Centaur iBook for children. This children's book was developed by our senior students with young learners in mind.  It was produced as part of their Community & Service programme.

This book was researched, produced and tried out on real, live children with great results by: Bolton Choi, Mark Lee, Garrett Seo, Max Na, Sally Yoo.  They hope you enjoy reading the book as much as they did making it!

The iBook is available free of charge through the following link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/birth-of-centaur/id597710881?ls=1

If you have enjoyed this book, then please consider giving a donation to our partner charity, Yellow River Soup Kitchen: http://www.yellowrivercharity.com/english/want-to-help.asp

3 and 2 way Consultations and reports. You should receive your child’s printed report on Friday, 1^st February along with your appointment times for the 3 and 2 way consultations for next Tuesday or Wednesday.  We are looking forward to seeing you all then.  Consultations are an ideal opportunity to further explore any issues that were raised in the reports you should have received, as well as raise other questions you may have about your child’s learning and overall experience at school.  We believe that conferences are an important way to support student learning.    We hope you found these reports interesting and informative.  There was a lot of information in them and we are aware that if English is not your first language they may have been difficult to follow.  We felt that it was important to give you plenty of information knowing that you could get this translated or we could explain it more simply at the 3 and 2 way conferences.  The phases on the primary reports, as specified by the International Baccalaureate, are not easy to understand even if English is your first language.  We would welcome your feedback on the reports. One parent, actually one of our staff members, said you don’t even get that much detail on a doctor’s consultative report! – not sure if that is good or bad…

Art exhibition. We have taken delivery of a number of expectant looking display screens that are now in the front entrance hall.  They are awaiting mounting with Hanova’s first ever Art exhibition – Life in Colour.  There will be a short opening ceremony this coming Monday, 4^th February at 9am.  If you are able to attend we would be delighted to see you.  From 9:15-10:30am there will be refreshments available in the staffroom.  The artists would be delighted to see your comments on their work, which you can write in your own language on blossoms that we will display on our Unity Tree.  The exhibition will be on all the last week.

Heating. As you will know if you have visited the school it is normally toastie-warm.  The radiators will be switched off next week as the Bodi School is on holiday. Unfortunately they cannot be put on just for us.  We still have our air-conditioning which we have been using this winter to top-up the heat. In the very coldest weather the air-conditioners were struggling to cope due to some difficulties with the electricity supply.  These problems are being managed better but are not solved.  We are working on a solution to this but it may take a few months to completely resolve.  It is therefore a good idea to send your child with warmer clothes next week in case the air-conditioners provide insufficient heat.  We think that the electricity supply will be at the required voltage as Bodi are on holiday, so we will probably be fine.  It will, of course, depend on the weather.

Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year activities are intended to help the students, many of whom have only been in China for a short while, to experience a little of the culture and traditions of China.

The potential difficulties with the heating and the fact that some of the children will have a late night next Wednesday at 3 way consultations means that we have decided to move the Chinese New Year activities from Thursday evening to Thursday afternoon.  Apologies for any disappointment or inconvenience caused.  We did think, however, that the needs and comfort of the students should come first.

At 2:55pm we will start with pre-programme  refreshments, and the Chinese cultural performances will begin at 3:30pm.  There will be Chinese dancers, mini performances of Chinese songs by 3 of our school bands, a short piece by our Y3-6 students and a demonstration of Wushu.  The event will be finished in time for the students (and parents) to return on the school bus at the usual time on a Thursday, 4:45pm.

The Friday programme remains as in the previous newsletter with students undertaking several Chinese cultural activities culminating in a shared pot luck Chinese lunch buffet.  Please send along any contribution of food (preferably Chinese) for us all to share as the last thing before we break up for the Chinese New Year holiday.

Individual student performance opportunity. Our Friday assemblies are usually the highlight of our week when we are all together as one community and we get to see some activities that the students have been working on during the week.  We know we have many talented students in our school and know a number take music or other lessons outside school hours.  We would love to share in their achievement and progress.  So if your child is willing to perform a short piece or pieces with a total time of between 1 and 5 minutes, we would be delighted to showcase this at an assembly.  Such mini performances give a focus for the student to practise and also allow us to celebrate along with them their talent or development.  Please email our Liaison Manager (may.liu@his-xian.com) if you would like to book a slot for your child to perform in front of the school.  We don’t know the response we are likely to get but we plan to only have one performance in any one assembly, so you may want to book your child’s opportunity a few weeks in advance.  This gives time to polish those skills too!

Parent volunteer programme. A meeting was held at school this week and well attended by parents and teachers – your support and enthusiasm is much appreciated, even though they wouldn’t let me in the meeting as they said it was ladies only!  I am sure there are some men volunteers who may want to get involved in the school even if other commitments make it difficult.  There were a number of great ideas that came up at the meeting from either the parents or the school.  More information will follow on the activities of this group.  If you feel you can be involved even in a small way or require any further information please don’t hesitate to contact the school or email the teacher coordinators directly.  jeannie.rice@his-xian.com or stacey.nunweiler@his-xian.com

Please remember that school finishes at the earlier time of 1pm next Friday for the Chinese New Year holiday.  They should arrive home 2½ hours earlier than usual for a Friday on 8^th February.

Best regards,

Martin Hughes

Forthcoming events

Friday, 1^st                                     Printed student reports sent home, appointment times for Consultations

Monday, 4^th                                Art exhibition opening 9:00am, followed by refreshments 9:15-10:30am

Monday, 4^th to Friday, 8^th        Art exhibition

Tuesday, 5^th                                Parent Consultations 2:15-5:00pm

Wednesday, 6^th                                        Parent consultations 2:30-7:00pm

Thursday, 7^th                               Chinese New Year event – reception from 2:55pm, performance from 3:30pm

Friday, 8^th                                    Chinese New Year activities

Friday, 8^th                                    School closes at 1pm for Chinese New Year holiday

Monday, 25^th                              School re-opens for students