Again Happy Chinese New Year to you all, preparing fro the Lantern Festival this weekend. I hope you and your children feel rested, ready to go for this Semester! We continue to bring new events and activities to our students, as you can see the highlights reported in just one week.

Ceramic Workshop. The Arts Faculty at Hanova is always looking for opportunities to connect with the art community in Xi’an to enrich the students’ experience in Art. With this in mind, the students of Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 attended on Thursday 18^th February a ceramic workshop run by Meng Qin Bo, a local ceramic artist from Xi’an. They had the unique opportunity to interact with local artists, who came with their pottery wheels to the Secondary Visual Art Studio: each Year Group worked two hours exploring different techniques to build three-dimensional artworks. The pottery wheel was the highlight of the ceramic workshop where all students tried their skills with enthusiasm and fun. For more information please contact Mrs. Villa (Marcela.Villa@his-xian.com),

SAT and ACT Tests. You are all aware that Hanova has been approved by College Board to become a SAT test center. Now I’m delighted to inform you that our School is open for SAT registration, which will take place on June 4, 2016, test date. We remind that, due to the China Ministry of Education policy, only students enrolled at your school and holding a foreign passport can sit for the SAT test at our School. Please contact our University and Careers Counselor Mrs. Zhu (Sharon.zhu@his-xian.com), who is also the SAT Coordinator, for the registration, which closes by 15^th March 2016.

Since Hanova is now able to administer the SAT test to our students, we have also started the ACT test center qualification, still under process: we will inform you in due time of our progress.

Soccer Club. As you may know, Hanova launched its Basketball Club a few months ago, and both MYP students and teachers are increasing their effort to prepare our school for future competitions. Last December, Hanova went to Bo-Ai School to play Basketball and won 35-16. That was also an opportunity to bring a team to challenge Bo-Ai also in soccer: they lost the match but really enjoyed playing together for our school.

We know that informal soccer games take place between students in Primary and Secondary during every break and lunch time. Our teachers are now willing to bring this passion for soccer to the next level and will launch our new Soccer Club, open to both Primary and Secondary students. A letter will be sent soon to provide more details and to collect feedback from families on best to organize the activities.

PYP Trainings. This week several members of Primary teaching staff were involved in Professional Development, requiring some changes to classes and schedule during the week. Sorry for this inconvenience, the trainings were all very useful and we are sure that it will positively impact the academic level of our students. Everything will be return back to normal from Monday 22^nd February. many thanks for your kind understanding.

Model United Nations. This weekend, from 19^th to 21^st February, 8 of our students from Year 10 to Year 12 will join the 10th session of Nanyang Technological University Model United Nations (NTUMUN), organized in Singapore. This year, NTUMUN will host more than 600 students from all Asia in the NTU university campus. Good luck to our delegation, and next week we will inform you about the results.

Secondary Parent Information Sessions. The Secondary Parent Information Session scheduled for 2^nd March will be on DP options for the next school year, and the meeting of 31^st March will be on MYP Service and Action and Learner Profile.

Upcoming Events. Please take note of these last upcoming events during the month of February:

• Third Hanova Game Day on Saturday 20^th February, from 10:00am to 2:00pm.
• Marcus Meadham, our DP Coordinator will have an information session on DP subject options on Wednesday 2^nd March at 3.45 pm in the auditorium. DP Teachers will then introduce the subjects to students and parents.
• Joseph Hamkari, our MYP Coordinator will have an information session on Service and Action for all MYP parents on Wednesday 2^nd March at 3.45 pm in the auditorium.
• The University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown will visit Hanova on 9th March at 11:00am in the auditorium.
• The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management will visit Hanova again Hanova on 18th March at 14:00 in the auditorium.

Thanks again for your continuing support.

Yours,

Francesco Masetti-Placci