Dear Parents
Reading
Do you enjoy stories? Maybe you enjoy reading a good book, taking time to finding out how a story develops. What will happen to the characters? Your child enjoys stories too, I see it every Friday. I always tell the children that Friday is my favorite day because I get to lead Chapel, but that is only half the reason. The other part is reading stories to the children.
Bringing a story alive is a real joy - watching the children’s faces as they get absorbed into the story or get excited, or enjoy laughing together at a funny ending or guessing what will happen next or sharing personal experiences. Sharing a love of reading together is important. Young children learn so much from sharing a story. Children learn language, new vocabulary (you can use the pictures to explain new words), grammar structures and rhyming patterns, they learn about how words sound and about expression and intonation. They learn that stories have beginnings, middles, and ends as well as characters. Their imaginations are stimulated and they create their own ideas. This is knowledge they will use later in Elementary school when start to write their own stories. At kindergarten age, children may draw their own stories or make their own little books.
Your homeroom teacher and Ms. He (our Chinese language teacher) will read a lot of stories in class. Then on Fridays we have library, Mrs. Wu and Ms. He will take turns to read a story, one week in English and the next in Chinese. We occasionally have guest readers.
We have been busy arranging the library book packs so that the R2 children can start borrowing books this week. The R2 children will get to choose a “Free Choice” book themselves as well as receiving the regular class pack. Books are sent home on Fridays and should be returned the following Thursday. At ICS we encourage reading of real books rather than eBooks or watching videos. So we have lots of colorful picture books in both English and Chinese for the children to enjoy. A child is more likely to want to read or be read to if they chose the book. R1 will start borrowing books on October 23 which is the first Friday after Fall Break and Parent Teacher Conferences.
A big thank you in advance to all our parent volunteers who help each Thursday and Friday with checking in and out books, and an extra special thank you to the group of afternoon volunteers who have helped with the big task of cataloging and preparing 4 additional book packs for each R2 class and with cataloguing new Free Choice books.
Enjoy reading with your child, sitting cuddled up together on the sofa or in bed reading a book together is a very special time, not only for your child, but also for you too! If your child sees you love reading, they will love it too.
Blessings
Gillian Wu
Kindergarten Assistant Principal
Important Dates
Sep 19 (Sat): Parent U
Sep 28 (Mon): Lunch Chat with KG Principals
Oct 1 (Thu): National Day (No School)
Oct 2-9 (Fri - Fri): Fall Break
Oct 16-17 (Fri-Sat) : Parent-Teacher Conference
Oct 19 (Mon): Day after Chung Yeung Festival (No School)
Oct 30 (Fri): Influenza Vaccinations
Please join and ask any questions you may have about school?
Mr Welch and Mrs Wu will be happy to answer your questions - scan the QR code to sign up and submit questions.
Meeting will be held on Zoom on September 28 (link will be emailed to parents just before the event)
Kindergarten will be starting After School Activities (ASA) at the Kindergarten campus in October after the Fall Break. We have two terms - from October to the end of January and from February through to May. Both terms will be 12 weeks long.
On Tuesdays - Gymnastics
On Wednesdays - Art club
Today we are starting the sign up for Term 1. Please read the posters and click on the link if you wish to apply.
Please note:
After School activities are optional.
All ASAs are provided by external companies who have been providing activities at ICS for many years.
All payments should be made directly to After School Activity providers.
Any questions regarding the classes should be directed to the activity providers.
Activities take place immediately after the PM session. PM class students will go directly from school to the class. AM class students would need to return to school just before the class starts.
No school bus service is provided after the class.
Anyone picking a child up from ASA classes must bring the student pick-up card.
If the Education Bureau or Health Department closes the PM session of Kindergarten, there will be no After School Activities that day.
Deadline for sign up is Sep 28, 2026 or when class is full.
If a different adult is coming to pick up your child from school, please notify the Kindergarten Office giving us their full name, Hong Kong Identity card number and their telephone number.
All people coming to pick up your child must:
Be on the authorized list on PowerSchool i.e. a parent has given us permission to release their child to that person.
Bring the purple pick-up card (original card, photographs will not be accepted).
In absence of the pick-up card, for persons we do not recognize we will either - check their Hong Kong Identity Card or call the phone number you have given us.
If we are unsure of the identity of the person picking up your child, we will check their identity.
If the person is not listed on PowerSchool, and you have not informed us, we will call parents to confirm.
If your child usually takes the bus home and changes to being picked up from school, please notify us. Please ensure that the person coming to school is on our authorized list. If in doubt, please give us their name
If you change or employ a new Domestic Helper, please remove your previous helper or add a new helper to the pick-up contacts on PowerSchool.
Parents, be empowered and equipped with the knowledge and resources you need to support your child's growth and success. This page provides resources, and we hope to help parents navigate the challenges of parenting and support your child's overall well-being. Make sure to check out our parent page HERE!
If your child is sick, please keep your child at home to rest and recover and notify the school by completing the relevant e-collect form on PowerSchool of:
Your child’s absence / number of days your child is likely to be off school
Your child’s body temperature (please state actual temperature, not just “has a fever”)
Once recovering from a fever (38C or above), please let us know the day and time your child’s fever subsided without medication. If you do not specify a time, we will use the time from your email. We can then specify how soon your child may return to school (48 hours after fever subsided).
Your child’s symptoms (not just “unwell”).
If your child has Chickenpox, Hand Foot and Mouth or other notifiable disease - please send in a doctor’s note confirming diagnosis. We also require a doctor’s note stating that your child is fit to return to school.
Red Eyes—conjunctivitis can be very infectious. If your child has red eyes, please give us a doctor’s note stating that your child is not infectious before they can come to school.
Department of Health requirements state that if a child has a fever (38C or above), or repeated diarrhea they need to stay home for at least 48 hours after the symptoms have subsided (without medication).
Even though your child’s fever may have gone, a child may still have a runny nose or bad cough and are not fit to return to school. Please keep them at home to rest.
Please do not send your child to school if they are still taking medication following an illness. The medicine may make your child sleepy and they still need time to recover and rest at home.
If your child has recovered but still has a mild cough (not chesty or coughing up phlegm), they may return to school but should wear a face mask.
International Christian School – Kindergarten
852-3156-1234 | kindergarten@ics.edu.hk | G/F, Kam Ho House (Block H), Kam Fung Court, Ma On Shan, N.T., Hong Kong