29 September 2009
Message from the
Headmistress (2)
Dear Parents,
It has almost been a month since school started and
everything went well. I am pleased
to see that parents were vigilant about the prevention of the spreading of Flu
in school by letting their sick children stay at home and informing school
immediately. In the meantime, the
health condition of our students is satisfactory and there are no out break of
Flu cases in school. I would like
to inform parents that an External School Review has been scheduled for our
school on 19-20, 22-23, 28 October 2009.
Here are some of the background and details about the External School
Review.
The school has undergone the first cycle of ESR in
2004 and this is time for the second round. The ESR team comprises both EDB officers and experienced
front-line educator. The aim of
the ESR is to understand the current school developments, to validate the
impact of school self-evaluation on school development, to review on the follow-up
measures taken by the school as suggested by the 2004 ESR report, and to give
suggestions to our school for continuous school improvement. The ESR Team will scrutinize existing
school documents, observe lessons as well as school activities and conduct
meetings and interviews with stakeholders. Teacher representatives, parent representatives as well as
student representatives will be invited to meet with the External School
Reviewers. Three of our students
will be shadowed for two whole days so that the ESR Team can get a holistic
view of the everyday school life of our students. An Oral Feedback will be given to the school on 28 October
with the presence of our SMC Chair.
A Final Report will be issued to the school by the EDB in about 12 weeks
time and the school will release the ESR findings to stakeholders.
Taking into account our school’s vision and mission, students’ needs and self-evaluation findings, our current development priorities have been formulated with special emphasis on enhancing our students’ positive values, literacy skills and generic skills. The school believes that by strengthening our students’ language ability (English and Chinese) and self-learning skills, they could pursue life-long learning and integrate into the local community more readily. In light of the school development priorities, objectives and implementation strategies are formulated through formal discussion and an evaluation mechanism has been set up to monitor the implementation of the operational work plans in different administrative and subject groups.
C.
The School’s PIE (Planning, Implementation,
Evaluation) Cycle for Continuous Self-improvement
Working alongside teachers, parents and the
School Management Committee, the school has put in place a self-evaluation
mechanism by conducting yearly comprehensive reviews of the School Development
Plan, the Annual School Plan and the School Administration and Subject
Plans. The analyzed data and
findings drawn up from the Stakeholder Survey and the APASO are also used to
feed towards the next planning cycle so that appropriate school development
priorities can be mapped out.
Administrative and subject panels hold meetings with members to
formulate operational work plans which are in line with the school development priorities. The school is able to enhance
communication and collaboration among the administrative and subject panels
through a transparent decision-making process so that manpower and resources
can be duly deployed. There are
focused reviews and analyses on the implementation of the work plans as well as
students’ learning outcomes by using evidence based data in all administrative
and subject levels. Analytical
findings on summative assessment are reported and discussed in co-planning
sessions so that there are timely adjustments of strategies and resources
deployment that are conducive to better learning and teaching. The PIE SSE cycle has already been
translated into practice in SEK with an aim to pursuing continuous improvement
through the synergy of staff.
The school has strengthened its
self-evaluation mechanism by streamlining the processes as well as
documentation to focus on those criteria which would have direct impact on
student learning. In order to
minimize paper work, other modes of evaluation have been adopted to include
observation, oral feedback and discussion. Data and reports are reflected upon at the subject levels to
inform planning for continuous improvement. The school has opened up new channels in soliciting staff
views on management issues by engaging teacher representatives to opine on
school policy in the School Improvement Team meetings. In order to nurture a participatory
planning and decision-making culture, individual interviews with the School
Head are arranged so that more holistic and strategic planning in the
prioritization of development targets can be carried out. We trust that by the above measures
undertaken by the school with reference to the 2004 ESR Report would make our
school development more manageable and sustainable.
Dear parents, we look forward to having professional exchange and sharing with the External School Reviewers and we believe that the ESR could inspire the school to disseminate good practices in enhancing the quality of education in SEK. Best regards!
WONG CHUNG Wai-yee
Headmistress