Dear Parents,
It is hard to believe that my family and I will be celebrating our eleventh holiday season at XLIS this year. We love this time of Christmas then leading into Spring Festival. These two holidays are celebrated throughout the world and focus on the family. In my newsletter this month I would like to highlight some ways we are working towards our school vision, “to lead education through innovation and a student-centered, community-driven approach”.
New High School Diploma Program Subjects
Dr. Liu and I recently held town hall meetings with M2-M5 students to listen to their feedback. A survey resulted from the M5 meeting, and we learned that students would like to study psychology, design, and Spanish. We acted on this and were able to recruit teachers for these subjects to open in August. We are excited to see how these new subject choices impact our students. The interest in computer science was low, but we are making plans to develop a desire for this subject choice in the future by integrating more computer science into our PYP and MYP programs.
Cafeteria Development
Our resource department and service provider are constantly reviewing food quality at XLIS, and we are always seeking student and parent feedback and support to ensure that we meet the diverse needs of our school community. In response to recent student and parent feedback, we have been working closely with our PTA members and local partners to improve the quality and variety of our Korean food offerings. We are excited to announce that we will soon be supported by a professional Korean chef, who will begin collaborating with our kitchen team in December. Our Korean food menu has already been improved, with new Korean dishes that have been well-received by students. Students shared this as a strength during our recent town hall meeting in M3. We are always learning and exploring ways to further improve our cafeteria services for our community, and we thank our parent community, who have been working closely with our school over the past months to help us achieve this goal.
Finally, as I always say, I love to hear from you. Please find my contact details below including my WeChat which is my phone number. If you ever want to come in for a chat or have any feedback for me, “I am all ears”. A very happy holiday season to you and your family and I look forward to seeing you on Saturday at the concert.
Sincerely,
Brian Lalor (M.Ed.)
Deputy Head of School
brian.lalor@xalis.com
WeChat: brianlalor1
Phone: 18691453987
