Dear West Island community,

As a school, we love sports!

On our sports website, you can find all things sports happening around the school every day- from matches, training and stellar achievements from our student athletes.

While a competitive streak in sports is important, in this week’s edition of the newsletter, we also want to shed light on a lesser discussed topic – student athletes’ mental health. 

This is all thanks to a group of students at the school who have shown us their efforts to advocate the importance of student athletes’ mental health in their organisation – “The Torch”. Please read on to find out more about what these students have to say about their advocacy.

Angela Ochieng, The Torch's supervising teacher, said that the students have done an exceptional job.

"They have used their website and social media platforms to not only celebrate the accomplishments of these athletes who have to balance large academic workloads with high level training and competition; but also to encourage open and honest dialogue on the mental health challenges facing our young people today. ‘The Torch’ is a true testament of their passion for promoting mental well-being and their unwavering commitment to making a positive impact in their community. "

And as always, we have highlighted a number of news around the school this past week below.

Last but not least, the 2024-2025 academic year's ESF calendar is finalized and can be viewed here. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Vicki Hallatt

Principal

Year 11 student Thanneermalai Kannappan won the Secondary Championship Trophy at March 3rd's ISF School's Inter School chess championship Tournament. 

On May 1st, Thanneermalai won the Secondary Championship Trophy at Hong Kong China Chess Federation's Inter School chess tournament. 

Thanneermalai's chess journey has also been told in a recent Young Post story here.

Sports teams' updates

HK China Netball team invited Year 10 students Zoe O'Donnell and Téa McMahon for a HK U21 team development tour to Malaysia.

Year 9 student Ila Chan competed in the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships from 22th April to 1st May.  After a 35+ hours flight from Hong Kong to Cali, Colombia, she represented Hong Kong and achieved a 4th place ranking in the Vault event in the final round. 

During her trip, she had the wonderful opportunity to meet new friends from different countries, which enriched her experiences and broadened her horizons. 

The B grade girls badminton team qualified for the HKSSF badminton quarterfinals on April 24.

It was a hard-fought match and came down to the final game.  We unfortunately lost but congratulations to the girls for a great effort and season. 

Erin Fang 11Q2

Sophie Lee 11Q2

Jasmine Poon 10Y2

Aastha Sethy 10M1

Ya Yan Tam 11M1

In Battle of the Books 2024 (3rd May 2024) , WIS team scored highest among 6 secondary schools in the semi-final competition (3rd May 2024). 

They have made a history for WIS - to enter into the final competition (in two weeks)!

Note:  Battle of the Books is a CAS activity led by Ms Clare Tansill every Thursday after school.