SECONDARY NEWSLETTER – 31st Aug 2017

Week 4 International Mindedness

This coming Monday, September 4th, 2017, Bali Island School will be celebrating its 31st anniversary.  This is a chance for BIS to celebrate all of the diversity that makes it the special place that it is.  Our long history of welcoming students from many different cultures will be on display.  We encourage all students, parents and staff to come to school in clothes that are specific to their culture.  We will participate in an International Parade, showcasing all of the different cultures that make up our BIS community. Parents and students from the Taman Bacaan will also be with us, as will the staff.  The International Parade will begin the march to the covered court accompanied by our walking band at 12:30pm.  From there the International Day Presentation will begin in the covered court. Following the presentation all students will be dismissed from the covered court so that they can visit the International Stalls on the field that have been prepared by our community.  A number of country stalls under tents will be on the field highlighting some of the many different cultures we have here on our campus. Students are welcome to sample some of the snacks from around the world. They will be encouraged to engage with each country stall i.e. converse, play games etc.  I look forward to seeing all of our students in their national dress and for a chance to engage with all of the different cultures that make BIS such a special place.

BIS International Day

Below is the schedule for the day:

We encourage all students, parents and staff to come to school in clothes that are specific to their culture. It is also possible to change midday if this is more suitable/comfortable. Because all staff are invited to join the celebration, the school will close and lock all offices and close off one side of the campus during the event. We will have a normal school day until lunch, which will need to be slightly earlier. Once students have eaten their lunch and changed, they will need to congregate in the primary courtyard where we will assemble the International Parade at about 12:15. Parents are invited to join their country groups for the parade. Please note that Preschool will march at the front of the parade under the United Nations banner, followed by Indonesia as the host country.

12:30 – The International Parade will begin the march, possibly accompanied by our marching band. 12:50 – Denise Walsh will address the whole community.

13:00 – All students will be dismissed so that they can visit the International Stalls that have been prepared by parents.

14:30 – All students will return to homerooms so that we can dismiss as usual.

14:45 – Secondary students and families with primary aged students may return to the International Day celebration if they wish until it officially finishes at 15:30.

EOTC Week is coming!

We are getting closer to our EOTC Week. In the coming MYP/DP hours our students will be working with their teachers around some of the activities and expectations for EOTC week. We will be having parent information sessions within the coming weeks as well to present the itinerary and highlight the culture and service components of these trips.  I am really looking forward to participating in this year’s EOTC.  It is always such a great way to see our students in a different context and watch them develop more confidence and stronger bonds between themselves and their teachers.

Reporting Achievement at BIS

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 third week of school, in order to ensure that schedules are finalized and we have actual achievement to report on.  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.

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/d/0B4I5d1TU8enPeE1CV1BaRllzOXc/view?ts=5850fdf8

Parent Session-MYP for New Parents/ManageBac Login

On Tuesday, September 5th at 8:50 in room 10, our MYP Coordinator Ms. McLay will be hosting an informational session on the MYP Curriculum for new and returning parents. We will also use some of this time to help parents access ManageBac in order to use this tool to help their students with their learning at home. This will be an informative event, I look forward to seeing you there.

Reading Comprehension in the Secondary School

This year we have started a reading comprehension challenge in the Secondary School. Each Thursday we use our homeroom time to engage our students in a short piece of high interest content reading. We pick specific topics for each age group and the students are asked to read the passage and participate in a Kahoot Quiz Challenge. The students are presented the reading the day before and they are to use the reading to answer comprehension questions. We have set this up as a competition between the grade levels per month, where the winning grade level gets to dress out of uniform for one day the following month. For our DP students if their grade level wins they get to assign the other DP grade level a day where they have to wear the uniform.

 

Our new Librarian, Mr. Marshall has been instrumental in getting this program off and running. Please ask your student about this challenge and what interesting things that they have learned in Homeroom!