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THE PRINCIPAL'S NEWSLETTER

HPTA annual General Meeting

By Mr Robert Muntzer

Dear Parents and friends

In this issue:

  • HPTA Annual General Meeting (AGM)
  • New School Campus Up-date
  • Hanyangling Museum Trip – Year 5 EOTC
  • ‘Pirate Treasure Hunt’– PYP House Activity
  • IB Diploma Information Sessions for Parents
  • ‘The Day of the Dead’ at Hanova
  • MYP Year 11 Mathematics Field-trip
  • Upcoming Events

In this issue, you will notice that many articles indicate links to the school’s website or members of the school community where you can get further information.

Hanova Parents Teachers Association – HPTA Annual General Meeting (AGM). We were very happy to see so many of our parents attend this important meeting; thank you to all of you for coming.

We counted at least 25 parents who patiently sat through a presentation about the Hanova Parent Teachers Association (HPTA); its purpose, composition and duties of the HPTA Committee members, and a brief up-date on the new school campus.

It was explained that, this year, whole school events were being organized by teaching and support staff in Primary and Secondary and that parents were encouraged to join these working groups. As an example, this year’s Christmas Market is being coordinated by Mrs. Jessica Xue, and the Winter Concert is being coordinated by Ms. Amelia Hall.

If any parent would like to know more about these events or would like to help out in any way, they are welcome to contact them on jessica.xue@his-xian.comor amelia.hall@his-xian.com

At the end of the meeting, interested parents were invited to join the HPTA Committee of 2019-20. We were delighted to learn that the Korean community would have discussions leading to the nominations of two members to join those already interested; Mrs. Lucila Dias, Mr. Geng Hao, Mr. Dong Yi and Mrs. Allison Smith.

The next HPTA Committee meeting is scheduled for Friday, 22nd November.

New School Campus Up-date. On Monday, 11th November, the Pedagogical Leadership Team (PLT) visited the new school campus and surveyed its environs.

Above is the new Secondary School from the perspective of the sports grounds. The building is actually larger than it looks because there are two floors below those visible in this photograph. The construction workers are currently ‘capping and sealing’ the roof. Once this is done, work can start with the infrastructure inside – walls, windows, conduits etc.

Pictured above are the terraces that adjoin the Secondary School that will provide seating for spectators watching sports competitions. Pictured below is the second floor of the Secondary School which will be the base for all school languages classes.

Below is another photo of the floor that clearly shows the scale of the classrooms and the central corridor that runs through the whole block. The ceilings of all the floors in all the buildings will be approximately two metres high to provide better circulation and heat control.

Pictured below is the new Primary School building that will house 32 teaching rooms as well as a dedicated Primary Science Lab, a Design Lab and its own performance space.

Looking down from the roof of this building, we can see the Admin Building and the Gymnasium and Swimming Pool building.

In the picture above, we can see that the nearest Line 3 Metro station is only 15 minutes’ walk away. Below we can see how green and natural the area around the school is, and, in the distance, we can see that there is plenty of accommodation for our staff and families.

Plans are in place to take local and expatriate teaching staff to the new campus this weekend and there will be visits organized for students and parents after the Christmas holidays.

In order to keep our community more informed, the Board has appointed Janice Cao as the New School Coordinator. Any parent who has individual questions about the new school can contact her on janice.cao@his-xian.com

For more information about the new school’s construction, please go to the school web-site:

https://www.his-xian.com/chanba-campus/

News from Primary School

Hanyangling Museum Trip – Year 5 EOTC. On Monday, November 11, 2019, Year 5 went on a field trip to Hanyangling Museum. As we are examining ancient civilizations through our Unit of Inquiry, the museum was an ideal location to further our learning.

We began the visit participating in a simulated archeological dig. The museum has constructed some pits off to one side of the site where they lead interested groups through the process of looking for archeological artifacts. The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would have easily spent more time at the dig site.

Following the morning’s activities, we spent the afternoon viewing two galleries of artifacts uncovered in the tombs located on the grounds. We were careful to focus on how artifacts were presented and how information about the artifacts was associated with them. By doing so, we were gathering data that would help us to create our museum of ancient inventions later in the week back at Hanova. Some students noted the similarity between the artifacts they had uncovered in the morning in the simulated dig and the artifacts on display in the museum cases. (Mr. Haigh, Year 5 Teacher)

‘Pirate Treasure Hunt’– PYP House Activity. Last Friday, the whole PYP enjoyed their first house activity of the school year: A Pirate Treasure Hunt. The students went around the school in their house groups following each clue to the next until the final clue, which ended in a small treasure from the PYP Office. The youngest children found ‘jewels’ to place on their treasure chest; the middle primary solved clues to determine the next location; and the upper primary unscrambled words to find the next clue. All the students enjoyed the activity and many thanks to the House Leaders for deciding on the activity and helping to prepare the resources needed for it to be a success!

The final scores from the event were as follows:

- Han – 1st place with 70 points

- Tang – 2nd place with 55 points

- Song – 3rd place with 50 points

- Qin – 4th places with 45 points

News from Secondary School

DP Parents Info Sessions – Wednesdays, 15:10, DP Common Room. At Hanova, we value parents’ involvement. Thus, we are introducing a series of DP Parents Info Sessions to let you know more about the IB Diploma Programme. We will be discussing various topics, such as CAS, Assessment, Languages, Extended Essays and examinations. Through these info sessions, you will gain more knowledge of the Diploma Programme and will be having a comprehensive understanding of how the programme works. We strongly recommend our DP parents to attend these sessions, as it is not only an opportunity to know more about the curriculum and programme your children are studying, but it is also a chance for us to hear your opinions and advice in order to make the IB Diploma Programme an even better one at Hanova.

Please find below information the time and topics of the DP Parents Info Sessions. Even though you might find the year levels indicated as Y12 and Y13, we highly encourage our Y10 and Y11 parents to attend.

Date Topic Year Level
20th Nov, 2019 CAS Y12
11thDec,2019 Assessment and Language Policy Y12&Y13
19th Feb, 2020

 

Extended Essay Y12
8th Apr, 2020 Final Exam and EURs Y13

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Diploma Coordinator Ms. Sharon Zhu via sharon.zhu@his-xian.com

For more information about the IB Diploma programme at Hanova, please visit this page: IB Diploma Programme.

‘The Day of the Dead’ at Hanova. ‘The Day of the Dead’ celebrations at Hanova have beautifully bridged the ideas of life and death as seen in Mexican culture. The passing of loved ones creates heart-break, yet on ‘The Day of the Dead’ we choose to celebrate the lives of those who’ve passed. Blooming flowers, bright costumes, vibrant paints and a feast of traditional foods remind us to live with thankfulness and in remembrance. Where many cultures don’t celebrate the dead, the celebrations at Hanova promote International-mindedness and paint a new perspective of a sombre topic. What I have appreciated about the ‘Day of the Dead’ is that it is a reminder to love, commemorate and be thankful even when it is hard to cope with the loss of a life.”

- Micah Rice (DP Spanish student – Y13)

DP Spanish students and the Spanish teacher made the altar to celebrate the‘Day of the Dead’ as one of the enriching cultural experiences that they have during the process of learning Spanish as a language and as a culture. Also, they painted their faces to represent the duality between death and life. It was a fantastic experience to develop international-mindedness and intercultural understanding. Every year more students and teachers want to be part of the celebration. (Ms. Alexandra Beltran, DP Spanish ab Initio teacher)

MYP Year 11 Mathematics Field-trip. On Wednesday October 30st the Year 11 class went on a Mathematics field-trip to Xi’an Shiyuanhui Park. It was the perfect weather for a ‘classroom without walls’ activity. It is my personal believe that the best education oftentimes happens outside the classroom, as learning cannot happen without practicing what one has learned.

During the activity, the students collected measurements of distances and bearings between landmarks placed around the park. The aim of this task was for students to apply their knowledge acquired during the term in a real-life situation, as they became land surveyors for a day. Students will now collate all the gathered information to produce an extensive report of the results, including justification of accuracy and errors, considering the measuring tools they have used while collecting data (measuring tapes, trundle wheels, compasses, etc).

This activity demonstrated the importance of being good communicators while working as a team, as well as being knowledgeable and reflective, as students were required to make connections between the topics they learned in class and the context in which they applied their knowledge. Congratulations to all students for a very successful field trip and thank you to Ms. Snowy Zhan who provided her support and knowledge to make this a memorable experience for the Year 11 class!

(Mr. Luis Rauth, Head of Faculty – Mathematics)

Thank you again for your continuing support.

Yours,

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:

Wednesday, 20th November   IB DP CAS Workshop for Parents

Friday, 22nd November           (1.15pm) HPTA Committee Meeting

Friday, 22nd November           (2.00pm) MYP Arts Assembly I

Friday, 29th November            MYP Arts Assembly II

Saturday, 7th December          Winter Concert/Christmas Market

Friday, 13th December             PYP Reports

Friday, 20th December            End of Semester 1 (Half-day)


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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