Christmas Wizard of Oz. At the time of writing the first performance of a Christmas Wizard of Oz has just taken place.  It was a lovely atmosphere and event; a show full of humour, fun and songs and which got great response from the audience.  A big thank you to the many parents who will have supported the school and the students by helping to practise lines, make costumes, help with the set, and not least of all in providing the audience.  The students put in so much hard work to make this event happen.  Thanks to all that made this event a success, especially the production committee of Elaine Cowper, Cate Low, Amy Ranger and Martin Herben. Hopefully the second two performances will have gone as well as the first!

PSA meeting on Tuesday. Our next PSA meeting is going to be held on Tuesday 17^th December, at the earlier time of 2pm.  This meeting is being called at short notice as we have been informed that the Shaanxi government would like to come in to talk to parents.  A representative(s) will be there to see what support you, the parents, feel is needed to enhance the quality of the education at Hanova.  This may be, for example, such as larger premises so that we can build an indoor gym, a larger kitchen to again cook food on site, a swimming pool, a large Learning Centre including Library and IT facilities, a decent sized playing field and athletics track.  Of course, parents may bring to the government’s attention any matter that they wish.  Our aim is to build an even better Hanova together.  This is a great opportunity to show the government the support that the parents provide for us and seek governmental support in enhancing our provision.

Also at this meeting there will be a brief introduction to the new teachers that will be joining us in January.  There will also be an update on the most recent numbers of students we are expecting to join us and the restructuring that will take place to accommodate this growth.

If time allows then the usual items on the PSA agenda will also be discussed, that is a review of past events, comments on future events and discussion of any other matters that parents wish to raise in an open forum.

The meeting will finish at 3:30pm to allow for the children to be picked up.

Y5/6 Terracotta trip. On 2^nd December, the Year 5 and 6 took a field trip to the Terracotta Army.

Our tour guide Ms Katye, was informative and supportive throughout the trip.

First we were shown the First Pit, which is the largest of the three pits. 230m long from East to West, then we were taken to the second and the third pit. We ended our field trip by viewing a short film about the Terracotta Army.

The students enjoyed their fieldtrip and were engaged in asking questions and actively taking notes for the planned activities related to our unit of inquiry on "How to express ourselves".  Our central idea was "Beliefs underpin how we live our lives, and are expressed in a variety of ways". The Chinese beliefs about the Terracotta Army demonstrate how people’s behaviour and the relics they leave are influenced and formed by their beliefs.

Assemblies. There will be no assembly tomorrow (Friday) although the students from Y2 and above will have a chance to see the main parts of the Christmas Wizard of Oz during the normal assembly time.

There will be an assembly on the last day of school before the Christmas break – that is next Thursday.

Please remember that there is staff training on Monday, 16^th December and the school is closed to the children.

Best regards,

Martin Hughes

Forthcoming events

Thursday, 12^th                             Christmas Wizard of Oz 2pm

Friday, 13^th                                  No Assembly

Friday, 13^th                                  Christmas Wizard of Oz 5pm

Saturday, 14^th                             Xi’an International Business Forum Christmas Party

Monday, 16^th                              School closed for Teacher Training

Tuesday, 17^th                              PSA with visit from Shaanxi Government 2pm

Tuesday, 17^th                              Y9 English trip

Wednesday, 18^th                        2^nd Semester Tuition fees due by this date

Thursday, 19^th                             PYP Christmas Party 12:40-14:00

Thursday, 19^th                             School closes for mid-winter break

2014, January

Monday, 6^th                                School opens for second semester

Friday, 17^th                                  Reports home by email

Tuesday, 21^st Wednesday, 22^nd Parent Consultations