Message from the Principal

Justin Alexander
justina@isb.ac.th

Dear Parents, 

By the time you read this message, our end of year assembly will have finished and students (and teachers) will have left the campus for the last time for 2021. Whilst we have a semester of school still in front of us, we certainly feel some sense of relief that the calendar year of 2021 is coming to a close. The first semester has been challenging for everyone with the impact of COVID and various restrictions that have been put in place to keep us safe. 

You will recall we started school virtually on August 16th and then after putting in place new safety measures and protocols, we were able to open campus (hybrid model) on September 29th.  Thankfully on November 8th we could welcome everyone back on campus and have started to run athletics, activities and clubs with increasing frequency since that date. We look forward to a positive second semester after taking a few weeks for a well deserved break. 

Safe travels and all the best for a restful, peaceful and relaxing break. 

See you on January 10th.

Regards
Justin Alexander
HS Principal

 

Semester Report Cards

Justyna McMillan
justynam@isb.ac.th

Full PowerSchool access will return for parents and students by Monday December 20th.  Student Report Cards will be posted on Monday and will include Semester Grades and HAL progress, but no comments. 

As ISB continues to be ‘greener’ and timely we issue report cards through the PowerSchool Quick Lookup page. On the Quicklook Up page use the link at the top right to access a PDF report card for your son/daughter. The report can be saved and filed electronically and / or printed.

For students taking courses with Pamoja or GOA courses, grades will be communicated directly from the course providers to the students. The grade printed on the ISB report card will be a Pass / Fail grade.

 

Geography EWC Trip a Success!
Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th 

We were very excited to take another step towards a return to normality last weekend as our Grade 11 IB Geography class spent two nights at ISB’s Environmental Wilderness Campus (EWC) Dec 9-11 as part of their field studies for the course. 

This was the first time the EWC has hosted students since February 2021 and is the first of a number of High School trips that will use the EWC in the coming months. Our Grade 8 students will also be starting their trips back to the EWC in the new calendar year, which is exciting to see.

Our Geography students, accompanied by Ms Moffatt and Mr Picton, collected data in nearby rivers investigating how the characteristics of rivers change as they flow downstream. Mr Picton said “fieldwork is such an important part of geography and we are so lucky at ISB to have a dedicated campus for environmental and outdoor education. 

Trips like this are a wonderful opportunity for students to transfer learning from the classroom to the ‘real world’, connect with classmates and demonstrate ISB values such as respect, responsibility and commitment’. We look forward to the planning of DELVE trips that are planned to take place in May and the continuation of such valuable learning experiences for our High School students.

 

Semester Two Attendance

Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th 

Dear Parents,

We wish all families safe travels over this holiday season, whether you are taking advantage of the cooler weather in Thailand, or heading overseas. 

As a reminder for all families, we will not be offering distance learning in semester two as has been the situation this semester and will return to our normal attendance expectations and absence procedures for any extended absences. 

If your child is unable to attend school due to an illness or an appointment, please contact Khun Gade directly via email (sasivimb@isb.ac.th). These will be listed as either AbE (Absent Excused) or I (Ill).

If your child needs to miss school for an extended period of time, please contact Khun Gade and Andy Vaughan directly (andyv@isb.ac.th) regarding the dates your child will need to miss from school. These absences still count as overall absences and will be listed as AbE (Absent Excused)

Any student who has combined absences that exceed 7 absences in a single class will lose credit for that course. Although there is an appeal process if this goes over, this is obviously not ideal for any student as we know the best learning takes place in the classroom. 

 

 

Uniform Updates

Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th 

Dear Parents,

As we wrap up this semester and many families travel we are aware that a number of families chose to purchase pants for the ISB uniform while travelling as they are a better fit for students. Please remember that pants need to be plain khaki or black pants, they should be free of any logos and should be of appropriate length.

 

Our dress code policy can be found in the online student handbook under ‘Uniform and Dress Code’. 

For a quick summary please note the following:

1. 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. 
2. Hoodies and sweaters must be purchased from the Booster Hut. All other team hoodies are not to be worn on Monday to Thursday (January can sometimes be cooler, so if your child doesn’t have a hoodie yet, you may want to purchase one from the Booster Hut)
3. Every Friday students will have a specific focused alternative dress day in which they will be able to wear ISB Team-wear, class shirts, ISB club wear or themed dress as per the planned schedule for that week. Our Student Council will be sharing these dress days with students directly.
4. Footwear should be comfortable, practical and safe. Open toe shoes are not allowed such as slippers and flip flop sandals.

 

Grade 11 & 12 CAS Program

Peter Assimakopoulos
petera@isb.ac.th

All 11th and 12th graders are required to complete the CAS program: Creativity, Activity and Service. As part of this program, students need to do at least one experience in each strand in 11th grade and again in 12th grade. The Activity experience, referring to physical activity, is often the strand that students find challenging.

Students that have not completed their Activity requirement, are asked to complete their physical activity strand over winter break. If students do not have evidence for their Activity experience on Managebac by January 10th, they will be assigned to take a 2nd semester PE class for CAS credit. Activity experiences can be any physical exercise such as swimming, running, using the ISB gym, taking a fitness class outside of ISB, taking an online yoga class, HIIT sessions, anything that has the student working out regularly. If students are doing their Activity Experience at home, a significant amount of evidence is necessary to meet the requirements.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email Peter Assimakopoulos at petera@isb.ac.th

 

Happy Holidays! 

Debbie McDowell
debbiem@isb.ac.th

The university counselors wish the best for all ISB families for a restful and relaxing holiday.  We hope you all have a wonderful winter break and enjoy the time with family and friends.  Safe travels for those who are heading off for adventures and to be with loved ones. 

University Counselors will not be available during the holiday. We look forward to seeing the students and parents at future events.  Mark your calendars:

College Coffee: US Higher Education 101 on 17 January @ 1:00 PM (virtual)

Junior Seminar #5: 17 January @ 9:50 AM with your counselor (locations TBA)

Jr Family University Night: 20 January @ 6:30 pm (location TBA)

Junior Led Conferences: Begin 1 Feb through 31 March (University Counselor office or Zoom)

Senior Seminar: 17 January @ 9:50 AM (locations TBA)

PSAT 10: 8 March @ 1:10 PM (MPB)

Seniors will be receiving decisions from universities about the applications that have already been submitted. Please encourage your child to inform his/her counselor and update the information in Cialfo. We are so excited about students who have already received good news from their Early Action and Early Decision applications. Many students have already heard from their UCAS (UK) applications as well.  Congratulations to all of them!

College Coffee:  The next Parent College Coffee will be on Monday, 17 January, 2022 at 1:00 PM. The topic will be US Higher Education 101 and the university counselors will cover the basics about what parents need to know regarding higher education and applying to universities in the US. All grade 9-12 parents are invited to attend. This will be presented in a webinar format.  Watch for the link to be sent out closer to the date. Watch this space for a future announcement about other Parent Coffees during semester 2!

Virtual university visits: Be sure to check the Virtual University Visit list for university presentations that are available for students and families to join. Please check the Virtual University Visits list on the ISB University/College Counseling website for loads of information!

Want to find out more about the University Counseling program at ISB?  Please visit the  ISB University Counseling website.

 

News from School Counselors
Kevin Callahan
kevinc@isb.ac.th

You’ve crossed the finish line and it’s time for a well-deserved break!  We hope that you have a safe, healthy and restful break, and that you spend some quality family time together.  

On a holiday note, if you are stumped for a gift for your teen, check out these top ten gifts for your hard to shop-for teen.  Some great ideas here; as you might guess from #10, I got this from my friends at the Summer Discovery program. 

If you are the type to make New Year’s resolutions, keep them to a reasonable number, like two, and focus on health if you can.  Ok, that’s enough advice, Happy Holidays!

The High School Counselors

 

News from HS Library

Chris Bells
christopb@isb.ac.th

 

Please click News from HS Library

 

High School Musical Auditions  January, 2022

Anthony Giles
anthonyg@isb.ac.th

Dust off your dancing shoes and warm up that voice for Virtual Auditions due the week of January 10th-14th. Live auditions will be held January 26th-28th (more details to follow). Still have questions about ISB’s production of  High School Musical: The Musical and how you can get involved with the show on stage or off? Contact Mr. Giles, Ms. Fuson, or Ms. Price at anthonyg@isb.ac.th, lindsayf@isb.ac.th, 

or jaleeap@isb.ac.th respectively. 

Remember, We’re All in This Together!