School News School News - International School of Schaffhausen
Transcription
School News School News - International School of Schaffhausen
BUSI NESS NAME School News School News August 2014 Dear Parents and Friends of the ISSH A warm welcome back after the summer break to all of you. All staff have returned sound and safe with recharged batteries and we are currently all very busy preparing what promises to be a great start to the new school year. ISSH continues to grow substantially. We will start the new school year with 245 students (including ISCC) which is a 7 percent of increase in student numbers compared to last year’s August figures. The main bulk of the growth is in our secondary department. Next year’s grade 11 will have as many as 16 students and the Junior College boarding school section will start with 6 students. We are welcoming 57 new students from 40 families. Most of them have relocated to Switzerland over the summer. We wish them a good start in their new environment. Don’t hesitate to contact the school (info@issh.ch) or the PA (pa@issh.ch), if we can 300 assist you in finding your 250 way around. 200 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 You can find the latest Secondary School 150 facts and figures about our Primary School 100 growing ISSH community Childcare Centre in the statistics article on 50 page 5 of this newsletter. 0 There you can see the number of students in the different sections, the nationalities and which companies send students to ISSH. On page 4 of this newsletter, you will find a welcome note from Thomas Moser. Thomas is the contact person between the boards and the school and meets regularly with the staff and the PA. There has been very little staff turnover this year. You will find the portraits of the new team members on pages 7-9. First day new students A day prior to school start, on Wednesday 20th August at 14:00, we will meet the new families in the Assembly Hall (main building). After introductions of the team, the students will meet their teachers who will take them on a tour of the school. The parents will stay in the Assembly Hall and will receive specific information for families new to the school. They can then go to meet their child/ children in the classrooms and also meet the teachers. There is also an opportunity for you to meet the PA (Parent Association). New families, please make sure to not leave before you’ve had your family picture for the welcome board taken. On the first day of school (Thu, 21st Aug) Primary Students grades 15 will gather in the playground. Early Years 1, Early Years 2 and Transition students will meet directly in their classrooms. Secondary Students will gather in the gym hall. We are all looking forward to meeting you soon. Yours sincerely Gundula Kohlhaas, Head of School g.kohlhaas@issh.ch Calendar First school day for new students: Wednesday, 20 August, 14:00 Welcome Assembly in the Main Hall and meeting teachers. For students and parents. First school day for returning students: Thursday, 21 August, 8:00-8:30 Early Years and Transition meet in their class rooms; grade 1 up to grade 5 meet in the playground; Secondary students meet in the gym hall. PA Welcome Coffee Morning with Q&A Wednesday, 27 August 9:00 am, Güterhof Parent Evenings 27 August EY 1/EY 2 gr 2/gr 3 6:00-7:00pm 7:00-8:00pm 28 August Trans/gr 1 gr 4/gr 5 6:00-7:00pm 7:00-8:00pm 3 September 6:00-8:00pm Information evening for Secondary Parents Child care available. Please inform the office if you would like to enrol your child/ren. Middle School Camps 8– 12 September 2014 grade 6/7: Zermatt grade 8: Kandersteg grades 9/10: Berlin Secondary Art Trip to Paris 5—9 October 2014 (Optional) Autumn Break 4—19 October 2014 Christmas Break 18 December—7 January 2015 P AGE 2 S CHOO L NE WS of runners, from across primary, were also competitive in the Intercommunity School's annual cross-country meet, the Eglisau Swiss Schools 3km race and the local 'Scool' orienteering meet in the Breite. Field Hockey was also The Primary team would like introduced as an additional club this year and continues to to welcome you to the grow in popularity. This year we will participate in all the above 2014/15 school year at ISSH activities and host a Swiss Group of International School's Primary. We hope you all cross country running event, as well as partnering with IS had a great summer and are Winterthur for small team game activities. ready for another funpacked year of learning. For This year we have reorganized the way we offer after school those who are new to the clubs. Your child will now be able to participate in 3 clubs per school we are having an year rather than 2 and these clubs will run on either Monday or introductory afternoon on Tuesday afternoons. From the first week of the school year you Wednesday the 20th from will be able to select from a variety of clubs that run through 2.00pm until 3.00pm. We the year, you will be able to see when the clubs start and finish will meet in the school's and enroll your child in all 3. By doing this we can offer a main hall where you will be greater range of activities and cater, with more balance, to all introduced to your class teacher. From there you will be taken the age ranges in Primary. on a tour of the school and visit your new classroom. Dear Primary Students and Parents For all returning students, our first day is Thursday 21st. The start to the first school day will be a little different for Grade 1 to Grade 5, students are asked to go to the school football pitch where they will be introduced to their new class teachers between 8.15am and 8.30am. For Early Years and Transition we will have a normal morning, so please take your children directly to the EY and Transition classrooms at 8.15am. Transition classrooms are now next to the kitchen. During the following week we will be hosting Parent Evenings, so the class teacher can explain the way things work in their class. They will give information about homework, the new Google Pupil Drive and school trips, as well as answer any questions you may have. Dates and times can be seen on the front of this newsletter. Last year a number of new initiatives were launched and this year we intend to build on these new developments and add a few more. The introduction of weekly leveled grammar and numeracy skills workshops saw each class split into 2 small groups, each led by a class teacher: once a week, to focus purely on the structure of language, investigating how this knowledge can support their writing and reading skills and once a week, to focus on the development of number understanding and calculation methods. This will continue this year. These additional lessons in smaller groups were made possible by the introduction of a specialist Physical Education teacher. Mr Eisenstat runs PE across the primary grades, from Transition upwards and coordinates our school's involvement in competitive sport competitions. Last year saw a continued growth in competitive sports in the school and an excellent success rate for one of the smaller international schools. ISSH hosted and won the annual upper primary basketball tournament, the younger students competed against other international schools in both the SGIS indoor and outdoor soccer tournaments in Zug, finishing 2nd and 3rd, and a team German language learning takes place at the school formally through three lessons per week in levelled ability groups for most of the primary students. Last year we also introduced a German conversation club. This is two small groups of nonGerman mother tongue students who meet at lunchtime and spend 30 minutes playing games and conversing purely in German. These clubs are open for all Intermediate level German learners on a voluntary basis, from Transition to Grade 5. In addition to the continued promotion of excellence in language teaching, we also tackled the area of Science last year. We looked carefully at where Science was prevalent in our curriculum and identified further opportunities for Science teaching within our current units of study and across the curriculum. We will integrate these findings this year, giving the students more chance to look at ideas through a scientific lens. The performance of 'Theseus and the Minotaur' gave a number of aspiring actors and singers a chance to experience the preparation, production and presentation of a dramatic musical. The process and product was again a great success and our new music teacher, Cathy Taylor is currently looking for a play script for this December. The Grade 5 exhibition goes from strength to strength with the students last year challenged by the abstract theme of 'beauty'. The students had to develop their own central ideas and lines of inquiry centered around something that they found beautiful. We had a range of ideas from the beauty of cars, to the beauty of the seasons. As one of a select few PYP schools to participate in a pilot online collaboration programme run by the IB, the students had the opportunity to complete a 'paperless' exhibition this year. Communication, cooperation, research and production were all carried out through the use of a virtual learning platform, which created a number of new challenges for the students and teachers, but also offered a lot S CHOO L N E W S P AGE 3 of new opportunities. We hope to continue to use this website and refine its delivery for this year's exhibition. (SLC) and the second, a brief meeting between just the teacher and parents (this second meeting is optional for the parents). The 'Community Languages' morning at the end of last year was a huge success. This was a brand new initiative at ISSH and one that we will now maintain as an annual event. A number of volunteer parents spent the morning teaching each class some of their mother tongue language. We had 10 languages on offer and the students spent 15 minutes, with each of the languages, learning some of the basics before rotating to the next language. This year also sees the introduction of a School Google Pupil Drive. Each student from Early Years 2 upwards is allocated a student account on Google and given access to the school's Google Primary Pupil Drive. This is used for storing electronic work, communication, working collaboratively with peers and sharing homework. Details will be given by the teacher at the beginning of the year. Following the success of an Early Years 2 pilot study, we are changing the way we meet with parents during the second half of the school year. Instead of repeating the Student Parent Teacher meeting that will still take place during the first half of the year, the second meeting is broken down into 2 parts: the first, an opportunity for the student to share their learning independently with the parents in a Student Led Conference Dear Secondary Students and Parents Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions now or anytime during the year. You are always welcome in school and we encourage you to help out and share your ideas with the teachers and myself whenever you are able. See you next week! Nick Wragg, Primary Principal n.wragg@issh.ch Secondary school to teach German and Marleen Schyvens will be teaching French. Amy Trahearn will be teaching English and Rodney Burton will teach drama. I am sure you wish them well in their new ventures. On behalf of the whole The Secondary team are looking forward to starting the school Secondary team at ISSH I would like to welcome you year and have some great activities and learning experiences to our 2014/15 school year. planned for you all. Managebac will feature much more this year and it is important that you log on regularly to keep yourFor students who are new self informed of what you need to do. Parents have access too, to the school we are having and can monitor their child’s progress easily. Please make an introductory afternoon good use of this invaluable tool as the school reports (issued in on Wednesday the 20th January) will be generated from Managebac. from 2.00pm until 3.00pm. We are also switching to Google for Education within the We will meet in the school’s main hall where you will be introduced to your home- school and will provide all students with a gmail address so they can access their email and their storage facility, which can room teacher. From there you will be taken on a tour of the be managed online. This will allow students and staff greater school and visit your new classroom. st For all returning students, our first day is Thursday 21 August. flexibility whilst working on the computers. All Grade 11 stuWe will meet in the gym in the secondary building to meet and dents will be provided with Chromebooks in order to obtain the most out of this new system whilst they study for their greet our new students and organise ourselves for the day. Diploma. The internet speed has been increased dramatically These new ISSH members will include students who have joined our new Junior College boarding facility this year. This (100 mbps) in order to facilitate this move. Doesn’t it sound will boost our Grade 11 class to 17 students who will embark exciting? Grade 11 have also been provided with a ‘common on their two year Diploma programme. I am sure you will make room’, housing a few luxuries, to be used for study or a little relaxation between lessons, which they will surely need. them welcome. Friday, 22nd August will be a regular school day for all secondary students. On a sadder note, Mr Marc Kempe has taken the unique opportunity of joining Terre des Hommes, a Swiss children’s charity as their media manager. We wish him well in this worthwhile venture and thank him for the two years he has given, educating our students. This and the increase in student number to 88 in secondary this year, has resulted in the appointment of a number of new staff. Simon Sudbury and Camilla Lundström will join the humanities department. Silvia Baumann, already teaching in Primary, will join the Our two Grade 12 students, Jonathan and Kimi, both passed their Diploma successfully achieving very good scores (our highest yet) and maintaining our 100% pass rate in IBDP. Congratulations to both boys and the teachers too. I look forward to welcoming families and students, old and new, for what promises to be an exciting year in the Secondary school. Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions now or anytime during the year. Chris Taylor, Secondary Principal c.taylor@issh.ch S CHOO L NE WS P AGE 4 Things to Bring to School You should always bring these things to each lesson: You need to bring these things every day: Pencil case with pens, pencils, erasers, ruler, protractor and pencil sharpener Student planner or diary Schoolbag Student planner or diary Writing Equipment Snack, lunch and drinks Translating dictionary (if English is not your first language) You need to bring these things when necessary: Scientific calculator Appropriate kit for PE The correct books and files Rain gear Something to tell the time with All of these items should be marked with your name. Message from the Board the course of the last decades. Most likely, it is the pivotal element for a company to decide whether or whether not to settle in the Schaffhausen area. Dear Parents and Students Dear ISSH Staff Dear Friends and Supporters of the ISSH Dear ISSH Community On behalf of the ISSH Board, I’m very happy to welcome all of you to the new school year. A special welcome to all the new students and new staff members who joined our school this August. ISSH has seen a tremendous growth since its founding back in 1999 and again this summer we can count more students than we ever had before in our history. There is no doubt that the continuous growth and development of the International School of Schaffhausen is one of the biggest success stories in the economic development of the Canton of Schaffhausen in In the past years we continuously invested in the expansion of the infrastructure of our campus and the general school and programme offerings. The implementation of the Diploma Programme two years ago was a milestone in order to further increase the attractiveness and the quality of the education at the ISSH. These investments pay off! Today we are extremely pleased to see more than 240 students starting into the school year 2014/15 (with a remarkable growth of student numbers in the secondary section/diploma programme). This great development happened despite certain popular votes (e.g. “1:12”, “minimum wage” and, in particular, “mass immigration”) which created a number of uncertainties and make it more and more challenging to attract international companies to Switzerland. It reflects the well-deserved recognition for all the excellent work of our team of ISSH educators and support staff under the leadership of our head of school, Gundula Kohlhaas. But it also stands for the general spirit of the entire ISSH community. We definitely wouldn’t be where we are now without all of you. Your engagement, commitment, support and dedication for collaboration really amazes me again and again. It’s great to be part of this community! I’m sure, the new school year will bring along its challenges, some of them more, some of them less exciting. I’m looking forward to dealing with these challenges, together with the whole ISSH family! Thomas Moser Member of the ISSH AG Board S CHOO L N E W S P AGE 5 ISSH Community Statistics Founded in 1999, we are starting into our 16th year with 245 students from 161 families with 115 girls and 130 boys. 57 new students from 40 new families are joining our community of learners. The team consists of 19 class/homeroom teachers, 20 subject teachers, 4 administrators, 8 members of the leadership team, 13 support staff (marketing, library, IT, learning support, EAL, upkeep, transport), 6 trainees, 8 members of the parent association and 11 board or foundation board members. Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tunesia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukrania, United States and Venezuela. The seven biggest national groups are the USAmericans, the Swiss, the British, the Germans, the Brazilians, the Dutch, the Italians and theSwedes. Two thirds of our students are from Europe. 35 % of the students are English native speakers. 20 % of the families are local families. We have 145 students in the primary section, The following 44 nations are represented 88 secondary students and 12 children in the child care centre (ISCC). 74 % of the in our community: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Britain, Brazil, Canada, school places are taken by companies (Abbott Vascular, ad notam AG, Albany China, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, EriInt, Agco, Ashland, Biolingus, Bomtrea, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, bardier, Cabot, Cilag, Citrix, Covidien, Delta Tau Europe, DSM, Garmin, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Groupon, IWC, John Deere, Karl Storz, Kennametal, Lupin Atlantis, Makhteshim, Military Base Pfullendorf, Nestlé Singen, Oriflame, Pentair, Rising Tide, Swiss Re, Tavrida Electronics, Terex, Tyco, Unilever, Werner and Xylem with Unilever (60), Tyco (9) and Citrix, Groupon and Terex (8 places each) occupying the majority of places. New enrollments for August 2014 Early Years 1 Svara Buch, Paris Chatzopoulou, Tess Birrell, Annie Power (September), Ryan Nowicki, Brianna Firth, Bo Grünwald, Ethan Wilson, Emily and Samuel Wragg Grade 6 Pia Kath, Joáo Oliveira Early Years 2 Sophia De Campos, Izabela Gamache Grade 8 Mathew Gregus, Julianus Kath, Isabella Stewart Transition Jan Kaput, Manuel Oliveira Grade 9 Dilara Ammann, Mia Green, Julia van Ryneveld Grade 1 Baylyn Clinard, Jack Dorgan, Daniel Ingold Grade 10 Samuel Balun, Feven and Saron Dawit, Charles Green, Teja Thota Grade 2 Sara Birrell, Anna Braukus, Thomas Cogley, Boris Egorov, William Gamache, Jediel Magtibay (from October) Grade 3 Thalia Gregus Grade 4 John M. Braukus, Katherine Cogley, Amanda De Campos, Paige Dorgan, Jarle Hölker, Hanna Plutowska Grade 5 Emelie Birrell, Delta Clinard, Naila Wirth Grade 7 Pierre van Ryneveld Grade 11 Marko Balun, Gabriella De Haas, Helena Decadt, Trevor Lang, Lucy Mwangama, Patryk Rudzinsky, Gnanapurna Thota, Kuendrak Tobbgyal, Dorjee Tso, Jennifer Vogeno We wish you a very warm WELCOME and a great start! V O LUME 1 , I SSUE 1 P AGE 6 Shuttle Bus—Bus Times The shuttle buses will run on the first day of school, Thursday 21 August 2014. The assembly point is behind the main station (bus stop in front of the Unilever Landhaus building). The bus times are as follows: Mornings, leaving the Landhaus building 8:05 Darkblue bus for Secondary students 8:20 Both buses, Primary and Secondary The smaller bus will serve the following tour in the morning (Breite tour): 7:55 Wirbelwies 8:10 Schwarzadler 8:15 Coop 8:20 Landhaus building (main station) At home time the first bus leaves school at 15:35 in front of the Secondary Building. Students who must catch an early connection at the main station can, upon request, get a reserved seat on the first bus (providing that they are there at the time of departure). For grades 9-12 who finish school at 16:15, shuttle bus service is provided. The bus for the Breite tour will leave school at 15:40 and arrive at Wirbelwies at around 16:00. It will stop on its way to Wirbelwies at the Landhaus at ca. 15:45. Enrollment forms for the shuttle bus are attached to this email. Please fill in and hand in to the office on the first day of school. ISSH Meeting the PA team ISSH is supported by the Parent Association (PA) who organize community school events throughout the year such as welcome Ppcnics, coffee mornings, end of year events, garden parties. There is a weekly PA newsletter sent out together with the weekly ISSH bulletin. It contains information on the PA activities as well as information on events in the region that might appeal to ISSH community members. The 2014/2015 PA committee are: President Chantal Dewit (-De Meester); Vice-President & Treasurer Kim Hoyt; Secretary Sandra von der Geest; Class Parent Coordinators Lucia Gray & Denise Galbero; Social Events Coordinator Petra Ansorge; Sport Events Coordinator Annika Jensen and Communication Responsible Melissa Shanks. PA Committee 2014-2015 (from left to right): Melissa Shanks, Kim Hoyt, Chantal Dewit (-De Meester), Annika Jensen, Lucia Gray, Sandra von der Geest, Petra Ansorge and Denise Galbero N E WS LE T T E R T IT LE P AGE 7 The Hot Lunch Programme will start on Monday, 25 August! Please bring a packed lunch on the first two days of school and hand in your enrollment form for Hot Lunch—if you wish—at the latest by Friday, 22 August 2014. Enrollment forms are attached. Information pack for the start of the year In the interest of caring for our environment, we uploaded on our school website the info material we previously sent home as paper copies. There you will find amongst other To access this information you click on the ISSH Community button on the homepage (www.issh.ch) and log-in as parent/student using the following details: Updated parent handbooks Username: issh.member Safety and Security Policy Password: member@issh Holiday Plan ISSH overview of grades Then you’ll get access to the separate divisions for Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma Programme. The links to the documents can be found on the top right side of the page. ISSH Organization Chart EAL information for parents Curriculum Guides Our new trainees My name is Fiona Lutz and I’m 18 years old. I live in Rielasingen (Germany) with my parents and my three siblings. I just graduated from secondary school and now I’m starting as a Trainee at ISSH. I hope to improve my English and to learn more about working with children at different ages to be well prepared for University because my future plan is to become a teacher. I spent my summer holidays in South England. I really enjoyed it and so I'll travel there next summer as well. In my free time I play the transverse flute and I love to dance. Furthermore I like to go out with friends and spend time with my family. My name is Miriam Herrmann, I'm 23 and I live in Singen in Germany. I'm interested in music, reading and I enjoy spending time with my friends. I'm really looking forward to the next year as this is a great opportunity to be with kids, to have a first insight into the job as a teacher and to learn new things as I'm going to study pedagogy after the internship. S CHOO L NE WS P AGE 8 My name is Corinne Willi and I'm 15 years old. I live with my parents and my brother in the little village of Ramsen. I've just finished school and in summer 2015 I will start an apprenticeship in the hospitality business at the restaurant "Oberhof" in Schaffhausen. As for now, I am doing a traineeship at ISSH to improve my English. In my leasure time I like to go out with friends and have fun. You will often find me listening to music, because I could not survive without music! My name is Vivien Landgraf, I am 20 years old and live in Singen, Germany. I have been at ISSH for 9 years and received my IB Diploma last year. I was among the first four students who got the Diploma at this school! I have already worked as a trainee at ISSH last year and will continue supporting the trainee team this year on a 50 % time scale as I will start studying Maths and Economics at the University of Konstanz in September. In my free time I like to read, to go on bike tours, spend time with friends and solve Maths problems. Sometimes I also offer my services for babysitting. I very much look forward to spending another year at ISSH. Staff Portraits My name is Janine Landgraf and I am 18 years old. I live with my family in Singen, Germany. I am German/Spanish, therefore I also speak Spanish. Until this summer I attended the Friedrich Wöhler Gymnasium in Germany. In 2014/2015 I am doing my vocational diploma at ISSH. I also see this as a great opportunity to improve my English. I already did a one-week training here two years ago and that really convinced me to come back to work here. In my leisure time I like reading, spending time with friends and taking Zumba lessons. Sometimes I also do babysitting. I have been familiar with ISSH for a very long time because my sister Vivien has been a student at ISSH since her Primary years. Marleen Schyvens is a multilingual native Belgian (Antwerp), and has been living for quite some time in Schaffhausen, after having spent many years in Germany. She defines herself as quality-conscious, flexible, extroverted and sociable. She is an outdoors enthusiast, starting the day with a long swim in the Rhine, regardless the weather conditions. Passionate about languages and saddlefast with English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch and...Swiss German, she runs her own language studio and teaches French at the KV evening school. Being a mother of four children (26, 23, 20 and 16), she loves interacting ith children and young people. Feeling much at ease in an international environment, she is looking forward to the challenge of teaching French, her favourite language, at ISSH. S CHOO L N E W S P AGE 9 My name is Simon Sudbury and I am very much looking forward to the year ahead teaching humanities in MYP. This will be my third year teaching humanities - previously I worked at a high school in the Walloon part of Belgium, and at the European School in Brussels where the range of nationalities among the student group was almost as diverse as here at ISSH. Prior to that I worked in a software start up, the BBC, and the food industry in a variety of roles before moving to Schaffhausen a year ago when Claudia, my wife, took up a new role here. Amy Lynn Trahearn is from the United States. She loves to dance, and began her teaching career by teaching ballet while still in high school. In University, she studied French and Chemistry. After her studies, she moved to France to begin teaching English. After moving back to the US, Amy began teaching English as a foreign language to refugees. She also taught English and other high school subjects to adults in a high school equivalency program. In November, she married Daniel, and moved to his home town, Schaffhausen. She is excited to be part of this international community, and is working hard to learn German (and Swiss German). Rodney Burton is originally from Philadelphia, Pa. He is an accomplished singer songwriter and independent artist. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Radio/TV Communications with a minor in English literature and a Masters of Science degree in Education: Organizational learning and leadership. Rodney enjoys production, writing, travelling, basketball, soccer and inspiring others to be the best that they can be! He is very excited to be the new Drama teacher for grades 7, 9 and 10. I would like to introduce myself in my new role here at ISSH. My name is Cathy Taylor and I moved to Schaffhausen with my husband in January. Since moving to Switzerland, I have been working at ISSH as an Early Years 2 teacher and I am now taking on the exciting role of Music Teacher for the Primary children. I have been teaching for 7 years, after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with a BA (Hons) in Primary Education. I have worked in a range of schools in both Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire and have taught children between the ages of 3 and 11. In addition to my main teaching role, I have worked within a Music Workshop at the weekend for 8 years. Here I organised singing clubs and percussion groups, while supporting the children with Special Educational Needs across the whole of the workshop. Outside of school I play the flute and piano, I love to sing, and am learning how to play the bass guitar. I like spending time with my friends and family, visiting historical buildings with my husband and walking my dog. I really enjoy travelling and am looking forward to living in a new country.
Similar documents
April 2015 - International School of Schaffhausen
conduct evaluation visits in other IB schools or run IB workshops to support IB schools in the area or further away. Connections to local institutions and businesses helped us to provide our Junior...
More information