Dear Parents,
We have reached the end of another
school year. It has been a year of amazing changes. We opened school with the
largest high school enrollment in the school’s history, went on our first high
school Week Without Walls trips, hosted our biggest-ever Chennai MUN conference
in our newly-inaugurated Fine Arts Center, won our first SAISA boys soccer
tournament, held our first Jan Jamboree and our first Spring Fest, wrote a
Student Council constitution, started our first theater arts program and
presented a fantastic play, Jaya: scenes from the Mahabharata. And last week we
held our first commencement exercises in the theater and graduated the largest
group of seniors in the school’s history.
On top of all that we have, as a
faculty, engaged in professional learning about co-teaching and inclusive
classrooms as well as depth of knowledge in science and mathematics assessments.
We have completely revised our IT program and will be starting a 1:1 Bring Your
Own Technology program in the 5th through 10th grades. We
have also had very fruitful discussions about our assessment practices, and we
revised our academic awards to recognize students who embodied the values we
hold as a school. All this while completing a self-study for our five-year
accreditation and developing a new Strategic Plan!
It’s been busy and productive,
and as a faculty we are leaving today with a feeling of real accomplishment and
the confidence to move forward to the next set of challenges in making AISC a
world leader in international education.
A few last news items for the end of the
year:
Graduation
– The
ceremony this year was marked by excellent speeches by our salutatorian, Shashwat
Saxena, and valedictorian, Samvitha Ram. We were very fortunate to have an
address by Mr. Srini Swaminathan, who gave a very inspired call to action for
our seniors, urging them serve those less fortunate. It was a moving ceremony,
and a wonderful sight to see the Seniors throwing their caps in the air to
celebrate the end of high school
Schedules -
Student schedules for next year were distributed to students last week. We have
made every effort to meet the course requests of all students. However, due to
the constraints of course, teacher and room availability and class sizes,
certain course combinations may not be available. There will be an opportunity
to discuss changes when we return to school in August. There may also be some
changes in schedules as we add new students and seek to balance the numbers of
students in the classes.
Checking
out - Year-end checkout forms were given to all students last
week. These are needed to ensure that all materials loaned to students by the
school, such as books and locks, are returned. Lost or damaged textbooks or
locks and be paid for in the Finance Office.The check-out form must be
completed before school records can be released. Most students completed and
handed in their forms today. For those who did not, these must be received
before grades or any other school records can be released.
Report
cards – Final report cards will be available for 9th,
10th and 11th grade students by Friday, June 14.
Students and parents will be notified by email when the report cards are available
on Skyward. Hard copies of the report cards will also be mailed home.
The Voice - Be sure to check the latest edition of the online student newspaper, The Voice, for a very nice video sendoff for our Seniors. The link is in the sidebar.
Summer Study – The
summer break is a good time for students and teachers alike to rest, relax and engage in our
interests. Last year the high school faculty came to an agreement regarding
summer study that reads as follows:
“Summer
holidays are 8 weeks of time for relaxation, recuperation and enjoyment.
However it is important for AP and IB students to maintain their skills in
their subject areas.These are university level courses and do not leave much
time at the beginning for review of the prerequisite skills.
“With this in
mind teachers may propose optional assignments to be done by interested
students at their leisure over the long break. These non-compulsory assignments are offered for enrichment and
exploration and will not be graded.
“All students
should remember that reading and writing are common skills in all courses. The
best way to improve your skills is by reading - graphic novels, mysteries,
fantasy, webpages, the newspaper - whatever you enjoy. Enjoy your summer and
learn from life itself!”
Please encourage your
child to take this time to explore other interests. It is true that he or she
might become bored at times, but this is not a bad thing in and of itself.
There is a great deal of literature regarding the importance of boredom to the
creative process. A quick Internet search on the
value of boredom brings up much discussion and some worthwhile perspectives to
consider such as, “Boredom is just
a pause…a nap for the psyche. When the nap is over you can emerge more
refreshed and vitalized . . . .” (The Value of Boredom, http://blog.oasiscounseling.co/2011/04/18/the-value-of-boredom/). There is also an interesting TEDx talk by Genevieve Bell,
considered one of the most creative people in business, at http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxSydney-Genevieve-Bell-The-V. And a
little boredom might make the beginning of school in August that much more
enticing.
I hope
you have a restful renewing summer break. For those of you who will be leaving
AISC, best wishes in your next adventures. For those of you who will be
staying, I will look forward to seeing you in August.
Sincerely,
John
McCandless
High
School Principal
