Welcome to Our New Community Members
Dear Parents,
I would like to take this opportunity to give a very warm welcome to all the new members of our community and to encourage appropriate clothing. I would also like to share how we are working towards Goals 2 and 4 of our strategic plan.
Welcome to XLIS
A very warm welcome to our new families. We are delighted to have you join our community. XLIS is a not-for-profit school which means that all of our tuition is directed back into the operation of the school. This is a huge difference to the for-profit schools I have worked for in the past where a percentage was going elsewhere. Our mission is to enable confident, open-minded, global citizens through lifelong learning and a sense of community. Please take the time to reply to this email and tell me how your child is doing at XLIS. Please contact me anytime with any positive feedback or issues.
Clothing
There is a saying from Finland that we love, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. Please send our students to school in appropriate clothing. Firstly we are a uniform school so all students are required to be in uniform each day. Secondly, please send students to school with waterproof footwear and a waterproof jacket on wet days. Students play outside each day when the air quality is below 170, which I hope will be the rest of the semester.
Community Driven
Our fourth schoolwide goal at XLIS is to increase communication between parents and the school. To gradually work with our PTA to develop stronger community partnerships. You will be receiving information on how to schedule an individual time to meet with Dr. Liu or I on Monday mornings. We are here to listen to you and to support you to achieve our common mission. Please have a look out for this and let me know if you need any further information. I look forward to meeting with some of you.
Professional Development
This Friday is a PD day at the school. There will be no school for students.
Our second schoolwide goal at XLIS is to align the curriculum between PYP, MYP & DP to ensure smooth transitions of students between the programs. This Friday all teachers will be working on this goal. PYP teachers will be planning how to implement inquiry through the curriculum. Inquiry helps our students to develop as questioners and researchers, giving them skills to find information for themselves.
Our MYP and DP teachers will be mapping Approaches to Learning throughout the curriculum. They will be ensuring that skills in the five categories are increasing in complexity as students move from PYP to DP, particularly in the MYP.
As always I love to hear from you. Please take the time to reply to this email to tell me how you and your family are doing.
Sincerely,
Brian Lalor
Deputy Head of School
