News

Items Personal Project; Secondary Camp dates; PTA News. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community When someone asks me what is special about HIS, the answer always comes back to our students. We have a uniquely supportive and caring school culture and an exceptional educational program and I think that there is no doubt that this helps our students to shine in all of the different ways they do. That was a great image presented on the flyer for the Photography Club Exhibition. It was a photo by Nanako (Gr11) with a single sunflower standing apart from the rest - unique, proud and strong.  You can hear a short explanation of the reasoning for this image's selection in the series of interviews with the photographers in this week's Crane Video. This idea…

Items Photography Exhibition; Music for Peace Concert; Withdrawal Form Reminder; Host Families Needed; PTA News. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Thank you very much to the PTA who organized a great bake-sale event for Valentines Day, including some lovely snacks for HIS staff which were much appreciated.   Last week, a Ted Talk was included that discussed some surprising ideas about motivation, which is central to learning. This week, we have a talk about sleep. In many ways, if we are not sleeping enough, there is no task that will motivate us. Russel Foster, a neuroscientist, presents a great argument for shifting our views on sleep. Through the Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma programs, we lead students through a process of structured inquiry and engagement is extremely important. It…

Items Annual Report 2017/2018 Host families needed Library Books International Schools Assessment (ISA) PTA News Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Thank you to the PTA for the creative work on the HIS Festival which will be known as HIS Fun Day. We are very grateful to the patience and flexibility of the PTA Committee as you work toward the goal of organizing a fun day for the HIS community. We are all looking forward to HIS Fun Day! This week's TED Talk is one that has been quite influential in education and with over 22,000,000 views and addresses the topic of motivation. Daniel Pink gives us some interesting perspectives on what motivates us. It is presented in a business context, but equally applicable in a school context when we look at…

Items Student Newsletter; Photography Exhibition; Global School Play Day Letter (Primary); HIS Idol Information PTA Hoodie Order Form; PTA Festival Question link; International Schools Assessment (ISA); PTA News. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Next Wednesday is the Global School Play Day and our primary school will be dedicating a block of time for some play. Play is spontaneous, unstructured, voluntary and negotiated by those participating. It is a profoundly creative act. For adults, it can be a challenge to redefine what we think of as play and treat it as seriously as we need to, in our adult lives as well. In this sense, soccer, for example, is not 'play' because the rules are set, although in English the word play is used, creating some misconceptions. Likewise, video games do not fall under this definition…

Items PTA News HIS After School Club Sign Up HIS Festival Question HIS Parker Orders HIS Secondary Visual Arts Exhibition Principal's Message Dear HIS Community I hope you are all enjoying this surprisingly mild January weather. As we move into our second semester we get ready for a number of significant culminating events in our IB programs. In the Primary Years Program (PYP), Grade 5 students undertake the PYP Exhibition which is a substantive group-based inquiry that is presented to the HIS community at the end of the year. In the Middle Years Program (MYP), the Grade 10 students undertake an individual inquiry known as the Personal Project which they also present to the HIS community later in the year. In the Diploma Program (DP), Grade 12 students complete a range…

Items Homestay for Dutch Visitors Ski Day PTA News Principal's Message Dear HIS Comunity Thank you to Nicole Watanabe for organizing the Ski Day once again. There is information below regarding the sign-up. It is a wonderful day and we really appreciate the organization. I would also like to thank one of our families for a very generous donation of some great hoodies (jumpers/sweaters with a hood) for our volleyball teams. The students were really excited to receive these wonderful tops. Just in case you didn't know, our sporting teams are known as the Wolves.     This week's TED Talk is by Sir Ken Robinson who presents a critical perspective on the importance of creativity in education. It was released in 2006 and has been viewed over 55 million times, which is…

Items Atsuko's Tree ASMA testing results 2019/2020 Calendar No Bento on Monday 14 January PTA News Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Welcome back to the New Year and I hope you all enjoyed the break. We started the New Year with some great news. We received notification of our successful authorization for the IB Middle Years Program. We are happy to announce that our MYP verification visit last December was fully successful and that we have received our official MYP authorization from the IB. HIS is now officially the only three program International Baccalaureate School in the region. Thanks to everyone in the community for their continued support for our mission and vision! I have included a link to a great TED Talk by novelist Chimamanda Adichie below dealing with…

Items: Message from the Director-General; Scholastic Book Club; Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Congratulations to everyone who was involved in the wonderful Festive Eve performances last weekend. It really was a wonderful way to end 2018. I actually saw an amazing, spontaneous performance of Grease Lightning by our EC3/4 students, so it obviously made a big impact.   I would also like to thank everyone involved in the reading carousel this week and it was wonderful to see our parents in sharing picture books with our primary students. It is a good reminder to make sure we are all reading over the winter break. We would like to wish you all a safe and happy holiday and look forward to seeing you all back here in January. Kind regards Damian Rentoule…

Items: PTA News; Principal's Message Dear HIS Community We are looking forward to seeing you at Festive Eve tomorrow for the performance of the musical, Grease. Thank you to everyone who has supported the students in preparation for this event. You don't want to miss it! Also, it is going to be cold tomorrow so it would be a good idea to bring your own slippers as the gym floor could be a bit cold. We had a successful Middle Years Program verification visit earlier this week so thank you to all the parents who came in to speak with the team. We will receive the official report in about one month. Kind regards Damian Rentoule (Principal) Crane Video PTA News PTA news can be found here: PTA News 7th December 2018

Items: Student Crane Newsletter; PTA News Link; Reading Carousel; MYP parents panel - 4 December at 11:50; Student Crane Newsletter. Principal's Message Dear HIS Community Next week, we have the Middle Years Program (MYP) Authorization Team coming to HIS for the authorization visit, for a final assessment of our MYP, which runs from Grade 6 to Grade 10.  Thank you to the parents who are coming in for a meeting with the team on Tuesday. We still need a few MYP parents. Please see the notice below. As we approach the end of the year, we get ready for Festive Eve which is happening at HIS next Saturday - a big day for HIS. Please find some information below. Many thanks to all of the parents who have been sewing…