ITEMS: SENIA (Special Education Network Inclusion Association) Parent Group; Camps this year; PTA News.
Principal’s Message
Dear HIS Community
It is an important day for our Grade 10 students with the Middle Years Program (MYP) Exhibition. The Personal Project involves students applying all of the skills they have developed over the years in the MYP to an extended independent inquiry leading to this presentation. It is one example of students being able to apply their learning to an unfamiliar context while pursuing an area of interest. We are very proud of their work and you’ll be able to see some of the action on today’s Crane Video below.
Speaking of applying our learning to unfamiliar contexts, this week we had another event in our Alumni Talk series. We are very grateful to this group of HIS graduates who have stood up as great role models once again. We really appreciated the way that our graduates, when students at HIS acted as wonderful role models for the younger students. Now after they have graduated and living their own independent lives, they are kind enough to come back and continue to be extremely positive role models. At HIS, we often talk about preparing students for the world that awaits them but really, if you want to know the type of attributes our school community develops through our IB programs, we need to look to our graduates. They can tell our story from beyond Grade 12 and we are very proud of them all and appreciative of their kindness in sharing their post-HIS perspectives in our Alumni Talk series.
Instead of a TED Talk, this week, I have a sample from the Alumni Talk series which focused on the Arts this time following our recent ‘Science after HIS’ event. Thank you, Mairi! Much appreciated. I will share some more talks over the coming weeks. Enjoy your weekend.
Kind regards
Damian Rentoule
Crane Video
SENIA (Special Education Network Inclusion Association) Parent Group
HIS is a member of the Japan Council of International School (JCIS) and one of the areas in which our group of authorized, English medium international schools in Japan collaborate is the support of students with special educational needs. In an IB context, this involves identifying and removing barriers to learning. An international group called SENIA has a chapter in Japan and works closely with JCIS schools. SENIA Japan is starting a parent group which is a great step. Here is their message with some links to more information below:
SENIA (Special Education Network Inclusion Association)
SENIA Japan is a platform from which to launch the success of every child on their personalized learning journey, and in doing so carry out the SENIA mission within the context of Japan. SENIA is a global group dedicated to promoting inclusion and the success of all students with over 25 chapters across the globe. Our school actively supports the SENIA organization and mission.
SENIA Japan is excited to announce the launch of the Japan SENIA Parent Group. This group is exclusively for parents, run by parent liaisons for SENIA Japan.
As parents, you are ultimately the most effective and important advocate for your child. Oftentimes, parents-supporting-parents is the best way to get ideas and information you might need when helping your child navigate through their school-aged years.
If you are the parent of an exceptional child – neurodiverse, differently abled, learning differences, social-emotional challenges – here are some ways to connect with this new group:
- email our current SENIA Japan parent liaisons at JapanParents@seniainternational.org
- join the Japan SENIA Parent Group Facebook page: (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1043636732935889)
- visit SENIA Japan’s website at https://www.seniachapters.org/japan/#tab-id-6
Camps this year
We have booked a venue for our camps later this year. Unfortunately, we had to cancel camps last year due to COVID and needed to postpone both the Gr4/5 Camp and Secondary (Gr6-12) Camp earlier this academic year in September 2021. We are committed to holding a camp this year (COVID permitting, of course) and have secured a venue in the last week of school (Tuesday 21st- Thursday 23rd June) which means we will return on Thursday afternoon just in time for our last day of school. The Peace Ride students will set out four or five days before and meet everyone at the Camp after riding to and from Mt Daisen in Tottori Prefecture. The location is the National Sanbe Youth Friendship Center in Shimane. https://www.sanbesan.jp/en/touristspot/4173/ This page has a nice aerial view of the facility.
One of the big changes this year is that we are all going together, Gr4 to Gr12, something that we have never done before but we are really excited at the opportunity to have some great role modelling from our older students. The Secondary students went here three years ago and it is a really wonderful facility sitting in a beautiful natural environment with Mount Sanbe right next door. The facilities are expansive and we have enough room to run a variety of simultaneous programs so different age groups will be doing some activities separately and we also have the opportunity to all come together at certain times. Just a final note for clarification, this is more of an outdoor education experience than a traditional camp with tents in the rain and student-prepared curry rice. Students sleep in a dorm-style setting and eat in a cafeteria, but for some reason, we still call it a camp. We will send you some more information as our plans come together.
From the PTA
◆ Library Volunteers Needed 図書室ボランティア募集中
We are still looking for people who can help us on a daily basis in the library.
The request is to help students with book selection, return, check out, in the library during the student library hours. Also, organising books etc as much as you can before and after classes would be helpful for making our library a pleasant environment.
We would be really happy to have volunteers from parents of both PYP and Secondary students.
Here is the link:
➡︎ The Link for the Library Help Shift Calendar リンク
図書室で日常的にお手伝いいただける方を常時募集しています。内容は生徒のライブラリ時間帯に、子供達の本選びや返却・貸出などをヘルプいただくことです。その授業前後にも、図書室を快適にするお手伝いをしていただけると大変助かります。
PYPだけでなくセカンダリーの保護者の方も、お時間がありましたら是非ご協力をお願いします。
図書室ボランティアのシフトカレンダーはこちらからどうぞ:
➡︎ The Link for the Library Help Shift Calendar リンク
That’s all for this week. Have a lovely weekend!
今週は以上です。良い週末をお過ごしくださいね。