Dear Parents,
Here we are already in the middle of May! We now only have 6 weeks of the school year left! I truly feel so lucky to get to spend my days with your children! Their smiles and excitement for learning bring me such joy every day. Coming up this month, we have some very special events to bring our community together ~ the Student Led Conferences and Summer Fair. We also have some important assessments with the MAP testing. For the next few weeks, we will be actively preparing for our class organization for the 2025-2026 year.
Student-Led Conferences
A very important event that is coming on Wednesday, May 14th (P6 will be May 16th) is our Student Led Conferences. This is an exciting time of year, when our students have the chance to showcase their learning to their families! This is so exciting because it is an opportunity for your child to show you all the things he or she does in the classroom and around the school. Student Led Conferences are beneficial for reasons such as:
· Students can demonstrate their achievements through a variety of work samples, such as journals, projects, and selections of work that show growth and skill development
· Students use the presentation skills they have learned in class
· Students develop a sense of pride in what they have learned and a feeling of ownership of their learning
· Our students build confidence and positive self-esteem by showing the responsibility they have taken over their learning
In addition to the conferences is the Primary Visual Arts Exhibition! So ensure you have your child take you to see the amazing artworks that are on display!
You should already have a scheduled time where you may come to the school and have your child lead you through their learning journey for the 2024 – 2025 school year at XLIS. You will need to register through the school WeChat Mini-program to receive your QR code to enter the campus.
Please remember this is not a time when you and the teacher will sit to talk about your child’s learning (unless this has been scheduled specifically). If you would like to have that opportunity, you may contact your child’s teacher to set up a meeting at another time. There will not be regular classes on this day.
We hope that you can make it!
May Assessments
Next week (May 19 – 23), our P3 – 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 P2 students will be completing the writing, mathematics and reading (P2) assessments in their classes over the next 3 weeks. 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. Information will also be shared with parents by the end of the month.
Summer Fair – “A Carnival Under the Sun”
We are excited to have our final whole-school event of the year to celebrate our wonderful XLIS community this Saturday, May 17th. The Summer Fair is quickly approaching! This is a family event, that will include performances, activities and games, and delicious food from a variety of vendors. It is sure to be a lot of fun and a fantastic way to end the 2024 – 2025 school year.
Location: this year, Summer Fair will be hosted at our XLIS Campus to ensure the safety, well-being, and comfort of all in attendance. The time is from 8:30am – 12:00 pm.
Early Years 2025-2026
We are excited to announce that our Early Years programme will blend Nursery (ages 2–3) and ECEA (ages 3–4) children in a shared classroom environment starting in 2025 – 2026. This approach is inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy, which views learning as a deeply social and collaborative process. The philosophy highlights that “Children learn a great deal from other children. The exchange of ideas and thoughts between them is a powerful spur to both cognitive and social development.” (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2004, Book 2, p. 10)
Research also supports these ideas: younger children benefit by observing and interacting with older peers, while older children strengthen their skills through mentoring (Katz, Evangelou, & Hartman, 1990). At XLIS, our Early Years educators thoughtfully design environments that meet each child’s developmental needs while encouraging leadership, empathy, and independence. The Nursery/ECEA classes will be located in our two classrooms with the removable wall open, creating one big classroom space that will have two homeroom teachers and two TA’s. We believe this rich, inclusive setting will strengthen our youngest Blue Dragons’ confidence, creativity, and love of learning.
As always, I love to hear from you! I have already received many messages about the wonderful friendships your children have made, and will do my best to ensure each child is in a class with at least one of them next year.
You may reach me through either of these channels:
Email: marly.song@xalis.com
WeChat: principal_marly
Have a lovely day!
Sincerely,
Marly Song
Primary Principal
