Welcome to the Secondary School! Week 1-Here we Go!

Welcome

A warm welcome to all returning and new parents and students! It is great to see the school alive with students again. Each day at break and lunch our fields have been full of active students and as I walk into classrooms there is a tremendous amount of energy and excitement.

Welcome also to our new teachers; your children may have mentioned them to you. They have all made a positive start and are adding new facets to our already strong team of teachers. They are:
Dr. Shepherd (Chemistry, Biology and Drama), Ms Mathers (Math and Design), Mrs. Walsh (English) and Mrs. Vollmar (Math). We are also fortunate to have added Mr Delhommeau to the Secondary teaching Spanish.

News and Events

Mr. Sutherland has just introduced our After School Activities (ASAs) to our students and these will begin next week. Please encourage your children to get involved, we have a lot of wonderful things on offer.

Next week we have our back-to-school event coming up on Thursday August 11th, where you will be able to meet new and returning teachers, and learn about the MYP and DP programmes, as well as our specific courses. An email detailing this will be sent home.

Today our new Diploma class, grade 11, will go on an overnight retreat to Bedugul to learn more the core of the DP and engage in some team building activities. This is a great way to start their Diploma experience here at BIS.

For all Indonesian national students Religion classes will start this coming Tuesday, directly after school.

Please stay tuned for information regarding the celebration of Indonesian Independence Day. We will have an all school celebration on the 16th of August. Students are encouraged to wear either red and white or traditional Indonesian clothing.

So Proud of our Students
As we begin another new year at BIS I want to encourage all of our students to challenge themselves. I am sure you know this by now, but BIS is a great school. As our mission statement says, our focus is on engaging and empowering globally-minded, confident learners to reach their utmost potential in an active, creative and respectful learning community. This has proven to be a winning formula for years as we graduate not only students that are prepared to excel in college, but students that have character and compassion. On the intellectual growth side of the mission, I am proud to say that we continue to live and reflect the IB Learner Profile. What I am most excited about is the fact that students continue to find their individual passions in both the MYP and DP programs. That means more students are choosing to challenge themselves and they are succeeding! I will be giving you more details about this in the coming months, but please know that our students continue to impress colleges and universities around the world with their achievement and character.

I hope you have a fantastic weekend and I look forward to seeing you at next week’s open house.

Kind Regards,

Justin Walsh
secondaryschoolprincipal@baliis.net
Secondary School Principal