Message from the Principal
Justin Alexander
justina@isb.ac.th
Dear Parents,
Despite a number of HS students testing positive for Covid and quite a few close contacts being identified during the course of this week, we have nonetheless had a great week of school. It was of course the week of our IASAS Cultural Convention, which involved over 80 ISB students joining with their peers from our IASAS schools to perform, debate, sing, dance, and put on a show.
Congratulations to our Dance, Drama, Tech, Forensics, Debate, and Music teams for putting on such wonderful performances this week. We were also excited to welcome parents onto campus as audience members and today certainly started to feel more ‘normal’ and celebratory with IASAS taking place. As you will read elsewhere it is the 40th year of IASAS Cultural Conventions taking place with the first one being held here at ISB in 1983. Well done to everyone involved in this great week!
Parent conferences are coming up on Friday, March 11th and details for the sign-ups were emailed out on Tuesday. Please remember that due to COVID restrictions only ONE parent can accompany their child to the conferences on Friday. You must sign up for a session in advance (no walk-ins please).
Lastly, I wanted to give an update on the number of students in the High School that are currently out of school due to covid. As reported on Tuesday night, the majority of these cases are due to contact taking place outside of school at restaurants/bars/gyms or in homes where mask wearing was not taking place. I have listed the current numbers below to keep everyone informed and aware of the correct numbers. (We have 34 positive cases reported since Saturday 26th February)
Saturday and Sunday 26th and 27th Feb – 2 cases
Monday, Feb 28th – 8 cases
Tuesday, March 1st – 8 cases
Wednesday, March 2nd – 8 cases
Thursday, March 3rd – 6 cases
Friday, March 4th – 2 cases
(these numbers are slightly different from those reported on Tuesday night, due to some of the close contacts moving to positive cases)
Stay safe and stay well
Justin Alexander
HS Principal
Student Parent Teacher Conference Sign Ups.
Andy Vaughan
andyv@isb.ac.th
We have had a number of parents signing up over the past few days for our High School Student Parent Teacher Conferences on Friday 11 March.
We will be following strict guidelines for parents coming onto campus for these conferences, so please be aware that only one parent will be able to attend the conferences due to the limited numbers of people that we are allowed in each venue. All parents attending will need to also conduct an ATK test on the morning of the conferences, instructions for how to submit this will be given next week.
Sign Ups close on Monday 7 March at 2pm. We are using pickAtime to sign up for one of four conference timeslots. It is important that you only attend during the time that you are signed up for.
For instructions to sign up for conferences, please click on this link.
The link to sign up for pickAtime is: https://pickatime.com/client?ven=11603340
If you have any issues signing up for the conferences, please email Khun Arisa for assistance (arisap@isb.ac.th).
Justin Alexander, Justyna McMillan and Andy Vaughan
News from University Counselors
Debbie McDowell
debbiem@isb.ac.th
PSAT 10: Tuesday, 8 March
The sophomores who signed up for the PSAT 10 received their copy of the PSAT Student Guide during advisory this week. The test will be on 8 March in the MPB. Students need to be in the room by 7:45 so please help them get to campus a bit earlier on Tuesay. They should bring a calculator and pencils. They may have a water bottle with them at their seat.
Parent Coffees
Thanks for the great turn out for the Applying to The Netherlands Parent Coffee on Monday. It was an excellent presentation by Mr. Becker. You can see the recording and slides here.
Be sure to join the university counselors on Monday, 7 March for the next Parent Coffee installment: Studying in Hong Kong. The presentation will be at 9:00 AM and parents can join by clicking on this link.
Future Parent Coffees are scheduled for:
14 March@ 9:00 AM: Applying to Australia
21 March @ 10:00 AM: Japanese Community Meeting
23 March @ 9:00 AM: Korean Community Meeting
28 March @ 9:00 AM: Thai Community Meeting
31 March @ 9:00 AM: Chinese Community Meeting
25 April @ 9:00 AM: Financing University Studies
Please watch this space for information about location, links and details.
Junior Led Conferences are continuing and will be completed this month. All grade 11 students are required to schedule a Junior Led Conference before the end of March with their university counselor and their parents. The meeting will be the starting point for the university research and selection process for each student and family. This is a mandatory meeting and both parents are expected to attend, in person or via zoom. If a parent wants to attend the meeting in person, please let the counselor know in advance of the meeting and an invitation to come on campus can be arranged (with proper Covid protocols.) The counselors look forward to hearing from the students about what their plans are for life after ISB!
On campus, in-person university visits are back!
The university counselors couldn’t be more excited to get students in front of actual university representatives and in real life.
Monday, March 7 and Tuesday, March 8, six different universities from the UK will be on campus to visit with students during HS lunch 12:40-1:20pm. If your child is considering applying to the UK even in the slightest, please encourage them to stop by and chat with the representatives who came all the way to Thailand just to see THEM.
Monday, March 7: 12:40-1:20pm @ HS Large Conference Room
University of Bath
University of Bristol
Manchester Metropolitan University
Tuesday, March 8: 12:40-1:20pm @ HS Large Conference Room
University of Birmingham
Nottingham Trent University
University of Newcastle
SAT Test: ISB will be administering the SAT on Saturday, 12 March. Check-in will begin at 7:30AM and the test is scheduled to start at 8:00AM. Students will take the test in MPB 1/2/3 where students can be seated more than 2 meters apart. Students must properly wear their masks at all times. Each student that is scheduled to take the test on 12 March must have taken the regularly scheduled COVID ATK test on Wednesday, 9 March evening and the results must have been loaded in the system between 4 and 8 PM on that evening. Any student who does not follow the strict COVID guidelines will not be allowed to sit the test. In addition, all students must bring the following items with them to be admitted to campus and the test rooms: School ID, National ID (passport or Thai national ID card), printed admissions ticket. Students are allowed to have a clear water bottle with them during testing but any snacks/food must be eaten in the HS Cafeteria during the breaks while students are seated at tables. No food can be consumed in the testing room or the hallways adjacent to the testing. Students must properly wear their masks at all times or they will be asked to leave the testing site and their test will be canceled with being scored.
University Visits
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 ISB University/College Counseling website for loads of information. You will find university research tools, transition resources for students and parents, recordings of Parent Coffees and family presentations, virtual university visits, information about testing and how to sign up for the SAT at ISB, a list of summer programs about which the counselors have been informed, and the ISB School Profile.
Kindly
Debbie
News from School Counselors
Kevin Callahan
kevinc@isb.ac.th
School in session
As the coronavirus refuses to go away, we hope that you and your students are being extra careful about good safety practices and hygiene. While we know that it’s frustrating and difficult to have to stay home due to contact, and that it’s frightening to contract the virus, we all want to do the things that can keep us as healthy as possible and keep school open as well, even as numbers spike and drop. We’re all in this together. Thanks for all you’re doing to keep your family and others safe.
Schedules for school year 2021-22
Students have made their schedules for next school year and the system is ready to begin creating classes and sections. Schedules should be ready by May. Your student should know what classes they’ve signed up for, but if there is any confusion, contact your counselor and they will let you know what your student has selected.
Leaving ISB
On a separate note, if you are moving at the end of the year and applying to other schools, please contact Kuhn Fon at supanniy@isb.ac.th. Please turn in to the HS Counseling office at least 10 days in advance if any documents are needed to support the student’s application to their next school.
News from Athletics
Chris Mott
chrism@isb.ac.th
Upcoming events
Saturday 5th March: BMAC Varsity Badminton (NIST)
BMAC Varsity Softball (BPS)
Saturday 12th March: ISB Invitational Track & Field meet
News from HS Library
Christopher Bell
christob@isb.ac.th
Please click News from HS Library
ISB Summer School 2022 – Registration is now open!
Maurilio (Moe) Baron-Toaldo
maurilib@isb.ac.th
Our ISB Summer School Office is now open! Summer School will be held Monday, June 20 to Tuesday, July 12th this year. All information about programs, courses, specific dates, fees, and registration process is now available on our website.
Early Bird reduced tuition fees are available until April 29th so register early!
Our Summer School Office is located in the Chevron Theater Foyer next to the Cashier Office. Khun Fon, our Summer School Office Secretary is there to greet and assist you 7:00am – 2:45pm Monday to Friday.
For any questions, please email sumdir@isb.ac.th
Best Regards,
Mr. Maurilio (Moe) Baron-Toaldo
ISB Summer School Director
High School Principal Forum (Repeat)
Justin Alexander
justina@isb.ac.th
We are inviting questions from parents for the next Principal’s Forum. The HS Principal’s Forum (PF) is a channel of communication between parents and the administration. It is a platform to allow all parents to bring forward any questions, suggestions, or concerns to the Committee composed of parents representing grades 9-12 and EAL language communities.
All HS parents are welcome to attend PF scheduled 9am on March 24th (location and format TBC by the school administration). The meeting will be led by Principal Alexander with Dean of Academics, Justyna McMillan, Dean of Students, Andy Vaughan and HS Team members. There is one HS PF each semester, two per academic year.
All questions are shared with the administration anonymously: only the content is presented. The topics are addressed and discussed in an open meeting between administration and HS parents. Parents are invited to send their questions/suggestions/concerns to us before noon on March 6th via: HS Principal’s Forum- Questions from Parents- Intake Form. We review, organize, and submit all queries to the administration. The administration organizes the presentation to parents. Your specific question may not be addressed during the public forum meeting as the topics covered during the meeting depend on the number of queries received on the topic.
As always, if there are time sensitive questions and individual concerns, please reach out directly to the teachers, The HS Principal’s office, counselors and Admin team. They are always your first port of call and will be happy to assist and support you.
Please feel free to be in touch with us if you have any questions, or would like to understand more about the HS PF: hsppforum@isb.ac.th
On behalf of our Principal’s Forum Parents’ Committee, we look forward to seeing you on March 24th,
Debbie Gundenson (Grade 9, Co-Chair 2021-2023)
Dhooleka Raj (Grade 11, Co-Chair 2020-2022)