior School Library Global Citizenship History Science Maths Geography

EXTRAS

31

Equestrian Competition

14-19

Arts & languages

32-33

Music Modern Foreign Languages

Sport

Sport Reviews Fobissea

34-38

WHOLE SCHOOL

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

No one will argue how ambitious the development of Kowloon Bay has been for the Kellett community and the speed at which the Board brought the plans for our future to fruition is remarkable.

The handover date for the Kowloon Campus has been confirmed as 26 July 2013 and thanks to the co-ordinated efforts of our in-house team, consultants and contractors, the project remains on time.

The new design of Kellett School will incorporate three discrete schools, each supporting its own learning community. They will however always remain under the umbrella of a single functioning body, that is Kellett School. During my visits to Saturday Soccer I have heard parents express their concern that the Kellett we know will change beyond recognition. We aim to uphold Kellett’s traditions and to ensure that Kellett does not lose the ‘personal touch’ whilst at the same time evolving to best serve the needs of our community.

Kellett does have its quirky side and in part has always marched to the beat of its own drum. Provided this tradition remains in the best interests of our students we should not be afraid of continuing to do so. Kellett is proud to be a distinctly British School with an international outlook and all that this espouses.

Despite the changing international landscape, British education remains highly sought after; the attendance of overseas students attending UK independent schools has never been higher and is instrumental in driving the rapid growth of British School franchises and companies across the globe.

Our plan for the future of Kellett is underpinned by the values, beliefs and traditions that make Kellett the school it is today.

They are our DNA and if Kellett is to stand the test of time, these must be securely enshrined in our future. In a time when many new schools are looking to Hong Kong we have a wonderful Each campus is of a size to be educationally viable whilst advantage, Kellett is neither a new school nor new to Hong ensuring our students and their families will be known as Kong. Our foundations are deeply embedded and whilst individuals. No one would wish the school to stand still as a good school is a changing school; our models of inspection and naturally change can be unsettling, we have every reason to look confidently to the future. Our vision is for excellence and self-review in themselves result in change. As we move forward nothing less will do.

I am confident that the English Speaking Community will see that Kellett does indeed offer an attractive 11-18 year education option comparable to what may be available overseas.

Kellett is a very good school. Whilst striving for academic Ann Mc Donald excellence, we do not do so at the expense of curriculum Principal breadth. We value student voice and our partnership with parents. We remain focused on student learning, our decisions are driven by what is best for them. In turn our students rarely fail to respond. Our students are enthusiastic and enjoy learning; our data confirms both student achievement (value-added) and attainment well above the UK average reflecting positively on our unrelenting pursuit of personal best.

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KELLETT DRAGON NEWSLETTER ISSUE SIX JUNE 2013

Kellett Cares

Congratulations to Evelyn & Steve Bookless Baby Cillian was born on 7 February 2013.

This past term Kellett children and their parents generously gave up a sunny Saturday to load a container at Crossroads. They filled a 40ft sea container with boxes of household goods and furniture for those in need in Uganda. We also helped Crossroads by collecting bikes and baby gear from within the Kellett community to give to them. These items will be passed on to those in need. At school, the children continued to raise money for our sponsored charities through various activities, including the ever-popular pizza sales.

STAFF LEAVERS Gabriel Cheung Admission Assistant replacing by Joanne Wu

Welcome to our new staff

Denise Green 1 to 1 ESA

Emily Jebbitt Class Teacher

Sannie Lau Uniform Co-ordinator

Arundhati Sawant Learning Support Assistant (SKW))

Joanne Wu Admission Assistant

KELLETT DRAGON NEWSLETTER

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WHOLE SCHOOL

KELLETT NEWS

FEATURE WHOLE SCHOOL

Photography Competition 2012/13 The annual Kellett School photography competition is a fantastic opportunity for children to practice ‘instant art’. Not only is photography a fun and social activity, but it also allows children to further develop visual literacy, broaden their vocabulary and encourage creativity. One of the many great things about photography is that it has no age boundaries. Children from reception to year 11 entered our competition, and the observation, outdoor exploration and capturing of moments from their own viewpoint was superb to witness.

The theme for this year’s competition was ‘Repetition’, a subject matter with much scope for all manner of compositions, and we certainly received a wide variety of photographs of both interesting style and subject matter.

Students from both the Preparatory and the Senior school submitted entries, which were then judged by our professional photographer Assaf de Courcy Arbiser.

The amount of entrants that we received were plentiful and it was a great chance to see so many of our students getting enthused and inspired by their surroundings. We had six overall winners from the preparatory school and four from the senior school, and these will be showcased in Saffron Bakery in Stanley for the month of May. We are all part of a visually rich environment and surrounded by photography everywhere! In picture books, photo albums, adverts, television programmes, every aspect of learning about our world and life involves pictures. Put a camera in your hands and you open yourself up to a whole new world of creativity as our entrants have demonstrated. Many congratulations to all who took part and to the staff who helped to organise the competition. We look forward to seeing more of your efforts next year!

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Marcus Southward

Leon Lucas

Reception P1/P2

Francois Lauchard James Stoneley

P3/P4

FEATURE

Abigail Riggs

WHOLE SCHOOL

P5/P6

Alexandra Paulus

Y7/Y8

Chloe Kim

Ben Stoneley

Y9/Y11

Lily Share

Max Rosgen KELLETT DRAGON NEWSLETTER

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KELLETT NEWS WHOLE SCHOOL

the AnNual Fund 2012 The Annual Fund 2012/2013 has provided for a busy and exciting Spring term enabling Kellett School to enhance academic excellence, foster leadership, encourage creativity and build on personal aptitudes in ways that would not normally have been possible.

The Guest Speaker Programme, where students hear directly from a diverse range of people who have achieved success and made a difference in their chosen fields, continues to be very popular with the students. The Merimba Educator in Residence in March was a huge success. Students were truly inspired and proved that with just a little imagination and some everyday material, musical instruments are available to everyone.

The final decision on the Grand Piano is pending and the feasibility of installing a Traverse Climbing Wall in the playground at the Pok Fu Lam Campus is currently under review. The awaited delivery of an e-book platform and Kobo e-readers will expand resources in Kellett’s libraries and will also facilitate the borrowing of resources from public libraries.

Courses funded for staff enrich the individual’s professional development and mature the school’s intellectual repository with positive effects for all.

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PREPARATORY

PREPARATORY HIGHLIGHTS

At this point last year I was writing about the proposed changes to the curriculum in the UK for Information and Communication Technology, much needed after the rapid progress in technology and its impact on the world around us.

This February the draft programme of study for all National Curriculum subjects was published for consultation, and as expected the subject of “Computing� is now included.

What is perhaps most controversial however,is the draft plan for the teaching of history which has left the nation divided.

A much slimmed down programme of study has a major focus on British history, taught in chronological order. Starting in Key Stage 2 (Year 3) students will begin with the Stone, Bronze and Iron ages and make their way through the Roman conquest, Anglo-Saxon and Viking settlement, the Norman Conquest, the Crusades, Plantagenet rule, relations between England, Wales, Scotland and France, life in the 14th Century, the later Middle Ages, the Tudor period, Elizabeth I, the Renaissance, the Stuarts, the Glorious Revolution and the Union of the Parliaments. The chronology continues with Key Stage 3 studying from the beginning of the British Empire to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Fifteen notable historians have praised this approach, stating in a letter that it gives students a complete history of Britain with a clear narrative of British progress over time. However opponents to the proposals are also of note and suggest that the plans are unworkable on the grounds that for example, a student would only ever have a seven year olds understanding of the Bronze Age. The argument over the teaching of history is probably as old as history itself. Should students learn facts and dates? Or should they have a skills related curriculum which asks them to use analytical processes to find out about the past for themselves?

The reality for Preparatory aged students is probably somewhere in-between. Our new curriculum plans for 2013 certainly have a combination of both. It is true that you have to teach content in history. Our history units focus very much on teaching our students about both the local histories of Hong Kong and Asia, significant events from British and World history, exploration, inventions that changed the world and ancient civilizations. This world approach is well suited to our international position and community, who have come from and will go to a range of different locations all over the globe.

When our curriculum consultant spoke to us about our planned development back in September he highlighted what I think is the most important lesson. When teaching history you are teaching the children to be historians. Just as when you teach mathematics you are teaching the children to be mathematicians. No one would suggest that knowing your times tables by rote makes a mathematician. Mathematicians solve problems through application of knowledge. In order to teach history effectively we will be giving our students the content they need to understand the global perspective, but they will have to apply their historical skills in order to call themselves historians.

At the end of last term we congratulated the P6 Boys football team for their amazing performance this year and awarded each with a trophy. For the first time in our history, Kellett hold all three major soccer trophies for Hong Kong Primary Schools.

In addition they were undefeated in all matches played through all three tournaments. Well done to Eddie, James, Finlay, Sean, Sebastian, Alistair, Jake, Max and Joshua. Thank you and congratulations to the team coach, Mr. Hulbert, and all parents and staff who had a hand in making history.

Ciaran Harrington Head of Preparatory School

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PREPARATORY HIGHLIGHTS PREPARATORY

School Council – Buzz Day! What’s Happening To Bees?

In P6 we have been learning about the disappearance of bees in the UK, USA, Australia and Hong Kong; this is called Colony Collapse Disorder, CCD for short. The bees that were disappearing were mainly honeybees, normally to do with stress, flower poisoning or cannibal bees. To be honest, the only cannibal bee is a queen bee, due to the fact that it is the leader of the hive. Furthermore, scientists are trying their hardest to save the bee population. Even though bees are extremely small animals, they keep almost every animals or human alive in the planet! For example, if bees die out bears won’t have any honey to eat, so they will become extinct; that cycle goes on until almost every living creature is extinct from the world.

The School Council have been busy discussing CCD and have worked hard to plan ‘Buzz Day’ on Monday 15 April to help spread awareness of the disappearance of bees in many countries. There will be an assembly for each key stage with a guest speaker and everyone is invited to dress in black and yellow or like a bee!

We are looking forward to raising awareness of these very unique creatures in our very beautiful planet!

Tej Shepouri

Reception Reception have enjoyed a very busy and productive second term.

The children adjusted well to the full day of classes and have made fantastic progress with their reading writing and numeracy.

They have also learned lots about wild animals and space in our term two topics. In addition to the packed daily timetable we have enjoyed many extra-curricular events.

Stay and Play Many parents joined classes for Stay and Play to experience first hand the ‘love of learning and confidence for life’. Children had the opportunity to share their learning and classroom activities with their guests. Trips into the jungle, The Kellett Hairdressing Salon and building site were just a few of the activities enjoyed by the children and adults alike.

Ocean Park In February, Reception visited Ocean Park to extend the learning in our Animal Unit and further investigate wild animals. The trip was thoroughly enjoyed by all, with adults finding out as much as the children about animals and sea creatures in this inspiring resource on our doorstep.

Discovery Dome During March, Reception blasted off into space to consolidate learning about the planets during a visit from the Discovery Dome. The children had the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they had developed during the topic.

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PREPARATORY HIGHLIGHTS PREPARATORY

p1

This term has been very exciting! We began the term learning all about Hong Kong. We loved using Google Earth and looking for our homes and school.

We had fun taking Flat Stanley on lots of adventures around Hong Kong and other places around the world. Our topic culminated with a great fun day visiting Central and the Peak, looking for all the landmarks we had talked about in class.

After our Chinese New Year Adventures we became scoundrels of the sea. Pirates took over the P1 corridor and luckily for all of us, we were a great gang! We sang songs, made maps and explored the life of a pirate. Treasures adorned our classrooms and our Pirate Beach Party was the highlight of the year, where we navigated rope courses and walked the treacherous plank blindfolded. There were treasure hunts and games galore. It was a great day and ended with a very tired bunch of buccaneers!

P2 Assembly Time!

P2 have entertained the school with their amazing singing, dancing and acting this term. We kicked off with P2-4’s wonderful assembly on Food, Glorious Food. P2-3 helped us to keep healthy by explaining the ‘Germ Wars.’ This was followed by P2-2’s brilliant book week assembly telling us we ‘Gotta Keep Reading!’ Finally we rounded it off with P2-1’s assembly on the work of Julia Donaldson.

Island Hopping We had a great day out on Cheung Chau. We explored the island and looked at the differences between life there and on Hong Kong Island. We saw lots of bicycles and mini vehicles. We even saw a helicopter taking someone to hospital! The children really enjoyed spending their $30 on a souvenir to remind them of the trip.

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PREPARATORY HIGHLIGHTS PREPARATORY

P3 P3 have had a very exciting half term! As well as learning about the Ancient Egyptians and preparing our year book pages, a highlight of this term was our P3 expedition to Pak Tam Cheung Camp in Sai Kung.

At camp, there were seventy-eight happy campers and twenty adult supervisors who enjoyed the action packed trip. We developed our social skills as well as trying new things. Trying new things was advice given to us from Mr Harrington and it was useful advice. Thanks, Mr Harrington!

night walk around the camp. Some of us found this quite scary but it was lots of fun especially in the dark! All in all, our camp was very successful and whilst we were pleased to return to school to see our families again, lots of us were excited about our next camp in P4. We would like to say a huge thank you all of the parents who came and helped.

Some of the new things that we tried at camp were: archery, hiking, wall climbing, trampolining and cycling. A few of us even rode a bicycle without stabilisers for the very first time; what an achievement! We also learnt how to toast marshmallows; an important skill for any camper! Following Mr Ali’s fantastically exciting story, we took our torches on a

P4

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KELLETT DRAGON NEWSLETTER ISSUE SIX JUNE 2013

PREPARATORY HIGHLIGHTS PREPARATORY

P5 P5 started this term by studying the novel Kensuke’s Kingdom

by Michael Murphurgo. We explored characters and themes within the story and this provided the stimulus for writing across a range of genres. To enrich the children’s learning we were fortunate to be able to watch a dramatisation of the book performed by Faust, with some of our very own Kellett children amongst the cast. We were all captivated throughout and it brought the pages to life!

As part of our games based learning we played Rollercoaster Tycoon, which helped us to custom build our own theme park attractions. Inspired by famous theme parks around the world, we created our own persuasive descriptions and reviews to advertise our rides to potential visitors.

For Book Week we entered the exciting world of Mr Benn and created a new adventure for him.

Ensuring that these would appeal to a younger audience, we published them in a book with moving parts. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing them with Reception classes.

P6 P6 hit Mui Wo P6 recently enjoyed a fabulous day on Lantau studying the River Silver and the Wang Tong River, located in the Mui Wo area. Due to the lack of rainfall prior to the visit, the water levels were quite low. Despite this, it was beneficial to examine the various river features that we had studied in the classroom, in a real life context. This was a big help for us as we prepared our individual presentations on a river of our choice. We would like to give a big thank you to Mr Ali for guiding us around his home town and rivers.

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ARTS & LANGUAGES PREPARATORY

Chinese Studies Besides making cherry blossoms, red laisee packets, dancing lions, Chinese couplets and paper cuttings of auspicious characters, mandarins and kumquats, Kellett students were busy making snakes to welcome the Year of the Snake. They made 298 snakes in total!

Students were asked to guess the number of snakes displayed in the foyer. No one guessed the correct number, but 3 students guessed 89 snakes, which was one snake away from the correct number. They each got a prize during the Chinese New Year assembly, presented by some P6 students.

Reception students had a go at a lion dance. They woke up 6 lions and made them dance around in the playground.

In February we held our second joint school reading activities session with the local school, Hok Shan Primary School. This is part of a community link to expose our children to the local students and is always enjoyed by all who participate.

Music

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French This term, Preparatory French students have been busy discovering and celebrating many cultural aspects of the language. In class, the students learned about the Québec Winter Carnival created by the habitants of New France (French Canada). A rowdy tradition of getting together just before Lent to warm up the hearts of the revelers through a variety of popular activities such as winter sport, snow sculptures and activities based on the traditional Québec lifestyle such as canoe races and dogsled races. P4 enjoyed our “ice sculpture” session making a snowman with marshmallows and then presenting their artwork to their friends. Students used their reading skills and French vocabulary to follow the instructions on how to make a snowman. The task proved to be challenging but all the students enthusiastically rose to the challenge!

Book week was an excellent opportunity to introduce our students to a famous Belgium comic strip writer Peyo. The P6 Students discovered with great interest the 101 characters of his most popular series: “Les Schtroumpfs”. Students read, watched videos and learnt about the different personalities of the “Sctroumpfs” and then discussed and presented their favorite” Schtroumpf” explaining the reasons for their choice.

In P5 the students extended their “Eating Healthy” unit and created a recipe book with their own favourite sandwich recipes. Using the work lab session, the pupils wrote their creative recipe, then in a following session brought in their sandwich from home to share with the class and take part in our Super chef competition.

Our food critiques had a really hard task coming up with the final winners of the competition and with great deliberation voted Matthew McCombe and Meona Kethrapal our Super Chefs.

Congratulations to our winners and well done to all the chefs!

In the Easter tradition, P3 students practiced their language skills using prepositions in full sentences while Easter egg hunting.

Students gathered their eggs in teams of two while one lead their blindfolded partner through the search using our key vocabulary.

Both students had a turn leading the team. The P3 students made the “Lapin de Pâques” proud by skillfully using the French they know to gather their eggs!

Well done to all our students, Mme Streun and I are looking forward to an exciting term three of language learning!

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PREPARATORY

ARTS & LANGUAGES

ARTS & LANGUAGES PREPARATORY

Library BOOK WEEK 2013 The Preparatory Library celebrated the Annual Kellett Book Week from 11 March to the 15 March with the theme of “Simply the Best”. The week was filled with fun book related events to get everyone enthused about reading.

Best Decorated Classroom Door Competition Each class was given the challenge to choose one book that they thought was “simply the best” and decorate their classroom door using that book as inspiration. The standard was incredible and the judges had a hard time choosing the best from each year group. Congratulations to all classes and in particular to the winners: R3, P1-1, P2-1, P3-4, P4-1, P5-1 and P6-1 Images of the doors can be seen on our Library webpage.

rs were…. e n in w e th d n A

“Simply the Best Picture Book 2013” A shortlist of 6 great picture books published in the past year was drawn up by our Librarians, then the KS1 and KS2 children chose their favourite. The titles this year were: Step Gently Into

Helen Frost

I want my hat back

Jon Klassen

This moose belongs to me

Oliver Jeffries

Flood

Jackie French

Z is for Moose

Kelly Bingham

Green

Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Book Character Parade The students and teachers rose to the challenge as always for the Book Character parade. All the costumes looked amazing. Here are just a couple – more will be published in the Kellett Yearbook.

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PREPARATORY

ARTS & LANGUAGES Guess the Book challenge Thank you to our wonderful library volunteers for creating such a popular challenge for the week. Students and teachers had to guess the book title just from the cryptic clues left in the library. Answers are at the bottom of the page!

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

Table 7

Table 8

Table 9

Table 10

1. The giraffe, Pelly and me 2. The Giving Tree 3. The Witches 4. The Twits 5. Gangsta Granny 6. Wind in the Willows 7. Inside out and back again 8. Elephant in the Garden 9. Princess Poppy – Twinkletoes 10. Around the world in eighty days Beatrix Potter display Special thanks must go to P5 teacher Claire Eadon and her nephew Jack Chillington for allowing us to display Claire’s grandmother’s beautifully made stuffed toys of the Beatrix Potter characters during Book Week.

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ARTS & LANGUAGES PREPARATORY

Art Highlights A shorter term has seen the same amount of fantastic artwork produced by the children across the school over the course of the past couple of months. We have been busy painting Marimba’s with P6 as part of the musician in residence work and many 3D projects have been tackled across the year groups. The students have explored a number of different materials and a wide variety of skills in their artwork this team.

P1 Weaving, weaving , weaving! P1 have made a great job of their weaving project. Hot and cold colours have been blended together or split into appropriate groups to create wonderful fabric swatches of woven material. They have also more recently been looking at the art of collagraph printing, as well as working on their observational drawing skills with some still life workshops. Well done P1, we look forward to seeing your prints next term!

P2 P2 have had great fun making their 3D Islands, which crossed over with their Island project in class. We made structures out of newspaper and cardboard rolls before working with paper mache to create strong structures. Sand, paint and cellophane were added to make our islands texturized and more realistic.

The end result was fantastic. As well as this P2 have made clay tiles with relief work, which were incredibly detailed and annotated. This has reinforced our clay joining and cutting skills, and a growing confidence was demonstrated. Well done P2!

P3 The Egyptians have come to P3 and our drawing skills were being showcased as we created profile portraits of Pharos in chalks. As well as this we have been busy making clay structures using the basic pinch pot technique as a basis for a body, before joining on designed features to create our own owls. The children made clay nests and branches to accompany their owls and we hear some have started at home to make them their own habitats! We have also been reinforcing our printing skills and painting talents in our rainbow animal print project. Polystyrene print designs were made by the children, which looked wonderful printed over the top of painted rainbow designs. Well done P3!

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PREPARATORY

ARTS & LANGUAGES P4 Tonal drawing studies of shoes and clay 3D designs have occupied P4 lessons this term.

We have had some fantastic shoe sculptures made with clay. From rugby boots to wedge sandals all manner of styles have been manipulated out of clay by the children, building on their previous learnt clay skills which they painted according to preference. We have more recently started to work on our drawing skills and have learnt the basics of portraiture. Next term we will start to work with computers to bring our portraits to life! The end of term finished with an introduction to cubism and the children painted Easter egg and Bunny designs in the style of cubist painters to great effect. Well done P4!

P5 In preparation for the annual Beijing trip P5 have been looking at the art of Chinese Brush painting. They have created printed strips to mount their own pieces and have cut temple top and bases to make their own Chinese Temple design, which will provide a frame for their work. These will be exhibited as part of the P5 Beijing evening next term. As well as this we have more recently been creating layered canvases with architectural drawings pasted on top of a painted acrylic background. These will also be displayed as part of their China inspired work and I very much look forward to seeing the final results. Well done P5!

P6 L. S Lowry, studies in chalk started off the term, with the children learning about the British artist’s unique style of painting and use of perspective. We then tackled the task of brightening up the schools Marimba set and found ourselves deep on safari with a variety of animal prints that the children painted onto the wooden based instruments.

The final results were stunning and it was fantastic to see them all together out on the playground for the musical showcase. We have worked in mixed media more recently as part of our Moving figure project and the children have made great compositions using tissue paper, paint and chalk. Next term we will continue on this theme by looking at the artist Henry Moore and his sculptures. Well done P6 on a great terms work!

ICT During the past few days the ICT Team have been busy preparing our new iPads for classroom use. Thanks to our wonderful Parents’ Committee, Reception, Year One and Year Two will all be equipped with 6 ipad Minis shortly after the Easter Break. These class sets will give students and teachers the opportunity to use the latest technology to enhance learning in many contexts.

With more help from the Parents’ Committee we have also increased our centralised stock of iPads so that teachers can use a full class set if needed, as well as equipping all class teachers with an iPod Touch. Not only do these devices act as a camera and media centre, they also give us the opportunity to investigate a range of innovative uses of technology, such as electronic mobile registration and mobile assessment profiles for younger students.

A big thank you to the Parents’ Committee from all our learners!

I’m also grateful to the IT Department at Pok Fu Lam for their hard work in preparing for this influx of devices. Also a special thanks to Mrs Bull who had the unenviable task of attaching screen protectors to over 110 (hopefully) dust-free screens!

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SPORT PREPARATORY

Physical Education It has been another impressive term with lots of notable achievements for our Prep students on the sports fields. The main sports the students have been participating in this term being Girl’s football, Rugby and Cross Country.

Mixed Netball In January we saw our annual Mixed Netball tournament take place with over 100 students from ESF and International Schools in Hong Kong taking part. Some fantastic netball was played and our Kellett team was unlucky to get beaten in the semi-finals of the competition. We are very much looking forward to hosting next year’s event in our new gymnasium in Kowloon Bay! The ESF netball tournament was rescheduled and took place in January. We had two teams entered into the event and it was a great way to round off a successful netball season. Our Kellett A team made their way into the semi-finals and were unlucky to get beaten at that stage of the competition.

Football The Kellett boy’s football team made Kellett and (we believe) tournament history this term by winning all three of the major ESF/International Primary Schools tournaments. The boys played 18 matches and won 18 matches over the three events. An outstanding achievement by all the boys!

Kellett football team: Max Cowley, Sean Hargraves, Finlay Scott, Josh Preston, Eddie Bischoff, Alistair Atkinson, Sebastian Drake, Jake Ford, Alex Slater.

The girl’s football team enjoyed their tournament at Hong Lok Yuen. They progressed through the group stages with some good results and were unlucky to be runners-up in the bowl final, where they were beaten 2-1 by the hosts. The girl’s football team continues to go from strength to strength and we are looking forward to more girls joining in the next academic year.

Rugby Rugby quickly became the focus following the end of the football season. We had fantastic success in the DBIS Touch Rugby tournament in February. Kellett fielded two teams, who participated in an action packed event. Kellett B produced some great results in their pool against some challenging opposition. Kellett A managed to win the tournament after the final against a strong Discovery College team. In extra time the team ended up a 3v3, which as you can imagine in beach rugby is exceptionally hard work!

Unfortunately the CIS Touch Rugby Tournament was cancelled due to the weather.

We entered a team into the ESF Tag rugby tournament, which took place in March and the players did well and enjoyed the friendly competition!

We have enjoyed some friendly tournaments with Bradbury this year with lots of children participating in the matches.

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SPORT

Cross Country We have had an excellent “run” in cross country events this year. Starting the season earlier in November I think has certainly paid off. We have enjoyed cross country friendlies against GSIS, Bradbury and Kennedy in various venues. The highlight of the season was the Primary Schools’ Championships 2.8km race, which took place in Happy Valley in March. We had 4 teams entered into the competition and had outstanding results individually and in teams.

Kellett P5 Boys – Won the team event (1st out 10 schools) Kellett P6 Boys – Won the team event (1st out 10 schools) Kellett P6 Girls – Won the team event (1st out 10 schools) U11 Boys – Alistair Atkinson – 1st Place (64 runners) U11 Girls – Eliza Sherry – 2nd Place (50 runners) U10 Boys – Tobey Turl – 1st Place (54 runners) We had lots of top ten finishes in all of the races.

P5 Swimming Gala The P5 swimming gala was well attended this year and the children worked hard to win both the participation competition as well as the class relay!

FOBISSEA Squad January saw the completion of the FOBISSEA trials for the 2013 squad. As always the dedication, sportsmanship and enthusiasm of all the athletes who took part in the trials was wonderful to see. It is great to see so many children supporting each other to improve and try their best! The squad has now been selected and they have been working hard in preparation for Phuket 2013!

Saturday Soccer The last session of Saturday Soccer has taken place for the year! Around 50 children and their eager parents have been attending early Saturday morning sessions for the term. A huge thank you to all the parents who have volunteered their time to run the coaching sessions or make sure the coffee and teas are there on time.

A huge thanks also to Marcus Woodger for being at the helm this year and doing a fantastic job.

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EXTRAS PREPARATORY

Extra curricular activities Girl’s Football Another great term for girl’s football, down at the Hong Kong Football Club. Some old faces, but always good to see new faces too! We had a tournament for the Under 11s in January and the girls played brilliantly as a team. They came 3rd in their group which meant they got to the Bowl final; unfortunately they lost to Hong Lok Yuen 2-1.

Thank you to Mrs Collie for her help this term and to all the girls for their enthusiasm!

World maths day On Wednesday March 6th Kellett Prep school celebrated World Maths Day, with all the children taking part in online mental arithmetic challenges as part of the World Education Games. Classes spent their numeracy lessons competing ‘live’ against children from around the world. Well done to everyone for taking part so enthusiastically and special congratulations to the highest point scorers in each class, whose names are listed below.

P1-1 Henry Lapham and Maddie Swindin

P1-2 Ishaan Khanna

P1-3 Nishant Pattnaik

P1-4 Connor Tierney

P2-1 Ayush Ramachandran

P2-2 Killian Featherstone

P2-3 Austin Chan

P2-4 Samion Suwito

P3-1 Crystal Tian

P3-2 Veronica Paulus

P3-3 Joshua Lim

P3-4 Brij Sheopuri

P5-1 Victoria Leung

P5-2 Alexandra Paulus

P5-3 Isabel Henchman

P6-1 Sena Clarke

P6-2 Ashwin Gopalan

P6-3 Oliver Corso

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who sponsored their child in this event, which has raised a total of HK$ 15,438.30 for the UNICEF Schools in a Box project. This provides ready-made kits of classroom supplies and materials to schools where children’s access to education has been limited by poverty and/or crisis. Thank you for giving so generously to this very worthy cause.

Matt Lovell

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SENIOR HIGHLIGHTS The state of play: A Level and GCSE qualification reform

In his recent policy steer letter (6 Feb 2013) to Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive Office of Qualifications and Examinations regulation (Ofqual www.ofqual.gov.uk) Michael Gove the Secretary of State Department of Education outlined his expectations for reforming Key Stage 4 qualifications.

I summarise below: • GCSEs are to be comprehensively reformed with changes for the facilitating subjects (English literature, English language, mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, geography) being ready for teaching in September 2015 and the other subjects being ready for teaching in September 2016 at the latest.

• There will be an increase in the academic demand of the qualifications reflecting the expectations of high-performing international jurisdictions. This will be reflected in subject content becoming more challenging and an increase in the rigor of assessment structures used. The qualifications are to be linear with assessment focussed at the end of the two year course. A greater emphasis is to be placed on extended writing and quantitative problem solving with a move away from highly structured and short answer questions.

• A new grading scale has been asked for to reflect the step change in expectation for pupils.

Ofqual’s purpose is to maintain standards and confidence in qualifications. They are responsible for GCSEs and A levels in England, and a wide range of vocational qualifications both in England and Northern Ireland. They also regulate the National Curriculum Assessments in England. Ofqual is independent of Government ministers and report directly to Parliament in Westminster and the Northern Ireland Assembly. While independent, Ofqual give advice to Government on qualifications and assessment based on their research into these areas.

Ofqual responded to Mr Gove and has begun working towards making necessary changes. Revised curriculum should be with schools one year prior to the teaching of the new examinations, giving time for schools to make the necessary preparations.

Mr Gove also wrote to Ofqual twice (22 January and 14 March 2013) outlining his expectations for changes to the A Level qualifications. I summarise below:

• AS Level qualifications will become entirely decoupled from A Level qualifications and will be stand alone, linear, as academically rigorous as A Level qualifications containing half the content.

• A Level qualifications will be revised, with Russell Group universities advising on relevant content and assessment focusing on more open ended and synoptic style questions.

A Levels will become linear with the majority of assessment at the end of the two year course. The facilitating subjects (English literature, English language, mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, geography) will be the first to be reviewed and be ready for teaching in September 2015 with other subjects being ready at the same time or shortly after.

• January assessment will be removed, reinforcing the linear nature of the revised qualifications.

Again, Ofqual responded to Mr Gove and has begun to make the necessary changes. Revised curriculums should be with schools one year prior to teaching commencing.

Syllabus and qualification change is not new to schools. Syllabi are revised and assessment and examinations changed regularly and Senior school staff are experienced in managing such changes. We are well informed on the changes being made and will utilise our links with professional teaching organisations and the schools examination centre status for all the examinations boards (qualification awarding bodies) to ensure our staff have the information they need as soon as it is released. In addition, our professional links within FOBISSEA facilitate a high quality network for professional development and information sharing.

From September 2014, the major focus for the Senior school will be ensuring that teachers will be ready for the teaching of the revised qualifications in September 2015 and that our students are well prepared for the first sitting of the examinations in the summer term of 2017.

Simon Giddings Head of Senior School KELLETT DRAGON NEWSLETTER ISSUE SIX JUNE 2013

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SENIOR HIGHLIGHTS SENIOR

Library The Senior Library held the popular “book swap” to mark Literacy Day on the 5 March.

Students brought in books they no longer wanted and swapped them for others. In total around 130 books were exchanged over the 2 days, with students trying titles they may not have considered before, prompted by others recommendations. By popular demand the “book swap” will return in the Summer Term.

Global Citizenship

Talk on Global Warming – KK Kwong Hong Kong Weather Observatory The Hong Kong Observatory celebrates its 130th anniversary this year and Mr KK Kwong gave our Year Eight students some insights into how they use the array of statistics collected over the years to establish trends and gave us a number of interesting facts.

Did you know?

• 1963 recorded as one of the three biggest droughts in HK

with only 901 mm in a year.

• Hong Kong’s main problem is the emission of carbon

dioxide: when temperature rises, more water evaporates and rains increases as well as moisture in the air. This means an increase in the occurrence of extreme weather such as heat waves, droughts, tropical cyclones and flooding.

• Water rises of around 1.8 mm per year but between 1993

and 2003 the average has reached 3.1 mm.

• The number of cold days, below 12 degrees Celsius has

decreased by 2 days every decade (10 to 24 days on average per year) • Climate changes have a direct Impact on the life cycle of

species such as mosquitoes.

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KELLETT DRAGON NEWSLETTER ISSUE SIX JUNE 2013

The Observatory is forecasting the weather but also looking at projections. By the end of the century: • Sea level in Hong Kong should have risen by nearly 70 cm.

• Temperature will have increased by 4 to 5 degrees.

• Rainfall will have increased if not in frequency then in

intensity.

• Between 1885 and 2008 they recorded two “Extremely dry

year” and three “Extremely wet years” • So far in our 21 century we already have had four

“Extremely dry years” and ten “Extremely wet” years.

Students were very interested by the long term previsions and the forecasting which will affect their generation and all agreed that action needs to be taken now!

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SENIOR HIGHLIGHTS

HK observatory was created in 1813. Recording of annual rainfall from 1947- 1963 was three biggest drought in HK with only 901 mm in a year.

Celebrating their 130 anniversary this year Main problem is the emission of carbon dioxide. When temperature rises, more water evaporates and rains increases as well as moisture in the air • means it increases the occurrence of extreme weather (Heat

waves, droughts, tropical cyclones and flooding.

• Means thermal expansion of sea water and melting of ice

on land. Rise of around 1.8 mm per year but between 1993 and 2003 average of 3.1 mm.

• Heavy rain day= more than 30 mm in 24 hours on the

increase. Number of cold days, below 12 degrees C have decreased by 2 days every decade (10 to 24 days on average per year)

Questions • What do you expect the climate change will lead up to?

Depends of human activities but even low band of estimations.

On average extreme weather will happen more often. Carbon dioxide stays in the air for a very long time.

• Which is the worst gas? Carbon dioxide. Moisture in the air is a good protection • What role does the sun play in this pattern? Is a major source of energy. Triggers small changes when it gets closer, but this natural activity does not create the major changes we see.

• Any estimation of when the earth could be destroyed by the climate change? Most likely when the sun extinguishes. Not to happen in the next billions of years! Our ability to survive depends on other factor such as temperature. Human beings are very adaptable but the earth could become a far less safe place.

• Tropical cyclones with high winds, low pressure near the

centre leads to the rising of the sea level which affects the coastal areas. Sea water is pushed against the coast called a storm surge.

• Impact on the life cycle of species such as mosquitoes

Forecasting the weather but also looking at projections.: By the end of the century the sea level in HK should have risen by nearly 70 cm. Temperature will have increased by 4 to 5 degrees. Rainfall will have increased if not in frequency then in intensity.

Extremely dry (year)

Extremely wet (year)

1885-2008

2

3

21 century

4

10

Ways to improve: • Reduce burning of fossil fuels (save energy) • More renewable energy (solar power, wind power) • Use mass transport when possible • Reduce waste

Judaism talk As part of their studies of the Judaism topic, Year 8 students had the pleasure of welcoming Simon Goldberg to speak to them from the ELSA Secondary School. Simon is the Head of Jewish Studies at ELSA and he proved to be an interesting, lively and captivating speaker. He spoke about the origins of Judaism and what it was like to be a practising Jew. Our students were very keen to hear which of the Jewish festivals was his favourite, and Simon was kind enough to answer a great range of questions about the life of a Jewish family.

• Save paper and trees • Plant tress • Prevent hill fires KELLETT DRAGON NEWSLETTER ISSUE SIX JUNE 2013

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SENIOR HIGHLIGHTS SENIOR

history Year nine History visit As part of Year Nine’s learning in History on the Japanese invasion and occupation of Hong Kong in the Second World War, they enjoyed a journey around Hong Kong and into the past with local historian, Jason Wordie of Hong Kong University, in March.

On Christmas Day in 1941, the British surrendered to the Japanese and the Japanese began their occupation of Hong Kong which lasted until 30th August 1945. Arguably, the fall of Hong Kong was inevitable and Year Nine learned why swift control of a reservoir meant Hong Kong had “not the slightest chance”, as historian Tony Banham argues in his book of this title.

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SENIOR HIGHLIGHTS SENIOR

Science Science at Kellett Senior School continues exploring the magnificent wonders of the Biological, Chemical and Physical world – the Science Club is up and running and attracting Science enthusiasts every week. Plans for an environmental Green week are well under way, and our World Science Day competitions were hugely enjoyable and successful. Our first cohort of Year 11 students have all but finished their IGCSE courses, meaning revision and exam practice have become order of the day. Our Year 7 students are looking forward to their residential Science trip to Sabah and Mr. Lai’s wife is expecting their first baby! Exciting times in Science continue….

Some like it hot…

Students examined the effectiveness of different types of insulation. Bubble wrap was found to be most effective while shredded paper was the least.

Blow it out your…mouth!

Students learned about Manometers and how they are used to measure differential pressure.

A no brainer…

This term saw the inauguration of the Dissection Club arm of Science Club for budding Surgeons and Biologists. During this session, students looked at parts of the brain including the various functions of the lobes.

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SENIOR HIGHLIGHTS SENIOR

maths World Maths Day – Wednesday 6 March It seems like no time at all since the last World Maths Day; this time around the event was a House Competition which raised the stakes from previous years. Each year group had its own Relay Competition, with students trying to progress through as many challenging questions as they could in 45 minutes. It proved to be a very tight battle with the three houses all winning at least one Year Group Competition each: Year 10

Team 1

Amber

William Munro-Greaves

Clara Krantz

Rory Atkins

Year 9

Team 10

Green

Arisa Ogiwara

Chloe Ng

Jemima Steward

Year 8

Team 13

Red

Chloe Kim

Charles De Gentile-Williams

Ryan Lockett

Year 7

Team 10

Green

Matthew Chillington

Charlie Lucas

James Ferguson

As always, in addition to the event at school the Senior students also competed in the challenges on the Website over a 48 hour period. In total our students managed to answer 28,415 questions with 6 students completing all 50 of the games. Giovanni Di Clemente in Year 7 managed to get the highest total amount of correct answers with 1411 points, well done Giovanni!

With the Relay Competition and online scores added, the overall House Champions of World Maths Day were Green House. Congratulations!

Intermediate Maths Challenge – Wednesday 6 February Students in Year 9, 10 and 11 again took part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge which, as a reminder, is the biggest Maths competition in the UK with over 600,000 students and 4000 schools taking part annually. Congratulations to the award winners who were: Gold

Arisa Ogiwara

Silver

Henry Salmon

William Munro-Greaves Alex Mortensen

Arthur Hui

Clara Krantz

Rosie Howl

Naomi Carey

Joy Lee

Lauren Wood

Emma Baghurst

Harriet Adams

Annabelle Lucas Bronze

Cameron Taylor

Charles Orchard

Yan To Or

Matthew Hanselman

A special mention must go to Arisa who was not only Best in School but attained such a high score she became the first ever Kellett student to qualify for the Mathematical Olympiad. Only the top 5% of all students who do the Maths Challenge are eligible for this competition! We will know how she got on in a few months.

Year 7 and 8 students should look forward to the Junior Event on 25 April.

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SENIOR HIGHLIGHTS

Dragon Maths – Wednesday 23 January It was that time of year again where Mathematics enthusiasts in Years 7 and 8 could exercise their verbal reasoning and logic prowess at the annual Dragon Maths Competition.

Sixteen of our finest young “Mathemagicians” went along to Renaissance College to compete in an adrenaline fuelled brain taxing event. They were split into four teams, each with four members including a designated runner. After each question was collected by the runner, it was answered frantically before being rushed back to a judge. The next question was given out if the previous solution was correct. More than fifty teams competed together; demonstrating excellent team work, problem solving skills and of course, fast sprinting!

Many thanks to our students for representing Kellett Senior School so fantastically and a special thank you to Renaissance College for hosting such an enjoyable event.

Competitors Hugo Christopher, Georgina Jarrett, Ben Henchman, Millie Krantz, Kirstie Taylor,Chloe Kim Oscar Mclean, Jeffrey Turner, Sam Tuckwell, Marcus Howl, Daniel Storey Chin Kiu Pak, Kendall Dees, Jemima Abate, Edward Salmon, James Orchard

Congratulations on Exceptional Year 11 Examination Results Congratulations to Arthur Hui, Henry Salmon and Cameron Taylor who have all achieved an A* in their early entry International GCSE examination. The average score was 98% and these superb results reflect their commitment and dedication to learning and study. Well done to all. We wish them all the very best of luck as they prepare to sit a second International GCSE in Further Pure Mathematics in May.

lopes their enve Opening

ir results to see the

Proudly holding up their certificates – A*s all round. Congratulations!!

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SENIOR HIGHLIGHTS SENIOR

geography been a high class, expensive place to live on the edge of the city. One thing which made The Peak’s location a little inconvenient was its geography. Such as its name suggests The Peak is the tallest point in Hong Kong, around 1800ft tall. The British employed local residents (called Coolies) to pull them up the Peak in Sedan Chairs until the Peak tram was built in 1888. Its development meant that the residential progress made in the Peak as well as the Mid-levels was sped up rapidly.

Year 10 has been studying urban land use models for their GCSE coursework. Below is an example of a piece of work written by James Baghurt which will give you a clearer indication of what the students have been studying.

The differences in residential environments within a settlement My first hypothesis is “Residential value increases with distance from the CBD” My second hypothesis is “Building age decreases further from the CBD”.

Hong Kong is located off the south coast of China and is an SAR of the People’s Republic of China. My coursework is based on a transect from The Peak to Central. My first hypothesis is based on the historical influence that the British had on Hong Kong when they invaded Hong Kong in 1840. Back then, Hong Kong was by no means the modern skyscraper city it is today (the first skyscrapers were introduced in 1950 by Alexander Grantham after a fire in Shek Yip left 53,000 homeless) and its primary function was as a fishing community. The 1960s marked the beginning of a new era for the economy and function in Hong Kong. The British helped turn Textiles into the major foundation for Hong Kong’s manufacturing industry. An estimated 625,000 residents were supported directly or indirectly by textiles. It was around 1960 that Hong Kong went from making cheap goods to high quality goods and the factories which were making cheap, low quality goods were moved into China. During the 1970s, Hong Kong transformed itself from the manufacturing island to the financial powerhouse it is today. The cost of land began to increase by a lot in the CBD and factories in areas where the land had been cheap such as Victoria harbor and Kwun Tong industrial center were turned into shopping malls and houses. The Peak was a popular (and expensive) place for British expats to live because of the large houses, beautiful views of Hong Kong and the cooler temperature. It has always 30

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My second hypothesis is also built into Hong Kong’s history.

When the Shek Yip fire left 53,000 people homeless in 1950, a man called Alexander Grantham came up with an emergency housing solution. He realised that he could reduce the cost of land for building new housing for 53,000 homeless by building taller rather than fatter. This links directly to the idea behind the bid-rent model which shows that it is more cost effective to build vertically than horizontally due to the price of land. It was the very beginning of multi-story accommodation in Hong Kong. This also means that the oldest skyscrapers and multi-story flats are a maximum of 50 – 60 years old because they were built around the time of the fire. I predict that due to the history of the Peak and the construction of the multi-story flats in the 1950s to 1960s the houses on the Peak will be much older.

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Equestrian Competition Annual Inter – school Equestrian Competition 2013 The Hong Kong Equestrian Federation (HKEF) was founded in August, 1973 and is dedicated to the promotion of Equestrian sports. Every year they organise Hong Kong’s biggest equestrian competition for young riders.

The Cheong Lee Securities Inter-school Equestrian Challenge 2013 competition features around 120 riders (c.30 teams), aged 10-16, from 18 of Hong Kong’s schools.

Five Kellett Senior riders have entered the competition this year: Emilia Bridger (Individual entry category for Higher Division), Hannah Hanselman, Harriette Edmonds, Calypso Cox and Sophie McLean for the Lower Division.

Our Lower Division team riders, won the Heat 4 Round on Friday 22 March, ranking second overall out of thirteen teams. They will compete for the Ann Baron Memorial Cup in the Hong Kong Finals at Lo Wu on Saturday 20 April. This is the first time that a Kellett team made it to the Finals. Congratulations to all riders!

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MUSIC Senior Inter-House Music Competition This year saw the first and final Inter-House Music Competition at our SKW Campus. With over 450 people in the Auditorium, students from Year Seven to Eleven performed everything from Mozart to Motown!

Adjudicated by four professional musicians, the winning House was Amber and Freya Darnton proudly collected the trophy.

1st Place

Mimi Brady

2nd Place

Sophia Mortensen

3rd Place

Susanna Kidd

Choir Award

1st Place

Amber House

Open Award

1st Place

Red House

Recital Awards

Outstanding Performance (awarded by the adjudicators) Inter-House Music Trophy 2013

Mimi Brady Amber House

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES Year 7 French Vocabulary learning strategies In French, Year 7 students are busy building up the basics of the French language and vocabulary learning is an essential key to success. Regular practice on a “little and often” basis works best. Understanding each student’s learning style also helps when it comes to learning a large number of new words.

When learning a foreign language, students combine learning techniques and develop the four language skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing). The resulting development of their general cognitive skills is transferable to all other subjects.

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Two of our Year 7 students, identified as learning best by “doing” and “looking” at words have started this term creating their own flashcards. They keep the cards, sorted by theme, in a box or on a ring. Their goal is to establish their own bank of key word resources by the end of Year 7 and to use them for learning and practising as well as for revising for tests and exams.

flashcards is a fun and useful way to learn accurate spelling.

Although most students use a combination of the three main learning styles - visual, auditory and kinaesthetic - they usually have a clear preference for one. Developing one learning style makes homework easier and learning more efficient. Practice ‘Writing’ new vocabulary is often overlooked and creating

A big thank you to our two students, Ellie and Isabella, who started sharing their flashcards in class with success! Our plan now is to add sound to them, so that next term auditory learners will be able to benefit from them too!

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ARTS & LANGUAGES

Eating out at a Chinese Restaurant Year 9 Mandarin students enjoyed visiting the Shau Kei Wan market and dining at a local Chinese restaurant. At the market, students took photos of hand written Chinese characters on price tags and they tried reading Chinese menus at the restaurant. Students liked the opportunity to ask for prices and order food in Mandarin in real life situations and they also learned about Chinese food and Chinese etiquette at the dinner table.

Most students mentioned that from this trip they managed to recognise more than 10 Chinese characters and some students have managed to memorise menu items in Mandarin. For a few students, this has been an exciting first dining experience at a Chinese restaurant and all students felt confident in communicating in Mandarin after this trip.

An interesting dining experience: “I learned how a menu is set out in a Chinese restaurant and some of the names of the foods being sold.”

“I asked for a spoon and soy sauce and I had a hard time using chopsticks. :)”

Links to Mandarin studies: “I learnt how to order in mandarin and how to apply my learning in a real life situation.”

“You are learning about the different foods that Chinese people eat. You are learning the names of new foods.”

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Sport reviews

Basketball U12 – Charlie Lucas As a new team, our first match was in September 2012 against the well-known team, HKIS Red, which, unfortunately, was the best team in the league, we were told by Mr. Arbiser. As some of us were new to basketball, we struggled to keep up with what to do during game conditions. The game was a painful loss of 2-22. All of us knew that we had areas in which to improve. However, I think that our communication and our passing were still quite good during the game. The match was a good learning experience for everybody.

Our next match was at the beginning of December 2012 in CDNIS against ICS (International Christian School). Over the months our team had been training every week. We had improved, gained confidence when we were playing and bonded together as a team. Every single one of us had high hopes for the game and was expecting our very first win. We had to be at the school at an early 8:00 AM therefore we would have time to stretch and warm-up. After 40 tiring minutes of sweating and running up and down the court, the bell rang signaling that the game had finished. All of had put all of our effort and determination into playing the game which in the end all paid off.

Looking at the scoreboard, we celebrated a victory with the score of 40-6 after a well-deserved win. The improvement that was made between October and December was tremendous.

When it was almost February 2013, we were even more prepared for playing and winning the several matches to come. Our first contestant of next three games was ICS (who we had played before). We started the game slowly and as the game went on, the team got better and better. We ended up beating them to a comfortable win. Our next rival was HKIS Black Team whom we know was a strong team. For us, it was challenging scoring baskets since their marking worked very well for them. It was a hard yet educational match. Then the bell rang. We lost. We had both good and bad points. With some hope, we put extra effort into our last match against CAIS (Christian Alliance International School), hoping that we could have another win.

The opposing team had a massive, tall boy who caught most of the rebounds and gave that extra boost to their team. In the end, we lost… but just by a few points.

I think that our team played and improved outstandingly throughout the basketball season and that we should all be proud of ourselves. Even though we didn’t win some matches, the whole basketball season was a great experience for us and we all learnt a lot more about basketball and teamwork.

Sailing – Clara Krantz This year, Kellett entered two sailing teams into the Feva and Pico/Q’ba divisions in the annual Interschools Sailing Festival.

Fortunately, we had a number of sailors who are on the Hong Kong national sailing team, which gave us a good advantage.

The team racing regatta took place over 2 days at the RHKYC, with 16 school teams (including some from overseas) in each division. On the first day, there were two pools of 6 in each division; the Pico/Q’ba team finished 4th and the Feva team finished 3rd for that day, after racing all of the other teams in their own pools. The second day was nothing but knock-out rounds. The Pico/Q’ba team lost their first race, but came back with a win against CDNIS and a 9th place overall in their division. Meanwhile, the Feva team won all 3 of their races to go into the finals against SIS. The race was very close, with both teams leading at different times, but we lost out in the very end due to a penalty. Overall, the Interschools Sailing Festival was a great and enjoyable learning experience for everyone who took part, and hopefully we will be able to place both of the teams in the top 3 next year, possibly 1st!

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U12 Boys Rugby – Ben Henchman We had a team who fought and fought even though it was their first ever attempt at rugby. With all our teamwork and skills we managed to come up from the bottom of the pile all the way up to the top. Although we didnt win the trophy we still did incredibly well by coming 3rd out of 16. What I really enjoyed about the season was seeing new players come up and play for the team because them stepping up gives inspiration to the other players that still aren’t confident to play for the team.I really enjoyed rugby this year. Mr Ridgeway Is the BEST coach that we could have ever asked for.

Year 7 cross country – Ela Moss Crosscountry is one of the most enjoyable ECA’s at Kellett, and I strongly advise you all to sign up for it!

It is great fun and is an amazing work out as well! You get to take part in some challenging competitions and even win some medals! Cross-country sessions are fun and you will always have a choice of distances you want to do, depending on if you’re a sprinter and superfast or if you’re more of long distance athlete and good at pacing yourself. My tip would be to always remember to stretch before and after each session!

My favorite part of the session is the running itself because our experienced teacher actually runs with us instead of just watching us. This is great motivation and encouragement.

We have a very strong cross country team at Kellett and have done extremely well over the term winning several medals and trophies. Cross country plays a big part at Kellett school and I hope I have influenced you all to join our team. Remember you don’t have to be an amazing runner to join cross country. It is more about improving your skill and love of running!

U14 football – Avery Champion We started off the season with a very hard hitting loss against CDNIS, practically in a swimming pool of mud. The next few games we were undefeated getting us to the championship tournament. In the first game we tied 1-1 with HKIS 2 and had to go into penalties where we thankfully won. We then won the plate against Island school. I think my favorite part about the season was playing with the YR9’s because you immediately get better when you play with better girls, and I also think it boosted our confidence during the games.

U14 Basketball – Sophie Krantz Earlier last January, Kellett’s U14 girls basketball team participated in the ISSF basketball tournament. As this was our first season playing together, we expected to come in the middle of the pack, or maybe to place in the top 3. We came into the tournament very nervous but confident, and so for us to come out winning the tournament really pushed our confidence. Overall, I really enjoyed the season because we became more versatile with our positions and that helped us improve our all-round basketball skills.

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U16 Cross Country – Charles Orchard The U16 Boys Cross Country team took part in a series of meets in the first term of the academic year. Despite Kellett having the smallest squad of about five every race, we performed admirably throughout the season with all of us coming within the top 30 every time out of over 100 children. The races were either 5k or 6k. Probably the most amusing race was the last race of the season hosted by West Island- it turned out that everyone had gone the wrong way and ended up running 8k instead of 5k!

Luckily for myself, West Island discovered the mistake and sent marshals around the course for the final race, meaning we ran the right way. Another amusing event in the penultimate race was myself and Matthew Hanselman somehow managed to share 8th place in a very strange last few meters…

All in all, as tiring as they were, I thoroughly enjoyed the cross country events for this year and look forward to next years events where hopefully our squad will increase in size which will allow us to fight for trophy positions. Well done everyone!

U12 Girls Basketball – Hannah Hanselman This year in school, I have joined the girls U12 basketball team and it has been a rewarding experience. Every Tuesday our basketball skills, communication as a team and understanding of the game would develop. To add to that, because we are all friendly with one another, we found that basketball was even more enjoyable. In our overall games for the season, we did very well. Our defense was strong, and in general, our teamwork was good. And of course, like everyone else, we would win and lose some games and then later learn from our previous mistakes thereby improving in each game.

Unfortunately we did not go through to the finals in the interschool tournaments, but we were still extremely proud of our achievements as a team given it was our first ever season.

U16 Basketball – Matthew Hanselman This year, the Kellett U16 basketball team was great, we are extremely good friends and we work well as a team. It had been a rewarding experience for all of us. Our teamwork, basketball skills and offense play were our strongest skills of playing. After winning 3, lost 3, we were placed in the Semi-finals, but unfortunately we had to forfeit due to the Year 11 exams. Apart from that we were still extremely proud of our performance and also improved from our mistakes from the previous games we played.

All together, we had fun playing together and will hope to play together with each other in the next basketball season.

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FOBISSEA The FOBISSEA Games from Start to Finish – Benjamin Woolhouse It was a long hard journey. From endless 5:30am swim sessions to intense 90 minute Athletics training, sweat pouring down our faces as Mr Garvey lined us up again for another 800 meter run. It was extreme. Pulled hamstrings and stiff quads were what we got in return. But along the way, apart from the torture and pain, we bonded and became a team, The Kellett 2013 FOBISSEA U13 Squad.

We were all so proud of each other for making the team, but we knew what we had coming our way. Kids who were 6 feet tall, who looked as buffed as Mr Ridgeway….almost anyway.

We were scared, but we were confident. All the year sevens listened carefully to the year eight’s interesting and exciting stories from their previous trip.

But first things first, we had to train and become a team that would work well for each other and stick up for each other.

The fun we had on the basketball court, the athletics track, the football field and the swimming pool was great whether we were training or competing. It was just loads of excitement all the way.

We all met up at the airport at 6:30am on Thursday. We were all bursting with excitement. However, the teachers were looking like they could go back to sleep at any moment.

5 hours later we were greeted in Penang by the British International School‘s Deputy Principal. We took a bus with him and another school to the hotel and he filled us in on the plans for the next four days. A while later, once we had all settled into our rooms, we had the opening dinner where all of the schools were introduced and the choir from Upland’s did a couple of songs before we ate.

The next morning we were all pumped up ready for athletics.

All morning everyone was cheering for their team mates. It was a tough morning but we all did extremely well. At the end of the morning we got a victorious second place overall.

The most impressive performance on the track was Athina and Jennie running the 1500 meters, because the way they both ran it together and both won it really got us started for the first half of the day.

After lunch, once we had finished athletics we moved down to the pool. The swimming competition was exceptionally hard, especially for the boys. We were shocked at how well the others were doing. So we decided we could only do one thing. Hold everyone together and pull each other along. By doing that we received third place overall. The most exciting moment for me was when I came third in my 100m backstroke, because I was in the A race I wasn’t expecting to get placed 1, 2 or 3. However, I finished it in 1 min 33secs.

But the best part about that was when everyone came over to congratulate me, it really lifted my spirits.

On day three it was football for boys and basketball for girls. I wasn’t too sure how the girls went but I sure knew what happened with the boys. We came third place in the tournament and I think we really deserved that. We worked and played well for each other. We played like a real team.

Even though I wasn’t on the pitch for too long. I think there were two men of the tournament who really stood out. That would have to be Rory and Jacob. Rory, because he played his best and he was always there to pick us up whenever we were down, he was an excellent captain. Jacob, because he so desperately wanted us to win and he played so well. The boys were very proud of the Kellett girls for wining gold in basketball. A great end to a great day.

On the final day of the trip was basketball for the boys and football for the girls. I think basketball was where we all really came together as a team. It was a tough and hot day. But we powered through that and received third place. We set off thinking that our goal should be to try our hardest and to do as well as the girls had done the day before. I believe we did as our battle for bronze was a long and hard one. There were also two people who shone in that tournament and those people were Ben H and Pierce. Ben, because out of all the year sevens at the games, I think Ben played the best and scored the most points in basketball. Pierce, because he was only on the benches for a maximum of 10 minutes, he played so well, he never gave up and he led us to our victory. He was the best player out there.

So in the end the U13 FOBISSEA games has been one of the greatest experiences of my time at Kellett. It taught me the importance of working as a team and never letting the others down. It was a great privilege to represent Kellett and I hope I make the team again next year!

KELLETT DRAGON NEWSLETTER ISSUE SIX JUNE 2013

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SENIOR

SPORT

U13 FOBISSEA – Kendall Dees Though the actual trip only lasted 5 days, FOBISSEA was a long and hard process in which we had been preparing to compete in for months. Hours of dedicated training, swimming, running and much more were put into the final result. As athletes, our favourite moments are when we get to show case what we have worked so hard to achieve; FOBISSEA was three whole days of trying 200% to prove that we deserved those medals.

Throughout the three days we competed in athletics, swimming, basketball and football; by the end we were exhausted. Kellett did extremely well, medaling in every team event and most swimming and athletics events. Although we all had our ups and downs and were even slightly disappointed at times, we were thrilled in the end with how well we performed.

FOBISSEA was full of fun memories so in the end it is very difficult to choose any single one as my absolute favourite however, if I had to choose, I would definitely say that it was the moments waiting anxiously at the marshaling area or sitting on the side lines waiting to be called on. The reason I chose these was because it was in these moments where we had the opportunity to meet new friends, bond within our team and reflect on what the true meaning of FOBISSEA is: being part of a team.

U13 FOBISSEA 2013 was an amazing experience that I will never forget. Not only did I enjoy the competition and the medals, but also the friendships and the training.

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KELLETT DRAGON NEWSLETTER ISSUE SIX JUNE 2013

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