On GCW Costs
By: Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th

Today is the deadline for payments for GCW.  We will be following up on all missing payments next week.  Related, it is useful to share that the costs of GCW courses are based on travel costs, charges by the organizing companies, lodging and food costs, and often other factors.  For each course, there are different circumstances ranging from companies that have single, all-inclusive charges to trips on which each facet requires individual payments.

ISB does not retain any money on these courses, so estimated costs for parents is based solely on the charges the course requires.  We always try to find the best costs possible, in order to save parents’ money, however, we prioritize safety, first.  The companies we use ensure first aid trained guides, safe equipment, and high standard experiences.  Please contact me if you have any questions on this.

Dennis Harter
HS Vice Principal

 

December Exams
By: Philip Rogers
philr@isb.ac.th

Please note our HS exams run from Wednesday 12th through to Wednesday 19th with 3 sessions a day starting at 7:20, 10:10 and 1:00, unless a student has accommodations then they have a separate schedule.

Students are expected to take their exams as per our publish schedule which can be found on the HS page of the ISB website: https://www.isb.ac.th/High_School/default.aspx. Students who are sick for an exam must contact the HS office immediately.  Medical certificates MUST be provided.

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.

Philip Rogers
Dean of Academics

 

Celebration and Holiday for the King’s Birthday
By: Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th

Wednesday, December 5th is a school holiday.  On Tuesday, December 4th, at 10:30 am, ISB students will be celebrating His Majesty, with song and poetry.

 

School Uniform Policy – Sweatshirts, Exams, and more
By: Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th

Just a reminder that as the weather gets cooler, HS students must still adhere to the rules on school uniform.  Students may wear sweaters, sweatshirts and jackets that are ISB issue only.  These range from those sold at the Booster Hut to any ISB team or club sweatshirt.  Students must wear their school uniform underneath.  Non-ISB cardigans, sweatshirts, or sweaters are not allowed and are confiscated when worn to school.

Also, please note the regular uniform rules apply during HS Exams.  Students must be in school uniform for exams.  Students who arrive out of uniform will be asked to changed, which could affect the time they have for their exam.

The final day of the semester, December 21st, is an Alternate Dress day.

 

Last Day of the Semester
By: Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th

Please note that December 21st is a shortened school day.  On that Friday, school ends at 11:30 am.  For HS, this day is an Alternate Dress Day.

 

News from Counseling Center
By: Kevin Callahan
kevinc@isb.ac.th

Did you know…: 

• That Dr. Curtis recently received the CIS Peggy Templeton Strong Award, given yearly to an international school guidance counselor who, among other things, “shows a thorough understanding of what the work of a guidance counselor/university advisor can mean for an individual student, his or her family, their country and our world”, and “is excellent at inspiring and leading others”.  Congratulations Dr. Curtis!
• At Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania, students with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 30 or higher are required to take a physical education class before they are allowed to graduate.

Semester Exams: It’s time 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, half an hour per night!

Freshmen: All the freshmen met with their counselor on November 26^th and 27^th  to discuss their grades in progress.  We counselors always enjoy these opportunities to talk with our 9^th grade students and get to know them better.  By the way, they are a lovely group and in general, fine students!  On December 6^th and 7^th  we’ll talk with freshmen about preparing efficiently for semester exams.

Sophomores:  Many 10^th graders didn’t get to the Sophomore Seminar, and won’t have the information on Naviance in order to go forward in future sessions.  See Mr. Weiser to find out what you need to do to get caught up – it’s important!

Juniors: Wednesday 28 November and Thursday 29 November was our second junior seminar, which kicked off the college research/selection process.  This was an important session where students began to explore their possibilities after ISB and begin building a plan.  Parents have work to do, too, as they will be asked to fill out a form to help counselors know their advisees better.  Make sure your son or daughter attended and ask for your homework!

Seniors:  If you turned in a transcript request form for any school and you wonder how to send your mid-year documents (like an updated transcript), don’t worry.  We send mid-year reports and updated transcripts to every school that you apply to.  You don’t even need to ask!

If you still haven’t turned in the simple transcript request form for schools with deadlines of February 15^th or earlier, we cannot guarantee that school documents will reach universities by the deadline.  We’ll try but you are awfully late by now.  And remember that from the 21^st of December to the 2^nd of January inclusive, no one is in the high school office.  All staff is on break.  So if you have a January 1 deadline and you are completing it on December 30^th, you’ll have to hope that everything goes smoothly or that your friends are good troubleshooters.

Two weeks ago both Debbie McDowell and Cathy Curtis attended the Council of International Schools Forum.  Although there were a number of interesting sessions along with a reverse College Fair (where counselors stand at the table and admissions representatives come by the tables) and plenty of time to speak with University Representatives on numerous occasions, two of the best ‘take aways’ from the conference were the comments about IB English A and about scholarships for girls.

1) The Evolving IB: Impact on Admissions Decisions.  This session provided both admission officers and high school counselors with an overview of the most recent changes in the International Baccalaureate in the IB language course and the impact of these changes on course selections in schools and on university offers and university admissions decisions.  The panelists were from:

a) Swarthmore (USA)
b) University of British Columbia (Canada)
c) University of Stirling (UK)
d) International Baccalaureate (Head of Recognition)
e) International Schule Frankfurt-Rhei-Main (Germany)

This discussion revolved around the question of whether students should take IB English A: Literature or IB English A: Literature and Language.  It was a lively discussion for both the counselors and the university representatives but the bottom line was that if students are planning to study literature in university, they should take the literature course as that focus would meet their needs for the student of literature in university.  If students are planning to study any other subject, they should take the literature and language course because, although it does not have as extensive a review of literature, the Lit/Lang course will address a broader perspective of the manipulation of the language itself which will help in the areas of law, business and in science (for communicating ideas) and other liberal arts courses.

2). Financial Aid for International Students at US Colleges in a New Economic Climate – again a very lively and interesting discussion but the test ‘take away’ was the advice that girls who need financial aid should apply to a woman’s college.  They usually have excellent funding and they tend to be generous.  Food for thought!

IB Theatre ’24’
By: Kerri Fitzgerald
kerrif@isb.ac.th

IB Theatre ’24’ is a showcase of the work of students in IB Theatre years 1 & 2, and the Advanced Drama students. The main focus will be the five plays devised and directed by the year 2 students. These plays are the focus of their Independent Project Portfolio IB assessment, which is worth 25% of their total marks.

The year 2 students are planning and preparing their pieces for rehearsal and they will audition the year 1/Advanced Drama students early next week. All the students then work together over a 24 hour period to bring the plays to fruition.

The showcase is at 5:00pm on Saturday December 8th. Entry is free. As several of the plays contain mature themes, language and subject matter they are NOT suitable for students in the ES and MS, and they will not be admitted to the theatre. Latecomers will not be admitted. Please do not bring mobile phones, cameras or video cameras.

Please come and support our talented high school theatre practitioners.

Theatre24 Poster2012_3
The HS Art Show
By: Kerri Fitzgerald
kerrif@isb.ac.th

The HS Art show continues in the CCT Foyer until 5 pm weekdays (finishes Dec 14th). There has been a great number of parent and students through this exhibition already. It has surprised and intrigued. Be sure to take time to peruse these works in the sanctity of  the CCT foyer.

 

Choir holiday Concert
By: Kerri Fitzgerald
kerrif@isb.ac.th

Now Thursday 6th December CCT at 6:30pm This is always a fantastic evening of singing and amazing vocal talent. Please note the date change!

 

HS Band & String Concert
By: Kerri Fitzgerald
kerrif@isb.ac.th

Tuesday 11th December starting at the earlier time of 6pm in the Chevron. Get into the Holiday spirit with this rousing concert. A lively and compact evening of entertainment.  Please note the earlier start time.

 

A weekend of Tournaments!
By: Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th

This weekend we have a full weekend of tournaments with our Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys Basketball participating in the NIST Falcon Friendship Tournament. Joining them tonight at NIST are our JV and Varsity Touch teams and Varsity Swim team. Tomorrow our JV Touch girls and JV Basketball boys will go to BPS and play in the BPS JV friendship tournaments, which will be a good measure for what they need to work on in the rest of their season as they prepare for their BISAC tournament in early February.

We have had a full on weekend last week at ISB with our Basketball Friendship Tournament and Rugby Exchange, which have kept our athletes busy. Now we change gears a little and we hope that your child will begin to focus for their upcoming exams. Examinations will take place in two weeks time and with this we will have adjusted practices with no trainings on December 11-13 & December 17. All other days will have normal practice.

A number of parents have wondered where they can find what is happening at ISB for Athletics and the best place to find this is online. For games please go to https://inside.isb.ac.th/athletics/upcoming-games/ and for results we are trying to get these posted on our twitter account, which you can subscribe to at: https://twitter.com/isbpanthers. You can also find on our athletics site team pages which have all our team’s information in place.

We wish our teams all the best for this weekend! GO PANTHERS!
Andy Vaughan
Athletics Director

 

2013 Mid-year Graduation
By: Neila Lo S. Cabanlet-Fernandes
PTA volunteer

Every year, we have a few seniors who have to go back to their home country to start university in the Spring.  Thus we have the mid-year graduation ceremony in December for these seniors.

Come visit and sign autographs for our mid-year graduates during their social on December 6, 2012 in MPB2 and MPB3 from 9:30 – 12:00PM.  Since they will miss yearbook signing in April, PTA helps organize this event for the graduates and their friends to sign autographs in lieu of the yearbook.

Best Wishes to our 2013 ISB Mid-Year Graduates

Dong Jun (Danny) Lim

Sayaka Shibagaki

Moeka Takeuchi

Yurina Tanaka

Kayoko Watanabe

They will have their commencement exercise on December 20, 2012 in the Cultural Center at 6:30 PM followed by a reception in the foyer.

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