Newsflash: January 12, 2024

Admin News

by Dr. Gwyn Underwood, Superintendent

Happy New Year! Welcome back after what we hope was a successful Christmas and end-semester break. What does it mean to have a successful beak, you may ask?! Well, this will be personal to you, but how about you use the Five R’s of rejuvenating and refocusing yourself that I proposed before the break to rate yourself?

▢ Rest! Did you manage to relax in whatever ways you find effective?
▢ Reflect! Did you spend time considering how things were going, and make plans for new actions?
▢ Relate! Did you spend time with family and friends to build important relationships?
▢ Resilience! Did you do anything that helped you build your resilience/perseverance?
▢ Read! Did you get to read (and write, and draw!)?

As you return to your busy regular schedule, one thing you can do to extend the benefits of your successful break is to continue to look after yourself by monitoring yourself at least weekly! If you did not manage to be successful in any of the Rs, it is not too late to schedule a specific time to address it this coming week to still gain the benefits. The more you look after yourself, the better you will be able to help others!

Our semester two started on Monday with a faculty/staff-only day, where faculty and staff spent a productive day discussing and writing our accreditation self-study report and preparing for upcoming events, such as Philippine Culture Week (next week), CIS Sinulog Family Day (Sat 20 Jan) and Week Without Walls (Feb 20-23). Students returned on Tuesday, and it was great to see a high level of enthusiasm to be back at school learning, even though the challenge seems daunting for some. For those in this situation, take it one day and one week at a time, look after yourself, and be sure to accept help from your family, friends, and teachers, and together we can ensure you will get through it!

Have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy Philippine Culture Week and Sinulog celebration events next week (see below for details!).

BNUE Students Visit CIS

Ms. Maureen Juanson, Elementary School Principal, PYP Coordinator, & Accreditation Officer

We were delighted to welcome university students from the Busan National University of Education (BNUE) from January 10-12. The BNUE students facilitated sessions for our Grades 4 and 5 students to teach them coding using Scratch. It has been a worthwhile experience for our CIS students to enhance their computer literacy skills and later on, apply their newly acquired skills in their upcoming units of inquiry focusing on kinetic art and the science of motion. This has also been a valuable experience for the BNUE students to share their knowledge about computer education and have an opportunity to practice their classroom teaching skills.

The BNUE students also visited some elementary and middle school classes to learn more about our program and gain best practices from our experienced CIS teachers. It has been a wonderful time for them to interact with other students at our school to learn about their experience studying in an international school.

This visit has been equally beneficial for both the BNUE students and CIS. We hope to be able to continue to maintain the relationships and connections we have with other schools and institutions to further enrich CIS students’ learning experience.

Alumni News

College & Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College Counselor

DATE

January 16
Tuesday
9:00 – 9:40am
Link to sign up

EVENT

Alumni Chat with Amanda Yap (details on poster above)

January 17
Wednesday
9:00 – 9:40 am
Link to sign up

Hong Kong Baptist University (HK) – Information session with the representative to discuss the application process, programs and scholarships available

SAT Update

2023–24 School Year Test Dates

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.