by Dennis Harter
dennish@isb.ac.th
The new school year is upon us! We are excited to welcome our returning families back to middle school and also wish to extend a special welcome to our new families to ISB Middle School, whether you are new to ISB, or have a child joining us in grade 6. It’s going to be a great year and we look forward to building a community with this year’s grade 6, 7, and 8 students and parents.
We know that it can be nerve-wracking to transition into the new school year, after a family-filled holiday, or into a new school. For this reason, we give a lot of our time and energy in the first week to making that start as smooth as possible.
New to ISB
For new families to ISB, we have new family orientation on Monday, August 13th. If you are attending that, please arrive to sign in between 10:15 and 10:30 AM.
Returning to ISB
If you were here last year, then we will see you on the first day of school, Tuesday, August 14th. Grade 6 students all received a thorough orientation during Bridge Day last year and we will continue to work with them throughout the year to make their first year of middle school a great one. We are also looking forward to seeing our returning grade 7s and 8s.
First Day of School, Tuesday, August 14th
On the first day of school, Tuesday, August 14th, all students should head up to the middle school office area between 7:00 and 7:15 AM, where in the quad, students will see bulletin boards with their Advisory teacher and room listed. That’s where all students will start the day and year.
In that first hour with their Advisor, students will get a copy of their schedule, their ID card, and see where there new locker is.
There will not be any classes on the first day of school as we build community through Advisory, grade level community building, and a full school assembly. We have lots of fun activities planned for the day to help students feel comfortable and connect with friends as well as make new ones. Teachers and advisors will be with the students throughout the day to help them settle back in.
The first day of scheduled classes (Day 1) will then be on Wednesday. All of this will be carefully explained on Tuesday in Advisories.
Lunch Money
Students in the middle school pay for lunch using their ID cards and families should make sure that there is money in the account. That can be done online via CampusCard in PowerSchool, or you can send your child in with cash on Tuesday and they can use the top up machines or bookstore to put that money on their account.
We are really excited to start the new year and see how everyone has grown, changed, and stayed the same. We also welcome our new families to our community! Teachers have been back at work all week getting ready for the start, but a building is not a school until the kids get here, so we are enthusiastically awaiting their arrival.
The start of school is almost here!