Parent-Teacher Organisation

This year has been an interesting year where the PTO has shown immense adaptability. We kicked off the school year on a high note with the Welcome Back Barbecue. It was truly a joy to see all of the ISB Community come back together for the first time since the COVID restrictions came into place. The PTO continued to find Covid-safe ways to support learning and enrich the community at ISB during this school year. Annual Events are sponsored by fund-raising, for example hosting family and community events, aid student field trips, purchasing outdoor equipment, and providing other student enrichment that is not included in the regular school budget. In the fall, PTO hosted a Parent Coffee providing families (existing and new) with information about the upcoming school year events and opportunities that were available. At the request of the Lower School Student Council, the PTO Great start to the year: The Annual Welcome Back BBQ. put together a Halloween Party for the Lower School students. This was the first of its kind at Sandsli, where the children enjoyed a spooky tunnel, scavenger hunts, and a bit of dancing.

ISB Pepperkakeby: Gingerbread houses decorating the school foyer.

ISB Pepperkakebyen

As winter approached, we kicked off the Christmas season with the Christmas School Decor, it truly took a village. ISB Pepperkakebyen subsequently kicked off, the PTO provided gingerbread houses for the classes to decorate, and families in the ISB community were invited to add their own gingerbread structures to our international gingerbread village. This year the families really demonstrated creativity with windmills, castles, football pitches, and even Amsterdam canal houses! With more than 30 gingerbread structures and the additional touches added by PTO volunteers, the results were an enchanting winter wonderland display welcoming all to the building during the month of December.

Winter Craft Fair

The Christmas Craft Fair preparation was in full swing, like the previous years the PTO designed a variety 18

of age-appropriate crafts, purchased and prepared materials, invited vendors, and coordinated volunteers for the event. As luck would have it, COVID restrictions were inevitable and in order to maintain a safe environment the intended Christmas Craft Fair was cancelled and we had to quickly adapt and find an alternative for the students to still have their craft day. It was determined that the Craft Fair would be split up by school categories; Early Childhood Centre, Lower School, and Upper School. The ECC had three age-designated crafts for their craft day and evenly distributed drinks and snacks. For Lower School, grades 1-5 were provided an array of crafts, i.e. creating a melted snowman, decoration of pinecone elf, or creating their own decorated candles. They were partnered up and given a two hour time period to come to the Cafeteria where they picked their crafts and had various snacks and drinks available for purchase. Unfortunately, Upper School was not able to have their scheduled craft day as the COVID restrictions tightened even further. In addition to the craft fair, the PTO had prepared a beautiful array of hampers to raffle off. These were displayed in the foyer and created a lot of excitement for the students. It was a nail-biting afternoon when Mr. Joe announced the lucky Winter Crafts: Getting in the holiday spirit. winners!

Earlier in the year the teachers had an opportunity to submit a Request for Funds to the PTO. Grade 9 was selected to receive funds for a bonding experience that they had after their educational visit to the KODE museum. In addition, Upper School along with Grade 5 had their Annual Ski Trip to Furedalen in February where funds were awarded towards bus transportation. For Earth Day the PTO together with ISB funded Larveskolen for Lower and Upper School. Many of the students were risk-takers in trying the carefully prepared food including insects that the speakers had brought with them!

Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

One of the most rewarding events that the PTO was able to organise was the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon in May. With the help of all of the class representatives and parent volunteers, we were able to reach all of our ISB families and provide a vast selection of global cuisine for our amazing teachers.

Funds raised during the 2021-2022 school year also were used to purchase a running list of outdoor play equipment for students, including; chalk, basketballs, footballs, and sledges. As everyone in the school community is a member of the PTO we encourage you to actively participate. We thank you for this year, and very much look forward to a fruitful new school year. On behalf of the ISB PTO Raquel Rodriguez