Secondary Newsletter No. 8

Dear Secondary Parents,

This week has seen students and teachers excitedly preparing for EOTC trips as well as completing assessment tasks across a range of subjects. I hope everyone enjoyed International Day (I am writing this just before the event begins). Thank you to everyone who organized this event and to all who came and enjoyed the celebration. A reminder that each EOTC trip will commence on Tuesday, September 25 and the students will return on Friday, September 28. Progress Reports will be distributed on Wednesday October 3 prior to the Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences which will occur in the final week of term.

Assessment

We conducted a MYP Mathematics Assessment Session for parents on Tuesday afternoon. This was a good opportunity to understand how authentic MYP assessment is conducted in terms of task design and application of the descriptors in the assessment criteria. You can view the presentation HERE or via eNews..

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.

Term 1 Reports and Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences

Term 1 Progress Reports will be sent to parents on Wednesday, October 3. These reports provide an update on each student’s progress in each subject. Teachers are asked to give an indication on whether a student is exceeding, meeting or approaching expectations. They will also have another option to check which is “Concern”.

It is an expectation that students will be actively involved in each of these conferences on Thursday, October 4, contributing to a three-way discussion and ensuring all three stakeholders have a clear direction and common understanding for ongoing improvement and development.

If you have not received the email to make appointments with teachers please check your spam folder before contacting the school. The deadline for making appointments via the online system is Friday, September 28.

CAS Corner

Stefany Bourgeois: BIS Relief Team Reflection

When first planning the donation drive, we intended to transport the items through the Segara Island Cargo company (SIC). However, after being approached by BIS’ Ministry of Education representative, we decided to also coordinate the transportation of the donations with the government. The last thing we wanted was for our donations to not even get to Lombok so we decided to split the donations between the government and SIC. We have already sent half of the donations off to the government drop off office and SIC office. We repackaged all of the boxes by covering them with plastic bags, as requested by SIC before dropping the donations to their office. Overall, I think that we made a good decision to split the donations up between two transportation companies. By doing this, we are ensuring that if not all, at least some of our donations will actually reach Lombok as soon as possible. Also, by going through multiple companies, our donations will be helping more people in Lombok as the donations will be dropped off to different bases on the island.

September Attendance and Punctuality Update

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, September 25 – Friday, September 28 EOTC Trips
Friday, September 28 Deadline for Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences sign-up
Wednesday, October 3 Progress Reports distributed via Dragon
Thursday, October 4 Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences 8.00am-4.00pm
Friday, October 5 BIS College Fair, 12.15pm-4.00pm
PTA BBQ
End of Term 1

Ross Ferris
Secondary Principal