We just finished our second week in this new Academic Year. We have started with a lot of enthusiasm and several initiatives. We are really grateful of your understanding and support to help us growing the school.

MYP Verification Visit. We hosted a Team from the IB Asia-Pacific Office, as a final step to receive the authorisation for the Middle Years Programme (MYP). This went very well and our visitors were super complimentary about their time here. All due thanks to our wonderful MYP Coordinator, Mrs. Sandy Trull and the organising team led by Grace Bi, Janice Cao and Sharon Zhu. The visitors asked to pass on their thanks to all stakeholders and participants: the Board, the parents, the students, the staff and especially the teachers for all the preparation work completed in advance. The leadership meetings went very well and they enjoyed watching classes and witnessing first hand the IB learning that is going on throughout our school. We will know the result soon, and will inform the community accordingly.

PYP Focus of the week. Regardless of location, size, or make-up, an IB PYP school strives to develop an internationally minded person. This week, PYP students have spent time to better understand the IB Learner’s Profile. This means that our Hanova students are taught WHY they should know something and how it connects to other subjects and the world around them. It means high quality teaching and learning – challenging instruction and worldwide knowledge. It also means in the future to have great opportunities to make friends with other students at IB schools around the world.

Model United Nations. We have made a fabulous start to the new academic year in Secondary School, bringing back several awards from last week’s MUN conference, organized in Shanghai by the prestigious Yale University. Our delegation, consisting of 11 students, won the following:

• Best position paper for World Health Organisation (WHO): Marine Lemauviel
• Best position paper for DISEC (Disarmament and Security Council): Collins Mbhiti
• Best position paper for SOCHUM (Social and Humanitarian Committee): Emily Chen
• Best delegate for EU Committee: Matilde Masetti-Placci
• Best delegate for NGO Committee: Alessandro Masetti-Placci
• OUTSTANDING DELEGATION: Xi’an Hanova International School

We are extremely proud of all our students who attended. They were fantastic ambassadors for our school. We are also very grateful to our amazing staff – namely Mrs. Masetti and Mr. Welch for their preparation and organisational work.

Sports. Our PE Team has already launched with enthusiasm the athletics activities, organizing trials to understand students’ interest for our favorite sports. More news to come soon, creating an impressive calendar full of sport activities and events.

Health, Safety and Security. I mentioned that the school has done some improvements related to health, safety and security. We will inform you from next week onward of each policy, procedure and initiative as it will be rolled out, with your help and collaboration, to ensure the wellbeing of our students.

Thanks again for your continuing support.

Yours sincerely,

Francesco Masetti-Placci