Issue No. 13 (29 November 2019)

From the Principal:

Every so often, a week comes around that makes me especially proud to be the Principal of SIS. In fact, this happens quite regularly … and this week was definitely one of those weeks.

This week has seen many successes, and two very special ones. If you have been watching this space, you will be aware that the cast and crew of The Mill on the Floss have been rehearsing seriously hard in whatever gaps between other schedules have proved possible. And so, as I arrived for the show yesterday evening, I was expecting a good performance, perhaps even a very good one, knowing just how hard the team have been working.

What I was not fully prepared for was a mind-blowing two hours of utterly gripping and intensely believable drama, delivered to a professional standard – a quite exceptional show that left the audience completely transfixed for every minute. To pull out a performance like this in any year would be remarkable … but to reach this standard in November 2019 …!

One exceptional highlight is more than enough to declare this a special week – but yesterday I enjoyed two. I was fortunate enough to arrive at the show fresh off the team bus from the boys’ Hong Kong Schools Rugby Union final – an all ESF final at KGV, against KGV. This was an excellent and finely poised match until the last quarter, when SIS began to run away with the game – and so lifted the cup! However, for me, my own greatest source of pride was not SIS winning the game – it was the respect, the dignity and the sportsmanship shown by both teams, and the hospitality of KGV in hosting SIS and its supporters club, and giving us such a great welcome. Congratulations, also, to the five SIS students who will shortly be travelling to Dubai for the Dubai 7s tournament, representing ESF.

And that’s not all! I have highlighted two very special successes, but after the complexities of the last two weeks, it would have been very easy for the majority of our students to drift back into school somewhat demotivated. But no! The energy, the enthusiasm, and the positivity of our students has been highly infectious, and the spirit around the school has lifted everyone for what will hopefully be an excellent run through to a well-deserved Christmas break.

Congratulations, South Island School! You continue to raise the bar higher and higher.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Technology plays an ever increasing role in all of our lives and as a school we are looking to explore further how our students engage with it. By gathering information on this topic, we hope to devise further strategies to ensure that students make the most of the technological opportunities available to them, but are also protected against some potentially harmful effects. We are writing to ask that you help us with this by completing a survey on your child’s use of technology at home. We hope that this will help to provide us with a more holistic picture of our students’ technology use. 

Specifically, we would like to use this data to inform future curriculum, parent workshops and pastoral interventions. All data will be collected anonymously, and you are of course welcome to skip any questions that you feel unable to answer. 

Here is the link to the survey:  Family Digital Device Survey

We would be grateful if you could complete the survey by Friday 13th December.   

We really appreciate you taking the time to provide us with this useful information. Thank you!

On Thursday 6th February (5.30-7.15pm) as part of our annual E-Safety focus week,  we will be inviting parents into school for a technology and well-being event. This will include a series of workshops focusing on a healthy approach to technology, and a screening of a documentary on teenage use of social media called “Like”. More information and sign up details for this event will be emailed to you after the Christmas holiday.  

Should you have further queries or concerns regarding the Family Digital Device survey please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Kind regards,

Lucie Purves              

Vice Principal

The PTA is pleased to announce NIGHTFEST will now be reschedule for 14th February, 2020. The theme is A Comic Odyssey. It’s time for you to prepare your costume and get ready for this exciting school fair. More details to be released soon.

After a little break we are now back in action with the sport competitions. Kick-starting the week were the boys U16 Football team. They played against WIS and were unfortunate to come up against a big WIS side as they went down 4-1. Highlight of the match was Darren Kim scoring with his first touch on his debut!

Back at SIS our A grade girls basketball played against KGV in the ESF basketball league semi-finals and the girls won comfortably 46-11. Well done to the girls and good luck in the Finals!

At the same time as the girls were playing, the A grade boys played against  in the semi-finals Renaissance College, who had won all their games so far and won the Championship last season. Our boys were magnificent and the game went all the way to the wire with RC unfortunately edging the game 55-53. MOM was Julien Bourron. 

On the same day down at Happy Valley, our girls hockey team played against DGS and won 4-0. What a win! Well done ladies and good luck with the rest of your season!

On Wednesday our A grade boys football played against St Joseph’s at So Kon Po. It was a tight match as the score remained 0-0 for the majority of the game until the last minute as Jinsol Lee scored for the win. Congratulations boys and good luck for your season ahead! Man of the match goes to Gino Boon.

Also on Wednesday our girls tennis team played in Division 1 against Good Hope school. It was a tough match, and the girls battled well in the game with two girls making their debut for the team but unfortunately they lost. Well done to the team for a tremendous effort! Good luck in your other games.

Also yesterday was the second match of the week for the U16 boys football team. The boys played against CDNIS at Happy Valley on a beautiful afternoon! It was an end to end game throughout and after 90mins the game finished in a 0-0 draw. Man of the match goes to Michael Brewster.

On Thursday the boys tennis team played their first Division 2 ISSFHK match and won 4-0 against ISF. A great start to the league and good luck to the rest of your season!

The A Grade boys basketball team also played their second match of the week last night and won 47-42 against St Peters. A great result considering half the team were playing rugby. Men of the match were Justin Kim and Justin Yung. 

Last but not least, the A grade boys rugby final. SIS were crowned A Grade rugby champions, for the second season running, following a 34-12 win over KGV. An early Liam Doyle try silenced the boisterous KGV crowd, who had packed the stadium on their home turf. They scored immediately in return before Will Rees scored to give SIS a half time lead of 12-7.  The forward pack were immense in the second half making tackle after tackle. SIS scored three further tries with Liam Doyle scoring a superb solo effort followed by Sam Demaid-Groves smashing over in the final moments.

A fantastic team performance to finish the season. Thanks to Mr Murtagh and Mr Atkinson for their efforts with the team this year. 

This week has been incredibly busy with lots of sports fixtures going on, due in part to a lot of rescheduling of matches by all the sports organisations. However our teams and coaches have worked hard to continue the momentum we had before the break and we are looking forward to finishing off the term in style with a few more victories and good performances. 

Have a good weekend everyone!!

Congratulations to Samara Chaplain from 12C2 for receiving CIE ‘Best in the World’ for World Literature in iGCSE!

✨☁️ THE INNOVATION is back and we would love for YOU to be a special part of our 13th show! ☁️✨

💫 Our theme this year, “Reverie” is all about making the unknown, known. It encapsulates the intrinsic creativity that rests within each and every one of us, and this year, we’re looking for individuals who exude passion, creativity, and individuality to be a key aspect of our show –– making it the most remarkable one yet. 💫

☁️ This is the perfect opportunity for YOU to showcase YOUR artistry and play a central role in The Innovation XIII; this is your chance to make dreams become reality. ☁️

 ✨SIGN UP NOW! https://forms.gle/uYfXPS9YiZsemSh3A ✨

DEADLINE TO REGISTER: Sunday, 8th of December 2019

💫 Audition dates: December 9-12th during break time, lunch, and after school.
💫  Location: D62

If you cannot make it to the auditions, please email us to let us know why, and attach a .mp4 video submission (details for online submission requirements can be found via the sign-up link above).

🎬TO ALL PERFORMERS:
If a piano or any other equipment/instruments from the music rooms are required, please audition on the 9th or 10th of December as D62 will be closed from the 11th onwards.

🎤TO ALL MC’s:
Please prepare a 1-2 minute potential opening speech.

*** MC auditions are open to SIS students ONLY. However, performer auditions will be open to ALL secondary school students across Hong Kong. ***

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email us at sis.theinnovation@gmail.com.

✨We look forward to seeing you soon!✨