KGV
Vol. 22, Issue 1 DEC 2015
Newsletter
Newsletter A Triannual Magazine for King George V School
Contents Head of KGV’s Welcome
2
CAS Fair 2015
3
French Speech Festival
4
Hebe Haven 24 Hour Dinghy Race 5 Inspired by India Year 10 DT Student Work
7
Shaq’s Visit to KGV
10
Swimming Gala
13
Interhouse Music Competition
15
KGV Sport Updates
17
Speech Day 2015
25
HK Interschool Quiz/PTSA Card
26
STEM 27 Alumni News
King George V School, 2 Tin Kwong Road, Homantin, Kowloon, Hong Kong www.kgv.edu.hk | office@kgv.edu.hk +852 27113029 King George V School Hong Kong All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission from the King George the Fifth School (KGV), Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR.
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Vol.22 Issue 1 DEC 2015
Head of KGV’s Welcome It is my pleasure to welcome you to the first newsletter in my role as Head of KGV. KGV is such a vibrant school buzzing with energy. There is so much to celebrate and the following articles feature some of the highlights. The student learning that takes places in the classroom facilitated by our excellent teachers gives us reason to celebrate every day! We were delighted with examination results this year which reflect the commitment of our students to learning. The newsletter is the opportunity to share learning outside the classroom including some life changing events for some students. This year KGV Speech day returned to the school hall. A student group planned the day working with Mr James Smith. This year the event was inclusive with all Year 7 students in the hall singing the school song for the first time. Other students were in the hall and venues around the school. It was great to hear the stories behind the awards, making the whole event even more meaningful. The LION fund is being launched for the second year. Please read the information and think about getting involved. It’s a great opportunity to make a difference by enhancing the excellent facilities around the school and helping us to develop our visible identity. In addition to donations, we want to work in partnership with parents and alumni so if you can contribute time to share your expertise with us, please get in touch. I am sure you will enjoy reading about some of the amazing experiences KGV students have taken part in. Many students are developing their leadership skills through these activities. I would like to thank all the parents for your support and for the part you play in making KGV the outstanding school it is. Best wishes,
Judy Cooper Head of KGV Newsletter KGV | 2
S A C
R I FA
The start of the year saw the return of KGV’s CAS Fair. The CAS fair is an opportunity to showcase the vast array of extra-curricular activities on offer here at KGV and allow students from all years to plan their activity program for the year. Advertised during the CAS Fair were over 100 different school based CAS activities and again a variety of external CAS providers, such as Ark Eden, ESF Educational Services, KELY Support Group and not forgetting the very colorful display provided by the HK Shark foundation.. We also had the pleasure of listening to background music, provided by the students. As a school KGV provides some excellent opportunities for our students to complete
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CAS, but it is vital that students also embark on a personal discovery of CAS and that they learn to be independent of both their parents and teachers.
Finally, I cannot wait for a new year of CAS and look forward to reading the many excellent detailed reflections from the students. I am sure the activities offered at KGV Here are just a few of the will continue to provide the exciting opportunities that were students with the valuable undertaken by students: opportunities for CAS and also complement the vast and - Working with numerous diverse activities the students charities do themselves. - Volunteer work in the local community - Tutoring and language teaching Author - Creative Writing Dean Beard - Under Water Robotics Head of College - Animation - Model United Nations - Panache Fashion show - Sports Teams
h c n Fre h c e e p S l a v i t s e r F e b m e v No 5 1 0 2 Bonjour! We are Chloe Yu, Jocelyn Cheng, Alex Jaouen, Hayley Chow, Katie Mak, Alantha Zhang, Matthew Wong, Adrian Wong, and Charming Yeung, and we participated in the 6th Annual French Speech Festival. This performance has improved our French speaking skills, and strengthened our ability to speak fearlessly in French in front of a large audience. The French speech festival took place over three separate events. The Years 7 and 8 event took place at KGV on November 6, the Years 9 and 10 event at the YMCA in Tung Chung on November 13, and the Years 11 to 13 event at La Salle College on November 20. We each recited a poem in front of two judges, who assessed us in terms of performance, interpretation, pronunciation and fluency. The top three candidates were given certificates, with a comment from the judges
and a score out of 100. The French speech festival was an exhilarating experience to drastically improve confidence in speaking in a foreign language. We have developed the necessary skills to convey and express emotions in a different language. By far, the speech festival was an extremely well deserved success amongst the KGV community. For both males and females in the Year 10 section , all candidates scored in the top 3 positions amongst the poem. For males and females in the Year 8 section, only a few chosen candidates scored in the top 3 positions. It has dramatically helped develop the experience and capability in academic French speaking tests whilst boosting confidence. At the end of the day, KGV as a school performed amazingly well in the 6th annual French speaking
competition. Smiles and jokes shared all around, we ended the day looking forward to the next competition. Bravo to everyone who performed!
Y7 Boys
3rd: Nello MERAZZI [7R01M]
Y8 Boys
4th: Joaquin MAGNO [8R01M]
Y8 Girls
2nd (tied): Chloe YU [8N03M] and Katie MAK [8U07M]
Y9 Girls
2nd: Milla MERAZZI [9R13M]
Y10 Girls Poem A and B
2nd: Charming YEUNG [10U14M] 2nd: Jocelyn CHENG [10R03M]
Y10 Boys
1st: Adrian WONG [10C03M] 2nd: Matthew WONG [10R14M] 3rd (tied): Luca TRANTER [10U13M] and Alexandre JAOUEN [10R01M]
Y11 Boys
1st: Leif TSE [11U05S]
Y11 Girls Poem A and B
1st: Cherie CHUN [11R01S] 3rd: Andrea SAMTANI [11R05S]
Author
Chloe Yu et al. Students
Newsletter KGV | 4
KGV participates every year in the Hebe Haven 24 hour Dinghy Race, and this year was no exception. We fielded 2 boats; a Feva for the fun team and a Wayfairer for our race team, and raised over $13,000 for the charities supported by the event. This year for a change the weather was kind, with good winds and temperatures which weren’t too extreme, making sailing a pleasure compared to last year when lack of wind resulted in slow laps and frustrated sailors. In fact this year the KGV race team set a competition record for the number of laps completed at the event: 129. Our race team continued their winning run by coming first in their class, and achieved second place in the race overall; a great achievement, considering that the overall winning team, Sailability, compete at world class level. Thanks to team captain Riley Cameron, and the rest of the racing team for some brilliant sailing. Thanks to the PTSA for sponsoring this event.
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Hebe
Haven
24 hour Dinghy Race Racing team members were: Riley Cameron, Chris Bezy, Nick Bezy, Katrina Newman, Toby Smith, Jake Smith, Emily Keg, Callum Gregor, Shen Tan, Kiera Ewart, Taiga Iwasa Fun sailors were: Hylas Mok, Chris Kwan, Katherine Bezy, Sonja Dossenback, June Kim, James Wong, Yan Yin Yip, Milla Merazzi, Kyla Ewart, Josephine Lobler, Mark Masui Madsen, Daniel Piunti, Luke Riggs, Adrian Wong, Tiana Siu, Matis Vincent, Elliott Vincent Author
Louise Kadri Head of College
Newsletter KGV | 6
Inspired by India: Y10 Design Technology Student Work Year 10 GCSE DT students took part in a theme based project across the 5 areas of Design Technology. The chosen theme was India. You can see the work of the GCSE Textiles students. Students took inspiration from traditional Indian patterns, particularly Henna designs and used these as a design source to develop their own patterns and motifs. In the photos below you can see the GCSE Food students work. They researched and analysed existing Indian desserts and used these findings to design and make their own Indian inspired cakes and cheesecakes.
Students developed their designs using the CAD programme Adobe Illustrator. In the photos above you can see students using stencils cut on the ‘Scan and Cut’ CAD CAM machine. The machine allows for high quality multiples to be produced. Students chose a shared colour scheme – Black, white and Gold. They learnt how to construct seams, neaten edges with the Overlocker, and how to sew parallel lines. They used paint to stencil designs and fabric to Applique designs onto a background.
The food students looked at traditional ingredients, flavours and colours and used this research to develop their own ideas. Mango, Pistachio, Chai Tea and Coconut appeared to be the most popular ingredients with the students.
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Students studying graphics were set the task to re-brand Air India. They were able to work on a new colour scheme and logo design. They used CAD to develop their designs ideas and this allowed them to simulate how the Air India promotional products would look if their designs were to be used.
The Product design students (mixture of Electronics and Resistant materials) studied the ever growing issue of Plastic Waste in India.Much of the waste is caused by product packaging discarded from everyday products. Students designed and made card models of their ideas. They looked at different nets and used CAD - 2D Design to produce nets that used reduced amounts of materials and that could be made using card.
Author
Students were set the task to produce packaging that had be made from sustainable card materials and completely protect, inform, contain, preserve and display the product. The packaging must also allow multiples of the product to be able to be transported easily.
Melanie Walton Learning Director: Science & Technology
NewsletteR KGV | 8
And we welcome
Shaq O’NEAL!
Watch Shaq’s visit to KGV on CNN’s FB 9 | Newsletter Vol.22 Issue 1
Shaq O’Neal was so friendly and he invited students and staff for photo.
SHAQ’s
Shaq’s Profile Photo credits @ nba.com
Visit to KGV On a normal sunny day of 19th August, a group of Middle School students were having a PE lesson as usual. But they never knew a surprise was prepared for them as Shaquille O’Neal, former NBA Basketball Star, paid a visit to KGV as part of his interview show with CNN Asia. A few of our students were chosen to have the chance to play basketball with the legend: Nicholas Gerigk, Ethan Somerville, Micayla Baltazar and Billy Rigby. Well done to those students who met him and played basketball with him, and we hope you enjoyed it! Thanks also to Mr James Smith, Mr Matthew Whiley, Mr Lawrence Chan, Mr Charles Riding and Mr Jim Corrigall, and all the other staff who worked to organise the event.
Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal is a retired American professional basketball player. Standing 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall and weighing 325 pounds (147 kg), he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA. O’Neal played for six teams throughout his 19-year NBA career. O’Neal had the most success with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996. They won three consecutive championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002. O’Neal won his fourth NBA championship with the Miami Heat in 2006. This success was followed by a few seasons spent with the Phoenix Suns and the Cleveland Cavaliers. He retired after spending his last season with the Boston Celtics in 2011. O’Neal is one of only three players to win NBA MVP, All-Star game MVP and Finals MVP awards in the same year (2000); the other players are Willis Reed in 1970 and Michael Jordan in 1996 and 1998.
Author
James Smith
Source: Wikipedia Vice Principal
Newsletter KGV | 10
It seems to be another normal PE lesson...
Jawdropping moment
1 Watch and learn
2 WHAT an HONOUR!
3 Just so CLOSE!
4 JUST DO IT!
5 ALL you need is a little lift!
Photo Time!
7
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8
Like Us Now King George V School Hong Kong
Connect & Celebrate
SWIMMING GALA Swim Champions: Nightingale Cheerleading Champions: Crozier
InterHouse Music Competition
Shield Champions: Upsdell
KGV SP RT UPDATES The KGV Sports Programme is up and running with many new activities starting this term. Last year students were asked to suggest activities which they would like to see being offered as part of our Sports Programme and we now offer Archery, Fencing, Jugoken Martial Arts, Swimming for beginners & Improvers and Triathlon. These are very exciting times for Sport at KGV and have also helped increase our participation levels which is one of our main aims this year. If you have any ideas about activities that you would like to see on offer as part of the Sports Programme, then please let Mr Hooper know and we will do our best to make it happen!
For the most up to date information on KGV Sport, please scan theand visit KGV Sport’s Facebook page.
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Archery
- Student experience
Our Archery club is very popular amongst our students who all started the beginner course in September. The Sport is fun and safe and can help develop hand eye coordination and concentration as well as build muscular endurance and flexibility. Many of our students will continue on to the Intermediate course where they will develop their skills and technique further.
We asked Jocelyn CHENG (10R03M) & Stephanie CHU (10R04M) about their experience of Archery at KGV: Why have you chosen Archery as an afterschool Sports activity? J: Out of the multitudes of hobbies that
I could adopt, I believe that Archery is definitely a unique choice, it is most definitely not a sport that is commonly pursued. I tried Archery when I was young and I found it quite interesting and intriguing and wanted to pursue this activity.
S: I chose Archery because I have always
wanted to learn and when I went to Taiwan and got a taste of proper archery, I was hooked! So once I found out that we were having a school club and the chance to learn, I took it!
Can you explain what Archery involves? J: We have training sessions every Monday S: Archery involves a lot of skill and from 3:30-4:30. They bring in targets for us to shoot, we each get a bow which we learn how to string. We practise shooting from a short distance until we improve, then we will distance ourselves from the target slowly.
precision. You have to also be relaxed to do archery because if you are stressed, you can’t properly shoot the arrow.
What do you like about Archery? J: Archery is a sport with many different
options, you can do it for recreational purposes or competitively. It may not seem as physically challenging as other sports but it is actually quite testing and dangerous. The coach helps us individually, he helps us improve and prevent accidents. It is also very enjoyable to shoot with friends with a little healthy competition now and then.
S: I love that it really focuses on focus!
You can’t randomly shoot the arrow, you have to be calm, balanced and focused.
What do you like about Archery? J: Archery has a sense of simplicity but
is also complicated at the same time. It can branch out to many different recreational possibilities, such as field archery, bowfishing etc. When you manage to shoot the arrow on target gives you a great sense of satisfaction and achievement.It improves your hand eye coordination and it also give you an opportunity to try something you don’t normally do. Jocelyn CHENG (10R03M)
S: I would recommend this activity to
my friends because it is so much fun, despite the fact that it is quite quiet. You can set up a bunch of challenges on the target and your friends can shoot at it. There is also a rush of happiness whenever you hit close to the bull’s eye, a sense of accomplishment!
Stephanie CHU (10R04M) Newsletter KGV | 18
Fencing
- Student experience Our Fencing club also started in September and has also proved to be very popular. It is a unique Sport which is great for all-round fitness, muscle toning, building core strength, coordination and balance. Since you need to make lightning-fast decisions, it is also excellent for concentration and focus.
S:
We asked Karl Lin (12CO2S) some questions about his experience of Fencing at KGV. Why have you chosen Fencing as an afterschool Sports activity? K: I’ve picked this afterschool activity because I’ve been doing
fencing for a long time and I have a passion for fencing, I decided that I should start an afterschool fencing activity for me to share my passion for fencing with other people.
Karl Lin (12C02S)
Can you explain what Fencing involves? K: Fencing at school involves a variety of different exercises
and mini games such as agility training and footwork practice which improve on different aspects that will help students practice their fencing skills. Students also will use what they’ve learned to fence each other in casual sparing or tournament-like conditions.
What do you like about Fencing? K: I like this activity because it allows me to practise and teach
peers that are closer to my age. I enjoy the competition but also the social atmosphere that the activity provides. It gives me a chance to improve my own fencing skills as well and also to learn to face challenges.
Why would you recommend Fencing to friends? K: I would definitely recommend this activity to friends as it’s a fun and healthy activity to do with friends play with friends and have new things in common to talk about.
Author
Scott Hooper Head of Sports
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420 Dinghy World Championships
During the summer holidays my crew, Hugo Christensson, and I participated in two major sailing events. The first event Kiel Week was held in Kiel, Germany. We used this as our practice regatta for the 420 World Championships being held in Japan at the end of July. We arrived in Kiel a week early to train before the regatta and were rewarded with fantastic winds to train in. During the regatta the wind held and we had a great series. After getting off to a shaky start, getting disqualified from race 2 for being over the start line early, we came back well through the middle part of the regatta with a string of top 3 results. Coming into the last day we had moved from 112 to 12th after dropping (discarding) our disqualification from our results list. On the last day we had some solid results and moved up to 9th overall out of 158 boats. We left Kiel feeling very well prepared for the World championships as we had been able to do a lot of training with the top European and American sailors and had got back into practice sailing in big fleets – something we cannot do in Asia. When we arrived in Japan for the World Championships there were a number of typhoons coming our way. We arrived two weeks early to get used to the sailing area which was lucky as half of our training time was used up with a typhoon coming through!
We took part in the Pre-Worlds event and finished 5th so felt confident going into the World Championships. The first two days of the World Championships there were light, shifty winds and we struggled a bit getting some poor results. However as the wind increased with the third typhoon of our trip bearing down on us our results improved and we got consistent top three results. Unfortunately while lying in 2nd position in one race our mast broke which meant we had to find, tune and measure in a new rig and mainsail overnight. We went out the next day and managed to win the next race giving us confidence for the remainder of the regatta. Leading into the last day we just needed two consistent results to win the event. Sadly we had our worst day of the event! Overall we ended up in 3rd place and won the Under 17 division.
Author
Calum Gregor Students, 12N09S
Newsletter KGV | 20
Cross Country - KGV Cross Country Club
The KGV Cross Country Club meets every Wednesday from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. All running abilities are welcome, from the beginner aiming to increase their fitness base to our competitive runners who attend regular race meets. Please contact Ms Pinder or Mr Dixon if you are interested in joining the club.
Inter House Cross Country The KGV Inter-House Cross Country gives all our students the opportunity to contribute to their House points by participating in either the Elite Run (4.4km course), or the Fun Run (2.2km course). Well done to all students who participated in the Inter-House Cross Country, it was great to see so many students challenging themselves, embracing House Spirit, supporting peers, and cheering on the Staff involved in the Staff Fun Run. Special thanks to our House and Cross Country Captains for all their hard work too. Well done KGV, a fantastic effort by all. ISSFHK and HKSSF Cross Country The KGV Cross Country Club and Inter-House Cross Country act as an excellent pathway for our students to enter into competitive race meets. This year KGV entered the International Schools Sports Federation Hong Kong (ISSFHK) Cross Country competition for the first time. The schools involved in the competition each host a race meet leading up to the ISSFHK Cross Country Championships. Our runners thoroughly enjoyed being involved in the race meets, it was a great series allowing our runners to gain excellent race experience. The ISSFHK Championships were held on Lantau Island at Pui O beach, a stunning setting to run in with a tough finish along a long stretch of sand on Pui O beach.
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Well done to the following students who ran strong races at the ISSFHK Championships: U14 Boys - Wikky Heriwento U16 Girls - Muskan Malkani & Rachel Mason U16 Boys - Gaurav Gandhi & Vaibhav Jain The next competition is the Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation (HKSSF) Cross Country Competition, held at the Hong Kong Golf Club on the 30th November.
Congratulations to our medal winners from each year level Year 7 (Fun Run 2.2km)
Girls – 1st Man Wing Hung, 2nd Shunka Kakegawa, 3rd Yu Kate Chan Boys – 1st Jake Brunner, 2nd Liam Floyd, 3rd Ian Won
Elite races – 4.4km
Year 8 Girls – 1st Kirsten Lai, 2nd Rachel Hau, 3rd Kayla Soon Year 8 Boys – 1st Josh Eustace, 2nd Ollie Pyle, 3rd Roydon Chu Year 9 Girls – 1st Kara Casey, 2nd Saloni Mehta, 3rd Ashley Poernomo Year 9 Boys – 1st Felix Brunner, 2nd Wikky Heriwanto, 3rd Theo Ivarsson Year 10 Girls – 1st Muskan Malkani, 2nd Katharina Gerigk, 3rd Natalie Chan Year 10 Boys – 1st Aris Katafygiotis, 2nd Chris Bezy, 3rd Shiven Dukhande Year 11 Girls – 1st Amy Pyle, 2nd Tiffany So, 3rd Georgia Desideri-Zigante Year 11 Boys – 1st Lokel Wong, 2nd Thomas Quinn, 3rd Stefan Chu Year 12 Girls – 1st Megan Ho, 2nd Siri Livingston, 3rd Anna Weidemann Year 12 Boys – 1st Alan Sou, 2nd Nick Bezy, 3rd Sahil Mirchandani Year 13 Girls – 1st Yi Go, 2nd Ines Castagnet, 3rd Chloe Wan Year 13 Boys – 1st Michael Lam, 2nd Justin Lee, 3rd Luke Riggs
Author
Anna Pinder Teacher: PE
Newsletter KGV | 22
KGV Girls are Champions
AGAIN!!! KGV girls have always done well in the annual ESF tournament, but the pressure was on this year as they were the holders of the cup having won in 2014. They started well winning their opening game against Sha Tin College 3 - 0, with goals from Maya, Amy and Scarlett (a year 7 student making her debut for KGV). Game two saw a stale mate against South Island School 0 - 0, with KGV’s defence and comeback goal keeper Siobhan, preventing SIS from scoring. Game 3 was another good win, beating West Island 2 - 0, with goals from Natalie and Amy. This was enough and KGV were straight in to the semi - finals. The semi - final was a tough end to end match which finished goalless. This meant penalties would decide if we had the opportunity to defend the title in the final. With two superb finishes by captain Natalie and striker Maya, followed by a cracking save by goal keeper, Siobhan, KGV were victorious and through to the final.
The final was against South Island who were clearly intent on stopping KGV from retaining the trophy. Both teams fought gallantly creating and having saved opportunities both ends of the pitch. However, the game again finished goalless which meant more penalties. With confidence high after the penalty shootout before, the girls finished clinically, slotting away the first two penalties easily (Natalie and Maya). Siobhan then prevented SIS’s second penalty meaning all Dveeta had to do was score and the trophy was ours. Dveeta was a cool customer and hammered the ball into the back of the net meaning KGV were the champions (again....). Bring on the HKSSF league as with this team, anything is possible. Well done girls.
For more news about the ESF Football Tournament 2015
Players Natalie Organ(C) Siobhan O’Connor (GK) Dveeta Lal Hannah Jepsen Katharina Gerigk Amy Pyle Maya Renwick Scarlett Chiu Inka Hyttinen Stephanie Powell Krisha Mulchandani
Author
Dean Beard Head of College
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Charlie Hall in Kona Triathlon Metric Ironman! Congratulations to Charlie Hall who completed a metric IRONMAN (2.5km swim, 112 bike, 26.2km run) while supporting her dad who qualified for the IRONMAN world championships in Kona. She also raised $22,000 HKD who she has kindly donated to Benny Chu, a visually impaired triathlete who races for HK so that he can buy a tender bike to race on. An amazing achievement and an Inspiration to others! Well done Charlie !!!
Scan and read Charlie’s blog here abikeforbenny. wordpress.com.
For the most up to date information on KGV Sport, please scan theand visit KGV Sport’s Facebook page.
Author
Scott Hooper Head of Sports
Newsletter KGV | 24
Speech Day 2015 It was lovely to see so many parents, students and other members of our community at this year’s KGV Speech Day, which was held on Friday 6th November. Prizewinners received awards for a diverse range of endeavours – from the Ezra Abraham Scholarships which recognize academic excellence, to the Hendon Harris Sports Award which recognizes an outstanding sportsperson, to the PTSA Public Spirit Prize which recognizes a commitment to volunteer/charity work and other socially responsible activities. Our orchestra and chamber choir provided music throughout, alongside a dance performance by Christy and Stephanie Yip.
headed by President Gladwin Ho and Vice Presidents Hayley Chow and Fatih Ozer. Congratulations go to these students for the quality of their leadership and for providing a seamless event which was an excellent display of KGV’s values. Finally, thanks go also to the many individuals – students, staff and others – who gave of their time and energy to make Speech Day a success once again. Author
James Smith Vice Principal
Our speaker, Mr Abraham Shek, gave an enjoyable and meaningful speech about ethical leadership and KGV is delighted to have been able to welcome ESF’s new chairman to give the speech on this important occasion within the school’s calendar. We would like to extend our gratitude to Mr Shek for being with us. This year’s Speech Day also featured a number of new aspects, including a Prizewinner’s exhibition, video vignettes and the newlyintroduced LION Awards. Holding the event within the school day allowed every student to be a part of this year’s ceremony. These important changes were made through extensive work by the Speech Day Committee, 25 | Newsletter Vol.22 Issue 1
Hong Kong Interschool Quiz KGV selected four students – Edward Mak, Hilary Ip, Katrina Newman and I, Charmaine Au-Yeung – to participate in Hong Kong’s first interschool quiz: Mind Over Matter. This was organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and held at German Swiss International School on September 12th. Over the course of a day, we were quizzed on subjects ranging from music, to sports, to history; the questions themselves were of various abilities, with most being incredibly challenging. Out of 24 teams from both local and international schools, KGV did relatively well – we were 6th overall, missing out a place in the final by a mere 0.5 points. Special mention was given to us, however, and we were instead awarded 5000 HKD alongside several Bounce coupons. On the whole, the event itself was incredibly fun and rewarding, with lots of laughter shared between teams during the heat of the quiz. And whilst the prize money was indeed an unexpected bonus whilst we were there, I am mostly grateful for the opportunity to represent the school in an informal setting, thus proving once and for all that the mind triumphs over matter.
Author
Charmaine Au-Yeung Student: 12N04S
PTSA Student Card One of the many benefits of the PTSA fee is the receipt of the student Identity card. This card has been distributed to students in the new school year – upon payment of your yearly family PTSA fee. Not only is this used for student identification in public facilities such as public transport , theme parks, cinemas, museums etc it also provides the opportunity for exciting discounts at popular outlets. The PTSA has worked hard to continue to provide and expand the list of popular outlets for our KGV Student ID Card Privilege Scheme. We are proud to have on board our new vendors, Nomads restaurant (15% discount), Sticky Handmade Candy (10%), and Blue Place & Café (15%) providing our students discount upon showing their student ID card. Please find our updated list of vendors for the KGV Student ID card 2015-2016 on the KGV Website, PTSA section.
Newsletter KGV | 26
Science Technology Engineering Maths and other interdisciplinary subjects at KGV
Sean Tsung (Year 11) and Zaneta Wilkinson (Year 8) use the bulb pipette in preparation for titration.
Atrapa a un dopado Catch the drug cheats!
You find a sample of white powder in an athlete’s kit bag. Could it be an illegal drug? Can you determine the purity of a sample of Ibuprofen? These were two of the challenges set to groups of Year 8 – 11 students working as laboratory teams of analytical Chemists. Over a two day STEM enrichment project, taking place between the World Athletics Championships in Beijing and the Rugby World Cup, the students learned the techniques of dark field microscopy, titration, thin layer chromatography (including chromatography of colourless substances), specific gravity calculation and colorimetry. On the first day each of these techniques was demonstrated by a Year 13 STEM mentor, each of whom is planning to study for a STEM career (Riley Cameron – Engineering, Chris Kwan – Pharmacy, Yvonne Qian – Medicine, Toby Smith - Computer Science). On the second, the students used the techniques to determine the nature of the unknown substances. Additionally they appreciated the authentic learning context and conveyed this through their web site. Feedback from the project was enthusiastic, students enjoying the opportunity to work with like-minded students, as well as relishing the stretch and challenge. Thanks must go to technicians Mr Kin Man Ho and Dr Billy Yip, and Mr Gianluca Croce for their help in running this project.
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Abhay Venkitaraman (Year 8) and Calvin Lam (Year 10) members of the winning Team 4, led by Lilian Luong (Year 11), together with Jessie Cheng (Year 9). They showed that they were able to use their mathematical and chemical skills to work with accuracy and precision.
Year 7 French students used the roof top garden as a resource, when Ms Anna Fok and Ms Katell Le Goff led a Science and French lesson. The aims of this inter-disciplinary lesson was to discover the roof-top garden and to learn science-related vocabulary in French. Students were extremely engaged in the activities and gave very positive feedback. They especially enjoyed being out the classroom and learning different types of vocabulary to those that they normally learn. Suggestions for improvements included making the lesson longer and more difficult!
Year 9 Foreign Language Chinese students used paper airplanes as models in Science. Students tested whether paper airplanes with longer wings would fly further. The Chinese vocabulary related to the investigation such as size, length, units of measurement and the identification of variables were pre-taught. The teacher then led the students in folding two paper airplanes, one large and one small, by giving a demonstration with verbal instructions in Chinese. The students proceeded to an outdoor piazza where they collected data on the distance flown by the paper planes and recorded their findings on a worksheet.
Roshan Golani testing which airplane would fly further.
The use of two disciplines together with activities utilising the new spaces within the campus proved stimulating for the students. Especial thanks must go to our tetra-lingual scientist Ms Anna Fok, for being the catalyst in these two lessons. KGV has a long association with the rewilding of Lantau. Dr Ed Wickins was very keen that our Year 7 had the experience of contributing to this long-term project of re-afforestation. With this as the focus, a STEM project was born. Mr Paul Melsom (horticulturalist) demonstrated the technique of seed planting (using re-cycled coffee cups from Leo’s) and the seeds were put into a nursery on the roof. After what seemed a long time – but actually only four weeks, the first seeds to germinate were the Sword of Damocles trees, followed by Spiny Bridelia. During those four weeks, the students planted potatoes, investigated the relationship between leaf position and leaf surface area/internode length. They dropped model seeds from the
first floor balcony and recorded the time taken to land, when variables such as mass and wing length were altered.
Nathan Conroy-Stocker drops his model seed from the Science Block
Technology was very much to the fore, with students presenting their data using EXCEL and using their smart phones and slow motion cameras to photograph the falling seeds. In a nice ‘handing of the baton’ the seedlings were transplanted in September by Year 10 Biology students, into larger pots with more nutritious soil. To complete the cycle, we plan to take students to Lantau and plant the saplings in the KGV forest. This will give students an opportunity to measure the biodiversity of the re-afforested areas of different ages as well as using probes made in DT to measure soil moisture. The synergy between the STEM disciplines was clearly evident in all of these projects allowing students to ‘integrate disciplines in novel and creative ways’ IBO (2015). Additionally it fostered a creative energy between these teachers, who together led an ESF-wide workshop to share and reflect on the interdisciplinary projects being carried out in KGV. Ms Anna Fok and Mr Martin Mak will present their research into interdisciplinary teaching of Chinese and Science at a conference in HKU in December 2015. Author
Frances Phillips Head of Biology and STEM
For more about IBO (2015) Middle Years Programme: Interdisciplinary Learning Newsletter KGV | 28
Alumni News : Interview with Daniel Chen
Author
Yasmeen Ashraf Community Development Manager
Tell us what it was like when you were at KGV... E.W.D. Gore was the principal when I graduated in 1965, after taking the GCE “A” Level Exams. I later went to Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington. Retired after a career in IT work, I now live in Melbourne Australia. In the 60s, we had no calculators, no computers, Facebook or Internet. More complicated multiplications and divisions were done using Log tables. Homework was all written on paper, in exercises books, and for news and communication, we had newspapers and postal service. And for school bags, we had our canvas bags, rattan cases, and some have the more modern and fashionable Pan Am or BOAC bags. Only Form 6 students were allowed to use slide rules in tests and exams. (What’s that? A slide rule is a simple analogue computing tool.) School fees for Form 6 students were $36 a 29 | Newsletter Vol.22 Issue 1
month, $4 more than those in Form 1 to 5. The $4 covered lab fees for Science students and for that each we had a cupboard inside the laboratory with our own set of equipment, such as burettes, flasks, bottles, crucibles, bunsen burners,... Form 6 students had special privileges and powers. They were the only students allowed to use the main entrance and the staircase inside that entrance. Most of them were made Prefects. Prefects could punish students in lower forms for various offences, such as walking through the low hedges (which formed perimeters for much of the basketball courtyards), not walking in single file in the corridors, running or making loud noises. A common punishment was writing 100 times something like “I must not walk through... ... “ School life in KGV at that time was in some ways similar to what was written in the novel “Tom Brown’s School Days” a century earlier. OK, Maybe Harry Potter novels would mean something more. Old fashioned, strict, and even
a little scary.) There were no residential buildings in Tin Kwong Rd, just KGV and a girls’ school (Heep Yun, I believe), some sports grounds, and the Kowloon City police station at the foot of the hill. And yes, there was KJS, which was connected to KGV at the back and that little gate was sometimes used by students to sneak outside. We had no security cameras then, and no security guard at the front either. Most students studied French as a second language. Some chose German or another language. Chinese was not offered. Only about 10 percent of the students were Asian, with the majority European, especially British. Anders Nelson was in the same year. He was often seen in the library upstairs during lunch time (near where the cafe is now) writing music. It’s nice to see the assembly hall looking virtually the same after these 50 years, and to hear that students still sing “Honestas Ante Honores, Honesty first then glory”.
Other Updates
Alumni returned to help out our Careers Fair We thank Jackie Ng and Minako Hachiya for returning to KGV and helped out our Careers Fair on 22nd September.
Your Gift will Make A Difference Photo credits @ HKFA
Journey of HK and McKee towards WC2018 THE
LION FUND
It has been exciting to watch the Hong Kong’s matches in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Our alumnus Jaimes McKee is also in the Hong Kong line up. Up until presstime he has scored 2 goals for Hong Kong. We all look forward to seeing both HK and McKee in the World Cup Finals!
At KGV we believe in the powerful impact of collective unrestricted gifts: every donation counts no matter the amount. Your contributions have an invaluable role in increasing the resources available to the students.
The Lion Fund is an opportunity to support the school. It provides a means of making a financial contribution at any time.
The financial support of the KGV community enables the school to look beyond the school fees and the ESF contribution devoted to teaching, administrative costs and school maintenance. To find out more, please contact our Community Development Office at 2711 3029 or yasmeen.ashraf@kgv.edu.hk Newsletter KGV | 30
Your Gift will Make A Difference
THE
LION FUND