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THE PRINCIPAL'S NEWSLETTER

Hanova Halloween Celebration 2018!

By Mr Robert Muntzer

Dear Parents and friends

Winter Concert and Christmas Market. Another Hanova tradition is on the horizon too. The Winter Concert and Christmas Market. This year we have decided to combine both of these events into one day – Saturday, 8th December. We felt that our parents and our community could best enjoy everything on one day rather than two separate days as before.

Other than that change, the festivities will be much the same as last year’s. The organizing committee was formed in late October and have already started preparations. Volunteers from Primary School, Secondary School and Marketing form the committee; Nyra Constant (EAL), Jessica Xue (Reception), Alana Morgan (Year 6), Richard Gallerno and Jennifer Lazareck (MYP/DP) and Jessica Wang (Marketing).

Nyra has been elected the Chair of this committee and Alana is responsible for communications. You should all be receiving more specific information about the event early next week but, in the meantime, here is a provisional programme.

  • 9.00am: Staff arrive to set up
  • 9.00am: House activities set up
  • 9.00 – 9.30am: doors open to external vendors
  • 10.00 – 12.00 Activities, ‘Market’ and vendors
  • 12.00 – lunch provided by external vendors
  • 12:50 final lucky draw
  • 1.00pm – 2.00pm – Entertainment
  • 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm clean up
  • 3.00pm – close

Last year we were very fortunate to have the support of the wider community such as Marriott Hotels, Shangri La and Gran Melia Hotels as well as many other local businesses. We hope this year to continue this tradition and therefore Nyra and her team will be contacting our external service providers and vendors again shortly.

In the meantime, please feel free to contact Nyra on nyra.constant@his-xian.com for further information.

Parents and guests from the community are reminded and encouraged to come and see the excellent work being done at Hanova during the ‘Open Day’ morning event on Thursday, 15th November. All are welcome!

News from Secondary School. Reports for our Diploma students have been issued and there will be a Parent/Student/Teacher conference on Wednesday 14 November for parents and students to discuss the progress of their student.  This will begin at 4pm in the secondary teachers’ classroom on the third floor.  The reports are indicating very good progress from most students, which is excellent to see.  A strong relationship between families and the school is essential for students to make good academic progress.

There are several upcoming events in the Secondary School, which parents are invited to attend.  On November 23 there is an inter-house football tournament and on November 30 there is the school Arts Assembly, featuring musical and dramatic performances of our MYP students in Years 7 to 11.  Both of these events begin at 2 pm.  It would be great to see parents attend these to support their child.

Also on the weekend of the 24 and 25 November, Hanova will be hosting the Xian regional tournament of the National High School’s Debate.  There are about 20 students from our school participating and parents are welcome to come and support.

As an IB school we work towards developing an international mind-set in our students and whole community. In the last two weeks we have done a few interesting activities to achieve this important goal.

UN Day celebrates the formation of this organization, designed to keep world peace and embrace diversity. In keeping with this tradition, we celebrated our international community in our seventh International Day Celebration at Hanova on Friday 26th October. Our students looked wonderful in the many varied national dresses they paraded in the morning and our wonderful parents rose to the occasion by providing us with excellent traditional (and other) food.

On the 31st October we again joined in the global community who celebrate the originally North American tradition of ‘Halloween’. Our students paraded in fantastic costumes and the Secondary school concluded the day with games in the auditorium. House points were awarded for awesome outfits and amazing antics displayed.

‘Day of the Dead’. On the 1st and 2nd of November, South American countries celebrate the ‘Day of the Dead’ to honour their family’s decreased relatives. Our Diploma teachers and students shared this custom in their beautiful hallway display and candy for all!

We certainly are privileged to live in this vibrant community that embraces international mindedness while celebrating our own individual customs and traditions.

News from Primary School. 

Primary ECAs. Please note that the second block of ECA’s will begin next Wednesday, November 14.  If you have any questions regarding your child’s club for block two, please contact the homeroom teacher.

International Day Feedback. Our last newsletter showcased the amazing activities and food the community enjoyed on International Day!  We would like to invite feedback from the parent community regarding this event.  If you have any suggestions or ideas for improvement for this event in the future, please email them to Mrs. Rice at jeannie.rice@his-xian.com. Again, thank you for your support for this event. 

Unit 2 Learning from Reception. In Reception, our students are in their second Unit of Inquiry: How We Express Ourselves. During this unit, students will learn about how people communicate through stories. The first story that the students read was There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves, by Lucille Colandro, Illustrated by Jared Lee. Students learned how to retell a story by sequencing events. In the story, the old lady eats many things, including leaves, clothes and a pumpkin. At the end of the story, she sneezes and out comes a scarecrow wishing everyone a very happy autumn.

After reading the story many times, students were ready to make their own scarecrows.  First, the students collected the leaves and sticks. Then they asked Ms. Carrie, our nurse, for an extra shirt, pants and a skirt. They stuffed the clothes with leaves, just like the little old lady in the story. They then added sticks, rope, and extra paper pumpkins for decoration. Last, with the help of Ms. Zoe and Ms. Jessie, they hung the big scarecrow on the door to celebrate both their learning and Halloween!

Finally, students demonstrated their knowledge by making their very own scarecrows and sequencing the events in the story. Our students used the book as their guide to draw a background for their scarecrows. They colored and decorated a pumpkin head, chose the color of the felt shirt and pants, and attached sticks and leaves to their projects. All in all, Reception students have worked extremely hard and are so proud of their ability to retell stories using sequencing. We welcome everyone to stop by our Reception classroom to see the wonderful results!

Thanks again for your continuing support.

Best regards,

Robert C. Muntzer

 
 

Upcoming Events

Please take note of these dates. As soon as they are confirmed, we will inform you about any additional events and activities that may take place in the following weeks:

Friday 9, November                    Year 13 Reports

Wednesday, 14 November          Parent/Student/Teacher/Conference (Year 12 and 13)

Thursday, 15 November             ‘Open Day’ morning

Saturday, 17 November              The 11th ‘Golden Age’ Chinese youth art exhibition

Saturday, 17th November           PYP Inter-schools football competitions

Saturday 23-24 November         National High School Debate League of China

Friday, 30th November               MYP Arts Assembly

Friday, 30th November               Hanova PYP and MYP students’ performance at Shangri La Hotel, 6.00pm

Friday, 30th November               Hanova PYP and MYP students’ performance at Crowne Plaza Hotel, 6.00pm

Saturday, 1st December             Hanova PYP and MYP students’ performance at Gran Melia Hotel, 6.00pm


About our Head of School


Mr Robert Muntzer

School Principal

Mr Muntzer is the current School Principal of Hanova. He is highly experienced International Baccalaureate (IB) educator who has worked at Hanova as Deputy Principal, and Secondary IB Diploma Coordinator. His former posts include DP Coordinator in Dulwich College Shanghai, founding Director of Studies and IB Coordinator at Repton School Dubai along with Head of English and Head of Languages at schools in Thailand, Ethiopia, Zambia, India and Vietnam. He holds a Bachelor Degree in English from University of Warwick (UK). He has two children both educated in IB World School International schools


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