Dear Students and Parents,
We hope everyone has enjoyed the first few days of school and are well on their way to flexing their academic muscles and getting back that “school stamina.”
Moodle Password
As you may already know, Moodle is our online educational platform. Teachers maintain Moodle pages for all of their classes and update important classroom information and resources regularly. Parents are welcome to visit any teacher’s page by choosing Moodle from the quick links drop down on our website, clicking on Moodle and selecting “enter as guest.” The guest password is raptors15.
Updated High School Diploma Requirements
Last academic year a group of faculty members audited our graduation requirements and made recommendations for changes. They compared our requirements with those of other American international schools and also reflected on how best our requirements could exemplify a liberal arts education. Their proposed changes were shared with the entire faculty, the student advisory forum and board academic committee for comment. Last spring the school board approved the updated graduation requirements as listed herein.
English 4 credits
World Language 2 credits (must be in the same language*)
Social Studies 3 credits
Science 3 credits
Mathematics 3 credits
Fine Arts 2 credits**
PE 1.5 credits
Health 0.5 credit
Electives 5 credits
Discovery 1 credit***
TOTAL 25 credits
* English Language Learners who qualify for the course of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) for two years may use these classes to fulfill this obligation. However, it is important to note that US colleges and universities will not accept EAP to fulfill application requirements in Foreign Language
** Please note that this requirement applies to the Class of 2019. The Classes of 2018 and 2017 need to fulfill only 1 credit of Fine Arts. The Class of 2016 need only fulfill 1 credit of Fine Art.
*** Students must earn 0.25 Discovery credit for every year in attendance at AISC. Students joining AISC beyond grade 9 will have their overall graduation requirements adjusted in this area.
Discovery Program Introduction
In the past, AISC students were required to complete 10 hours of community service yearly and document these hours by submitting a form to the office. Everyone involved in this housekeeping process has found that is has not yielded the intended outcome - for students to be involved outside of the classroom and to reflect on their experiences.
This year we will no longer ask students to track their hours. Instead, at various times throughout the school year students will meet in small groups (with those students and faculty traveling with them on Discover India) to maintain an electronic blog reflecting on their experiences. The teacher-advisor of each group will monitor the blog and comment on the student’s reflections. During the first semester students will do goal setting and reflect on their extracurricular and Discover India experiences.
Participating in the discover/e-portfolio program alongside attendance of Discover India will result in earning a quarter of a “Discovery Credit” for the year. Earning this quarter credit yearly is required as part of earning a high school diploma.
Yearbook Photos - Mark Your Calendars
Yearbook photos will be taken at the end of the month. 9th, 10th and 11th grade students are able to wear whatever outfit they desire within dress code. 12th grade boys are asked to wear a white shirt, tie and black trousers. 12th grade girls are asked to wear dresses or slacks/skirt with a blouse in either all black or a white top and black bottom.
High School Back to School Night- August 20th
We hope to see all parents at the upcoming Back to School Night on August 20th. Student schedules will be available for pick up from 5:30 pm onwards in the foyer near the front gate of the school. This will be followed by a short welcome presentation at 6:00 pm in the Black Box Theater. NHS student volunteers will be on duty to help you find your way around the campus. Students are welcome to attend to help with translation needs.
Classes will begin promptly at 6:20 pm and each period will run for ten minutes. As the time for each period is brief, teachers will give only a short overview of their course, share their email contact information and demonstrate where on their Moodle page additional information can be found. Kindly remember that the purpose of this evening is for parents to learn about the courses their students take in general terms. There is simply not time for teachers to answer questions about individual students. If after the evening you should have queries related to your son or daughter, kindly email the teacher for an appointment and/or request a time for a phone conversation. Thank you in advance for your help in allowing teachers to keep to their allotted class time as it will help the evening run smoothly for all involved.
SAISA Swimming 2015/16
Practice begins for SAISA swimming on Monday, August 10 from 4:00 - 6:00 pm. Practice is open to all. Please bring your swimsuit, swim cap, goggles, water bottle and towel. Practices run weekly on Monday (4:00 - 6:00 pm) and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 6:15 - 8:00 am. The coaches are Donna Fava, Lily Clark and Ilona Horchler. Mark your calendars for the upcoming meets on September 18/19 (Big Bad Blue) and October 29/30/31 (SAISA in Oman). Go Raptors!
Congratulations AP Scholars
Please join me in congratulating the following students who have been recognized as AP Scholars during the May 2015 test session.
AP Scholars: Students received at least a 3 or higher on at least three exams.
Seongjun Byun
Chihyeon Cho
Bryce Finnegan
Eashaan Gunapati
Calder Hoover
Seungmin Jung
Ga Hyeon Kang
Jeebeom Kim
Minsang Park
Rajesh Polavaram
Nithya Raja
Junseop Shin
AP Scholars: Students received at least a 3 or higher on at least five exams.
Molly Brouns
Krishna Chittur
Taehun Ha
Seoyeon Jeong
Tae Ryoun Kim
Sanjana Kolisetty
Dakota Kuhn
Sang Su Lee
Vishnu Manivannan
Roshan Raju
Vrshank Raviveeraraghav
Ashish Tripathi
Skyward Reporting Dates - Repeat Announcement
As was done last year, families will receive regular updates about academic progress throughout the year. Progress reports with grades and comments are sent home and posted online in the middle of each semester. Report cards are sent home at the end of each semester. Approximately once per month in between these official reports teachers will update their marks in our student information system Skyward for your review. We call this a “Skyward Update.”
For your information the reporting periods this academic year will be as follows:
September 18 – Skyward update
October 16 – Progress report with comments
November 6 – Skyward update
December 11 – Skyward update
January 14 - Report card with comments
February 12 – Skyward update
March 4 – Progress report with comments
April 22 – Skyward update
May 20 – Skyward update
June 10 – Final report card
Student Schedule Changes - Repeat Announcement
Please note that the drop/add period for schedule changes is limited to the first six days of school. This deadline is in place to help students settle into their classes as soon as possible. Schedule changes made during this time do not require parents signatures. This means that it is very important for families to discuss potential schedule changes before the student seeks out his or her counselor. If a family feels strongly that no schedule changes should take place without written parent permission they are encouraged to contact the appropriate counselor.
Please note that it is our expectation as a school that students make wise choices regarding their schedules last spring during the registration process. As such, we expect students to pursue schedule changes only when truly necessary. We will not entertain changes motivated by a desire to be in class with particular friends or to seek out a particular teacher. Our counseling staff works very hard to balance our schedule such that no class is overloaded or too small. This is to everyone’s advantage in terms of student learning.
Food Service Update
AISC continues to work with the Taj Madras Flight Kitchen and improve the food quality and food service on campus. In order to meet the nutritional standards adopted by the school last year, all non-veg meals and soups now include protein, vegetable, fruit and dairy. The dairy portion takes the form of milk, flavored milk or flavored yogurt. Students who do not, or cannot, eat dairy will have the option of a juice box instead. Starting Monday, all veg meals and soups will have a protein component as well.
Each day, in both the elementary and secondary cafeterias, students will have a choice of either veg/non-veg meals and veg/non-veg soups. In addition, the secondary cafeteria will continue to feature a salad bar and the Indian veg/non-veg meal. A graphic of different meal options can be found here. The secondary cafeteria will also feature a live counter with daily specials. Those rotating specials include: poori (chicken gravy or channa masala), tacos (chicken or veg), stuffed paratha with yogurt and pickle (chicken, and cauliflower or potato or dal), wraps (chicken or veg), and dosas (chicken masala, masala or plain).
Food services at AISC are always in continual improvement. Should you have questions, suggestions or concerns, please contact Food Service Manager Prakash Shanmugam (sprakash@aisch.org), Elementary Associate Principal Lori Newman (nlori@aisch.org) or Secondary Associate Principal Jason Hicks (hjason@aisch.org). If you have not had the chance to have a meal in the iHub or Secondary Cafeteria, please join us. We would love to hear your feedback about the food at AISC.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal