News

Dear Parents,

A full and busy week has passed us by at HFS and a number of significant events took place and need to be reported in this week’s briefing. It was heartwarming to see so many students making cards for our teachers to celebrate teachers day on Wednesday. Thank you for recognising and acknowledging the efforts made by our teachers. It is truly appreciated.

CIS Substantive Change Inspection

HFS is a proud to be an accredited member of the Council of International Schools (CIS). We maintain high standards of health, safety and educational practice to retain our accreditation to this certificating authority and since HFS moved to its new location it was necessary for an evaluation of the new premises to ensure that the same criteria are being met. The staff have been hard at work ensuring that all CIS guidelines and requirements are being adhered to and I would like to thank Dr. Eric Jabal of the CIS for his thorough evaluation and assessment of our school. Thank you also to the parents who took time to meet with him today and to all the staff for their efforts in preparation for today’s inspection. As soon as the results are available we will share them with you but I have no doubt that HFS will do well in meeting expectations.

HFS Sports Day

The weather has been pleasant and warm and the air has been clean and so next Friday 24 May we will have our school sports day at the Spanish sports filed. The event will run in the morning up until lunch time. We will depart at 09:15 and return after enjoying lunch at the field. It promises to be an exciting a morning full of energetic activity as we have class games and group games. Please join us to watch your child flex their athletic muscles and hopefully win a prize.

Open Day at HFS

On Tuesday June 18 HFS will conduct another open day so that you may view the dynamic teaching and learning that is happening at our school. Join us and invite your friends for a brief presentation about the school at 09:30, followed by a short tour and refreshments and the opportunity to witness and participate in an actual lesson. Parking will be available and all staff will be eager to field any questions you may have. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to see behind the scenes at your child’s school. I look forward to seeing you there.

That is all for this week. Thank you for your continued support and do have a wonderful weekend.

Best regards,

Scott Kearney

Dear Parents,

We are in the peak of Spring and the weather and air has been pleasant at all times during this short week. I am happy to report only positive news for this week’s letter.

Daewangam Park Clean-up

It is delightful to see the HFS students being responsible citizens and playing an active role in caring for the environment. We certainly had an enjoyable afternoon at Daewangam Park, taking advantage of the fine, warm weather to enjoy our beautiful surrounds and play our part in keeping our environment clean. I was happy to see some of the parents joining us for the afternoon outing and glad that the students did so well in picking up the litter that was left in the park. They definitely earned their ice-cream treats. Please enjoy these pictures of our students engaging with their environment.

Spring Day

I am looking forward to our Spring Festival tomorrow and thank you to all who have pre-ordered tickets. They will be waiting for you at the ticket counter tomorrow morning. It promises to be a fun-filled day of exciting activities from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm tomorrow. There will be a host of entertaining stalls including drone flying, pie-tossing, face painting and many others. There will be food and snacks on sale, courtesy of the PTA ladies who have been working exceptionally hard to make this day a real treat. Thank you to all who kindly donated items to our “treasures and trinkets” stall, there are definitely some valuables up for grabs. For your convenience, parking will be available at the parking tower for the duration of the festival from 10 am to 3 pm. Please bring your parking receipt that you receive when entering the tower, and find Ms. Esther Yeo at the gym to stamp your receipt for validation. 

A special thank you to the Hyundai Tigers football team for providing some enticing prizes for our raffles, including an autographed official football and two autographed football official Hyundai Tigers Jerseys. Also up for grabs, courtesy of the generous folk at HHI Arts Center, are tickets to the upcoming spectacular stage production “Burn the Floor” and even a voucher for a night’s stay at the Haeundae Grand Hotel overlooking Haeundae Beach which was generously donated by our parent company, HHI. These are fantastic prizes and tickets for the raffles can be purchased at the Spring Day. The draw for the winners will be at 1:50 pm. Get your tickets to enter and good luck!

CIS Visit

HFS is proud to be an accredited affiliate of the Council of International Schools, having first earned membership successfully in 2011 and retaining accreditation again in 2016 by meeting its strict criteria. On Friday 17 May we will be visited by a delegate from the CIS as they inspect HFS in its new incarnation at Hanmaeum Center. The faculty and staff have been hard at work to ensure that everything for the inspection runs smoothly and I have no doubt that we will once again retain membership to this prestigious certifying authority. 

That is all for this week. Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to seeing you at the Spring Day tomorrow.

Best regards,

Scott Kearney

Dear Parents,

I do hope that you are enjoying the sunshine now that the spell of rain has passed as we complete our second week of term 3. There are a few items I am happy to share with you this week but first I would like to remind you that the school will be closed on Monday 6 May in honor of Children’s Day on Sunday 5 May. Please enjoy your extended weekend and celebrate your children in this wonderful May weather.

HHI Art Gallery Trip

Today the whole school paid a visit to the HHI art gallery to see the superb exhibition of children’s books by different authors from around the world. I am proud that we, as a school, can engage with the cultural products in our community for the benefit of our students. It was wonderful to see the collection of fantastic children’s books on display and the different styles definitely got the creative juices flowing.

The students from, FS 1 to year 9, enjoyed interacting with the works on display and participating in the related activities as part of the experience. An enjoyable time was had by everyone and I am looking forward to the creative output that the students produce as a result of this excursion.

Green Day Park Clean-up

A few students put forward the suggestion that we have a “Green Day” to nurture and show respect for our environment and to celebrate the recent “Earth Day” Next week, on Friday 10 May, we will do this with a planned outing to Daewangam Park to do a clean-up. I am glad that we can continue to practice environmental responsibility and take advantage of the fine weather and the beautiful Ulsan surrounds. Children will be encouraged to wear something green on the day to be in tune with nature and we will have lunch at Dragon Park followed by a walk through the park picking up any litter we find on the way and ending with some treats and playtime in the park. I am proud that the HFS students always display such excellent character and show themselves to be outstanding global citizens. Please join us at 12:30 at Daewangam Park on Friday 10 May for a fun-filled nature excursion.

Spring Day Tickets Pre-order Form

On Saturday 11 May HFS will have a Spring festival of fun and games hosted by the PTA at the Hanmaeum center gymnasium. There are a host of exciting games, activities, raffles and treats for your children to enjoy. To participate they will require tickets and you may have noticed that a pre-order form came home with your child today. If you would like to pre-order tickets, please complete the tear-off section of the form and send it with the payment to school with your child by Thursday 9th May. Pre-order tickets are discounted to 25 tickets for 10,000 Won thereafter they can be purchased at the festival for 20 tickets for 10,000 Won. I look forward to seeing you there!

Also, thank you for the donations of used items for our “treasure and trinkets” stall but do keep them coming. If you are doing your Spring tidying up and wish to get rid of any books, toys or trinkets please drop them off at the admin office. I assure you that they will spark joy for someone else if they don’t for you anymore.

Residential Trip Permission Form and Payment Balance

The upcoming Year 4–9 residential trip to Busan and surrounding areas promises to be a marvelous experience and thank you to all for signing up. As a formality and as is school policy it is necessary for you to complete the online permission form to allow your child to attend. You can complete the form by clicking here. Please complete and submit it by no later than Friday 10 May. Please also send the 200,000 Won balance of payment for the trip to the school by Friday 10 May. This is necessary to reserve spaces for some of the exciting activities that the teachers and staff have arranged as part of the trip. I hope you are excited since it is only 3 weeks away.

That brings us to the end of this week’s update. Thank you for your continued support and do have a wonderful extended weekend with plenty of sunshine.

Best regards,

Scott Kearney

Dear Parents,

We have been back for a week and already everything is in full swing at HFS. I am excited for a rigorous and dynamic third term full of learning and discovery. There are a number of important announcements of which I must inform you this week.

Earth Day Assembly and Clean-up Trip

We started the term on 22 April. A day that is celebrated around the world as Earth Day. We chose to be environmentally conscious and spent the assembly appreciating the fantastic natural surroundings in which our school is located. The students had to switch on their senses and take note of the elements of our environment that we may take for granted. It was great to see the students interacting and appreciating the fantastic school setting. We had planned to do a trip to Daewangam Park on Monday 29 April to do a park-clean-up as part of our environmental awareness initiative but due to forecasted rain this trip will now be postponed until the afternoon of Friday May 10^th. More information to follow.

Hyundai Tigers Football Escorts for Korean Professional Soccer League Match

On Saturday 15 June HFS would like to invite our students to watch a K-League (Korean Professional Soccer League) match which will be held at the Munsu World Cup Stadium. The match will be between Ulsan Hyundai FC and Pohang Steelers FC starting at 7 pm and will run to 9 pm HFS has secured 40 seats for any interested students and their families to watch the match. The Ulsan Hyundai FC has arranged two buses that will taxi students and their families to and from the event.  HFS would also like to recruit 11 students to represent the school by accompanying the Ulsan Hyundai FC players onto the pitch during the opening ceremonies of the match. The opportunity is open to all students from FS 1 to Year 9 and will operate on a first come first serve basis since there are only 11 spots available. Please complete the form on the school notice board if your child would like to be an on-field escort for the players and please indicate the number of parents that will accompany them. Go Tigers!

HFS Spring Day Volunteers

On Saturday May 11 The HFS PTA will have a Spring festival at the Hanmaeum Center Gymnasium. Preparations are underway to make it a fun and special day for all. There will be a number of fun stalls and activities available for students to enjoy. The event will run from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm and we are calling on parents who would like to volunteer to occupy a stall for a period during the day. You could do the first slot from 11:00 to 12:30 or the second slot from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. Please fill in the form on the school noticeboard for the slot and the stall at which you would like to assist.

We are also looking for parents who would like to prepare items for our food stall for Spring Day. Please email PTA@hyundaiforeignschool if you would like to prepare cookies, cupcakes or any treats to be sold on the day. Finally, if you have any old books, toys or trinkets that you wouldn’t mind parting with we will gladly take them off your hands for our treasures and trinkets stall. Drop off your donations at the admin office or send them to school with your children.

After-school Club Activities

Club Activities will commence from Monday 29 April. Thank you to all who have signed up. I am sure that the students will have fun participating, learning and creating during the extracurricular clubs. Please note that the activities are limited to 20 persons per club and will finish at 4:30 pm. Parking permits and validation is available at the admin office for when you collect your child.

Lunch Time Volunteers

The form for any parent willing to assist staff monitoring students during the school lunch time from 12:30 to 1:00 pm is up at the admin office. Please enter your name on the form for the day(s) on which you are able to assist. We thank you for giving up your valuable time and your generous assistance is greatly appreciated.

That is all for this week. Thank you for your continued support and do have a great weekend.

Best Regards,
 
 
Scott Kearney

Dear Parents,

I hope that you are well rested after the Spring break and your children are ready to return on Monday 22 April for what promises to be an exciting term three at HFS. There are a few important announcements I would like to share with you.

Parking Permit for Morning Drop-off and Afternoon Pick-up 

I am happy to announce that we have negotiated with Hanmaeum center and parking in the open square area will be allowed in the morning and the afternoon. (8:30 – 9:30 am for morning drop-off, and 3:10 – 5:00 pm for afternoon pick-up) Parents need to apply for a parking permit at the office.  I would like to reiterate that students must be escorted by their parents to their classroom in the morning and collected by parents on the third floor of the school building. Students are not allowed to be unattended in the public area.

Term 3 After-School Club Activities Sign-ups

I am proud to report that we have a full complement of extra-curricular activities once again in which your children can participate including soccer, knitting, photography, board-games, art, violin, and swimming. HFS club activities will commence from week 2, Monday 29 April. Please sign-up for any club activities in which your children wish to participate by Friday 26 April. Click here to go to the sign-up form.

School Closed on Friday 31 May

A gentle reminder that due to circumstances beyond our control we will not have access to the Hanmaeum center on Thursday 30 May and on Friday 31 May. This will not affect the residential trip for the year 4 to 9 students but there will unfortunately be no school on Friday 31 May for the FS1-Y1 and Year 2/3 classes. We will arrange a full-day school trip on Thursday 30 May for the FS1-Y1 and Year 2/3 classes. More details will follow in the coming weeks. We apologise for any inconvenience and are informing you well in advance to allow you sufficient time to plan accordingly.

HFS Wall of Honor

It gives me great pleasure to announce that we will celebrate the academic and merit achievements of the students who win awards each term by with a place on our HFS Wall of Honor. They have worked hard and demonstrated great character to earn their awards and this should be acknowledged and admired. Please take notice of the award plaque next time you visit the school.

That is all for this week. Thank you for your continued support and do have an enjoyable weekend.

 
Best Regards,
 
 
Scott Kearney