The first school weeks. It has been great to see the students and teachers both former and new settling into work this year. I can sense the higher expectations that we have of the students from having so many specialist and experienced teachers added to the team, and can see the students responding to these higher levels. We are very clear what we want the students to achieve. There is a long way to go, but the year has made a very promising start.
Middle Years Programme (MYP) Information Meeting. This is just to remind parents of students in years 7 to 11 that there will be an information meeting on Friday at 4.00pm in our auditorium. Parents of students in other year groups are also welcome to attend. This is an important meeting because our new IB MYP Coordinator, Mr David English, will be outlining developments and changes being implemented in our Middle Years Programme. It is also a good opportunity for parents to ask questions about the MYP and the Diploma Programme. We look forward to seeing you there.
New staff in Music Teacher and Teaching Assistants:
Bruce Gorchitza joins us as Music teacher. He will be mainly working with the younger students in school. Bruce has very extensive teaching experience since 1981 mainly as a Music teacher, running his own successful independent Music school for 9 years. He gained his Bachelor Degree from the University of Manitoba in his native Canada and also has TESOL qualifications as well as IB training. He has taught in Canada, Taiwan, Kuwait and joined us from his previous school in Singapore along with his wife, Gabrielle.
Gabrielle Gorchitza is also from Canada. She joins as a Teaching Assistant. Gabrielle has worked as an assistant in schools before teaching English in Taiwan for 2 years and 2 years as an English Language Assistant in Singapore. Previously she has run her own business, is a singer and is artistic.
Alison Hughes is from England although has lived in New Zealand for the last 10 years. Alison is also artistic and has qualifications, including a BTec in Art. She joins us as a Teaching Assistant, initially working mainly in the lower school Art classes.
Instrumental Music Programme. This year we are planning to introduce an instrumental music programme. We are currently sourcing skilled, English speaking teachers to teach a number of instruments, including piano, guitar, flute and voice, among others. We currently have spaces available in the programme for interested students.
Please contact the Liaison Manager at april.hu@his-xian.com or the music department at maxine.lee@his-xian.com for more information, or to place your child on the list for lessons.
Power Cut. Many apologies for the inconvenience of the school closing to the students after 1pm last Tuesday. We had no electricity for the day, although unfortunately, we had not been informed by the Electricity Bureau. We found when the power was not on at 7am that it would be off the whole day. We were concerned that the water stored in the tanks would run out by lunchtime meaning that it was difficult to wash hands and impossible to flush toilets. With 300 people in the building we consider this unhygienic, even with the antiseptic wipes with which we furnished all rooms. We therefore decided to close the school at the end of lunchtime and run the buses home 2½ hours early at 13:15. Our office staff spent the morning making sure clear arrangements were made for the children to arrive home safely – thank you for your cooperation with this. The safety and well-being of our students is our first priority. If there are flaws in our system of informing you please let us know so we can look to improve them for any future similar occurrence. If for any reason you didn’t receive the information please inform us. Please also ensure we have at least 3 numbers preferably for 3 different people in case we need to contact you in an emergency.
Curriculum Information afternoon. Apologies for the postponement of this from Tuesday, 2nd September, owing to the lack of electricity. It will now take place on Wednesday, 10th September. Time arrangements as before starting at 13:30.
Uniforms. Parents are reminded that uniforms are compulsory throughout the school. With the exception of the Diploma students in Years 12 and 13, who wear Business Dress, it is expected that students should be in school uniform. There are some shortages of certain sizes but this is being addressed. We ask the cooperation of our parents in ensuring that their children are properly kitted out as soon as is possible. The Liaison team have been working hard to get all distributed. If you have any problems please don’t hesitate to contact our Liaison manger (april.hu@his-xian.com).
We wish you a happy Mid Autumn Day. Hopefully you can have time, as is the tradition in China, with your family. The school is closed for the day on Monday.
Best regards,
Martin Hughes
Forthcoming events
September
Friday, 5th MYP curriculum information. 4pm
Monday, 8th Mid Autumn Festival. School closed
Tuesday, 9th Extra Curricular Activities (ECAs) begin
Wednesday, 10th PYP Curriculum information 1:30pm
Saturday, 14th Saturday Sports 9:30am-12 noon