ISOCS Development Plans and great new club!

Another week rolls around and January is almost over. Where does the time go to?

Development Plans 

Playground 

I have a couple of exciting announcements after my meeting with the building owners last Wednesday.

If you haven't already seen the plans of our new playground on the door at school I will forward a pdf of the plans later this week.

We are excited to announce a BMX cycle track designed and sponsored by Specialised Cycles; a wooden children's play area with a slide hill ; a hard top ball court and a small grass field to play soccer on! The plans are with the Gemeinde and should be approved this week or next. The build will start when the winter is past and we look forward to a Spring opening. All very exciting stuff!

Middle School Expansion

Additionally we discussed the various possibilities for Middle School expansion and I think we have found an ideal solution to incorporate science and design technology labs, classrooms and a student lounge. We are also awaiting a costing for an internal stairwell to keep us altogether with one public entrance.

We are fully authorised an Oberstufe in Canton Zug and I am excited to press on with the project now.

I have a principal and one outstanding teacher lined up for the middle school already and I am keen to share my plans with interested parents and to really start signing students up for grades 6, 7 and possibly 8. I am grateful for any promotion or contacts you might be able to offer.

Purpose built school

I talked with Hiag about the long term development plan and moving to adjacent plot at Lorzenpark in 3-5 years in a purpose built school environment.

The week ahead...

Tuesday 

Thank you to everyone who already brought in their health cards and AHV numbers at such short notice.

Please make sure we have everyone's details for Tanja to enter into the database on Tuesday!

Wednesday

Mid-week meet-up for helpful parents looking to be rewarded with biscuits and tea!

Thursday 

Zug International Business Forum networking event held at ISOCS. 18.00-20.00

If you are interested in extending your social network, or learn about social networking technologies in business. Please let me know so that I can add you to my guess list. The CHF 50 entry for non-members will be waived for my registered guests.

Friday: Badminton and pizza anyone?

The badminton was fabulous last week and the students really benefited from personal coaching from two National Badminton champions!

Mr. Austine (Nigerian National Team) and Jeanette de Jong (Dutch Champ) soon had the students rallying effectively to everyone's delight.

Interested students are asked to bring their own rackets if they have them and a sports kit.

We have rented 2 courts at Zugerland Sports (which is a fabulous facility with a great restaurant) and suggest that you and your family join us for an early Family Supper thereafter. 

The traffic coming back to Cham at 17.15 is just awful and I would really appreciate that students be picked up at Zugerland Sports or that you arrange for them to stay on for supper.

Please email me your plans to pick-up or stay on by Friday morning so that I can make arrangements.

It is already getting late and I hope to get this to you quickly, so I'll close by wishing you a lovely week.

I heard snow is on its way specially requested by the Juniors for their investigations!

Kind regards, 

Jacqueline

From ISOCS Family News

Thanks again to everyone for making the second ISOCS party a great success.   The kids had a wonderful time... makes it all worth it!
We greatly appreciated everyones help with the cleaning up etc.  
Thank you as well for the generous donations.  Any feedback or ideas for future parties can be emailed to the ISOCS family news website

Curriculum, Contacts and Reports

Curriculum, Contacts and Reports

SCHOOL REPORTS and PORTFOLIOS

You should all have received your child/ren’s school report by email on Friday, along with a letter attachment explaining our school’s assessment and reporting procedures. The comments are based on ongoing school work and assessments, carried out before, during and at the end of each learning focus. A number of these pieces of work are selected for the student portfolio which reflects the process and progress of highlighted learning engagements. It is intended as a source of reflection on development for students, teachers and parents. It is important, therefore, that these are returned to school this week, when you have had a chance to read through it together with your child.

If you have any questions or wish to discuss your child/ren’s report with their teacher please arrange a mutually convenient time by email. This may be the first ISOCS report for some families and we know that some of our reporting methods may be new to you and we are happy to clarify any confusion.

CURRICULUM INFORMATION

Please be reminded that we are hosting an International Primary Year Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) Parent Information Evening to explain our school’s WRITTEN CURRICULUM to parents. This session has not been offered before and would be useful to deepen everyone’s understanding of how we organise and prioritise student learning within the framework of the IBPYP curriculum.

The Information evening is on Tuesday and starts at 19:00 and should last about an hour. I urge every family to send a representative if possible.

EMERGENCY DETAILS

Many thanks for your prompt response to our request for full emergency contact details.

In any urgent situation it is so important that we can grab one paper with all the information a doctor may need and ensure a means of getting a message to you as soon as possible.

This will be realised this week and thereafter I can release the new contact list for everyone and establish an emergency contact phone chain in the very unlikely case of any unforeseen school closure.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Andaleeb has been very patient, coming to ISOCS weekly to take new photos of absentees and deliver the latest proofs for your inspection. This week we will send home the class shots for your consideration. There is no obligation to buy but if you would like to order one please return the order form and payment to us by Friday.

I’m sorry that there is so much information this week!

Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Wishing you a lovely week ahead.

Parent Coffee Nov.2nd

Thank you so much to the parents who found time to attend our Parent Coffee, even although it was the first day back after the extended weekend.

I must say that we are so fortunate to have such a motivated group of parents helping to make the ISOCS experience stronger and EVEN more exciting for our families.

PARENT SOCIAL EVENTS 

• The Halloween party on Monday night was a resounding success for everyone young and old. A huge thank you goes out to the Bütler and Garton Families for taking the initiative to organise this for everyone. See some photos here.
• The group eagerly discussed organising a couple of Mum's Nights Outs! Cooking classes and dinner with various degrees of walking and beverages were discussed as well as a family grill and skate event.
• The mum's present also discussed organising a Family Christmas Party on Wednesday afternoon 14th December. They have formed a committee to start planning the operations and would be keen to know a good party hut or suitable venue in the area.

The place to find all this and much more is the ISOCS Family News which now has a page dedicated to seasonal activities in the area. Coming soon... a classified section so that you can sell or ask for items online.

PARENTAL ASSISTANCE

• A stalwart group of parents are looking for more volunteers to help with Library Cataloguing and class displays. We usually meet in the Library each Wednesday morning for coffee a chat and to offer assistance.
• Jeanette has started writing a little welcome to ISOCS in Dutch for inclusion on the updated website. She would like to ask families from other parts of the world to do a few sentences in their home language to welcome families from around the world. If you would like to offer your feedback on the nearly ready template for the updated website I can send you a link.

NEWS FROM ISOCS

• The Maths course was outstanding and will be of great benefit to all the teachers and students at ISOCS. We will plan an information session for parents soon.
• Please be reminded about your school Photos. Andaleeb is due to return tomorrow  to pick up your orders.

Thanks again to everyone for making this school such a happy and successful place for students and teachers to work together.

The grass really is greener in Cham!!

Today we so enjoyed our first use of the gorgeous all-weather sports pitch opposite the school.
Everyone in the Cham Gemeinde have continually encouraged us to use their beautiful facilities, but somehow the we really didn't have an ongoing demand.

Yesterday Mr. Vassiliy and I met the administration of Sportclub Cham, who manage this state of the art facility, and were given very encouraging and flexible permission to use the sports area during the day for sports and clubs. They are also very willing to let us use their facilities for lunch breaks when our numbers become to great for Teuflibach.
I can honestly say that they could not have been more kind.
Cham really wants us to integrate and use the facilities that they so generously provide!

I find it difficult to adequately express my pleasure and gratitude to our community and staff who work with us to extend the wonderful ISOCS learning programme into areas that further extend the experience of ISOCS Families in so many different ways.

How can I adequately thank you all?
I know that you make ISOCS so much richer...

Dear ISOCS Families, 

Thank you for the wonderful turn out at the Parent Coffee on Thursday

There was a lovely atmosphere as we enjoyed refreshments caught up on the news and helped each other out with recommendations and common interests.

I offered some quick informational updates:

Playground Development:

Our contact from the company Hiag wrote to me yesterday to assure me in writing that the development of the playground at Lorzenpark is a priority for them and that designs are currently with the planner. It was too short notice to attend our meeting but I will invite him to update us at the next coffee in November.

Usbourne Book Fair: The Usbourne representatives Sally and Michelle introduced themselves and explained a little bit about book orders. Thanks to your kind purchases the school received the highest rebate in books a staggering 60%. I have selected a number of beautiful art books, reading series as well as a selection of older student fiction to augment our library collections. Thank you so much for supporting this initiative.

Photographs:

As some students were absent on Monday.

Andaleeb has offered to return on the first Wednesday after the holiday to take photos of absentees and try again to get full class groups. 

Thereafter your choice of shots and packages will be sent to you.

Parent Initiatives:

Teachers are very grateful for parental support on an individual class basis. The teachers will ask for assistance personally as required.

All the teachers suggested that a regular group of mums to meet and help with practical and display projects would be very much appreciated. 

They suggested Wednesday morning in the Library as an ideal time when each teacher has a music lesson in which to communicate any particular wishes.

 I will of course offer ISOCS hospitality to those that stay to help. initiatives may include, mounting and displaying students work, scanning sorting and re-shelving books in the library, developing welcome advice for new families in different languages.

I think we will call this initiative Midweek Meet-up (unless your ideas are more creative) and it is open to all parents to come as they can after drop off. We shall see if it is viable in this form by starting the first week after the holidays. (Don’t forget that the second Wednesday school is closed for our maths course. This has an excellent sign up from other international schools in the area who are keen to learn from our best practices.)

ISOCS Library 

The development of the library was discussed and some mums have volunteered to organise assistance in this and explained that we plan to re-enter all of the books electronically into our Junior Librarian system over the coming weeks and months. They might appreciate some help in this.

Mr. Vasiliy has school librarian experience and would like to offer a donation of Russian books to the library and suggested that donated books might bear the donors family name for posterity. Perhaps you have some books in your own language that your family has outgrown but are still in great condition that you would like to donate to the library and have a name-plate put in the book.

One parent suggested that she would be happy to run a book club on a Wednesday afternoon for cross-grade discussion of engaging literature. The school would be delighted to support such a project.

If you a have any other ideas we would be delighted to hear them.

Now, ..it really is time to wish you a very happy two week break.

Enjoy :)

Kindest regards, 

Jacqueline

A Happy Busy School

Dear ISOCS Families,

Our school is such a happy place and it is a joy to see children excited to come into school in the morning and reluctant to go home in the evening.

Clubs

Clubs have added an extra dimension to ISOCS and once again I thank the teachers for sharing their time and talents with us and the parents for supporting this initiative. Registration for Clubs is now closed. New offerings will be made in January.

Weather Appropriate Clothing and Footwear

The weather has changed again. May I just remind you that students should come well prepared for rain, mud and colder weather. We will insist that students wear items from lost and found if they are inappropriately dressed for the conditions, and going on past experience the students are not so keen on that option! 

If your child has lost items please check the cloakrooms, boot trolleys and finally the "Lost and Found" corner behind the stage in the Hub.

Parent /Teacher Meetings

Most families have arranged a quick chat with class teachers to ensure a good start to the school year. Please contact the teacher if you would like to find a convenient time to meet.

Upcoming dates to note: 

Tuesday 27th October: PYP Parent Information Evening 19:00-20:00

Level 1: An Introduction to the PYP

Audience: Parents new to the school and parents who have not previously attended an introductory evening. This is a repeat of last year's presentation.

First Week in October: Exact date to follow

Usbourne Book Fair at ISOCS. Catalogues will be sent home soon for pre-orders. 

Saturday October 8th-Sunday 23rd October: Autumn Holiday

Monday 31st October- Wednesday November 2nd: ISOCS hosts Maths Teacher Workshop 

for International Schools in Switzerland. School is closed for students.

Thursday November 3rd: Parent Coffee 08:30 

Other provisional dates for the year have been entered on the ISOCS Calendar.

Tuesday 15th November: PYP Parent Information Evening 19:00

Level 2: Exploring the Written Curriculum

Audience: Parents who have attended 'An Introduction to the PYP and wish to extend their understanding of our school curriculum.

These events are also on the ISOCS calendar which is visible on our recently updated homepage. www.isocs.ch and can be transferred to your own Google calendar. Pop in to see our new photos and to access all of our online resources.

I wish you all a wonderful week ahead.

Kind regards, 

Jacqueline