Principal’s Message

Dear Parents, Staff, Students and Friends of WIS,

Good to see our young people returning to Hong Kong after a great summer break. During welcome assemblies, we celebrated the achievements of outgoing IB students and incoming Year 12 following the first release of iGCSE results. Good luck to all Year 12 when the final results are in on Thursday next week.

Bruce Xu enjoyed success during summer, receiving an honourable mention in the International Maths Olympiad held in the UK. He was chosen to be part of the Hong Kong national team and will attend a toasting ceremony later this month. Rachel Kan begins her medical training at HKU having received the President’s prize for academic achievement and contribution to the community. Good luck to all 2019 graduates as they take their next steps.

Shout out for Patrick Yu from Year 9 who also won the championship for his division of the Hong Kong Chess Tournament after a face-off with students from other Hong Kong international schools.

It has felt good this week to take some steps in reducing digital distraction during the school day. In three decades, computing has moved from our desks, to our bags and now to our hands. Brain scientists are telling us there is a cost to learning, well-being and relationships from the computer we grip in our hands. If you are reading this from your mobile device, we have succeeded in winning your attention from the other messages and notifications arriving at the top of your screen competing for your time and brain power. We do not have limitless capacity to both pay attention and process attention.

Asking adults and young people to distance themselves by moving their mobiles from their pockets and hands is a first step to help self-manage. We will continue to share our research and approach with the community about other ways of reducing digital distraction in coming weeks.

Our first week of being free of plastic cutlery appears to be working so don’t forget to make sure your child continues to bring their own or they can still purchase a handy pocket set from the school for $20.

Finally, please note that Techni Photo will be at school on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 August to take official school photos; please click here for more details and the schedule. 1-2-1 appointments will begin from Monday 2 September; schedules will emailed next week.

Wishing a peaceful weekend for Hong Kong.

Yours,
Christopher Sammons
(Principal)