Issue No. 27 (22 March 2019)

Message from the Principal – Head Prefect Team

Two weeks ago I wrote to announce the new staff Leadership Team for 2019-2020 – and it is now my great pleasure to announce the new student Leadership Team, who will shortly take over from the existing Head Prefect Team.

It is a measure of how strong student leadership is at South Island School that such a large number of Year 12 students wished to put themselves forward for the role of prefect. This necessitated a very thorough and rigorous selection process – at the end of which we had to make some very tough decisions regarding the team of eight who will lead the school for the next three terms. Our congratulations now go to the new Head Prefect Team:

Head Girl and Head Boy:        Vereta Gour, Nicholas Ng

Deputy Heads (Bauhinia):       Matteo Marchi, Jessica Rowe

Deputy Heads:                        Karina Au, Matteo Avitabile, Andre Ho, Nell Zarrella 

The specific roles for all Deputy Heads will be finalised within the next two weeks.

It is also notable how many exceptional students we were unable to include within the head team, owing purely to a lack of space! However, fortunately, there are many other student leadership positions at South Island School, including leadership of our Student Council, MaD Council, Sustainability Council and Digital Leaders. We are blessed to have so many very strong candidates waiting in the wings to take up these roles as well in due course. 

It is once again a great privilege for me to lead a school where student leadership regularly makes such a difference to the community. We will have the opportunity to thank our existing team in approximately three weeks’ time, when they formally hand over. I am sure you will join me in thanking them for their year’s work when the time comes!

Vereta Gour, Head Girl

Nicholas Ng, Head Boy

Matteo Marchi, Deputy Head (Buhinia)

Jessica Rowe, Deputy Head (Bauhinia)

Karina Au (Deputy Head)

Matteo Avitabile, Deputy Head (Bauhinia)

Andre Ho, Deputy Head

Nell Zarrella, Deputy Head

Butterfly Lovers is in the news!

Congratulations to Butterfly Lovers 梁祝 performers and helpers!

On 20 March 2019, local newspaper Sing Tao Daily featured the recent trilingual drama performed by SIS students. The show was an innovative re-creation of one of China’s greatest folktales which is known as the “Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet”, by SIS’ Chinese department.

The play was the first of its kind within ESF and SIS, written and performed in Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese) as well as English. As Tom Vignoles, Principal of SIS said: “It is something very old and also very new.”

For three evenings from 11 to 13 March, 21 talented SIS students from Years 7 to 12 brought fantastic music and entertaining drama to the audience. Another 25 students contributed to behind-the-scene preparations and marketing work, led by Mrs Bibi Holyoak, Teacher of Chinese at SIS.

“Our performers have been practising hard to ensure that the audience enjoys the best of music and drama experience”, said Mrs Holyoak. “This is part of our Chinese department’s continual efforts in celebrating international diversity at SIS and has proven to be a huge success. We will create more platforms for our students to showcase their Mandarin and Cantonese skills.”

Vienna Ng, the Year 12 student who played the role of Zhu Yingtai, said the drama inspired her interest in performing arts.

Click here to read the full article.

South Island School won the 2019 Jing Ying Football Tournament

SIS Boys Football team beat Island School 2-1 in the final of the All HK Schools Jing Ying Football Tournament yesterday at Mong Kok Stadium. SIS, led by captain Callum Beattie, fought back from going a goal down with second half goals from Oliver Lam and Liam Doyle to seal a well-deserved victory. The Jing Ying trophy makes its way to SIS for the first time in school history!

Squad members:

Y13 – Adrian Cheung, Kei Sasaki, Callum Beattie, Toby Chiu, Josh Chu, Raymond Shin, Dexter Brutus, Jake Chow
Y12 – Jesper Jarlefelt, Tomo Nagai-Long, Matteo Avitabile, Gwion Sexton, Paul Sauli
Y11 – Liam Doyle, Oliver Lam, Alric Lam

The following SIS players were nominated for awards by the Jing Ying Tournament committee:

Tournament best XI members: Jake Chow, Alric Lam, Oliver Lam, Callum Beattie and Liam Doyle
Defensive Player of Tournament: Callum Beattie
Tournament Most Valuable Player: Liam Doyle

Watch a clip of the match here.
A full clip can be found here.

English media clipping:
SCMP Young Post

 

Chinese media clippings:
Apple Daily
Sports Road
Sports Road (with video)
UPower
Mingpao (17 March 2019)
Mingpao (18 March 2019)
HK01
Oriental Daily

South Island School French & Spanish students take over the world!

Congratulations to SIS French & Spanish students, who dominated the latest global vocabulary competition on the website www.thisislanguage.com. More than 12,900 students from across the globe took part, and we secured 7 out of the 10 top spots in French and 8 out of 10 in Spanish which is remarkable! Special congratulations go to Wesley and Kristy for winning the overall competitions, learning 1000 new words along the way! Amazon vouchers from This is Language are on their way to the top three in each competition. Hopefully this inspires even more pupils to take part in the next round!

Kristy Poon -min

Wesley Mui

Sports Bulletin – 22 March 2019

Last Saturday, the Girls C Grade Basketball played against SKH Tang Shiu Kin at Sheung Wan Sports Centre. The girls kept it to a basket-for-basket-score line up until the last 6 minutes when the opposition got a string of baskets and won by 12 points. It was not a reflection of how tight the game was and shows great effort from all the girls. Amazing coaching by Maeve Young and Chloe Lee! Woman of the match goes to Sian Littlewood and Vivienne Chung.

On Sunday, SIS Boys Football Team beat Island School 2-1 in the final of the All HK Schools Jing Ying Football Tournament at Mong Kok Stadium. SIS, led by captain Callum Beattie, fought back from going a goal down with second half goals from Oliver Lam and Liam Doyle to seal a well-deserved victory. The Jing Ying trophy makes its way to SIS for the first time in school history!

On Wednesday, the D Grade Boys had a rugby tournament at Kings Park. They played five games in total and won all the games. SIS beat WIS 5-1, SIS beat Shatin 7-0, SIS beat Harrow 2-1, SIS beat CDNIS 3-2 and SIS beat FIS 3-2. Congratulations to the team! Man of the match goes to Rory O’Connor.

On Thursday, our junior girls played football against Island School in Happy Valley. Unfortunately the girls lost 0-2. They played well and created lots of chances but could not put them away. Woman of the match goes to Asumi Matsuyama – a great effort in defence.

On the pitch next to the girls, our B Grade Boys Rugby Team played against KGV. Unfortunately the boys lost 14-37, but they still progress into the semi-finals next week against HKIS. Good luck!

Tomorrow, our C Grade Basketball Teams will play their final HKSSF matches of the season before the next wave of athletics competitions start. Next Tuesday, the senior pupils take part in the ISSFHK Championships in Tseung Kwan O. On Wednesday, the junior pupils will participate in a mini-meet at Harrow School, and the following week our Year 7-10 pupils will participate in the ESF championships at HKU, Sandy Bay.

MaD Week 2019 Allocation

Dear Parents,

The MaD Week 2019 allocation was announced on 11 March. Kindly please arrange the deposit by 29 March and the balance by 13 June.

Please issue the cheque payable to “South Island School”, with student name, tutor group and ‘SIS goes MaD’ marked on the back for identification.

Cheques can either be handed in to the dropbox at SIS Main Reception on LG/F, C Block, or sent by post to “South Island School, 50 Nam Fung Road, Hong Kong” (attn. Ms Yokee Kwan).

13-year olds lead younger Scouts on 20K expedition across HK Island

“Be prepared” – that’s the Scout Motto.

A group of eight boys and girls, age 12 to 13, hiked 20 kilometers on mountain trails, on their own, without the help of adults.

It took almost a year of preparation to get the expedition off the ground. Several SIS young adults had already gained experience joining 20K and 30K expeditions organised by older Scouts, as well as multiple wild camps.

Lionel Troy (Y9) did five recces and worked out an original and highly scenic route, snaking around six reservoirs in Aberdeen and Tai Tam country parks. Unfortunately, he broke his wrist at PE just days before the expedition. Charles-Gautier Joly, with the help of Johnathon Cheng, rose to the challenge, and led the hike.

The Scouts were a little nervous, but excited, as they set off into the wild from Wan Chai Gap on Saturday morning. Lucas Chan (Y8) was the main navigator, and he used a mix of traditional map reading and hiking apps to lead the group along a complex route, mostly off-the-beaten tracks.

The group reached Wong Nai Chung Gap shortly after 1:00pm and celebrated getting to the half-way point by raiding the petrol station for snacks. They then looped around Violet Hill, over Repulse Bay, and along the Tai Tam reservoirs. They even found energy to run towards the end, reaching Tai Tam Scout Center shortly after 4:00pm. The Scouts were also responsible for preparing a camp plan, sorting out equipment, food, sticking to a budget, as well as transport.

A team of four experienced leaders from 150th Hong Kong Scout Group ensured everyone was safe. The hikers regularly updated their location on a Whatsapp group. They carried two first aid kits and were fully briefed on emergency procedure. One leader, with extensive knowledge of first aid, was on “mission control” throughout the day, monitoring the progress of the expedition, keeping a close eye on the weather, while several other leaders were on standby to help. Two leaders camped overnight in torrential downpours at Tai Tam Scout Centre.

The Scouts felt a real sense of achievement at successfully completing the expedition on their own. This was a great opportunity to show leadership, teamwork and be self-reliant. In addition, the younger Scouts gained valuable experience that will enable them to plan their own expedition next year.

A second team of younger Scouts, aged 11 to 12, took part in a 10 km hike, accompanied by two leaders and parent volunteers. They worked on their map reading and compass skills, as well as safe hiking techniques. It is all part of a step-by-step programme to teach key outdoor skills.

Corinne Vigniel
Scout Leader, 150th Hong Kong Scouts

Lionel gives a safety briefing at the start of the hike.

Group photo Wanchai Gap.

Scouts head down towards the Aberdeen reservoirs.

David and Paul-Antoine take a break, on a wild trail overlooking Wong Chuk Hang.

Scouts crossed beautiful forests.

Half way point – 1:30pm – Wong Nai Chung Reservoir.

Clouds roll over Violet Hill.

Mission accomplished – happy Scouts, Tai Tam Scout Centre.

Proud Scouts – Tai Tam Scout Centre.

10k hike younger scouts-map reading.

10k hike younger scouts – Scouts in big trees.

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