April 23rd, 2008

______________________________________________________________________________________
April 23rd, 2008

Dear Parents,

I am sure that everyone is excited to see the start of Term III. As with most Term III’s we can expect this to be a very busy period of time with numerous events, fieldtrips, activities, etc… Of course, there should be a considerable amount of work involved as well.Everyone should have received a copy of the activities letter—which needs to be returned as soon as possible. Activities are scheduled to start on Monday, April 28th, and as such registration forms need to be in by Thursday in order for them to be returned on Friday. I hope that parents are impressed with the number of activities being offered this term. The junior section is working very hard to put together wide variety of choices that should supplement the learning that is taking place in the classrooms. Please note that some students will be required to participate in the Reading/Math support classes—and this will be indicated on the registration forms when they are returned.As indicated in previous letters, the swimming programme came to a close at the end of term II. The alterations to the programme were more or less successful—though there are some adjustments that will be made for next year. The smaller class sizes, twice a week schedule, and bus transportation all contributed to more time in the pool with effective coaching—which should mean a more effective programme overall. That being said we can still do more to make it better, and we are already looking at these changes for next year. We would also like to thank the number of parents who made themselves available for additional supervision on the bus and in the changerooms.On the subject of parent support at the school, a number of parents have expressed an interest in providing classroom support and general support throughout the junior section. As such, I would like to invite interested parents to attend a quick meeting after school Friday (1:45pm-2:00pm) in my classroom, whereby we can discuss different opportunities for parental involvement/support in the Junior Section.

There will be some changes to the routines of the Junior Section. With the upcoming Senior School exams, we will no longer have access to the Hall, and as such we will be moving our Late Class. Also, the library has moved so parents will have to go upstairs in the new building to track down their children. Once exams start the late class timetable will be as follows:

Again, this late class continues to be a problem in that too many parents are abusing the system. In order for this system to work we need parental support, and children need to be collected on time.

Please note that there is a Swimming Competition this Saturday for those students involved in the Swimming Programme. Ms. Hazel has already informed those students who are competing, but they are reminded to be at the pool no later than 8:30am (pick up at 10:30am). Also, the Primary Boys are playing in their first match at the Mont Fleuri Field on Saturday at 9:00am. Please come out and support our ISS Junior athletes.

Please contact me at the school is you have any questions or comments

Sincerely,

Ryan Sargeant
HOS—Junior

______________________________________________________________________________________