Abacus Kindergarten - English Schools Foundation

A BACUS K INDERGARTEN
Annual Report
Frances Wilkinson
2014-15
Abacus Kindergarten
2014-15
Abacus Kindergarten
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Once again it has been a pleasure to be part of this welcoming and thriving school
community this year. Many thanks to the teachers, children and parents who make
this such a special place to grow and learn.
We welcomed two new teachers to Abacus at the beginning of the year. Fiona Hall
joined us from the UK and Nicole Gouws, originally South African from a Hong Kong
school. Both have proved to be valuable members of the team with ideas and
strengths to contribute. This year we have also had much more stability in the front
office which has been a welcome respite after the many changes in the last few
years.
Our children have continued to thrive in their learning at Abacus and make
connections with the natural environment around us out here.
OUR VISION
Encouraging young minds to be big thinkers.
Our Mission Statement
At Abacus we provide a safe and
nurturing environment where everyone is
encouraged to be unique, respectful and
reach their full potential.
Our exciting play based curriculum
provides children with the opportunity to
inquire, take risks, and be creative. We
provide an individualised programme that
develops positive attitudes and skills and
encourages children to become lifelong learners.
We teach children about their responsibilities to the community and the importance
of caring for their environment, its inhabitants and resources.
We have undertaken a review of the Vision and Mission statements and these will
finalised next year.
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Abacus Kindergarten
2014-15
OUR CONTEXT
Abacus Kindergarten is situated in the Clearwater Bay area. The rural location means
the kindergarten has a large playground surrounded by trees and plants.
The kindergarten is 902 (sq.m) in total and
comprises of 4 classrooms, a library, offices and a
large playground. The classrooms are well resourced
with a variety of children’s play equipment which
enables teachers to meet the needs of the
curriculum. The emphasis for resources at Abacus
has been on natural flexible teaching materials
which can be used for a variety of purposes rather
than the ‘plastic fantastic’ resources found often in
Kindergarten settings.
Each classroom has computers for children to use and all 4 of our classrooms have
Interactive White Boards. We have a supply of Big Books stored centrally for use in
the classrooms and each classroom has a class library.
The playground and outdoor area has been developing as a real strength of Abacus it
is well resourced with a range of materials
including bikes, climbing equipment, a swing,
sandpit and many smaller toys for developing
children’s gross motor skills. Again the emphasis
for this area is flexible natural resources that can
be used to enhance children’s problem solving
skills.
Our library contains a range of fiction and nonfiction books for children to take home and we
are currently developing our Bilingual and Mother
tongue sections of the library.
Number of Students Enrolled at Abacus on 1st June 2015
English
Bilingual
Total: 187
K1
47
48
95
K2
45
48
93
176 Child Capacity = 106% of Capacity reached.
The children mainly come from the surrounding area to Abacus, the catchment area
is Clearwater Bay Road, extending to Sai Kung and including Tseung Kwan O.
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2014-15
The main home languages spoken by these children are English and Putonghua.
However, other languages include Korean, Dutch, German, French and Japanese as a
first language.
Numbers of teaching/non-teaching staff
Teaching
Non-Teaching
Total
10
6 EAs (2 of these
have the PGDECE
qualification)
18
(including Principal & PYP
Co-ordinator)
2 Admin Staff
At Abacus there is one teacher and 2 Educational Assistants in each English class.
The Bilingual classes have 2 teachers; 1 Chinese and 1 English Teacher and an
Educational Assistant. Two part time Chinese teachers are responsible for the
Chinese teaching in the English classes. In addition, there is the Principal, PYP
Coordinator and two office administrators. The cleaning and caretaking is contracted
out to a company.
Recruitment
2014/2015
Total
Staff Leaving during the
Year
2 Educational Assistants
2
New Staff (Beginning of
Year)
2 Teachers
2
New Staff (During the Year)
2 Educational Assistants
Leavers/New Staff for the
beginning of 2015/2016
School Year
1 Office Staff Leaving
2
4
1 Office Staff Arriving
1 Chinese Teacher Leaving
1 Chinese Educational Assistant Arriving
We welcomed two new teachers at the beginning of the school year who
strengthened our teaching team. During the year two of our long term EA’s left Hong
Kong to return home and our office administrator also returned to Scotland at the
end of the year. One of our part time Chinese Teachers also left at the end of the
year to become Principal of Busy Bees Kindergarten.
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SEN AND EAL
EAL Support:
Our EAL children have a variety of first languages including Dutch, French, Danish,
German, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin. As a result we screen children’s language
capabilities using the Wellcomm language assessment pack and run English
Language Booster classes on a daily basis for the children who need support.
Children
with SEN
K1
5
K2
6
Percentage of Total Children with SEN: 6%
The children identified have a range of needs such as: speech and language delay,
social and behaviour issues and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. These children have
been monitored by teachers and SMT and observed by the Kindergarten SEN
Advisor. Support is given in school and some are receiving support from outside
agencies such as Watchdog and Speech and Language Therapists. One child who has
significant needs has Parent funded Educational Assistant working with them on a
daily basis. During the year we offer a range of voluntary screenings at Abacus.
These include speech and language, occupational therapy, hearing and vision
screenings, which help us to identify and support children with additional needs.
CURRICULUM PROVISION
Abacus is an authorised IBO World School offering the Primary Years program. This
program consists of 5 essential elements:
● Knowledge
● Skills
● Concepts
● Attitudes
● Action
Children are also introduced to the Learner Profile Attributes, a set of values that we
hope children will begin to develop during their time at Abacus.
During class teaching time children spend time participating in focus teaching
activities, delivered by the Teacher or Educational Assistants, structured play
activities and free play activities. Approximately 2 hours of their 3 hour session is
spent inside the classroom and 1 hour outside for snack, physical play and outdoor
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learning experiences related to the programme of inquiry. Groups of children may
also be taken outside during class time for various activities.
Children in the English classes receive a whole class Chinese session of 10-15
minutes daily and a further 20 minutes of differentiated small group time weekly.
The Chinese program focusses mainly on vocabulary development and special
celebrations.
In the Bilingual class all subjects are taught in both English and Chinese and the
circle times are delivered in both English and Chinese. Children’s Chinese language
ability and progress is assessed using the ELLOPA early language screening tool.
Wellcomm is a language screening tool also used at Abacus to assess and track
children’s language skills. This is a UK speech and language assessment tool
designed specifically for Early Years children. Through this we identify children who
need support with expressive or receptive language and provide extra language
support classes for them.
Our children are assessed termly against the PYP scope and sequence outcomes in
Maths and Language. Their understanding of the Central Idea and Lines of Inquiry
for each unit is also assessed at the end of each unit of inquiry and recorded using a
rubric. In addition, teachers keep assessment folders with Observational notes,
phonic and basic maths assessments as well as examples of writing and drawing for
each child. These assessment folders are monitored termly.
Parents are reported to termly at Abacus. In term one, parents received a written
report through the Gateway platform and had the opportunity for a parent
conference. In term two, all parents were offered a further parent conference and at
the end of Term three parents received written reports and were offered an optional
Parent conference. Throughout the year parents can access their child’s end of unit
assessments on Gateway. Parents of children on the SEN register were met with
more regularly to discuss Individual Education Plans for their children.
In K1 and K2 parents had year round access to their children’s e-portfolios,
containing examples of learning, text of their child’s voice, photos and sound and
video clips of their children at school.
ANNUAL PLAN PRIORITIES AND ASSOCIATED
DEVELOPMENT
The main priorities for the 2014/2015 year are listed below with the developments in
each area.
Teaching and Learning and Curriculum Development
The curriculum focus areas during 2014/15 were Arts and Science. At the beginning
of the year we reviewed the planning and teaching for these subject areas and then
provided CPD, modelled lessons opportunities for peer observations to improve
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science and Arts teaching. We also
conducted a review and updated the arts
scope and sequence documents to ensure
coverage through our Programme of
Inquiry. The focus on arts has meant we
have
seen
huge
improvement
in
children’s art skills at Abacus which was
evidenced in the K1 art exhibition.
Child Initiated Inquiry was another area
of focus at Abacus, teachers and
assistants received training and support
in how to recognise and record children’s interests and then how to use these
observations to plan appropriate learning engagements. The Units of Inquiry were
broadened through the year to allow for more child initiated learning. Although, there
was success with the recognition and recording of children’s interests throughout the
year, we have not really seen this used effectively to plan personalised learning for
children. The school leadership team have decided to continue to focus on this area
to embed personalised learning as a practice in the following year.
Assessment
Our assessment procedures have also been under development this year, following
the recommendations in our PYP action plan we have revised our unit assessments to
include all five essential elements of the PYP. We have also begun using the new
maths scope and sequence outcomes to assess and track our children’s maths skills
and development through the year.
Buildings and Sustainability
We have used this year to plan and cost the much needed refurbishment of the
classrooms. We have worked with facilities to develop and budget for a complete
classroom modernisation, this is now reflected in the capex budget for 2015/16
school year and we hope will be implemented during the summer holidays in 2016.
STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The professional learning this year has been linked to our annual plan priorities
above. At the beginning of the school year teachers attended Saturday training by
visitors from Reggio Emilia to help develop their understanding of project based,
personalised learning.
Our new teachers have attended IBO Making The PYP Happen training to help them
adjust to the new curriculum and have also attended a series of induction workshops
to help them understand the various aspects of our programme including
introductions to; SEN, Inquiry, IB Play documents, and our ESF Scope and Sequence
documents.
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As part of our
development of the
Science curriculum
and teaching all of
our
teachers
attended
ESF
Primary
Science
Day and this was
followed
by
3
teachers attending
a further science training day at KGV.
At the beginning of the year Merri Hamilton provided
whole day CPD on developing skills for working with
clay and drawing. This has helped to enhance the
teacher’s understanding of an art skills continuum. The results of this are superior
art skills being observed in the classrooms and some spectacular art work in our art
exhibition.
Also during the year teachers attended the
HKIS language conference and one of our
teachers attended the IBAP facilitator training
with the IBO.
Several sessions of EA training were also
provided
on
areas
such
as
language
development, observations and sustained
shared thinking skills.
In school training was centred around developing our new mission statement and a
variety of other topics including Maths, Science, Child Initiated Inquiry and
assessment.
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Abacus and Clearwater Bay School continue to communicate over student transition.
Abacus has shared information about the K2 children prior to their Year 1 interview.
In addition the Vice Principal from Clearwater Bay and the Year One teachers have
again made visits to the kindergarten to see children in situ. The process has been
very positive this year.
The greening subsidy from the government was applied for and granted again. It
was used to buy more plants and shrubs to enhance the garden. At Christmas, the
kindergarten also took part in the Box of Hope scheme, providing Christmas Boxes
full of new gifts useful and educational items for underprivileged children in Asia.
Parent helpers are always encouraged at Abacus. Many of our parents have been
able to help on a weekly basis, whilst others visit when they can to help in class or
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be an ‘expert’ to support a Unit of Inquiry. Parents have been welcomed in to share
special celebrations this year and are also responsible for running our fair which was
a great day out for families as well as a fund raiser for school. We also asked parents
to sponsor an extra child this year if they wished to and we invited 30 children from
Po Leung Kuk children’s home to come and join in the fun this year at our Fair.
We have also run a number of parent information evenings throughout the year on
subjects such as; Being a Parent Helper, Moving to K2, the ESF Year One admissions
process, Early Literacy and an Introduction to the PYP
program.
ESL have run sports classes during our lunch times and
drama and cooking classes after school throughout the
year providing some extra curricular opportunities for our
children.
Our playgroup continues to thrive it has been full on both
days throughout the year and provides some extra
income for the school. We now have a waiting list of
around 400 children for the playgroup. We are looking at
increasing this provision further for the following year.
SPECIAL EVENTS AND EXCURSIONS
The Abacus children have again participated in many trips and events this year.
During term 1 all of the children visited Clearwater Bay beach for a class excursion.
This allowed the children to play games and families and new teachers to get to
know one another.
During term 2 for the ‘How We Express Ourselves’ unit the K1 children and their
parents went to visit the theatre to watch the ‘Hugless Douglas’ show. The K1
children also participated in several different art trips, including visits to the HK 3D
museum, the sculpture park, Sham
Shui Po fabric market and the Hong
Kong cultural museum to explore
and learn about different art forms.
In term 3, the K1 children
participated in a school Science day
where
visitors,
parents
and
teachers ran a series of exciting
science experiments to provoke
scientific interest and inquiry.
We also held a story telling drama
day at Abacus with several visitors from other schools supporting activities and our
teachers performing “Room on the Broom” to support the K2 Story telling unit.
Within the units of inquiry K2 children also participated in small group trips based on
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their interests. These included trips to Kowloon City walled park for geo cashing, Sai
Kung town, the botanical gardens and the country parks.
Parents have been invited to join us at school for Sports Day, our Chinese New Year
celebrations, Christmas Carols and the Dragon Boat festival. Our school fair was an
extremely popular event again this year, raising money for the school and providing
families with the opportunity to socialise and have fun together.
STUDENT TRANSITION
Numbers enrolled at primary schools for Year 1
Primary School
Clearwater Bay School
No. of students
2014-15
No. of students
2013-14
66
71
Renaissance College
4
3
Kowloon Junior School
0
1
Peak School
1
0
Beacon Hill School
2
1
ESF Learning Support Centre
0
1
Australian International School
0
1
French International School
1
1
Kellett International School
2
3
Hong Kong Academy
1
2
French International School
1
0
JCSR
0
1
Chinese International School
0
1
Nord Anglia International School
2
1
Kiangsu and Chekiang Primary School
0
1
Relocated to Other Countries
5
4
73=81%
77= 82%
0
0
Total to ESF:
Waiting for ESF CWBS place following ARP
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review
Waiting List For ESF (JCSR)
1
0
We again had around 5 children on the active waiting list for Clearwater Bay school
for a while. Happily all of these children were eventually offered places at Clearwater
Bay. One of our families has relocated to Singapore only because they were unable
to get a JCSR place for their son even though he was a sibling. Our child who
remains on the waiting list was a late entry into Abacus and therefore had no
kindergarten priority for Year 1 application.
Students Applying For Abacus K1 2014/2015
This year we had 221 applications for 96 K1 places, this is more than in previous
years, however, we have found that we had to do many more interviews again this
year. We have also noticed a change in the demographics and levels of English
capability at interview due to the removal of the Category 1 and Category 2 system.
THE YEAR AHEAD
Curriculum Development
Our curriculum focus areas next year will continue to be ARTS and Science. We will
be focusing on music and other arts building on the visual arts work from this year.
Science development will focus on embedding the teaching and learning science now
that the written curriculum is in place. We will also continue to develop opportunities
for personalised learning, tracking these personal inquiries through our new eportfolio system.
Facilities and Resources
Next year we will be planning in much greater detail the classroom refurbishment,
working with the architects to ensure we have a modern, flexible environment for
learning which encourages interactions with the natural environment. This will
include the addition of new flooring, doors and storage.
Professional Learning Community
Our Performance Management process has once again been revised this year and will
become our Performance, Reflection and Development process. We will encourage
teachers to conduct action research projects based around improving student
outcomes in a curriculum area of their choice.
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