Dear Students and Parents,
Congratulations to this month’s Vision for an AISC Learner honorees! October was dedicated to Collaborators:
Collaborators are those students who listen carefully to others' perspectives and confidently articulate their personal viewpoints in the pursuit of common goals. These students have the ability to reflect on the contributions of others and themselves toward a goal. As a result, collaborators actively encourage others' contributions, ask questions and make suggestions that move work forward, and synthesize others' ideas with their own to create solutions.
The students chosen are:
Jared Sagar - The descriptor for a 'Collaborator' perfectly describes his interactions with others, whether it is with a partner or with a larger group. He does an excellent job inquiring into the ideas of others and is very skilled in paraphrasing.
HyoLin Song - HyoLin consistently shows high levels of careful listening and thoughtful communication during many collaborative activities. She is low-key but upbeat in supporting her classmates' viewpoints, asks strong clarifying questions and is quick to praise others. She works well communicating and strategizing, shares leadership while working on what needs to help the group move forward.
Asuka Hayashi - In any group setting Asuka really seeks to understand the opinion of others. She's willing to shift her opinion and thoughts as a result of interacting with others. Additionally, she's group energizer.
Advika Srinivasan - Advika shows the same level of positivity, concentration and care in all her collaborative activities. She is patient, upbeat, and supportive across a range of activities, size or group configurations, or type of task. Her careful listening and strong critical thinking improves the quality of the learning experience of her peers.
The next aspect of the Vision for the AISC Learner to be recognize is Explorer. Explorers are students who investigate new interests with curiosity, inquire with purpose and seek deeper understanding and fulfillment through their ground-breaking pursuits. Explorers ask probing, extending and open-ended questions, contribute their new ideas to discussion, and investigate and attempt new ways of extending their learning opportunities and sharing their findings.
Operation Smile hosted their ULead conference at AISC on October 15th and 16th. The students, chaperones and speakers felt the conference was of high quality, that they were welcomed and that our conference was comparable to adult let conferences elsewhere! Congrats Op Smile Club!
This week we held our first ever “inspire” assembly in which students were asked to volunteer to present a passion to the student body. From overcoming body image issues to teaching mathematics to local students, Uday, Kaviyan, Gokul, Marie, Nisa, Adrienne, Kavya and Liam had a lot to say!
I would also like to thank Ann-Sophie, Marie, Jules, Nate and Uday for attending our parent coffee and serving on an AP/IB informational panel!
SAISA Season I Recap - a Message from Ron Thomson
The first SAISA Season of the 2016/2017 school year is history now and what is left are the memories, highlights and friendships made at the various events.
The Lincoln School in Kathmandu hosted its first ever Swim Meet in SAISA history and the competition was fierce! The Raptors swam well and managed to place 6th overall with the boys taking 5th and the girls finishing 7th.
At home here at AISC, the Boys Volleyball Tournament produced a lot of thrilling games, matches and highlights that would have been worthy of ESPN. The crowds rocked the gym as the Raptors took the court. The Raptors finished the tournament with an 8th place showing.
The American International School of Muscat was the host site of the 2016 SAISA Girls Volleyball Tournament and the Raptors turned in an outstanding performance. The Raptors made some history by beating AISD in the quarter final game and, then, ACS on the way to a 3rd place finish, bringing home the bronze medals.
We salute all of our Raptor Seniors that participated in their last Volleyball Tournament; SoHee Park, Adrienne Hoover and Jan Pascal Conrad. Well done Seniors!
Semester One Exam and Revision Schedule - A Note from Mr. Malone
Semester final exams will occur from Monday, December 12 through Friday, December 16th. Please see Semester One 2016-2107 Exam Schedule for the specific times for each class. Each exam period is two hours long. Exams will take place in the gym, and will be supervised and supported by the subject teacher and HS administration. Revision for finals will take place from Tuesday, December 6 - Friday, December 9. During these classes, student will prepare for their final exam.
In some classes, teachers will not give a final exam, but instead students will complete a semester final alternative project. These projects will be completed and will be due during revision week, December 6-9. If your student has a conflict (two exams scheduled at the same time), we will schedule one of those exams during the conflict makeup sessions on Thursday or Friday, December 15th or 16th.
All students must be present for their final exam to receive credit for it. No exams will be given early or late. Kindly keep the exam schedule in mind when booking winter vacation tickets.
Should you have any questions please contact Mr. Malone at mmichael@aischennai.org
Upcoming Parent Coffee - Save the Date
Our next coffee will be on Tuesday, November 29th at 8:45 am in the BBT. It will be focussed on college admission. We are still waiting on confirmation that our US Department of State sponsored admissions visitor will, indeed, be in town during that time. If her dates shift we will shift the coffee accordingly. More as we know it!
Introducing Cheri Amarna
Cheri Amarna, one of our science teachers, was born in Florida. After graduating from Virginia Tech she moved to Massachusetts, became a huge Red Sox fan and, as a result, her favorite place in the world is Fenway Park. She has two grown children who helped Cheri restore a cabin in the woods of Nova Scotia, where she has some ancestral ties. This summer Ms. Amarna worked at the APC Microbiome Institute in Cork, Ireland, doing research. In her spare time Cheri loves to ride horses (dressage), do field work and dabble in genealogy. She gets most excited when she helps her students appreciate and protect the natural world. If given the chance to trade places for 24 hours with anyone dead or alive, Cheri would pick Rachel Carson who was an ordinary woman that made a huge contribution to the environmental movement. Not surprisingly. Ms. Amarna is clear that she is more comfortable outdoors than indoors as she loves being in nature. Ms. Amarna has been at AISC for three years joining us after seven years working abroad in Mexico City and Dubai.
Student Protection Curriculum at AISC
Abuse prevention is a fundamental strategy of our Student Protection Program at AISC and as such we have worked over recent months to review and develop our Student Protection Curriculum.
The curriculum we have chosen to guide our program is the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (KS:CPC), developed by the South Australian Department of Education and Child Development. It is an evidence based, best practice curriculum developed collaboratively with child protection specialists, teachers, educational leaders and other professionals.
Given the importance of protecting all students at AISC we are not seeking permission from parents to have their child participate in this curriculum, we encourage parents/caregivers to seek further clarification if required and to provide their counselor with any relevant information about their child that could alleviate any concerns.
There are 2 main themes:
- We all have the right to be safe
- We can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we trust
There are 4 focus areas:
- The right to be safe: recognizing and assessing risk, psychological pressure and manipulation
- Relationships: a matter of rights, rights and responsibilities in relationships, power in relationships
- Recognising and reporting abuse: identifying abuse and neglect, acting to report abuse and neglect
- Protective strategies: problem solving strategies, network review and community support
For more information on the Student Protection Program at AISC please refer to the AISC Student Protection Manual 2016-2017 which is linked to the Information and Reminders section of the Heads Notes. Please contact your section counselor if you have any questions about the program.
A Message from Art Sustains
Art Sustains would like to formally invite you to our 2nd annual AISC craft fair. This event will take place Tuesday, Nov. 1st through Friday, Nov. 4th in the BBT and Saturday, Nov. 5th during the Diwali Mela. Art Sustains is a service organisation that works towards supporting the sustainability of the arts in Tamil Nadu and throughout India.
Yearbook Photos Ready for Review and Order - Repeat Announcement
Parents and students can now review the recent yearbook photos by clicking on "Yearbook Photos 2016-17" from the All School Page in Moodle. You may access Moodle using User ID -guest and the password - raptors16.
Families interested in ordering photos should complete and return this Order Form by November 6th. Payment may be done at the cashier's office. Please submit the completed form to the HS office. Prints will be ready for pick up after December 5th.
Next Early Release Wednesday Coming - Repeat Announcement
On November 2nd, we will have our next 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 our Middle and High School students, hot lunch will be served.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal