Newsflash: August 9, 2019

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Dear CIS Community,


It was wonderful to welcome so many of you to our Family Orientation Day last Wednesday. We extend a very warm welcome to our new teachers and families, and welook forward to working and learning with you over the coming year, our 95th anniversary!

This first Newsflash edition for the year focuses on highlighting the many NEW things that we have at school this year, and some important information on communication at CIS and health and safety issues.

Communication at CIS

The first change you will notice right now is our new blog format for our weekly Newsflash newsletter, making it more visual, interactive and accessible. Please share any feedback you might have at the comments section below!

There is a significant amount of research that shows good home-school communication is a required factor for schools to be a highly effective. Accordingly, CIS places importance on maintaining clear, two-way communication channels that enable us to serve you and your children effectively. In order to do this, we provide a variety of modes of communication, and encourage you to use the one that is most appropriate to the situation:

Telephone

Telephone is the best for time-sensitive issues. Our reception is staffed from 7:15am through 5:00pm to take your calls and forward as needed. Please keep in mind that faculty are in class or moving around campus during the day, so are often not in a position to take calls or return them until the end of the school day, or the next day.

Online Communication

Email*, Google Classroom or Seesaw & Text messaging are perhaps the most convenient and efficient forms of communication for non-urgent issues. Faculty and Staff will try to respond to messages that require a response within 48 hours (and earlier if it is time-sensitive and if at all possible). Feel free to write a paper note if you prefer and time is not an issue, but be aware notes are easily misplaced, especially if the courier is a younger child! *Important Note: Email is not a good medium of communication for discussions or conveying emotional information, as the written word cannot express feelings like you can in person through verbal and body language. It is therefore not recommended for sensitive or complicated issues.

Discussions

Discussions are best for sensitive or complicated issues then, after arranging a mutual time to meet. Video conferencing is also possible, but a face-to-face meeting is preferable.

Student & Parent Handbook

Please refer to our Student & Parent Handbook (Page 10) for more details of exactly who to contact for what, and how!

  • Parents may download a PDF version of the Handbook from our parent portal the HUB in the documents section.
  • We will also share a dedicated link to a Google Doc version via email for those who prefer online access.

School Events

As a school, we also facilitate a number of events that provide communication opportunities, such as our Family Orientation last week, Parent-Teacher-Student conferences, PTA/school coffee meetings and parent info sessions. Please do make every effort to attend these events, as they are a great way to learn more about the school, what your child is doing, and to contribute to our community. I look forward to another wonderful year of learning in partnership with all parents, students and teachers!

Facilities Upgrade

We are sure you noticed the effects of out beautification project as you drove onto campus for the start of the year! A huge congrats to our Facilities manager Mr. Dereck Llacuna and the facilities team for all the projects they completed over summer. Some more notable projects included:

  • Painting of the main and ELC facade, the South Gate entrance drive, and accompanying landscaping
  • Addition of a new CIS name and logo “sail”
  • Re-piping thought the building to resolve water issues from old pipes
  • Floor covering for some business office areas (admissions office flooring to come later in the year!)
  • Renovated Admissions Office toilets
  • Renovated staff/faculty lounge and kitchen
  • General maintenance (grounds, painting, cleaning, etc.)
  • Installed speed tables with pedestrian crossing, footpaths to connected carparks, and safety rails at ES pick-up/drop-off areas
  • Preparation of the EY Playground ready for installation of artificial turf (this will be installed as soon as the turf arrives as it was delayed!)

Parking, pick up drop-off points

In addition to the new pedestrian crossing, we have re-ordered the parking lots as follows:

  • The faculty parking lot is now on the far left (North) side (previously parent temporary pick up drop off parking).
  • The second lot (previously staff parking) is now the temporary pick up/drop off parking for parents.
  • The third lot is the overflow for staff (and parents if the temporary lot is full)
  • The others towards the South exit are for owner-driven vehicles.
  • The lots on the North exit side are for driver-driven vehicles (there is a shelter and toilets for those that ned to wait).

The reason for this change is to make it more convenient for parents and visitors who are visiting temporarily, as the second lot is next to the new pedestrian crossing. This is also safer for any accompanying children.

Drivers, please observe Safety Guidelines (parents, please explain these to your drivers):

  • Drive to the conditions and keep to the speed limit.
  • Park cars in the appropriate lots, and use the pedestrian crossing to enter the the buildings (DO NOT cross the pick up/drop off road area).
  • When picking up or dropping off students, cars must move to the front-most pick-up/drop-off point to allow efficient transfer of passengers from multiple cars at the same time.
  • Cars may NOT wait in the pick-up/drop-off point to avoid congestion (drivers must wait for their passengers in the parking lots before the come to pick them up, and circle around or go to the parking lots if they are not ready or are waiting for a passenger).

Security Checkpoints

Please be reminded that for security and student safety reasons, our CIS security team is responsible for checking the arrival and departure of all people and of all vehicles who are coming in and going out of the campus at the entrance and exit gates along the driveway. Drivers who refuse to roll down windows or open trucks for inspection will be denied access to the campus. Any driver that presents a security breach to such as failing to stop upon request will be apprehended, and removed, or delivered to the authorities. We apologise for any inconvenience these procedures brings, but please understand they are there for the safety of our whole community.

  • Yesterday’s congestion when exiting campus after school was due to the large number of “Transport Arrangement” forms that have yet to be submitted by parents. These forms enable the guards to more quickly check our students are leaving in approved vehicles with approved drivers. Please submit these ASAP if you have yet to do so. You may download the form here.

DP Results

Our congratulations go out to recently departed graduates whose IB Diploma exam results came out over the break. We will post a more complete report next week, but for now, I can share we are are pleased that 90% of our registered candidates earned their IB Diploma, with a school average of 33 points (out of a maximum 45, with 29.63 being the world average). As 100% of them also earned their CIS Diploma, we are pleased to know all of our graduates are on their way to university, with the exception of one who is still deliberating on which college to attend!

Have a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to continuing our learning journey next week!

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