Series of portraits and what’s new on our campuses
We are ending our series of portraits this week with our School Psychologist.
Series of portraits
Hind Guasch
hguasch@g.lfis.edu.hk
My name is Hind and I am the French Stream psychologist for Maternelle and Primaire at the French International School of Hong Kong. I graduated in Lyon (France) with a French State diploma in psychology about 15 years ago. You can meet psychologists in many different places, such as private practices, big companies, hospitals, integration centres… and schools.
A psychologist at school: why?
In Maternelle and Primary, the psychologist is part of the RASED team (Specialized Support Network for Students with Special Needs) like special needs teachers. As indicated in its name, this network aims at supporting students to succeed. The psychologist helps to understand and analyze situations that raise questions and could represent an obstacle to learning and academic success. He or she participates in the development of individualised plans with the teaching staff, parents and children so that they feel comfortable and confident in their school environment.
A day without a psychologist at school? Impossible!
Here is my answer when I am asked to describe a typical day: “no two days are the same because my missions are so numerous and different.” This is what makes this profession so rich. A school psychologist must know how to adapt at a moment’s notice. His days, weeks and school years are unpredictable. Whether a student is feeling bad or is experiencing a traumatic event or event if students, teachers or parents are absent, the psychologist has to be flexible and organised and this is often time-consuming. Here is a non-exhaustive list how of broad the missions are:
- For children whether they are in need or in a situation of handicap: observations in class, follow-up meetings and psychological assessments
- For the families: anamnesis interviews, assessments restitutions, follow-ups
- For the teachers: consulting, assessment reports, a summary of individual children’s situations, and co-analysis
- For the directors: regular updates on situations, reports of difficulties, and problems within the teams
- For the RASED team: synthesis, cross-views
And more broadly to all partners outside the primary school, such as secondary school psychologists, care partners – for interviews or syntheses but also, hospitals, consular services etc. We also participate in various commissions such as the one for orientation.
Despite a seemingly endless list of assignments, there is nothing more important than working with children.
It’s a wonderful job that involves constant connection to others and the satisfaction of having helped create a caring and nurturing environment for all students.
We take the time to understand the child and his singularity to support him to blossom.
Campus councils and Activité Pédagogique Complémentaire (APC)
Campus councils are being held on our 3 Primary Campuses of Jardine’s, TKO and Chai Wan.
Pedagogical teams met to analyse the results of the French national assessments and the placement tests from the beginning of the school year (please refer to the first issue of Le Bulletin).
The French National Assessments (organised by the French Ministery) are taken by all the CP and CE1 students in French schools.
The aim is to analyse deeply the French, English and mathematics skills of our students to set up some programmes personnalisés de réussite éducative (PPRE) (Academic success personalised program) if needed in order to meet everyone’s needs.
Based on the results, small work groups called APC (activités pédagogiques complémentaires) can be set up if necessary. These groups are taken in charge by teachers who are freed from their classes during English classes, which allows for a more individualized approach.
These groups can evolve throughout the year to offer targeted support to students based on their progress and needs.
In addition to these activities, some students can attend targeted tutoring in English. This program is called English Learning Support (ELS) and is designed for students who just started learning English or who may need a little help with English.
