USA Embassy visitor. We were delighted to receive a visit from Erik Black, the Education Officer for the USA Embassy in Beijing. He toured around the school and spoke to many of the classes.  Erik Black gave his full endorsement to the IB curriculum, which he thought was ideal for developing global citizens.

The main reason for his visit was to thank us for the care and education we were providing for US citizens but in particular for Fulbright children.  China and USA have a programme whereby American professors visit to teach in Chinese universities.  Many of these professors have children.  He expressed pleasure that Xi’an could be added to the recommended list of good quality international schools to join the likes of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

English Learning Programme Information session. There is a meeting on Tuesday to inform parents and answer parental questions on how the students who are not mother tongue speakers are being taught English.  We will be covering how to maximise the speed of acquisition of English and how we support them in all their lessons.  There will also be an opportunity to ask any questions you might have.

Mr Quigley (MYP) and Mr Van (PYP) will lead the session with the support of the EAL department (Ms Ranger and Mr Herben).

There will be translation into Korean and Chinese.

The meeting will be held during ECA time at 3:30pm on Tuesday, 12^th November in the Library.

Shaanxi Government visit. We welcomed more than 30 visitors from the Shaanxi Government to school on Wednesday, 6^th November.  The delegation was headed by Mr Liu the vice chair of the CCPCC  (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee), accompanied by Education Bureau staff.  We were the last of the 3 international schools they visited and they were most complimentary about our school.  The purpose of their visits was to review the international schools and to consider the next steps for the province in expanding its provision for students to ensure that Xi’an is able to provide that top international school to serve the future anticipated growth in foreign investment.

Korean liaison. We are very pleased to be able to announce that Nicole Li has joined us this week.  She is our new Korean translator.  Nicole will be attending meetings to act as translator.  She will be here to listen to any information and pass on any enquiries from our growing and much valued community of Korean parents.  The Korean department in the school will continue to deal with the Boarding school and act in loco parentis for students staying there.  Enquiries about the main school or issues involving the Boarders during the main school day can now be directed through our Liaison Management team of May Liu and Nicole Li.  We are confident that this will improve the lines of communication between home and school.

Best regards,

Martin Hughes

Forthcoming events

Tuesday, 12^th                              English Programme Information session 3:30pm

Friday, 15^th Saturday, 16^th        IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) training for staff. School closed to students

Wednesday, 20^th                        School reopens to students