Dear Students
and Parents,
How wonderful to have all of our students back on campus! There is so much energy with
students reconnecting with friends and settling into classes.
Congratulations to the four AISC students for exhibiting their courage, confidence, and creativity by presenting their projects at National History Day in Washington, DC this summer. All of these students succeeded in previous contests in Chennai and Singapore last year. For this final round, there were 80+ performances and 100+ websites in the high school division, so the competition was intense.
Tejas Narayan represented our school with his website titled the "Communist Revolution in China: Triumph and Tragedy of Mao Zedong's Decisions". Chloe Bridgeland, Noa Daryn, and
Pooja Viswesh delivered their group performance titled "The Radium Girls: From Tragedy to Triumph". All students did a commendable job with their historical research and creative efforts toward web design and dramatic performance. The girls did particularly well by scoring in the top 20 within their project category. Congratulations to all of these students!
In other exciting news, current grade nine students Emi, Kaaviya, Ayush participated in the global round of World Scholars Cup at The Hague during the summer break. They won a number of gold and silver medals, and have qualified to the Tournament of Champions at Yale University this fall. They competed as a senior team against 900 senior scholars, aged 14-18, and we are very proud of their accomplishments!
In other exciting news, current grade nine students Emi, Kaaviya, Ayush participated in the global round of World Scholars Cup at The Hague during the summer break. They won a number of gold and silver medals, and have qualified to the Tournament of Champions at Yale University this fall. They competed as a senior team against 900 senior scholars, aged 14-18, and we are very proud of their accomplishments!
Student Handbook - Updates and Signature Pages
On Thursday students were given the updated Student Handbook for 2019-2020. Mike Malone created this helpful presentation with voice over to highlight changes from last year to this year and important-to-review sections in the handbook.
Kindly take some time to view this presentation and look at the handbook. We ask that all
students and parents sign the final page of the handbook acknowledging an understanding of the key parts referring to rules and expectations. This signed page should be returned to the high school office as soon as possible.
Counseling Newsletter - August
Please take a minute to review the counseling newsletter for August. If you have a grade 12 student, please mark your calendar for Senior Class College Night on Tuesday, August 20th, at 6:00 pm. More details will be emailed to grade 12 parents from the counselors directly.
Discover India - A Note from Mr. McFarland
Discover India trips are just six weeks away! Next Tuesday the trip groups will meet and review important details including any important equipment necessary and the trip plans.
Standards-Based Assessment and Reporting
The high school uses standards-based assessment and reporting for all courses. Teachers award scores using a 1 - 8 scale four times per year (October, January, March, and June) using common reporting achievement strands and common learning habits ratings. Details about the grading and reporting system can be found on page 48 of the High School Handbook or by accessing this informational document.
In addition to formal reports, students will receive regular informal feedback from teachers
in class including verbal comments and written feedback on small assignments (eg: exit tickets, short quizzes). At least once before each summative assessment, students will receive formal feedback on a more comprehensive formative assessment. Formative assessments are assessments for learning and help students identify areas of strength and growth in preparation for their summative assessment.
Such assessments are reflected in PowerSchool but are not used in determining final scores.
Such assessments are reflected in PowerSchool but are not used in determining final scores.
At least once per unit, students will complete a summative assessment. Such assessments
provide feedback on the proficiency of the standards related to the unit. Performance on summative assessments determines a student’s final score in the course based on recent, most consistent performance. In the high school, the last three summative assessments of the semester (which may include the student’s semester examination) are used at the data, alongside the strand and holistic rubrics, to determine the final score in the course at the end of each reporting period. The rubrics for each specific to each class can be found linked to the course syllabus. All syllabi can be found here.
New Family Orientation Presentation
Many thanks to all who attended our orientation this week. Here is the presentation delivered for high school parents and students as a reference. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Message from the Aquatics Director
If you are a swimmer and want to participate in swimming during SAISA season, please come on Monday 12th, Tuesday 13th, and Friday, 16th of August from 3:45 pm to 5 pm for tryouts at the Raptors swimming pool.
It is mandatory to participate in these three days tryouts. On Saturday, August 17th will be a time trial, and it is mandatory if you want to be part of AISC swim team. This year SAISA will be at Lincoln School in Nepal.
If you have any questions, please come to my office in the pool area, and I will be happy to assist you.
Giovanni Bello
Bring-Your-Own-Technology (BYOT) Program - Repeat Announcement
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 - Repeat Announcement
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 - Repeat Announcement
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 - Repeat Announcement
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 require parents signatures. This means that it is very important for classes as soon as possible. Schedule changes made during this time do not or her counselor. If a family feels strongly that no schedule changes should families to discuss potential schedule changes before the student seeks out his appropriate counselor. 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.
First Parent Coffee - Repeat Announcement
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
