Dear Parents,
Good morning and a very Happy Year of the Horse to you all! We are excited for what this year has in store for all of us at XLIS! I hope that you and your family had a lovely holiday and that your children are excited to come back to school!
We are now at the start of our 25th week of the academic year! The second half of the school year always seems to rush by much quicker than the first, and we have many upcoming events in March to look forward to. It is a busy, but exciting month for our XLIS community!
Technology
As we prepare for Mental Health Week 2026 (March 23-27), Dr. Lily Liu proposed a school-wide Digital Detox Week, an intentional pause to recharge, connect authentically, and lighten the mental load for both our students and ourselves. This will be a time when teachers and students at XLIS unplug. Lessons will be taught without the use of devices, and there will not be any homework given that will require use of a device at home. So much can be done without a phone, laptop or iPad.
At XLIS, we strongly encourage parents to wait as long as possible before giving children a phone. We suggest waiting until Middle School for this. However, should you decide to give your child a device, please see some tips about supporting them with their technology use.
We hope you find these suggestions useful:
· Know all your child’s passwords to their devices and other accounts
· Inform your child that their phone will be checked periodically to review
· Avoid having phones or internet devices in bedrooms past 9 p.m (charge them in the living room area)
· Consider only having children use their devices in a communal area, such as the living room
Be an example for your child and be consistent with rules and consequences.
Helpful Guidelines
· Teach children to be respectful and careful when texting with others
· Teach children to make sure they know who the caller is before they answer a call on their cell phone
· Teach children to ask permission before taking someone’s picture. Know that checking a cell phone and social media is addictive. (The chemical dopamine is released in our brains.) We need to help our children manage through this effect by being an example, setting parameters, and teaching our children self-discipline.
· Limit social media accounts
· Get to know your child’s social media sites, such as WeChat, TikTok, and Douyin. Talk with your child and educate yourself about each site.
· Physical hanging out time should be encouraged between friends and not replaced by online connections. Verbal and face-to-face contacts are crucial to developing teen and peer social relationship skills.
I hope that you can join us for some of our upcoming events this month! The weather in the coming weeks will range from cold to warm and back again, so please ensure your child is in their school uniform and dressed for the weather.
I’d love to hear from you and to know how your child is doing. Please email me at any time, and remember to include your child’s name in the email so I know who I am communicating with.
Have a lovely day,
Sincerely,
Marly Song
Primary Principal
WeChat: principal_marly
