Hong Kong weather can bring a lot of disruptions to daily life. So here is a reminder of the weather guidelines for school and when the Education Bureau is likely to close Kindergartens.
Rain - Thunderstorm Warning / Amber Rainstorm
When either the Thunderstorm warning or Amber Rainstorm signal is in force, Kindergarten and school buses will operate as usual. For bus riders, the bus moms with help from ICS staff will usually escort the children under the cover of large umbrellas to or from the buses.
Sometimes parents are kind and offer to help, however to protect the safety of the children, we only permit known people to escort the children. These are the bus company staff (Bus mom or drivers) wearing the bus company vests, or ICS Kindergarten employees (we are all wearing the ICS staff IDs).
Umbrellas - As we do not have storage for wet umbrellas and young children may swing umbrellas around and risk hitting others – please do not send an umbrellas to school with your child. This includes folding umbrellas in backpacks. All Kindergarten children are picked up by adults, so please ask that adult to bring an umbrella when picking up your child on rainy days.
Outdoor shoes – on rainy days it is ok to send your child to school in crocs or rainboots / shoes. If they are not wearing socks, please put a pair in their backpack to put on before they wear their indoor shoes.
If children arrive at school wet, we will change their clothes. Please make sure you return a clean set of clothes (including socks) as these are getting used a lot during the rainy arrivals.
Any clothes items borrowed from ICS should be washed and returned as soon as possible.
Red or Black Rainstorms
If the Red or Black rainstorm signal is issued or still in force before school. The Education Bureau (EDB) will issue a statement to say schools are closed.
If the Black or Red rain signal is in force at or after 5:30am up to 8:00am then AM and Whole day schools will be closed, our morning session will be cancelled.
If AM classes are suspended , we could still have the Afternoon classes as we did on Monday this week.
If the Red or Black rainstorm signal is in force at 10:30am, then the PM classes will be cancelled. Unfortunately, we are not able to say earlier than 10:30am if our afternoon classes will take place as we follow the EDB announcement. Often the media will announce earlier.
If the Red or Black rainstorm signal is issued during school hours, the children will remain at school until the usual dismissal time. At dismissal time, we may keep the children in school until the signals have been still lowered or we consider it safe to dismiss children.
Our Communications Department will send out emails to parents notifying you of any closures once the EDB has issued their notification of school closures.
During bad weather, if the rainfall or traffic situation is bad where you live and you are not able to bring your child to school. Please put an absence request into PowerSchool to let us know. The safety of the children is important.
For Typhoon Signals, Kindergartens close when there is a T3 or above.
Stay safe and dry!
Gillian WU
Assistant Kindergarten Principal
Aug 22 (Fri) Back to School Night
Aug 26 (Tue) KG Photo Day - return photo order forms by 12:30pm
Sep 12 (Fri) Teacher Professional Development Day (No school for KG students)
If you have a new Domestic Helper, a different Grandparent or 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 i.e. a parent has given us permission to release their child to that person
Bring the green 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 in our records, then we will call parents
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 notify us to remove your previous helper or add a new helper to the authorized pick up list.
Thank you
Valuable Items
Octopus cards/money should not be brought to school (including putting them in school bags) as these are valuable items and could be taken out and lost.
Watches and / or Jewelry
Watches, necklaces, bracelets or rings should not be worn to school as these often distract the children and their friends. Sometimes the children will take them off and lose them.
Please also do not wear large headbands or large bows as this can distract others during lesson times.
Other items, such as toys, should not be brought to school unless requested by the teacher.
If your child is sick, please keep your child at home to rest and recover and notify the Kindergarten Office (by phone or email) 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