Dear Hanova community,

I want to cordially welcome you all back to school—it’s been a fantastic first week of connecting with students and parents/guardians, so many good conversations, lots of smiles, and the excitement and curiosity that comes with a new school year! Whether you were traveling over the summer or spent your time in Xi’an, we welcome you back…and we also welcome nearly 70 new students and their families to the Hanova family, bringing our total student enrollment to nearly 350 students at the start of this new school year.

I want to briefly update our community with several exciting items of news from the summer. First, we had a wonderful two-week Summer Camp that saw over 60 students from Nursery to Year 12 students learn and challenge themselves in the arts, academics, athletics…and simply have fun!

Later in the summer, IB schools around the world received news of DP and MYP student achievements from the 2024-25 school year. We will share details in next week’s post but, in short, our DP and MYP students continue to shine as they learn, grow, and challenge themselves to new Hawks heights!

Additionally, if you’ve been to campus this week then you may have noticed facilities upgrades in the way of a beautifully configured, shady playground space to keep our PYP students a bit cooler. Also, there’s a new cellular tower at the back of campus to improve connectivity and communication for classes, events, and activities around the football pitch. 

These are two new features on campus that directly or indirectly enhance safety, communication, and general wellbeing here at Hanova!

At the end of July, we also welcomed our new teachers to Xi’an and the Hanova community, bringing them from around the world:

• Mr. Chris Young (MYP PHE and Director of Athletics) from South Africa
• Mr. Marko Dordevic (PYP PHE), from Serbia
• Ms. Namhee Kong (MYP & DP Korean), from South Korea
• Mr. Jeremy Palmer (MYP & DP English), from the U.K. and France
• Ms. Leah Neuman (MYP & DP Humanities) from the U.S.
• Mr. Blake Neuman (MYP Computer Science & Design Technology), from the U.S.

Many of you may also have heard that one of our PYP teachers, Mr. Attie Venter and husband of Ms. Sandy, had medical complications over the summer. He is on the road to recovery but is currently on medical leave. We thank everyone—staff, students, and parents—who have supported the Venter family recently and for your understanding during this time.

Nevertheless, in the weeks leading up to the new school year, our staff have been productively preparing for the start of the year through collaborative learning sessions around developing a mindset of curiosity, designing school culture, creating units and lessons, learning about Toddle (PYP), and emphasizing student and staff wellbeing. 

There is much to look forward to this coming school year. Both the Primary (early September) and Secondary (Late October/Early November) will hold their annual EOTC trips. The purpose in making this a Fall experience is to declutter the calendar in the Spring as well as to start the year off with an emphasis on team-building and relationship-building.

We will also hold our annual Fall Sports Day as a combined event—Primary and Secondary together—on September 26, another way to build whole-school community as well as to encourage more parent attendance and participation.

Additionally, we will welcome a visiting committee from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) to Hanova the week of November 16-20 (Sunday through Thursday). Their purpose will be, as always, to continue supporting Hanova by ensuring we are positioned well to continue on a solid path of school improvement planning and implementation, much like our successful IB Evaluation visit in October 2023. More information about all of these goings-on will be shared soon!

Finally, I remind everyone of the PYP Class Meetings on August 20 and MYP/DP Parent Information Session on August 21—important ways to connect with teachers, school leaders, and to start off the school year in close community with each other.

With that, I look forward to ALL the learning, growth, challenges, and curiosity to come this new school year as our young Hawks soar to new heights!

Sincerely,

Mr. Luke