Welcome from James Steward
The final week of school was packed with action not the least of which was connected to Action Week itself. Students were engaged in many unique tasks across the school. Planting projects were undertaken. Stonework was finished. Stunning and meaningful artwork (Kids Guernica) was created. Beautification and woodworking projects were completed. Futsal tournaments were played. Mini Personal Projects were designed. The elements of CAS were investigated. Students dove deeply into the DP. Our students and teachers were fabulous. Congratulations to all Action Week groups for their superb contributions which were celebrated Friday at our End of Year Assembly.
The Teacher Appreciation Lunch occurred on Tuesday. The PTA Wolfpack created a smorgasbord of exceptional variety and tastes. No one went home hungry; in fact, everyone went home with leftovers for dinner too!
The Kindergarten Graduation occurred on Thursday afternoon. Our new graduates are now prepared to enter Grade 1! Thank you to Masayo sensei and Mr. Bas for your incredible devotion to our little wonders!
The 60th Anniversary Ball was held on Friday evening at The Hilton in Hiroshima. A robust and lively crowd enjoyed superb cuisine, entertaining speeches, a massive BINGO game with great prizes, home grown HIS musical rock talent, and excellent company. Naoko Kurata and her amazing team organized an amazing event. Thank you for the PTA Wolfpack’s excellent support and service to HIS this year.
For each family’s reference, Mr. Barker has released the end of year Report Cards. Please check TODDLE to obtain student results.
Finally, we are sad to say goodbye to some excellent teachers, and even more importantly, wonderful people. We wish Ms. Jessy, Mr. Bas, Ms. Sallie and Ms. Kurokawa great success in their respective futures. Each of these teachers has contributed immensely to HIS and will be incredibly missed. Good luck, and please come back to visit HIS soon.
To the entire HIS Community, I wish you an exceptional summer break.
James Steward
HIS Principal
HIS IDOL THOUGHTS From Jackie Ikegami
Hi all. Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who came along to HIS IDOL last Sunday. Thank you to the brave kids who took part, from the heats through to the finale, and to all the class acts! Thank you to the staff at school who supported as always! Thank you to all the parents who showed up to support, especially the people whose kids were not in the show!
Why am I saying these thank yous? For those of you who do not know me and just wondered who the lady bossing their kids around on Sunday was, my daughter Mairi graduated in the Class of 2021 after 15 years at HIS, and I was (quite! haha) involved with HIS in various ways while we were there. She has gone, but I still feel like part of the family. One of the things I did when I was at HIS was organise HIS IDOL for about 10 of those years, along with whichever lovely teachers were generous enough to give of their time. As it was not really α PTA event, I did this mostly on my own, with the result that no-one apart from me and maybe Mr B really knew what was happening behind the scenes and why. This made me worry about what would happen to this event that the kids clearly loved after I left HIS. SO I was delighted when Nami Ohata stepped up to take on the challenge of organising, and after seeing the smiling faces of a new generation of HIS stars on Sunday, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to her, for keeping the fun alive, and to make sure she is recognised for the huge amount of work she put into learning the ropes from zero! The online years were a different challenge, and this time was the first live show for a while, but she rose to the task again. Thank you Nami!
IDOL has always been based on what the kids who want to take part want to do. I love it and am happy to give my time for it, because I think it illustrates something good about an HIS education. We have only ever said: “you don’t have to do anything, but you can do ANYTHING. Are you in? “ And EVERY year we have had so many weird and wonderful, sublime and ridiculous acts sign up that we have had to have heats. How great is that?! And when they don’t win, by and large our kids get up, brush themselves off, and support those who did! Then they come back year after year to try again. I’m so proud of them all. I’m not sure that would be true in all the schools I’ve worked at. And for the record, we tried to do it without the competition once, and none of the kids wanted to sign up. Go figure!
They get so excited to perform in a special place outside school, with guest judges they don’t know (thank you judges!) adding to the mystery. It’s a bit of an inconvenience for parents to transport everyone and everything to do it outside school, and I understand that not everyone is a fan of the competition part, but I hope that you parents can all continue to put up with it once a year in order to give your kids a place to show us who they are. Everything doesn’t have to be for everyone, but every child deserves a place to shine, and those who chose to take part SHONE on Sunday! Well done everyone!
Thanks for letting me come back every now and then and enjoy their talents. See you next year?!
Jackie
Year in Review Video
Below is the Year in Review link. This video first aired on Friday night at the 60th Anniversary Ball. Thank you to Nelson Hayes and Patrick Sekyi for putting this wonderful video together.
Yuta’s Video
Yuta from Grade 12 has created a superb video commemorating our 60th Anniversary. His work is outstanding! Please view the video on the link below.
Miyajima Clean-Up
Hello! This is Alina Hird from G11 and I’m organising a beach clean-up. As residents of Hiroshima, I’m sure Miyajima holds a special place in your heart. That’s why I’m inviting you to join me in cleaning up Mikasa Beach at Miyajima where visitors come to see the famous Torii Gate! I’m doing this as part of my Global Politics Internal Assessment, where I’m researching the global waste problem and exploring solutions such as zero waste shops. I’m also doing this as part of the annual「ごみゼロクリーンキャンペーン」organised by Hiroshima City.
The clean-up will take place at Mikasa Beach at Miyajima on June 29, with the meet-up spot being the Miyajimaguchi ferry terminal at 9:30 AM. It will end around 12 PM. Rubbish bags, gloves and drinks will be provided. I’m mainly looking for G6-12 students, but PYP kids (with parent accompaniment) and parents are also welcome to join! This is the form to sign up.
Thank you for your support!
Alina Hird, G11
Message from Jundai
Hi, This is Jundai from G11.
For the last two weeks, I have held an open donation for vulnerable kids at the kids’ cafeteria at Hiroshima Lutheran Church.
Thank you very much for your amazing support, I have received a huge unexpected amount of donations and delivered all of the donations to the kids’ cafeteria last week. The organizers were very appreciative! Thank you very much and have a nice summer break 🙂
こんにちは。11年生の岡野純大です。
先日、二週間程ルーテル教会の子ども食堂にいるこども達のためにオープンドネーション行いました。皆様の多大なるご協力により、予想を遥かに超えた沢山の物品などを届けることができました！今回寄付してくださった皆様、本当にありがとうございました！！子ども食堂の運営者さんもとても喜んでおられました！皆様の暖かいご協力を心より感謝申し上げます。
よい夏休みを！
Please enjoy our latest round of memories from our HIS Photo Gallery
Click here to see this week’s photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GviUyRxk6t8bG7dt7
From the Parent Wolfpack/ PTA Team
◆ The 60th Anniversary Ball Party
Thank you to all those who attended the ball on Friday night, and a special thank you to all those who made it possible – The Peter and Sinha (Fukunaga) Families.
It was a wonderful night, with not one but three parties, including the spectacular G8-G12 Prom. Thank you so much again.
For information, Wolfpack / PTA funds were used to support part of the cost of the Prom, in consultation with Mr Steward.
◆ Teachers’ and the Staff Appreciation Lunch – THANK YOU for your contribution!!
Thank you to everyone who contributed food and time to prepare the lunch. It was a really special event from your efforts. The table looked superb! And a special thank you to the dedicated individuals who helped set up, clear up and wash up! Thank you also to those who gave monetary donations toward it.
◆ Let’s Bake!
We made jelly with EC/KG class on Wednesday which they enjoyed stirring and etc. We sold them on Thursday and Friday. Everyone enjoyed the summery snack. Thank you to the parents who helped.
◆ Gifts for Leaving Teachers HISを去られる先生方への贈り物
At the last assembly yesterday we said goodbye to the teachers leaving this year. On behalf of the Wolfpack / PTA we presented them with flowers and plaques, etc marking everyone’s appreciation of their hard work at HIS. Best wishes to them all for the future!
◆ Reflection on the Events in 2022-2023 今年度の振り返り
This year we were able to organise so many great events after all the disruptions of COVID. Thank you so much to everyone that made these events possible by helping or supporting:
The leaders for this year’s events were as follows:
1. Annual Events
・Halloween carnival – Naoko and others
・Bonfire night – Yumiko & Nigel Barker, Eriko
・Festive eve costume support – Nami, Miho, Hiromi, Mayu and many others
・Santa Visit -Mr B
・Val-O-gram -Kumi and her lovely mother
・HIS Idol support – Nami
・International Festival – Naoko as a leader and everyone
・School Decoration for Halloween and Christmas – Kumi
2. Others
・His Parents Choir -Nami
・Let’s Bake! support -Naoko, Nami, Lindsae, Mayu
・Fun Ski Day
・60th Anniversary Polo Shirts Making & Order -Yukina, Eriko
・Scholastic/Baker Books Orders -Rie
・Sports Day Drink Sales -Yukina, Eriko
・Teachers Appreciation Lunch
・60th Anniversary Ball and Prom Support – Naoko and Yukina
・Finance Check and Record – Sayaka, Yukina
・The weekly Crane message and Document Creations – Eriko & Guy Hird
◆ Treasurer’s Report – (last week the image of the table was missing from the Issued Crane)
2022-2023 HIS Wolfpack / PTA TREASURER’S REPORT
- Balance forwarded from previous year ¥1,365,541
- Total income in 2022-2023 ¥2,901,661
- Total expenses in 2022-2023 ¥2,415,854
- Bank account balance ¥1,861,248
This is current status, but some costs for final week including Ball costs are not yet reflected.
◆ The Result of the Vote for next school year’s Wolfpack / PTA Committee Members 来年度役員選出投票結果
Thank you to those who voted. The result was that the committee members were approved with a majority (40 yes votes to 1 no). Please see last week’s crane for the list of members.
◆ THANK YOU and GOOD LUCK!
On behalf of the whole Wolfpack / PTA we would like to give a big Thank You to this year’s committee members, for all their efforts, hard work and inspiration. It was a fantastic team to work with.
Thank you and Otuskaresama Deshita to the members leaving this year – Kumi, Rie, Sayaka, Yukina, and me, Eriko.
And, welcome and good luck to the incoming committee – Kaoru, Lindsae, Mayu, Nami and Naoko, we are looking forward to another special year.
We would also like to Thank Mr Steward for all the support he has given the Wolfpack this year, in his first year in the school, taking part in all the event planning. He has always been there for us. Thank you so much!
Well, that really is all for us, for this year. Have a great holiday, whatever you are doing, keep safe and look forward to seeing most of you at the end of August.
From the HIS Parent Wolfpack/ PTA Team