The Crane 10 February 2017

The Crane, Uncategorized
1. Principal's Message Dear HIS Families Tomorrow after our Open House, we will have a Parent Strategic Planning Workshop (1:00pm-3:00pm) where you will have a chance to discuss you ideas for the future goals of our school. We have a Vision and a Mission for HIS and our goals will align with these. Here is a link to the presentation that will be used: HIS Strategic Planning Presentation 2017 In here, you can find a survey where you can input your ideas, even if you can't make it tomorrow. I will include ideas from the workshop in the Crane next week to which you can further contribute. We also have a Supporting English Language Learning workshop and an MYP Personal Project workshop before lunch - details below.  Have a great weekend. Kind regards…
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The Crane 3 February 2017

The Crane
1. Principal's Message Dear HIS Families I hope you enjoyed your week. If you are reading this, I would like to say, thank you. The Crane is our main form of communication with HIS families. I have been told on many occasions that 'people don't read the Crane' and although this is an issue in many schools, I would ask you to help us out by encouraging others to follow your good example and take the time to look over this newsletter one a week. Thank you. I am in Hong Kong this weekend delivering an IB workshop on creating inclusive classrooms to a group of teachers from a range of countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The IB has a great system of bringing teachers together for ongoing professional development…
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The Crane 27 January 2017

The Crane
1. Principal's Message Dear HIS Families Student reports are going home today, so it is a great time to sit down with your child and discuss their learning journey. Please see the messages below about some parent workshops we are holding at HIS on February 11.  Also thanks to the PTA who are working hard to prepare for the HIS Festival. Enjoy your weekend. Regards Damian Rentoule (Principal) 2. The Crane Video 3. February 11 - Open House Student Tour-Guides (10:00am-12:00pm) On February 11, we have an Open House event from 10:00am-12-pm for families considering joining us here at HIS. On this day, we need some help from our students as tour guides. Our visitors were really impressed by our students last time we did this in November. If your…
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The Crane 20 January 2017

The Crane
1. Principal's Message Dear HIS Families I hope you enjoyed the week, even after a snowy start. It sounds just right for the PTAs Ski Trip on February 18, which will be lots of fun. Please see the information in the PTA section below. In this week's Crane video, there are some comments from our students about the HIS community. I would like to thank the students involved for helping out and we are planning to make a series of these related to life at HIS. This was a great start and over time we should get better at making them. See you next week. Kind regards Damian Rentoule 2. The Crane Video In this week's Crane Video, some thoughts from our students on the HIS community and some messages for…
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The Crane 13 January 2017

The Crane
1. Principal's Message Dear HIS Families I hope you enjoyed the winter holidays. We have been hearing lots of stories of your various adventures. It is good to see everyone back safe. We have a busy semester coming up and hope to see you all at our school events. Thanks to everyone who came to our Friday evening MYP workshop at Tully's. It was great to see you all. Kind regards Damian Rentoule (Principal) The Crane Video 2. Snow Days (School closure decisions and notification) Snow falls may result in the closure of school due to hazardous road conditions and the heavy traffic congestion caused by these conditions. The early morning period when families and the buses are traveling to school is generally the time of greatest concern. In the…
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The Crane 16 December 2016

The Crane
1. Principal's Message Dear HIS Families Congratulations to everyone involved in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It was a great performance and you can see some of the lead-up in this week's video. Special thanks to Takako Tokunaga, Jason Underwood and Jackie Ikegami who worked tirelessly behind the scenes with the students. In the photos below, you may even be able to spot a couple of our wonderful HIS graduates who returned to the stage. Finally, we farewell Sina (G4) and the Heineck family. It has been great having you as part of our HIS community and we all hope you enjoy your next grand adventure. Enjoy the weekend. Regards Damian Rentoule (Principal)      2. The Crane Video 3. Hiroshima Association for UNICEF Thank you to Kazumi Takata from Hiroshima Association for UNICEF…
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The Crane 2 December 2016

The Crane
1. Principal's Message Dear HIS Families We were very fortunate this week to receive a visit from our new friends at Concordia College, Adelaide who have crossed the sea to bring their music to an array of audiences in Japan. You will see some images in this week's video. Thank you very much for a great show, where our students were introduced to a variety of instruments and inspired by the dedication of the performers. I would also like to thank the Tomita Family who graciously donated a range of items to HIS, including a bank of lockers, which our students will be able to use, as well as a large set of pipe-chairs and fold up tables, so we will no longer need to hire extras for large school events. Thank…
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The Crane 25 November 2016

The Crane
1. Principal's Message  校長からのメッセージ Dear HIS Families I hope you enjoyed the week. We were very proud of our HIS student tour-guides who showed visiting families around our school during the Open Campus on Wednesday. We received many comments on how confidently they presented and the level of detail that they were able to provide during the tour, providing a unique perspective into school life at HIS. Click here for the Life at HIS blog post - it's about 'reading'. Enjoy your weekend. Regards Damian Rentoule (Principal) 2. The Crane Video  (Translated) 3. Art Exhibition: Heiwa Kodomo Ten (Peace art exhibition)  へいわこども展 Heiwa Kodomo Ten is a collaborative art exhibition with Korean school, Jogakuin Girls' JH/SH, Sakuragaoka SH and HIS. It started last year and we will be once again participating…
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The Crane 18 November 2016

The Crane
1. Principal's Message Dear HIS Families We have been wondering how best to communicate information to our diverse HIS community and thought that you may be interested in the breakdown of languages that our families speak. As you can see, English-only and Japanese-only are significant groups and our English bilingual families is the largest, which may not be a surprise. We also have members of the community who speak neither Japanese nor English and others who speak Japanese and another language. A rich array. Navigating this linguistic diversity is one of the challenges of being part of an international school and it is excellent preparation for all of us, adults and children, in our futures as global citizens. Kind regards Damian Rentoule, Principal 2. The Crane Video 3. Festive Eve (Chitty Chitty…
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