Secondary Newsletter on Friday, 27th Jan 2017
Week 22-Community Involvement
This past Thursday BIS was fortunate enough to have members from our community come to speak to our students about their chosen careers, how they got there and the preparation needed to be successful. We had a wide range of occupations, from Law Enforcement, to Culinary Arts, an Author, a Pilot and much more. I would like to thank 1 – Matthew Wood, Chris Salans, Michael Ricci, Ro Verdeja, David McKeegan, Wim Voorwalt, Georgia Sutherland, Peter Brindal, William Hoyos, Ron Lilley, Paul v. Walters and Pintor Sirait for giving up their valuable time and sharing their passions and expertise with our students. I would also like to thank our counselor Karin Holley for organizing this engaging event. We are so fortunate to live and work in a place with members of our community who have so much expertise and such a willingness to share.
BSSA and Transportation procedure
We are in full swing with this term’s BSSA-basketball. In order to ensure the safety of our students BIS will be busing all BSSA participants for away games. All students will go on the bus together with their team and coach. The coach will be taking attendance as kids get on the bus at BIS and as they get off at their destination. If a parent would like to take their child home after watching the contest they must inform the coach. Students will not be allowed to get into any vehicle other than their parents or their parents designee. A form will be coming home with your child where you will be able to state whether or not your student will return back to BIS on the bus or will be picked up at the away game destination. Please help us ensure the safety of our students by keeping the school informed of your child’s travel arrangements.
Reporting in the Second Semester
As we are now more than two weeks into the second semester, assessments are starting to come in. It is important that we are able to use this information to provide feedback for learning for our students. Please check ManageBac with your child to determine their progress and start the conversation on how we can develop growth. Teachers will have added assessments to their gradebooks by the end of this week.
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/
ISA Testing
This semester BIS will be conducting our ISA testing for this academic year. The ISA Test is:
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Chosen because it is in line with BIS’s mission, vision, and student aims
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The ISA is not based on any one curriculum but tests core skills in mathematical literacy, reading, writing (narrative and expository.)
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An assessment with a broad cultural base (ie. no dollar or pounds)
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A combination of multiple-choice and open-ended questions and prompts. The open-ended questions require students to generate meaning, explain their reasoning, find evidence and justify their opinions.
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based on the internationally endorsed reading, mathematical literacy and scientific literacy frameworks of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
We will be conducting this test on the 15th-17th of February and the test will be administered to grades 7, 9, & 10.
Below is a link to some informational slides about this test, how we use it and how scores can be interpreted to better inform our teaching. Please take a few moments to go through this information. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
https://docs.google.com/
Academics and Well Being
The second semester is always a fast moving event. Whether you are an IB Diploma student or an MYP student, the pace always ramps up. Anxiety about grades and learning can be a result of this increased pace. Today during our assembly we took some time to speak about this and some ways in which our students can better handle this pace and the perceived pressure. The two specific topics that we spoke about were the best way that the brain learns-in relation to study habits and the importance of exercise and sleep. By opening up ManageBac we are now enabling our students and parents better access to their learning and better tools to help plan for that learning. Please make sure that you continue to work with your students regarding their planning and balance within their busy academic lives. I am including the two clips that I used in our assembly today as the starting point for our discussions. I hope that they will be helpful to you as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Thank you for your continued interest and support of BIS and our students.
Kind Regards,
Justin Walsh
secondaryschoolprincipal@
Secondary School Principal
