WASHK Yearbook - Our Favourite Subjects (Part One)
Chinese Curriculum
Our Chinese curriculum is based on the local education system in Hong Kong and adopts the Chinese language syllabus in 人民教育出版社《语文》.?The Chinese subject is one of the three core courses, with 7 lessons per week, including library reading time.
The use of Mandarin and simplified Chinese teaching is in line with the requirements of the general trend. It also provides teaching materials in traditional Chinese characters to meet the requirements of local Hong Kong parents for traditional culture.?We have tailor-made learning groups to meet the needs of pupils who learn Chinese as their first, second and foreign language.
I hope while learning about Western culture, the study of traditional Chinese culture and language will bring a sense of identity to children with Chinese background.?For foreign children, the rich and colourful experience of traditional Chinese culture can stimulate their interest in learning and like this language more, as well as strengthen their own global thinking.
Feifei Yang?
Deputy Head & Head of Chinese
Library
Roald Dahl once said, “if you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books.”?
Based on this quote, it is safe to say that the students at Wycombe Abbey School Hong Kong will go far.?Over 5500 books have been borrowed this school year, and I cannot believe how many keen readers we have at school.
This was the first year with students from Key Stage 3 visiting our library and it has been exciting to see them pull previously unread books from the shelves.?From well-loved classics by Lewis Carroll and J.R.R.Tolkien to the newer Lemony Snicket and Ransom Riggs, we have read them all!
The most read author in Key Stage 2 this year was Andy Griffiths by far, and his “13-storey Treehouse” is rumoured to have given a Year 4 student a nosebleed from laughing too much.?The graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier have been just as popular as last year, and we also added plenty of new titles to the “Who was”- series. The students never seem to get enough of these, they are just as popular year after year.
In Key Stage 1 we have read books about Pete the Cat, Vegetables in Underwear and a Granny that keeps shouting “WHAT!”, and there has always been at least one student shouting “read it again!” as soon as I finish a book about shapes by Mac Barnett.?Let us keep reading these again and again next year and discover loads of new stories together!
iSTEAM
It has been another amazing year in iSTEAM,?although we spent a significant time away from the classroom, but the innovation and initiative of our parents lead our pupils in solving iSTEAM problems at home?applying the problem-solving spirit of iSTEAM and produced some magnificent artifacts, ranging from models of the Eiffel Tower to digital under water river tunnels in Minecraft Education to Flipgrid video narrations of favourite dinosaur features to coding the BBC microbit in counting steps as they returned and coded robots and drones for missions.
So much happens in iSTEAM daily that pupils are always excited to learn something new and fresh every lesson,?they evaluated different bridge designs for strength, experimented with an airfoil and investigated the aerodynamics of the flow in achieving a good lift on an aircraft wing section.
Pupils programmed using repeats conditionals, variables, operators in blockly as well as python, they applied their knowledge in python to program a Raspberry Pi.
Pupils went on a field trip to the Learning and Teaching Expo 2021, upon the invitation of the British Consulate?and conducted experiments that they had not done before, hence, demonstrating their iSTEAM skills of teamwork and adaptability in solving problems in unknown contexts, our pupils did us proud and impressed our hosts.
Our pupils and staff have learned so much this year and especially gained future-ready skills?for hybrid learning in the form and functions of Microsoft Teams and OneNote, they have effectively collaborated online and have been more than trained to deal with adversity and learn and teach outstandingly in both modes of learning.
We are grateful to Mr.Tuckett and Ms.Yang for their tremendous support in procuring the hardware and software that?has enabled our pupils to excel in iSTEAM as well as their classrooms and continue to provide us with opportunities for further improvement.
领英推荐
Thank you, parents, thank you students.
Kind Regards
Mr. Janjua?
iSTEAM Teacher
IEP
This has been a busy year for the Intensive English Class as we are completing our first year with the programme.?We have seen students move back into the main class after reaching the requisite level and they are able to access the curriculum more.
Through different activities and games, children work on grammar, reading, writing, speaking and punctuation. These enable confidence to be built whilst developing language, grammar and understanding.?Common themes across the program allow children to develop their communication, awareness and self-confidence across the programme.
Children have been joining their mainstream classes for specialist lessons and in-class support is provided for their afternoon sessions.
·Student Comments·
“?The things I’ve learned in Intensive English have helped me so I can progress quicker and faster now that I’m back in the main class.”
——Sophie (Yr5)
“?I feel that in Intensive English, my grammar improved, I learnt more words and it’s much easier to understand all my classes now. Before Intensive English, I couldn’t and it was very difficult.”
——Kent (Yr6)
“?You learn stuff you’ve never learnt before and you learn lots of grammar, we can play games, watch things so you learn more.”
——Ransley
“?It’s better than the normal class, and it’s more relaxing to learn. I’ve learnt more grammar and the teachers are better and they make it easier for us to learn. Sometimes we have lots of homework.”
——Angela
“?Intensive English is more fun and there are more games to play to help us learn.”
——Martin
“?It’s fun and I can learn more English and it helps me improve. Teachers are good.”
——Kayden
“?It’s lots of fun and we can learn a lot of English because we play games and learn things through that. I don’t want to go back to normal class.”
——Kevin
“?I learnt so much and it was easier to settle into my main classes.”
——Aragon Tang
ECA
The school offers lots of fantastic ECAs with the majority of students signed up to over 3 different activities.?A number of the more popular ones have long waiting lists.?
Next year we will look to grow the number of activities on offer,?and we are excited that we will add programs like Fencing, Sailing Swimming and Esports to our options as well as growing existing programs.