Thursday 14th December, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL … · Juanes version here Mi burrito sabanero Rebecca Tompsett Language Acquisition QUIK READS GREAT letters of recommenda-tion

Thursday 14th December, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PORT OF SPAIN VOLUME 25, ISSUE 15

ISPS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER CONFIDENCE EXCELLENCE INTEGRITY 1

ISPS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

MISSION ISPS is a vibrant learning community dedicated to developing passionate learners who strive for excellence and pursue their unique potential. We encourage resilience, innovation and collaboration, preparing students to act with con-fidence and integrity as caring global citizens.

VISION Inspiring thinkers and doers to shape a better world.

MOTTO Difference Makers,

Future Shapers

ISPS Contact #: 633-4777

WHAT’S INSIDE

Dates for your Diary

December

15 Last Day of School

15 11:30 am Whole School Dismissal

15 MS Christmas Party

16-7 (Jan) Christmas Break

25 Christmas Day

26 Boxing Day

January

8 School Resumes

10 All School Design & Build Competition

16 MS/HS Parent Discussion Group; 7:30 - 8:30am, Green Room

17 Yearbook Retakes & Staff Photo; 7:30am - 12:30pm, Theatre & Green Court

18 ES Parenting Group; 7:40-8:55, Drama Room

FROM THE DIRECTOR

ES Christmas Production 2-3

ISPS Briefs 4-5

NHS Bingo 6

School Notices 7-9

Kindness Tree 9

Athletics 10-11

School Calendars 13-14

Open Forum Minutes 15

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday to you.

This week has been very active with students involved in many activities.

Congratulations to the entire ES staff for the perfect execution of the ES production. The evening performance was a great hit to a full house in the Theatre. The production was a tremendous effort and a great show. Special thanks to MS Trim, Mr Low Chew Tung, Ms Sylvester, Mr Ryan and the entire maintenance team, and our sound and light technicians.

HS Exams are finishing today with make up exams being held on Friday.

Attached to this newsletter are the notes from the last Open Forum.

Please remember that Friday pickup is at 11:30 and I ask you for your patience as

there are no staggered pick up times and I anticipate that traffic will be heavier than usual.

I want to thank all parents for your support you have given us this term. I think ISPS is in a very good place and we are looking forward to a very productive second half of the year.

For those of you travelling for the holiday, safe travels. For those of you staying in Trinidad, I wish you a relaxing time. For all students and parents, I wish you a very Merry Christmas (if you celebrate it) and a Happy New Year. We will look forward to seeing you all back on January 8th, 2018.

J Barney Latham

Director

Office Hours: December 18 & 19, 8:00 a.m. — Noon

January 4 & 5: 8:00 a.m. — Noon

Happy Holidays!







ISPS Briefs

¡Feliz navidad y prospero año nuevo!

Los profesores y estudiantes de español les desean a ustedes: ¡ Feliz navidad y prospero año nuevo! 7th and 8th Grade Spanish students singing the popular South American Christmas song “Mi burrito sabanero”. You can listen and sing along to the Juanes version here Mi burrito sabanero Rebecca Tompsett Language Acquisition

QUICK READS

GREAT letters of recommenda-tion start with being a great stu-dent in class. This gives teachers the evidence and possible anecdotes needed to make a recommendation a great one!

So what do the good schools say that teachers should write about? The following points are what MIT had to say:

What is the context of your

relationship with the applicant? If you do not know the applicant well and are only able to write a brief summary, please acknowledge this.

Has the student demonstrated a willingness to take intellectual risks and go beyond the normal classroom experience?

Does the applicant have any unusual competence, talent or leadership abilities?

What motivates this person? What excites him/her?

How does the applicant interact with teachers? With peers? Describe his/her personality and social skills.

What will you remember most about this person?

If you have knowledge of MIT, what leads you to believe MIT is a good match for this person? How might he/she fit into the MIT community and grow from the MIT experience?

Has the applicant ever experienced disappointment or failure? If so, how did he/she react?

Are there any unusual family or community circumstances of which we should be aware?

Out of this a couple of points

are critical for students to note: Teachers are focusing on what

is happening in in the classroom, not out of the class-room. Therefore, students need to be engaged and active learners in the classroom. Students need to take more responsibility for their learning and consistently demonstrate this in their classes.

Intellectual curiosity pops out of well. Students need to demonstrate a genuine interest in the material they are learning and do so on a consistent basis. This is usually demonstrated by the type of questions they ask in class, the topics of their presentations and their ability to apply the material to their own experiences.

Teamwork and collaboration are critical as well. As a student in a college or university, you are part of a learning community and how well you work as part of a team and how well you collaborate are factors being looked at by colleges. As such, students need to view themselves as part of a learning community where learning together enriches the experience for all.

In essence, be a great student

by being engaged, active, intellectually curious and a great team player. Start now, and then you can be confident of a great letter of recommendation!

Louis Moore

HS Counsellor

College Corner Want a Great Letter of Recommendation?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogJSyom8pO8



Adriana Housty of the International School of Port of Spain completing her routine on the High Bar during competition. Photo Courtesy: Colombian Gymnastics Fedration

SKY’S NO LIMIT

Congratulations

ISPS' very own Adriana Housty was part of a five-member team, from

Tots & Tumblers Gymnastics, which took first place All Around medals at the recent Pan American Gymnastics Union (PAGU) Club Cup in Cali, Colombia.

The five gymnasts also came away with five gold medals on the Uneven Bars, successfully competing against gymnasts representing clubs from the host country, Guatemala, Argentina, Bolivia and El Salvador.

THE BAR

On November 30th ISPS students went to a Renewable Energy Workshop at CARIRI. Representatives of T&TEC, the Ministry of Energy and Mr. Soren Draborg from Denmark presented different ways to use renewable resources.

All those great ideas are being considered to see what we can do to get the school greener.

Annika Walter Grade 8



On Saturday, December 2nd, ISPS NHS chapter hosted its Annual Christmas Bingo, which was patronized by over 230 eager players. They all had an obvious reason to win, knowing that there were over $40,000 in prizes to be won. NHS received donations from 40 plus generous sponsors. Prizes included luxury gourmet hampers, a large screen TV and speak-ers, hotel stays, dinner vouchers and shopping sprees, to name a few.

Host Tony Harford had the crowd amused with his anecdotes and teacher Mr. Leiter eased the tension with some light hearted trivia questions in the lead up to the big blackout prize.

Those needing sustenance enjoyed pizza, as well as Christmas fare of ham and hops, pastelles, corn soup and festive cake.

This event was a huge success, not just for NHS who raised more than our prizes’ monetary worth, but for the 100 patrons who walked away with an amazing win. Our ‘friends and family’ charity bingo proceeds will go a long way in improving the lives of those who will benefit from our efforts this year.

We are committed to alleviating the plight of children at risk and have been throwing our support to children within the community. Last year’s bingo formed part of a $30,000 donation that our NHS chapter was able to make to a neighbouring primary school in need of technological advancement.

We were thrilled to see so many teachers and staff members among the parents and students who were caught up in the excitement. This year’s massively successful bingo would not have been possible if it weren’t for the devoted executives who went beyond the call of duty and our members who labored away for almost 4 months before the event.

We remain appreciative of the support of our Director, Advisor and our hard working maintenance personnel, behind the scenes.

See you next year!

NHS CHRISTMAS BINGO NHS CHRISTMAS BINGO

An Evening of Great Success Ms. Amow



Indicate to Homeroom Teachers or Donna Clarke @ [email protected]

Student & Staff

PHOTO RETAKES

It’s Here!!

The Elementary School Parenting Group

2018!! ES PARENTS – Come and be a part of our 8-week skills-based group based on the book, Easy To Love, Difficult To Discipline by Dr. Becky Bailey, Ph.D., award-winning author, teacher and internationally recognized expert in childhood education and developmental psychology.

Format of the group

Informal, interactive discussion

based on your experiences and

reading as you focus on each

week’s skill.

Dates: 8 Thursdays from

Jan 18 – March 15, 2018

Time: 7:40 – 8:55am

Place: Drama Room

(near Grade 4 classrooms)

About the book: “It’s easy to love our children when they do what we ask, when we ask.” This book is about the other times. The times when life does not go as we had planned. When others don’t act as we had hoped. And when our own actions are not something we want to write home about.” (p. 5) Sounds familiar? “Clean your room! Finish your homework! Stop hitting your brother – be nice!” “I’m stopping this car right now!” Or how about – “I had it first!, I hate you! Everyone else does - why can’t I?” The book focuses on “self-control and confidence-building for both parent and child” via “a series of linked skills to help families move from turmoil to tranquility.” Dr. Bailey uses easily recognizable real-life anecdotes to offer powerful support and to help you find “new ways of understanding and improving children’s behavior, as well as your own.”

Objectives of the Group To explore and help you navigate four

stages of children’s development and the “irritation points” that typify each stage.

A safe forum to share your questions and concerns with other parents who may be grappling with similar issues.

An opportunity to gain practical parenting skills based on sound neurodevelopmen-tal theory and practice

To provide support and increase your joy and confidence in parenting your kids through their cycles of organization-chaos-reorganization!

Book access a. The school library has a limited number of

the kindle version for loan b. The ES counselor has a limited number for

sale or loan. c. Click here to purchase your own coy :

Amazon Please let me know via email: [email protected] - if you would like to be a part of this exciting and informative group. Kindly note: Because of the nature of the group, spaces are limited and after the first week, it is a closed group. I would be happy to provide additional information should you need. Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you on January 18!

Pam Hyndman ES Counselor

NOTICES

The shoebox will got to a child impacted by the recent hurricanes

on behalf of “Is There Not A Cause”

ENDS ON FRIDAY! THANKS TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS!

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Love-Difficult-Discipline-Cooperation/dp/0060007753




About the book: Come and join a parent discussion group with Ms. Virginia and the New York Times Bestseller, "The Gift of Failure. HOW THE BEST PARENTS LEARN TO LET GO SO THEIR CHILDREN CAN SUCCEED” by Jessica Lahey. New York Times Book Review: “'The ugly and wonderful truth about middle school,' [Lahey] says, is that 'failure is not an if proposition, it’s a matter of when.' Or it used to be. Now that parents shelter their children every step of the way, we have 'failure deprived' college students (as administrators at Stanford and Harvard call them) and entitled, anxious 20-somethings who can’t function in a world that’s sometimes cold or cruel or indifferent. So how can teachers snatch back their critical role and give children the necessary space to fail? They could start by making parents read Lahey." (Read the rest of the review, in the

August 23, 2015 edition of the New York Times Deeply rooted in research, Lahey's book will help parents learn how to instill the next generation with resilience, confidence and joy by teaching children how to fail. After all, learning from mistakes is where we learn the most. Research shows that anxiety in students is directly tied to the lack of skills to handle difficult situations, which can only come from actually tackling difficult or challenging situations and making mistakes. These experiences help kids to build resilience and skills to cope with life’s twists and turns. They ultimately help to foster resistance to stress and other related illnesses like anxiety in the long run. (Resilience for Anxious Students, Leah Shafer)

Attaining the book: Parents can attain their own book by ordering an electronic copy or hard copy. The school will also order some for lending purposes or buying. The library will have some copies on Kindle to lend as well. Parents of Middle school and High School students, are welcome to join me as we learn these and other valua-ble parenting tools every Tuesday morning from 7:30-8:30 in the Green Room from January 16 to March 20. I hope you can find the time to join us. If you are interested, please contact

Ms. Virginia at [email protected]

FROM THE MIDDLE SCHOOL COUNSELOR, MS. VIRGINIA:

The Gift of Failure Opens Parenting Talks What: Parent book study/discussion group Who: Middle School Parents When: Every Tuesday, Jan 16-March 20 Where: Green Room

Student checkouts are CLOSED. This means that if children want books checked out, their parents have to come and check them out for them.

Hello Everyone, Best wishes to all our families for

the holidays and the New Year! Safety and health is what I wish for

everyone!

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/books/review/the-gift-of-failure-by-jessica-lahey.html)




DECEMBER 01-12

Sofia KKh Consoled another student when she was sad and the stu-dent’s parent was very touched.

Teddy KKh Helped a student to find a seat in the cafeteria when he couldn't find one

Siem 4S Walked back from his group of friends to open a door when he noticed the teacher’s hands were full

Emilia 2D Helped a Kinder student to feel safe when he got scared by the crowd of “big kids” around him.

Sirui 2J Kindly and patiently allowed other students a turn to use her binoculars after school

Nicole 4S Always takes time to gently and patiently help and guide other kids who may be struggling in a particular area.

TREE KINDNESS

Thank you for taking the time to complete the cafeteria survey. Please click here to preview the results. Based on the feedback the following has been recommended; High School Students and Staff will

be asked to pre-order hot lunches by 8:30 am

Students from MS & HS will be invited to assist in planning the menu for month of January.

A student will not be allowed to pay for another student's purchases.

Please look out for further details in the January Newsletters

We also wish to remind you to check your Skyward Account on a daily basis and to use the cafeteria feedback form in Skyward should you wish to give feedback on the cafeteria to the cafeteria committee. Should you have any concerns please contact the cafeteria committee members. Warm Regards, Michelle Clarke Cafeteria Committee

SURVEY

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EpU-yhprfwTNsdAQbnkQa2YSyVoos4bp/view?usp=sharing



BY ASHMIR ALI

Ca

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Ath

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B

y: A

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mir

Ali

CAISSA:

CAISSA “Togetherness” is upon us…

...and we are in desperate need of housing for our guests. Be a part of the tournament, house athletes.

Ways to Show Support:

Support by coming out to games, by hosting visiting student-athletes, wearing our Caimans’ T-Shirts and colours, and by sponsoring. You must be part of the excitement. Be there!

We will kick off the excitement with our Pep Rally. You can look forward to Boys’ Basketball and Girls Round Robin games, a fantastic Rock Out Concert, a fun filled Family Day and the Grand Finale: the Championship Game Day.

CAISSA T-shirts (Just $60 TTD)

On sale after the break for all supporters.

All parents and members of the community who would like to support the event by supplying sports drinks, bottled water, fruits and other food items or in any other way can also contact Physical Education Department. Your assistance is vital to hosting a successful event for the entire school community. Please call (620-6866) or email ([email protected]) if you are interested in assisting.

Make “Togetherness” the best CAISSA ever!!

Sports Team Development Program:

Our new program is gaining momentum and students are starting to register. This can only improve our kids and how we participate in sport.

We would also like to welcome our newest member to our coaching staff, Paul Decle. Paul adds a wealth of experience and is an excellent team member. He will join Teleshia joseph, Karl Brown and Imran Gopaul as ISPS Soccer Coaches. (See next page)




After School Activities:

Click here for the registration forms for ASA Season 2.

Please register before 12th January, 2018 to ensure a place in your favoured activity and to facilitate a smooth start of ASA 2.

Thank you very much for supporting the ASA and Athletic Programs.

SPORTS TEAMS Development Program: This is for Basketball, Soccer, Volleyball and Rugby. These clubs will range in grades

from 3 to 12.

These clubs will run throughout the year in three Seasons- August to December, January to March and March to June.

Students will train two days every week for ninety minutes. Or, three times if they are preparing for a major tournament.

Interested students will pay to register ($600 TTD, see form below) for each club at the beginning of each season.

Coaches will be responsible for entering tournaments, organising tournaments and setting up friendlies.

Students will be responsible for purchasing their own training kits and uniforms.

Only students from these clubs will be selected for CAISSA teams, Local League games, other tournaments and friendlies.

This will not interfere with our existing After School Activity program as students are free to register for the activities of their choice.

Rationale for this program:

This program will ensure the continuity and quality of our sports teams.

This will provide parents and students opportunities for further develop-ment in the sport of their choice year round.

Our teams will be in training throughout the year and not seasonal.

Training Schedule for Developmental Sports Teams

MON TUE WED THUR FRI SAT

3:45-5:15 PM Basketball Grades 3 -12


3:45-5:15 PM Rugby Grades 3-12

3:45-5:15 PM Volleyball Grades 3 -12


7:30-9:00 AM Rugby Grades 3-12

3:45-5:15 PM Soccer Grades 3 -12



2:00-5:00 PM Volleyball Grades 3 -12

THIS IS A PILOT PROGRAM THAT WILL RUN FROM JANUARY 8TH TO MARCH 22ND

IT WILL BE MONITORED CLOSELY

ISPS Registration Form for Sports Teams Developmental Program Complete this form and return with payment to the Front Desk no later than

Friday 12th January, 2018.

Student Name: ________________________________

Grade: _______________

Tick off Sport that you would like to be involved in:

Basketball Soccer Volleyball Rugby

Total Paid: _________________

Parent’s Name: ____________________

Parent’s Signature: ___________ Date: ____/____/________

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GQsvZ8iP-TvYLZsTpsQU--18lcDxAmBY/view?usp=sharing



THE COMPETITION The Institution of Structural Engineers is having their 10th annual design and build competition on the 27th January 2018. Teams of students will compete to design, build and test to failure an enclosed stadium roof (space frame) formed with Bamboo Skewers and String. As such, we will be having our internal competition to decide on the delegation to represent ISPS. Although the official competition is only open to high schoolers, ALL ISPS Students are invited to participate internally. GUIDELINES The structure must have a minimum plan dimension of 350 mm. Send an email to [email protected] to register the house teams of 6 and get a full copy of the rules. House Teams will be asked to test their structure by loading a provided platform at the center of the span until it collapses. INTERNAL COMPETITION Wednesday 10, January, 2018

MATERIALS 75 Bamboo Skewers (each skewer is approx. 300 mm)

String (Crochet Knitting Yarn 20-50 yards, approx. 46m)




SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT

1 2

11:30am Dismissal for ES Only Elementary Parent/Teacher Conferences 12:00 - 3:30pm

SATs 7:30am - 2:00pm NHS Christmas Bingo Fundraiser 4:00 - 9:00pm

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 MS Parent Discus-

sion Group 7:30 - 8:30am Green Room

Open Forum 7:00-9:00pm Cafeteria

MS G6 Lock-In 2:30pm

ACTs 7:30am - 2:00pm MS G6 Lock-In 9:00am

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 MS Parent

Discussion Group 7:30 - 8:30am Green Room

HS Exams HS Exams ES Holiday Production 6:00 - 7:30pm

HS Exams ES Holiday Production 1:00 - 2:30pm

Last Day of School 11:30am All School Dismissal

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Start of Christmas

Break

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Christmas Day Boxing Day

31 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– N O T E S ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

International School of Port of Spain

2017 - 2018 Events Calendar

DECEMBER 2017



International School of Port of Spain

2017 - 2018 Events Calendar

JANUARY 2018 SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT

1 2 3 4 5 6

New Year's Day National Holiday

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 School Resumes

All-School Design and Build Competition 11:30am - 2:00pm Gym

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 MS/HS Parent


Yearbook Retakes & Staff Photo 7:30am - 12:30pm Theatre & Green court

HS Music Recital 8:00 - 9:00am Theatre

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 MS/HS Parent


CAISSA Season 2 I S P S CAISSA PEP Rally 2:00 - 2:30pm Gym

CAISSA Season 2 I S P S Opening Ceremony Gym

CAISSA Season 2 I S P S End Q2 MS/HS Rock Out with Reach Out 2 6:30 - 10:30pm North Field

CAISSA Season 2 I S P S PTO Family Day CAISSA Closing Ceremony 7:00 - 9:30pm Theatre & Gym

28 29 30 31 MS/HS Parent


–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– N O T E S ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––



There were about 10 parents present at the Open Forum. The meeting began at 7:00pm

The Forum began with a discussion about the 2018-19 school calendar. The parameters identified by the Board during the 2016-17 school year were applied in forming the 2018-19 calendar. The parameters are; school starts in late August, there is a one week break in October, a three week break for Christmas, a one week break for Carnival, a two week break for easter and the school year finishes in June. This may change slightly from year to year, given public holidays in T&T.

Late Start Wednesdays will continue in the 2018-19 calendar.

There was a discussion about the ISPS Administrative Structure for the 2018-19 school year.

For the 2017-18 school year, the administrative structure has been; a full time Principal for ES (165 students), a full time Principal for MS (90 students), and a High School Leadership Team (HSL) (138 students). While the HSL has been working well, the supervision of staff in the HS is being done by the Director of the school. Given the student numbers, a full time Principal in MS is not needed. However, by giving administrative responsibilities of both the MS and HS to one person, supported by academic deans, makes the greatest sense for ISPS into the future. This position will be advertised shortly, internally, in the T&T papers and on Caribbeanjobs.com.

The MS and HS Academic Program will remain as it is. We will continue to offer the IB MYP in grades 6-10 and the AP Program in grades 11-12.

The new structure for the competitive sports program at ISPS was discussed. For parents not familiar with the programme, I offer a bit of a background. For many years we have been asked by parents of ES and MS parents to offer a competitive sports program. In order to accommodate this request we had to re-structure our current competitive options in the ES. Therefore, beginning in January, we will be offering competitive football (soccer), volleyball, basketball, and Rugby through-out the year. Children will have the opportunity to select one or more of these sports for the entire year. Coaches will arrange tournaments and join the local leagues for competitions. A fee will be charged to parents for participation and chil-dren will have the flexibility of moving from one sport to another during the year.

We believe this re-structuring accomplishes three goals. It gives parents what they have been asking for for many years. It gives students what they have been wanting for many years. And it will help ISPS develop competitive teams which will be able to join local competitions throughout the school year.

Other topics of discussion at the Forum were:

Grade 6 homework levels seem to be high. One parent said their child was getting ¾ hrs of homework a night, another Grade 6 parent said their child was not getting enough homework. The action item from this was that I will ask the Grade 6 team to look into the potential issue.

The general feeling of parents who attended the Forum did not like the setup of the MS and HS conferences. Action item from this is that I will look into a system of scheduling conference meeting times in advance.

There was a question about the reintroduction of HS Exams. It was explained that we felt that kids needed the experience of “taking exams” as it was noted by HS teachers that “exam taking skills” had been lost. Exams are a part of the AP programme and we need to teach exam taking skills.

There was a concern raised about the cafeteria regarding the quality of the food and the quantity of items with high sugar levels. It was pointed out that there is a cafeteria committee and that concerns can now be lodged through Skyward. Those concerns get sent to the committee, who meet regularly with the service providers.

The meeting finished at about 8:45pm

Minutes from the Open Forum held on December 6, 2017

Documents

Thursday 14th December, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL … · Juanes version here Mi burrito sabanero Rebecca Tompsett Language Acquisition QUIK READS GREAT letters of recommenda-tion