Enrich learning experience, express yourself confidently, and build an academic Happy School

Y.C.H. Ho Sik Nam Primary School is an academic "Happy School" that not only values ​​students' academic development, but also strives to create a pleasant learning environment. The school has always been committed to providing an education that pays equal attention to the five educations, enriching students' learning experience, allowing students to have balanced development in moral character, academics and extracurricular activities. It implements the spirit of the school motto of "Respecting Benevolence and Helping the World" to establish correct values ​​​​for students, train them to become good citizens, and contribute to the society in the future. Principal Ye Weiting said: "In the new school year, I hope to make the learning environment and campus life better, so that students can have a more fulfilling and exciting life at school."

Optimize class timetable and design diverse and comprehensive courses

The school optimizes class timetables and launches diversified and comprehensive courses to improve students' learning outcomes. Regular teaching and core courses are arranged in the morning period, so that students can study when they are most energetic and participate in class activities more focused. After lunch, there are multiple comprehensive classes, with different themes arranged every day, covering various aspects such as moral education and Chinese culture, interest groups, STEAM courses and other learning experiences (OLE courses). In addition, the school also has "Multiple Learning Classes" to help students consolidate the knowledge absorbed in the morning class in the afternoon. Through flexible and interesting curriculum design, the school inspires students' enthusiasm for learning and allows them to grow in a pleasant environment.

Sea, land and air school-based courses innovative STEAM education

The school launched the school-based STEAM curriculum "META", which integrates the four major elements of "Marine", "Earth", "Aerial" and "Technology" into the curriculum at all levels. For example, for the subject of "emptiness", the first grade has the theme of "strange paper airplanes", the second and third grade students will make wind direction and anemometers, and the sixth grade students will learn to make water rockets. Through different themes, students will learn scientific principles through exploration. Different elements will also be incorporated into the course, such as advanced technologies such as AR and VR, and students will also be taught to use software such as Scratch, micro:bit, and mBot to learn programming.

Principal Ye hopes that students can integrate STEAM knowledge and cultivate technological literacy in different topics, so that they can explore different fields and deepen their knowledge through technological exploration. In addition, the school has also optimized campus hardware, such as the STEAM room decoration project that is about to be completed; and the creative e-music room project has been launched. The initial plan is to add an iFloor to the music room to add more interactive elements to the classroom, closely connect with e-learning, and improve the effectiveness of learning and teaching.

Diversified language teaching, happily immerse yourself in the English world

In order to improve students' English proficiency, the school began to set up English specialization classes in the second grade so that students can learn in a rich context. Through the school-based curriculum "STAR Programme", which covers the four major elements of "Speaking", "Task based", "Arts" and "Resources", different strategies such as drama and reading are used to enrich the classroom, and create a real situation for students to express and communicate in English, strengthening their confidence in using English. In addition, the school also launches English activities such as English Wednesday and English Fun Day to increase opportunities for students to communicate in English and make children more engaged in English learning.

Develop independent learning habits and explore different areas of knowledge

Having the ability to learn independently not only makes your own goals and learning tasks clear, but also helps improve your independent thinking ability and thinking quality. Therefore, the school incorporates independent learning elements into the classroom to build lifelong learning abilities for children starting from junior primary school. For example, the "flipped classroom" model is used to allow students to watch teaching videos before starting to study, and then discuss related issues in class. Teachers will also encourage students to use different methods to organize the knowledge and content they have learned, such as thinking strategy maps, timelines, six hat thinking, etc., so that students can write notes systematically.

Outside the classroom, the school also introduces reading pens to help cultivate students' self-learning ability. Principal Ye pointed out: "Junior primary school students may not remember it deeply enough after listening to it once in class. The reading pen can help them review and deepen their knowledge after going home." For example, in the mathematics subject, the reading pen not only teaches children the principles of mathematics, but also teaches the process of problem solving and calculation, so that after class in school, they can consolidate their knowledge according to their own needs and review the past and learn new things.

Reading is also an important part of independent learning. Principal Ye believes: "Every subject has the need for reading, and reading can deepen the understanding of the subject." Therefore, each subject will cooperate with the library to launch interdisciplinary courses, starting from reading, to learn more about the subject. The school will also organize themed reading activities on different themes and hot topics to encourage students to borrow relevant books, cultivate regular reading habits, and allow students to further explore knowledge in different fields.

Diverse learning experiences Knowledge connects life

As an academic Happy School, the school not only values academics, but also hopes that students will learn happily. Therefore, an "OLE period" is specially set up in Friday's comprehensive class to enrich students' learning experience. For example, for the Cantonese opera unit of the music subject, the school will invite Cantonese opera masters to teach children the skills and postures in Cantonese opera; for the practical text topic of the Chinese subject, students will be arranged to write postcards to their families and then mail them to the community post office; the science subject will also arrange outdoor learning and visits for students. After learning the knowledge in the books, they will apply this knowledge from experiences outside the classroom, tie the knowledge to life, and have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the learning content.

Discover your talent potential and broaden your learning horizons

The school encourages students to develop in music, sports and arts, allowing them to further study according to their interests and expertise. Principal Ye said: "Children should broaden their horizons, not just at the level of knowledge." The school has nearly 60 groups of extracurricular activities for students to participate in, exploring their personal potential and broadening their knowledge. Take the handball team as an example. In addition to regular training, teachers will also lead the team members to participate in different competitions or hold friendly matches to invite students from partner schools to compete. Students even have the opportunity to go to Taiwan and other places for training and competition. Some of the elite handball team members were selected for the Hong Kong team and got the chance to train and compete in Sweden, allowing them to look at the world and develop their courage. Under this training method, the handball team has won many awards. Earlier, it won the third place in the men's group and the second place in the women's group in the Hong Kong inter-school five-a-side handball competition.

The Chinese Dance Company is also one of the school's key development projects. Dancers need to train hard and practice diligently to present the best performance on the stage. In the process, students can get more exercise, and at the same time learn perseverance, never give up, and team spirit, which has a positive effect on the students' physical and mental health. At the same time, the school will also lead students to participate in competitions to give them the opportunity to show the results of their practice. Earlier at the 60th School Dance Festival, the team won three excellence awards, a choreography award and two Grade A awards. It also won the Chinese Dance Group Award of Merit, with impressive results.

Correct values ​​education to cultivate students’ character and quality

Values ​​education is an important element of whole-person education. Through the "Moral Education and Chinese Culture Subject", the school systematically integrates the activities of the Moral Subject such as weekly meetings, growth classes, and school-based moral education courses. With Chinese culture as the backbone, it runs through the 12 primary values ​​advocated by the Education Bureau to strengthen students' national identity, cultivate students' correct values, and help them face various challenges in future life at different stages of their growth. In the classroom, students conduct learning activities on different themes, watch historical videos, participate in workshops, lectures, etc., allowing students to understand the country’s history and latest developments from different aspects, and cultivate national identity.

At the level of student cultivation and support, schools promote positive education through different school-based programs. For example, the "Shinan to Laxing" award program sets indicators in areas such as learning, discipline, and service. When students perform well, they can receive extra points and even exchange gifts for encouragement. The guidance team also launched the "Shinan to Laxing" Cheer Up program to encourage students to help those around them, express gratitude, and teach students to learn to be grateful. In addition, the school will also arrange for students to perform community services, such as visiting the elderly center and inviting the elderly in the area to participate in on-campus concerts, so as to cultivate children to become good citizens with empathy and kindness.

Measures for transition from kindergarten to primary school to adapt to campus life

As early as June, the school had invited parents of primary school freshmen to come to the school to participate in a sharing session, where members of the parent-teacher association, alumni, etc. would speak from their own experience, allowing them to learn more about the school. As the term approaches, the school will also arrange adaptation courses for primary school freshmen to experience primary school life in advance. When students have been in class for a month, the school will hold a "full moon ceremony" for them and teach students to make small gifts to give to their parents to thank their parents for their company.

In terms of learning, the school provides the "Primary One Transition Booklet" to help students lay a solid foundation in various subjects, gradually master the requirements of the primary school curriculum and basic knowledge of different subjects, and allow them to understand different parts of the campus. In terms of testing and examinations, the school has also made some adjustments, delaying the silent reading in Primary 1, and only taking the two silent readings with the best scores to score, which not only reduces the learning pressure, but also makes it easier for them to have a sense of success and make them more active in learning.