08 SEPTEMBER 2016
VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2
ISG Jubail School Administration Newsletter
JAGUAR
JUNCTION 2016-2017
Principal’s Corner Dear Parents and ISG-J community members, Having successfully traversed the first three weeks of school with only minor challenges and hiccups, we are still in the process of solving the VISA complications for newly hired dependents and hope to have them coming in throughout the Eid Break. We will make every attempt to make this happen but in some cases we are working against authorities that are slow to process and move forward. The list of employees that have not been able to join us is the following: ES Physical Education - John Luppe (Sub, Annene Botha) ES Grade 4 - Natalia Chambers (Sub, Rachel Thenzythoff) ES Grade 3 - Jeffrey Lynn (Sub, Jayshree Padayachee) ES Grade 3 - Caitlin Wingers (Sub, Catherine Gloria) This is much better than the list we posted at the start of the school year. Again, we are hoping for all of these positions to be filled within the next week and a half. We will keep families posted on the situation. Our focus this year continues to be effective assessment. With our plan to implement the International Baccalaureate Program at ISG-J in the Fall of
In this Issue
‘18, we will need to ensure that our understandings and methods of assessments are in line with what it takes to have students struggle with the application of higher order thinking skills. We are dissecting bloom's taxonomy of learning and identifying what type of questions to present students with in order to for them to be able to analyze, synthesize and create based on understandings and information.
Quick Notes
Our challenge is to ask the right questions.
September 11-15: Eid Al Adha Holiday
I wish everyone a wonderful Eid Al Adha break and hope for safe travels if traveling. If you are to remain stationary try to chose a book of interest and enjoy a story or an insight into a segment of history that may help us understand why things are the way they are now.
September 18: Classes Resume
Take care!
Important Announcements
2
From the Library
3
StuCo News
3
Basketball Coaches Needed
3
Drama Program
4
September 23: Saudi National Day September 25: School Holiday September 26: ES Parent Evening Forum @ 6:00 PM
Warm regards, Dan Mock, Principal Follow me on Twitter
September 28: MS/ HS Parent Morning Coffee @ 10:00 AM
Join us on other social media:
September 29: U19 Volleyball Boys & Girls @ Jubail
Facebook Twitter Instagram
September 29: U16 Volleyball Boys & Girls @ DHS
Events Calendar
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Important Announcements 2016/2017 New Vehicle Stickers All vehicles accessing the ISG Jubail school site this year will require new vehicle stickers. To facilitate this, the Manager of Support Services is available in Reception between 10:00 and 11:00 AM. The application form can be downloaded here and completed at home and brought to school, but must be signed in the presence of the School Operations & Support Staff.
Week Without Walls Update Dear parents/guardians, we would like to inform you that the Week Without Walls trip to Ireland is filling up quickly. The trip sponsors have decided that the trip will be capped at 26 students. Students will be accepted on a first come first served basis. The first 26 students to sign up via the Sign Up Google Form will be accepted on this trip. Here is a link to a document with information about all the Week Without Walls trips.
After School Activities Our trimester one ASA sign-up period has started this week. As a reminder, Grade 1-5 sign up forms will be closed today. Grade 6-12 forms will be open a bit longer. Please note that KG2 students will not be able to participate until trimester 2. In addition, we still guarantee all students will receive at least one of their ASA choices (but hopefully more). Please make sure your child is truly interested in the activity when you are signing them up. We want all students to want to be there. All trimester one ASA's start the week of September 18, and they will run until November 17. For links to the sign up forms, visit our ASA Blog.
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From the Library
Ms. Phelia Weir, Librarian
Dear Parents/Guardians, Upcoming Event: As the new librarian, I am very excited to continue Family Reading Night my career here at ISG-Jubail. I have worked in (more information to come) Illinois, Japan, Honduras, and the Marshall Islands. I Wednesday, October 5th, have been a classroom teacher for many years from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. before earning my degree in Library Science. Please stop by the library to say hi and introduce yourself. I will continue to promote reading in the library through the mystery reader program. A mystery reader is someone who volunteers to read aloud to a class during their scheduled library time. If you are interested in being a mystery reader in the library, please email at weir.p.05@isg.edu.sa me for
more details. With warm regards, Miss Weir
MS/HS Student Council News Student Council sponsored the Middle School/ High School Back to School Bash on August 23rd. Students enjoyed reconnecting after summer vacation by participating in relay races and games while enjoying snacks from the PTO concessions stand. Students won Jaguar gear like t-shirts, travel mugs, and key chains.
Ms. Lisa Gierke, StuCo Coordinator
Jubail Basketball Academy Jubail Basketball Academy will be starting October 1st. We need coaches. Here is a Google form that I will use to coordinate coach sign ups. If you would like to be a head coach or assistant coach this fall please sign up and we will coordinate that as the times fill. Please choose your practice time based on the availability of your schedule. You will be responsible for running or helping run practice once a week and coach one game on Saturdays until November 26th. My plan is to have coaches sign up by the end of this week so I can over the times to everyone as they sign up their kids. Also, the times will disappear after two coaches sign up because only two teams can practice at once. Thank you for your consideration. Craig Brooks, Math Teacher and Basketball Coach
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Drama Program at ISG Jubail Dear Parents, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your attendance last year, if you made it, to one of our shows. We mounted three productions that were performed in the evening for parents - and photos from these can be seen at the ISGJ Drama blog. Drama classes are now examining options for performance this year, based upon the strengths of the students. The senior classes at year-end last year performed wonderful scripted scenes for in-school assemblies, but these were not mounted for parents. Look forward to some of those scenes later this year for your pleasure. The work was thoughtful and, in some cases, deep and mature. I would like to thank you for your support of the Drama program, and highlight an important article on the 79 reasons why students should study drama in high school. It is truly worth the read, because most often we emphasize core subject or career-focused learning and forget that drama classes offer all students the opportunities to: • gain confidence in themselves, in social situations • refine speaking and presentation skills • expand capacity for creativity and fast creative thinking and solution building in unorthodox ways (practice does increase skill and confidence) There is research to show that even medical students benefit from taking drama classes because it enhances social skills and furthermore decreases stress in the lives of
students with heavy academic loads in university. I hope that this year we will see more of you out to our drama performances, and I will do my utmost to keep you informed of our upcoming shows. Last word was on our last performance: "It felt like a night out at the theatre." Images of the Fools! production by Neil Simon can be found on the drama blog. Want to support the 2016-17 ISGJ Black Box Theatre program? Our play production at the end of the year could not have happened without the kind support of our parent patrons, who donated time and even resources (paint!) to build our beautiful spring production set. ISGJ Drama invites parents to get in touch this year to offer support by way of: 1. Event planning - potentially for a drama camp and also for compound coordination event promotion and potential performances on site. 2. Assistance with technical theatre - set design and building, prop making, makeup at performances and dance choreography. If you are interested and able to give a little time to this, we would like to cultivate a closer relationship to a broader community of attenders in Jubail. Please email: lover.l.05@isg.edu.sa to express your interest in helping our program this year. Thank you! Ms. Loveridge, Drama Teacher