Download the KIS Newsletter: (PDF, 185 KB)

Kazakhstan International School Newsletter

all the news that you can use…

April 2007, Volume 1, #3

Content:

• PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
• ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS
• INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE CONFERENCE HELD IN ALMATY, March 22-23rd
• EARTH DAY
• SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS NEEDED
• COMPUTER SCIENCE AT KIS
• CONTRACTS SIGNED TO BUILD NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASS-ROOMS
• HELP US KEEP OUR FEES DOWN
• KEEP UP WITH ALL THAT’S HAPPENING AT KIS
• INTENSIVE ENGLISH SUMMER CAMP
• HOW CAN I HELP KIS?

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES

Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled on March 30th. Please mark this important date on your calendar and come and visit with your child’s teachers. Your involvement in your child’s education is the single most important determinant of their future success in life! Your children will have lunch at the school and need to be picked up by 1 PM. teachers are available to see parents from 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM. Please call Saltanat at 225 00 30 to schedule appointments with your child’s teacher(s).

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS

We have had a change in leadership in our elementary school. Miss Aigul has stepped down as head of the elementary school; Mrs. Metta has agreed to be our new head and will begin working full-time starting after our spring holiday.

Please take a moment and thank Miss Aigul for her excellent leadership and her dedication to make our elementary school an outstanding educational environment for our children!

A second major change has been the addition of afternoon classes to the elementary school schedule. We have added classes in social skills (taught by Mrs. Benu), General Knowledge (taught by Mrs. Divya), Basketball (taught by Mr. Kanat), and computer science (taught by Mr. Phil).

Finally, let me remind all of you that school starts at 8:30 AM. For those who bring their children in early, we have a structured activity from 8:15 - 8:30 AM. Please make every effort to have your children at school at least 5-10 minutes before school starts.

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE CONFERENCE HELD IN ALMATY, March 22-23rd

Our principal, Mr. Phil and his assistant, Tanya Galkina, and our consultant for curriculum development and teacher training, Mrs. Marilyn Stephan, attended a 2 day conference that featured discussions with all the other IB schools in the former soviet Union. this was an important time to make contact with other IB schools in Kazakhstan, there are two in Almaty and one in Astana.

We received important information from principals and directors of other schools that will help us in our application process to become an IB school.

EARTH DAY

KIS will celebrate Earth Day on April 20th. Our students will studying population growth, pollution, and the damage both are making to our eco-systems. From April 9th - 19th our students will be working in teams to research information in these areas. You may want to help them as they research the issues in each of these three areas.

Parents are invited to come at 9 AM on the 20th to hear the reports that our children will give on these issues. Then you are invited to join your children as we plant flowers, bushes, and trees to do our best to “pay” for our overuse of hydrocarbons. Please plan to join us for this celebration of our environment.

SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS NEEDED

From time to time one of our teachers is ill or have an illness in the family that requires that they be away from school. During their absence, we need parents who will help us by “substituting” for the sick teacher. You will find that this is an excellent way to get to know what your child is learning and to get to know the other teachers better. If you are willing to help us by being a substitute teacher, please call Mr. Phil on the school phone, 225 00 30.

COMPUTER SCIENCE AT KIS

Mr. Phil is working on a grant to fund the purchase of computers, printers, and other computer equipment so that every classroom has at least four computers; we also plan to have a computer lab with 20 computers, and we have a plan to upgrade our “IT” system so that our school will be “state of the art” in regards to providing computer training to our students in all grades!

While we seek funding from foundations and other sources to purchase these computers, we need your help in acquiring used computer equipment that we can use in the mean time.

Maybe your company is upgrading its computers. Maybe you are upgrading your computers at home. Please think about giving KIS your used computer equipment so that we can provide computer training while we are waiting for our grant to be funded.

CONTRACTS SIGNED TO BUILD NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASS-ROOMS

Mr. Daniel Gunaseelan, one of the founders of KIS, has signed a contract with a local construction company to take the large hall that we have been currently using as our elementary school and build six classrooms. the construction will start after school is out this June and will be finished prior to the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year this September 3rd.

HELP US KEEP OUR FEES DOWN!

I get asked again and again by parents of our students if we plan to raise the fees next year. I do not know at this time what the answer will be. But I do know that every parent can help us keep our fees as low as possible! How?

By helping us recruit new students to KIS we have room for up to 15 children in each class.

KEEP UP WITH ALL THAT’S HAPPENING AT KIS

As we continue to improve and grow, you will want to keep informed by regularly reading our newsletter. You can find it, and all the back copies, on our web site: www.kisnet.org we will be constantly updating the web site, so please take a look every once in a while.

INTENSIVE ENGLISH SUMMER CAMP

KIS will offer two intensive sessions of english language training for children ages 5-14. The first session will begin July 2nd and end on July 27th. The classes will begin at 8:30 AM and end at 3:30 PM. The second session will begin on August 1st and end August 31st.

Children will receive instruction in english in the classroom for 3 hours each day. There will also be plenty of games and outdoor activities where the children will get a chance to practice their english with other students and their instructors. Lunch will be provided.

The cost of each session is 50,000 KZT or 90,000 KZT for both sessions. Interested parents can call the school at 225 00 30. We encourage you to enroll your children now. There are only limited spaces available and we want your child to be involved.

If you know of other children who would profit from such an intensive english language summer camp, please invite them to call us or come visit us.

HOW CAN I HELP KIS?

As the Principal and Director of KIS, I am asked: “How can I help KIS?” there are many ways you can help. Here are just a few:

• Help us by becoming a member of the KIS Advisory Board. We meet once a month for one hour to provide input to the Director about how to improve the school.
• Help us by joining the Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO). the PTO links parents and teachers together to work to improve the education for all of our children.
• Help us share the KIS story. Our goal at KIS is to be the best international school in central asia. we are going to use the best curriculum, hire the best teachers, provide the best english language instruction, and do all of this while keeping our prices low. You can help us keep our standards high and our prices low by telling other parents of potential students about the wonderful things that are going on at KIS. Give them the web address. That alone should help us recruit many new families.
• Tell us what you like and what you don’t like. every day your child comes home with stories about what happened that day. Listen to what your child says. then let us know if there are things we can do better or things that we are not doing that we should begin to do. In this way we can continue to constantly improve our services to the most important client we have, Your child!
• Got any good ideas? Our school is committed to “continuous improvement” everything we do is constantly being evaluated! We ask ourselves these questions: “Is this the best way to do this? If you see anything that we can be doing better, please let us know. Only if we do our best can we encourage your children to do their best!
• We are looking for teachers: we need a teacher for our reception class and our 3rd grade class. If you know someone who might be interested, please have them call Mr. Phil at 225 00 30