January 2021

MESSAGE FROM THE SCHOOL SUPERVISOR 校監的話

Dear parents,

親愛的家長：

We started the year with renewed hope for a calmer and more stable 2021 for all of our Mills community. We miss our students very much, but are encouraged by their enthusiasm and good spirits everyday as we continue to teach online. Thank you for sending in your children’s work and sharing photos and videos of their progress with us. We can all learn from the resilience, curiosity, and enthusiasm of our children.

我們滿懷新的希望迎接新一年，希望苗士大家庭能夠更平靜、更穩定地度過2021年。我們非常想念每一位孩子，隨著我們網上教學繼續進行，孩子們每天的熱情和良好的精神使我們感到鼓舞。感謝您們發送給老師的所有孩子的作品、照片和視頻，讓我們看到孩子們的進步。我們也從孩子的堅韌、好奇心和熱情中得到成長。

It was fitting that our first event of the year was Care for all Things week, and it was truly a time of empathy and love. Students learnt about the living beings all around them – their families, friends, neighbours, and the wider community, as well as explored looking after pets and plants. We were delighted to receive so much positive feedback from parents about this theme with wonderful personal anecdotes, especially at a time when looking out for others and being considerate are prime concerns.

恰巧的是，我們今年的第一個主題是「關愛週」，而這的確是一個充滿溫情和熱愛的時刻。學生了解了身邊的人–他們的家人、朋友、鄰居及更廣泛的社區，並認識了照顧寵物和植物的方法。我們很高興收到父母關於這一主題的大量正面回饋，其中包括奇妙的個人軼事，尤其是關心他人和體貼周到的時刻。

One of the highlights of the week was sharing a book Sparky and Benny’s Big Home Mystery produced by our first Head Girl at Mills, Esther Noche, who is now nine years old and has written a book with her mum about how important it is to save our oceans. Our students were inspired by the heart-warming and engaging story of climate change, told through the eyes of two curious and determined kid whales, who are on a mission to find out why they are losing their homes, who is destroying them, and how they can stop it. The topic stirred up some interesting questions and we are proud of our students for starting to think critically about more complex subjects.

在這一週的亮點之一是由我們苗士的第一任女領袖生Esther Noche所製作並分享的一本書，通過兩隻好奇而果斷的小鯨魚的眼光告訴學生保護海洋的重要性。小鯨魚的任務是找出為什麼會失去家園、誰人在摧毀家園以及如何去阻止，這給我們的學生帶來了啟發和延伸問題，我們為學生們開始對更複雜的學科進行批判性思考而感到自豪。

Offers from primary schools are now starting to come in for our K2 and K3 students, and we are thrilled to be sending our future graduates to various international schools, ESF, and some well-regarded DSS schools from their top choices. Please reach out to us if you would like advice or further support on the primary school admissions process.

我們的K2和K3學生陸續收到來自小學的錄取通知，我們很高興孩子們都能順利考入各種國際學校繼續學習，比如ESF和一些備受好評的直資學校。如果您需要有關入讀小學意見或進一步支援，請與我們聯繫。

We look forward to the day we see everyone in person again, but until then, please make good use of the videos that the teachers have made specially for the children which fulfil all the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage – in both English and Mandarin, and including art, PE, and MindUP activities in addition to academic learning.

我們希望有一天我們能再次與大家見面，但在此之前，請充分利用老師專門為孩子們製作的網上教學影片，這些視頻可以滿足早期幼兒學習的所有課程內容 - 包括英語和普通話，除了學術發展外，還包括美術、體育和MindUP活動。