Click to download the 2022-23 or the provisional 2023-24 Hillside Calendar. You can also access the school calendar via the ESF App.
8-11 May: K1 PTCs
12 May: Music Teacher Visit - Incursion
15-18 May: K2 PTCs
22-25 May: Hearing Screening
29 May-8 June: Developmental Screening
2 June: ESF-wide Transition Day
13 June: Save-the-date for K2 Celebration of Learning
29 June: Last School Day of Term
30 June: Summer Break Begins
Dear Hillside Families
As children grow and develop, it's important to monitor their progress and identify any potential area for support or stretches as early as possible. That's why we will arrange regular developmental screeners at school for your convenience and consideration.
These screeners are a normal part of your child's healthcare and are designed to identify areas where your child may need support. Early intervention is crucial for young children, as it can help address any developmental concerns before the gap widens. One calendar year is a third of the lifetime for a 3-year-old!
If your child is identified with any areas of concern during the developmental screening, we will work in partnership with you to create a plan of action to support your child. We aim to remove any obstacles for the children to ensure they can reach their full potential.
If you have any questions or concerns about your child's developmental screening or progress, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Please see below for further information on the upcoming optional screeners available at Hillside.
Warm regards
Audrey
As you know, the ongoing necessity in Hong Kong for children to miss over 18 months of on-site school for social distancing reasons due to Covid-19 has affected young children's speech and language, motor skills, social communication and social communication and play skills. Young Folk Therapy is partnering with Hillside Kindergarten to provide the opportunity for your child to undertake OT or SLT screening at Hillside between 29 May - 8 June. These screenings are optional.
Speech & Language (SLT) Screening:
Consists of 20 minutes screening of vocabulary, following 1-2 step instructions, understanding and answering 'wh' questions, sentence structure, articulation (does your child pronounce sounds correctly)
Occupational Therapy (OT) Screening:
Consists of 20 minutes screening of writing/pre-writing shapes/drawing, cutting, balance, hand-eye coordination, play and attention.
What is the cost and what do I get?
You will receive a one page feedback form, with our recommendations and observations.
Click here for OT/SLT Screening Online Registration for Hillside OR click HERE for more details.
As you might have heard, there are some recent reports of changes in zoning requirements for admissions to ESF schools.
While ESF has not yet officially announced any details regarding these changes, we anticipate that there will be an announcement before the next round of Y1 admissions. We understand that this news may cause concern for some of our families, but we want to assure you that we will keep you informed as soon as we receive any official updates.
We do not anticipate any changes to the interview-free process for ESF kindergarten children at this stage. We remain committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment for everyone.
Starting next week, K1s & K2s will be sharing the outdoor spaces during Open Play! We believe that the children are ready for new interactions and will thrive in an environment where they can learn from and play with children of different ages. In the past, Hillside has always offered shared Open Play with great success, but we were unable to do so during the pandemic, so we're very pleased to finally be able to facilitate mixed-age play at school safely. This will provide children with the opportunity to develop important social and emotional skills, such as empathy, communication, and inclusivity.
Ensuring the safety of children during mixed-age play is our top priority. We have implemented several measures to ensure all children are safe during playtime. First, we will consistently allocate additional staff to supervise all outdoor play areas to ensure safety. Second, teachers will support and encourage children to communicate effectively with each other - mixed-age play is a great opportunity for older ones to be prosocial role models for the younger ones! Lastly, as always, we will continue to ensure that all play equipment is age-appropriate and safe for children of all ages to use. Finally, we will regularly monitor and assess the children's behaviour and interactions to ensure everyone is safe and engaged during mixed-age play. We are confident that all children will benefit greatly from this new experience, and we look forward to supporting their growth and development.
In response to the positive feedback we received from parents regarding the vision screening and recognising the importance of early intervention, we have scheduled a hearing screening at Hillside with ENTlaser Hearing and Speech Therapy Centre. This will take place from 22 - 25 May, and parents can pay online if they would like their child to take part.
TEST - Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE)
What it is: OAEs are sounds given off by the inner ear in response to an auditory stimuli. These sounds are produced by the hair cells and can be measured automatically by a handheld portable device. The measured frequencies are 2k, 3k, 4k and 5k Hz. These frequencies are tested as they are most susceptible to hearing loss and crucial for speech and language development.
Duration: approximately 3-4 minutes per child
Results: If a child passes, results indicate that he/she has normal hearing (or mild hearing loss at most) and do not have any middle ear issues. If a child fails, results indicate that he/she needs to have a full diagnostic test at clinic to determine whether there is a presence of middle ear issues (which can be corrected with medication) or sensorineural hearing loss and determine whether there is a need for aural rehabilitation.
The screening is optional; the fee per child is $200, and registration is via this Eventbrite link: [Web Link]
If you want to sign your child up for this optional screening, please register by 15 May.
Your child's Sharing the Planet Unit of Inquiry report is now available for viewing. Please refer to the graphics below to access your child's report. When viewing the report, we invite those parents interested in contributing by adding your comment in the "parent response to learning" box.
Thank you to the parents who attended this webinar. To recap, Bree Crockett is the Director at SPOT Children's Centre and a Paediatric Occupational Therapist.
The key topics Bree covered:
A few takeaways:
Please click to access the recording and handout from this webinar.