‘Open’
Justin Alexander
justina@isb.ac.th
Dear Parents and Students,
Once again we are excited to be at the end of a full week of school with more than 600 students enrolled in the HS and the vast majority of those students here on campus already with our teachers. The remaining 50 or so students will be slowly joining us as they arrive in Bangkok and complete their quarantine as required before starting school.
This week we held the HS club fair with more than 50 HS club choices on offer for our students to register for. These clubs primarily take place during the school day in our panther block so all students are able to participate in at least one club during the school week. Thank you to our new CAS & HS Activities coordinator Ms. Peter Assimakapoulos for coordinating and organising the fair. If you have any questions about clubs/activities and CAS please reach out to him.
New teachers arriving
This coming week will see the arrival of our EdTech coordinator and HS Librarian (Mr. Chris Bell) at school after serving his quarantine. Mr. Bell returns to ISB after a two year hiatus in Japan. We also welcome our HS Choir teacher (Ms. Lindsay Fuson) and our High School Counselor (Ms. Shannon Leoni) to ISB later this week.
Looking ahead
HS PTA meeting – Tuesday September 8th 9am
HS Open House – Wednesday September 9th 6pm
Both of these events will be conducted online through zoom webinars and meetings with the links and the exact schedule for the HS open house sent out a few days prior to these events. In the meantime, please save the dates and times in your calendar.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Justin Alexander
HS Principal
Check and Update Your Details in Powerschool Parent Portal
Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th
We are in the process of updating phone numbers, addresses, passport details and emergency contacts. Please take the time to login to Powerschool Parent Portal and check the details that ISB has on record. Please update if necessary. It is really important this information is accurate, as we use this in emergency situations.
Instructions:
Step 1.
Login to Powerschool
Please contact arisap@isb.ac.th, if you have forgotten your password.
Step 2.
At the bottom of the left hand menu click “Contact Update”.
This information will then take a day or two to update (we manually check for accuracy).
If you have any questions or queries, contact arisap@isb.ac.th
Schedule
Justyna McMillan
justynam@isb.ac.th
Thank you for your patience and flexibility during the first 8 days of school as we have worked to balance schedules through providing students with their choices and keeping class sizes at the best level for learning.
Today, Friday Aug. 21 was the last day for student requested schedule changes. Please note, schedule changes may still occur up to week 5 of the Semester (Sep. 11th) if recommended by the Student Support Team or the Classroom teacher believes the student is in the wrong level (eg. HL to SL, Spanish III to Spanish II). This change does not appear on the student transcript. Upt to the 10th week (Oct. 16), if there is a schedule change due to the above situations, the change can occur, but the original course will be placed on the student transcript with a Withdraw Pass (WP) or Withdraw Fail (WF) dependent on the student grade at that point. Beyond this period there can be no schedule changes.
News from the College Office
Sonya Ohlsson
sonyao@isb.ac.th
Seniors
We had our first Senior College Seminars this week! Senior Sem, as we affectionately call it, is held once a month and is built into most students schedules. It’s during the TOK period for IB Diploma students and for Personal Choice Diploma students it is during their Free period or with special arrangement if they have no frees. This first session was 80 minutes, which is almost 150% more time than we would have had with them all semester in previous years! We were able to cover many subjects like updating their Cialfo, making sure their Common App would be ready for matching at our next meeting, testing and understanding what Test Optional means, why a balanced list is imperative, and the importance of internal and external deadlines in the college process. Our next Senior Sem will be Sept 3 & 4.
Grade 12 Senior and Parent College Night is Wednesday, 26 August, 6:30-8:00pm in the Chevron Theater. There is a 200 person limit on how many people can be in the Theater so we have a Registration Form for you to fill out if you would like to attend. Only the student and one or two parents may attend, no siblings or other family members. All who attend must have an ISB ID, have completed the Self-disclosure Form , and bring a print out of your event registration with you to get on campus. We will close registration when we reach 200 people. We will also record the session and send it out for those who can’t make it. Gr. 12 College Night Registration Form
And lastly for seniors, please schedule your Senior Family Check-in with your college counselor. We would like to meet with the student and at least one parent in person to go over the college plan and any changes that may have occurred over the summer. If the second parent would like to join via Zoom, that is absolutely possible.
29 August SAT
For Students Registered for the SAT on Saturday, 29 August: All students must have a student ID to access campus. Students are required to wear a face mask at all times. All students registered for the test must bring a printed copy of their SAT Admissions Ticket and their passport. Test takers will be required to turn in their phone and any smart devices during the testing period. All phone/smart devices must be completely turned off during the entirety of the exam period. If any device makes any noise or alarm sounds, the student will be removed from the testing immediately and their test scores cancelled.
News from the HS Counseling Center
Kevin Callahan
kevinc@isb.ac.th
We’ve finished two weeks of school and it has been such a pleasure to be in school with students again! More are arriving in the coming weeks and a “new normal” is already part of the culture of the school. Students have been conscientious and understanding in respecting and carrying out the requirements for safe social distancing at ISB.
We hope your family’s transition back to school is going well and that as the year progresses and your student/s begin to juggle school and activities, they can find balance between both. Please have a conversation with your child and make sure:
a) they have a good idea of their teachers’ expectations.
b) they have a plan to be organized in managing their time and assignments.
c) they know how to relax after a long school day/week.
Over the course of this semester, we will meet with your student individually to check in and continue to get to know them better. We are starting this week with the new students.
We hope Grade 9 students are finding the transition to high school a positive one. They are always welcome to stop by our office with anything from academic to personal concerns. The sooner we get to know them, the better!
Important update from ISB Athletics
Mark Jaspers
markj@isb.ac.th
With this being an unusual year, we decided to make a few exceptions in our policies that hopefully benefit our student-athletes and teams.
Playing on multiple teams (U15 and JV)
We will allow grade 8 and 9 student-Athletes to practice on multiple teams this year for U15/JV. With most likely no BISAC League, this will not create too many conflicts. (e.g. Students can do both U15 Touch and JV Soccer)
Students will have to identify their “main sport” and when there is a conflict, they should always pick that sport as their first priority for practices and games.
(e.g. On Wednesday I practice with JV soccer and I will also play in that tournament at the end of the season if it conflicts with my other sport)
This will help everyone in their planning for the season.
Kind regards,
Mark Jaspers
Associate Athletic Director
+66 94 024 2094
Arts Council Openings
Anthony Giles
anthonyg@isb.ac.th
The ISB Arts Council is seeking students for the 2020-21 school year who are dedicated, committed, and passionate about the arts and a desire to share this passion for art with the larger ISB community. Candidates will be considered based on their written responses on the application linked below. We have LIMITED SPOTS, so please fill out the online application form HERE before September 1st. Feel free to reach out to Aarika Bawa or Natalie Zhu if you have any questions.
PTA – Welcome Back Coffee
PTA – Welcome Wai
pta-welcomewai@isb.ac.th
Let’s enjoy a coffee together with our community members!!
It’s a great opportunity to meet the new families who has arrived and to say hello returning friends!!
Date Wednesday 2nd September 2020
Time 1:30-2:30pm
Location MPB1-3