Welcome back to all our students and parents. There have been some exciting developments since we returned from the National Holidays.

The Primary School ‘mother tongue’ programme in Years 3 to 6 was successfully launched this week, and we are thankful to those German and Korean parent volunteers as well as our own teachers of Chinese and English. In further support for this initiative, six MYP Year 11 Korean students will be joining this programme to assist our parent volunteers.

I am really pleased to see Primary School and Secondary School working more closely together this year. For example, on Wednesday, 31^st October, both Primary and Secondary students will be sharing activities for ‘Halloween’.

And this kind of collaboration is now extending outside into the community. As I have previously mentioned, Hanova is reaching out in new and exciting ways. We are slowly expanding our ties with local businesses and institutions. The latest development is an extension of our students’ participation in community events. For example, in a recent meeting with Marriott Hotels, we have been invited to participate in their Christmas celebrations. Our students in PYP, MYP and even IB Diploma will help support these events through performances and logistics support; all the proceeds will go directly to a local school for local children with hearing and speaking difficulties. I will be announcing more on this as plans unfold.

However, the main community event for us here at Hanova is of course the forthcoming UN/International Day on Friday, 26^th October.

Final details will be shared with parents and students next Monday. In the meantime, here is some information.

As with last year, we will have a ‘Country Parade’ featuring our community’s national flags.

This year, both PYP and MYP students will work together to support the 12 ‘International’ activities that are being planned.

And, of course, our now-famous ‘International Lunch’. Last year the Hanova parents put together an outstanding range and quantity of home-cooked cultural food; this year we hope that we can make our many countries equally proud.

Parents are advised that school lunch from Shangri La Hotel will be cancelled on this day; and that school lunch will be ‘carried over’ into next month. Parents of our children who may not want to enjoy the ‘international’ food are reminded that they can still bring in their lunch for their children.

After lunch, there will be different activities for Primary and Secondary. For example, in Secondary School, MYP and Diploma students will enjoy an ‘international quiz’ and some fun cultural sporting games.

Please be advised that our International Day 2018 events will start at 9.30am and end at 3.30pm.

School buses and private pick-ups times remain the same as a usual day.

Lastly, some great news from our May 2018 graduating alumni; Kevin Qu has had his first year waived and has been accepted onto a Master’s programme at Edinburgh University. We also understand that Jimmy Li is top of his class in Mathematics.

News from Secondary School. Secondary students in Years 7-11 will be getting the first report for the year on Friday 12 October.  This report gives you a guidance of progress of your child in the learning at the MYP programme.  It is very important that parents and students come to the parent/student/teacher conference on 17 October.

The meeting will take place in the student’s learning room between 4pm and 6pm.  This will allow parents to be informed on the progress of their child.  This allows you to support your child better for them to progress in their learning.  The school expects that all students will have a parent attend that afternoon.

Reading for Gold!. It gives the Hanova Secondary Languages departments great pleasure to be introducing a new reading programme for all students across the MYP called ‘Reading for Gold’.

The programme is a three tiered-reading challenge, the main aims of which are to develop students’ reading skills in English and to encourage them to read widely and frequently.

Students are asked to read five books to win the Bronze Award, six books to win the Silver Award and eight books to win the Gold Award.  Whenever they have finished a book, they also have to undertake a task associated with that book (e.g. write a letter to the author, or do a book review).

The deadline for the Bronze award is on the 22nd November and awards will be presented to students at assemblies.  The Silver and Gold Award deadlines will be announced at a later date.

We would really appreciate if parents could help to support this initiative at home by showing interest and by asking your children to share what they are reading for the challenge.

News from Primary School ‘Halloween’. On Wednesday, October 31^st the MYP and PYP students will be invited to participate in a celebration for Halloween.  Students may dress up in costumes, but please remember nothing gory or violent as well as no toy weapons.  The students will enjoy a “Costume Parade” in the morning to showcase the student costumes.  In the afternoon, there will be some additional festivities and a shared snack.  Look for more details coming soon from your student’s homeroom teacher.

Thanks again for your continuing support.

Best regards,

Robert C. Muntzer

 
 

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