Dear Parents,
The past few weeks have been a productive start to the year. It has been a joy for me to be able to get out to the gate each morning and welcome our students to school. You may find me here each morning if you would like to have a chat. For those new to our community, my name is Mr. Lalor, the deputy head. In this newsletter, I would like to celebrate our focus on learning.
Focus on Learning
This past year, most of our staff took part in an IB/WASC self-study. We broke up into five large groups and examined every aspect of our school. We asked our PTA for input in regular meetings throughout the year and both surveyed and interviewed cross-sections of our students. Our first schoolwide goal was to further develop English language acquisition skills, and I am delighted to say we made significant progress in this area.
Some factors that led to success are:
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Academic competitions such as John Locke writing etc.
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Language events such as TedX, spelling bees, poetry writing, parent reading etc.
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UFLI phonics program
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Homeroom reading program
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Sentence starters for lab reports
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The main reason for success, though, was our community approach to this goal.
Some evidence of our success:
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23 more MAP assessments above the US average
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MYP e-assessment results above the world average
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Our historical highest DP results, also above the world average
Next week our students will start to take their first MAP assessment of the year. Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) is a standardized assessment that allows us to track the progress of our students throughout the year and throughout their time at our school. I am excited to see the progress our students will make this year.
As always, I love to hear from you. Please take the time to reply to this email and let me know your child’s name and what class they are in. Tell me a little about your child because I love getting to know my students better. Please note that I do not receive direct replies from QQ emails. Please type my email address in the address bar if you are using QQ (brian.lalor@xalis.com).
Sincerely,
Mr. Lalor
