End of Semester Exams
by: Philip Bradley
philipb@isb.ac.th
Dear Parents and Students
With the end of the semester in sight I would like to bring to your attention details regarding our approach to the first semester exams and the educational thinking behind these arrangements, see the attached memo.
GCW Reminders
By: Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th
As the dust is settling around the GCW registration process, here are a couple key reminders:
- All payments are due before November 30th. Students were given a pay slip with all the bank information completed. Payments can be made at any Ayudhya Bank branch. Please keep your receipt for your own records. We do not need a copy of this as the bank informs us of all payments. Students who are not paid for by November 30th may be removed from their courses.
- Generally, visas to travel to the out of Thailand GCW locations are the parents’ responsibility. Often parents are required to be present when arranging these visas. Please make sure you know the visa requirements for your child and his/her GCW location.
- GCW will take place over the week of February 18-22. Monday, February 25 is a holiday. It is important to note that students who are selected as delegates for the Cultural Convention will then depart on Wednesday, February 27. This is a very quick turn around. As such, please ensure that if your child is leaving Thailand for GCW and then again for the Cultural Convention, you should arrange for a multiple entry visa for your child, before GCW.
Grade 10 IB Information evening
By Philip Rogers
philr@isb.ac.th
Wednesday 21st November 6:30pm in MPB 2/3
All grade 10 parents and students are invited to attend an information evening that will look at the different academic options that ISB students can pursue in their Junior and Senior years. These are important choices in assisting students to look at appropriate college and career choices.
ISB has a truly wide range of subject choices that are based on opportunity and flexibility. We understand that each student is unique and needs to be challenged and exposed to a broad range of opportunities whilst meeting the ISB graduation requirements.
Given that a number of our parents and students are new to the IB program we will discuss the three main options that meet the ISB graduation requirement: IB Diploma, IB Courses and other course options. At ISB over the last few years 95% of our students have taken one of more IB course with IB Diploma student numbers steadily increasing to represent around 60% of our students.
I look forward to seeing as many grade 10 parents and students as possible on Wednesday evening.
December exam schedule
By: Philip Rogers
philr@isb.ac.th
- Students have received individual December examination schedules through their English classes over the last couple of days. Please ensure schedule(s) have been received and posted it in a safe and prominent place at home.
- December 2012 exams run from Wednesday 12th December to Wednesday 19th December and the full session schedule can be accessed on the HS page of the school website.
- There are 3 exam sessions each day which have 7:20, 10:10 and 1:00 start times. Students will take a maximum of 2 exams on a day and must be ready to start an exam 15 min prior to the start time. The last exam each day will finish around 3:15pm. Each course only has one exam scheduled..
- Students who do not have an exam on a day may stay at home to study or use our Library for private study.
- Students can leave school early after an exam by completing an exam early departure form which can be found on the HS page of the school website or collected from the HS Office. Students will need to have a parent-signed, completed form for each instance they wish to leave campus.
- Students are expected to take each exam as scheduled. Students who are sick for an exam must contact the HS office immediately. Medical certificates MUST be provided.
- Thursday 20th December and Friday 21st December are very important learning days on which students will receive feedback on all their exams. Teachers will look at group and individual feedback, review markschemes and success criteria, look at exemplary answers and develop future goals. School will still finish at 11:30am on the Friday for the semester break.
Phil Rogers
HS Dean of Academics
Counseling News
By: Kevin Callahan
kevinc@isb.ac.th
By the way:
- Scientists say that an Earth day had around 20 hours a few million years ago and that a million years from now it will have 27 hours. Then maybe we’ll be able to get everything done!
- Average world SAT scores vs. ISB SAT scores from Class of 2012 are as follows: Critical Reading world average – 496; ISB average 566. Math world average – 514; ISB average 643. Writing world average – 488; ISB average 583. Panthers are good at standardized tests!
- Mark Twain said, “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”
Semester Exams: It’s not too early to begin preparing for your semester exams. Make sure that you have your materials organized and that you begin review from the beginning of the semester, because you are responsible for the whole semester. Cramming a night or two before the test isn’t really a good strategy for test success, and it sure won’t help you retain the material. So take a look now at what you’ve been studying all semester!
Clubs: – are you in too many clubs? If you don’t have a spare minute to relax, you eat lunch while running up the stairs to another lunch meeting, and you are constantly “double-booked”, maybe you have too much on your plate. Both ISB and the school you will attend next are looking for a genuine commitment, so be careful, take care of yourself, and do a few things really well, not a lot of things poorly! Make a choice about what commitments you want, and then do them to the best of your ability.
Freshmen: The next Freshman Seminar has been moved to November 26th and 27th. We’ll talk about preparing efficiently for semester exams.
Sophomores: Mr. Weiser and Mr. Callahan made a presentation to the PTO about the seminars that the counselors do for each grade. One of the activities that had the parents very curious was the personality inventory that you did last week (Do What You Are). Tell your parents what your inventory said about you as a person, and see if they think it’s accurate. Oh, and if you didn’t take the inventory, you’d be wise to check in with Mr. Weiser and get it done so you don’t fall behind.
Juniors: If you are considering an SAT prep course, consider this: the students who make the most improvement and score the highest on SAT tests are not those who take prep courses. They are the students who study past SAT tests on their own, and have done 12 or more in preparation for the real test. Obviously, they’re motivated to improve!
Seniors: It is important to know that universities often have automatic responses when they receive your application. It will instruct you to have a transcript or other official documents sent, even though you requested them long ago. Don’t worry! We keep track of everything and send documents in a timely fashion. Give a few days for the university, not us, to update your application. If your file still shows items missing after two weeks, see your counselor.
If you didn’t turn in the simple transcript request form by November 14th for schools with deadlines of February 1st or earlier, we cannot guarantee that school documents will reach universities by the deadline. But we’ll try.
The University Lab is still in session every Monday in room 3-203 from 2:15 to 3:00. Seniors are welcome to come by and work on their applications, ask questions of a counselor and/or review their essay with a peer or counselor. Snacks and treats are provided.
University visits at ISB in the Coming Week (lunchtime in 203):
Monday, November 19 – Yokohama National University
Monday, November 26 – International Christian University (Japan)
Counselor Dr. Jeff Harper attended admissions information sessions at Hong Kong University, as well as a grand opening ceremony for the new Hong Kong University Centennial Campus, last weekend. Hong Kong University is considered among the best universities in the world. HKU is interested in enrolling more students from all over the world and should be considered by all ISB students seeking quality higher education. Imagine the long term career advantages of studying journalism, East Asian Studies, and Mandarin at HKU!
Seussical the Musical “An unusual story will soon be unfurled…”
By: Kerri Fitzgerald
kerrif@isb.ac.th
Next week 76 HS Drama, Music, Dance, Lights, Sound and Stage Crew students will bring the much loved characters of Dr. Seuss to ISB. Don’t miss the antics of the Cat-in-the-Hat, Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie La Bird, the Whos of Whoville, the Grinch and many others as they burst into life on a transformed and colourful Chevron stage. The performances are:
Thursday November 22nd at 3 pm
(Tickets are 100 baht for students, 200 baht for adults)
Friday November 23rd at 3 pm
(Tickets are 100 baht for students, 200 baht for adults)
Saturday November 24th Red Carpet Gala Evening at 5:30 and final performance 6:30pm.
(Tickets for this performance are 150 baht for students and 300 baht for adults.)
You are asked to dress in the most colourful outfit you can concoct and at the special ‘Red Carpet Gala’, children are encouraged to dress up as their favorite Dr Seuss character. “What is the Red Carpet Gala?” you might well be asking. Situated in the foyer, this enables youngsters to mix it with the characters in the show and to interact with the imagined world before the actual performance. Our wonderful BOOSTER Club sponsor this rewarding experience: there will be canapés and soft drinks, and the actors will be signing autographs (small autograph books are included for the ES students!). In addition, there is a surprise for the youngest members of the audience as they leave the theatre after the final performance.
Tickets for Peter Pan sold out quickly, so don’t delay in buying your assigned seats.
Tickets will go on sale on November 19th at the following times and locations:
November 19th/20th/21st
06:45 – 07:45 ES walkway
10:00 – 12:05 HS/MS Cafeteria
13:50 – 14:45 ES walkway
Show Days: November 22nd/23rd
06:45 – 07:45 ES walkway
10:00 – 12:05 HS/MS Cafeteria
13:50 – 14:45 In front of Chevron Theatre
Saturday November 24th (RED CARPET GALA)
17:00 – 18:20 In front of Chevron Theatre
Don’t be “Alone in the Universe” – come and share in the fun and adventure of Seussical the Musical. We look forward to seeing you.
Movember
By: Philip Roger
philr@isb.ac.th
You may have seen some strange sights at ISB over the last two weeks. No need to fear as it is the ISB faculty creatively growing their Mo’s for the month of Movember. Apparently it is catching as more of the ISB mail community are sporting additional top lip hair.
For those who are new to Movember, it is an awareness campaign to promote Men’s health issues, particularly prostate cancer which is as prevalent in men as breast cancer is in women.
This week we celebrated the half Mo as demonstrated in this recent picture of ISB Mo Bros in action with the Panther.
Cafeteria News…Did You Know…?
By: Michelle Ihrig
cafeteria@isb.ac.th
Thanksgiving. The time of year has come again, where we are reminded to give thanks for our plenty and bounty. It is a time of community, collaboration, friendship, family, gratitude, blessings and celebration. As has become custom at the HS/MS Cafeteria, Epicure will be serving up a traditional Thanksgiving Feast on Thursday Nov 22 starting at 10:15am. The delightful menu will include: Carved Roast Turkey, Honey Glazed Ham, Homemade Herb Stuffing, Giblets Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli & Carrot Saute and Pumpkin Pie, all for only 160 B. Should your child wish to partake in this celebration on Thursday, please ensure that their campus cards are topped up so as not to disappoint. Parents are also welcome to partake in the festivities! Enjoy.
eNewsletter Guidelines
by Tony Arnold
anthonya@isb.ac.th
ISB eNewsletters provide a valuable avenue for communication within the ISB parent community. For your convenience we have provided you with our eNewsletter guidelines below.
Submitting an announcement for publication
ISB accepts announcements from ISB families for potential publication in our eNewsletters. The announcements are generally intended to highlight events that occur at ISB and/or highlight information about ISB.
What to include in the announcement
• A title for your announcement
• An email contact for further information
Where to submit your announcement
4publish@isb.ac.th is for announcements of interest to the entire ISB community.
tinaratr@isb.ac.th is for Elementary School (ES) announcements of interest to ES families.
maurilib@isb.ac.th is for Middle School (MS) announcements of interest to MS families.
vijitl@isb.ac.th is for High School (HS) announcements of interest to HS families.
Your announcement will be submitted to the appropriate Principal and/or to our Marketing Director for review. ISB reserves the right to determine which announcements will and will not be published, and to edit announcements that are approved for publication.
Frequency of eNewsletter mailings
The ISB eNewsletter that is for the entire community is sent out on Thursdays. Announcements for potential publication in this newsletter must be received by noon on Thursdays.
The ES, MS, and HS eNewsletters are sent out on Fridays. Announcements for potential publication in these newsletters must be received by noon on Fridays.