Happy New Year to you all. On behalf of the school, our best wishes for a wonderful 2016 in all personal, professional and academic aspects. Welcome back! This newsletter will further update you on the few events that took place before the Holidays break and during this first week of the new Semester.
Mr. Meadham. The school has appointed Mr. Marcus Meadham as new IB Diploma Programme Coordinator. He was up to now Teacher and Head of Humanities in Secondary School. Mr. Meadham has been teaching Economics, Business and Management, History and Geography for more than 30 years in international schools, with extensive experience in the IB Programme and as Head of Departments. He will receive full support from teachers and staff to ensure our senior students will achieve excellent academic results.
December Sports Reports. On the chilly afternoon of December 10, 2015, Hanova students from Year 8 to 12 travelled to Bo’Ai International School for their first basketball and football competition. Even though the weather was cold and windy, everyone’s spirits were still up with high hopes of returning with a win. Right before the basketball tournament, the two teams warmed before competing. Hanova teams won Basketball and lose Football. In any case, everyone was extremely proud of the teams’ performance we all look forward to future games with Bo’Ai and other international schools, both in Xi’an and in China.
The sports activities and clubs will start again next week.
Primary School Christmas Performance. The PYP students completed two performances, which allowed teachers, parents and friends to see the various talents they have developed. Each show started with a great performance from Reception B and ended with all PYP students singing 12 days of Christmas - the Hanova version. Each class had their chance to be on stage to show their singing, acting and dancing skills., with students putting so much effort into their performances and learning the English words - often in a second language. It was great to see that the students' and teachers' hard work was so well supported by the audience.
Thank you all for coming to watch and enjoy the performances. Thank you also to all the teachers and staff who worked together to make this event a success. A special thank you goes to Ms. Henderson, who was the driving force behind our show.
School Charity Projects. Many thanks to all of you for your presence and contributions to Hanova’s first Christmas Market: the event was a success and another step of the school’s effort to support charity activities and benefit our whole community.
In particular, during November and December, we raised more than 15,000 RMB from the following projects: the Year 4 Carnival, a Year 7 Service Action project, Movember, Christmas Market. The School and the students involved have decided to donate over 14,000 RMB to Elim Kids Orphanage and almost 1,000 to Unicef to relieve poverty in Africa.
New projects are already ongoing for 2016, as you can see from the small posters around the school.
Air Quality. This first week of school in 2016 has experienced a very bad air quality. The air quality in Xi’an is a concern for many of us: Hanova takes the issue of air pollution very seriously, and among other actions is also developing a comprehensive Air Quality policy, to ensure the well being of all our students and members of our school community.
In the school, readings will be taken at 7.30am, 9.30am, 11.30am and 2.30pm on each school day for AQI (Air Quality Index) and PM (Particulate Matter) 2.5 (the indicator for the most harmful particles) from the http://aqicn.org/city/china/xian/gaoxinxiqu webpage for information on air quality. The readings will be taken by our Head of Physical Education and a member of the Marketing and Liaison team.
If the AQI is 200 or above, all students will stay inside: all outside activities will be cancelled and staff will put in place indoor plans for morning break, lunch time and all PE lessons. ECAs too will not be cancelled, and alternative activities will be put in place so students will still travel home on their expected bus.
Parents should please keep the school informed of any medical conditions, which suggest their child should be added to the list of students to be monitored at the 101-150 level and kept inside at the 151-200 level.
Concerning our facilities, the school has a centralized air conditioning system, providing cold air in summer and warm weather in winter, which includes air filters that can improve the quality of the air (capturing some PM) in the classrooms, while we are accelerating additional actions.
Upcoming Events. As we start the new Semester, we will announce new sessions to communicate with parents and students.
Upcoming events:
- Second Hanova Game Day on Saturday 16th January, from 10:00am to 2:00pm
- ECA Block 2 will start on Wednesday 13th Afternoon buses will then leave the school at 4:40pm
- PYP reports will be sent to students and parents on 19th January
Thanks again for your continuing support and Best Wishes again for a wonderful 2016!
Yours,
Francesco Masetti-Placci
