High School Upcoming events (Please click):
Friday August 9th
Justin Alexander
justina@isb.ac.th
Welcome back everyone!
To our returning students and families, welcome back and I trust that you all had wonderful summers (or winters for our southern hemisphere travelers) and are refreshed and ready for the new school year. I also welcome nearly 50 new students to the High School at ISB, who join us from other schools from here in Thailand or from overseas. I have had the pleasure of meeting many of our new students and families at today’s new student/parent orientation and although they might be a little bit anxious and nervous they were certainly excited about joining their new school.
I would like to extend a sincere thank you to our parent volunteers and representatives who are welcoming new families and a bigger thank you to the large group of student ambassadors who have smoothed the transition for our new students. The work that you all do in making the transition a successful one for our new ISB’ers is greatly appreciated.
Preparations have been underway at school for more than a week, with my colleagues working hard to ensure we are ready to welcome nearly 600 High School students on Tuesday August 13th. We will open school with a HS assembly at 7.20am in the Chevron Theatre before moving into an advisory session where students can reconnect with their friends and review the schedule for the first few days of school. Mr. Andy Vaughan will share more details later in this newsletter about the opening day of school and other logistical details.
As we welcome new students to ISB we also welcome some wonderful new teachers to the HS faculty as well. They are very experienced and skilled set of teachers who are excited to join us from a variety of other International schools from all over the world. Please join me in welcoming the following teachers to the High School this year.
- Matt Barker – Learning Support (Yokohama International School, Japan)
- Alex Becker – College Counselor (Colegio Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia
- Katya Friedman – Mathematics (Pan American School of Bahia, Brazil)
- Ian Galbraith – Mathematics (The International Nido de Aguilas, Santiago, Chile)
- Xiaoling (Ellyn) Gao – World Languages – Chinese (International School of Beijing, China)
- Peter Kratz – Social Studies (International School of Yangon, Myanmar)
- Julie Lamontagne – Science (International School of Yangon, Myanmar)
- Justyna McMillan – Dean of Academics/IB Coordinator (Seoul Foreign School)
- Triston McMillan – Social Studies (Seoul Foreign School, Korea)
- Sonya Ohlsson – College Counselor (Y.K Pao School,Shanghai, China)
We also welcome two Annual substitute teachers (Jessica Coates, Mary Greaves) and a Learning Support Associate (Ann Jarell) who will be working with our students in the High School this year.
All the best for a wonderful year and I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming weeks.
Regards
Justin Alexander
High School Principal
Start of School Reminders
Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th
Welcome and a few start of School reminders
We are very excited to welcome students back to school next Tuesday, 13 August for the first day of the 2018-19 School Year. The following are some general start of school reminders.
Uniforms and Dress Code
We will be starting the school year with a focus on uniform and dress code with students. There are a few changes to the ISB Uniform Policy, which were shared at the end of last school year on Enews and can be found in the online student handbook under ‘Uniform and Dress Code’.
To sum up the key changes:
- School pants can be purchased from the bookstore, but we do allow non-bookstore pants, so long as they are in the same design limitations. Pants must be appropriate length (defined as 1/3 of the hip to knee). Tighter pants are allowed however, spandex and ‘branded’ sports pants are not allowed.
- Hoodies and sweaters must be purchased from the Boosters and worn from Monday to Thursday. All other team hoodies are not to be worn on Monday to Thursday. Every Friday students will have a ‘themed dress day’ in which they will be able to wear team, class and ISB club wear as per the planned schedule for that week.
- Footwear should be comfortable, practical and safe. Open toe shoes are not allowed such as slippers and flip flop sandals.
The High School faculty and administration will monitor students’ attire to ensure that it aligns to our expectations. Please help us in ensuring that your student(s) only wear dress code conforming clothing to school.
Bicycle and Motor Scooter Helmets
For personal safety considerations, appropriate bike helmets must be worn (and properly strapped) by both students and adults entering campus. Administrators and security guards will periodically monitor the front gate and offer reminders and encouragement. Thank you for helping to support and model a safe environment at ISB!
Driving to school
Only students with a valid Thai driver’s license may drive/park a car on campus. Students who are 15 years or older may drive/park a motor scooter on campus provided:
- Student has a Thai driver’s license for his/her age group
- Student obtains a parking permit sticker from the HS Office
- The motorbike is 110cc or under if the student is under 18 years of age
- Always wears an appropriate/strapped motorcycle helmet (and only carries passengers with helmets) on and off campus
Golf carts must also be operated safely and be affixed with a parking pass from the security office. Only students with an approved drivers license will be permitted to park a golf cart on campus and such students must obtain an approval from the High School Office. Drivers licenses from other countries are applicable certification for students driving golf carts to school.
First Day Schedule for HS
Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th
We have a special schedule on Tuesday, which aims to allow students to receive the necessary information to be successful in the first weeks of school. We will be starting Tuesday with a full High School Assembly and then spend time in advisory, class meetings and then rotate through the student schedule for the first two days of school.
The First Day schedule as can be found at this link.
Excusing Absences
Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th
Any absence for HS students should be excused by parents via a phone call to the HS Attendance secretary, Khun Gade 02 963 5883 (ext. 3305). It is appreciated if this phone call can be received before 8.30am so that we can alert teachers early. If you are unable to call, please email Khun Gade on (sasivimb@isb.ac.th)
It is important that we receive this parental contact, because without it, your child is marked as absent (X). Unexcused absences may result in additional consequences.
You can see whether your child has been marked absent (X) on any day using PowerSchool. If we receive confirmation from parents that the absence is excused, then we adjust the code to reflect that (AbE). Please help us to ensure we best understand reasons for your child missing school.
Please also note if a student misses a class during the day, they may not participate in co-curricular activities on that day without prior approval from the Dean of Students.
For extended absences, parents should email counsellors and also copy in Andy Vaughan (andyv@isb.ac.th) and Khun Gade(sasivimb@isb.ac.th) for approval.
Andy Vaughan
High School Dean of Students
M: +668 7514 9550
The new ISB Middle School and High School Cafeteria Opens…!
By: Marc de Vries, Deputy Head of School and CFO
Complimentary Lunches for students for the first week!
As we celebrate the opening of the new cafeteria and to help with the launching of new systems, we are pleased to offer middle school and high school students free snacks and lunches from Tuesday the 13th through to Friday the 16th. Students will have to show their student ID to collect their lunch.
Beverages and a limited selection of bakery items at The Grind will still be on sale as normal for students.
In the coming weeks, Epicure will also be revamping and expanding their offerings and we trust that the new cafeteria experience will be enjoyed by all.
We look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday. Welcome Back!
College Counselor News
Andrew Weiser
andreww@isb.ac.th
Welcome Back!! Your High School College Counseling team is ready for an exciting new school your. Returning College Counselors are Debbie McDowell and Andrew Weiser and we welcome to our team Sonya Ohlsson and Alex Becker.
College Counselors will be touching base with seniors the first two weeks of school and then scheduling a Senior Conference with the student and parent(s).
Upcoming events:
August 19 (Students) – G12 UCAS Registration
August 20 (Students) – G12 College Seminar #1
August 26 (Students) – G12 Common Application Registration
August 28 (Students & Parents) – G12 College Night 6:30pm
Starting the week of August 19 (Students & Parents) – University Visits (Link to Calendar) Once again, welcome back to all students and parents.
Club Fairs
Becky Hansberry
beckyh@isb.ac.th
The Club Fairs will be over three days (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) starting Monday, August 19th in the MPB during Panther Block. The clubs that meet on Mondays will be the only ones presenting at the fair on Monday, August 19th. Clubs that meet on Wednesdays will be at the fair on Wednesday, August 21st, and Friday clubs will be at the fair Friday, August 23rd. Please see the Club Schedule here to learn which clubs meet on which days and see the the HS Clubsdocument to learn more about all of the different clubs.
Free2Flow Dance Performance
Jaleea Price
jaleeap@isb.ac.th
Saturday, August 17 1:00pm CCT
Free2Flow is a co-created, internationally based dance collective of five dancers and one visual artist. Each member is artistically unique and carries with them a particular movement specification and styles, making the Free2Flow team an extremely versatile cohort of artists. As we are all working around the world, we seek possibilities to meet in culturally unique locations to create our work. Collaboration with international and local schools, theaters, as well as other Art-related organizations allows us to utilize residency opportunities and exchange platforms. As part of our ISB residency please join us along with ISB students for a live performance in the CC Theatre at 1:00pm Saturday, August 17. Admission is free. Look for related workshop and performance opportunities open to the community throughout August.
Audition Information for “Blue Stockings”
Gareth Huxtable
garethh@isb.ac.th
Performance dates will be November 19th 20th and 21st. High School Fall Play
The HS Theatre department are looking for committed actors, tech crew, stage management team and set builders to help with the HS Production.
“Blue Stockings” was the second most performed play in the UK last year. The plot follows the trials and challenges of the first females students who were attempting to graduate from Cambridge University. The play has romance, humour and moving drama, with demanding acting challenges for both males and females. There are 18 parts in all, nine females and nine males. If you are interested in being part of this exciting play please fill out this form.
Audition Form Student Information and then attend auditions in the CCT on these dates:
- Monday 19th August 3.15pm to 5pm : Going over the audition scripts
- Then students choose either Wednesday or Thursday to audition.
- Wednesday 21st 3.15pm to 5pm: Students auditioning on Wednesday
- Thursday 22nd 3.15pm to 5pm: Students auditioning on Thursday.
Only student actors are required for auditions. Students showing interest in tech, stage building and crew will be contacted during August.
Please click below for further information about the auditions, play summary, requirements, dates for rehearsals etc. Further information about auditions