Dear Students and Parents,
On behalf of the High School Faculty, I would like to
welcome you to the 2019-2020 school year. I hope you have had a restful,
enjoyable summer and are looking forward to the coming school year!
It is my pleasure to introduce you to the new members of the
high school faculty:
Ben Fouchard - Associate Teacher
Margaret Carsello - Art
Todd Cota - Economics
Helen Dunning - English
Renato Dezonne - Theater
Marion Whisnant - Librarian and Yearbook
I hope you will join me in welcoming them into the AISC HS
community!
We also welcome Miriam Chakko back to high school. She will
be teaching a few sections of French this year.
Finally, we welcome Shari Abbott to her new role as
Personalized Learning Coordinator.
New Student Orientation
To help welcome high school students and their parents who
are new to the AISC community, we will hold an orientation session beginning
(for parents and students) on Wednesday, August 7th, from 10:00 am until 10:30 am after
which high school students will go with the counselors for a special
orientation. Parents can enjoy the PCA business fair until meeting with the
Athletics and Activities Director at 12:00 pm. Students will rejoin parents at
12:45 pm for a session with the High School Principal. All sessions will take
place in the FAC Theater.
The schedule for the event can also be found here
First Day of School
Thursday, August 8th, is the first day of school for all
students. The day will begin with an
assembly in the FAC Theatre, after which students will attend all 8 blocks in
shortened periods. The timetable will be shared on the day. The regular rotation of A Day (blocks 1, 2 3
and 4) will begin as usual on Friday, August 9th.
Students should plan on arriving a few minutes early on
August 8th. We will distribute student schedules in the Foyer of the Fine Arts
Center from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m.
Bring-Your-Own-Technology (BYOT) Program
All High School students are required to bring in a laptop
that meets a minimum set of speciļ¬cations to support student learning. Students
may choose between a laptop with either the Mac or Windows operating
system. In order to configure the
devices, we ask that students bring their own device on these days:
- Thursday, 8 August: New students
- Friday, 16 August: HS Grade 10, 11 and 12 Returning students - New Device configuration
- Monday, 19 August: HS Grade 9 Returning students - New Device configuration
Please remember to set your operating system language to
English in order for our IT department to configure devices. You may check out
the specs and details on the BYOT page
Save the Date: Upcoming High School Events
Please mark your calendars for the High School Back to
School Night on Thursday, August 29th, and come and experience an abridged
version of a “day in the life” of your student(s). You can pick up your student’s schedule
between 3:45 pm and 4:05 pm which will be followed by a brief welcome in the
Madras Hall. Classes will start promptly
at 4:20 pm and end at 7:00 pm. Please join us!
IB Boot Camp for all IB diploma students and their parents
will take place on Saturday, August 10th. Year 1 students should attend from
8:30 am while Year 2 students should arrive at 10:00 am. The Boot Camp will
conclude at 11:30 pm. It will take place in the Hall of Light.
Finally, please also mark your calendars, if applicable, for
our first AP Boot Camp. This will take place on Saturday, August 17th from 9:00
am - 11:00 am in the Madras Hall and should be attended by all students taking
an AP course along with their parents. The focus will be new AP registration
and the new MyAP subject resources sites.
PowerSchool Reporting Dates
Families will receive regular updates about academic
progress throughout the year. Progress
reports with scores 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 new student information system PowerSchool for
your review. We call this a “Progress
Update.”
For your information the reporting periods this academic
year will be as follows:
September 13 – Progress update
October 18 - Progress update
November 1 - Progress report with comments
December 13 - Progress update
January 24 - Report card with comments
February 13 – Progress update
March 10 – Progress report with comments
April 17 – Progress update
May 22 – Progress update
June 10 – Final report card
Student Schedule Changes
Please note that the drop/add period for schedule changes is
limited to the first eight 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 would have made 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.
A copy of the master schedule for planning purposes can be
found here.
Communication is Key
Each week I will
update my Principal’s Notes, an online newsletter that shares important
information with students and parents in high school. The Head of School, Andrew Hoover, also
publishes notes weekly. Please do your
best to read these notes weekly so that you are as informed as possible.
There will also be
opportunities throughout to meet in person.
Most months I will host a Parent Coffee that will help you to gain
greater access to what goes on in our classrooms. Student/Parent/Teacher conferences take place
twice yearly (November and March).
Please do refer to the community calendar so that you do not miss these
important opportunities!
Welcome to another
great year at AISC! I am looking forward to working with you in the coming year
as we continue to build a learning community that helps our students develop
into knowledgeable, caring and responsible citizens of the world.
First Parent Coffee
Our first high school parent coffee will take place on
Tuesday, August 27th, from 8:45 - 9:45 am in the BBT. This coffee is aimed to
get parents new to high school up to speed on our Standards-Based Assessment
and Reporting system. While returning parents in grades 10 - 12 are welcome to
attend, please note that no new information will be shared.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal
