Hereafter the news and the activities information related to this week, starting with a focus on the Arts achievements in our school.

Secondary School Production and Whole School Art Exhibition.  Hanova Secondary students are proud to present an original school production: “Can You Hear Us? A Refugee story”. The struggles of refugees and displaced people around the world is real, and this year
the Secondary Arts Faculty selected this as our global theme of study. “Can You Hear Us?” is a dramatic collection of refugee stories from around the world and the individuals and groups who are helping. Together, staff and students have created a production that will open our minds and hearts.

Opening on the same evening, is the MYP and PYP Visual Art exhibition, where you can view and celebrate our students artworks. Staged in our school lobby, this exhibition will be on display till the end of our academic year.

Please join us on Friday June 3rd for our performance of “Can You Hear Us?” and to visit the MYP & PYP art exhibition. Tickets for the play are ¥30 per person or ¥80 for a family. Auditorium doors open at 6:00pm and play performance begins at 6:30, while the Art exhibition will be already on display. All proceeds will be donated to the Carter Center, a non-profit organization that seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health.

University Visit.  Hanova is going to host this semester’s last university visit: Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University will come at 1:45pm on Monday, 6th June. XJTLU is a pioneering, international joint venture university located in the city of Suzhou, on China’s east coast. This innovative university is proud of its focus on research-led learning inherited from its two parent institutions: the University of Liverpool, in the United Kingdom, and Xi’an Jiaotong University, in China. Students have the opportunities of studying at both Mainland China and UK during their undergraduate program.

We will receive Ms. Mattinson, the Head of International Office, introducing XJTLU and Mr. Goodman, the Head of Department of China Studies, giving a speech about Changing China.

Parents are recommended to come and if you have any question, please contact our UCC Ms. Zhu (sharon.zhu@his-xian.com).

SAT Exam.  We remind to our community that Hanova is now an official center to offer SAT and ACT to our students. Our first SAT exam will take place on 4th June. For additional information, please contact our UCC Ms. Zhu (sharon.zhu@his-xian.com).

PYP Exhibition.  The first Year 6 Exhibition of our school was completed last week and shared with the whole school community. It was a transdisciplinary inquiry conducted in a spirit of personal and shared responsibility. These projects helped unite students, teachers, parents and other members of the school community and an important summative assessment to celebrate students moving from the Primary Years up to the Middle Years Programme.

We all thank the teachers, mentors and parents for the support received, as our Year 6 students will not forget this experience.

Secondary Sports Competition (Hanova vs. XIS).  On Saturday 21st May our Secondary Football and Basketball teams went to XIS for friendly matches. We already anticipated the results, but have now the opportunity to add some comments from the captains (Daniel and Collins) and the players. The first half of Saturday’s Football game against XIS went smoothly, even if our team should focus more on control the ball before passing. The second half was a bit disappointing, because the team suffered another goal and later lost concentration on the match, with a final result not reflecting our effort and value. This was the last match, so from now on the focus will be on training and strategies to prepare next year.

The Basketball team was very motivated, having learned from the mistakes in the match against Bo’ai International, communicating more and passing the ball more accurately. This was clearly reflected, as at the end of the first quarter Hanova was leading 17-0. In the second quarter the team kept the same pace, scoring few more points from simple passing and from the third quarter up to the end the team applied some of the plays prepared during the practice sessions. The game was then won by Hanova with such a large margin.

Hanova Carnival Cancelled.  We regret to inform you that the Hanova Carnival, currently planned for 11th June, is cancelled for this year. This difficult decision was made because according to the information we have collected from the carnival letter and the feedback from our parents, many members of the Hanova community, as well as visitors and guests, express that they most probably cant attend this event due to the national holiday weekend and many families will go out for short travelling. We had to change the date – originally planned for 4th June – because of unexpected exams and accreditation conflicts, and our survey to students and parents showed that unfortunately the new date is not really convenient. We are very sorry to make this announcement, but rest assured that we plan to have a bigger and better Carnival next year, together with a full plan of events, to make up for this disappointing development. Thank you again for your understanding and support.

School Uniforms.  We remind to parents again that students should be in school uniform. If you have any problem please don’t hesitate to contact our Liaison officer Ms. Yang (zena.yang@his-xian.com).

Security.  A reminder about our strengthened security measures on campus, as we communicated with specific emails and letters to all parents and staff. This will continue also during our events, exhibitions and other occasions. Please make sure to send the requested photo to our Liaison officer Ms. Yang (zena.yang@his-xian.com).

Thanks again for your continuing support.

Yours,

Francesco Masetti-Placci