Newsletter-Friday, 8 December 2023
Dear West Island community,
With one week left of term one, we want to take this opportunity to thank our students and staff for their valuable contributions to WIS through their care and service to others. This might be through a particular role or responsibility, yet of equal importance is the care students show to others on a daily basis.
There are many opportunities to support the school community, including Pre-16 Student Leaders, Student Ambassadors, Student Health Ambassadors, Student Voice Representatives, Tutor Representatives, Dynasty Leaders, Sports Team Leaders, CAS Committee, Circle in the Water Committee, Diwali Ball Committee, Year 11 and 13 Formal Committee, Sports Team Captains, Student Health Ambassadors and more.
In this week’s newsletter, we bring to you stories from one of these groups, our Student Ambassadors.
Over the last few years, these students have become an integral part of school events including guiding prospective WIS families on school tours, helping new Year 7s transition into the school and more. What has particularly shone through their words of reflection is the genuine and positive effects this learning experience has had on their holistic development. Please read on to find out more about their contributions and what they have gained from this role.
As we count down to the end of the term, we look forward to the Christmas Fair and Musical Celebration for students and staff that is to take place next Wednesday.
Looking ahead to the new year, the PTA is beginning to plan the March WIS Bazaar. We would love members of our parent community to give a little bit of their time to help out. Please see the message from the PTA in the bulletin section.
As always, we celebrate our students’ achievements in the Weekly Briefing section below.
Best regards and don’t forget, Monday is a public holiday!
Clare Haworth
Interim Principal
Table of Contents
Student Ambassadors' stories
Reminder for students to clean up lockers before last day of school
A reminder to all students: please clean out your locker before the last day of school, making sure that no food or drink is left behind in the locker.
However, if you need to leave some books in the locker until you are back to school, please feel free to do so.
ID Maths Challenge
The ID Maths Challenge returned to the sportshall on Wednesday 6th December bringing in crowds of over 200 participants. The event saw teams of 4 across Yr 7-13 participate in a high energy Mathematical extravaganza in which questions were distributed by the Maths Faculty from the front, run down the length of the sportshall and back to team tables. A 45-minute fitness workout for both the body and the mind took place under the leadership of the Head of Maths Faculty Mr Bengey.
Regarding the results, Tang came in first place in ID Maths Challenge, and Qing came in first place in both Tutor Room Activities and Overall Result. A more detailed list of results can be found in the Student Bulletin on Wisdom.
Well done to all participants and thank you to Mr Blake Harding, the Maths Faculty, Dynasty Leaders and supporting staff members.
Cross-country
Forty-five West Island students competed in a 6-team Cross Country festival at Happy Valley on Thursday. This allowed students of a variety of running standards and experience to gain race exposure in an enjoyable environment as well as compete against other runners for fast times and higher places. For many, this was their first race and it was brilliant to see so many year 7 students partaking. Results will be shared to students once received, though most importantly, well done to all those involved.
Specimen drawing competition
Six students have received awards in the Hong Kong Specimen Drawing Competition 2022. They are Prisha Narula, Aastha Sethy, Narayanan Meenakshi, Ivana Hung, Sophie Lam and Kaden Hui.
Basketball
WIS U14 boys basketball team had a strong win against GSIS, at a 74-39 score. Samuel Zhang was named MVP.
Year 8 Geography field trips
It's been another busy week for Geography field trips. This time it was the turn of the Year 8s who all excitedly headed off to Cheung Chau. The day was split into two main activities. Firstly, to carry out measurements on the beach and see if there is evidence of Longshore Drift, to help understand the process that created the island. Secondly, to draw a detailed annotated field sketch from one of the highest accessible points on Cheung Chau. This helped the students identify the different land uses and formulate possible reasons for these. At the end of a long hard day in the field, the students very much enjoyed the opportunity to buy some snacks before taking the ferry back to Central. Thank you to Mr Chris Head his work on the trips.
Student wins 3rd place for Chinese recital competition
Year 9 student Sofia Liao of WIS won the 3rd best place award for Chinese Recital Girls Grade 7-8 at the 75th Hong Kong Speech and Music Festivals on December 5.
WIS Bazaar
Please see the message below from the PTA:
Dear parents, please SAVE THE DATE for the WIS PTA BAZAAR on the 2nd March 2024! Please contact us if you would like to join the Bazaar Organising Committee.
We need your support in making our WIS Bazaar a success. For this, we ask you to please connect with us if you know of a supplier who could give us their surplus inventory or can donate some goods for sale at our new products stall. This can include any household goods eg. kitchen tools, stationery etc.
Last WIS Bazaar we had amazing stalls from Asian countries. We want to add new flavors from around the world to WIS Bazaar 2024. Please connect with us if you would like to introduce cuisines from your region/country or a cuisine that you are passionate about so that we can make the event inclusive. We welcome families from all backgrounds and cultures to share the cuisines from the countries you belong to. By doing this we can get introduced to different flavours within the school community. Together we can make the WIS Bazaar Food Court an amazing experience!
Higher Education and Careers
University Visits @ WIS: Open for students only (only for the Year 11s, 12s and 13s)
University of Exeter
12 December 2023 - Time 13:20 - 14:05 | Venue: TBC
For details on University Visits and Webinars, please Click Here
Year 13
The deadline for submitting university applications for Year 13 students in Hong Kong, the UK, Canada, and the US was December 1st. However, students who have not yet submitted their applications should aim to do so by Monday, December 11th, 2023. If any students need assistance or guidance, they should contact their Higher Education Counsellors as soon as possible.
Currently, certain students are occupied with interviews in Hong Kong and the UK as part of the application process. Some students have already received conditional offers from universities in the UK, New Zealand, and the US.
The Higher Education team met with Year 9 and Year 10 parents during the parent consultation evening.
ESF Explore
As Term 1 approaches its end, get a head start by enrolling in our Term 2 programmes! We offer after-school sports including but not limited to basketball, gymnastics, netball, and tennis at various levels. Check out the schedule for West Island School here.
Make someone smile with ESF Christmas card
The joy of Christmas was the inspiration for talented ESF South Island School student Rihanna Chen, who created the wonderful design of this year’s ESF card.
Rihanna’s beautiful art was selected by ESF Chief Executive Officer, Belinda Greer, as part of our annual ESF-wide Christmas card competition.
“The skill and creativity demonstrated during this year’s Christmas art challenge was incredibly impressive, so well done to Rihanna and all our talented student participants from K1 to Year 13,” says Belinda.
We hope you will enjoy spreading some festive cheer with this heart-warming e-card, which can be downloaded from ESF website.
Staff ranks high in Macau Marathon
Mr James Donald achieved a personal best time of 2:56:20 at the Macau Marathon on December 3rd, ranking 43rd of 767 participants and 10th in his age category. He raced with both elite and local runners.
