From the Head of Secondary 01.10.2022

Another busy week in Secondary with lots going on, and being planned for!

This week our Year 10 to 13 Business students, accompanied by Mr Grant and Dr Wong, visited the Hyatt Hotel, where they gained some insights into how a hotel ran as a business, with all the different and separate aspects being run by specialist teams who were then coordinated by senior managers and leaders.  Many thanks to the Hyatt Hotel for making this visit possible. Our Business department is planning similar visits to different businesses moving forward; these are very valuable learning experiences for our students.

Yesterday we held our Secondary Student Leadership assembly in the hall, where we heard from representatives of all our student groups, including the Student Council, the Prefects, the House Presidents, the Charity Committee, the Eco Warriors and the Library Cadets. It was wonderful to see these young people taking the stage and speaking confidently about their ideas for the future. It has been a few years since we were able to do this, which made it even more special.

In the same assembly, Ms Colley spoke about Global Goals Day, which is happening next Tuesday. Students in Year 6 to Year 9 will be off timetable and they will be working in cross-year group teams to investigate issues which are part of the global goals, and coming up with solutions for them. On this day we will be joined by members of our community who are challenged by the very same issues in their working lives. They will be speaking to the students about this, and, in the afternoon, they will hear the students’ ideas on solving some them. It promises to be a highly dynamic and interesting day, and all thanks must go to Ms Colley for all of the effort she has put into making it a success. It is also a fantastic opportunity for Year 6 to join Secondary for a day!

Next week is KIS Care Week, an initiative driven by Ms Siti, our school counsellor, and involving students, parents and staff across the school. We are looking forward to ‘Drop it and Relax’ and lunchtime sessions led by staff, such as Films in the Library, Cat Petting Corner, Mathematical Art, Friendship Bracelet Making and Music Appreciation. In addition, we are holding a Wellbeing Coffee Morning on Wednesday, starting at 7.45am. All parents are invited; we will be considering and discussing strategies for supporting children at home and at school when they are going through difficult times.

We are all very much looking forward to International Day, on October 14^th. It would be wonderful to see all our students in national dress or colours so please start planning for this now!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs Margaret Renshaw

Deputy Principal / Head of Secondary

Naturally, classroom learning should be a highly enjoyable experience for all students. However, taking them into a workplace environment where they can see how their learning worked in a real-life capacity is also beneficial as they can see how the hotel operates whilst gaining knowledge about important issues such as job opportunities in that sector of the economy.

MARKETING IN PRACTICE

After learning in class about Added Value to products and services, as well as Marketing extensively and the associated importance of topics such as the marketing mix, we organised for 48 Business students to visit the Hyatt Regency Hotel to view how the hotel worked in practise and to learn from experienced staff in the industry.

Students enjoyed a tour of the hotel back-of-house and front-of-house premises where staff members showed them some of the guest rooms and leisure areas, whilst explaining the role and importance of each department in relation to hotel as a whole. The importance of customer service, especially in this type of industry, was also heavily emphasised to students as it is through providing a good service that guests are encouraged to keep coming back in the future.

Applying Knowledge to the Workplace

Students had prepared for this visit and they were proactive about asking hotel staff many relevant and interesting questions about the hotel striving to be a successful business in quite a competitive business environment here in KK. The students reported that the trip was an enjoyable and enriching learning experience, and fun for everyone involved. They also had an opportunity to learn about many of the key life-skills required to work in the hotel sector and – most important – the visit gave them a chance to apply their classroom-based learning to the world of work.

The Business Studies teachers would like to thank the office and support staff at school as well as all the staff at The Hyatt Regency Hotel for their help with ensuring that this trip took place. Most importantly, we hope that the students  enjoyed their visit!