Dear Parents,
Good morning! I hope that you were able to join us for the Summer Fair on the weekend and that you and your child enjoyed the performances, food, and amazing activities that were put on by our school! A huge thank you goes out to all of our wonderful parents and the PTA for your constant support of our events. Your contributions help to make these community events meaningful and memorable for our students.
I have a few important notices for the coming weeks:
Class Placements 2026 – 2027
Thank you to all of the parents who emailed me to let me know about your children’s friendships and experiences at XLIS. I am so happy to hear about their growth, development, and well-being! This will be the last week to send me some feedback about your child’s peer relationships, so I can ensure they are with at least one friend in the coming year. Please have these to me no later than Friday, May 22nd.
Over the next few weeks, teachers will be meeting together, and we will begin the work of creating classes for the next academic year. We will not be able to share any of this information with our parents or student community until August, as the class lists are not finalized until the end of the summer holiday, when enrollment processes are complete. We appreciate your understanding.
NWEA MAP testing
This week (May 18 – 22), our P2 – P6 students are taking their second round of the NWEA MAP (Measured Academic Progress) assessment for this year. This external assessment will assess students’ growth in reading, language usage, mathematics, and science (P5-P6). You will be able to access your child’s data very soon, and our teachers will know much more about your child’s strengths and challenges when it comes to these subjects. The hope is that students demonstrate growth in each area from their starting point in September.
Our Early Years to P1 students have nearly completed their writing, mathematics, and CORE phonics (P1) assessments as well. These assessments are also intended to give our teachers valuable information about each child’s level in these subject areas.
When all of the data from Early Years to P6 has been collected from these assessments, our teaching teams will sit together to analyze the results to inform the teaching and learning that follows, as well as to set some targets for the next academic year. Information will also be shared with parents by the end of the month.
Learner Profile Attributes (XLIS’ SLO’s – Schoolwide Learner Outcomes)
The end of a school year is always a challenging time. On the one hand, we want to celebrate the year and the achievements of the students, while on the other hand, we aim to maintain the routines and behavior expectations set from the beginning of the year. After a full year together, and knowing that the end of the semester is near, this can be a time when students may experience some adversity with their peers.
I would like to ask our students and families to keep two of our Learner Profile Attributes (SLO’s) in mind to complete this school year and through the summer holiday. We hope that our students, with the support of their parents, can carry these attributes that they have been developing at school and extend them to their daily lives outside of school.
The two I would like to highlight are “principled” and “reflective”.
Principled
The IB definition of Principled is “We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences”.
Reflective
The IB definition of Reflective is “We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and personal development.
I feel that the principled and reflective SLO’s go hand in hand. Although many students may think principled is just following rules, sitting nicely, or walking properly in a line, it is indeed much more than that. Acting with integrity, as the definition of principled states, means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. Children are growing and learning about these ideals. Of course, mistakes happen, and poor choices can and will be made as our children learn about the world around them and the other people they are sharing it with. This is when being reflective comes into play. Children need to recognize when they have made a mistake, own up to it, and accept the consequences. It is vitally important that they take time to reflect on the choices they have made and to consider ways to improve in the future. How could they have handled things differently? How might they improve their next test score? How can they set personal academic and social goals for themselves for the next school year?
Being principled and reflective are important values. I hope you and your children can revisit them now and connect to experiences both at school and at home.
As we are only five weeks away from the end of this semester, I sincerely hope all parents have kept regular communication with homeroom teachers via emails or parent meetings. For those guardians who have rarely talked with teachers throughout this academic year regarding your children’s academic progress, mental well-being, and social development, I highly recommend arranging an online or in-person conversation with the homeroom teacher in a timely manner. This will help you fully understand your child’s real situation at school and help to make preparations for the new school year ahead.
2nd Annual Starlight Storytelling Competition – Friday, May 22nd
Our Mandarin department has been working hard to prepare for our 2nd Starlight Storytelling Competition for the Language Acquisition students. This year, we are excited that students from XIS will also participate. If your child is a finalist, you would have received the information from their Mandarin Teacher about the time and registering through the WeChat mini-program to attend.
Wishing all of the finalists the best of luck!
That concludes my letter for this week. I hope you will take a few minutes to reach out and let me know how your child has done this year. Also, if your family is planning to leave XLIS, I would also be happy to arrange a meeting to hear how your experiences have been with us. Your feedback is so important for our continued growth.
Have a fabulous day,
Marly Song
Primary Principal
Email: marly.song@xalis.com
WeChat: principal_marly
