Secondary Newsletter No. 6

Dear Secondary Parents,

There has, again, been evidence of great learning opportunities throughout the week for students within the regular curriculum and also alongside it. The Kahoot Reading/Comprehension Challenge, organized by Mr. Marshall and implemented by Homeroom teachers, has students showing consistent and impressive improvement across the Secondary School. The World Literacy Day reading session to begin Friday was another positive event and I was impressed by the Secondary Students’ engagement in this by reading quietly. The College Mini-Fair ran on Friday morning and this was a great opportunity for Grade 9-12 students to receive some guidance on future pathways. The Lombok Relief Group have worked tirelessly to package all of the goods donated by the school community. These were collected today for shipment to Lombok tomorrow.

Attendance and Punctuality

There was a spike in the trend for lateness on Thursday but, apart from that, there has been an overall improvement. Please arrange for your children to leave home five or ten minutes earlier if they are struggling to make Homeroom for a prompt 7.45 am start. We want your children here and in class to maximise their learning opportunities every day.

No School on Tuesday, September 11 

A reminder that the school will be closed next Tuesday for the Islamic Holiday.

Assessment

Please remember that you can view your child’s performance in each summative task on ManageBac. Help your children to complete tasks in a timely manner by discussing upcoming deadlines and strategies to ensure they meet them.

Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences

Please note that this important event will run on Thursday, October 4 from 8.00am-4.00pm. This should allow greater opportunity for parents to be able to make an appointment with all of their children’s teachers. It is an expectation that students will be actively involved in each of these conferences, contributing to a three-way discussion ensuring all three stakeholders have a clear direction and common understanding for ongoing improvement and development. We will use the same software for signing up for a conference as last year and information and instructions will be sent in the next two weeks for parents to make appointments online.

EOTC 2018 – Update

An EOTC parent information session will be conducted on Monday, September 17 from 8-9am in the library with Mr. Sutherland and a representative from the company organizing the trips. There will also be opportunities for parents to come into grade level sessions for parents on Thursday, September 20 or Friday, September 21. Mr. Sutherland will communicate when individual grade level sessions will be conducted on these days.

International Literacy Day – September 8

We started our Friday with everyone in the school meeting on the Primary field to read for 30 minutes. We are very fortunate at BIS to have a wonderful library full of books and online resources, such as databases. You and your children can access these resources through the school website or directly at https://sites.google.com/baliis.net/libraryresources/home. In addition to the early morning reading event, various activities were scheduled throughout the day in both Secondary and Primary.

From the United Nations, “International Literacy Day, celebrated annually on 8 September, is an opportunity for Governments, civil society and stakeholders to highlight improvements in world literacy rates, and reflect on the world’s remaining literacy 

challenges. The issue of literacy is a key component of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by world leaders in September 2015, promotes, as part of its agenda, universal access to quality education and learning opportunities throughout people’s lives. Sustainable Development Goal 4 has as one of its targets ensuring all young people achieve literacy and numeracy and that adults who lack these skills are given the opportunity to acquire them.

This year’s theme is ‘Literacy and skills development.’ Despite progress made, literacy challenges persist, and at the same time the demands for skills required for work, evolve rapidly. This year’s theme explores integrated approaches that simultaneously support the development of literacy and skills, to ultimately improve people’s lives and work and contribute to equitable and sustainable societies. The day focuses on skills and competencies required for employment, careers, and livelihoods, particularly technical and vocational skills, along with transferable skills and digital skills.”

http://www.un.org/en/events/literacyday/

CAS Corner – James Atwood – Grade 12

Taman Bacaan Football Training

The number of children that have turned up to the recent training sessions has been brilliant. The kids are excited as soon as they step onto the pitch and maintain that attitude throughout the entire session. We usually begin the sessions with a warm up, then lay out a set of drills and finally, we play a game in order to transfer what was learnt from the drills into a game situation. It has been a real strength of the coaches to encourage the kids to learn whilst also having lots of fun however we continue to look for ways to improve our coaching and ability to manage such a large group of young kids. Although challenging at times, it is a wonderful experience to be able to interact with the local community and speak in their language. Not only are we improving our Indonesian speaking, we are improving our coaching by engaging ourselves within members of the local community in order to help the kids improve on their ability to play football.

Upcoming Events

Monday, September 10 8.00-9.00am – Library	Parent Information Session: Introduction to the DP (most suitable for Grade 10 and 11 parents)
Tuesday, September 11	Islamic Holiday – No school
Wednesday, September 12	PTA Meeting in Library at 7:50 a.m.
Monday, September 17 8.00-9.00am – Library	Parent Information Session: EOTC (suitable for all Secondary parents)
Thursday, September 20	EOTC Grade level after school parent meetings
Friday, September 21	EOTC Grade level after school parent meetings International Day

Kind regards,

Ross Ferris

secondaryprincipal@baliis.net
Secondary Principal
Bali Island School