Friday 12 March 2021

 Dear Students and Parents,

Have a wonderful spring vacation!

A congratulations to MUN Impact for a very impactful #MyFreedomDay event featuring a speaker from the Kranti organization (www.kranti-india.org). The group also made a video to mark #MyFreedomDay. Watch their video for FeedomDay here.

Polling Day -- Tuesday, April 6th – No School

Tuesday, April 6th has been declared a Polling Day for elections in Tamil Nadu. AISC will be closed virtually and on-campus for all classes, activities and meetings.

On Campus Cohort Schedule for Next Week

As the week of March 22 is five days, the on-campus cohort schedule will be as follows:

Monday and Tuesday - Mango on campus, blue virtual

Wednesday - Mango and blue virtual

Thursday and Friday - Blue on campus, mango virtual

New Timetable as of March 22

Many thanks to our fabulous students for learning the ropes so quickly as they enter campus. Their cooperation has allowed us to amend our timetable in order to lengthen breaks and lunches during the day (something we know our students on campus really need). Please note the amended staggered arrival times too.

As of Monday, March 22nd, the timetable will be as follows:

There are updated schedules for high school virtual days as well (with crew beginning at 8:45 am). The Crew, Crew/Wellbeing and Wellbeing timetables will be emailed to students directly. 

Change to Student Cohort Configuration

We are pleased to announce that we will no longer use the Mango and Blue cohorts as of Monday, March 29th. Students are keen to be together in a single high school cohort and, with the support of Jessica Pechhold and Greg Clinton, we have secured additional classroom spaces in Middle School, fully equipped with hybrid technology, to accommodate the full cohort with all health, safety and social distancing measures in place. 

We will circulate the updated master schedule with newly allocated classrooms to all students on Friday. March 26th in preparation for the next week. Students should arrive to campus as normal and, then, arrive at their first block class a few minutes early to determine if they will be in the primary classroom  or the secondary classroom. Teachers will be sure to rotate students through these spaces from class to class, though the experience will not be markedly different between the two classrooms.

Here is a basic schematic of what to expect in this next phase of hybrid learning:

As you can see above, an adult Hybrid Classroom Facilitator will be present in the secondary classroom to ensure health and safety protocols are followed. Students in that classroom will be able to engage with their teacher and classmates in the primary classroom through the hybrid set up rather than by individual laptops. In the primary classroom the teacher will be able to see and interact with students in the secondary classroom through the same set up. Most teachers will have adjoining classrooms so the teacher and facilitator can change positions throughout the block.  Students remaining at home virtually will use Zoom to attend class as they have been and will be projected in both rooms in order to interact during class. We are working hard to make this next iteration of hybrid learning rich and enjoyable for all.

It is important to note that we will continue with this model until middle school students are authorized to return to campus. When that happens, they, too, will require additional classrooms to comply with health and safety protocols and will utilize some high school spaces. As a further safety measure, middle and high school students will not be on campus at the same time. This means that once middle school returns to campus high school will shift to attending school on campus two days a week (usually Monday and Tuesday) with middle school attending school on campus two days a week (usually Thursday and Friday) and everyone studying virtually mid-week in five day weeks. This all-school virtual day will help facilitate occasional deep cleaning between sectional cohorts. 

Upcoming Orientation for Students Coming to Campus the First Time

To attend orientation students must have parent permission and health forms submitted at least 24 hours before the scheduled orientation. All orientations will take place from 8:15 - 8:55 am in the Madras Hall. Students should arrive on campus between 8:00 - 8:15 am.

Upcoming orientations coming up are as follows:

Monday, March 29

Wednesday, April 8

Monday, April 12

Monday, April 19 (final orientation for return to campus)

Virtual Student Parent Teacher Conferences - April 5 - Save the Date

Please mark your calendars for the second semester student parent teacher conferences. All conferences will be virtual and, as such, students will remain at home on April 5th. 

Parents are encouraged to sign up for conferences using the link that will be sent home via email on March 22nd. The same link will appear in the Principals Notes on March 26th.

Conferences will be hosted on Zoom unless a parent specifically requests a phone call. A master list of zoom links will be made available on the 26th of March. Individual conferences are 10 minutes in length.

Final Day to Return to Campus for Students Wishing to Participate in

 In-person/on-campus IB, AP, Semester Exam and End-of-term Celebrations

AISC will offer in-person/on-campus IB and AP exams, semester exams as well as end-of-term celebrations. Students participating in these events must abide by all safety and security protocols and procedures. 

Many students have returned to campus and are regularly practicing our protocols and procedures. Some students have found these protocols challenging or uncomfortable and have returned to virtual learning. Still others have not returned to campus at all.

We believe all students should have the best possible testing conditions. As such, growing comfortable with mask wearing, social distancing and classroom temperatures are an important part of ensuring students are prepared to take their exams. 

We also believe that students should be able to enjoy their end-of-term activities in a safe and healthy environment in which all students are used to and comfortable abiding by our protocols and procedures. 

To that end, students who wish to take their IB, AP or final examinations on campus or to participate in face-to-face end-of-term celebrations (including prom) should plan to return to campus for regular classes from the week of April 19th onwards. This will allow students to grow comfortable with protocols over the handful of class sessions they will attend before beginning their exams and activities in May. 

Families who are not comfortable with allowing their student to return to campus from April 19th should make note of the following: 

• AP examinations will be available online during the final AP testing window in early June. Students not attending school can make arrangements with Mr. Malone to complete the exams at home during this window. Please note that exams are scheduled on U.S. time and AISC has no ability to change the start time. Students who take exams online must be prepared to sit them as scheduled (9:30 pm and 1:30 am IST). Further, while Mr. Malone will train students to use the AP interface before the end of term, students will have to attend and complete the exams without school support or intervention. Please note that students cannot opt to take some exams in person and others online. The decision is not a matter of testing modality preference but, rather, a decision regarding a healthy and safety comfort level of returning to campus for study and examinations.
  

• IB examinations are not available online. Students not attending on campus classes must work with Mr. Malone to request the non-examination route from the IB. This route awards diplomas based on student performance on the Internal Assessments alongside the predicted grades submitted by AISC. Note that the IB has imposed a new quota system for predicted grades which may be detrimental for students on the non-exam route.
  

• Students who do not return to campus to prepare for their AISC final exams should contact Mr. Malone as soon as the official exam schedule is published to explore alternatives. This may require the use of a lockdown browser and parent proctoring in real time with the on-campus exam timing.

We know that not all students will feel comfortable returning to campus by April 19th to finish out the year and, yet, may want to participate in some of the social events that bring closure to any school year. We will make every effort to include such students in celebrations virtually. We cannot make exceptions for attendance to select events (eg: Prom or our Recognition Ceremony) as it could compromise the health and safety of other students. The exception to this, as communicated direction to seniors, is our graduation ceremony as COVID testing of all participants will be required.

Keeping Prom Safe

The Prom Committee is hard at work planning a great event for this year. To keep the event as safe as possible, it will only be open to students who have returned to campus for in-person schooling by April 19th. No guests will be permitted to attend. Further, the school will require a negative COVID test for all attendees. Arrangements for the test and the related cost will be absorbed by the school. The above will hold true regardless of the venue for prom (on or off campus).

Semester Exam Schedule - Repeat Announcement

Mr. Malone is hard at work building the exam schedule for the end of term. We hope to have the final schedule for you by the end of March.

As you plan for the summer holidays, please make note of the following exam windows. We do not give exams early, so please ensure that your departure for vacation is scheduled after the examination window closes.

Grade 12 Exams: May 20 and 21

Grade 9 - 11 Exams: May 28 - June 3

Sincerely,

 

Joelle Basnight

High School Principal