Newsletter 19sep2014

19th September 2014

Dear ISHCMC Community, Six weeks have now passed since our new academic year commenced and we are well established in our routines. We have enjoyed a very good first few weeks at school and the students and staff have settled well to the challenges of a new year THANK YOU TO THE PTO A very big thank you to our Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and all of their many helpers for the wonderful work they did to ensure a happy and successful Family Night.. This was a very good way to bring the whole community together early in our school year. The food was wonderful and the organization and planning that went into ensuring a successful evening was there for all to see. Thankfully the rain held off as well. We will all look forward very much to the next PTO organized event, the Celebration of Cultures on 17th October.

EARLY YEARS AND KG If parents have not yet seen our new EE Centre, please take the opportunity after school to take a look. Additionally the KG area has a new outdoor area adjacent to each room which is proving a great asset to the KG learning environment. I am hoping that by the end of October the Purified Air System which is coming from Switzerland will be installed in both these KG and EE Learning areas. We will have an official ‘opening’ in due course.

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SECURITY AND SAFETY As I mentioned earlier in the year the security system is still on target to open in October. We are waiting on some software which will enable the system to be activated. All adults will be required to wear an ISHCMC badge which can be scanned through the entry and exit turnstiles.

Additional car owners will be given a number to place under the windscreen. This will assist us in ensuring that our security is enhanced and increase safety opportunities in and around the School.

NEW TEACHER I am very pleased to advise the appointment of Ms. Christine Doig our new KG teacher. Christine will replace Ms. Kellie Oxlade who has been teaching a KG class since the beginning of the year. This particular class was created as a result of last minute unexpected enrolments at this level. Christine is Australian and an experienced teacher. Please join me in welcoming her to our school. There will be a handover period so that the children can get to know Christine. Kellie will still be around the School as an EAL teacher.

Simon Leslie Headmaster ISHCMC

Deputy Headmaster Dear parents, I don’t know how you feel, but time seems to be flying by already this year. It has been a wonderful start to the school year with our whole community engaged in the school and its new mission and vision.

ACCREDITATION VISITORS This week we have had accreditation visitors here from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the Council of International Schools. These are our two main accrediting organizations who also visited us last year, but wanted to return to see how the new administration and teachers were settling at ISHCMC. They were amazed at the amount of work that has been completed by everyone and were extremely impressed with the direction in which the schools is heading. We were very pleased by their comments because they reflect the hard work of teachers and administration over the past year.

TOP US UNIVERSITIES VISIT ISHCMC Princeton, Duke, North Western, Columbia and Georgetown all gave presentation for the first time in Vietnam at ISHCMC last Sunday afternoon. Over 200 parents and students attended the presentations and had the opportunity to meet with senior admissions officers from all five of these prestigious universities. We hope that through meeting our students in person they will have an advantage when they apply in the future. The event was a wonderful success thanks to the thoughtful planning and organization of Casey Nolen Jackson the ISHCMC College Counselor. The admission officers certainly left HCMC with a positive opinion of ISHCMC.

GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR PARENT LEARNING This year our hope is that when we have visiting experts working with teachers and students that we will also be able to encourage them to do a session with parents.

Lance King founder of the Art of Learning Foundation will be at ISHCMC working with both teachers and students on our professional development days at the end of September and he has agreed to give a seminar to parents on Wednesday 1st October 6:30-8:00 about Learning Skills for academic and personal success.

Lance works all over the world training both teachers and students in the Art of Learning. In 2014 he will have visited schools in 17 different countries delivering his message about skills necessary for learning. He has worked closely with the International Baccalaureate and will be giving workshops to secondary teachers on Approaches to Learning Skills. His latest area of research has involved learning about how students become more resilient as both learners and in their lives.

DEPUTY HEAD’S BLOG This last 10 days I have added 3 more posts to the 4u2nomore blog @ http://4u2nomore.blogspot.com/ . I think that you will find all these posts interesting. These are: • Meditation Benefits: 10 ways It Helps Your Mind • Do girls learn differently?

• Why ISHCMC introduced Mindfulness.

LIFE UNDER THE LENS In this unit in art, ’Life under the lens’, we get to look at cell patterns and artwork inspired by cells. This unit is linked to our current unit in science, which is cell biology. As we produce our artwork, we can also apply the knowledge that we learn in science to make the design more than just a piece of art but also a scientific diagram. We first created several designs based of images of cells on microscopic slides. We also researched several different artists and their artwork to learn about different techniques they have used and different representations of cell patterns. After that, we made paintings based on a chosen artist’s style and a scientific cell diagram used in our science class. This teaches us new techniques and gives us practice in using acrylic paint. At the end, we get to create our own design which will be featured as a mural near the science labs.

Rizanna Tran Grade 8 student

MASTER CHEF AND PASSION PROJECT The Master Chef ASA is in full swing in the new ISHCMC outdoor kitchen. Each week the ‘chefs’ are given a theme to practice. They must then come prepared on Wednesdays to perform in front of the judges. The ‘chefs’ are then given a score, which accumulates, and a prize will be awarded to the most accomplished ‘chef’ in October. The competition is fierce! This week’s theme was British desserts, with the chefs cooking up treats such as Apple Crumble, Fruit Scones and Trifle.

Friday, 26th September from 3 pm at the outdoor kitchen area, Chef Gabriel will host a drop-in cooking demonstration for Primary students. The theme will be omelets.

SWIMMING LESSONS The first week of lessons has been a success and the swimmers are really enjoying themselves. We have a wide range of lessons. We accommodate beginners all the way up to advanced swimmers. If you didn’t get a chance to register this term, please register next term.

The Stingrays have been working hard and it has paid off. Seven unofficial individual records and two relay records were set at the SSIS dual meet on September 10th. Our next swim meet is against AIS on October 2nd at AIS in Thao Dien. Hope to see you there.

Heather Julien Aquatics Director