Dear Parents and Caregivers

I wanted to clarify a few points about the new allocation for secondary schools for ESF.  As some of you will be aware, ESF students will transfer to their ‘associated secondary school’ rather than their school being determined by the family's residential address.  As this is the first year of the associated school, ESF will grandfather all ESF Y6 students who wish to transfer according to their residential zoned address.  This means a family may choose to opt out by indicating ‘yes’ when completing their Y7 transfer form.

Beacon Hill’s allocated secondary school is Island School.  Island School will move to their brand new, purpose built campus on Borrett Road, Hong Kong Island in August 2022.  Transport arrangements and solutions will be discussed with families, closer to the time. 

How will this work for BHS families?

BHS has a history of feeding the 3 secondary schools; KGV, Shatin College and Island School, depending on where families live.  ESF is aware of this and doesn’t want our existing families to feel that they are disadvantaged by the new approach.  The grandfathering process for Beacon Hill families will last longer than other ESF schools because of this.  Parents of all current students in BHS from Year 1 2021 to our current Year 6 cohort will have the choice to opt out of the Island school association if they wish or to attend their school of zone based on their residential address upon applying in September of the year their child is in Year 6.

The new Year 1 cohort of August 2022 will be the first group that will move as a cohort to Island School and will not be allocated by zone.  

What about Siblings?

ESF is committed to keeping families together.  Students in BHS who have older siblings in another ESF secondary school which is out of zone or not Island school will be able to attend their sibling’s secondary school.  This applies to the Year 1 cohort of August 2022 and those joining in subsequent years.

Contacts?

I hope this has helped answer many of your questions.  If you have any further questions please refer to the contact information below.  You may refer to the ESF website at for key dates. 

Admissions hotline: +852 3762 2411

Email: 

primary.admissions@esfcentre.edu.hk or 

secondary.admissions@esfcentre.edu.hk

Kind regards,

Brenda Cook and Chad Pheasant

Principal and Vice Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers of Year 6

Thanks to those of you who were able to attend the Y6 webinar yesterday afternoon. Chad will send on the video  to you all for reference. In the webinar I  mentioned the tweaking of Pathways for Year 6.  Here is further information.

We wanted to keep you updated about a change in Mandarin pathway structures in Year 6. You will know from past years that the 90 children in the year group have been distributed across 3 Mandarin pathways. Over the years at BHS we have found that distributing the students equally into these 3 pathways, (30 students in each) can be difficult and is not always the best way of doing things. 

We believed it was time to look at the pathways, initially for year 6, and say “was there a better way?”

• We have a growing number of students in Year 6 on the cusp of pathway 2 and 3 and a new model would give more flexibility 

• As part of our school wide focus on inclusion we have been looking at studies that show the benefits of the students learning from each other and the positive impact this can have for all.

• We want a more flexible structure to better meet the needs of all students.  

• The tweak in the structure will still ensure that our more able and native speakers are challenged.

• Students have shared that reclassification of their pathway from 3 to 2 can be worrying and stressful for them and their parents. In the current model this has to happen at times due to the numbers and abilities of the cohort. A more flexible model will avoid this issue.

The new grouping structure for year 6 will involve merging Pathway 2 and 3 students across 2 classes.  This will open up greater opportunities for our students and be a positive step to continue to improve the Mandarin provision at BHS. One class will remain for Pathway 1 students as we feel this pathway is working well for these students.

The two Mandarin teachers, Ms Yu and Ms Xu and the Education Assistants teaching the Pathway 2-3 classes, will work closely together planning and designing the lessons and assessments. We will keep you updated on the progress of the new structure as we progress this term.

Kind regards

Brenda and the Mandarin Teaching Team