Dear Parents
The third week of school has just been completed and we have had two Parent Education sessions in the last week which were, true to form, very well attended. We hope parents have had an introduction to, or deepened, their understanding of the PYP and MYP curriculum frameworks. I am sure there will be a big turnout for the math workshops next week.
We thank Rhoe and Heather from the PSA Board for organising and running all the Parent Coffee mornings,
during which Homeroom Parents have been recruited as well as a class parent for the Year Book publication.
In the Fall and Spring each year, the Heads of all the IB Schools and those accredited by CIS in Japan, meet to discuss current issues. Our Fall meetings this year are in Kobe next week and John Littleford from John Littleford Associates, http://jlittleford.com/wp/about-us/ will be running sessions for Heads and also for the School
Business Managers, about Teacher Compensation/Packages. Those of you who were here last year, will remember that that was one area of concern for leaving teachers.
On Wednesday we had three representatives from Apple Education Marketing and Business Development visit TIS. They were here to observe and talk with Adriaan and Andy who are our Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs) and who will be leading the school in an initiative to become an Apple Distinguished School (ADS). After observing and talking with several of us, the team concluded that we are definitely ready to begin the application process to achieve ADS status.
TIS continues to have regular earthquake/fire drills and last week Grade 3 gave feedback to the Health & Safety Committee on the first practice. Grade 3 has been learning how to be prepared for an emergency in their current unit of inquiry. On Monday, they Skyped with Grade 12 students from Tianjin International School to learn about how they were prepared for a disaster and what they experienced after the chemical explosion earlier in August. The Grade 3 students took what they learned from the interview to start becoming more prepared at home.
Best wishes
Lorraine Izzard
Head of School