Message from the Principal - December 2020

Dear Parents of APSW,

     May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus be with you always!

     As we approach the month of December, that means we're drawing nearer to the festive season of Christmas. However, the holiday atmosphere might feel different this year because of the pandemic. We used to be able to travel around or spend much more time with family and friends during the Christmas break. This year, COVID-19 has altered all sorts of plans. In light of this ever-changing time, I am reminded of a passage from 1 Corinthians: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." I hope that our children will uphold the Christian values of faith, hope and love, respecting and caring for each other, and overcome all challenges through love. May they understand the true meaning of Christmas as this big day comes, and practise the great love of Christ in their lives. 

     I thank God for His protection, to protect our children against the threat of COVID-19 and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). Even with face-to-face classes resuming since late September to November, there have not been any URTI cases or other flu infections on campus and thus classes had been able to run normally. May God continue to protect us so that the first term assessment will be able to carry out smoothly.

     The Education Bureau has previously announced  that face-to-face classes and school activities of Primary 1 to 3 will be suspended starting from 23 November. As a result, students of these grades will not be given the opportunity to review their test papers. We understand that parents would be concerned about their children's academic results and learning progress. Therefore, we are currently arranging an earlier academic performance review session for parents of Primary 1 to 5 students, which will be held on the 1st December, 2020, the same day as Primary 6 students, but at a different allocated time slot. This will help to accelerate the grading process and enable parents and children to review their report cards sooner. Furthermore, in order to allow sufficient time for parents to go through students' exam papers and look into children's learning progress, the Primary 5 and 6 internal assessments for secondary school allocation will be separated from other grades.

     Our school currently arranges class allocations according to students' performance in the English subject. In order to enhance the clarity of the class allocation process, starting from this school year, students' ranking in the English subject will be shown on report cards for Primary 3 and 4 students for easier reference. Review and consultation of the class allocation process will be carried out soon. We hope to teach students in accordance with their aptitude to optimize their learning experience. 

     As the winter season arrives, many students have gradually changed into their winter school uniforms. This year, a new set of the four-house winter P.E. uniforms will be available. This is still a transitional period from the old to new P.E. uniform; details about the transition have been explained in a notice previously distributed. Students are able to still wear the old set of winter P.E. uniform and purchase the new set when they have outgrown the old one. Also, since the new winter P.E. sweater is not available yet, students are allowed to wear their summer house T-shirt with a plain black long-sleeved shirt underneath to keep warm, while wearing the new winter P.E. sweatpants. In light of the pandemic and other factors, students are also allowed to wear plain black sweatpants during this transitional period if they have not yet purchased the new winter sweatpants. 

     Apart from the development of the moral, intellectual, physical, social and aesthetic spheres, we also strive to foster the spiritual development of our children. Our aim is to assist our children to learn about Christ, as well as to cultivating their interest in reading religious books and thus instill positive values in them. We continue to hold faith sharing and praying sessions every morning to praise and worship the Lord, and to cast our burden upon the Lord. We hope that our children can walk with God in every aspect of their lives, including their journey of online learning and during the Christmas holiday.

     We will enter the year of 2021 after the Christmas holiday. May I wish everyone good health, not just the body; but your mind, spirit and for families to be filled with joy in the coming new year!

     I look forward to seeing you again in the new year!

Mr. Lee Tak Hang,
School principal

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