Culture
Firstly, we would like to thank you all for the immense support during Mother Tongue Week. We are still in the process of finalising winners for the ‘Show Off Your Mother Tongue’ Competition. Please expect results and prizes in the coming fortnight.
Mother Tongue Week acted as the culmination to what was an immensely successful academic year. From Diwali, to Christmas and Chinese New Year, the activities and traditions may have varied, but your support and enthusiasm remained steadfast throughout.
While much of our work for the academic year is now wrapped up, please be assured that we are working to brainstorm and plan for events next year, both returning and new. Diwali will be our top priority for the next few weeks, taking into consideration past reception and feedback to make it even more enjoyable.
We hope your signature gusto carries through to next year, where new opportunities to get involved lie.
Creative Arts
Launching the Inter-House Art Competitions
- Banner Competition: Create 5 banner designs for each arts faculty – visual arts, dance, drama, music and creative media
- Improv Competition: Students will be given prompts to improvise from, they will have 2 minutes to discuss within their groups
- Music Competition: Students will have up to record their selected performance, and they will be judged based on the following criteria on a scale of 25
- Dance Competition: Contestants will be asked to put their twist on Tyla’s “Truth or Dare”, as well as extend the choreography in any genre they like
- Photography: Students will need to submit a photo of something that starts with your house letter, e.g. Nature for Nansen
Follow our Instagram for more updates @is.creativearts
Media
The Media Team has just published Island Currents Spring Issue on the 26th of April. In this issue, we have a range of diverse topics that explore the world of Technology, Art, Science and more!
Currently, we are working on creating a video for the Lifelong Friends program in collaboration with the Island School Trust that will be shown in the Year 13 Graduation. As part of this project, we will be interviewing Year 13 students to capture their experiences and reflections throughout their time at the school and promote the overall message of the program.
In addition to the graduation video, the Media Team is collaborating with the Creative Arts team to host the Inter-House Photography Competition with the theme of House Letters.
We are also working with the Student Council to develop this bi-weekly update system. These updates will keep the student body informed about various events, initiatives, and achievements within the school community. All of these updates will be stored in our very own Island Currents website.
Social Action
Recently, Social Action launched its first Food Donation Drive – a collaboration between Island School and Feeding Hong Kong, an NGO based in Hong Kong that redistributes extra food items to local charities that support those experiencing food poverty. Throughout the week, students were given the opportunity to donate any food items such as rice, pasta, and instant noodles. Across all houses, 133 canned and storable goods were collected. This initiative enabled Island School students to become more knowledgeable and aware about the prominent issues and implications of food poverty in Hong Kong while offering students hands-on opportunities to drive change on a local scale.
As we approach the end of the 23/24 academic year, the Social Action Committee will be organising Pride Week, an annual event taking place from May 6th to May 10th in order to celebrate and promote diversity within LGBTQ+ communities. Activities ranging from art workshops on the theme ‘Pride Week’, temporary LGBTQ-themed tattoos, movie screenings, carnival stalls, and trivia quizzes will be taking place.
We hope to continue to bridge the gap between different social groups and foster positive change within our community! We truly believe that by working together, Island School can make a lasting impact and meaningful difference in the world.
Sports
As the Student Representatives for Sports in Island School, we’re proud to announce that massive progress has been made towards organising our annual sports awards on the 22nd of May to celebrate our achievements in sports. Our team is continuing to work on logistics and getting the Media Team involved to produce videos and posters in preparation for the event. We are also excited to continue working on engaging the community with our Instagram page @istyphoons and more initiatives to come.
Student Advisors
As an eventful Term 2 ends, the Student Learning Advisors prepare for the stress-packed yet prospective Term 3 ahead. This includes the Oxford Brookes Competency Curriculum research project, troubleshooting the Student Portfolio, gathering feedback on the current target-setting process, and brainstorming future initiatives regarding ECA and Higher Education, which has occupied the SLA for the past few months. Furthermore, we began collating data on the 6 Competencies Curriculum in December 2023 through our dedicated task force, and continue exploring alternative variables, methods and processes to investigate, with plans to publish before our handover. In collaboration with Mr Lester, we are also streamlining and improving the Student Portfolio. We are currently implementing student badges, preparing to transfer the submission processes from Google Forms to online apps and enhancing student and parent engagement through UI and reward system changes.
Next up, our two sister committees have also accomplished wonders. This Book Week, the English Community has successfully hosted Island School’s inaugural Spelling Bee, alongside a bustling second-hand book store and a popular teacher’s costume parade. Lastly, our STEM Committee held the Cross-Year Mentorship all year, launched the Science Journal with record-breaking entry numbers, and took part in our first Island School STEM Alliance Breakfast, which highlighted the importance of STEM Education and curriculum interconnectedness to parents, alumni and fellow educators.
WANBO
The WANBO movement never ends! Having just wrapped up Redress not too long ago, we’re currently running the iNaturalist Biodiversity challenge, a yearly inter-house focused on recording (taking pictures of) various plant and animal species around Hong Kong. As a school, Island School is striving to help Hong Kong achieve a high ranking in the global standings—if you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to follow the instructions sent by Mr. Burrough via email, or on our Instagram, @iswanbo!
In addition, we continue to compost food waste from the dining hall and Food Tech. Recently, we emptied roughly 30 kgs of compost from the machine for a workshop held by the Global Goals Council this week. Discussions on how to innovate our recycling system have also been ongoing, with the recent introduction of repurposing plastics in the DT department not so long ago.
Lastly, we are in the process of kickstarting planning for the textbook marketplace, an annual event in May/June, where upper year students can resell their textbooks, notes, and other study resources to others at more affordable prices. Stay tuned for more updates on this, and have a wonderful day ahead. ♡
Connected Communities
The Connected Communities Commitment Team has made progress on multiple fronts in connecting our communities this year. As our name suggests, our primary objective as the CCCT is to bridge and nurture unity among a wide range of communities in Hong Kong. Previously, we collaborated with other Island School members to help Mothers Choice, an NGO, provide resources for young mothers in poor financial circumstances. A friendly volleyball and basketball match between Island School and NYSS was also organized to deepen our connection with our neighboring school in Tai Wai.
Among the discussions of our team, we look forward to strengthening our partnerships with NGOs to forge stronger connections with different communities, thus, undertaking similar initiatives along the lines of the events mentioned above. Although the specific events that will take place in the future are yet to be confirmed, our focus for the upcoming academic year will be on introducing different communities in Hong Kong to diverse and insightful experiences, while simultaneously ensuring Island School students engage actively in our initiatives, fostering the development of their collaboration skills, communication skills, and citizenship.