‘Conferences’
Justin Alexander
justina@isb.ac.th
Dear Parents,
We look forward to a great week of learning and your participation in that process with the Parent-Student-Teacher conferences taking place on Friday, October 4th. On Thursday, October 3rd, we will hold our second Attributes day with students joining in a variety of wellness and other learning activities focused on our Learner Attributes. Grade 11 and Grade 12 students will also have some of their sessions focusing on University applications and CAS during the day. Thursday is a regular day of school and students are required to be on time to school in the morning and be fully present that day.
The HS Parent-Student-Teacher conferences take place in the Rajendra Gym and you and your HS children are invited to join us in at either session 1 (7:30-11:15) or session 2 (12:00-14:30) for parent-teacher conferences. We operate our conferences as ‘Arena’ Style conferences without booking exact times with teachers. Parents and students are able to look at the lineups for their teachers and move around the gym choosing the smaller queues. If you anticipate requiring a lengthy conversation with a particular teacher, it may be best to arrange for a separate time for that conversation. This is a non-instructional day for students, but students are required to accompany parents to the conferences on this day (uniforms are not required). Generally speaking, the afternoon session is not as busy as the morning session, so you may wish to consider attending the afternoon session.
We ask that students attend this day with their parents so that the learner is present during the discussions with the teacher and parent. When students attend the conferences with their parents it allows for them to fully appreciate the strengths and to consider the areas for growth for the individual child. We look forward to seeing you on Friday. Please note that teachers will have their lunch break in between 11:15-12:00 pm.
Regards
Justin Alexander
College & Attributes Day -Thursday 3 October
Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th
This coming Thursday is the annual College & Attributes Day in the High School. All Grade 9-12 students are involved in this special day, which provides specific time for Grade 11 and 12 students to focus on College as well as Upper Class focused sessions to support CAS, EE, and a wellness session.
Our Grade 9 and 10 students will have a Wellness session at the start of the day and then engage in two sessions based around the ISB Attributes, these range from Japanese Calligraphy, Community Trash Clean Ups, Stock Market Investing to sessions on Barista Skills.
The schedule for the day is as follows:
Our High School faculty have been working hard to create meaningful and fun sessions for each of our students. Students will be receiving their final schedules for the day early next week and we expect that all students will be present next Thursday. Please also note that no Gate Passes will be issued for any students on next Thursday.
GCW Placements & Timeline
Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th
Students have completed their sign ups for GCW and we are now in the process of making final placements for all GCW trips. On Wednesday next week we will mail merge your child’s GCW placement along with details of how to make payments and how to submit passport photo pages for all overnight trips.
On this coming Thursday, at the end of Attributes & College Day, all students will meet in advisory classes and receive important permission slips that need to go home and be signed then returned to your child’s GCW Lead Chaperone.
The timeline for GCW is as follows:
October 2: Student Assignment List Posted at school by ID number & emailed out
October 3: Parent Permission forms given out to students
October 15: 1st GCW Course Meeting- Parent Permission forms due to lead chaperones
November 1: GCW Payments due
December 3: 2nd GCW Course Meeting
January 23: 3rd GCW Course Meeting
February 11: 4th GCW Course Meeting
February 17-21: Global Citizenship Week
Please note that due to GCW 2020 falling on the week prior to February Break, trips may depart ISB as early as Friday, Feb 14 and all trips must return to Bangkok, Friday, Feb, 21, before 6 pm. As soon as we have trip flight details finalised we will communicate to parents so that February Break plans can be finalised.
Overall Grade-to-date
Justyna McMillan
justynam@isb.ac.th
Teachers will update PowerSchool on Friday September 27 with a Grade-to-date and HAL Grade for all students. This Grade-to-date is on the 7-1 scale and is based on the ‘body of evidence’ of student work completed so far, with teachers using the Grade Descriptors and their professional judgement. For your reference, the Grade Descriptors can be found inside the back cover of the Student Daily Planner. Please note that this is the first assessment of the academic year, and is a ‘snapshot’ of achievement and may be based solely on 1 or 2 assessments. The next grade update will occur on November 15th with mid-semester comments on November 1st.
Please also note that grades for Ms. Herbert will be updated next week.
News from HS Counselors
Kevin Davy
kevinc@isb.ac.th
Have you spoken with your student about what you’ll talk to the teachers about next Friday at the Parent – Teacher conferences? It’s a good opportunity to communicate with your child about how school is going, what their concerns are, what they’re enjoying, etc. This should give you some informed questions to ask the teachers when you discuss your child’s progress. It’s about a lot more than grades! We’ll see you next Friday the 4th.
As part of our health education and substance use prevention efforts, we have invited a prevention specialist from FCD Prevention Works to visit our school from October 7-9. FCD is a non-profit organization that provides alcohol, nicotine, and other drug education to schools around the world. FCD prevention specialists will present the most up-to-date information available on the physiological and psychological effects of various drugs (with a focus on vaping this visit), and provide a forum for discussing social, cultural, and personal issues that relate to the choices people make. FCD believes in involving the school community in prevention education, not just students.
With this in mind, we would like to invite you to an FCD parent presentation, with a focus on vaping. The meeting will be held in the MPB on Wednesday, October 9 from 8-9:30am. We hope you can join us!
News from College Counselor
Andrew Weiser
andreww@isb.ac.th
Senior Seminar #2
On Monday, Seniors attended Senior Seminar #2 to review the ISB Application Process and the importance of research and meeting deadlines!! If your senior has a university deadline in October or November, they should be in the midst of completing the application. Please encourage then to send essay drafts to their College Counselor for review and feedback. Don’t wait until the last minute!!!
College Coffee #2 – Standardized Testing: What You Need to Know!- for Parents
Tuesday, October 1 – 8:00AM MPB #1
High School parents are invited to our College Coffee about Standardized Testing. This will include information about: What role do test scores play? How we recommend students prepare? Will my child’s high scores offset a softer academic performance? and
Is my child behind? This is NOT just about the SAT!!
College and Attributes Day- for Students
Thursday, October 3
Juniors will be having sessions about Cialfo and College Research
Seniors will be having sessions with their College Counselors and the bulk of the time will be used for research, work on applications, essays and individualized help. This is an important work day for life after ISB.
Upcoming University Visits:
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Monday, September 30 10:55 – 11:40am
For a complete list of University visits please use this link (Link to Calendar)
Spirit Week is Here!
Derrick Quinet
derrickq@isb.ac.th
Don’t miss all the fun and excitement of Season One Spirit Night, this Friday at ISB! Join the UNHCR charity run at 6pm, play carnival games, and watch our varsity boys and girls soccer and volleyball teams battle it out under the lights against 20 visiting teams. We have all our favorite food vendors, the Booster Tent, and special dance performances and much much more. Bring the family and come cheer on our Panthers in one of our biggest community events of the year!
Invitational Volleyball Schedule
Do you have a professional or personal interest or talent that you could share with students?
Becky Hansberry
beckyh@isb.ac.th
ISB Is fortunate to have a parent community with a vast array of professional and personal interests, skills and talents. If you would be willing to share any of these with students, either by being a guest speaker or helping with individual or class projects, please let us know by filling out this survey.
Junior Special Olympics
Becky Hansberry
beckyh@isb.ac.th
November 2nd from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm. This is an event in which ISB students spend the morning as a “buddy” to a local child with disabilities. They play fun games and activities and finish by sharing lunch together. All high school students are encouraged to sign up, just return this form to the HS Office along with 200 baht for the T-shirt before October 8th.
Parent Speaker Survey
Becky Hansberry
beckyh@isb.ac.th
Do you have a professional or personal interest or talent that you could share with students? ISB Is fortunate to have a parent community with a vast array of professional and personal interests, skills and talents. If you would be willing to share any of these with students, either by being a guest speaker or helping with individual or class projects, please let us know by filling out this survey.
Bangkok International String Festival (BISF) Gala Concert
Anthony Giles
anthonyg@isb.ac.th
2:00pm September 28, 2019: The Bangkok International Strings Festival (BICF) Gala Concert will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 28, in the Chevron Theatre. This year’s festival will feature string musicians from around the region under the direction of guest conductor, Mark Laycock. A cake reception follows the concert and admission is free. Hope to see you there!
Exhibition Opening at ISB –
Anthony Giles
anthonyg@isb.ac.th
6:30pm Wednesday, October 2: Jill Enfield will be exhibiting her work at International School Bangkok (ISB) through to November 1st, with a grand opening taking place on Wednesday, 2nd October, 6:30pm where prints from her project The New American and more will be showcased. To learn more about Jill Enfield, her work at ISB, and to join the Exhibition Opening, please see HERE.
25th ANNUAL BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL CHOIR FESTIVAL (BICF) GALA CONCERT:
Anthony Giles
anthonyg@isb.ac.th
25th annual Bangkok International Choir Festival (BICF) Gala Concert will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 5, in the Chevron Theatre. This year’s festival will feature choirs from sixteen international schools under the direction of guest conductors, Dinah Helgeson and John Baker. A cake reception follows the concert and admission is free. Hope to see you there!
Tryouts for Club (Travel) baseball/softball teams
Punnanunt (Fon) Wisuppakan
punnanuw@isb.ac.th
Sunday, September 29th
Baseball/Softball players and families,
The Bangkok Baseball/Softball Club (Travel) teams are launching the 2019-2020 season. We look to have strong participation at the U10, U12 , U14 and U18 levels. The travel teams are competitive teams playing tournaments in Thailand and the region. Players must tryout for the teams.
Please note that the BBSA Divisional (community league) will have registration in October with games starting in November.
We will be having baseball/softball tryouts for the travel/tournament teams on Sunday, September 29th. See the attached flyer for the tryout teams for each league.
See our website here for more information.