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Weekly Newsletter 11th January 2012

Dear Parents, Happy New Year and welcome back to TIS! I hope that you have had a peaceful and rejuvenating winter break; we look forward to the many activities that will bring our community together this year. The planning for the Spring Ball (March 31st) is well–advanced, so please support your respective room parents with regards to the ‘baskets’ for the silent auction. Another important event in our forthcoming calendar is the Elementary and Secondary School student-led conferences on Friday 6th April. As this is Good Friday, we have had a few requests to postpone the date to allow some of our parents to observe this religious day; as a result, we will hold the conferences on the following Monday, 9th April. With regards to next year’s calendar, the first draft has been approved by the Board and will be posted this week on our website. Planning for the next academic year is well underway and from 17th January I will be in London recruiting new teachers; firstly to replace any of those who might be leaving, but also to seek additional teachers as we expand the faculty to keep pace with staffing levels as the school continues to grow; I will be returning on 31st January.

Regards,

Robert Brindley

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ELEMENTARY NEWS

It’s been wonderful to see our students’ smiling faces fill the halls of TIS again. The snow and cold weather are great fun for children, please be sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather. Students often come in from recess with wet clothing; please send a change of socks and pants to change into. TIS Elementary Talent Show On Friday 20th January from 6:00pm to 7:30pm Elementary Student Council will present their first talent show of 2012. The sign-up sheet is outside Ms. Liz’s office. Entrance will be 5,000 sum (at the door) to raise money for the Akkurgon Internat Orphanage. Please email to Ms. Liz pypcoord@tashschool.org . Head Lice Policy Reminder Prior to the Winter Holiday, we had an outbreak of head lice in the elementary. Head lice is common in schools, and we will call the clinic for spot checks this spring. In the meantime, please take care to prevent infestation by following the Clinic’s recommended treatment. Head Lice Management – Information from the Tashkent International Medical Clinic There is a large amount of conflicting information available to parents and health care providers on the best way to treat head lice. For parents, this makes a distressing event even more frustrating. Wet combing is a widely recommended method of detection and treatment of head lice by local health authorities. The method is particularly suited to parents who are searching for a method that does not involve the use of pesticides such as malathion or permethrin. Wet combing is recommended by most state health authorities as an alternative method for tackling the problem of insecticide-resistant head lice. Wet-Combing Technique: · Wash your child’s hair as normal. · Apply a huge amount of conditioner and leave in for 30 minutes. · Comb hair with special “nit comb.” · Wash off conditioner and check for remaining eggs. · Repeat twice weekly for two weeks in order to remove lice emerging from eggs before they · can spread. The success rate of this method is entirely dependent on the compliance of the parents! If you have further questions, please contact the Tashkent International Medical Clinic. Again, welcome back. I look forward to working with you this term to ensure our children have an engaging, academically challenging, and fun semester. Respectfully,

Kristen DiMatteo Elementary Principal

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SECONDARY NEWS

Welcome back to a new year. I have been enjoying finding out from our students about the many different places they travelled to and visited during the holiday. I hope everyone has returned feeling refreshed and ready for the challenges of 2012. Speaking of challenges…

Internal Assessments and Semester Exams Next week, students in Grades 9, 10 and 11 will be sitting internal assessments and exams. A schedule of the times will be posted in your child’s Homeroom and will be emailed home for parents, tomorrow. Please note that students in Grades 10 and 11 will have some ‘Study Leave’ time in order to prepare for the assessments. Students are expected to be off campus during these times and they should use the opportunity to work in preparation for the testing. For our MYP students (G9 and 10) these assessments make up part of their regular ongoing assessments and the grades will be used as another assessment piece for report grades at the end of the semester. Although students will be aware of their grades, we will not be publishing specific, separate grades for these tests on the reports. Semester One Reports (Grades 6-11) These reports will be sent home to parents on Tuesday 31st January. I will include more information about the reports, next week. This is just to let you know to expect them. Now would be a great time to start a conversation with your child about how school is going and what areas they feel are successful at the moment and where they need to focus their energy for improvements. Upcoming Events

Monday 16th – Friday 20th: Grades 9, 10 and 11 Internal Assessment and Exam Week Monday 23rd January: Semester Two begins Tuesday 31st January: Grades 6-11 Semester One Reports sent home

Respectfully,

Andrew Buckman Secondary Principal

Strategic Plan – Secondary Library Parents and faculty interested in serving on a Secondary Library committee to discuss and help formulate the library’s strategic plan should send an email expressing interest to the librarian, Susan Waterworth, at susanw@tashschool.org. Thank you.

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Sport: (Ms. Moss & Mr. Andrey)

Future TIS Owls Sporting fixtures

Saturday, January 14th

Time Teams 11:00 am TIS JV G – School # 135

12:00 pm TIS JV B – School # 135

1:00 pm TIS V G – Yangyul

2:00 pm TIS V B – School # 168

TIS LEAGUE – 20 Teams, 4 divisions all competing for the ultimate goal: TIS Champion! Action gets underway Saturday, January 8th. Hope to see you in the gym supporting our Owls! Central Asian Basketball Classic – March 7th – 10th, 2012. We are very excited to be hosting the 10th Annual CABC tournament this year. With three international schools coming from outside of Uzbekistan it promises to be an exciting 4 days of basketball. As we move closer to the date our Sports Council will be seeking assistance of our TIS community to help make this the best ever CABC. Stay tuned!

Middle Years Programme Happenings

Grade 6 Physical Education – Movement Composition Unit (Mr. Arif) AOI Focus: Human Ingenuity Unit question: What impacts composition? Significant concept: By combining our prior knowledge with being open to new experience we can expand ourselves. Task: By working in group of 2 or 3 combine the dance movements that you have learned with creative new ones into a unique routine to the music provided. Student Reflections taken from their unit booklet: We used the 6’C of teamwork and that’s why we finished up with our dance and made it a good one……….The feedback I got from my partner is very honest. I understand why he gave me that score……We have improved dramatically since the last time we practiced… I think we are ready for our final performance but I am nervous and also don’t want to let my partner down .I enjoy being in a group with my partner a lot….. I have learned that if I try hard then I can do well…….. The dance project was amazing and fun…….

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After I received the feedback from my partner, I found the things that I need to improve. It was good for me to know……………….. I am really happy with our accomplishments….I think that I learnt more about communication during this project…My partner’s characteristics are very different that my other friends, but that’s a great thing; because I learned that I can communicate with different people…….Me and my partner were always honest to each other whenever we had a concern…I feel good to have a feedback from my partner….. We are very excited and nervous for the upcoming performance but we are also anxious to perform…….. I enjoyed a lot getting to make up a dance routine…..When I forgot my move my partner improvised and I am thankful to her for that……. I never worked with my partner before……….Now we are friends……….

PTA NEWS Welcome back everyone and Happy New Year!

Next PTA meeting:

Educational Focus on Thursday 19 January 2012 at 2:30 in the MPR.

Annual General Meeting of the TIS Parent Teacher Association and Potluck Supper: Wednesday 8 February 2012, 6:30 pm in the MPR

Sale of P.E. Uniforms: 24 and 25 January from 3:00 to 4:00 pm 26 January from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm (Half day)

Celebrations to the end of JANUARY

USA, 16 January – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (3rd Monday of January)

Australia, 26 January – Australia Day

India, 26 January – Republic Day

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UN Day posters Now on sale in the school office 25,000 soums