Dear Parents,
Thank you all for attending the 3-Way conferences last week. I am sure you had meaningful conversations with the teachers and could understand the scoring and recording of marks in the MYP and the DP.
I am now reviewing the reports of all the students and I plan to have an individual meeting with the students of concern and plan strategies to support them. I will also contact the parents and together we can decide ways to set goals for success for your children.
I would like parents to support the school in having a discussion with your children about bullying on WeChat. We have repeated cases of students sending insulting messages. As a school, we will apply the Restorative practices accordingly but we need the support of the parents to remind students of appropriate use of their devices. We can control their use at school but once they are at home, we do not have any way to control that. At XLIS we take bullying seriously -as part of our Secondary school culture we expect all students to behave respectfully towards every member of the community. I have included an excerpt from our Secondary Handbook which clearly states our school culture. Please take some time to talk about this with your children.
Secondary School Culture
School culture is of paramount importance. The tone set in the classrooms, hallways and all school spaces impact students socially and emotionally. Our goal is to have a positive atmosphere throughout the school, so students feel comfortable being themselves and respected as individuals in and outside classrooms. The school is a second home for students: everyone should feel that they belong and are a vital community member. We are a community that honors and respects every individual. Discrimination against others is unacceptable and will be addressed and dealt with by the counselling department and the administration. We take matters of discrimination and bullying very seriously. All students, teachers, staff members and visitors to the school deserve the right to feel safe and respected.” (Secondary Handbook 2023-2024, p. 9)
The next two weeks will be very busy with teaching and learning and preparing for the Chinese New Year celebration. This year, our DP students have decided to take lead for the activities in the afternoon. This is commendable as we believe in student coming forward to organize events and take active part in the school events.
I am happy to meet you at any time to discuss issues that may be of concern. Please contact me directly at jaimala.quinlan@xalis.com or my assistant Ms. Bella at bella.yang@xalis.com to make an appointment.
Sincerely
Jaimala Quinlan.
