HONESTAS ANTE HONORES
King George V School Annual Report 2019-20
Contents Message from Principal
2
KGV’s Purpose, Vision and Values
3
School Priorities 4 School Evaluation 5 School Financial Report
6
Middle School Curriculum Overview
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Year 9 Experience 7 Senior School Pathways 8 Student Guidance and Support Student Outcomes & Destinations
9 10
CAS 12 Challenge Week 2019 13 KGV Alliance 14 School Council 15 Community Development 16 Student Council 18 PTSA 19 PTSA Accounts Summary 2019-20 21 Buildings & Facilities 22 Major School Events
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Message from the Principal To be the Principal of King George V School is a great privilege. Our students are outstanding as they combine talent and hard work to create remarkable results. The achievement of our students is fostered and developed by our committed and passionate teachers, involved and engaged parents and a community that supports our school. We have also been able to grow our culture of improvement and innovation that sits at the heart of KGV School values. This 2019-20 Annual Report summarises the work, learning, activities and achievements of our learning community over the past 12 months. This period has presented unique challenges for our school, Hong Kong and the world in general. In particular, the COVID 19 pandemic has impacted nearly all aspects of school life, and for much of the period from late January 2020, our students have been learning online. This has presented new opportunities and challenges for students, staff, and parents, as we quickly adapted to this new way of learning. Our students, staff, and parents have been resilient and agile in the transition to online learning. Their ability and willingness to step up to the challenge and adapt new technology to facilitate online delivery has been inspirational.
Mr. Mark Blackshaw, KGV Principal, King George V School
This Annual Report highlights the ‘world of opportunity’ that exists for our students at KGV. Even though the activities in Term 2 and 3 were curtailed, it is evident that the extracurricular and Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) programs provide strong opportunities for experiential learning and community engagement. Combined with the exciting opportunities presented by Challenge Week, our school has provided a wealth of learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom. Despite the challenges of COVID 19 and the disruption to the examination program at Year 11 and Year 13 level, our 2019-20 learning outcomes were again very strong and reflect the talent and dedication of students, the commitment of our staff, and the support from our parents. An exciting aspect of this report is the destination data for our graduating Year 13 students. Our students are studying at the most prestigious universities all around the world as they continue their learning journey to be the best they can be. It is a truly great reward for years of hard work and dedication to a program of study. What we hope also shines through in this report is the sense of belonging and care that we are endeavouring to foster in each and every student. We are on an improvement journey focused on personalising learning as we strive to create the conditions for learning so every student can achieve to high levels and feel a deep sense of connection to the community. Our school is made up of 1800 individual stories, with each person on their own path and learning journey. This is strongly evident in our ‘Be your own remarkable’ purpose and our ‘school for one’ vision that was developed in the 2017-18 academic year. These guiding statements summarise our value system and capture our vision for the future.
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KGV Purpose, Vision and Values Our Purpose ‘Be your own remarkable…’
Our Motto
Honestas Ante Honores
Our Vision We create a ‘school for one’, a place where each and every person engages in remarkable learning to achieve at high levels and be the best they can be. As an agile school, we collaborate and innovate to make a difference in the communities we serve and lead.
Our Values Honesty – we are truthful, respectful, fair and authentic Courage – we are brave, bold and do what is right Resilience – we are all active learners and treat every challenge as an opportunity
KGV School Song Here we are gathered from many a nation, Arts to acquire that our peoples may serve. Characters moulded by strict regulation Honour demands we this motto observe: Honestas ante Honores Honesty first then glories Loud raise the echoing chorus Honestas ante Honores Bold as the Lion Crest Blazoned on every breast Loud let resound the chorus Honestas ante Honores Chivalry’s courtesies claim cultivation. Honour depends on such disciplined rule. Honour acquiring a good reputation, Honour the name of King George the Fifth School. Honestas ante Honores Honesty first then glories Loud raise the echoing chorus Honestas ante Honores
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KGV’s Priorities As a school community we were also focussed on developing our collaborative culture. We see collaboration as the way to build capacity in all, and to drive innovation. The past year was uncertain and ever changing , and in these times a staff and community that is connected and can engage in mutual dialogue, is well positioned to be agile and adaptable. We continued to develop our collaborative protocols and to build a culture based on trust that focused on the best interests of our students. We continued our work to focus on the core business of teaching and learning and to focus on our five critical questions. CQ1. What do we want all students to learn? CQ2. How will we know if they have learnt it? CQ3. How do we make learning deep and visible? CQ4. What will we do if they don’t know it yet? CQ5. What will we do if they already know it? The focus was sharply on developing common formative tasks for all year units of work. This provides feedback to students about what they need to do next during the course of the unit of work. Feedback is powerful when it is actionable and specific. The work last year sought to improve this aspect of feedback for all our students.
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School Evaluation Late in the 2018-19 academic year, we came to the decision at ESF that all schools would no longer renew their accreditation with CIS. ESF is currently establishing a new model of quality assurance and accountability. KGV has been contributing to this process as we establish flexible and relevant school evaluation models that support reflection, feedback and continuous improvement. This year we continued our successful ROAR parent feedback forums. We believe that parent feedback is a great way to help us prioritise the issues that matter. ROAR stands for ‘Reach Out, Appreciate, Respond’ in terms of: • Reach Out – to our parent community to build connections and seek ideas • Appreciate – and celebrate the great things that are already happening and discuss how together, we can add value • Respond – to the ideas we generate with action and outcomes Across 2019-20 we conducted numerous ROAR sessions and online feedback forums (Google Cuppa - cup of tea over Google Meet) which provided a wealth of information, feedback and evaluation.
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School Financial
Report Actual 2019/20 HK$
Budget 2019/2020 HK$
162,277,373
158,733,914
162,277,373
158,733,914
14,249,236 223,766 2,382,042 16,855,044
13,782,469 203,766 2,805,000 16,791,235
179,132,417
175,525,149
Staff Expenses Other Expenses - Operational Other Expenses - Capital
(158,087,540) (9,309,734) (1,328,197)
(160,597,773) (13,105,723) -
Total Expenditure
(168,725,471)
(173,703,496)
FUNDING Non-cash Funding: Staff Funding Total Non-Cash Funding Cash Funding: Capitation & ICT Funding Government Grants Rental and Other Income Total Cash Funding Total Funding
EXPENDITURE
Surplus / (Deficit) 10,406,946 1,821,653 Remark: The report doesn’t include the expenditure attributed to the prior year surplus. Remark: The report doesn’t include the expenditure attributed to the prior year surplus.
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Middle School Curriculum Overview International Baccalaureate Programme (MYP)
Middle
Years
This academic year saw the third year of MYP implementation and the first cohort of students to complete the full three year programme. The MYP builds on our students’ International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme experience and is designed to prepare them for their future learning, both at school and in life. Staff have now developed an engaging curriculum for all three years of the programme that follows an inquiry-driven and concept-based approach. Units of learning are set within a global context and aim to develop the skills students need to be successful lifelong learners. The use of concepts will help to make connections between units of learning while the global contexts provide the relevance of how their learning fits into the world. The achievements of the first cohort of students were recognised in June with an end of the MYP graduation ceremony. The grades awarded to students represent the overall level of achievement in a subject group over the course of the MYP. Graded on a 1-7 scale, the mean summative grade for Year 9 students was 5.9. Staff have been supporting student progress with the development of Common Formative Tasks (CFT). The CFT is a mid-unit check on student progress against the unit objective. These tasks have allowed teachers to collaboratively reflect on the impact of their practice and helped to keep parents informed as to their child’s progress before summative assessment grades are issued. This year teachers and students had the additional challenge of completing curriculum requirements through online learning. This required significant rewriting and resourcing of units of work from staff and discipline from students. Because of this effort, our MYP students still made substantial progress in their learning.
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Year 9 Community Project This year also saw the first cohort to complete the MYP Community Project. This extended service-learning project challenged students to make a difference in the community by aiming to take action to solve a problem. Working in groups, students develop their communication, collaboration, organisational and research skills. Mentors from inside and outside school supported students as they developed their ideas and developed resilience as they refined their projects and honed their collaboration skills. The project culminated with students reflecting on the process and their experiences by delivering online presentations. These presentations showed that even in the face of significant challenges globally, our students were able to act with empathy to make a positive difference in the local community.
Senior School Pathways In 2020 KGV celebrated outstanding student results in all of our programmes. Students on the BTEC Diploma, International Baccalaureate Diploma programmes and (i) GCSE courses achieved commendable grades. International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma 193 students completed the full IB Diploma with a 100% pass rate overall. Of those students studying for the full Diploma, 94.8% achieved 30 points or more and 36.3% achieved 40 points and above. 19 students completed the very demanding Bilingual Diploma. One of those students scored a perfect 45 points. Four KGV students achieved the outstanding result of the maximum 45 points. Our average score for core points was 2.01. For the Extended Essay (EE), 22 students opted to complete this under the subject of ‘World Studies’. The most popular EE subjects were World Studies, English and Economics. Once again KGV students have achieved remarkable results and many of these students are now heading to highly respectable tertiary institutions around the globe.
(I)GCSE Our students achieved impressive results at GCSE. Students in year 11 completed GCSE and (i)GCSE examinations. Depending on exam board, some subjects use the new 9-1 grading system while others continued with A*-E. 6 students received 10 A* or 9 grades and a further 11 students received 9 perfect scores. Approximately 28% of all grades received by KGV students were either A* and 30% were level 9. 97% of all results were between A* and C with 98% between 9 and 4.
BTEC Diploma We continue to be a center of excellence for BTEC with Edexcel awarding three of our students outstanding achievement awards. The confidence in BTEC is reflected in the outstanding BTEC results of our cohort with 20 of the 26 students gaining the Level 3 Extended Diploma at triple Distinction star D*D*D* (full marks at BTEC) and one of those students gaining an additional D*. There was a 100% pass rate for all students entered for the BTEC qualification. Our congratulations to students who also achieved the Level 2 BTEC qualifications. Students obtained places directly on to degree programs in a wide range of countries. Our BTEC pathway is designed to give students personalized learning, the opportunity to specialize and a chance to create a portfolio of work to evidence their skills and abilities. Many of our students also completed further Mathematics and English courses. We have seen our students achieve many successes in and out of the classroom. We are proud of our continued links with the community and business with several students completing a one day a week work placement.
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Student Guidance and Support Given the complex and uncertain challenges both locally and globally, the student support team played a hugely significant role in the lives and homes of our KGV students. Tutors are very much the heart of our student support system and are the first port of call for students and families. Throughout the early days of the HK protests, tutors supported students in ensuring well being levels were monitored and topics discussed sensitively in tutor time. They were also instrumental tracking student travel arrangements and communicating consistently with parents. Throughout the school closure period tutors provided outstanding support for their tutees. Daily tutor check-ins, one-to-one sessions offering individual support and counselling were regular features of a student experience. Tutors were supported throughout by Heads of House and Senior Heads of House who tracked attendance data and closely monitored students academic progress. Early intervention enabled students to flourish during this period. To increase the support given to Year 7 students, we added 4 more tutor groups, taking out Year 7 only tutor groups to a total of 16, overseen by two Heads of Year. We feel it is essential to provide specialist support and advice to our Year 7 students to set them on a positive pathway throughout their KGV journey. We remain committed to destigmatizing mental health problems and working with families and our wider community to ensure we are all aware of the issues facing our students and providing parents, teachers and students with the information and skills needed to build resilience and support one another.
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Student Outcomes & Destinations Notes on Destinations (Class of 2020)
There were 222 students in the class of 2020. Of those 222 students, 201 pursued higher education around the world, 14 students elected to take a gap year, one enrolled in military service and six others are yet to decide what their next moves might be. Of those students who chose to enrol in university, the most popular courses were: Business/Management (11%); Engineering (9%); Psychology (6%); Film/Media (5%); Medicine (5%); Biomedical/Life Sciences (5%).
The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom remains the most popular destination of choice for our students, but the numbers have dropped since the peak in 2015. In total we submitted 139 applications to UK institutions, versus 2019’s 137 and 2018’s 146 applications. This fall, 79 students will be beginning their tertiary study in the UK, with UAL (7), Exeter (6), Imperial (5), UCL (5), Leeds (5), St Andrews (5). The number of students heading to Cambridge (2) and Oxford (3) are the highest in the last five years.
Hong Kong
Though programmes at top universities in Hong Kong remain very competitive, Hong Kong is still the second most popular destination amongst our students. In particular, our students demonstrate a great deal of interest in the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Chinese University (CUHK) and the University of Science & Technology (HKUST). Course popularity has not changed much over the years, and students wishing to stay in Hong Kong continue to exhibit much interest in studying Business & Management (10), Medicine (8), and Law (4).
The United States
A total of 24 students are heading to the USA from the class of 2020. This is an increase from 2019’s 19, but drop from 2018’s 29, but the same as 2017’s 19 students. Northeastern (3), CalArt (2) & Parsons (2) are the more popular among the class of 2020. The other students are spread around the country, including MIT, Boston, UC Davis, UCLA, USF, and others.
Name of University
Country
# of Students
University of Toronto
Canada
17
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong SAR
15
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong SAR
12
University of British Columbia
Canada
12
HK University of Science & Technology
Hong Kong SAR
12
University of the Arts London
United Kingdom
7
University of Exeter
United Kingdom
6
Imperial College London
United Kingdom
5
University College London
United Kingdom
5
University of Leeds
United Kingdom
5
London School of Economics & Political Science
United Kingdom
3
Northeastern University
United States
3
University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom
3
University of Nottingham
United Kingdom
3
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
3
University of Reading
United Kingdom
3
City University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong SAR
2
Hong Kong Baptist University
Hong Kong SAR
2
King’s College London
United Kingdom
2
Leeds Beckett University
United Kingdom
2
Manchester Metropolitan University
United Kingdom
2
Parsons School of Design, The New School
United States
2
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
2
University of Glasgow
United Kingdom
2
University of Manchester
United Kingdom
2
University of Sheffield
United Kingdom
2
University of Warwick
United Kingdom
2
Canada
The number of students choosing to pursue higher education in Canada has been quite steady in the last few years – between 17 to 20 students since 2017. 2020 sees a significant increase to 32 students heading to Canada. University of Toronto (17) and UBC (12) remain the most popular institutions in the country.
Australia
A total of 9 students chose to further their education in Australia, though most are still completing the application process and will beginning with the rest of their cohorts in early 2021. Among those few students who have decided on their final destinations, UNSW and University of Sydney are among their options.
Others
We have also seen an increase in students choosing alternative countries in which to pursue further education. At least one student has chosen a higher education option in each of these countries: the Netherlands (5), Italy (2), Japan (2), Singapore (1) and Switzerland (1), with Europe gaining popularity among our students.
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Higher Education Destinations by Country KGV Class of 2020
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Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) provides a framework for experiential learning and is intended to provide experiences for students to develop selfconfidence and empathy, a willingness to help others and build on student’s experiences that complement, in some way, what students are learning in school. CAS activities contribute to student’s intellectual, social, cultural and emotional growth. They cater to a wide variety of needs and cultures within the school community and are used to forge links with the wider community. Our expectation is that all students become involved in some form of regular activity outside of lesson time for their general health and well-being. This allows students to explore their interests, express their passions and identify goals, develop strategies and determine further actions for personal growth. CAS complements a challenging academic school life, providing a much needed break from academia. With MYP very much a part of KGV life now, we have continued the journey of embedding many of the philosophies embraced by CAS across the school. In particular, focusing of Service Learning, through developing a vision for taking Principled Action. The vision is: Creating sustainable partnerships that have reciprocal benefits within our community. Fostering the desire, confidence and ability to make a difference. Our aim is for students to become effective project managers, use design thinking to solve problems, embrace responsibility and appreciate the consequence of actions, develop the ability to empathise with others and be able to communicate and connect with others.
It would be wrong of me to not mention how KGV students have demonstrated courage and resilience in the way they have approached CAS during such challenging times of the last year. Whether this is the vast array of online CAS activities being launched at the start of the year, engaging with NGO’s through webinars or creating KGV’s own little Skillshare community, COVID has brought the best out in our students. Another product of the circumstances is taking the CAS Fair online with the immense new website: https://www.kgvcasactivities.com, where students were able to get excited about CAS and the year to come from the comfort of their own home. These CAS activities add richness to the KGV learning experience. Without them, KGV would not be the vibrant school that it is. We are extremely grateful to the students and staff who give their time freely to make the CAS programme such a huge success.
Dean Beard CAS & Service Learning Coordinator
We are already finding that the students in Year 9 are embracing this challenge during the Community Project, with the first cohort producing 100+ excellent projects in the summer of 2020. This is a service learning project where students, working in small groups, developed awareness of needs in various communities leading them to take appropriate action. Students consolidated their learning from the MYP through the Community Project by engaging in sustained, in-depth inquiry leading to service as action in the community.
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Challenge Week 2019 Challenge Week provides an opportunity for students to roll up their sleeves and engage in experiential learning activities that push them outside their comfort zones and expose them to situations, dilemmas, cultures and people they would not normally encounter. It is an important part of our curriculum where students learn outside the classroom setting. In 2019 KGV students travelled to destinations around the world, and over a thousand students engaged in new activities within Hong Kong. 2019 saw 80 year 9 students travel to the north of Thailand for our first immersion and service experience with Rustic pathways in this region. It was incredibly successful and we will look to run similar experiences in the future. One of the new trips for 2019 was the student led activities in India where student leaders organised a week of cultural immersion, history and service. The student leaders had to deal with last minute changes and itinerary issues. It was a deep learning experience for those leaders who managed to work through all those issues and provide a great experience for all involved. Other new activities for 2019 included Hearts for Hue in Vietnam, a service trip to Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Creative book writing and publishing and stand up paddle boarding. Year 11 language immersion had another successful year with students returning full of new memories and experiences in their chosen second language. The language immersion activities not only foster social and cultural development, but also produce more immediate academic benefits, as the entire week is conducted in the language the student is studying at IGCSE. The success of this program is evident when students undertake their oral exams a few months later. Once again, our students represented KGV across Hong Kong and around the world with integrity, pride and honour, and we are very proud of them. Our teachers and support staff invested an incredible amount of time and energy in organising the logistics, safety and supervision of all the Challenge Week activities. Seeing students grow and learn as a result of being outside their comfort zones, hearing the stories at the airport arrivals hall, watching students tearfully bid their new friends goodbye and talking to students about their achievements makes all the work worthwhile.
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The 2019-20 Academic year saw a continuation of the emerging KGV Alliance concept. The KGV Alliance is a community partnership, powered by student ideas to create positive change. Three big ideas that drive this initiative: • Creating new ways for our school and students to engage with our community. A fundamental goal of the Alliance will be bringing our business community, alumni, parents, community partners, teachers and students together on regular occasions across the year. • Providing opportunities for student voice by allowing our students to pitch ideas with the aim of creating partnerships and seeking support; • Creating positive change is the moral imperative, where we deliberately seek to influence our local and global communities. As our KGV Vision states, ‘as an agile school, we collaborate and innovate to make a difference in the communities we serve and lead.’ The KGV Alliance events were significantly curtailed this year due to COVID 19, however we are excited by the opportunities ahead to showcase student action, service and entrepreneurship. As a school, we look forward to further developing this initiative as we deliberately seek to provide opportunities for our students to impact positively on the community.
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School Council It has been another successful year for the School Council. The School Council was significant in providing guidance and support across the past 12 months. Jeremy Ip in his second year as Chair, provided significant leadership and counsel. His work was greatly appreciated. The subcommittee structure continued to work well and allowed for a targeted focus on important aspects of school life. A number of key issues dominated School Council business: • Ongoing facilities development • Feedback on the school improvement agenda and priorities • Ongoing financial oversight • Strategic communications advice
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Community Development Message from Community Development Office The KGV school community has enjoyed another successful year of achievements. The collaboration between our students, parents and alumni has yielded fruitful results. Students benefited from our alumni mentorship program which supported the Higher Education activities, Career Fair, University interviews and other experiential learning programs. The cancellation of IB Diploma exams provided an unique opportunity for IB and BTEC Diploma students to engage in some exciting and worthwhile learning opportunities during Term 3. The KGV ‘Flying Start’ was launched as a bridging program to keep students engaged over the months before they embarked on the next chapter of your learning journey. The program was a series of short courses, keynote speeches, panel discussions and wellbeing sessions, all aimed at giving our students a flying start to life at University and beyond KGV. The program offered a broad range of topics, drawing on the expertise and resources from our alumni, KGV Teaching staff, Universities, Corporate partners, existing and valued online programs, ESF connections, community partners and parents. Our students thrive on mentorship achieving much success for us to celebrate. Since the launch of the KGV Alliance in 2018, we have hosted six ‘Pitch-night’ events. The Alliance is a community partnership, powered by student ideas to create positive change. There are three big ideas that drive this initiative. First, creating new ways for our school and students to engage with our community. Second, to bring our business community, alumni, parents, community partners, teachers and students together on regular occasions across the year. Last but not least, to create positive change as it is our moral imperative, and we strive to do so by influencing positively, sustainably and ethically. This year our students presented 23 projects, creating 25 mentorship opportunities, engaged with 250 students in Hong Kong. and attracted sponsorship worth HKD 250,000. Alumni News Alumni relations building and strengthening is a key function of the Community Development office. At the beginning of the past academic year, we hosted numerous alumni visits and Heritage tours for the community with the support of our student leadership, who are actively involved in bringing greater awareness to our school heritage and strengthening our ethos.
Alumni Visit 2019/20 Anil Mirwani 1992’_2 Oct 19 Desmond Ko 2002’_17 Oct 19 James Rice 1975-1980’_21 Oct 19 Laurelle Cheng 2011’_12 Sep 19 Mamatha Geddam 1996’_16 Oct 19 Nazvi Careem and Peter Saunders 1984’_ 6 Nov 19 Paul Siu_12 Sep 19 KGV Alumni residing in Hong Kong and around the world are connected to the school through our online social platform the ESF Connect. We are now 4000 members strong across ESF, of which over 900 members are KGV alumni. This platform has given our community the opportunity to quickly access information on alumni activities such as social gatherings, professional networking and mentorship programs. Our alumni communications are now being channelled through this platform to make it a one-stopshop for all. 16
The KGV School Principal’s Outstanding Alumni Award This award is given as tribute to the contribution an alumni has made. We look for an alumni who stands out because of their achievements in Hong Kong and who goes beyond what would be expected in pursuing a career. This year Dr James Kong from class of 1973 is the recipient of the award. Dr Kong then attended Barts in London. He returned to Asia and joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Department of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine) before moving to the public sector. Until the outbreak of SARS in 2003, he was Consultant Surgeon, in charge of the Breast Service and the first Director of Trauma at the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital. Dr Kong led the implementation of the first public hospital information system in Hong Kong in 1990. During the SARS 2003 outbreak, he volunteered and led the Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HA) team that developed eSARS, the electronic database that assisted in the management of the epidemic outbreak. This project was awarded 1st prize in the Health sector of the Stockholm IT Challenge 2004. 2019- 2020 Graduation The Graduation Ceremony this year at KGV was a socially- distanced event. We were enormously lucky to have the resource and space to host the event with both the graduate and their family in attendance. Following the tradition we invited alumnus James Pomfret to address our graduates. James, graduated from KGV in 1992, is a former Rowell house captain who held a junior HK athletics record for the 400m hurdles and represented Hong Kong schools in athletics and football. He is an award-winning Special Correspondent for Reuters specializing in investigative journalism across Greater China and Asia. He is also a Pulitzer finalist team member for National Reporting. He has won a Human Rights Press award run by the FCC and Amnesty International; and garnered several SOPA awards for editorial excellence in Asia, one of the region’s top journalism prizes. A Eurasian local from Tsim Sha Tsui, James has taught journalism at the Chinese University and Baptist University, and always has time for the city’s youth. His favourite KGV canteen snack was the (in) famous “ka lei yu dan meen”. Which sadly, we no longer serve. It was a heartwarming farewell and the last time we had them in school as a whole year group. Yasmeen Ashraf Communication and Community Manager
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Student Council With the goal of providing the most optimal environment for education, our role is to support the school to ensure that the changes ultimately benefit the students. After all, all decisions by the school will impact the student experience. The KGV Student Council prides itself on representing the voices of the student body, with the members committed to ensuring that the students’ opinions and perspectives are recognized by the school. The persistent devotion of the Student Council towards advocating for the ideas of the student body is accompanied by a firm resolve to influence positive changes for the community. This has brought a wide array of policies to implementation. To name a few, we have collaborated with the Senior Leadership Team and the staff of the Learning Resources Centre to develop an online pod booking system for students to use. We have also organized the Year 13 book sale, and continued to develop a university guidance booklet to aid the learning of the students at KGV. With the introduction of online learning, the Student Council has focused on ensuring that students continue to receive the high qualities of education. We have developed a feedback form as a means for students to voice any opinions or concerns that they may have during this period. Moreover, we have closely collaborated with the PTSA to create a user-friendly website that provides easier access to information for both students and parents. This was updated to include information regarding stock availability for the store, and instructions on online ordering and uniform for the new incoming students. Additionally, we have also promoted our various social media pages that include updates regarding our progress and accomplishments. We would like to send our sincere gratitude to the Senior Leadership Team and the student body for their support and willingness to welcome and adapt to change. With continuous close collaboration between students and teachers, the galvanising of student voice has been possible. The Student Council hopes to maintain and contribute to KGV’s values of inclusivity, diversity, and honesty by acting as an independent and efficient platform to represent the ideas and concerns of the student body. On behalf of KGV Student Council, Freddy Liu
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PTSA The Parents Teachers Students Association is a school community organisation which acts as a supportive arm of KGV school. Our aim is to bring together parents, students, teachers and friends of KGV and thereby help to provide the best possible environment and learning experience for all students. Our focus has been to engage the community and act as a bridge between the school and the community. The past year has been a unique one, faced with challenges and unpredicted changes throughout the year. Year 2019 had a promising start, after which we faced the Hong Kong protests followed by the global COVID–19 pandemic, resulting in long school closure between February till mid May 2020. These circumstances led to a very quick move over to online learning. Despite these disruptions, we were still able to serve our parents and students by supporting them through these turbulent times. We worked hand in hand with the school to communicate prompt and accurate information on changes and reported feedback from parents to the school to support continuity of learning. Membership PTSA annual fees continued to be kept at $400 per family. We have succeeded to maintain this fee over the past five years without compromising our services to the community. We offer a wide variety of services, including an onsite uniform and stationery shop, management of lost property, wide variety of events, educational workshops and an exclusive student Identity card with a privilege scheme. PTSA Committee We are grateful to our dynamic parent committee members who voluntarily commit their time and effort towards the betterment of the school and our students. Their valuable input, feedback and advice with the partnership of the school management has helped enhance the learning experience of our students. We bid farewell to three committee members who will be stepping down from the PTSA at the close of year 2019-2020. A huge thank you to Shilpa Dhanuka, Rowena Chow and Stephan Hon for all the time and energy they have put into shaping our committee and adding value to the learning experience of the students. Our new committee will be elected at the coming Annual General Meeting to be scheduled between October and November 2020. Sponsorship We stood firm to our commitment of donating funds to various school projects which provide enrichment opportunities for our students. The total contribution for the year towards sponsorships was HK$153,500.00. o o o
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Y11 language emersion program- $150,000 Hebe Haven 24hr yacht club - $3,000 Public spirit prize at Speech day - $500
PTSA Shop The Hong Kong Government instructed all schools to remain closed for face to face learning from February to mid May 2020. As such, the PTSA shop had to follow, causing our sales to drop significantly. However, we resumed business in May and June 2020 until end of term. The past summer was affected by the third wave of the COVID-19 virus. As such, we were unable to keep the shop open for sales. However, we still managed to service our parents, as we quickly adopted online mode of ordering. To support this remote ordering system, we created a new website which provided a platform for all information, a uniform catalogue and new remote payment options.
Student ID card Each year the PTSA issues personalised student KGV Identity cards to all students which not only provides school identification and student status but also an exclusive ‘Privilege scheme’. This popular ‘Privilege scheme’ lists a wide range of exciting commercial outlets providing discounts to our students. We are thankful to all our committed vendors for providing these privileges to our students annually and hope to build on these partnerships annually. Kiran Budhrani PTSA Manager
Lost property continued to be managed by the Shop using the policy in place to manage the in and out flow of items. Events and workshops The year started off well with our busy calendar of annual social and cultural events as well as educational talks for parents. Unfortunately, with the onset of the pandemic, all events from February onwards were postponed. We hosted a range of valuable educational talks for parents across all ESF schools which were all very well attended. The feedback from parents was overwhelmingly positive as these educational opportunities supported them in their parenting. Parent talks conducted: Dealing with Bullies – 24 September 2019 Depression and Anxiety – 22 October Creating an environment for your child to thrive – 25 January 2020 Yoga for breathing – video for KGV Yoga for wellbeing – videos for KGV We would like to thank all our professional speakers who shared their expertise and valuable knowledge with our community. As the situation of Covid-19 continued, we supported our community by providing two specially designed videos on breathing and holistic wellbeing yoga to support any wellbeing issues our students and parents may have had in those circumstances. To engage the community and celebrate diversity we hosted our annual cultural events and some social events, which were our Diwali lunchtime celebration, Chinese new Year celebration, Teachers Day lunch and Coffee mornings. The celebrations included food, music, dance, games and social gatherings which were enjoyed by all our students, staff and parents. In addition to the regular social events, we introduced a celebration of World Teachers day to express our appreciation towards our hard working teachers who relentlessly work towards shaping our students into remarkable young adults. A grand buffet was organized by our parents who wished to express their gratitude. Moving forward, we have scheduled several events for the year ahead using online mode which has proved to engage a larger number of parents. We hope to adopt online means for some of our events in the time to come as a new way of communication and engagement.
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PTSA Account Summary 2018-19 Actual Year to 30/06/2019 HK$
INCOME PTSA Membership Shop sales other income Government Grant Total Income
579,584.00 2,130,767.00 68,811.00 15,372.00 $2,794,534.00
EXPENDITURE Staff expenses Other expenses - Operation Shop Purchases Donations to school
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577,172.00 181,461.00 1,552,258.00 256,396.00
Total Expenditure
$2,567,287.00
Surplus / (Deficit)
$227,247.00
Buildings and Facilities The major project this year was the first phase of revolutionising our Design Technology area. The two separated food technology rooms were moved together and we now have two amazing teaching spaces, connected by a central technician’s area and a fantastic larder. The project demonstrated the best in collaboration skills between architect, ESF project team and KGV staff and we are delighted with the outcome. The students are going to love learning to cook, like stovetop ballerinas, in these wonderful, new classrooms. The other major project was in creating a bright, roomy workshop to replace three, awkward disconnected spaces. Replacing all the rotten old windows, putting in decent ventilation systems and fitting out with sharp, modern designed work spaces has been a joy. The new workshop, DT6, is a revelation and we cannot wait to get the students in designing, creating and making. New furniture in the Library and larger lockers for Year 8 have also improved the look and feel of the School. We are now planning for a major refurbishment of the ground floor workshops next summer. KGV walls have again stepped up in style with the Maths and English corridors of Link Block now displaying bright new murals. The Maths Department have celebrated some of the teacher’s heroes with pictures of famous mathematicians (including Hong Kong’s own Terence Yao) plus some funky geometric designs. English have quotes from a selection of the authors we study, with styles and traditions represented in bright, vivid colours. Our own talented artist, Suman Vase (Maths Teacher) has contributed to brightening up our staircases with a selection of maths inspired art. Covid19 gave us extra impetus to focus on hygiene this year. We fitted thermal cameras to check everyone’s temperature and have been advised by a succession of experts from UST and numerous hygiene companies. We have treated the school with various antimicrobial coatings, hopefully giving us persistent sanitisation solutions tailored for the specific environment. We have upskilled our cleaning staff to use a new range of products that are at the forefront of hygiene technology in effectiveness and sustainability. The outside areas are in good repair, with the field and pitch being looked after and the borders well tended. Our gardens continue to thrive thanks to the great efforts of Eco-Club, Paul Melsom and our gardener Grace, with wonderful fruit, herbs and native plants growing, pollinated by bees and butterflies. Our new In2care mosquito control system is working very well and uses the best in modern, sustainable technology.
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Major School Events
Speech Day This is our official school prizegiving and an opportunity to recognise excellence from our students.
Swimming Gala
KGV CAS Fair The CAS Fair is an event which provides KGV students an opportunity to see what clubs/teams/ activities will be offered during the school year. This year’s CAS Fair included a variety of activities in the field of creativity, action and service.
Sports Day One of the highlights of our Interhouse Sports calendar when the school community comes together and competes towards a common goal; to triumph on Sports Day.
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Panache Cancel due to COVID-19.
Sports Awards KGV sports awards was held online due to Covid-19 for the very first time. Award recipients and their parents were invited to celebrate sporting achievement virtually.
Heritage Tour KJS Year 6 Students Visit KGV for a Heritage Tour On Thursday 24 October, groups of Year 6 students went up to KGV for a Heritage Tour. Throughout the tour, the Year 6 students were led by the KGV leadership team of prefects, who showed them around different areas of the school. Many of the Year 6’s who will be joining us next year left excited and ready to join KGV. It was also a great opportunity for our student prefects to learn more about our heritage before they embark on their alumni journey.
Pedal Kart 2019
Interhouse Music
EoMD
Cancel due to COVID-19.
Cancel due to COVID-19.
Cancel due to COVID-19.
KGV Model United Nations 2019 KGV students participated in their first Model United Nations event of the year. In this preliminary event, new and experienced students assumed the role of a United Nations member state to debate the Arab Israeli conflict. This emotive issue was skillfully chaired by Joaquin Magno and Irisa Kwok with awards for Best Position Paper going to the delegates from Greece (Katherine Yan and Mudita Jain) and the Best Delegates being awarded to Japan (Carlo Cico and Kayley Wong). Special mention must also be given to the three Year 7 students (Sahaana Gulrajani, Isabella Caglirini and Maggie Pratt) who in their first event held their own surrounded by students from many years. We look forward to seeing how this team continue to develop their understanding of international events as they go on to participate in more conferences across Hong Kong and beyond.
PTSA Diwali Celebration
Graduation Ceremony 2020 Graduation Ceremony marking the completion of our student education at KGV. Each house attended on a separate evening. Every 20 minutes, each group rotated from one activity to the next.
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HONESTAS ANTE HONORES
KING GEORGE V SCHOOL 2 Tin Kwong Road, Homantin, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2711 3029 | Fax: (852) 2762 9806 | Email: office@kgv.edu.hk WWW.KGV.EDU.HK
KING GEORGE V SCHOOL HONG KONG
