Dear Parents,
Compared with the past few
weeks, this one has been relatively quiet. We have had three good meetings with
parents, one regarding our advanced mathematics program, one regarding the AP
science curriculum proposal and one regarding PSAT results and the process of
registering for courses for next year. These meetings have been well attended,
and I have been grateful for the opportunity to meet with parents and discuss
these important matters.
But hold on to your hats! We
have a flurry of music events coming up in the next two weeks. The first is the
High School Winter Band Concert on
February 6 at 7:00 p.m. The SAISA Band
Festival will start the following day, with bands from four SAISA schools
joining the AISC high school bands for a weekend of collaborative music-making.
They will share their skills at concerts on Saturday, February 9 and Sunday,
February 10 at 4:00 p.m. Not to be outdone, the middle and high school choirs
will present the Winter Choir Concert
on Thursday, February 14.
Model United Nations update
–
This report just in from the Model UN team who are currently in The Hague:
“THIMUN
is going on in full swing and our kids are actively participating in it. They have
all been involved in lobbying, submitting resolutions, making opening speeches,
asking points of information, etc. Today [Thursday] a couple of our students
resolutions are going to be debated and we hope some of them will get
passed....Yesterday was half day and we took advantage of it by taking them to
the Escher Museum and kids thoroughly enjoyed seeing the works of the master
graphic artist and his optically illusory creations. Later, we took the tram to
the nearby village of Delft with its canals, medieval churches, cobbled
streets, lovely architecture and world famous blue pottery. The kids
enjoyed walking around, having dinner at a traditional restaurant, and
finally finding the tram station after losing our way for some time! All
in all kids are having a great time!”
Course registration for 2013-2014 –
On Wednesday Mrs. Callaway shared information with parents on this process. It
is an important time for students, parents and teachers to be discussing the
student’s next steps in their academic careers. Mrs.
Callaway has posted valuable information on her website, (aischguidance.blogspot.in/). Over
the next few weeks we will be sharing more information on our course offerings
and the choices that students have:
February
5 Course registration procedures for
students in grades 9-11.
February
7 Course registration procedures for students
in grade 8
February
8 Course registration procedures for
parents of students in grade 8
February
12 Overview of the IB Diploma and AP programs
for parents of students in grades 8-10
February
14 Overview of the IB Diploma and AP programs
for students in grades 9-10
From February 5 through
March 15 Mrs. Callaway will be meeting individually with students and their
parents to plan their courses for next year and beyond. The course selection
forms will be due in the office by March 15. For more information, see the
Guidance Counseling website link in the sidebar.
Parent
Curriculum Coffee – Last Tuesday we continued our
discussion of the proposed changes to the AP Biology, Chemistry and Physics
courses. A number of questions and concerns arose in the course of the
discussion. I have listed these in my recent post in the High School Curriculum
Notes ( hscurriculumnotes.blogspot.in/).
Over the next few days I will post responses to those questions and concerns and
open them for comments.
We have a high school Parent Coffee scheduled for the morning of February 27. I will be discussing with the high school PTA representatives whether we need another meeting before then to continue our discussion, this time focusing on whether AI and AP courses can or should be combined.
Don't miss the new articles in The Voice and our latest addition, the High School Technology Newsletter. This has news about the exciting things that our students and teachers are doing int he world of IT. Many thanks to our IT integrator Geetha Venugopal for putting this together. Both the Voice and the Technology Newsletter can be accessed by clicking on their respective links in the sidebar.
Have a safe and relaxing
weekend.
John
McCandless
High
School Principal
