Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year, everyone!! We hope the summer break was refreshing and fulfilling for all of you and that your travels are bringing you safely to our midst for school opening. For those newly joining us, welcome to the family and we hope our earlier message reached you without difficulty.
It’s an exciting year for the American School of Warsaw, building on the success of last year as we refined our programs and brought stability to our range of options and services. We welcome a recently adopted and ready to launch set of Core Values that will guide our work this year and beyond, the aspirational qualities of ASW and what we hope to become as the future unfolds. Core Values form the important foundation of the strategic work that will follow. We are very excited about sharing this work as part of the opening of the school year in the coming days. So, stay tuned and look for some exciting details on the near horizon.
This newsletter will come each week to your mailbox. This is a combined newsletter that works in conjunction with our website and PowerSchool interface. Please click on the buttons to get to important sections, but be sure to scroll through the information provided each week to make sure you have all of the important information from each of our divisions and departments.
We have a wonderful team of educators and leaders ready to greet your children on the first day, assuring a unique experience in the early days of the school year. We open with an enrolment of 997 and are finishing our welcome of 10 new faculty and 2 new administrators, who will be joining returning faculty next week for our annual preparation activities.
As usual, all of our summer teams have worked hard to assure that the facility has been prepared for your arrival and you will see a small number of changes in rooms and common spaces as you explore the building.
One important note: Please be sure to become an active PTO member and look for welcome meetings to attend and committees where you can make a contribution of your time and talent toward enhancing our sense of community. PTO is, by board policy, empowered to assure that we have a wonderful set of events and activities throughout the year to reinforce and enhance our strong sense of community. This is an important time of year to build new relationships, renew collaborations, and enhance what we do to make ASW such a special place for all of us.
Here’s a summary of the key events in the first week:
- First Day of School, August 22, 8:30 am
- New Family & Student Orientation, Monday, August 21, 9:00a, Cafeteria
- Director’s Welcome Back Coffee, Tuesday, August 22, 8:45a, Cafeteria
- PTO Kickoff General Meeting, Thursday, August 24, 8:45a, Multi-Purpose Room
Also, remember that the school start and end times have been adjusted for this year, and are summarized below. Wednesday morning late start begins with the first week of school:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday
Student arrival – no earlier than 8:00 am
School starts for Grades 11-12 at 8:20 am
School starts for PK-10 at 8:30 am
School ends for Grades 11-12 at 3:20 pm
School ends for PK-10 at 3:30 pmWednesday (Late Start for students)
Student arrival – no earlier than 8:45 am
School starts for all at 9:30 am
School ends for all at 3:30 pm
I encourage all families to subscribe and participate in the Director’s blog – Zimplicity! Please join the conversation here: https://zimplicity.org You have opportunities to add your comments and responses to my ongoing dialog with the community. Each week’s newsletter will include the link so that you can easily join. All of the history of last year’s entries is there as well.
Best wishes to all for a wonderful first week and a successful new year!
Mr. Z