Principal’s Notes
16 November
Dear Parents,
As we near the end of the first trimester, I would like to take a moment to thank you for your support for our middle school program. Your participation at school-wide and section events contributes to our sense of community and makes the middle school shine! I would like to thank our PCA parent representatives Nisha Gupta, Anindita Gautam, and Jackie Charpentier for their efforts to support communication through the parent community. On behalf of all of our teachers, we thank you for your gestures of gratitude for our teachers for Week Without Walls trips!
Parent Coffee: Standards Based Assessment and Reporting
Thank you to those of you who attended this week’s parent coffee. The goal of the morning was to provide a brief overview of our approach to assessment and reporting to understand the content of your child’s report card. Here are the slides from the presentation. October’s coffee was focused on interpreting the report card and MAP scores. You can access those slides again here.
Trimester Reports and MAP Scores
Trimester reports will be distributed on Thursday 29 November. This is a change of date from the published date on the community calendar. Please see last week’s blog post for an explanation for the change in date. This year, we will be sending home paper copies of the trimester report. After the distribution of the paper copy, you will receive an email with directions on how to access your child’s trimester report electronically through PowerSchool. The email will also include directions for accessing your child’s MAP scores on PowerSchool.
Parent Questions: How can you incorporate an understanding of community service in the middle school?
This year we are moving to a new model for SEVAI, our service learning program in the middle school. Students will be able to select their choice of service learning activity. Our service learning coordinator, Balajee Ginjapalee, has developed a menu of options for students that align with the UN’s Sustainability Goals. Students will select an organization to work with on December 12 and January 23. Reflection sessions at school after the service events will allow students time to evaluate their experience, connect to the Vision for a Learner, and explore the greater context of our community. Students will be able to explore our SEVAI partner organizations at our first Community Connections Fair on the afternoon of Friday November 22.
Wellbeing Update
Thank you to the many parents
who have completed the consent form for the wellbeing survey. We see this as a
valuable way to measure our schools growth in wellbeing over the coming years. If
you have not yet completed the consent form we will be sending you an email as
a reminder. An in-depth description of the survey is included in the consent
form and some examples of survey questions include:
· My life is going well.
· I feel happy.
· My teachers care about me.
· I have friends that I really care about.
Please indicate whether you consent for your child/ren to participate in the survey by
responding YES or NO on the digital consent form, accessible here, on or before Tuesday the 20th of November. For more information regarding the survey please don’t hesitate to get in contact with Nigel Holdsworth (School Psychologist).
Reminder! Community Summit: Exploring the Horizons of Wellbeing
Over the course of three early release days, we will be holding this Community Summit to explore the horizons of wellbeing. To make this a truly community driven endeavor we need parents and students to join faculty and administrative staff to envision the future of wellbeing at AISC. Together we will:
· Discover what we are doing best to nurture wellbeing at AISC - November 28
· Envision bold new possibilities for the future - December 12
· Design for excellence and construct the future of wellbeing at AISC - January 23
The sessions will run from 2:30-5:00 pm in the Gym. Parents and Students are asked to RSVP for this event here.
Have a great weekend!
Jessica Pechhold Andrew Ranson Middle School Principal Middle School Associate Principal