High School Upcoming events (Please click):
‘Performance’
Justin Alexander
Justina@isb.ac.th
Dear Parents,
I hope that many of you were able to attend the wonderful combined MS/HS choir concert on Monday night and the excellent HS Band concert on Wednesday night. Our musicians were fantastic and it is wonderful to see them come together to produce wonderful music at this festive time of the year. The past few days have seen a ‘quieter’ High School with the 9th and 10th grade students starting their semester exams. Exams continue into next week with the last few days of school being an opportunity for students to receive feedback on their exams in advance of the well deserved winter break. We finish classes at 11.30am on Friday December 15th. Enjoy a great weekend.
Regards
Justin Alexander
High School Principal
Report Cards – PowerSchool locked
Susan Canobie
susanca@isb.ac.th
As teachers complete their recording and reporting over the next week, PowerSchool will be locked. It is envisaged that PowerSchool will be updated on late on Monday 18th December and will include the full report card for the semester as a PDF.
Report Card Holds
Andy Vaughan; Susan Canobie
andyv@isb.ac.th, susanca@isb.ac.th
Please note that parents will be unable to access report cards through Powerschool if a report card hold has been placed on a student account. Report card holds occur if books are outstanding at the Library, fees are overdue or textbooks not returned. If a report card hold has occurs in the next two weeks parents will be notified via an automated email from Powerschool. To avoid report card holds please encourage your child(ren) to return all library books, and any textbooks used solely in semester 1. To remove a report after semester finishes you will need to visit the HS Office from 19-23 December with the outstanding item.
Second Semester Course Choices
Susan Canobie
susanca@isb.ac.th
Second semester is not too far away. Students who are considering changing their course choices for second semester should see their counselor in the next week. This is particularly relevant with choices of Science courses in Grades 9 & 10. Please note teachers have spoken to students about these choices in recent Science classes. If students have any questions, please contact their counselor.
Semester December Exams (Gr. 9 &10 only)
Susan Canobie
susanca@isb.ac.th
Please find detailed information on December Exams and the Schedule. Note Exams are for Grades 9 and 10 only, with Grades 11 and 12 having regular classes. These Exams are another piece of learning evidence, in that they indicate one point of achievement on a learning continuum. Feedback on these tasks are incredibly useful and the information given to students and teachers informs further learning. They do, however, form a part of Semester grades. Students can leave school early (before 2:20pm) after an exam by completing an exam early departure form. This form will be posted on the Parent and Student Portals or hard copies can be obtained from the HS Office. Students will need to have a parent-signed, completed form for each instance they wish to leave campus.
Please also note that students in Grade 11 &12 have a normal Day 5 on Wednesday 13th December.
High School Counseling eNews
Andrew Weiser/Kevin Callahan
andreww@isb.ac.th /kevinc@isb.ac.th
College Counselors
College Counseling Coffee – It was great to see parents at our coffee this week which focused on The College Search Process and How Colleges Make Decisions. A copy of the presentation can be found at this link. The next College Counseling Coffee will be held on Monday, January 15 at 8am in MPB #1 and the focus will be on US Higher Education. Thank you to all of the parents who have expressed an interest in these coffees. The main focus second semester will be on various university systems around the world.
Alumni Panel – This is an exciting season when we are lucky to see many ISB students return during the holidays. We will be hosting an Alumni Panel on Tuesday, January 9 from 10:55 – 11:35. This alumni panel is open to all high school students and parents. Come hear from former ISB students about their university experience and some of their sage advice to current ISB students and parents.
11th Grade Assignment – College counselors met with 11th graders on Monday focusing on how to research universities. Students are now tasked with researching 2 universities and creating their own resume. See a copy of the university research assignment here. Why is research so important? Have a look at the College Counseling Coffee presentation from this past Monday included above.
11th Grade Parent Assignment – College counselors want to hear from you! If your student did not already give you a copy last week of the Parent Perspectives, please download the following Microsoft Word document here, fill it out, and return to the HS Counseling Office no later than Monday, January 15.
G11 College Night – Mark your calendars! It’s time to officially kick off the university research and application process. All 11th grade parents and students should plan to attend College Night on Wednesday, January 17 at 6:30pm.
12th Grade Applications – All students applying to the US and UK have now finalized their college lists. Parents are encouraged to check Naviance to see their student’s list. The counseling office will send all supporting documents to these colleges in the next week. It is not possible to make changes to the list or send additional documents during the December/January break. Parents and students are able to meet with counselors regarding questions either before the break or when school reopens in January.–
University Visits– for a full list of who is coming, please subscribe to the Google Calendar at this link.
School Counselors
Kevin Callahan
kevinc@isb.ac.th
In the next couple of weeks the school will be looking at semester courses and any adjustments we have to make.
You might want to be aware of the following:
- If you are a 9th grader and planning to move to a different school in Grade 10 you might want to consider asking that school you might move to (if you know it) what their science requirements are. In the past we have had some students take Chemistry 2 instead of Biology 1 or Physics 1 second semester. This is because sometimes students need a full year of Chemistry to transfer. This is often the case when transferring to schools in the U.S.A.
- The master schedule is tight and there is not a lot of flexibility for movement to accommodate changed electives.
- From time to time to balance courses etc we sometimes have to switch core courses. If this happens we always make the best effort to keep you with your current teacher for that course.
- 9th graders, think about your Freshman Seminar / Free Period this semester – how has that helped you balance your time and commitments? Over half of the 9th grade students elect for the free period. If you find that you have a full schedule and you would like me to take an elective out for a free period – please let your counselor know ASAP.
- If you chose Biology and now want Physics – or visa versa – let your counselor know ASAP.
Hey students,
Get plenty of sleep in the days leading up to exams! Whenever a person needs to perform at peak capacity (in sports, acting, music, or other performances), their bodies must be properly rested. The same goes for intellectual activities. The brain needs rest too, and no one performs optimally on a reduced sleep schedule. Best of luck to students in their last week of the semester!
It’s hard to believe that Seniors have only one semester left of high school. How are you feeling about this big life event for both you and your student? We hope that as the three week holiday approaches, you are able to spend quality time together connecting and relaxing. It’s been a stressful, exciting, and busy few months and it’s important to have some down time to recover.
Donation Box: Save The Rohingya
Becky Hansberry
beckyh@isb.ac.th
With support from the embassy of Bangladesh in Thailand, we will be raising funds for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Your donations can save lives! All donations are greatly appreciated. Note that even just 100 baht can provide someone with a blanket to help get them through the harsh winter season. All donations will be deposited to the account of the mayor’s office of Cox’s Bazar in Chittagong, Bangladesh and will go directly to the refugee camps. Donation boxes will go on until December 15th. Look out for cash box at the HS Office!
For more information, contact: Sajid – 18945@students.isb.ac.th or Munisa – 18944@students.isb.ac.th
Want to Improve Road Safety Near ISB?
Katie Edsall
escoord@isb.ac.th
Parent Traffic Wardens Needed:
Many parents in Nichada have become frustrated with lack of safety on the Nichada roads. Many children are commuting to school on bicycles or on foot, and are in harm’s way, despite the existence of bicycle lanes and crosswalks. Drivers of cars and golf carts are failing to drive at a safe speed, are passing dangerously, are failing to give right of way at the front roundabout, and are parking in bicycle lanes. ISB administration is working with Nichada on a variety of solutions to educate our community and enforce safety rules.
While the ISB guards work hard at managing the school crosswalks and entrances, they need our support. We are organizing parents to volunteer alongside the ISB guards and help make our school zones safer. This will require a team of parents who care enough about this issue to make a difference. Parent volunteers will be involved in assisting students at crosswalks, reminding offending drivers about the school zone rules, and reporting offenders to administration when they continue to break safety rules.
There is much talk about wanting greater safety in our community. Please volunteer your time to make ISB and it’s surrounding roads the safe environment we all want for our kids.
eNewsletter Guidelines
Shelley Bragg
shelleyb@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.