Primary Principals' Newsletter

You will notice that we have moved the Parent Corner to the top section for the April Newsletter. This is because we are planning a major Social Media Initiative that will be years-long in its implementation and we wish to highlight our first steps towards eventually achieving a Phone and Social Media-Free Childhood for all Kingston students.

As part of our commitment to fostering a healthy environment for our students, it is our intention to implement the Smartphone Free Childhood Hong Kong initiative. This program aims to promote the well-being of children by encouraging families to limit smartphone/social media usage and foster more meaningful, face-to-face interactions.

Social media platforms are generally not suitable for (and can pose dangers to) children and teens. This being said, parents may feel pressured to provide phones for their children or even allow them to use messaging and social media apps in order that their child is not isolated socially. The Smartphone Free Childhood initiative has recognised that by simply having the knowledge that 50%, 75% or (ideally) 100% of students in a class are not using smartphones or messaging apps at all, parents are empowered to maintain appropriate restrictions on their use without compromising their social lives.

The initial phase of establishing this initiative will begin with raising awareness.We have already introduced parents to Smartphone Free Childhood in a previous Principals’ Newsletter. Our next steps will include posting and sharing information about the privacy, social, health and financial costs of social media and sending further information to families about how to participate.

While Smartphone Free Childhood sets a goal of no phones before the age of 13 and no social media apps before 16 years old, we will be encouraging families to support each other in committing to withholding both until your child finishes their primary education at Kingston.

We believe that by participating in this initiative, our students can cultivate a healthier balance between technology and daily life. By working together, we can foster improved emotional and social well-being outcomes for the children of Kingston, helping them thrive in a world full of possibilities.

More information and support materials to come soon!

Congratulations to Kingston Year 4.1 student, Peterson Hui, who secured third place in the 2025 Hong Kong Open Youth Table Tennis Championships (Category U9) last week!

A total of 177 contestants competed in this category over two days, making the qualification process for the next level quite challenging. The most intense moment came during the quarterfinals against the third-seeded player. Both athletes performed exceptionally well, and after winning three out of five games, the match was tied at 2-2. However, Peterson managed to stay composed under pressure, ultimately winning the deciding game with a score of 3-2 to advance to the next round.

In the semifinals, having expended considerable energy in the previous matches, Peterson faced the top-seeded player and narrowly lost with a score of 3-1. Reflecting on his experience, Peterson said, “I gained valuable insights from the matches and will continue striving to improve. I hope to achieve a better result in the next competition! Thank you!”

Just before the Easter break, the Newspaper Club sold out their available copies of the Easter Edition of the Kingston Student Newspaper and had to order more copies to be printed due to high demand! Brisk sales to members of the Kingston community raised $2,176 for Feeding Hong Kong. Many thanks to our young journalists and to the Kingston Community for this engaging and generous effort!

The third friendly debate competition of the school year will be held on May 28th (Wednesday) 2025 at American School Hong Kong. The topic for debate will be: Should students give each other presents at Christmas? American School Hong Kong will take the affirmative side, while Kingston will be the opposing side.

The fourth friendly debate competition of the school year will be held on June 5th(Wednesday) At Canadian International School. The topic will be: Should lucky money given to children be kept by themselves? Kingston will argue the affirmative side, while Canadian International School will take the opposing side. Our debaters have been working hard for these matches. They are full of confidence and expect to perform very well in these matches. Stay tuned for updates!

This year in total 44 upper primary students participated in the Putonghua Proficiency Tests. We are happy to announce that the results were excellent! 31 students achieved As and Bs in the test. The pass rate reached 98%, a 6% increase from last year! Congratulations to our students! It is evident that the Putonghua proficiency of our students has reached the level of native speakers, which is truly a cause for celebration!

Families who visited the Year 6 PYP Exhibition on March 27th may remember a group of three students who researched and presented on Sports. As part of their group action, Daniel, Javan and Alisdair introduced the sport of Pickleball to Upper Primary students. Inspired, the students of Upper Primary petitioned to have Pickleball set as one of our playground sports at lunch and snack time.

Daniel, Javan and Alisdair have been setting up Pickleball on Thursdays ever since! Well done, boys!

Kingston’s dedication to a through-train Chinese program for our students has resulted in the development and implementation of The Kingston Chinese Programme (KCP) at ICHK. Designed and written by our Vice Principal, Ms. Fenwick Tong, the KPC plays a vital role in ICHK’s Chinese curriculum. This year, several Year 6 students have enrolled at ICHK and will be participating in KCP moving forward.

On the morning of April 22nd, ICHK Chinese teachers, Ms. Lu and Ms. Xu, visited Kingston for face-to-face discussions with the Year 6 students to better understand their Chinese proficiency. The students engaged thoughtfully with the teachers and completed their Chinese assessment tasks diligently. Both Ms. Lu and Ms Xu provided positive feedback on the students' high level of proficiency in Chinese!

We are very pleased to be able to share the latest edition of Insight Magazine, a student-led publication created by ICHK students.

This edition is called ‘The Identity Issue’ and it features student explorations of identity in a wide variety of contexts.

We are proud to be able to point out the roles that Kingston Alumni played in its publication:

Derek Fung (Class of 2023): Wellbeing Editor

Ronny Chu (Class of 2024): Author of ‘Our School Community’

Sophie Leung (Class of 2024): Author of ‘The Concept of Identity’

Ayden Wong (Class of 2024): Author of ‘This is Our Identity: 7.4’

Aegis Chu and Sophie Leung (Class of 2024): Authors of articles in the ‘Diverse Communities in Hong Kong’ section

Please take the time to have a read here: ICHK Insight Magazine April 2025