Download the KIS March 2008 Newsletter: (PDF, 147 KB)
Kazakhstan International School Newsletter
all the news that you can use…
March, 2008
Content:
- SPRING BREAK IS COMING
- PTSA UPDATES
- KIS BASKETBALL TEAM
- INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE ORGANIZATION PRIMARY YEAR PROGRAM UPDATE
- UPDATES ON THE COUNCIL OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (COIS) ACCREDITATION
- PARENTS' INQUIRIES, COMPLAINTS AND GRIEVANCES POLICY INTRODUCED
- KIS INTENSIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUMMER CAMP SCHEDULED
- KIS STUDENT LEADERSHIP SEMINAR
- KIS WELCOMES DR. DIVYA BACK!
- KIS SAYS GOODBYE TO 5 STAFF
- KIS TEACHERS VALENTINE'S PARTY
THERE IS NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, MARCH 10th
SPRING BREAK IS COMING
Just a reminder to all of our parents, teachers, and staff that ''Spring Break'' begins March 24th through March 28th. Enjoy the week of rest and relaxation! Enjoy the spring weather!
PTSA UPDATES
The PTSA monthly meeting took place on the 25th of February (Monday) at 12:00 pm on the KIS premises. The following suggestions were made by the PTSA Executive Committee.
- To encourage parents to follow the proper channel of communication when dealing with a student academic or non-academic problem;
- To make available contact details of all KIS teachers on the school website;
- It was reported that the PTSA after school program is doing really well. Dance as a new activity was introduced in this session. The 3rd session of after school program will be completed this next week.
- The time for the monthly PTSA meetings has been changed to the last Friday of the every month between 3:30 to 4:30 pm.
| Dates | Venue | Time |
|---|---|---|
Let me encourage all parents to be an active member of the KIS -PTSA. You can contribute a lot to help the school improve your child's academic & personal development. Your participation will be appreciated during any PTSA meeting, mark your calendar today!!!
KIS BASKETBALL TEAM
On Saturday the 23rd of February, KIS basketball team participated in the junior Basket Ball league held at Almaty International School. Our team's performance in the matches played against Tian-Shen & AIS was quite encouraging; Mr. Tom (one of our parents) provided his valuable guidance and coaching.
Team participated in match is as under-
| Zach, Saurav, Rebecca | 6th grade |
| Matt, Aaditya, Seo Young, Young Joo | 4th grade |
| Kshitiz, Jacob | 3rd grade |
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE ORGANIZATION PRIMARY YEAR PROGRAM UPDATE
There will be a preliminary visit from one of the INERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATEORGANIZATION PYP TRAINERS on Wednesday, 12 March 2008 at KIS. The purpose of the visit is to observe the school in action and to acquaint the administration and staff with:
- The IB PYP program standards and practices,
- The steps to implementation, and
- The procedures and timelines involved in moving towards authorization.
PLEASE NOTE: There will be no school for all the students. (Both for Pre School/Elementary & Middle School) on April 4th so that all KIS teachers may attend both days of the workshop!
UPDATES ON THE COUNCIL OF INTERNA-TIONAL SCHOOL (COIS) ACCREDITATION
The Council of International Schools is the premier organization in International Education for the accreditation of schools and Best Practice development. The central purpose of COIS is to enable member organizations to achieve and deliver the highest standards in International Education and continually improve the outcome of student learning.
KIS has provisional membership in the COUNCIL OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS. The school has been growing under the guidance of COIS. Although no actual date has been set, we are working to have COIS representatives come to KIS to evaluate, and if necessary, train our teachers and faculty to meet their stringent standards.
The school has completed the 'COIS Prior Information Document', and, after the COIS team visit, will begin the crucial stage of self study. The process that the COIS organization has outlined guarantees the quality of education provided to the students of schools that they accredit.
The school is registered on the COIS site:http://members.cois.org/directory/ISD.aspx
Should you have any queries or want more information on COIS, please feel free to contact the COIS Coordinator Ms. Benu Sondhi, Dean of Students/Coordinator (bsondhi@kisnet.org) Mobile no: +77013619345
PARENTS' INQUIRIES, COMPLAINTS AND GRIEVANCES POLICY INTRODUCED
The Management Team of KIS recognizes the importance of proper communication channels among students, parents, teachers, and the administration in regards to parents' inquiries, complaints and grievances. To assist in achieving this objective, general procedures have been developed for use by all concerned parties and been delivered to all teachers and parents through Friday folders and emails.
KIS INTENSIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUMMER CAMP SCHEDULED
The KIS administration has set the date and the theme for this year's Intensive English Language Summer Camp (IELSC). It will be held from the 7th of July through the 1st of August, 2008. The theme for this year's IELSC is ''A Rainforest Adventure''.
Our camp will be expanding this year with more teachers, more native English language helpers and fluent speakers so that we will have a 1-5 teacher to student ratio.
There will be classes for persons who speak no English (introductory), persons who speak some English (Intermediate) and for persons who want to become fluent in conversational English (Advanced). Children from age 3 through 16 may apply.
The Registration fee is 5,000 tenge and is non-refundable. The program fee, which includes lunch, is 70,000 tenge. Space will be limited, so let me encourage you to sign your children up and encourage your friends to do so quickly.
KIS STUDENT LEADERSHIP SEMINAR
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, and become more, you are a leader" John Quincy Adams
What do you think of when you hear the word "Leadership"??? Whom do you imagine??? Confucius, George Washington, Margaret Thatcher, Nursultan Nazarbaev or your parents???
Last Saturday 6-9th grade KIS students and 7-9th grade New School students let their wings open and flew as real Leaders of 21st century! The idea of organizing a unique Leadership seminar for the young generation has come recently to KIS teachers and the L'Association Internationale des Estudiants en Science Economiques et Commerciale members (AIESEC).
AIESEC is a global, non-political, non-commercial, non-religious student run organization founded in 1948. One of its main activities is to discover and develop the leadership potential of young people.
The mission of KIS is to provide a 21st century education for 21st century students; both KIS and AIESEC have prepared an outstanding educational training for students to apply the skills and abilities they have.
On March 1, 2008 11-15 year old students from KIS and the New School gathered in the KIS Music Zal and got a warm greeting from the Director, Dr Philip Spottswood and Principal, Ms Angela Zhou. AIESEC members were extremely happy to open the Leadership Workshop in a friendly atmosphere and to share their leadership background with inquisitive conferees.
The content of the workshop was divided into four essential sessions: Active Learning; Entrepreneurship; Social Responsibility and Cultural Sensitivity. The participants were divided into four age groups as well.
Each session was focused on one of the four objectives. For instance, the Active Learner session aimed at discovering (and) or developing four competencies:
- Self awareness;
- Effective communication;
- Innovation and creativity and
- Organizational understanding.
To help the students understand and reflect on Self awareness issues, a wide range of activities, e.g. playing a role in educating/teaching others, being open to receive positive feedback and sharp criticism from other people, etc., were used.
The second session - Entrepreneurship- demonstrated that students could manage their skills and abilities and apply them for future activities. One of the memorable features of this session was writing a letter to yourself which is to be opened in five years! The majority of the students were extremely excited about it!!!
Another session, Socially Responsible, proved that our students are socially responsible. Moreover, the participants demonstrated that by helping each other their work could be done successfully and on time! In addition, they had outlined and discussed how to solve such holistic problems as global warming, deforestation, poverty and education.
The last session called Cultural Sensitivity gave a clear image of ''Culture shock'' and ''How we deal with it''. It provided students with vivid examples based on real life situations of culture shock and how people deal or don't deal with it. Students were encouraged to work out their own solutions to deal with these issues.
Although the Leadership Seminar took the whole day, the students were not disappointed. On the contrary, they have agreed that we need educational workshops as often as it is possible to build their leadership skills and to find solutions for important questions. (KIS wants to thank Ms. Assel for her hard work in organizing this event. Thank you!!! KIS faculty and students!)
KIS WELCOMES DR. DIVYA BACK!
The Head of our Science Department, Dr. Divya Rohe has returned from her sabbatical in India. Dr. Divya went to India for the fall semester to get her teaching certificate (she has a medical degree and is an oncologist by training). Dr. Divya has been a part of the KIS teaching staff for 7 years, and is a tremendous asset to our school. Welcome back Dr. Divya!!!
KIS SAYS GOODBYE TO 5 STAFF
KIS has had to say goodbye to four of our staff. Mrs. Ginni Horner, one of our two Reception Class teachers, has had a family emergency and has had to return to the United States. She was an outstanding teacher and a key member of the school leadership team. She will be greatly missed.
Mrs. Joida, our elementary math teacher, has also left the school. Her husband has been reassigned to Atryau. Mrs. Shinar, our Kazakh language teacher and Miss Assel, our dance teacher, have resigned.
Finally, one of our helpers, Miss Anam, will be moving back to Pakistan. She was a great help to the teachers and the students alike. We will miss her.
KIS TEACHERS VALENTINE'S PARTY
KIS teachers and staff celebrated Valentine's Day at Don and Patricia Dorn Lopez's house on the evening of Feb. 15th. Delicious food from different nations was served, beautiful dresses from different cultures were worn, interesting games were played and wonderful conversations were held. The teachers and staff received chocolates from KIS to show it's appreciation for their commitment and contribution to the success of the school. Many thanks to Don and Patricia for generously opening their house to make the party a great success.
