Author: Damian Rentoule

ITEMS: Kaina and the National Sailing Championships; Secondary Visual Arts Exhibition; Yoko Ono, My Mommy is Beautiful; Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences; Fundraising Project; HIS Idol; and PTA News. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held at school next week on Friday. We look forward to seeing you all there. There are some notes about the day below. The IB programs' focus on inquiry places the child firmly at the centre of the learning process. Reflection on the learning process (thinking about how we learn - what works for us and what does not) is an extremely important part of the process. Our Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences represent a type of conversation that independent learners use to guide their future development. We have two structures for conversations which sometimes, understandably, get mixed up:…

ITEMS: HIS Graduates & Seniors Panel Discussion; HIS Momiji Fundraising Project; Diploma Program Exams Update; and PTA News. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community I would like to thank our Graduates, Leela, Lisa and Nanako, as well as our Seniors, Mairi, Leah, and Joe who came in to talk about their experiences learning at HIS with our parents who have children in the Primary Years Program. The students talked about their development as independent learners who followed their interests in their studies and were able to develop as critical thinkers, among other interesting ideas. We really appreciated the opportunity to hear from the students' perspective. I will share a video with some highlights next week. Thank you very much to Nanako, Leela, Lisa, Mairi, Leah, and Joe for sharing your ideas…

ITEMS: 24-Hour Race; COVID-related Talk; The PTA Shop; Personal Project and Theory of Knowledge Presentations; Crane Club images; PTA News. Principal's Message Dear HIS Families I hope you have all had an enjoyable week and manage to keep warm during those quite cold days. We are seeing the new building coming together day-by-day. It is very exciting to watch. It will not be long now! In my message today, I have included an explanation that we have been providing to the students about the use of English in their classes as well as in the after-school club program that will be starting on Thursday next week. It is very important for us to maintain an English language environment in our English-medium classes and the club activities as these times can…

ITEMS: Primary Parents Reading; Festive Eve Recording; ISA Testing; and Crane Club Representatives at the Peace Park. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community It was just a short week so we hope you all enjoy the long weekend. Many thanks to the parents who came to the Language Learners workshop and the MYP Assessment workshop during the week, both in-person and via Zoom. It was wonderful to see you all here. Another big event that we had this week was our Open Campus. Even though we run these each month, this was the one that coincided with a public holiday so we had many families visiting us. This was the first time our students had a role in the school tours and they did, as you would expect, remarkably well. We…

ITEMS: HIS Idol sign-up; After-school Club sign-up; Fundraising Project Artwork; Parent Information sessions; MYP Exhibition; Theory of Knowledge student presentations; 24 Hour Race; and PTA News. Principal' Message Dear HIS Community We have our Open Campus coming up on Thursday next week. Currently, our student numbers are quite low so welcoming new families is extremely important. Even more important for us all, however, is ensuring that our current families are completely satisfied with our program and stay with us for the duration of their child's educational journeys. As parents, we are always looking into the future for our children as we want them to be as prepared as possible for the exciting but uncertain future that awaits. We have great confidence in our educational programs at HIS for preparing students…

ITEMS: Parent workshop (IB Language Learners); Crane Club Times. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Congratulations to the Grade 12 students on the completion of their practice exams this week as they now prepare for their May 2021 final DP exams. If you have ever wondered how the Grade 12s unwind between exams, now you know. Congratulations to our Gr12 students! The practice exams are all over. Thank you very much to the PTA who met this morning and have been doing great work supporting HIS once again this year. In last week's Crane, there was a link to some ideas from the PTA discussion in their last meeting which I have pasted below in case you did not get a chance to see them. From PTA Meeting - 27 November…

ITEMS: Momiji Fundraising Project; Alumni Stories; International Schools Assessment; and PTA News. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Congratulations to our early childhood class who had their first experience in the spotlight at their assembly on Thursday. They were nervous, of course, beforehand but they were courageous and faced the audience. We really enjoyed hearing about all of the celebrations that they have been learning about during their recent unit of inquiry. It was a good reminder to us all of how important it is, despite our fears and worries, to take the stage. It is a risk as anything can happen when you are in front of an audience, but it usually doesn't and even when it does, it's not the end of the world. We only learn this though…

ITEMS: HIS Student Crane; Congratulations to Ayaka; EAL Support; 24 Hour Race Fundraising Project; International Schools Assessment; PTA News Principal's Message A cool morning on Monday at HIS. Dear HIS Community I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing winter break. It is great to get back to school face-to-face even though the COVID situation remains unstable. Thank you to everyone for helping us out by following our Health Guidelines so carefully. We have to all make sure we remain focused on our procedures which can be a challenge as the situation drags on. Yet, we can do it. In this week's TED Talk, we have two great role-models for all of us discussing the challenges of sexist stereotypes and the ongoing gender-based barriers in work and leadership. Gender equality is…

ITEMS: Festive Eve Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Thank you to everyone involved in the Festive Eve performances. The show was a great success and this event is an invaluable experience for our students who work really independently on the production, more and more so as they get older. One of the most important parts of the event in my mind is the opportunity for our students to see older students taking these leading roles in the management, direction and support of the performance. As adults, it is very difficult for us to know the world as a child knows the world, however, we look to those around us to learn how to be and who to be. For our younger students to see the older role models taking such…