Author: Damian Rentoule

ITEMS: Piano Performance by Jundai; Board of Trustees Guardian Election; HIS Sign; PTA News. We have a roof, walls, floors and windows. Nearly there! At least for the outside. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community It was great to see all of our families at HIS today for the Student-Teacher-Parent Conferences today. The three-way partnership between the student, the home and the school is extremely important. Also, please remember that you can contact your teachers at any time during the year. The more communication we have, the better we are all able to support your child's learning. As we move into our one-week break, I would like to emphasise two points which may well form the most powerful influences on your child's academic performance at school that you, as a parent,…

ITEMS: Secondary Event in Peace Park; Congratulations to Jundai; Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences; PTA. Coming along... Principal's Message Dear HIS Community We had a busy week with the visiting team from the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the International Baccalaureate (IB). At the end of the virtual visit, we were provided an initial summary, in draft form, of major commendations (what they thought we were doing very well) and recommendations (areas needing improvement). The self-study and the evaluation visit are based on comprehensive sets of standards addressing all aspects of school life. The final report will highlight all of the commendations and recommendation and this will be shared with the school community. All of the recommendations are incorporated into PYP, MYP, DP or whole school action plans so we can use…

ITEMS: Parent Meeting with Visiting CIS/IB Team; HIS Crane Club Representatives meet Hiroshima's Mayor Mr. Matsui; Peace Ride Training; PTA News. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community I would like to remind everyone of our HIS Health Guidelines related to the COVID19 pandemic. The reality is that the situation is as serious as it was when Japanese schools, including HIS, closed our campus last year. In the graph below, you can see the Hiroshima active cases as reported on the Hiroshima Prefecture COVID new infection information webpage. School closures were happening during that first spike in cases during April. You can see the months running along the very bottom of the graph. The message is that we need to maintain a reasonable sense of urgency and we can do this by…

Items: Parent/Teacher Conferences; Secondary Peace Day; PTA News Principal's Message Dear HIS Community I would like to thank our graduates who came to HIS on Thursday to speak with our secondary students. Our graduates are outstanding role models for our students and I am very proud to have such wonderfully kind-hearted students as alumni. You spoke very well and had some great advice for your listeners. All has been going well with Ato and Mizuki who have settled in well and are continuing to work hard eating through all the undergrowth as the new building rapidly goes up on the other side of the fence. This week's TED Talk is by Xiye Bastida who has been taking action for our environment and is an inspiration for us all. I hope…

ITEMS: Crane Club Message; Gardening goats; PTA News. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Congratulations to the Crane Club for the great work at the Peace exhibition last weekend. You can hear the peace declaration made by Leah (Gr12) and Airi (Gr11) on behalf of the Crane Club and HIS Community in the Crane Video. There are some great events coming up and we are looking forward to a really positive year of action from our students and the wider school community. Thank you very much to the HIS PTA who have had a great start to the year. You can see the PTA message below in English and Japanese so please make sure you have a look at that. The construction has been quite amazing for us to watch. The…

ITEMS: The Crane Club interview on NHK. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Thank you for attending our Parent Information Evening, either face-to-face or virtually. We hope you enjoy the evening and are able to make a connection with your child's homeroom teacher, a central part of the team of teachers and staff who support your child at school. Also, it is not just the teachers and staff who support our students. The PTA plays a major role in building a supportive culture at HIS so thank you for your hard work. Now that school has started again, I wanted to remind everyone of the importance of getting a good night's sleep. Particularly with the lure of our devices making that decision to go to bed is complicated by that competition…

ITEMS: Typhoon No. 10; Parent Information Evening Schedule; Four-legged Visitors to HIS; PTA Meeting; Donor Project for New Building; Crane Club Display; CIS/IB Evaluation Visit; Free Japanese Lessons. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community We had the first PTA meeting at school today and I would like to say thank you to all of the parents who attended in person and via Zoom. Thank you to all of the participating parents in our first PTA meeting of the year. Your participation in the PTA events during the year helps our school community and even more importantly, taking an active role in school life is a really important message to your child. In a child's mind, your interest in their school equates to an interest in them. This is true even when…

ITEMS: UN75 in Hiroshima; Crane Club Interview; Local action opportunities; Bento orders; Parent Get-together; Construction update. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community We have had a great first week back and have welcomed some new friends into the HIS community. Everyone has been very supportive by following our Health Guidelines which is very important so thank you! Today, I wanted to mention some action that has taken place over the summer and also during this first week. Action is a very important part of inquiry based learning. The idea is that we shouldn't just learn something but we should be able to act on what we learn. As HIS is dedicated to enabling all of our learners to help create a more peaceful and sustainable world, our action is often directed…

Items: New HIS Website; Groundbreaking Ceremony; Photography Contest; HIS PTA Treasurer's report 2019-20; Winter Program 2020/2021. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community I hope you are all enjoying the summer and stayed dry during our rather lengthy rainy season. Our three new teachers who are coming in from overseas are all arriving in Japan within the next few days and will have their PCR tests before being released from the airport and will stay in a quarantine-hotel for 2 weeks in Narita before travelling to join us here in Hiroshima before school starts so we are very happy about that. We are keeping an eye on the COVID situation of course, but are expecting to open as normal on Monday, 24 August with all of our health procedures in place. Fortunately,…