MS Schedule Next Week
It’s been a good week back after the break. Our community seems well-rested and re-energized for the upcoming stretch of school. Next week, Middle School has 5 days of school – different from ES and HS who will have Parent-Teacher Conferences this week. MS Student-Led Conferences take place later in the semester, in April.
Our Grade 7 will embark on their trips in the second half of the week. These trips focus on environmental conflicts with human need as students explore different parts of Thailand.
Next week’s schedule:
- Monday, Feb 27th – Day 7
- Tuesday, Feb 28th – Day 8 (G7 Shark Guardians trip depart in afternoon)
- Wednesday, Mar 1st – Day 1 (all other G7 trips depart)
- Thursday, Mar 2nd – Day 2 (ES Conferences)
- Friday, Mar 3rd – Day 3 (ES and HS Conferences)
Please also note that the following Monday, March 6th is the Thai holiday of Makha Bucha Day and ISB will be closed .
Save the Date: Parent session on MS students and Social Media
As many parents know, middle school is a time when social media starts to take a large role in the lives of MS students. Our MS Counselors will be hosting a parent session on issues to be aware of regarding social media and MS-aged students. More information will be coming soon, but for now, if this interests you, please hold the date and time in your calendars.
March 14th, 8:00-9:00 AM
Parent Presentation on MS Students and Social Media, hosted by the MS Counselors.
Course Registration for 2023-24 for students moving from grades 6 to 7, and 7 to 8
By Cindy Plantecoste, MS Vice Principal
cindyp@isb.ac.th
Our class registration process for the 2023-2024 school year is getting started for students who are currently in grades 6 and 7. Our Program of Studies for 2023-2024 offers you a robust description of our programs, includes links to subject-specific standards, and provides unit titles with accompanying questions that give context to the units. As a first step, we would ask that you read over the Program of Studies with your child to see what s/he is excited about learning next year and to identify electives that your child might want to request. It is also important for you to review the course requirements carefully.
During the week of February 20th, we met with current grade 6 and grade 7 students to explain the registration process, answer questions, distribute paper course registration forms, and emphasize course requirements, as well as where your child has choices in his/her schedule. Furthermore, we reviewed the timeline for our registration process which includes two steps, registration in PowerSchool and on a paper form that needs to be turned in to the counseling office. PowerSchool opened for registration on Thursday, February 23rd, and will close on Tuesday, February 28th, at the end of the school day. Students are also required to submit their paper registration to the counseling office by the end of the day on Tuesday, February 28th.
During the registration process, MS students will select their electives from our performing arts, visual arts, or design technology and engineering offerings, and will be asked if they would like to continue with the current world/native language or begin a new one. Students who take Intensive Studies or an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) class would generally be exempt from taking a world/native language class. All of our Thai Nationals must study Thai Native language.
Once you have completed and signed the paper registration form with your child, please have your child register online through PowerSchool (if s/he is unable to log in, please contact Khun Arintra in the MS office. ext: 4407). Please click here for course registration tutorial to see how your child can register in PowerSchool. Our registration window (between February 23-28) is NOT first-come, first-serve.
As you discuss your child’s requests for 2023-2024, please note that we create our schedule based on the actual number of student requests for a particular elective course. For this reason, we are not always able to accommodate student requests to change their electives later in the year. We’ve attached our course registration worksheets to register for grade 7 and for grade 8 to assist you in your planning (you can also find these forms at the end of the Program of Studies).
Students who are leaving ISB during, or at the end of the second semester are still required to complete the registration process. This step will ease the transition to their next school.
Should you have any questions about this process, you are welcome to contact any of us in the main office. We want to make this process a smooth one for your child.
We hope your child is excited about planning for next year in Middle School!
** Registration information for 5th to 6th grade has been sent directly to grade 5 parents.
**Registration information for 8th to 9th grade was communicated to G8 families by the HS.
Reminder: Attendance Matters
Like any school, we firmly believe that students learn best in our classrooms with their teachers and classmates engaged in learning activities. Of course, some absences are unavoidable. If students are unwell, they should stay home and rest and recover (also to prevent further transmission). Passport renewals, doctors’ appointments, visa runs, etc. are all realities of day to day life. We hope that families can minimize the times students miss class, but we understand these things happen.
With that in mind, and knowing that being at school is best for learning, we strongly encourage that parents time their vacations and trips using the scheduled school breaks and not missing school days. Teachers make the most of the learning days, knowing that breaks are happening, so when students miss long stretches of learning time for travel or family trips, there is no doubt that this impacts their child’s learning.
Our attendance policy, found in the MS Handbook (seen below), reflects this in how we determine “excused” and “unexcused” absences. In all cases, we assess student work, but the distinction in reasons for absences is important to note.
From MS Handbook, page 7
Attendance records for your child can be viewed in PowerSchool.
To communicate with ISB about your child’s attendance, please contact Khun Aor (walairaw@isb.ac.th).
Arts & Activities @ ISB
February
21-23 HS IASAS Showcases for DDT, FAD and Music
22-26 AMIS MS Honor Band @ American School of Bombay
March
1-31 ISB Arts in March (ISBAM)
1-5 IASAS DDT, FAD & Music CC @ ISKL, SAS & JIS
4 VEX Robotics ‘Thai Nationals’ @ St. Andrew’s
7 IASAS DDT, FAD & Music CC Banquet
9-10 HS Drama Production Auditions
10 ES Visual Art Exhibition Opening @ Chevron Gallery
10-A7 ES Visual Art Exhibition @ Chevron Gallery
14-17 ES KG-G5 Music COL’s See Complete Schedule Here
16-18 AMIS MS Honor Orchestra @ ISB
24 PK-G12 Peace Day Assembly
25-27 THAI Model United Nations @ Brighton College
28 HS Jazz Night 2 @ CCT
30 Amnesty & Arts “Light Up Night”
31 Applications Due for Kinnari Music Festival
31-A1 MS Model United Nations @ ISB
April
4 IB Visual Art Exhibition Opening @ CC Theater Gallery
Repeat Announcement: Temporary Guardianship Requirement
ISB requires all students to be in full-time residence with at least one of their parents while attending ISB.
ISB understands that parents may need to leave town on a short-term basis for a variety of reasons. In these situations, parents must appoint a temporary guardian to supervise their child. Please note that household help (i.e. maebaan or driver) and school-aged siblings are not suitable guardians.
Parents need to inform the divisional office if they will be leaving their child with a guardian, in order to create a common streamlined approach, this has now moved to Operoo. If you are ever away from home, please complete the form in your Operoo account through the Form Library or at these links:
