eNews Issue 7

The week that we celebrate the Moon Festival on campus is always bright, beautiful and fun. It’s a joy to see our PS students participating in games and crafts. We hope you enjoy the photos posted in our VC school gallery and via HKA social media. Many thanks to our Mandarin team for bringing this tradition to life for our students.

While the PS was marking the Moon Festival this week, the SS welcomed dozens of representatives from colleges and universities around the world. Visits to campus from university admissions professionals have more than tripled from the same time period last year, a significant indicator that HKA’s Secondary School, while still young, is going very strong.

Looking ahead: during the week of 5th October, we will send out a parent climate survey to elicit your feedback on various aspects of life at HKA. We are working with an experienced and highly respected international firm to conduct the survey and are keen to hear your thoughts. More information to follow!

Best wishes for the autumn moon celebration!

eNews Issue 6

When we ask people how they first learned about Hong Kong Academy, often they tell us that the school was recommended by a friend, a colleague or a relocation specialist. In this day of social media, it’s good to remember the importance of word of mouth communications! With that in mind, I wanted to let you know that the school is hosting several open houses in the near future that are designed to give prospective families an in-depth look at the school. The details are on our website, and if you know of any one who would be interested in learning more about HKA, please share the information with them.

And for current parents, every day at HKA is a sort of open house day. Our doors are always open and in the next few weeks we have quite a few opportunities for you to connect with HKA as a school that provides academic rigour and inclusion and promotes a dynamic learning community. Carl Anderson, a wonderful educator and story-teller, will present to parents next week, the Moon Festival is around the corner and SS Principal Leanne Dunlap is starting up monthly parent Roundtables.

Thanks again for being a part of HKA.

eNews Issue 5

One of the things I am talking about with faculty and staff at HKA is the Seven Norms of Collaborative Work developed by the Adaptive Schools Seminars. Those norms include: pausing, paraphrasing, putting inquiry at the center, probing, placing ideas at the table, paying attention to self and others and presuming positive intent. They help us to establish the culture for meaningful conversations and allow us to capitalise on the pool of talent at HKA. We try to model these norms as adults when we meet together, and we also encourage students to use these tools as well.

As parents, you are an integral part of our dynamic learning community and you are key to the collaboration that makes education meaningful. September gives us many opportunities to come together for dialogue and discussion. Back to School Nights, Higher Education evenings, coffee mornings and volunteer get togethers are all important ways in which we share information and join together. Thank you for the investment you make in HKA. As the year goes on, I look forward to working with you more. We have an open door policy at HKA. If you would ever like to meet with me or any of the leadership team, please don’t hesitate to schedule a time.

And Happy Birthday, HKA! Our school first opened its doors 15 years ago today.

eNews Issue 4

The word community is embedded in the word communication and for good reason. In order to be a community together, we need to be talking to one another! At HKA, we strive to offer effective communications with the eNews, our school magazine HKAVoices and other messaging throughout the week and the year. We try hard to keep the balance right by sending enough information to keep you apprised of important happenings but not so much that it constitutes what we’ve heard referred to as “death by email.”

Family-to-family communication is also key to a dynamic learning community. Our main resource for family communication is the Directory in Veracross. As a school, we must comply with Hong Kong law governing how personal data can be shared. On a practical level, this means that we can not make public an exhaustive directory on our own. We highly recommend that families make their addresses and phone numbers available in Veracross to facilitate social gatherings in get-togethers. And please remember: in order for your information to be visible, you can edit your 'Directory Preferences' under 'My Family'.

Relatedly, teachers are not able to share information about students’ addresses and phone numbers. Similarly, class/grade parents can only view what is available to all parents in Veracross.

If you are having difficulty updating your household information or making sure that your information is not suppressed, please contact the IT department at technology@hkacademy.edu.hk. The IT team will be more than happy to assist you!