Primary-specific Information

Welcome to the Primary-specific Information for RCHK Parents!

We hope the guidelines shared here will help you and our students better navigate through a day-to-day school life.

Hometime arrangements

When the bell rings at 3:00 pm, staff work together to make sure the children get home safely.

Walkers

All children who are being picked up from school will make their way to the Ground Floor. Specific pick-up areas for Parents/Guardians are listed here.

Children in Years 1-3 are asked to wait quietly until they see their ‘significant adult’. If someone new is going to pick up your child it is important that you notify the class teacher of their name and that your child knows with whom they should be leaving school. If possible it is preferable that we are introduced to the new adult before they start taking responsibility for your child.
Please be here to pick your child up on time. Any delay can be extremely upsetting for the children. Teachers are on duty until 3:15 pm only. After this time your child will be asked to sit and wait for you in the Primary Office. If you have been delayed please call the Primary Office (3556 3308) as soon as possible to let us know.

Buses

Many of the children at RCHK take the bus every day. The school buses at RCHK are operated by an external bus company, and most communication about buses takes place directly with the company.

After the bell rings at the end of the day children:

Years 1-3: walk to their bus lines where bus chaperones and school personnel are on duty
Years 4-6: walk to their buses and embark attended by the school bus driver

If your child is not taking the bus on a given day it is extremely important that you notify both the bus company and the class teacher in order to avoid unnecessary delays for the rest of the children on the bus. Once on the bus children are reminded to take their bag off and put their seat belt on.
For further information about the school bus, click here.

Children leaving independently

Some of our oldest children make their way home from school independently. It is important that we know who these children are. If it is your intention that your child will travel home on their own or with an older sibling who also attends RCHK, please let their class teacher know at the earliest opportunity. If it is a regular occurrence, please let us know in writing that you have given permission for your child to do so.

Change in usual arrangements

On occasion, we understand that hometime arrangements need to be changed at the last moment. If this happens please telephone the Primary Office (3556 3308) to let us know.

Students' Personal Property

Jewelry and accessories

Earrings should be studs or very small hoops. Necklaces, rings, and bangles should not be worn unless for religious reasons. In such cases, we ask parents to notify the school in writing.

Personal items / toys

Except in the case of a teacher request, personal items that are part of our school uniform (like caps), or personal items that are required for school (lunchboxes, drink bottles, year six laptops, etc.), we strongly recommend that students do not bring personal belongings to school. If students choose to bring personal belongings to school, then please note that we will not take any responsibility for the loss of or damage to these personal items. In accordance with this stance, it is also important to note that teachers will not engage in email exchanges regarding personal belongings.

Smartwatches

We appreciate that GPS watches have come on in the past few years. Children may wear GPS watches in school as long as they have been disabled during school time. This means that students are not able to make calls, record, or take photographs during school hours. Teachers will happily store children’s watches in a secure place if this will be challenging for them. If children are using their watches for purposes other than time telling during the school day, they will be asked to leave their watches with the teacher until the end of the day. Please be reassured that we have in place a number of systems for children to seek help if they need it during the school day.

Lost property

If an item is lost and returned to the Primary Office:

On the same day

If an item is lost and returned to the Primary office on the same day, it will be in the crate in the front of the Primary Office.

At the end of the day

If an item is lost, it will be added to the lost property box located outside the Primary Office. If the item is labelled, it will be returned to the year group hub on Friday of the same week.

Items which are not labelled will be donated to RAPT on the Friday following the week in which they have been added to lost property.

The amount of lost and found does not make it possible for us to store unlabelled items for longer than this. However, any item which has name and class on it will be returned to the classroom if found.

Primary Uniform

Please refer to the school’s uniform guidelines on our uniform webpage.

Please ensure that you label all pieces of your child’s uniform with their name and class. This helps to ensure lost items get returned to their rightful owners.

Communication at Renaissance College

Relationships are at the #heartofrchk. Healthy communication is essential and helps build and sustain strong, positive partnerships. The following guidance is shared with the aim of strengthening relationships across Renaissance College. 

Parents and Staff of RCHK

Renaissance College has an ‘open-door’ philosophy regarding communication. Parents can contact teachers whenever they wish in person, by telephone and/or via email.

We ask that everyone understand and adhere to the following guidelines to support open, positive and supportive communication.

When communicating via email/telephone:
– Teachers will endeavour to respond to parent emails/telephone calls within 24 hours in the working week;
– If an email is sent on the weekend (after 5:00 PM on a Friday), teachers will respond during the work week (Monday – Friday).
– During the school day, student wellbeing and teaching responsibilities are prioritised by staff. Accordingly, emails/telephone calls from parents may only be responded to once students have left school.
– If there is an urgent matter that needs to be attended to that arises during the school day (i.e. change in pick-up arrangements, etc.), parents are asked to contact the Primary/Secondary Office directly.
– If parents wish to discuss issues with the Primary/Secondary leadership team, the same guidelines apply.

Alongside our open-door policy, there are a number of scheduled opportunities for parents to meet with teachers throughout the academic year.

In Primary, these include:
– Start of year listening conferences (August)
– Chinese Listening Conferences (August/September)
– Three-way conferences (October/November)
– Student-led conferences (June)
– Parent University sessions (on-going)

For information about the school, parents are encouraged to consult:
– ESF app
– School website
– PHI
– Gateway
– Primary Year-level websites

Parents with Parents

E-MAIL
In Primary, we have a Class Parent programme in place each academic year where a parent volunteer, per class, is asked to share messages and support home-school communication. The official way of communicating is an email address that the class parent will use. This email handle will include all parents of each class (where permission has been given). The class parent email address will be the name of the class (i.e. 4NP) followed by _parents@rchk.edu.hk (i.e. 4NP_parents@rchk.edu.hk).

PRIVATE PARENT MESSAGING AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Whilst some parents like to use WhatsApp as a way to communicate as a group, we ask that parents understand that not all parents of students who attend RCHK appreciate notifications via the Whatsapp platform; further, not all parents have telephones that support Whatsapp. As such, email is the preferred way of communication between parents and parents/teachers. If parents have particular questions/concerns, the school requests that they contact the teacher directly for a response.

Please refer to our policy on using students’ images on social media and in school’s publications.

Day-to-day expectations

Invitations

Invitations for birthday parties, etc. will not be permitted to be handed out in the classroom environment; students can hand these out in school but outside of the classroom.

Food

Due to the large number of children with food allergies we do not allow food sharing in school. Parents are asked not to send in cakes, candies, or any other food to celebrate birthdays or other occasions.

Allergies

We embrace a wide variety of food options at school. We are aware that the allergies some of our students have vary in kind and strength. We work with our students and their families to support children to manage their allergies on a case-by-case basis.

If your child has or develops an allergy, please update the medical information on the Gateway.

Photographs & videos of children at school

We ask that adults do not take photographs and/or videos of other people’s children without permission from the parents/guardians of those children.

Changing students after school

We are fortunate that students are able to attend a wide range of after school activities, both provided by the school and outside agencies. When these activities require students to change their clothing, please remember that the toilets on campus are single sex. Boys should not be going into the girls changing spaces, even if accompanied by their helper or parent. Similarly, girls should not be going into the boys changing spaces, even if accompanied by their helper or parent.