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The Principal's Newsletter

Hanova hosts 1st annual Spring Carnival 2013

By Mr Martin Hughes

Dear Parents and

Spring Carnival. We would like to sincerely thank everyone in the Community for helping us to make Saturday, May 11th an historic day for Hanova School. The 1st Annual Spring Carnival would not have been a great success without all of you! 

This celebration of fun, food, and entertainment started with games and activities planned and organised by the Student Council. Games included Ring & Ball Toss, Bowling, Penalty Shoot and the “Mess Up Mr G” activity that gave students the chance to throw wet sponges or cream pies at Mr Gallerno. Everyone who played games had fun and won prizes. There were also enjoyable activities including Face Painting, Necklace & Bracelet Craft, Lemonade Stand, Lucky Draw, Art Exhibition and Community Mosaic Project (see below for more details).

Following the fun and games, everyone eagerly joined in the more serious business of eating. The goal of feeding a hungry crowd was accomplished when an international lunch buffet was served, with a large selection of dishes donated by our generous parents. A big “Thank you!” to parents who helped by donating and serving food.

After lunch was the Talent Show, where our students had the opportunity to show off their creative skills. Acts included musical instrument recitals with harmonica, ocarina, piano, and traditional Chinese flute, as well as jokes, singing, dances, and much more. The audience that filled the auditorium and outside stage area was entertained by a variety of activities from a large range of countries.  This brought together the Community with a truly international flavour, celebrating the talents and various cultures in our school. The fantastic performance programme ended with revealing the  final tally of funds raised for The Yellow River Soup Kitchen to assist less fortunate people in and around Xi’an – ¥9,532. Mr Tony Day, the founder of the Soup Kitchen, stated that he was very impressed by the amount of this donation by our still-growing school and asked that we pass along his appreciation to everyone in our Hanova Community.

We hope that everyone who came to the first-ever Hanova Spring Carnival last Saturday afternoon went home  with good memories, prizes, and full stomachs - as well as the joy of international friendship and the warm feeling that is earned by those who are charitable and willing to help others. Again, we’d like to express our appreciation to all of you for helping us make this a very special day.

Mosaic. The last year has been an exciting time, and those who were here before last summer will be aware how very different the school looks now from the time when we first saw the building. A further transformation of part of the school began at the Spring Carnival, when art teacher Mrs Carrie Varjavandi enlisted the help of volunteers to work on the mosaic panels for the stairwell leading to the auditorium. Students have been working for many weeks developing images for the mosaic, and the exhibition currently on show in the entrance features their ideas.

Mrs Varjavandi has created a design combining work of many of the students. The finished mosaic will comprise of four panels, each with images relevant to the school, with emphasis on the activities that take place at the top of the stairs, such as music, dance, and performance.

“In addition to involving as many of the students ideas as possible, I will also be linking the panels by using the theme of the four elements, so that there is a unity to the overall design,” said Mrs Varjavandi. “ The panel nearest the bottom of the stairs will feature Fire, which seems appropriate as it also includes a friendly dragon. Moving upwards, we go through Earth and Water, and finally we have Air, represented by clouds. You could also see that in terms of our spirits lifting as we go up the stairs, and the lightness we experience when we play or listen to music or when we dance.”

“Mosaics are a great way to involve lots of people, whether completing a whole section, or placing just one single piece of tile.  It is also a metaphor for how each of us is like a small piece of mosaic – we all have our part to play, and if even one piece is missing, the whole picture is affected. I hope that everyone in the Hanova Community will want to participate in this major project. ”

Mosaic will be included in the Thursday after school programme, but the scale of the work means we will be looking for assistance from parents, friends and staff, if we are to complete the mosaic by the summer break.

Book Fair. Representatives from Beijing Star Kids Children's Bookstore are returning to set up some books for purchase on Monday, 20th and Tuesday, 21st May.  The Book Fair will be open to parents and friends on Monday and Tuesday from 8:15-8:50am and again from 3:15-4:00pm in the library. This is a chance to look through the books on offer, either with your child or on your own. The students will have a timetabled time to visit the Book Fair with their class some time on the Monday.  In that way they can write down any books they would like to purchase for you to approve and then they can return with the money the next day.  Please send any money in a sealed envelope with your child’s name, the amount of money and the book title (if known).

Year 5/6 Education Outside The Classroom. The Year 5/6 students have been away from school on their “Week Without Walls” Education Outside the Classroom programme.  So far they have visited the Muslim Quarter (Great Mosque, Gao Residence), Fa men Temple and Chen Lu Pottery Factories.  This is in preparation for the Year 6 Exhibition coming up on June 20th.  The students have been furiously taking photos to present to you all at the exhibition!  They have been a credit to Hanova with their exemplary behaviour and desire to learn.

Best regards

Martin Hughes

 

Forthcoming events

Saturday, 18th               Saturday Sports restarts

Monday, 20th Tuesday, 21st     Book fair

Tuesday, 21st Thursday, 23rd Block 5 of Extra Curricular Activities starts

Friday, 24th                    Admission Panel meets to consider applications for  2013-14


About the Author


Martin Hughes

Former School Principal

Mr Martin Hughes was the founding Principal of Hanova from 2012-15. Prior to his time at Hanova, he already had 23 years of experience as Principal in the UK and China at five different schools - including posts at Wuxi EtonHouse and EtonHouse's flagship Suzhou school. During his time as founding Principal at Hanova, he helped support the initial IB Diploma Programme authorisation (2014) and used his educational vision to help plant our then brand new school on a firm foundation. Under his leadership, Hanova's motto emerged, "Enabling children to become independent, creative and lifelong learners!"


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