Dear Parents,
Good afternoon!
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! 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.
Also, this week, we have welcomed two of our secondary students to complete their work experience with our Early Years and Primary Music classes. This is another example of how we are building that “sense of community” at XLIS!
Learner Profile Attributes (XLIS’ SLO’s – Schoolwide Learner Outcomes)
As we are approaching the end of the semester, I would like to ask our students and families to keep two of our Learner Profile Attributes 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? The current assessment data that was collected this semester (including student MAP data) will be shared by May 30th with you. This is the perfect time for reflection!
Being principled and reflective are important values I hope you and your children can revisit throughout the summer to continue developing and understanding.
As always, thank you for your support ~ your children are amazing.
After today’s letter, I have one more to write before the end of the school year. I am using that learner profile attribute of being reflective and appreciate any and all feedback from our parents and students.
I look forward to finishing the 2024_2025 school year with you all!
Sincerely,
Marly Song
Primary Principal
Email: marly.song@xalis.com
WeChat: principal_marly
