May 13
Message from the Principal
I apologise for the length of time between the last posting and this, but my time has been taken with end-of-year conferences with teachers, IB internal assessments, IB mock exams, the IB exams themselves, planning for the Annual Awards Ceremony and Graduation, and the planing for the unanticipated teacher in-servuce days on the 30th April and the 4th May. This is not particularly unusual in a school at this time of year.
The school calendar will show that between now and the end of the year, there are a great many events and activities and much to be accomplished. This evening we have the first of two Fine Arts Concerts and tomorrow evening we have our Annual Awards Ceremony. Next Thursday is the second of our Fine Arts Concerts and this is followed by the US musical ‘The Music Man’ at the end of the month. The IB exams continue through to the 24th May and the High School graduation ceremony is set for the 2nd June. Semester exams are scheduled on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th June, with the final assembly and last day of school on the 11th June, which is a half day.
Roger Brumby
written by Roger Brumby
Apr 02
With little more than two months remaining of the school year, the High School is preparing for several very important events. SCIS will host the Shanghai Fim Festival on April 23 and this will be followed by the conclusion of the soccer season with the ACAMIS Soccer Tournament in Beijing. The IB exams begin on May 4 and last through to May 24. There are also the NWEA tests in May and two Fine Arts concerts. The Musical is scheduled for the 28th and 29th May, with the graduation rehearsal on June 1 and the graduation exercises themselves on Wednesday, June 2. Report cards wil be distributed on the final day of school on Friday 11 June.
One event not referenced above is a transition program for our senior students, which we have provisionally scheduled for Monday, 31st May. The intention of this ‘transition day’ is to prepare the students for the major transition in their lives from school to college. We are looking at providing a program that covers such topics as physical resilience, social relationships, financial relationships, and emotional considerations.
Roger Brumby
written by Roger Brumby
Apr 02
The various China Trips groups return to school during the course of today. By all accounts the trips have proven to be a great success, very busy, but at the same time very enjoyable.
The seniors did not participate in the China Trips and instead were involved in their IB Mock Exams. These students took as many as twelve IB exams in five days, with the pupose of the exercise being to practice for the real exams in May.
The facility plans for the Upper School for the 2010-2011 school year have been finalized and I am very pleased by the new developments. I will try to summarize these as briefly as I am able:
• Building B (cafeteria and theater) will be transformed into a ‘performing arts center’, incorporating several new fine and performing arts teaching spaces.
• Building A (present Middle School building) will become the new high school building incorporating an enlarged science facility comprising seven science labs, a student commons area in the basement, an enlarged café, and the HS office areas.
• Level 3 of building C will become the new Middle School. Its physical location between the High School and Lower School will provide more of a seamless transition for students between the different divisions. The layout will also allow the development of more of a community-type structure to our Middle School. The current open area next to the LS gym will be converted into a commons area for Middle school students.
• A very large lobby area will be developed between buildings A and C, linking the two buildings and providing a recreation area for Middle School students. The MS offices will be located next to this lobby area on the ground floor of building C
• A new basketball court will be constructed between the swimming pool and the soccer field.
Roger Brumby
written by Roger Brumby
Mar 09
The Upper School is preparing itself for the Student-Led Conferences, which are scheduled for the 25th and 26th March. Students are busily collecting and collating materials for their portfolios in order to be ready to present and explain these to their parents. On the 10th March students in grades 6-11 in theior extended advisories will role play their student-led conferences.
Teachers are also finalizing 3rd quarter grades in anticipation of the distribution of report cards on Friday, 19th March. In view of the student-led conferences the following week, the report cards show grades only and no comments.
The China Trips follow the student-led conferences, with all trips leaving on the 29th March and returning on the 2nd April. Arrangements are almost complete for the trips and there are final individual trip meetings on the 17th March to cover last minute details, etc.
One final upcoming event to mention is the Talent Show on Thursday, 18th March beginning at 3:30 pm. Upper School students will have an opportunity to show off some of their hidden talents.
written by Roger Brumby
Feb 10
The first semester report cards were distributed on the 15th January, following the return to school. Other than this reminder of the first semester, the real focus was on getting the new semester underway academically as quickly as possible. Everybody is very conscious of just how busy this semester is and all that has to be completed before the last day of the academic calendar on the 11th June.
The athletic program began where it left off in December with the basketball program. I am very pleased to report that our girls’ varsity basketball team won the ACAMIS basketball tournament over the weekend of 28th-30th January, comprehensively beating all five rival schools in the process. In a tough, hard-fought tournament, he boys’ varsity team finished in 3rd place. The tournament was notable for one other memorable event: the SCIS cheerleaders performed at an ACAMIS tournament for the first time and were certainly a star act. The soccer season has already begun with try-outs and team selections for both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams.
Also, beginning shortly are the try-outs for the school musical, The Music Man. The try-outs are scheduled for the 3rd and 5th February.
Please refer to the articles on the Upper School and IB pages for further information relating to the High School. It is also important to refer to the school calendar on this web site and to the more abbreviated Upper School calendar available every week in the Dragon Bulletin.
Mr Roger Brumby
Upper School Principal
written by Roger Brumby
Feb 01
Message from the Principal
It is difficult to believe that we have already completed almost three weeks of the second semester. The new semester began with two days of professional in-service for teachers. The real benefit of these two days was that it allowed the teachers to participate in what are referred to in the teaching profession as ‘job-a-likes’. This is where teachers responsible for teaching in the same or similar disciplines meet to discuss common issues. In this instance, the teachers from the three SCIS campuses met in subject groups to discuss common curriculum questions and concerns.
The Middle School has see the introduction of the new house system, with the presentation of the five new houses: earth dragon, fire dragon, metal dragon, water dragon and wood dragon. The house banners were unveiled and the house trophy, the jade dragon, which will be competed for over the course of the rest of the semester. The lock-in on Friday, 22nd of January saw almost all of the middle school students ’sleep over’ in the A building, although by all accounts there was very little sleeping.
The SCIS Marching Band is beginning to make a contribution to the local music scene with public performances at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on the 2nd and 3rd of February and at the Marriot Hotel on the 8th of February. Following this, we have the visit of the Princeton High School Orchestra on Friday, 11th February, and they will perform for the community that evening in the auditorium.
Looming on the horizon are several major events, including China Trips, which involve all Upper School students, with the exception of the seniors, who are involved in the IB mock exams. A parent orientation evening with respect to the China Trips is scheduled for Thursday, 4th of February. The China Trips are calendared for the end of March.
For further calendar information, please refer either to the SCIS school calendar featured in this web site or refer to the most recent edition of the Dragon Bulletin.
Roger Brumby
Upper School Principal
written by Roger Brumby
Nov 29
The week of 30th November to 4th December is Fine Arts Week at the Upper School. Each evening during the week it will be possible to see the work of student artists and to witness SCIS thespians, musicians and dancers performing. The week begins on Monday evening with the opening of the IB Art Show, Artistic Endeavors, together with the One Person Shows produced by the grade 11 and 12 IB Theatre Arts students. On Tuesday the strings and grade 7 drama groups take center stage, with Wednesday evening given over to the choir and grade 8 drama. The grade 6 drama group performs on Thurday evening in conjunction with the band and percussion ensemble. The week closes with dance and drama performances from grades 9 and 10. All performances are scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in the Fine Arts Theater and we are hoping that you will come out and support this fine arts extravaganza.
written by Roger Brumby
Nov 21
On Friday, 20th November the NWEA test results were distributed. These tests, otherwise known as Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), are one of a number of tests we use at SCIS to measure student progress. The NWEA MAP test assesses a student’s ability as compared to other students who have taken this test and measures academic growth over time in the areas of mathematics, reading, and language use. The somewhat unusual aspect of the these tests is the fact that they are adaptive, responding to how well the student is answering the questions, the questions becoming more difficult when a student is answering correctly and easier when the student is answering incorrectly. The NWEA tests are useful in that they provide information relating to the relative academic strengths and weaknesses of an individual student and also allow comparisons of individual student achievement with the averages of norm groups. Possibly their greatest value lies in the fact that the tests provide teachers with important information for making program and teaching decisions and accommodations.
Following the success of the recent ACAMIS Music Cultural Convention, the Fine Arts Department at the Upper School now looks forward to the Fine Arts Week from Monday, 30th November to Friday, 4th December. The Fine Arts Week will feature exhibitions and performances from across the range of the fine arts program at SCIS. At various times during the week it will be possible to enjoy drama productions, a variety of musical performances, art exhibitions, and dance performances. A schedule of the afternoon and evening events was recently published in the weekly Dragon Bulletin.
A reminder to any parents of 5th grade students reading this page, that there will be an orientation to the 6th grade program on Tuesday, December 1st at 9:00 a.m. The purpose of this orientation program is to provide parents of students transitioning into 6th grade with information relating to the 6th grade and middle school program.
written by Roger Brumby
Nov 02
Message from the Principal
It was very encouraging to see the number of parents in attendance at the parent-teacher conferences on the 28th and 29th October. Altogether, more than 1300 individual conferences were conducted over the course of the two days. It would appear from my conversations with parents that the ten minutes allotted for each conference was about right. In the second semester, parents will have another opportunity to learn about what their child is doing in school when we have the student-led conferences. These are scheduled for the 25th and 26th March, immediately before the Upper School’s China Trips.
This week will be dominated by the ACAMIS Cultural Convention, which will see students and teachers from other schools in China visiting SCIS to participate in a musical extravaganza. Our own students, especially the Middle School students, will be significantly involved in the event, with regular classes cancelled on the Thursday and Friday in order that the students can take advantage of the various musical offerings and to provide support to the convention.
You will have seen in last Friday’s Dragon Bulletin, the announcement that the Chinese Government has extended an offer of a free Chinese-developed H1N1 vaccination to students at SCIS. This vaccination is entirely optional and arrangements will be made for vaccinations to be administered at the school in the near future. Further information will be forthcoming shortly regarding this vaccination. SCIS will also begin scanning the temperatures of students, teachers and visitors to campus from Monday, November 9th. This is very much in line with the practice followed by several other international schools in the Shanghai area. If your child is suffering from a cold or fever, we encourage you to keep him/her at home and to consult a doctor.
Roger Brumby
Upper School Principal
written by Roger Brumby
Oct 26
This week’s extended Advisory involves helping students organize by putting their assignments in iCal.
To do so you:
- First login to Powerschool
- Then click on Web Calendars
- Then subscribe to your teacher’s calendars.
If this is confusing, view the video below where Mr. McAnally will explain it.
Teachers! This will require you to update your gradebooks prior to giving out the assignments. Otherwise it will not do students much good.
written by Chris McAnally
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