Directors Annual Report 2013-14 ESF International Kindergarten

HILLSIDE

Principal: Christopher Duncan

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ANNUAL REPORT

ESF INTERNATIONAL KINDERGARTEN - HILLSIDE

2013 / 2014

Where Inquiry Grows……………………..

OUR VISION

“Through inquiry based learning and play, we encourage children’s natural curiosity and creativity, develop their personal and social skills, inspire them with a life-long love of learning and then confidence to fulfil their potential”.

What we believe good teaching looks like at Hillside 1. At their own level, children can explain what they are learning and why 2. The learning environment is safe, welcoming, stimulating, fun and inclusive 3. Activities are structured in a variety of ways and locations, they are challenging, well-paced,

differentiated and enjoyable 4. Expectations of children are appropriate to their developmental level, consistent and high –

both academically and behaviourally 5. Social and personal skills are developed through working in a variety of different groupings 6. Children’s progress is monitored by a range of assessments and is used to help inform the

planning of future learning opportunities 7. Teachers and EAs encourage active participation by all children and parents are welcomed

as partners in the learning process

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8. Teachers and EAs should be informed, involved and enthusiastic leaders of learning and engender a sense of pride in children’s achievements

9. Classes are appropriately resourced to meet the needs of the learners. Resources, including

the use of IT, to enhance learning 10. Teachers will celebrate the international diversity of the children and staff to enhance learning

opportunities

Introduction

The year commenced with much energy, excitement and commitment. After a year of implementing major necessary change at Hillside, the staff now had the time and opportunity to fully embed and consolidate the many revised and new initiatives, programs and practices introduced in the previous academic year. At the beginning of the new school year, Principal Chris Duncan, (commencing his second year in this role), shared his initial vision and aims for the academic year ahead with the Hillside staff, parents and wider community; and articulated the two areas that would continue to have a constant focus in the 2013-14 academic year: Professionalism and Communication. Throughout the entire year, the Hillside team worked tirelessly to constantly enhance all aspects of our Professionalism and Communication – and the results have again been extremely positive. The Hillside ESF stakeholder survey that was conducted in May 2014, provided overwhelming evidence that both parents and staff were extremely positive about the excellent avenues for open and informative communication that had been developed and implemented, but more importantly embedded into school culture. Below is a summary of the ESF stakeholder survey results for Hillside International Kindergarten. At Hillside we believe it is important to share this type of information openly with our community (just as we did with our IB Verification Report earlier this year). The entire Hillside team are thrilled with the results and feedback we received – it was very rewarding to see our results so consistently high across all stakeholder groups and for all questions asked. These results reflect all of our hard work and dedication at Hillside - as we continue to strive towards our goal of being a 'Centre of Early Years Excellence'. It was also interesting that in a couple of areas the Hillside Teaching staff ranked themselves lower than the parents - and this demonstrates that the Team at Hillside are committed to continuous improvement (even in areas that we do well, as we strive to do even better!!!). One of the four key core ESF Values is ……IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE - a value that is now embedded in our culture at Hillside. The survey results overall were extremely positive, however it has also been useful to receive some very constructive written feedback / suggestions in regards to how we can improve and do things even better at Hillside.

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Hillside International Kindergarten

ESF Stakeholder Survey Results - May 2014* *Summary of results

Survey Question(s)

Parents

Response Rate: 41%

(ESF average 30%)

Teachers and class EAs

Response Rate: 77%

(ESF average 62%)

Support Staff

Response Rate: 100%

(ESF average

51%)

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I understand the kindergarten’s stated philosophy.

99%

100%

100%

2

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) offered by the kindergarten is preparing my child / students for the future.

99%

90%

100%

3

I am satisfied with the progress that my child / students are making at this kindergarten.

99%

95%

N/A

4

I am satisfied with the level of personal, social and emotional support (‘pastoral care’) that my child receives in kindergarten.

97%

95%

N/A

5

Teachers, Educational Assistants and Support staff at this kindergarten are enthusiastic and committed.

99%

100%

100%

6

I am satisfied with the leadership of this kindergarten.

99%

100%

100%

7

I am informed about what is happening in this kindergarten.

96%

100%

100%

8

The kindergarten is well resourced.

99%

100%

100%

9

My child enjoys kindergarten.

99%

N/A

N/A

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This year was exciting as we were scheduled to undertake our IB PYP Verification visit in November 2013 so we could become an Authorised IB World School. All of the staff at Hillside has worked tirelessly to implement the PYP and meet the requirements articulated in the IB’s Standards and Practices. We embraced the opportunity provided to really critically review and refine our practice, in view of our adoption of the IB PYP curriculum framework. During the (18) months spent we had the opportunity to critically question our beliefs about early years learning and were able to be true risk-takers and try out new teaching and learning approaches. At Hillside, the children will always be at the heart of all we do and the decisions that we make. We know we didn’t always get it right during the implementation of the PYP at Hillside, but we also knew that we were able to ‘learn by doing’ in a professional, secure and supportive environment – just as our children do. In November 2013, Hillside Kindergarten took part in a two day IB Verification visit. Feedback received from the visit IB representatives, both and at the end of the visit, in addition to what was written in the Verification Report, this visit were thrilled that our hard work and dedication to implement the PYP at Hillside was so positively acknowledged by the IB representatives. When we received our actual written Verification report from the IB we were thrilled to find only one recommendation – the remaining advice from the IB to our school community was in the form of commendations. Below are a range of commendations Hillside received both verbally throughout the visit and at the exit meeting, in addition to commendations received in writing via the final Verification report received from the IB.

IB PYP ‘Verification Visit’ feedback (provided by members of the IB Visiting Team meeting

Commendations:

• The kindergarten staff are outstanding professionals – highly engaged in the programme and it was most obvious that the learning needs of the children is the number one priority

• Visiting team leader stated that if he had to choose a school to send his child or grandchild to, Hillside Kindergarten would be one with-out a doubt

• Visiting team leader stated that Hillside International Kindergarten was one of the

best schools he has ever visited for a PYP authorization / verification visit

• Engagement of all the children exemplary (excellent teacher / EA questioning)

• High level interaction between adults and children was consistent throughout the visit.

• Physical / Learning environment outstanding including: displays, overall kindergarten and individual classroom layout, learning centres (in fact, all areas of the Kindergarten).

• Learning space is very well used throughout the kindergarten. It is interactive, well-resourced and it is evident that everything is in place.

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• Students with individual learning needs are catered for at a very high level (staff to be commended for their dedication in this area)

• The kindergarten is very welcoming and high levels of enthusiasm are evident with both the children, Teachers, Educational Assistants and Management team.

• Teachers are very knowledgeable, reflective, open and honest about their practice.

• The PD program that all staff can access at Hillside Kindergarten is exemplary

• Level of parent support is extremely high – parents extremely happy with both Hillside and the PYP programme that it is delivering. Parents find the school to be extremely welcoming and inclusive

• Was impressing to see the large number of parent volunteers engaged in all aspects of the programme

• A highly skilled, hands-on knowledgeable and pro-active management team that clearly provides outstanding leadership, support and guidance.

• The Kindergarten Leadership team have a very good understanding of all aspects of the programme and have a clear vision for the Kindergarten – identifying the next steps for continual improvement

• The Kindergarten has a hard working leadership team and it is evident that the

Principal and VP strive to put the needs of the children first

• Hillside’s daily K1 and K2 ‘Open-play’ programme commended – well organized and linked to the programme / PYP Transdisciplinary skills. Children fully engaged throughout open play sessions and were able to independently choose from a large range of learning engagements on offer

• The curriculum is delivered through a strong play based, developmentally appropriate programme – utilizing an inquiry and concept driven approach to learning

• Linked and engaging Putonghua (Chinese) programme being delivered to the K1

and K2 children

• Very supportive staff – a strong sense of collegiality and professionalism was evident

• Clear evidence that the kindergarten is providing a range of learning engagements and strategies to provide all children with the best opportunity for learning to occur

• Overall an incredible staff that have a high level of dedication – adapting well to the

large number of necessary change / school improvement opportunities

• A very well organized visit. Documentation is of extremely high quality, and it is important to note that observations showed that what was occurring in classrooms was equal to, or above, what was stated in various school curriculum and policy documents.

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Hillside International Kindergarten officially became an Authorised PYP IB World School on the 8th January 2014.

Context

Site facilities and major resource purchases Over the summer break, we carried out a number of maintenance and school improvement tasks. A major job was to relocate one of our K1 classes to a new location on the floor. We quickly saw the benefits of this initiative, as the K1 classes have access to larger teaching areas. We are also very pleased to have been able to reduce the noise level, in addition to a greater increase of space between the four K1 classroom areas. It has been interesting to note that many of past K1 parents have commented on how good the K1 floor is looking now and the teachers just LOVE the new configuration of their class teaching spaces. Our new dedicated Library space for Hillside At Hillside we are committed to continuous improvement – with improving student outcomes being our highest priority. With this in mind, we decided to turn our waiting area on the ground floor into a dedicated Library space. We are thrilled with how our new Library looks, along with the many benefits it will provide for our children. This initiative has enabled all K1 and K2 children to have much more opportunity to visit, use, experience and value an authentic library setting. Each class now has a designated time to visit and use the Hillside Library each week, and children can also choose to come and use the Library using their designated ‘open-play’ time. We are all very excited about the learning opportunities that our new enlarged library has created. Library Automation: We have also commenced the process of library automation. Using a programme we have purchased called “Junior Librarian” we are in the process of barcoding and recording our entire collection of Library resources. Once this task has been completed we will be able to ‘scan in’ and ‘scan out’ books – keeping a much better track of our collection, in addition to also being able to search for titles / link tiles that support our various Units of Inquiry.

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iPads to support student learning Along with our enhanced library, we also wanted to continue to ensure all children have access to, and opportunities to use, IT resources within the classroom. Last year, we purchased (25) mini iPads to support and enhance student learning. The iPads are the main learning technology tool that we use in our Kindergarten (and we have retired all of our old standalone computers that were previously under-utilised in the classroom). Teachers are using the iPads across all areas of learning and the children are highly motivated and excited to be able to use iPads to help them with their daily learning. This year we purchased an additional 20 mini iPads and an iPad custom built storage trolley and recharge centre bringing our total number of iPads available for the children and teachers in the Kindergarten to (45). Hillside Garden and Environment Enhancement Project The outdoor environment is a rich, dynamic and natural space for learning and development in children of all ages. Its value as an essential learning resource has been recognized by many pieces of research into best practice in the Early Years. At Hillside we are fortunate to have an outdoor space (a very rare commodity for most Kindergartens in Hong Kong). This is an area we would like to develop over the next couple of years so that our outdoor area is a natural and authentic extension of our classrooms. Stage (1) of this project has been to establish a natural garden setting – and this year the children have had responsibility for watering and maintaining this area. It is amazing to see how the garden has grown over the past 12 months and many children choose to spend time playing in the garden during their ‘open-play’ time. A further enhancement to the outdoor areas was the installation of (4) large industrial fans. These fans have made working outside a lot more comfortable for both the students and staff. In addition we have also been able to re-vamp our water and sand play stations which are always very popular with the children.

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Our Hillside Garden twelve months on after being established

Student numbers Throughout the year we maintained almost 100% capacity, our average enrolment was 350 children (175 K1 and 175 K2). We still have many hundreds of applicants on our waiting list. SEN (Special Educational Needs) We have 17 children on our SEN register, with identified special educational needs (SEN), varying from speech and language issues to autism/global delay. Last year we had 30 children on our SEN register so this has been a large decrease and has been less draining on our resources. We believe that this decrease in the number of identified SEN children has largely been due to the way in which we now conduct a comprehensive K1 admissions interview process, held in January each year. We had two identified SEN children (one in K1 and one in K2) that received support from a parent-funded, one-on-one educational assistant. All but one of our SEN children that applied for a 2014/15 Year 1 ESF Learning Support Place was successful.

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Staffing We have (11) teachers, including our full-time Putonghua teacher, a Vice Principal plus Principal on staff. We also had four full-time cleaners and three full-time administration staff and in Term 1 continued to employ a temporary Part time clerical assistant (to help with the increasing administrative workload, for example dealing with the huge number of Admissions applications that we receive from parents eager to secure a place at Hillside). All of the teachers are full time. One new full time teacher was appointed to Hillside at the beginning of the 2013/14 academic year (to replace the two part-time teacher positions in K2 during the 2012-13 academic year). One of our EAs (who is a qualified teacher)”stepped up” into the K1 teacher’s role in both term (2) and (3) to cover periods of Maternity Leave and Leave without pay. Again, this arrangement provided both the AM and PM K1 classes with greater continuity and stability, due to the fact that the EA stepping up into the teacher role had spent term one working with the children and had already established a very positive rapport. We have 18 educational assistants (EAs), three of whom are qualified to be teachers and can provide cover for teaching positions as required.

This year we continued our practise of having (2) highly experienced floater EAs and this arrangement has worked extremely well in relation to the continuity of the children’s educational programme as well as saving $1000’s of dollars in teacher / EA supply cover costs. Staff turn-over remained low and results from the ESF Stakeholder survey (May 2014) indicated that all staff are very happy working at Hillside International Kindergarten. Catchment Area Priority is given to applications from children who live on Hong Kong Island. Feeder Schools Our feeder schools are Bradbury School, Glenealy School, Kennedy School, Quarry Bay School and Peak School. A number of our children also apply to the ESF run Private Independent Schools Discovery College and Renaissance College as dual or triple applicants.

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Physical size of Kindergarten The ground floor area that we use is approx. 2900 sq. ft. First floor area is approx. 4000 sq. ft. Second floor area is approx. 3900 sq. ft. Outside area is approx. 800 sq. ft.

Annual Plan priorities and associated development

Priority: To continue to work through the process of implementation of the PYP at Hillside (Authorisation visit scheduled for November 2013)

This year was about continuing to focus deeply into all aspects of our planning and practice, in light of the implementation of the new PYP curriculum framework. Collaborative planning meetings for year groups took place weekly, with PYP Coordinator and/or Principal attending all meetings. Teachers took part in numerous CPD around the PYP and were interested and enthusiastic about the new approach – and were very willing to share what they had learnt with colleagues. All staff attended three day PYP workshops and topics included:

- Teaching and Learning in the PYP - Assessment in the PYP - Making the PYP Happen - Play based learning - 3-5 year olds - Personal, social and physical education – Well being - Encouraging children’s creative instincts in the classroom

There was clear evidence of a shift occurring in classroom practice, the use of questioning by teachers and EAs becoming deeper and the professional dialogue taking place in meetings and in planning formats continued to develop and improve. The following Units of Inquiry (UOI) were collaboratively planned, taught and assessed during the 2013/14 academic year:

K1 Units of Inquiry

PYP Transdisciplinary Theme: Who We Are

Through exploring the central idea ‘We use play to explore relationships and come to new understandings’, the children explored the concepts of responsibility and function by finding out ways we play together and how play helps us learn. The children inquired into our responsibilities in the class and when we play with others. Through engaging in different activities, we developed relationships with our peers and adults, learned to play cooperatively by sharing and taking turns, and developed an awareness of others.

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PYP Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Express Ourselves

Through exploring the central idea ‘Stories originate from a variety of sources/places and are told in different ways’, the children inquired into the concepts of perspective and form by reading different types of stories originated from around the world. The children have explored stories through a range of different media and forms e.g. role play, puppet shows, rhymes, fables, songs, animated stories and selected iPad apps. Through different stories, the children learned about different people, places and cultures.

PYP Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Organise Ourselves

Through exploring the central idea ‘People form communities by coming together for a purpose’, the children inquired into ways in which different people contribute to a community and how we can help each other. Many parents came to talk to the children about their profession and how they contribute to our community. The children had the opportunity to talk about the different community groups to which they belong, as well as act out different community roles and scenarios. They have also had first-hand experiences of what communities should encompass by touring our school and the Happy Valley community.

PYP Transdisciplinary Theme: How the World Works

Through exploring the central idea ‘People can interact with materials and cause change’, the children have investigated and experimented with different types of change. Using their senses, they have explored and observed the changing properties of different materials, such as flour, water, baking soda and vinegar. They have investigated the effects of heating and cooling through cooking, experimenting and thinking like scientists. The children had many opportunities to learn about everyday science and the world around us throughout this unit.

K2 Units of Inquiry

PYP Transdisciplinary Theme: Who We Are

Through exploring the central idea: “Awareness of our characteristics, abilities and interest can inform us of our identity,” the children explored the concept of form and reflection. The children inquired into the similarities and differences of the people around us and discussed what we like and what we dislike. The children also reflected on the development they have made since they were ‘little’ and recognized their achievements. The children also engaged in different physical activities and found out ways to use our body parts as non-standard units to measure and compare.

PYP Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Express Ourselves

Through exploring the central idea, “People express and receive feelings, ideas and imaginations through a variety of media.” The children explored the concept of perspective and function through participating in a range of creative experiences. Students discussed different emotions through the Arts, such as: painting, sculpture, drama, dance and music. The children shared with their friends about how they felt about different experiences. The children used different materials and art forms to create pieces of work that expressed what they were feeling.

PYP Transdisciplinary Theme: Sharing the Planet

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Through exploring the central idea, “living things can be interconnected” the children inquired into the concepts of connection and causation by participating in a range of science focused learning engagements. Classroom discussions included making comparisons between living and non-living things. The children conducted experiments to find out about the characteristics of living things, the cause and effect of different things such as growing plants under different conditions and the interconnectedness of living things. The children also had hands on experience in observing and researching living things on a nature walk on Bowen Road, a visit to the Hong Kong Flower Show and visits from some of our staff member’s pets!

PYP Transdisciplinary Theme: Where We Are in Place and Time

Through exploring the central idea, “People’s experiences can help them to understand and manage changes” the children inquired into the concepts of change, perspective and wellbeing. The children discussed how they have changed over time. They also inquired into how these changes made them feel and how to deal with these feelings. Some learning engagements included: creating a “Then and Now” comparison and role play about transitions and how to establish and maintain good wellbeing to help them cope with upcoming changes.

Priority: Building a culture of professionalism - Professional learning and sharing This year we focussed on sharing good practice to broaden teaching knowledge and understanding of PYP and ensure high standards across the Kindergarten – ensuring opportunities for many teachers and Educational Assistants (EAs) to visit other educational settings. Weekly staff meetings included a ‘Brag Session’ on the agenda – helping to develop a culture of a willingness to share professional practice at Hillside. Regular PD sessions for all staff – scheduled and targeted PD staff meetings (many of our scheduled PD staff meetings also included EA participation). The PD collection of resources was further expanded for staff and the Teacher Planning room further utilised to promote collaborative planning.

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Priority: Staff Performance and Development. Distributed Leadership: To identify and enhance leadership roles that are currently undertaken by teaching staff in the Kindergarten. To seek new leadership development opportunities that enhances teachers’ professional growth and have a positive impact, both within the Kindergarten and wider Foundation.

All teaching staff at Hillside now holds a Curriculum coordination role and this involves taking a lead role in the development of that curriculum area in the kindergarten. The Vice Principal and Chinese teacher at Hillside took on the task of coordinating the writing and development of a new K1 and K2 Chinese Curriculum (ensuring it leads in the Year 1 ESF Chinese Curriculum. A number of staff this year also took on a leadership role by presenting at various CPD forums including ESF CPD Days, PYP Network CPD afternoons and the HK Early Years Network. Before this year, Kindergarten teaching staff had not presented at any outside forum and the Hillside teachers are to be commended for their growth and development in this area (contributing to the wider Foundation and beyond). Priority: Curriculum provision – Learning Technology used effectively to deliver, support and enhance the curriculum.

In Term 2 we purchased (20) additional mini iPads to support and enhance student learning. The iPads are now our main learning technology tool that we use in the Kindergarten.

Teachers have been using the iPads across all areas of learning and the children are highly motivated and excited to be able to use iPads to help them with their daily learning. A wide range of iPads Apps / resources/tools are utilised to assist students in their learning and staff have had input via PD sessions conducted by the ESF Learning Technology Adviser, Stu Lowe. Both Teaching staff and Educational assistants display more confidence in using a wider range of Technology to support children’s learning. We have also made recommendations to parents (via the Hillside Newsletter) of suitable apps to use at home with their child.

Lesson Observation and PM Targets have been utilised and been cross referenced to the ESF Teaching and Leadership Capability Framework. Opportunities for Kindergarten staff to contribute to a broad range of Foundation wide initiatives including ‘Snapshots’ research projects and the Emerging Leaders programme facilitated by the ESF Education Team have been made available to staff. Kindergarten teaching staff have been well represented on ESF working parties / Curriculum development groups.

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Priority: Curriculum provision – Mathematics: to raise the profile of Maths both within and out of the Hillside Kindergarten Programme of Inquiry (POI): through tracking Maths outcomes / strands that are authentically addressed in the POI; and the development of specific ‘stand alone’ Mathematics Units of Inquiry. Maths resources have been expanded for both K1 and K2. Mathematics has been integrated more effectively into the Hillside POI (where authentic links are evident). Maths curriculum coverage is recorded during planning (and key outcomes in particular are specifically taught, assessed and reported on). This year teaching staff commenced developing Hillside Maths ‘Stand alone’ Units in both K1 and K2 – with a focus on the Number Strand.

Hillside Maths Review: The Hillside International Kindergarten Maths Review conducted on the 18th March 2014 was part of a broader review across all ESF Kindergartens and Schools. The main areas of foci for the review were:

• The quality of learning Mathematics • The nature and effectiveness of assessment practices and differentiation • Structures (in terms of time allocations, staffing and leadership models)

The following is a ‘snapshot’ of feedback taken from the written report provided to Hillside following the review visit conducted in March 2014.

• The review team commends the school on providing a happy and welcoming environment for students.

• The team observed students to be active and engaged participators in all the lessons and activities observed.

• Students clearly enjoy their learning and find it fun! • The school is commended on its leadership of maths. • The school has a clear vision and is committed to delivering high quality experiences for all

students. Features of this include:

o Ensuring appropriate time, resourcing and focus are devoted to the provision of Maths.

o Having a clear curriculum, as evidenced by detailed unit plans. o A collaborative approach to planning, with senior leaders being integral to the

process.

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Relationships between teachers, educational assistants and students are positive and supportive, and as a result, lessons were characterised by a respectful, purposeful and fun atmosphere. The review team observed high levels of inclusion for all students during the review. All lessons observed were well structured and it is evident that students are familiar with routines and expectations of them. The review team commends the school on providing a highly stimulating physical environment for students. Space has been used creatively to provide a variety of stimulating experiences for students (both within and outside classrooms). The Open Play area was particularly number rich with a range of activities and games. Based on the lesson observations, it is clear that mathematical concepts and skills are introduced and developed through reasoning experiences and questioning rather than simply telling the student or demonstrating procedures to them. Manipulatives and 3-D objects were frequently used to support this, with teachers frequently using and reinforcing key mathematical terms. The review team commends the school on this approach to learning. The development of conceptual understanding was particularly effective when students were frequently asked questions that challenged their thinking. For example, in some lessons students were asked questions such as: ‘Why …?’, ‘What if…?’, ‘Explain what you mean…’ and ‘How can you be sure…?’. The review team felt that the level of learning was generally appropriate to the abilities of students and that learning was differentiated to meet the needs of individual students. Teachers generally had good awareness of where individual students were in their learning. As such, there was clear evidence of planned differentiation and evidence of real-time differentiation where teachers responded to individual students’ needs as lessons progressed.

Priority: Quality teaching and learning – Open-ended questions / facilitating inquiry: To use open-ended questions more consistently during’ open play’ to enable implement strategies and opportunities that enable children to construct their own knowledge. Through formal and informal classroom observation it is evident that children are being encouraged to be active participants in there learning – observations also show that the children are being given adequate ‘thinking time’ when asked a question.

All Educational Assistants have participated in targeted ‘Questioning’ CPD facilitated by the Vice Principal. A series of CPD sessions focusing on the ‘art of asking good questions’ was delivered , with a particular emphasis on how EAs can to assist in moving children on / make connections with their learning.

A strategy known as ‘The Traffic Light Questions’ was introduced by a new member of the teaching staff and was readily adopted throughout the Kindergarten. This strategy involved looking at each

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‘open-play’ station during the planning stage and construction three questions ranging from a low level question up to a higher order thinking question. These questions are then displayed next to each open-play station to enable the adults assisting the children (such as EAs and parent volunteers) to have examples of appropriate questions that will both engage and challenge the children. Priority: Quality teaching and learning – Assessment: To implement reporting processes which utilise GATEWAY and provide parents with a written assessment at the end of each UOI New reporting procedures utilising GATEWAY have been developed and are being followed by all staff, resulting in the utilisation of GATEWAY as the major vehicle to report (in writing) children’s progress to parents. Feedback from parents has been very positive in relation to using the Gateway ARR Module and parents have expressed their satisfaction in having access to written Unit of Inquiry reporting comments on an on-going basis, rather than just an end-of year written report. Priority: Stakeholder relationships – ESF Therapy Centre co-located at Hillside: Collaborative partnership enhanced and expanded between Hillside Kindergarten and the ESF Therapy Centre (Speech and Language Therapist) A positive, mutually beneficial and productive working relationship continues between Hillside Kindergarten and the co-located ESF Therapy Centre Speech and Language Therapist (SLT).It has been a real benefit to work in partnership with the SLT as this has enabled direct input into the children’s class programmes, IEPs and support during parent-teacher conferences. Another positive outcome is that the therapy that the Hillside children have been able to access has not been delivered in isolation (such as being delivered totally removed for the school context) and the school and SLT have been able to work together to achieve common goals – ultimately resulting in improved developmental outcomes for the children. Being co-located on-site has also enabled more of our children to be to access this vital service, in addition to expert advice being made available to staff through regularly scheduled ‘drop-in’ sessions provided by the SLT.

Staff Professional Development

Teachers and EAs have been involved in a wide range of professional development activities throughout the year. In ESF we are fortunate to have access to very high quality CPD. In addition to the CPD offered both in house and at ESF, all teachers had the opportunity to take part in an IB PYP three day professional development workshop. CPD undertaken by staff this year has included: Leadership:

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Getting the Most Out of Your School Senior Leadership Conference Middle Leaders – Leading Teaching and Learning Emerging Leaders - Wasuwee Administration: Gateway Training Maze Report and letter writing Organisational Management (all staff) Teaching and Learning: Lee Crocket “Fluencies for the Conceptual Age” Collaborative Tools for Student Inquiry Kath Murdoch - Inquiry ESF Wide Teacher CPD with a range of workshop options First Steps (Language) M-Lats (Mathematics) The Art of story-telling – Neil Morris Others: First Aid Introduction to Supporting bereaved children Staff PD – PYP (3) Day Regional Workshops: Making the PYP Happen Play-based Learning 3-5 Year Olds and the PYP Assessment in Early Years Teaching and Learning in the PYP Personal, social and physical education – Well being Encouraging children’s creative instincts in the classroom Hillside staff presenting Professional Development to others to others A number of staff this year also presented at various CPD forums including ESF CPD Days, PYP Network CPD afternoons and the HK Early Years Network. Before this year, Kindergarten teaching staff had not presented at any outside forum and the Hillside staff are to be commended for their growth and development in this area (contributing to the wider Foundation and beyond).

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Community Connections and Partnerships

In addition to continuing to strengthen the links within our school community through our work with the Parents’ Support Group, we also organised some charity events with a focus on the SPCA and Orang-utan rehabilitation – making authentic and relevant links to our K2 Sharing the Planet Unit of Inquiry. We also supported a local HK Autism charity “The Rainbow Project” and donated approximately $19,000. Hillside children and families took part in a Christmas gift giving drive – ‘Box of Hope’, resulting in Hillside donating 200 gift boxes. ‘Box of Hope’ is an annual charity aimed at providing useful and educational gifts to under-privileged children in HK and Asia.

We have again had numerous visits from teachers from other local kindergartens and teachers from a variety of ESF Primary schools – something that we want to build on in the coming year. This year we have continued to develop our links with the Hong Kong Baptist University by having Education Studies students placed here at Hillside to undertake their teaching practicums. We have also had groups of students from the HK Institute of Vocational Education visit us to observe our practice.

Hillside Kindergarten / ESF Therapy Centre Collaboration

Continuing in 2013/14, Hillside Kindergarten and ESF Therapy Centre (TC) worked collaboratively to provide Speech and Language Therapy services to the children and parents of ESF Hillside Kindergarten. For us to three days per week, a speech and language therapist has been available on-site for parent-funded sessions and collaboration with teachers. In term three we added the services of an Occupational Therapist to work within the Therapy Centre for half a day per week.

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The Therapy Centre’s presence within Hillside has naturally benefited the children and parents of Hillside ESF Kindergarten. Children who are dually-enrolled in Kindergarten and ESF Therapy services have benefited from a coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach to target-setting and evaluation – an efficient system for supporting developmental and educational priorities at a young age.

Events/Excursions

K2 children went on excursions to the Flower Show and a nature walk along Bowen Road as part of their ‘Sharing the Planet’ Unit of Inquiry.

K1 children went to the Happy Valley area for a community walk as part of their ‘How we organise ourselves’’ Unit of Inquiry.

The K1 children had a ‘I’m a Scientist Day’ as a part of their ‘How the World Works’ unit to consolidate their learning on their unit of inquiry.

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We also went to theatre performances again this year with attending the production of “The Gruffalo” held in January at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. These trips were well supported by families and we again received positive feedback from parents and children. Throughout the year we had a number of Dress-Up days and celebrations which the children (and staff) just love!! These included Green Choice day, Halloween, Christmas Party (and a visit from Santa!!), Chinese New Year celebrations and Lion Dance performance, Pyjama Day and Community Helpers. These were all very much enjoyed by the children.

Chinese New Year celebrations – Chinese Lion Dance performance This year as part of our Chinese New Year celebrations we again managed to source a wonderful Chinese Lion Dance performance group that put on an entertaining and interactive show for both our AM and PM classes. The performances were extremely engaging and child-friendly, which is often rare to see (especially with children as young as ours). It was obvious that all of the children and adults in attendance enjoyed this colourful (and at times very noisy) performance very much.

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Hillside ‘Sports Day’ – a great venue, BUT…the weather was not on our side! It was a shame when we had to cancel our scheduled Sports Day in June due to a sudden morning Thunderstorm and down pouring of heavy rain. Just as we commenced our first Rotation at our wonderful new sports day venue The HK Football Club, the skies opened up as a severe thunderstorm hit. After nearly 45 minutes of pouring rain (and many saturated teachers, children and parents) we had no choice but to cancel the event. Due to the late time in the school year we were unable to source another suitable venue; however the teachers held mini-sports days in the Kindergarten grounds so that the children could still participate in a number of activities and receive their Sports Day participation medals.

In the coming academic year we plan to hold our Sports day again at the HK Football club, however schedule it for late October - when HK is experiencing much cooler weather and hopefully much drier days!! Fingers crossed that out sports day will not get rained out for the third year in a row!! Hillside K2 Leavers ceremony This year, each K2 class again had their own Leavers Ceremony (hosted in the K2 classrooms at Hillside). The Leavers Ceremony was a huge success and it was wonderful that each and every child was recognised and had their time to individually ‘shine on stage’. Feedback from parents was extremely positive and it really is a lovely way to celebrate the children’s two years at Hillside.

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Student Transition

• Hillside had 169 children apply to ESF primary schools this year. All children secured an interview with ESF schools.

• 168 children currently have places in ESF primary schools/kindergartens (99.4%) –

including (3) children securing Year 1 Learning Support places.

• 1 child is on the waiting list for Year 1 Learning Support place.

ESF Y1

No ESF Interview

No ESF Offer

Deferred

The Year Ahead - Challenges and Opportunities

IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) at Hillside Hillside staff continue to be committed, motivated and excited about being an authorised IB World School. Confidence is high and it is evident that staff does have a good understanding of the PYP Framework. We need to be mindful that we do not however slip into what can often be referred to as the ‘implementation dip’ – and become complacent when it comes to ensuring we are addressing all (5) essential elements of the PYP and meeting the IB PYP Standards and Practices. We also need to be mindful that we are providing enough relevant training for staff appointed to Hillside that may be new to the PYP Curriculum Framework.

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Another major challenge is how to best introduce and continue to educate our parent community about the major elements of the PYP – stressing the importance of play-based / inquiry learning. As we have the children for only two years (compared to six in the Primary School) it can be difficult to work extensively with our parent community for extended periods. A further IB PYP challenge is that the current IB PYP Framework (for 3-12 year olds) is not very Early Years friendly. It is important that we continue to look at other approaches / best practice models of Early Years Education. For example, the Reggio Emilia approach stresses that children must have some control over the direction of their own learning. To make learning meaningful it must also be of interest to the child. The implementation of the PYP has ensured we have a much more professional and collaborative approach to all we do – the IB Standards and Practices have provided our own accountability framework. We must continue to remain committed to learning together as a staff and work on ensuring a consistent approach and best practice across the kindergarten. Priority should also be given to encouraging some of Hillside’s outstanding Early Years educators to undertake the training to become an IB PYP Workshop leader. Competition Parents have a range of choice in terms of kindergarten options for their children in Hong Kong, of widely varying quality, cost and approaches to teaching and learning. Our K1 level of applications for the 2014-15 academic year were noticeably down on previous years due to the temporary suspension of priority for an ESF Year 1 interview. We will need to monitor the impact of this ESF Admissions Policy reversal extremely carefully in the coming academic year – with the hope that to our application numbers have returned to previous levels. We have some clear advantages over our competitors, but we need to ensure we listen to feedback from our parent community and also from parents who choose other options than an ESF Kindergarten. We must continually strive for excellence and promote the key features that make us the best choice for a quality kindergarten education in Hong Kong. Some of our key advantages that must be maintained and continually improved are: our highly qualified, professional and committed staff, the quality of our IB PYP Teaching and Learning programme (including our broad, balanced and innovative play-based curriculum) and our state of the art learning environments / learning technology (such as our iPad resourcing). In order to retain and attract staff we do need to look at the current remuneration package offered to teaching staff as currently we are unable to be competitive not only with ESF, but with a number of International Schools in HK. Trends have also shown that the demand for well qualified and suitably trained Early Years Educations is set to increase in the Asia Pacific region over the coming next few years. Possible expansion of programmes and provision The opportunity exists for exploring the widening of provision. Parents in Hong Kong report a lack of quality Kindergarten programmes and at Hillside we are many-times oversubscribed in terms of applications. We receive enquiries about whole-day programmes, playgroup provision and bilingual programmes. This year we have worked in partnership with ESF Educational Services Limited to implement high quality extra curricula programs such as Drama. We trialled Play-group provision during the school day here at Hillside, however the accommodation we were able to offer for the playgroup proved to not be ideally suitable for this young age-group and the programme was not offered for a second term. In the new academic year we hope to offer Chinese as an extra- Curricular ESL after school programme. Playground / Environment Enhancement: Making the outdoor area at Hillside more interesting and appealing – We have made some major improvements this year (such as establishing our Hillside Garden and installing outdoor fans). There

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is still much scope to make our outdoor environment outstanding. A priority for next year is to replace the current soft- fall material that covers the ground of the outdoor playground.

Hillside staff acknowledgement and thanks

As I have come to the end of producing my second Annual Report as Principal of Hillside International Kindergarten, I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all the staff for their outstanding dedication and professionalism. The team at Hillside have taken on a great deal of professional learning over the past two years – and this has supported us when undertaking and implementing our ‘improvement driven’ change agenda. This year we have received extremely positive feedback via two external visits (PYP Verification/Authorisation and ESF Maths Review) and in addition to our outstanding ESF Stakeholder survey data we know we are doing well in relation to delivering a quality educational programme for each and every child at Hillside. However we are all committed to continuous improvement and will continue to strive to achieve our goal of Hillside being recognised as the “Centre of Excellence” for Early Years Education. The number of extra events and learning opportunities listed in this Annual Report for 2013-14, along with the daily classroom learning experiences, are further testament to the dedication, hard work and professionalism displayed by all members of the Hillside team. Christopher Duncan Principal ESF International Kindergarten Hillside October 2014