Secondary Newsletter on Friday, 13th January 2017
Week 20-Welcome Back!
It was so nice to see so many smiling faces this week as our students came back from the semester holiday. To start this term we had a Teacher Workshop for the first two days of the semester. School is just not the same without students! The amount of energy and excitement that your students brought to school was amazing-you might not have had that same feeling for the first two early wakeups of this second semester.
Getting Involved
We have a few new faces here at BIS for the start of this semester and it is amazing to see how welcoming our returning students can be. There is no better way to become comfortable in a new setting than by joining one of the many fantastic activities that are offered here at BIS. We have just had our ASA sign-up assembly during MYP/DP our on Thursday. Please speak to your student about what activities were offered and what they might be interested in joining. Let’s get involved! ASA’s will begin on the 16th of this coming week, and then the religion lesson on next Tuesday.
Pick Up and Drop Off
I want to thank everyone for a successful and smooth opening to the second semester. It is been so nice to see our secondary students model respectful behavior as they come onto campus. Each morning I walk onto campus, showing my ID and opening my bag, as does every parent that comes on. It is very reassuring to know that our children get to learn in such a safe and secure environment. Thank you again for modelling this behavior to our entire community.
Reporting in the Second Semester
One of the things that makes BIS such a special place is the collaborative spirit between the school and the community. We recognize that we are only one component to the success of our students and that parental support is vital. To help develop that support and better communicate about student progress throughout the year we will be opening ManageBac’s grade book feature to all parents and students at the start of the second semester. This will allow students and parents to see in real time where they are in relation to their learning in each class.
Teachers will be providing a numeric indicator of growth for each assessment as well as a brief description of the assignment. This numeric indicator allows us to present the clearest picture of growth via ManageBac as possible.
Teachers will be updating their gradebooks every two weeks and will be including both formative and summative work. This will highlight students progress throughout the term.
Below is the link to the presentation that was given before the end of the semester.
https://drive.google.com/open?
Here is the link for the instructional video to help sign-in as a parent on to ManageBac. I want to thank our IT department for all of their help. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns regarding access to ManageBac.
https://drive.google.com/file/
Thank you for your continued interest and support of BIS and our students.
Kind Regards,
Justin Walsh
secondaryschoolprincipal@
Secondary School Principal
