Principal’s Message
Dear Parents, Staff, Students and Friends of WIS,
Last Sunday was a good ending to the weekend as I watched WIS footballers complete in the Citibank Annual Charity Football tournament. This year, Citibank have sponsored KELY Support Group and Weez Project to raise funds for the prevention of suicide in Hong Kong. My thanks to Mr Lant and Mr Harding who pulled a team together with students and alumni and won the shield. Altogether, the event will have raised in excess of HK$150,000.
Thinking of our Alumni, members of the community may remember Yin Wu who was the first student of West Island School to graduate and be accepted into Cambridge University. He is featured in the current edition of the ESF Alumni magazine for his important work in cancer research, Akanksha Hazari is also featured in recognition of her social change work, you may recall that Akanksha presented at our School Awards Assembly earlier this year.
The theme of Service and Action continued this week through the Year 8 Community Project as part of our Learning for Life curriculum. Students have been thinking about causes that they felt strongly about and are promoting action for change which includes advocating for rights of others, raising awareness, trying to change behaviour and funding. Students have linked with local charities including Planet Ally, Bethune House, Refugee Union, Impact HK and LAP. HK$6,000 has been raised alongside a storytelling and cooking project with refugees from the Refugee Union.
And as we begin seeing the end in sight, Year 7 have been looking back this week in their Student Led Conferences, presenting achievements, reflecting on what has been personally meaningful and establishing future goals. My commendation to all of Year 7 for their poignant stories. Photos for 7HMQ are here and 7STY are here.
You will have received a new looking PTA newsletter which saves paper, is focused on the work of the PTA and shows how their fundraising has supported our curriculum. If you have any feedback do let Melissa Fitzgerald know. I am really grateful for her work on this.
Finally, we are delighted to share that West Island School has been authorised to provide the IBCP (IB Careers Programme) for first teaching from August 2018. If you would like some further details, don’t hesitate to contact Ms Emily Clarke. Well done to Ms Clarke and her team for this important development in the role of vocational education for our students.
We seemed to have avoided any weather warnings for the moment; however, it looks as though the last few weeks of June may affect us. Please check you understand the communication system and the separate arrangements for examinations. Please click here for the WIS Bad Weather Procedure.
Hoping you stay dry over the weekend,
Chris Sammons
Principal
Happy World Oceans Day. As you read this letter, join our school in thinking about using one less piece of plastic today and every day from now to save our oceans. We are thinking hard about what we can do here.
COMING UP:
Digital Literacy Days: Wednesday 13 – Friday 15 June
Last day of 2017-2018 Term: Friday 29 June
