Secondary Newsletter on Friday, 20th Jan 2017
Week 21-Full Steam Ahead!
We have just completed our first full week of the second semester. It is great to see all of our students completely engaged and moving forward. Our year 2 Diploma students are right in the midst of their Internal Assessments, our year 1 DP students have just had a two block session on their Extended Essay and have started to pick topics and look for an advisor. Our year 10 students are getting close to the end of their Personal Projects. Our foundational courses from years 6-9 are starting the second rotation of their Fine Arts courses and beginning new units and projects in their year-long courses. It is a busy and engaged time here at BIS!
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 gradebook 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.
This week in both the MYP and DP hour I was able to speak with students about the change in our use of ManageBac for this semester. I emphasized how this will be used as a tool to better help them mark their progress and positively affect their learning. The students asked good questions and were interested in how this would look for you, their parents!
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. By the end of the coming week we will have been in class for over two weeks, all teachers will have some form of indicator within their gradebook by this time
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/
Getting Involved
Second semester ASA’s are underway, as are the BSSA and IISSAC Basketball seasons. We have had over half of the student population involved in this terms BSSA season, there is a lot of great basketball going on out there! Some of the other exciting ASA’s are off to a great start as well. Our Green Team is continued to make a difference around campus, we have our after-school Math clubs, singing, band and even a cooking club this term. So many ways to get involved, please encourage your students to take part in any of the wonderful ASA’s we have on offer.
Successful Recruiting
We have finished all of our recruiting for the coming school year. There is nothing that impacts a school more than quality educators. We are so fortunate to have so many quality, caring educators on staff, the challenging is to find educators that match up to the high standards of our current teachers. This coming year we will have experienced international teachers joining us from Thailand, Qatar, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. We are very excited for the new additions to the BIS community.
Thank you for your continued interest and support of BIS and our students.
Kind Regards,
Justin Walsh
secondaryschoolprincipal@
Secondary School Principal
