The Crane, 6 June 2017

02Jun 2017 by Damian Rentoule

1. Principal’s Message

Dear HIS Families

We are very close to the end of the year, as you know, so we are looking toward next year and would like to find some kind, generous people to help us out on our PTA committee. Thank you to our wonderful PTA Committee this year for all of your hard work and selfless dedication. The role that the volunteer PTA plays in school is extremely important. The PTA, along with out Board of Directors and Board of Trustees, are volunteers who support HIS and we, quite literally, couldn’t function without the generous support of these three groups. If you would like to take a place on the PTA Committee, we would love to hear from you.

Kind regards

Damian Rentoule

2. Crane Video

3. Visit by Fukuoka International School

Students from Fukuoka International School will be visiting HIS as they explore Hiroshima. They will be here on June 13 and 14, so you may see them at school.

4. Schedule for 2017/2018

Next year we will be using a six day, rotating schedule. This will help us to make a more effective schedule as the timetabling of a PreK-12 school with many teachers shared across PYP, MYP and DP has some challenges that a six day rotating schedule helps us with. Also, it means that lessons scheduled on a certain day with lots of holidays, such as Friday, are not impacted as heavily as in a weekly schedule.

Each of the six days will have a different letter. Together, they will spell a word that will make it easy to remember the order. The six days of the schedule will appear in this order and rotate throughout the year:

‘C‘ Day
‘R‘ Day
‘A‘ Day
‘N‘ Day
‘E‘ Day
‘S‘ Day
For example:
August
  • Wednesday 23     C Day
  • Thursday 24         R Day
  • Friday 25               A Day
  • Monday 28           N Day
  • Tuesday 29           E Day
  • Wednesday 30     S Day
  • Thursday 31          C Day

What this means is that instead of having a schedule for Monday, your child would have a C Day schedule. You will need to keep a calendar handy and you can find one with the CRANES schedule letters on our website’s calendar page. You will also find the 2018/2019 HIS Calendar here, just in case you want to plan ahead.

5. Textbooks (G5 and up) wanted for Japanese class activities

If you have school textbooks from Japan, Korea, or any other countries that you like to donate, please contact Yumi sensei at ykyogoku@hiroshima-is.ac.jp.
５年生以上の教科書の寄付のお願い
使用していない日本語、韓国語をはじめ、他の言語での教科書（５年生以上の物）をお持ちでしたら日本語科　Yumi senseiまでご連絡下さい。

6. PTA News

  • News from the PTA(2 June 2017) （日本語は以下にあります）
    We had a last PTA meeting on Wed 31May.  The minutes will be out at PTA home page after translation is done.  Please kindly wait.

    ⓵We are still taking applications for next year’s PTA committee member.

    At the meeting, the following views were raised;

    * choose a leader for each PTA event and each leader takes an initiative.  In this way we can reduce the burden on each committee member.

    * reevaluation of how the PTA committee should be and each member’s role.

    Keeping the above in mind, we also have to think that PTA committee doesn’t serve only for events but also it plays other  important roles such as the following;

    *publishing PTA news on Crane

    *managing PTA fund

    *corresponding with teachers/guardians and answering questions

    *holding PTA meetings

    *publishing minutes

    It makes sense to have someone responsible for the above jobs to have a smooth operation throughout the year.  So, anyone is welcome, new to HIS and old folks!

    Talking about an existing committee member, there is only one person who doesn’t have a job.  I myself (Watanabe) is a full-time employee.  Other members have jobs.  Another member is a full-time university student.  The way  we managed throughout the year is  that each member shared a role of whatever she can and we had a huge support from non-committee members.  This is how we did.  Even if you have a job, YES YOU CAN!  On the contrary, I had a fulfilling year because I had  more chances to go to school and observe the school and students.  That made me happy!

    So please be interested, not be afraid!  We appreciate your support and understanding!

    ➁Wednesday 21 June  The last day for this year
    We will have a Teacher Appreciation lunch at the gym from 1 p.m.
    Further information will be announced later.
    ③For people who requested delivery lunch box this year:
    The last day of the delivery lunch box is Friday 16 June.   This is the make up day of Sports Day (we had to cancel the lunch box on this day because of Sports Day).
    You don’t need to cancel on the day of secondary camp period  (9 June) if you have a secondary student.  We will look after it.  The return money (if any) will be put into your child’s folder on Tuesday 20 June.
    We aren’t sure if we can continue delivery lunch box scheme next year.  We appreciate your understanding.
    PTAからのご案内
    5月31日、今年度の最後のミーテイングが行われました。
    議事録は英訳後にＰＴＡのＨＰにアップ
    しますのでしばらくお待ちください。
    ①ＰＴＡ役員を引き続き募集中！
    なかなか役員に立候補する方がいない中、
    水曜日のミーティング時、役員の在り方、役割等を話し合い、役員が全てのイベントを担うより
    各イベントごとにリーダーを決めていくほうが負担が少ないのでは？という意見がありました。
    ただ役員はイベントだけにあるものではなく、その他、ＰＴＡニュースの作成、ＰＴＡのお金の管理、
    先生や保護者さん外部の方からの質問等のメール対応、ミーティングの開催、議事録の作成など大事な役割もあります。
    なので全体のイニシアチブを取られる方が必ず必要かなと思います。
    ですが、長くＨＩＳにいらっしゃる方はもちろん、新しくＨＩＳに来られた方でも大丈夫です！
    今年度の役員は仕事をしていない方は一人だけでした。私（渡辺）もフルタイムで仕事をしており、
    他のメンバーも仕事を持っていたり、ひとりは大学に通っていました。
    それでも各々ができることで役割分担をし、また役員以外の方の大きなサポートもありましたので
    1年間、やってこれました。
    お仕事をされていても、できないことはないです！
    むしろ、学校に行く機会が増え、学校の様子、生徒たちの様子がよくわかり、
    充実した1年になったと感じています。
    どうぞ興味をもって、ＰＴＡ役員に立候補をお願いいたします。
    ②6月21日（水曜日）学校最終日
    先生方への感謝を込めて13時からジムにてポットラックランチを行います。
    詳しくは後日またご案内いたします。
    ③デリバリー弁当を申し込んでいる方へ
    デリバリー弁当の最終日は6月16日金曜日になります。（スポーツデーの振替をここにスライドします）
    セカンダリーキャンプ（9日）によるキャンセルはお電話は不要です。こちらでキャンセルしておきます。
    キャンセル等の返金は２０日（火曜）にお子さんのホルダーに入れます。
    よろしくお願いいたします。
    来年度は継続できるかどうかはまだ分りません。ご理解をお願いいたします。

7. Japanese Outline