Dear Students and Parents,
Many thanks to everyone who attended the High School Back to School Night. A special thank you to the NHS volunteers who acted as guides: Kyungho Shin, Minjae Lee, Kavya Gopinath, Yoonseo Oh, Hye Rin An and Yoora An.
Three cheers from Ron Thomson and all of our amazing AISC Clubs and Organizations. This past Tuesday marked our annual Activities Mela and the turnout was great! Here are some pictures from the event.
Yearbook Photos
Yearbook photos will be taken in the BBT from August 29 - September 2nd. Class photos will be taken at 3:30 pm as per this schedule:
Monday, August 29th - Grade 9
Tuesday, August 30th - Grade 10
Thursday, September 1st - Grade 11
Friday, September 2nd - Grade 12
Please note that Grade 12 students are requested to wear nice black and white clothing for their photo.
A Note from the Fun Nite Out Organizing Committee
Last Friday marked our first HS Fun Nite Out with 80 students in attendance. Many thanks to all volunteers who helped to make the night a success. A special thank you to Ryan McFarland for organizing the sports events and giving up his social plans to attend! Mark your calendars for our next FNO on Friday, September 16th. Information and sign ups coming soon.
Second Early Release Wednesday Coming
On September 7th, we will have our second Early Release Wednesday. Students are expected to depart campus in a timely and organized fashion. We appreciate your patience with traffic on these days. In preparation, please plan on allowing longer time for entry and exit to the school at release time. For Elementary School students, the lunch routine will not change. For our Middle and High School students, hot lunch will be served.
Introducing… Ruth Martin
Ms. Ruth Martin, one of our High School English teachers, grew up in a blended family living internationally with an emphasis on organic farming, slow food, experiencing and producing art/music and travel. It is no surprise, then, that Ruth has spent time living and working in the US, North Africa, the Middle East and, of course, India. Ruth counts herself lucky for being able to write poetry as part of her education and career. A rewarding part of her job is when students become excited about a text or concept and, then, decide to explore it further in university or beyond. For example, a past student became so obsessed in IB English with Anil’s Ghost that she wrote her university senior thesis about it! Ruth is passionate about promoting equality and appreciating beauty in all forms. In her spare time she enjoys taking photos, travelling and reading. She admits to liking cats “a little more than maybe one should” and would happily live the life of Leonardo da Vinci if given the chance to trade places for a day or two.
Common Syllabi Format - Link Live on Moodle
As you learned at Back to School Night, this year every High School teacher has used a common syllabus template to publish information about their course. You can access a master list of syllabi by logging into Moodle, navigating to the High School page and clicking on the 2016/17 Syllabi link right below the curriculum guide.
Parent Coffee - Tuesday, August 30th
Our first high school coffee of the year will take place on Tuesday, August 30th, at 8:45 am in the Hall of Light (3rd floor). Ron Thomson will welcome the group and share information about our athletics and activities program. Afterwards, Mike Malone and I will share the research and philosophy that guided the high school to write and implement the updated Assessment Philosophy and Guidelines (p. 50 of the student handbook). We will leave plenty of time for parents to ask questions in order to deepen understanding.
Please note a few of the noteworthy changes/additions to our assessment guidelines that will be explained during the coffee:
- Formative assessments (eg: homework, classwork, etc.) will be recorded in Skyward for communication purposes but will not count in the overall semester achievement mark.
- A minimum of 4 - 6 summative assessments will be given per semester in each course. These, along with the final exam/assessment will determine the overall semester achievement mark for the semester.
- Students who submit summative assessments late will enter a communication/remediation process that will involve communication home to parents and, potentially, a mandatory make up session to complete the work on a Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. The dates for these sessions are fixed and students assigned to them are expected to attend.
We strongly encourage parents to attend so they have all of their questions/concerns answered.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal