Author: jzurfluh

A few quick updates in this edition…

UN Day tomorrow!!
Setup has begun and we are getting ready for a busy and wonderful day!  Assembly begins at 9:00 a.m. – seating (and standing room) will be available at 8:45a. Livestream is here:

https://livestream.com/accounts/15498644/events/7790464

To all the parents and particularly to the coordination under PTO and the capable leadership of Jessica Sirotin, we all thank you in advance for everything that will be on display tomorrow for all of our community, celebrating our diversity in wonderfully special ways.  Students will remember these experiences for many years to come and your sharing of time and talents is an important part of the Warrior spirit!!  Thank you, one and all!!

Admissions Survey
We still need your input on our Admissions Survey.  If you haven’t done so already, please head to this link and complete it if you will be leaving mid-year or if you plan to enroll additional siblings next year.  That survey is here:

https://goo.gl/forms/HWUEtDqJ4mlJ2dKz1

Safety and Security
We have had recent reports confirmed by police of home invasion robbery in the local area.  This is a general security reminder to all with regards to personal safety and security in your homes.  You should:

• Lock doors at all times, even if at home (this includes vehicles)
• Use your alarm (if one is installed)
• Ensure that items that could be used to force entry into a home are not left unsecured on your property.
• Report all suspicious activity to local law enforcement (Dial 112)

In regards to personal safety, it is always good to refresh your practices and make sure you have emergency contact numbers handy and report anything out of the ordinary to the local authorities.

And, Finally…
Wishing all a wonderful Fall Break next week!!  Whether you are traveling to a new adventure or staying in our own neighborhood, we wish you a nice mid-semester rest with renewed energy and enthusiasm for the Winter season that approaches.

At the administrative level and during this first part of the current school year, we often start thinking ahead to next school year and beyond.  It is our strategic nature to reflect on the results of our initiatives and programs during this first part of the year and think about the next year and how we will improve or otherwise sustain our work going forward.  While many professions experience this cyclical aspect to their work, education is particularly suited to an annual “do over” that allows us to get better and better with each iteration.

Our work in strategic planning is a key example.  While we work toward implementing our new core values, we are already considering the gaps that are being identified between what we are, and what we want to become.  The next phase of strategic planning is to translate these experiences into tactics that accomplish the aspirational work represented by our 5 values.  The results of Accreditation Self-Study will also inform this work.

But, we are also planning for the more operational aspects of school growth and assessing our overall school population in the face of growing demand.  At our most recent board meeting, we reported the lowest turnover rate on record for ASW and how this increased pressure has created waiting list at most grade levels.  To that end and in order to more effectively gauge our response to the upcoming registration season and the potential for turnover during the winter holidays, we would like you to take our annual survey from admissions.  In this survey, we want to know about the potential for mid-year departure and your early notification to us will help us place some of the students currently on our waiting lists.  But, we also want to know about younger siblings that will be applying for next year and with this message we want to inform you that current families of ASW are now allowed to apply early for admission of younger siblings for the 2018-2019 school year.  If you are planning to apply for next year, please fill out our survey and we will contact you with more details.  Thank you in advance for filling out our survey.  We want to hear from everyone in order to plan effectively for the remainder of this year and for next year.  Click here to complete the survey.  It will only take one minute of your time.

https://goo.gl/forms/HWUEtDqJ4mlJ2dKz1

Finally, looking forward to seeing you at United Nations Day which is fast approaching.  We are working out final details and a seperate message about our event will be coming shortly.  Very excited to see our diversity on display in all its pageantry!!

This week it is time to pause and reflect in the aftermath of a horrible tragedy in Las Vegas and contemplate our response to this and other tragedies around the world.  We’ve just emerged from multiple storms and significant human suffering in the United States, the crisis with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the multiple war and conflict fronts around the world, and now the worst mass shooting in US modern history.

First and foremost, we reach out our thoughts and prayers to all who may have been impacted by this string of misfortune.  We know that often members of our own community are connected through family and acquaintance with those who have been harmed by these events.  Our hearts reach out to those who are impacted by violence, no matter where or how.  Our most important human quality is our compassion for those in need and for those we have lost.

Please know that conversations at school often try to help students, in age appropriate ways, understand the bombardment of media and gossip.  We create open forums for expressing ideas and reflections on feelings that emerge in the shadow of significant events.  We will always try to make sure that this dialog is respectful and open to different points of view, valuing all in a comfortable and academic dialog.

Because we value diversity, I would also suggest that ASW, like schools of our nature around the world, aspire to values that seek to resolve conflict through peaceful means.  One of our most important values, and one that will be on display in all pageantry on United Nations Day, is the message of inclusiveness.  The idea that we can all sit together, seek redress to our concerns and not be excluded because our ideas or backgrounds are different than those across the table.  In fact, we not only embrace that diversity, we depend upon it to help us see things in ways we might not have considered – ways that can help us solve the problems that future generations must tackle.

Please join me in encouraging in our children, the ones we raise together as a village, to keep open minds and engaged hearts in all their encounters in life.  We are hopeful that the children we prepare today will find ways to eliminate the tools of violence in favor of ensuring that solutions to world problems are inclusive and empowering to all.

We are working with the Board of Trustees with various governance items starting from last year that includes updates to all of our policies.  This is also linked to our ongoing accreditation work and standards in the accreditation protocol suggest that policy is well written and effectively followed.  Our current policy manual with edits that were completed last year is available for review on the school website at the following link:

Board Policy 2017-2018

One such policy that underwent review last year is our attendance policy.  While we have always had language in our admissions and re-enrollment policy that speaks to attendance being a factor in consideration of students, the policy manual lacked clearer guidelines for attendance and the school’s expectations.  At the core, the overall effectiveness of school programs requires generally regular attendance.  The current attendance policy is here for your reference:

Policy 8.10 from Board Policy 2017-2018

This policy establishes standards that are incrementally more rigorous based on the age of the child and the growing importance of full engagement in increasingly rigorous content. But, the policy is clear that it can also be responsive to unforeseen circumstances of illness or family emergency and we encourage parents to approach principals when this is likely as soon as known.

We are still aligning our systems to report effectively relative to the policy.  For example, there is no more need for differentiating between excused and unexcused absences.  As stated in the policy, all absences are treated equally with regards to the limits established in the policy.  This encourages parent and student conversations that plan ahead for absences associated with activities and athletics to assure that potential total absences are considered.  As a school, we want to be thoughtful in the implementation of this policy and we do encourage parents to contact us early when mitigating circumstances force a conversation about student attendance.  We are always happy to discuss this with you at your discretion and as an important part of our partnership.

 

Dear Parents,

We are expanding our protocol this year and hoping to encourage greater involvement in our public board meetings.  Our first meeting of the year is Monday, September 25 at 6:00 p.m. in the MPR.  The advance packet of materials for the board meeting is published and available at the following link:

September Board Packet – Public

There is an opportunity for public comment incorporated into the agenda.  Information is available at the meeting on how to signup for this segment of the meeting.

School governance is a collaborative process and we look forward to your review and involvement.

Best Regards,

Jon P. Zurfluh
Director

 

School Photos

Last year we received good feedback from parents regarding our selection process and experience with a new school photographer.  As a result of that input, we entered into an open bid process again this year hoping to seek a new vendor for our school pictures.  We included additional parent input on that process from those who volunteered to assist.   In the end, as has already been included in prior newsletters, we are set to welcome Jesse Long to our campus on a pilot program using a true global photographer.  Jesse is well known to many of us in the international world and he has taken pictures for schools throughout SouthEast Asia as well as the European theater.  We are very excited to welcome Jesse to our campus and look forward to his interactions with students during the week long schedule of group and individual photo settings.  See your divisional news below for dates specific to each grade and divisional level.  If you need the order form, which must be returned on your child’s individual photographs day, you can click HERE and download it for printing if it somehow doesn’t make it home with your student.  A headmaster I heard about often quipped that the best unknown treasures lie in the bottom of your child’s backpack!

Danger Area

Please see the location in the map below that is near the school on the road we all use for traveling to the center of Warsaw.  We have become aware that this intersection has become very dangerous for drivers and bicycle riders due to the excessive speeds that are being used.  There have been a number of incidents at this intersection in recent weeks and it was devastating to find out that there was a bicycle fatality that many of you may witnessed on your way to the PTO BBQ on Saturday.  This is the location in question:

After reviewing the information available to us, we are recommending that all bicyclists avoid this intersection entirely.  The crosswalk shown here is insufficiently lit for crossing and the high speed of cars in this corridor and lack of traffic light will continue to make this an unsafe area to cross.  We would recommend that all inbound and outbound bicyclists continue on the 724 on either side of the road to the intersectionfurther south and use the traffic light to cross in this vicinity:

 

In order to dismiss rumors, one of our school teachers, Mr. McKenty, was one of the first on site at the fatality accident on Saturday and offered assistance, but others had already arrived and provided initial support to the victim as emergency services were responding.

We continue to recommend that all bicycle riders wear helmets at all times.  Even on short rides to school from nearby communities, building safe habits early is critical to make sure you are safe on the road at all times.  Remember also that all bikes must be walked within the boundary of the campus no matter which entrance gate is used.  Bicycles should all be parked in provided racks near all of the main entrances to the school.  Stay safe!!

United Nations Day

Just a quick note looking ahead.  We plan to have an all school assembly on United Nations Day on October 19th.  PTO and parents are already beginning to plan our United Nations Day this year and we have plans to kick off the day with an all school gathering at 9:00 a.m.  More details on United Nations Day will come home soon and we will also livestream the assembly so you can all participate from wherever you may be located.

Before my general thoughts this week, I wanted to offer a note of care and concern for those in our community that may have been touched by the devastating events in North America and the islands off her coast with the recent storms of Harvey and Irma.  I know that we have families and friends affected in Florida and further up the eastern coast and I’m guessing that many whom we know were also affected in Texas.  While I have heard mostly good news in the various reports of safety, I know that the challenges of the cleanup and recovery still lie ahead for these large populations and I know you all join me in wishing them well in addressing the challenges of the weeks and months ahead.

I’m always thoughtful about the changing seasons and how the cycle of the school year so closely matches the wisdom of mother nature.  With the waning days of summer, we are seeing the fruits of the final growing season all around us.  Similarly, the beginning work of the school year, fruits of our early labors, becomes the foundation of work that lies ahead, sustaining us through the deeper study and increasing independence in learning. With each iteration of the cycle, students find themselves more and more at the center of their learning until it leads them to the lifelong pursuits of profession and career. From the learning on display so far, I can only see great things ahead!

We have a particularly important waypoint coming up this weekend with the annual PTO BBQ on Saturday starting at 12:00p.  It is a wonderful time to build community and expand important relationships that will support and enrich us throughout the year.  Like at the PTO Mixer recently, it is a time where we encourage everyone to meet new people or find those that you maybe met recently and expand that relationship further.  We’ll have lots of entertainment, great food, and a unique opportunity to put your raffle tickets in on amazing baskets filled with valuable prizes gathered from our broader community.  This is the main annual fundraiser for the PTO and critical to their mission of supporting the school in important ways throughout the year.

It has been a great week back after a wonderful PTO event on the weekend.  Hopefully you took my challenge and got to know someone new at our mixer.  Now the work of the school year progresses in earnest.

First, we need to let you know about some schedule issues that will be affecting us in the coming weeks, starting with next Wednesday.  When planning this year’s calendar, we were faced with important work this semester on finishing our comprehensive review of the school through the accreditation process.  Like last year, we need time to complete this work and finish our report by December.  We scheduled, as we have done in the past, half days of school for students with staff continuing their work in committees and focus groups in the afternoon.  We have three of these that were established on the calendar last fall:

• September 13
• October 4
• November 8

This will be the last use of half days for ASW for the foreseeable future and is directly linked to our accreditation work, which is all but complete with these final reports and forums.

When we shifted the Wednesday early dismissal to late start, and our calendar decision to use Wednesday’s for accreditation work, we noted the conflict and understood that both together reduced the length of the day beyond a usable number of hours.  Seeking to assure a minimum half day of instructional time, we decided to make these three Wednesdays a normal start time rather than change the half days to other dates.  This is noted on all of our calendars and we are also sending reminders in other communications to make sure that all parents are aware for our first iteration of this next week.  Overall, the Wednesday late start has gone very well and we believe this feature of our schedule will carry forward.  But, it is unlikely that we will consider half day dismissals in future calendars.

Next month I’ll begin the process of  gathering input from all on our calendars for 2018-2019 and also 2019-2020.  I’ve carefully captured feedback from prior discussions and we will begin the drafting process now in preparation for ultimate board adoption in December.

Finally, my thanks to parents for their ongoing support of our grade level trips at all divisions.  Students, despite the wet conditions, are enjoying their excursions and engaged in important activities that will become a foundation for their learning and collaboration throughout the year.  My thanks to all who assisted in preparation and our sincere appreciation for the teachers and administrators who put in extra time and talent to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.

First a simple reminder to please join us at the PTO Mixer this Saturday at the Blue Cactus at 7:00 p.m.  Looking forward to seeing everyone for this important start of the year event.

Greetings from Arusha and the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge where TEDGlobal 2017 is taking place.  I’ve had a wonderful experience here amongst some of the most inspiring minds in the world touching on topics that span from leadership to infrastructure, education to the arts, and politics to social change.  It will be hard to articulate this experience in easy phrases.  As I enter into my final day here, I can only reflect on all of the inspiration and insight that I have gleaned in my time here that will certainly have impact on my growing perspective of global issues.  This TED Global has been a particularly special one because it is the 10th anniversary for TED from the first TEDGlobal held on this same spot in 2007.  Many of the speakers and attendees from that original conference were in attendance here, adding all the more to the experience.

One in particular is Patrick Awuah, a talented young mind at the time, who inspired myself and many other leaders around the world with his inspired talk in 2007.

I had lunch with Patrick today, reinforcing my belief in the importance of nurturing leadership in our students, built on a foundation of character and insight.  The best quote from the video above is the response from a student to his professor simply stating, “I am thinking now.  Thanks.” This is the thank you message that all educators plan and hope for as we inspire minds.  I was first introduced to Patrick’s video in 2008 while I was still in Shanghai.  His message has inspired my leadership voice and I was able to share that with him today.

The many messages of this conference will find their way into my messages in the coming months.  Our core value of reaching beyond the classroom requires that we all consider the global context of our work together.  With the significant international diversity that we enjoy at ASW, it is our urgent hope that we build the skills in our students to face the challenge of the global issues that we will all face in the coming decades.  Our students must be prepared to address those challenges.  They must start “thinking” now!

You can listen to some of my reflections from the conference on my podcasting audio feed on Anchor below.  If you want to go further with the interface and the associated app, you can also dial in with questions and offer comments on the content presented.  I plan to use Anchor throughout the year to expand on my thinking as Zimplicity continues its central role in my communication to all of you.

http://anchor.fm/missivez

My thanks to the community and the Board of Trustees for allowing my absence at this critical time of year to participate in this unique opportunity.  I look forward to all that might emerge from this experience to enrich our community and expand our capabilities.

Core Value Focus

When students arrived on Tuesday, there was a flurry of shrieks and calls as students reconnected with friends, distanced by the summer vacation and now back together again.  But, there was also the reaching out to get to know new students to our mix and honest attempts to reach out and engage them in the different activities of the day.  At lunch time, some of our advisories had lunch together and spent the time getting to know each other, forming new connections that will lead to growing friendships.  One of our Core Values speaks to stepping across boundaries, trying new things and reaching beyond to new possibilities.  At the parent coffee on Tuesday, I concluded my brief remarks with a challenge – it’s time to find that one or two parents you don’t know.  Not just amongst the new parents, but across cultural and language boundaries to find new connections and experience the foundation of community.  Like our students, reach beyond the initial learning and reject the “So, what?” attitude.  Turn those connections into partners and friends.  Build the community we all desire!

PTO General Meeting & Community Event

To help in getting you acquainted with others, we have two PTO events that are also noted in the PTO section of the newsletter:

• The PTO General Meeting is tomorrow, Thursday, at 8:45a in the MPR – we will have guides and posters directing you for those who are new
• PTO Adult Only Mixer at the Blue Cactus,   ul. Zaj?czkowska 11, Warsaw,  00-785.  Saturday, September 2nd – starting at 7:00pm

Purpose: To mix new & returning parents, faculty, and staff of ASW
Dress: Casual / to your taste
Four food stations provided
Live music, then DJ
Beverages provided by the PTO until 9pm then it becomes no-host

New Year, New Handle (and new Guest Wireless Access)

Please look for us on Twitter and other social media accounts under our new handle:  @ASW_Warsaw – Follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our Facebook page.

We’ve also changed the Guest Wireless Access password on campus.  When prompted, the new password is “corevalues@ASW” – the password is case sensitive and should be entered exactly as shown.  For most devices, you will only enter this password once and the device should remember the password until the next time it is changed.  We change this password only occasionally and you’ll find this access password posted around the school.  This password is just for guests to the ASW campus.  Students and staff access the school’s formal internal network using their username and password as before.

TEDGlobal 2017

I’m announcing today that I’m leaving for a short conference this weekend that is a long held dream of mine. As a long time supporter of the TED format and content, I was pleased when my application was approved for attendance at the TEDGlobal event that is being held next week.  I’m sorry to be gone so early in the school year, but it was a unique opportunity I could not miss.  I’ll be traveling to Tanzania for the conference and more information about the conference and the many ideas that likely will return with me can be found here:  https://tedglobal2017.ted.com/?tedconf   I’ll look forward to sharing my experience when I return.  I’ll be writing and submitting my Zimplicity and Newsletter article next week from Arusha!!

Everything’s coming together well after our opening with staff this week.  We all gathered on Monday, then took a break for the Polish national holiday on Tuesday, and settled back into our preparatory work today, getting ready for student arrival next week.  It’s been wonderful catching up with everyone as they return, hearing about summer adventures, new learnings from conferences and classes, and generally getting reconnected on the coming academic year.  I’m sure we’ll experience similar with families upon arrival.

Our focus this year revolves around our Board adopted Core Values that we presented to staff in June as culmination of a broad team of community designers who met over many weeks toward the end of last school year.  My thanks to those participants and especially to all of you who contributed to the Project Nest in our main entry area.  We have a new mission to share some of our developing plans and success stories as they develop in the first part of this year.  You are welcome to join in that conversation of how we start to live our values, telling the stories of your experience, both youth and adult, in aspiring to the tennets of our values.

So that you can start becoming familiar with them and begin crafting your own stories to give these values depth and insight, they are posted here for your review:

https://goo.gl/HSPWm1

I’ll have them out for vibrant conversation at our welcome coffee next week on Tuesday.  Looking forward to seeing all of you.  Enjoy your final weekend!

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 pm

Wednesday (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

It is important and appropriate to take this final newsletter opportunity to share my thanks and appreciation for a wonderful year, my first in Warsaw.  While my arrival was a bit of a whirlwind, I can now count myself as comfortable and settled in my new home.  I have a wonderful team of professionals at this school, administrative, faculty and staff, who make my job easy, each and every day!  We have a wonderful cadre of supportive parents that embrace and enhance the experiences of our children every day.  My warmest regards to all of you for a job well done this year!

Please take the time to watch our LiveStream of the closing ceremony if you were not able to attend!  The link is provided below:

https://livestream.com/accounts/15498644/events/7433986/videos/158559008/player?width=640&height=360&enableInfo=true&defaultDrawer=&autoPlay=false&mute=false

To  all of our families who are returning next year, I wish you a wonderful summer of rest, relaxation and fulfilling adventure!

To our families who are departing, we wish you the same, but also a smooth transition to your next new home, whether it be back to your home country or another place that further expands your horizon.  Always remember – once a Warrior, always a Warrior!

Looking forward to continuing the work that we all love and embrace.  Next year is shaping up to keep us engaged on this path of accomplishment.  I look forward to our continued partnership in this regard!

Mr. Z

This week, as we head into the final week of the school year, I’m repeating a section from last week to make sure that you review this information in preparation for next year.  Please take a moment to look at it in depth.  Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible next week at our closing ceremony.  If you are unable to attend, you’ll be able to watch via livestream at the following link:

https://www.aswarsaw.org/livestream/ceremonies

From last week’s newsletter:

Schedule and Tweaks for Next Year

After significant work on the part of the leadership team, we are moving forward to now implement and inform the community of our work on scheduling for next year.  This primarily applies to Upper School at both the middle and high level, but also have positive implications for Elementary scheduling.  One core component of these changes is better alignment with the IB philosophy that we are currently implementing, and particularly the alignment between the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and the Diploma Programme (DP).

But, this has been a broad based effort and we also intend to capitalize on this opportunity to improve other overall aspects of our daily schedule that in many ways have been carried forward year-on-year with little consideration for the inconveniences nor the opportunities that might exist.  With much research and with increasing competition for time and space, we have undertaken some key decisions that we are implementing next year:

1. We are making slight changes to our start and end of school times.  Starting next year, the school hours will be aligned and affirmed with school beginning at 8:30 a.m. and the end of school at 3:30 p.m.  Based on a number of scheduling requirements, this is a modest change that solves many problems.
2. The more significant change, introduced at a recent PTO meeting, is the change to the Wednesday schedule for next year.  The need for teacher work time continues and the small carve out that we have secured for a number of years is critical for ongoing curricular, planning, and accreditation work.  But, the administrative team and teachers have been considering all year the implications of the current structure, particularly in regards to after school programs and the availability of teachers to support and muster the important and growing array of activities and athletics.  After research involving review of other international schools, both in the region and around the world, we have decided to move to a late start rather than early dismissal on Wednesdays.  This means that the Wednesday school day for 2017-2018 will change to a 9:30 a.m. start and a 3:30 p.m. dismissal.
3. There will be a slight difference to the above schedule for our DP students in grades 11 and 12 that will have them starting at slightly adjusted times from the above.  This difference is small and should be easily managed, providing them with necessary alignment and offering them the additional minutes needed to their upper level studies.  More on this in August.

We will be working during the summer to prepare for a smooth transition to this model, including necessary morning supervision in our cafeteria and additional options for student support in the morning before school, while teachers are engaged in their work with colleagues.  We’ll be correcting our website and literature to align with this as well and will send reminders in August as families prepare for their return to a new school year.

Thanks in advance for your insight and partnership in adjusting to these changes.

Welcome to the next iteration of the new ASW newsletter.  As announced last week, we are in pilot mode, so please keep your comments coming back to the Communications Department as we continue to improve our publication.

There are many things that I’m sharing with you in Zimplicity this week that is linked from this newsletter as well as through my many subscribers, so please follow the link below to get an update on many fronts including Strategic Planning, the Project Nest, changes coming next year, and our new End-of-Year Closing Assembly.

But, the key message is our thanks to PTO and all of the people involved in a wonderfully successful Summer Send Off!!  Since PTO activities are coming to a close for this year with the Boot Sale on the weekend, let’s take this time to applaud their work throughout the year in building community and involvement through the many wonderful events and activities.  For those returning, as you consider next year, please consider how you might contribute in your own way when we all return in August.  PTO is built on a culture of contribution and participation.  Think about your talents and, if you haven’t been able to contribute this year, think about how you might get involved next year.  For those who have participated throughout this year in our many opportunities, our gratitude for your partnership!!  Thank you, PTO, for all that you do!!

End-of-Year Assembly

This year we are adding a new tradition and plan to end the school year with some wonderful acclimations that celebrates our diversity and community.  We’ll gather in the Annex Gymnasium as a whole school for our final minutes together before summer break. Please plan to join us if you can, but know that there will be limited seating and possibly standing room only.  Doors open for parents at 10:20 a.m. and we begin at 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, June 21st.  Students will be dismissed from their classrooms at 11:30 a.m.

Strategic Work – The Project Nest

After two full days of working with the material in the Project Nest, we have brought the first round of drafting to a close with the contributions of the Design Team over the last two days.  You will notice now that the Project Nest has been emptied and a holding note has been placed there to explain our process and next steps.  Never fear, all the material that was shared in the Nest has been captured and is part of our ongoing work to compile and clarify direction for the school.

The Project Nest lives on.  The next round of storytelling will begin soon in earnest and will carry us into next year as our work on the final core values develops in the coming days.  The Design Team capably handed the draft work to the leadership team o Tuesday through retelling stories from our work over the last several weeks.  The work continues with the draft statements in collaboration with our consultant and we will work diligently until our presentation to the board on June 19th.  We will then launch these core values with staff on the day after school finishes and a broader launch in the first days of the new school year.  My thinks to the members of the Design Team for their diligence and stay tuned for the final product in due course.

Schedule and Tweaks for Next Year – Planning Ahead

After significant work on the part of the leadership team, we are moving forward to now implement and inform the community of our work on scheduling for next year.  This primarily applies to Upper School at both the middle and high level, but also have positive implications for Elementary scheduling.  One core component of these changes is better alignment with the IB philosophy that we are currently implementing, and particularly the alignment between the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and the Diploma Programme (DP).

But, this has been a broad based effort and we also intend to capitalize on this opportunity to improve other overall aspects of our daily schedule that in many ways have been carried forward year-on-year with little thought for the inconveniences nor opportunities that might exist.  With much research and with increasing conflict over time and space, we have undertaken some key decisions that we are implementing next year:

1. We are making slight changes to our start and end of school times.  Starting next year, the school hours will be aligned and affirmed with school beginning at 8:30 a.m. and the end of school at 3:30 p.m.  Based on a number of scheduling requirements, this is a modest change that solves many problems.
2. The more significant change, introduced at a recent PTO meeting, is the change to the Wednesday schedule for next year.  The need for teacher work time continues and the small carve out that we have secured for a number of years is critical for ongoing curricular, planning, and accreditation work.  But, the administrative team and teachers have been considering all year the implications of the current structure, particularly in regards to after school programs and the availability of teachers to support and muster the important and growing array of activities and athletics.  After research involving review of other international schools, both in the region and around the world, we have decided to move to a late start rather than early dismissal on Wednesdays.  This means that the Wednesday school day for 2017-2018 will change to a 9:30 a.m. start and a 3:30 p.m. dismissal.
3. There will be a slight difference to the above schedule for our DP students in grades 11 and 12 that will have them starting at slightly adjusted times from the above.  This difference is small and should be easily managed, providing them with necessary alignment and offering them the additional minutes needed to their upper level studies.  More on this in August.

We will be working during the summer to prepare for a smooth transition to this model, including necessary morning supervision in our cafeteria and additional options for student support in the morning before school, while teachers are engaged in their work with colleagues.  We’ll be correcting our website and literature to align with this as well and will send reminders in August as families prepare for their return to a new school year.

And on a final note…

I want to take a moment and express our condolences to nationalities recently impacted by terror attacks in their home countries.  We have all watched in horror as these events have unfolded before us.  If you are like me, there is a growing sense of powerlessness in these now overly regular reports.  I fear we are increasingly becoming immune to these events as they become more frequent and, as we are bombarded with the political messages that often follow, fill our screens with acrimony and blame.

For me, it is important to discuss these events with our children, helping them to understand that everyone deals with tragedy in their own way.  It’s important that children feel free to express their thoughts openly and without judgement in safe family and school environments.  But, we should reinforce in our conversations the importance of preserving and protecting life, an amazing gift that cannot be squandered on the basis of political and ideological squabbles.  It should always be our hope that future generations can address the human condition with greater tolerance, kindness, and forgiveness.

To our friends who are experiencing grief, whether because of national connection or through the actual impact of tragedy on friends or family, know that the Warrior Community is always keeping you in our thoughts and offering our deepest and warmest condolences.