FRIDAY NEWSLETTER from Secondary – 3rd March 2017
Week 27-Presentations of Learning
As we get towards the end of this term many classes will be having summative assessments due in the next days/weeks. This is a time where students will need support and guidance as they set out to balance all of the different pulls on their time. Please make sure to look at your student’s ManageBac with them, ask them about their Google Classroom, see what might be coming up and how you can support them. They may pretend that they do not want to you know, but really they want your support and will need your guidance. Thank you for continuing to work with us as a partner towards the growth of our students.
IB Mock Exams
This week our year 2 Diploma students have sat through their IB Mock Exams. This is always a challenging week, as we try to convert a month long exam schedule into a week. These exams are used by our teachers to guide the remaining weeks of instruction, highlighting which areas will need more coverage and what are areas of strength. It is important that our DP students take these results to heart, reflect on the process and speak with their teachers in order to set up the best plan forward.
Second Semester Conferences
Our second semester Parent/Student/Teacher conferences will be held on the 23rd of March. This will be a non teaching day. We will have a combination of conference types going on that day. Our 6-8 graders will be participating in student led conferences, the rest of the secondary will use the same Student/Parent/Teacher format that we followed in the first semester. Please sign-up through this link:
https://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Bali_Island_School
It is very important that your student accompanies you for these conferences, this is the best way for us to work together to help them continue to grow and succeed with their learning. The second semester conferences are also a great time to speak with teachers about next year course selection. Thank you for your continued interest and support or your child’s learning here at BIS.
IB Diploma Course Selection
Our students have had meetings with our counselor, their teachers and the IB coordinator regarding all of the different course we offer and what their choices can do as they start to think about university. On March 10th our DP teachers will present to all of our year ten students about their specific courses and answer any questions in a whole class forum. Students will come home with a full sheet of notes and ideas about all of the choices that lay ahead of them. Please speak with your student about the choices that they will soon be making.
BIS Swim Carnival
This coming Friday, March 10th, will be the BIS Swim carnival. This is a fantastic community event where our students get to highlight their strengths outside of the classroom. There will be a house competition, the PTFA will be hosting a Sausage Sizzle and we will have fun watching our students compete in a relay against the parents and teachers! I look forward to seeing all of the good natured competition and excitement from our students. Please make sure to come out and be a part of the fun!
SEAMC Math Competition
This past Thursday 8 BIS Students from grades 7-11 travelled to Jakarta to take part and represent BIS in an International Maths competition. This event allows for the extension of our students math skills and highlights their hard work, dedication and passion for Maths. They will be asked to compete in a variety of math challenges, both as individuals and collaboratively. It is a fantastic opportunity for our students to make connections with other students from our region and around the world. Good Luck and Go Dragons!
IISSAC Basketball
This past weekend our Men and Women’s ISSAC Basketball teams traveled to Malang to compete in the end of season tournament. I would like to share a big congratulations and thank you to our ISSAC Basketball players and coaches. Our students traveled and represented BIS extremely well. Our girls game in second and our boys faced very strong competition and placed 6th. Besides results, what I am more pleased to report is the number of opposing coaches and parents who came up to me to say how much they enjoyed watching our kids play and interacting with them off the court. Our men and women were extremely gracious and showed a great deal of respect and poise. They were the perfect ambassadors for BIS!
GIN Conference South Korea and Hong Kong
This past weekend five BIS students who participated in a GIN Conference in South Korea. They traveled with CCS and are starting to form more networks with them to become more active in our community here in Bali. I am looking forward to hear how the workshops went and what our students came away with. A big thank you to Mr. Andrews for all of his work planning and coordinating this trip as well as a big congratulations to our students for following their passions and looking for ways to give back positively to their community.
This Friday we will have another BIS student traveling to a GIN Conference in Hong Kong to present on the importance of bees and pollination globally and here in Bali. I am excited to hear how the workshops goes as well as get some insight into what this student’s next action steps are. It is so fantastic to be a part of a community that cares so much for their surroundings.
Thank you for your continued interest and support of BIS and our students.
Kind Regards,
Justin Walsh
secondaryschoolprincipal@
Secondary School Principal
