Friday, 29 September, 2017

Dear faculty,  

Parents have already shared feedback on how impressed they were with the preparation of the conferences held this week. Thank you all for the effort and care you took in setting up for these.

Thank you’s

• Jack, Amy, Becky, Lily, Deepa, Keeley, Bindu, Vanessa, Sam, Jyotsna, Sobha, Megha, Tiffany, Kristina who contributed names of students demonstrating traits from our AISC vision of a learner.
• Alex and Rachael for sorting and distributing hundreds and hundreds of books that were pulled out of storage.
• Those who covered duties through the week.
• Mona for being such a huge help in my transition into the classroom. I am so impressed by her level of responsibility, professionalism, and reliability. (from Vanessa).
• Adithya, Uma, Za, Evelyn, Hilary and Leontheen for providing such able help and support covering for teachers who were working with Erma this week.
• Carl, Rachael and Alex for presenting at the newbie lunch today.
• Newbies for attending a newbie lunch this week.

Some confusion over our start time; to be clear; our work day begins at 8am. We appreciate those who are ready and present in and around their classrooms/offices by this time as it helps us with arranging substitute cover and passing on important information to begin the school day.  

However, we understand that meetings are taking place before school, or some of you are collaborating in other spaces at this time, and may not get into your actual classroom until closer to 8:15am. Please know our above appreciation is a preference, not a rule; it is appreciated because it makes our lives a lot easier and the day run smoother for all!  

Mehendi Cones
These will be sent to your classes on Tuesday. Please choose a convenient time for this activity during the course of October (preferably on their performance week). TAs can help with this and older students can choose to do this for each other. This is an optional activity.

What is Mehendi?

Leaves of the henna plant made into paste and filled in a cone. This is a temporary tattoo that will last about a week. We use this for decorating palms and feet on special occasions.  

Next Wednesday Faculty Meeting

We will be working again in ES Curriculum Area Teams - look for information from your CAL.

Virtual Learning Day training preparation
Dear Colleagues, please take a moment to complete this survey about skills needed to do a  VLD. Your response will provide us with important feedback that will help us organise trainings to improve our Continuity of Instruction Plan.   

Reporting Timeline

We will have another work session on SBAR, on Wednesday October 11. We are updating the style guide and will get that to you next week.

Weds 1 November	faculty meeting dedicated to reports; time could be used for entering proficiency levels (MP/B/P/IA) writing narrative comments, or for proofing a colleague’s narratives
By Friday 3rd	Narratives written on google doc and given to proofing buddy in triad/team
Monday 6th EoD	report card narratives (google doc) due to admin for final proofing
Thursday 9th	Admin proof reports  (will return as completed)
Monday 13 Nov	Reports returned to teachers, can begin entering narratives into powerschool
Wednesday 15 Nov	All report information entered into Powerschool
Friday 17  Nov	Reports go live to parents

Personal Update from Lori and Carl

Vacation opportunities now exist in Tunis where Lori will be the ES Principal and Carl will be a secondary art teacher.

Have a great long weekend!

Keryn and Lori