Last week of school of 2016! Next week we will break for the Winter Holidays, to celebrate Christmas and the arrival of 2017. This is the news related to the last few days and the remaining upcoming events.
Primary Winter Concerts. Primary students performed a wonderful Winter Concert this week, consisting of a musical journey through several countries to present how people celebrate Christmas around the World. The countries visited were China, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, Czech Republic, United States and Scotland. All students created a fantastic show, performing using instruments, dancing and acting, singing in English and also in the country’s original language. A big thank you to all Primary teachers, Primary parents and members of staff who worked hard to make this year’s concert such a success: we were all truly impressed by our students’ musical skills and their performance on stage!
Second Hanova Christmas Market. On Saturday 3rd December, Hanova hosted its 2nd Christmas Market. Many thanks to all teachers, parents and members of staff who worked to make this year’s event such a huge success. We had so many compliments about our staff working in the craft rooms, our selection of vendors and for having so many people in attendance. Another big thank you to our sponsors, who have so generously supported the growth of our activities, with the amazing food and the array of Lucky Draws provided for this event.
Finally, during the event we raised over 15,000 RMB, which will be donated to the earthquake relief fund helping the victims and cultural relics of the recent earthquake in Italy. Our school and our students will be officially recognized soon for this fantastic effort.
Primary Christmas Choir. PYP students performed a short Christmas Concert at the Gran Mélia Xi’an Hotel on December 3rd in front of many teachers, parents and guests. They were the centre of the Christmas Tree Lightning Ceremony. Thank you to all for the wonderful songs.
Secondary Winter Showcase. The secondary students in year 7 will present “Humbug High: A Contemporary Christmas Carol” and those in year 11 will present selected scenes from the “Sound of Music”.
This showcase will take place on Thursday 15th December at 10:00am and the dress rehearsal will be on Tuesday 13th December at 2:00pm. For more information, please contact Mrs.Cortes ( melissa.cortes@his-xian.com ).
Partnership Sessions in Secondary. The Secondary School has had a very successful series of lectures and Q&A and information sharing on Wednesday afternoons during the First Semester during ECA time, from 3:30 to 4:30pm. Many thanks to all of you who have attended, we received excellent feedback so these sessions will continue in 2017. Next Semester there are meetings planned on Special Education Needs, The Diploma Programme and Theory of Knowledge, amongst other topics.
For additional information, please contact Mrs. Smith, Head of Secondary School ( jacqueline.smith@his-xian.com ).
Secondary Swimming Programme. At Hanova we are committed to bringing the best educational experience to our students, including sports. Last week, Secondary students began their swimming programme and the Year 8s were the first to benefit from this new experience. Years 7 to 11 will all be enjoying this programme in order to learn or improve their swimming strokes. Well done to the Year 8s for braving the water first!
Table Tennis Report (by Student Chris Lee). A Table Tennis tournament was organized on 3rd December. Overall, our Table Tennis Team reached 3rd place in the tournament, and it was really fun to join the game. Players that participated in the tournament were; Pierce, Kevin, Cissie, Jenny, Leo, Jimmy ad myself (Chris): everyone did very well and tried their best. Jimmy got an excellent score in the tournament because he saved our team. However, the main reason why our team only came in 3rd place was replacement problems. Another reason why we lost was one of our opponent players, called Jarry, is the 6th best player in Shaanxi Province!
After I lost to Jarry, Pierce went up against him again in the semi-final, so he was also beaten by him. XIS did not have a chance in the tournament, because D.C., their best player, couldn’t participate.
Overall, we feel we had an excellent start, though we need more practice to counter-style the other players.
Secondary Basketball Match. The basketball team played at Xi’an International School on 8th December, and remains undefeated after a hard fought 42 – 20 win against XIS. Well done to all the boys, including the newly arrived players who joined the team recently!
Thanks again for your continuing support.
Yours,
Francesco Masetti-Placci
