4 March

  • For this Week

  • The LUÜNA Initiative

  • Photo Days (12-13 March)

  • Keeping our Students Safe from Digital Harm

  • Upcoming Free PD Opportunities

  • Staff Calendar
  • Old Posts

Morning all, 

This Friday, 8 March, is International Women's Day! It is a great time to launch the LUÜNA initiative here at Hillside. A huge shout-out to Jen for her work on this initiative and for collaborating with the Bradbury RSE lead to explore ways to advocate for women's health. Read more below to find out about LUÜNA and what's to come. 


For this Week

K2 PTCs

Monday - Thursday: K1 Incursion Curiosity Kids 

Monday - Peak School K2 to Y1 visit (AM only), QBS K2 to Y1 visit all day, ESF Explorer New Senior staff visits (PM)

Tuesday - Lunch meeting: LUUNA launch 

Tuesday - Thursday: K1 Open Days (parents in)

Wednesday - K1 Admissions (AM Only)

Next week - Two Yew Chung students will be starting their two-week prac placement with us. One will be in Dolphin class, and one will be in Tiger class - thank you, teams. They are coming one day this week to make up the hours as we won't have children on the last day of term. Thank you in advance for your support and accommodation. 


The LUÜNA Initiative

LUÜNA is a women-led social enterprise that specialises in destigmatising women's health. The LUÜNA team have delivered over 300 hours of their custom-designed curriculum to organisations across Asia in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, working with clients including Goldman Sachs, UBER, Lululemon and ESF schools (Sha Tin College, Island School and West Island School).


As you know, Jen is truly passionate about women's health and menstrual equity. As such, she has reached out to LUÜNA to explore the work they do. Bradbury School is also on board with us, and we are looking at options for shared workshops, resources and costs :) 


What's to come?

As a part of this partnership, LUÜNA will run various workshops for staff and students (Bradbury only). 

The workshop will be on Tuesday, 5 March (lunchtime, K2 shared areas), titled 'Closing the Gender Health Gap - Introduction to Menstrual Equity in the Workplace'.

Did you know: "87% of people who menstruate have experienced stress or anxiety in the workplace because of their period." Bloody Good Period, 2022

What the workshop will cover:

  • For Individuals: Understand the importance of menstrual equity and how you can be more inclusive about menstrual health, both in the workplace and in your home/personal life
  • For the Workplace: Practical steps to creating a more inclusive workplace
  • For our World: How menstrual equity can help us achieve our social and environmental goals to build a better future for all


What's next?

Next, we will install dispensers in staff toilets for organic cotton LUÜNA period products.

We all have those days. Please take only what you need at one time so there's enough for everyone. Thank you!


Photo Days (12-13 March)

Photo days are coming up, so don't forget to get your individual shot for our staff use. We will probably use the photo for our induction website for the new K1s/ K2s. Please check the Photo Day Schedule and let us know if there are any clashes. Floaters can assist with ushering small groups down to the resource room. 


Please let us know if there's something that didn't work well based on last year's experience, so we can change it for this year. 


Four classes are scheduled for each day:

  • Tuesday 12 March - All K1s
  • Wednesday 13 March - All K2s + Whole School Photo

When available, parents will be able to view the proofs online. There is no obligation to purchase.   


Upcoming Free PD Opportunities


Keeping our Students Safe from Digital Harms

During the last CPO Network Meeting, Jaap shared they will be organising a webinar on Tuesday, 12 March, from 4.30 PM to 5.30 PM with guest speaker Catherine Knibbs. Cath is an expert in safeguarding, child development and digital harms. She is a psychotherapist and coined the term cybertrauma. Cath works with children aged 2 - 18 on the harms and issues young people may face online. 

Please find the A3 poster PDF attached. Sign-up is now open on Gateway with code ESFC024026. As you can see from the poster, we are looking to collect a list of questions to generate discussion, with audience participation. If you could spend some time completing this Google form, your input would be greatly appreciated.


TeachMeet

Thursday 21 March 5:30-8pm, Steelcase (15/F, Kinwick Centre, 32 Hollywood Road)

Register here.


Participants gather to hear short presentations and network with educators from a variety of schools in Hong Kong. This is the perfect opportunity to share, network and learn with your peers in an informal setting. TeachMeet’s aims are:

  • To inspire each other with interesting and useful ideas

  • To develop and maintain a network of partners in teaching and learning

  • To share ideas and strategies to use in the classroom and beyond


Toddle Play Summit

Saturday 27 Apr, all online via Zoom

Register for your free place here.


Dive into playful pedagogies to celebrate each child’s uniqueness with EY experts and educators from around the world. This day-long event will empower you to keenly observe and respond to diverse play patterns, interests, and children’s curiosity. Speakers include Teacher Tom, Anne van Dam, Tamsin Grimmer, and more.


Quick link back to last week's comms for all the ESF CPD dates.


Upcoming Dates

Please check our internal calendar below, as we might forget to remind everyone of odd dates. We will continue to add events to the calendar as soon as it's confirmed. Here's the full 2023/24 Calendar 


Thank you!