FRIDAY NEWSLETTER from Secondary – Sept 15th 2017
Week 6-Stepping up to Challenges
How well do we handle the challenges we face? What can we do to help support of students as they are presented with these challenges? This past weekend a large portion of the Secondary Staff attended a workshop on the importance of ATL skills on learning. We were able to look at how we can help our students acquire these skills and how they can be used to not only affect learning, but meet challenges head on. A big thank you to Mr. Brown for organizing this event for our staff.
Do you have a Fixed Mindset or a Growth Mindset?
Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference.
According to Dweck, in a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.
In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.
So, the question for us as an educational institution, and for you parents at home, is how we instill the Growth Mindset in the students (and children) that we serve? This is a topic we talk about here at BIS and will continue to focus on. Please take a look at this quick video describing the effects of a Growth Mindset.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
If you have any thoughts, please feel free to pass them on to me. I love hearing from parents as we work together.
EOTC Week is Coming!
There will be 2 parent information sessions on Monday 18th September. One at 8.00am in Rm 10 of the secondary school (mr Gary Brown’s room), and a repeat session at 3.00pm. These sessions will be designed to give parents an overview of the EOTC program, with a focus on the logistics of having your child on an EOTC Camp at BIS – safety and security, transport, communications, sleeping arrangements, food, medical, supervision and more. We will have Yan Pasek and Kenny Peavy from Darshan Tours present to help answer questions.
A permission form will be coming home with your child this week. Please sign and return this to acknowledge that you are aware of your child’s EOTC camp.
BIS Live to Start Again!
After numerous requests from students we started up BIS live again this past week for literacy day. For those of you new to BIS, like myself, BIS Live is an opportunity for our students and faculty members to highlight their artistic abilities outside of the classroom in front of a live audience. If you have a talented youngster at home make sure to encourage their participation.
BIS College and University Fair
We have just finished hosting our annual BIS College and University Fair. We had some great institutions joining us this year from 17 different countries. All students from Grades 9-12 attended the fair.
There were two rounds of workshops from 1:10-2:45 and booths in the covered courts area from 2:45 to 4:15. Students were encouraged to attend the booths section after school hours.
Please click here for the list of attending institutions and workshop schedule. Parents were welcomed to attend both.
For any questions email me at counselor@baliis.net.
BIS College & University Fair 2017 Online
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Parent/Teacher Conferences are a perfect opportunity to work as a team towards the educational growth of our students. The more that we are able to share information, provide feedback and support the better able we are to help our students reach their potential.
We will be having Parent/Teacher Conferences on Thursday, October 5th from 1pm-6pm. Students will be dismissed from school at 12:30 on that day and any Secondary ASA will not be able to run as our teachers will be meeting with you, the parents. Please make sure that your student has been picked up from school as there will be no way to supervise the students. Students are welcomed to come to their conferences, but they must arrive with their parent. To help facilitate our sign-up process, parents will be given the ability to electronically setup a conference time instead of having to come in, line up, and see if a teacher will be available to meet. We ask that parents and students prioritize the teachers they would like to meet with, as schedules will fill very quickly. This information and electronic link will be sent out in the coming week.
Justin Walsh
Secondary Principal
