International School of Central Switzerland

ISOCS Development Plans and great new club!

2012-01-23T19:12:00.003+01:00

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

2011-12-14T22:04:00.000+01:00

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

2011-11-13T10:46:00.001+01:00

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

2011-11-07T11:51:00.002+01:00

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!!

2011-10-27T20:32:00.000+02:00

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...

2011-10-11T15:34:00.003+02:00

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

2011-09-18T11:36:00.005+02:00

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

Auf Wiedersehen Ms. Lili

2011-09-16T20:25:00.001+02:00

Our whole school bid another fond farewell to our lovely Ms. Lili yesterday.
Ms.Lili is ISOCS' official "guardian angel" but St. Andrew's University needs her back again!

We all thank Lili for all she has done and all the hearts she has touched for our school and look forward to her return to our ISOCS "family" very soon.
Our thoughts, thanks and greatest fondness follow Lili back to Scotland this week. She promises to watch the blogs and keep in touch.

If you would like to post a wee message for Lili to read when she gets to St. Andrews please add acomment to this post and I am sure she will be absolutely delighted.

After-school clubs a big hit at ISOCS!

2011-09-09T19:18:00.004+02:00

Our first week of after school clubs got off to a flying start and the atmosphere in the evenings at school echoes the excitement for learning that vibrates at ISOCS during the school day!

This week we had expert chess coaching with Ms. Brooke, Dutch with Ms. Kirstin, Swimming with Ms. Sharon, Art Attack with Mr. Phil and French with Ms. Isabelle.

The students all had a wonderful time and are already eagerly showing off their new skills in their spare time.

A great start to the new school year!

2011-08-26T15:18:00.000+02:00

Thank you for your compliments and good wishes this week as we welcomed new students, teachers and indeed classrooms to ISOCS! It has been a very positive start to the school year, as you will see if you look at our new Flickr photos and blogs.

Please make sure you subscribe to your relevant blogs to be alerted to updates. Your teacher will alert you at first but thereafter you should click on a button to receive automatic updates.

Please can I draw your particular attention to the ISOCS Family blog and the effort that Tammy Bütler has gone to to provide links and recommendations for families at ISOCS.

It is now time to sign up for Teuflibach lunches and after school options for the Autumn term.

I have discovered Google Docs forms and this makes the collecting and sharing of data so much easier, so please humour me as try out this new tool!

To sign up for Teuflibach lunches (yes or no) please click here and respond as directed. Answers are due by Monday at the latest please as Brigitte shops on a Monday.

To sign up for after school options please open the file here and complete the form. If we have too many applicants for a club, places will be assigned on a first come basis.

This weekend please enjoy the lakeside attractions of the Villete Fäascht and Jazz Weekend.

Great musical talent at ISOCS

2011-06-26T16:32:00.003+02:00

These photos we have can never do justice to the energy these students brought to the stage!
I freely admit that my cheeks really hurt after an hour of smiling so broadly and genuinely.

I think its safe to say that all the adults and children in the room were very, very proud of the accomplishments and confidence on display today.
Our students are learning to appreciate music, respond to music and to perform musically in such diverse but meaningful ways.

The Juniors showed us how they recognise and translate beat, mood and repetition into movement and song.

The Middle Primary Class did themselves proud demonstrating how they had learned to read music and play the recorder or piano so proudly and expressively in such a short period of time.

The Senior Primary Class wowed us with a revue from popular musicals. They displayed teamwork rhythm and theatrical confidence.

During the performance a visiting students said "I have never seen kids give a show like that before!"

Watch out world... polish up those Golden Globes and MTV awards, I really think we have some nominees in the making!!

ISOCS: A centre for innovation and excellence

2011-06-20T11:24:00.001+02:00

This weekend ISOCS hosted the final day of training for Irlen Screeners in Switzerland.

Highly experienced teachers from private schools in Switzerland chose to meet together to complete their training at ISOCS because they all wanted to see for themselves this exceptional little school.
No-one was disappointed!
Everyone loved our school and its ethos and we furthered our reputation for excellence in other international schools.

The Irlen Method has helped many students and adults who have experienced reading discomfort and today we heard 12 case studies where peoples lives were dramatically improved when the visual distortion was addressed.

We experienced a very able university student's relief when the effort of reading (and walking up stairs!) was reduced significantly by the addition of some carefully selected light filters.
"I just thought text and lines moved around for everyone!" she exclaimed!

We were all very impressed and I will start free Irlen screenings with renewed enthusiasm for anyone at ISOCS who would like to see if coloured filters can reduce visual stress for them (whether they know they have it or not!!)

Tomorrow ex-Associate Regional Manager of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme has asked to visit the school to get advice about starting a new IB PYP school in Canada.

Library Development Weekend

2011-06-13T12:58:00.002+02:00

Thank you to all the parents, teachers and students who turned out this holiday weekend to help realise the plans to improve the Hub into our new Library Media Centre.

The atmosphere was wonderful as everyone worked together to make a fantastic multi-purpose space for our children to really use and enjoy!

We have kept our multi-media performance area and divided the library into a non-fiction area for research and an inviting and well organised fiction area for children, big and small, to select and share their favourite stories.

I will be standing by with my camera to see the happy faces when they see the wonderful changes we have made.
Thank you especially to Yvonne and Martin Baumann for inspiring and leading the team!

Here are Yvonne's idea to guide us:

Fabulous Field Week in Verbier

2011-05-13T19:20:00.009+02:00

We were all so happy to see "our wee darlings" return from field week tanned and smiling after a wonderful week with "Les Elfes" in Verbier.

I have spent hours admiring and uploading the photos of field week and I have to say this looks like it was the perfect adventure holiday!!

Our wonderful teachers managed to persuade these most highly rated camp providers to give our students everything they requested ... perhaps because our students' conduct was commended so highly!

I am seeing photos of informative hikes, cultural museums, ropes courses, rock climbing and after class activities ... and smiles all around. It looks like fun on every level!

Many thanks to the camp facilitators and to Ms. Slavka and Ms. Adele for making it such a great experience for everyone.

I will try to put the photos on CD for the students to keep...but for now I am sure your children are dying to tell you all about it... so follow the link to our Flickr site and start to enjoy the hundreds of selected photos as they upload!

Perhaps we can run a slideshow on Monday morning in the Hub too?

Teuflibach Menu from 10.May

2011-05-12T09:48:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the late post.
I'm just back from a very interesting school evaluation in London and trying to catch up!

Tuesday: Green salad with crackers followed by sausage and rösti
Thursday: Soup and bread. cheese omelette followed by a choice of sweet omelette
Friday: Pasta with cheese sauce, salad and desert.
Monday: Meat stew with mashed potato and vegetables.

Teuflibach menu starting 3rd May

2011-05-03T21:41:00.004+02:00

Tuesday 3rd May: Lasagne and Cucumber salad

Thursday 5th May: Sausage wheels with meat sauce, polenta and vegetables

Friday 6th May: Pasta with Carbonara sauce, salad and a surprise desert

Monday 9th May: Chicken legs, rice and salad

Brigitte plans her menu on a Monday and reserves the option to vary the menu to accommodate special seasonal offers and student requests.

Happy to be back!

2011-05-02T20:11:00.005+02:00

If you ever needed convincing how happy our children are at school, just take a look at the radiant faces that I caught on camera yesterday !

...but don't take my word for it...please take a minute or two to click on the link to see our fabulous smiles.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/isocs/

It is wonderful to be back!

ISOCS students take their learning out and about!

2011-02-26T19:37:00.005+01:00

One of the many advantages at ISOCS is the way in which learning extends beyond the classroom.

Taking the students out into the community with such regularity gives learning a context and relevance that is often missing from worksheets and text books.

About 10 years ago, I was presenting at one of the first IB PYP workshop in Germany.

Author and education professor Kathy G. Short asked the teachers in the room to draw the place where they learned most about themselves and the world they live in during their primary school years. We were then invited to share and discuss our drawings.

It was a significant moment for me when it became apparent that in a room of 110 educators from all parts of the world, not one of us had drawn a school!

That was when I really made the commitment that, wherever I could influence learning, it should be connected to and relevant for life outside the classroom.

I believe that we truly are "Empowering Learners for Life".

This week alone, every class has been out and about on field trips near and far, extending and practising their learning in real contexts.

We put a great deal of time and effort into recording our learning in words and pictures to share with you...on our blogs, Flickr and wikis, so please...

Read about the Juniors going shopping at the local shop and reusing and exchanging toys at the Ludothek on their Juniors blog

Learn about the Middle Primary Class's great adventure to St. Gallen to the Helvetas Museum to learn about the need for clean water.
And don't miss some great pictures of the Seniors at the ETH Zurich, getting curious about their new Unit "The Changing Earth". Please also take a moment to learn about our unique gym lesson at the Dirty Hands Breakdance School in Baar.

Please join me in appreciating the teachers, administrators and hosts who take the extra initiative and effort to enhance your child's learning experience.

Parents "rock" at ISOCS

2011-02-03T21:26:00.005+01:00

PARENT COFFEE:

Thanks to all of you who came along to our Thursday Parent Coffee.

It was lovely to see so many of you... even though I know some of you had to balance other commitments.

We discussed how to increase and organise parent initiatives at ISOCS as we continue to grow.

PARENT INITIATIVES:

The following suggestions were agreed:

Monthly Parent Coffee

The ISOCS "Parent Coffee" will continue to be hosted by ISOCS every first school Thursday of the month. (You can put the dates in your new agendas now!)

Different people may present ideas but the focus will be more sociable and practical than pedagogical or administrative.

ISOCS Family Information Evenings

In response to your requests, the staff have agreed to make our more formal, pedagogical information and workshops available in evening sessions (approx 19.00-20.00?) to meet the needs of working parents.

We are planning a re-run of the IB PYP introductory session and a maths overview in the near future.

ISOCS Family and Friends Group

In preference to a formal PA, for the time being parents at the coffee morning suggested establishing a more flexible and informal ISOCS Family and Friends Group.

The Group will establish, run and manage thier own blog which will be accessible from the school website (Kathy will set the blog up shortly and invite everyone).

Through the Family and Friends blog parents will organise social events for the families and post useful and timely information.

Class Volunteers:

A number of parents have let it be known that they are happy to volunteer their time, experience and coordination abilities to support the classroom. Teacher's needs very, and the class teachers will liaise directly with the volunteers about their requests, but it was suggested that, at some point, initiatives might include :

Organising and hosting class socials, particularly to welcome new class members
Organising small special events and parties for end of term celebrations
Working together to organise a rota to accompany the bus from Cham ("bus pooling"!)
Sharing ideas and contacts for class trips
Accompanying class trips
Organising a rota to offer extra assistance at the swimming pool.
Organising volunteers to read with or translate for students
Organising and maintaining a book exchange / travel library at our "Schoolbucks" coffee corne

ISOCS ADVISORY BOARD

We are looking for one or two parent volunteers or nominees to sit on a non-executive Advisory Board.

It is intended that the voluntary Advisory Board would meet in a restaurant one evening per term to share information and advice.

Ideally, we are looking for the most diverse representation to help connect us to business, the local community and educational initiatives at various levels

In addition, we are looking for a couple of business representatives from international firms, law or finance and two parent representatives.

If you would be available and interested in joining our number, please nominate yourself by sending me a short email summarising the experiences, expertise, perspectives and connections you could represent on the board.

I will try to form a group with broad and relevant backgrounds to help the school in this stage of development.

Membership on the board is for two years, initially.

ICT DEVELOPMENTS AT ISOCS

Kathy Epps educated us all about the new learning tools she was using with the students. We were all very impressed, and now know the difference between a blog and wiki!! ("A blog is like a diary and a wiki is like a book?!")
You can enjoy "clicking through" her presentation by looking at it on the Using ICT at ISOCS blog, here.

New students shine!

2011-01-29T12:26:00.006+01:00

It's always wonderful, when after a few short weeks our new students feel so safe and settled that they volunteer to present their learning at our weekly Celebration of Learning!

This week we were all so proud when all of our new students chose to present their work and ideas. For many this was the first time that they spoke publicly in English!

Well done to all the students and teachers for creating the supportive environment that develops such confidence in all of our students.

A Great Start to 2011

2011-01-11T18:33:00.007+01:00

The New Year got off to a brilliant start as excited students and teachers welcomed many new faces to our happy school community, and then got straight down to lots of interesting work.

Above enjoy pictures of our students making the most of our technology, regular outings, inter-class surveys, yoga instruction and German lessons. ..and it is only the second day of term!!

This week we will welcome new families at our New Year "Families and Friends" coffee at 08.30 on Thursday morning. We are scheduling several "Coffee and Curriculum" get-together soon, as yet more families join ISOCS in the coming weeks.

Please keep an eye on the Google calendar on the homepage for regular updates.

I look forward to all the exciting learning ahead of us in 2011.

The Holidays Begin

2010-12-18T10:48:00.008+01:00

The Holidays began in an inspiring fashion, with learning presentations from each class.
It was interesting to see the diversity of media the classes had chosen, with a "Guess My Role Model" game, a lengthy and beautiful recital of a class poem about snow and a student-narrated photographic reflection of the Homes Unit.

I was moved to see the confidence that each child exhibited when presenting their individual contributions. They were all superstars!

I was so proud of our little choir singing the three festive songs from different cultures and the voluntary soloists came as a big surprise! Well done everyone!

And genuinely huge thank you to all the staff who happily put in so many extra hours to make our students schooling so special.

Heartfelt gratitude go to our very good friends from Teuflibach and the ZuKi club who individually hand-crafted a wooden heart or tree ornament at their workshop for every child in the school. This kind gesture was a complete surprise to us all and it strikes me that it is that extra-special care for each child that makes ISOCS what it is!

And now as you anticipate the holidays my warmest wishes go with you all, and most especially with Tim and Harrison who have new adventures awaiting them in Australia and England. They will always be our friends and we wish them every joy and a quick return to see us again!

Some of the students will be meeting up over the holidays and Teuflibach is open for all-day child care on Dec 23rd and 24th and the 3, 4, 5th of January.
I know that some of our ISOCS students would love to see you join them.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Samiclaus visits ISOCS

2010-12-06T19:23:00.005+01:00

We all enjoyed a lovely visit from Samichlaus today.

He enjoyed touring our school was very impressed with our classrooms and the wonderful children!

We shared songs, stories and questions for an enchanting hour!

Please enjoy the photographs!

Please don't forget that Wednesday is Maria Empfängnis and a public holiday in the canton of Zug.

Getting ready for the holidays!

2010-12-03T18:08:00.006+01:00

Students have been getting in the winter holiday mood by learning some multi-cultural songs to impress "Samichlaus" when he comes to visit us on Monday.

We are looking forward to showing off our lovely school and taking him for one of Brigitte's home-cooked lunch in the woods at Teuflibach!

The snow has added to the festive atmosphere and there were many squeals of delight at playtimes!

Don't forget that Wednesday is a public holiday in the catholic cantons including Zug and the school will be closed. This is a great chance to enjoy the snow or festive shopping in the neighbouring protestant cantons such as Zürich!

As we approach the "giving season", we respectfully ask that you to reserve the giving of cards, presents and invitations for out of school. By doing so, we hope to avoid any unintentional feelings of expectation, misunderstanding or disappointment.

On the last week before the holidays

The Student Council introduced themselves to the Parent Coffee on Thursday and asked for help and inspiration for a few student activities (e.g. games, crafts, baking) for Thursday morning 16th Dec. If anyone is willing to organise a small craft or activity for the classes to visit that morning please contact Ms. Jax directly.

On Friday 17th December, our last morning before the holidays, we warmly invite you to a special Celebration of Learning, where students from all classes will make a small presentation for the whole school. Thereafter, we would like everyone to enjoy a "Pot Luck Brunch" where we invite families to share a few holiday treats before wishing everyone a lovely holiday at midday. Classes will send out invitations shortly.

Have a wonderful week!

Hard at work as the snow arrives!

2010-11-16T20:58:00.008+01:00

Another week whizzed by as the air turned decidedly colder and the first flakes of snow started to fall.

To say that the students were excited is an understatement! However, as you can see, an air of happy industry prevailed.

Thank you for sending the children suitably clothed to enjoy the snow at outdoor playtimes!

Visitors and expansion

We have been welcoming many visitors to ISOCS in the past few weeks. We have had many visitors from international companies and relocation specialists as well as a large number of potential new teachers and families. News about our expansion to include Pre School and Middle School is getting out and I am busy interviewing candidates for positions on an almost daily basis.

New Intern

This week a student I taught in Kindergarten and First Grade came to visit us, and happily Jill has agreed to join out team as an intern before travelling Australia and taking up her place at Oxford to read law!

Photographs

This week we hope to be able to send home a photo proof sheet with a choice of four individual poses for each child. It will then be up to you if you wish to order any of the school packages available directly from our photographer Andaleeb Lilley.

Parent Coffee

Family and friends are welcome to join us this Thursday the 2nd at 08.30 for a festive Parent Coffee.

This will be a chance to socialise and make plans and I suspect the Student Council would like to introduce themselves and ask for your help with the end of term plans!!

After School Activities

So far there has been insufficient interest to justify starting a Playball or French group. Please let me know if you are interested but just forgot to say!

Wishing everyone a fun week!

Another busy week at ISOCS!

2010-11-16T20:12:00.005+01:00

It's all go these days at ISOCS!

Photographer coming on Friday!

We know that your children are always gorgeous...but if they need to be "even more shiny for Grandma" please dress and comb them accordingly for Friday morning!!

The wonderful photographer Andaleeb Lilley will come to take group and personal shots on Friday.

She typically offers 4 poses for each child and packages that cover all needs, but is entirely your choice if you choose to buy or not.

I am not shamelessly promoting her...but I have been (in all honesty) using a 4 year old holiday photo for school promotion...until she came along!!

Storyteller

Yesterday morning we welcomed the wonderful Morgan Schatz Blackrose; a wonderful storyteller from Australia who kept students and teachers alike entranced with her multi-cultural stories and raps.

She was enchanted with our school and your offspring and has since written to us a touching expression of admiration!

I am sure she will be a regular visitor to ISOCS, as she tours Switzerland annually.

Playball

Yesterday afternoon everyone was very flexible about sharing the gym so that the younger students could experience a Playball demonstration from Nadine Mc Graw. Nadine runs Playball as an after school option at several other primary schools in the Zurich area.

I invited her to explore whether this might be something of interest for our families. I think it is fair to say that it was greatly enjoyed by all!!

If their is sufficient interest (6-8 students) we would explore an after school club on Tuesday or Thursday after school. An hour's class would typically cost CHF 25 per session. (Which includes rental of the gym and small group tuition.) Please let me know if you are interested in pursuing this option so that we can determine whether it is worth our while starting an after school club.

Other After-School Options

I have been asked to open the school to other possible clubs and activities and I support this whole-heartedly. My only proviso is that the school be used for our own students well being and development until 16.30. From 15.30 -16.30 the priority is always student teaching and learning of the ISOCS students.

I am very happy to offer the school premises for the benefit of student learning and I am thinking about after school classes in French as an after school option. I have also been approached by one of our parents to offer inter-denominational religious instruction.

Once again, might I ask you to contact me expressly is this if any of these options are of interest to you.

Please put Thursday 2nd in your diary for the next Parent coffee.

Looking forward to our next get-gether!

Jacqueline

Storyteller to visit ISOCS

2010-11-13T09:27:00.003+01:00

We are excited to welcome Morgan Schatz Blackrose, author and international storyteller of the highest repute, to our school on Monday morning.

Morgan is touring many international schools in Switzerland and will be a great motivator for our current IBPYP Units of Inquiry, "Sharing Stories", "Inspiration" and "Heroes and Role Models".

Please follow the link to visit her website and check back here soon for photos of Morgan working with your children.

Cold Autumn Days

2010-11-12T07:49:00.007+01:00

Dear ISOCS Families,

As you can see we have all been enjoying the sunny autumn days!

Click the title above to take you to our Flickr set of pictures.

Here is the latest news and information from ISOCS.

Reports:

On Friday you should have received your students first progress report, following our first Unit of Inquiry.

We are one of the first schools who are trying to make reporting more timely and relevant to current development goals.

Many schools look to us as leaders in this field and we are always keen to answer your questions and receive your feedback.

Please return the student reports and portfolios to school this week for ongoing student refelcetion and record keeping. We can make copies at your request and will bind and send out all reports together at the end of the school year.

Student Council:

Students from all grades participated in our first Student Council elections. Initially posts will be held and modelled be Senior students on a rotational basis. It is our hope that we will have representatives from all classes in years to come.

All of the current Senior class have adopted roles on the council and they will all have an opportunity to try out different roles during the year.

Packing for school:

Clothing

As the weather starts to turn colder please ensure that your child is well equipped with seasonal accessories. (e.g. Hats, gloves etc.) We will encourage students to use them (despite complaints!!) if they are easily accessible.

Please label all clothing to assist with its safe return.Lost items will be stored at the "Lost and Found" behind the stage door of the hub. Items remaining after the main holidays will be donated to charity.

Snack

Please ensure that your child has a healthy snack for break time. Even as we acknowledge that there are differing cultural views on this, we do hope that you respect our request for nutritious eating during the school day.

The Canton of Zug recommends seasonal fruit and vegetables and whole grain breads and crackers. High sugar snacks are actively discouraged and chocolate, sweets and gum are forbidden in school (except for special shared school or class treats).

We ask students not to share/swap snacks at school.

Thank you in anticipation for your understanding and support.

Student Council Elections

2010-11-06T08:59:00.003+01:00

The Senior students presented their plans for our first ISOCS Student Council at this week's Celebration of Learning. The idea to form a council to help with school liaison, decision making and events has been a natural action component arising from the Senior Primary class' Unit of Inquiry "Heroes and Role Models".

The councillors prepared speeches and canvassed for election for the positions that the class research felt most useful in our situation.

On Friday, students voted for the candidates for each contested role, and now we have appointed motivated students to take on the roles of Chairperson, Secretary and Vice-Secretary, Treasurer and Vice-Treasurer and Class Representatives for both the Junior and Middle Primary Classes for the next few months. New elections will take place next term to ensure that students have the opportunity to experience a variety of responsibilities on the Student Council.

All students are to be commended for the maturity and sensitivity with which they carried out the voting and decision making process.

We all look forward to the Student Council's many positive contributions to school life.

Halloween Capers!

2010-10-30T09:59:00.007+02:00

ISOCS students enjoyed some fun and games to celebrate the season and the up coming long weekend. All activities were optional and although some students chose not to dress-up or "bob" their face into cold water to grab an apple in their teeth, everyone enjoyed our "Make a Mummy" competition.

Cedric was invited to judge the team entries and was then surprised to learn that the top prize was the chance to wrap Cedric up as a Mummy too!

ISOCS Student Council

2010-10-05T19:31:00.005+02:00

As the first term ended we reflected on our 2010 school start at ISOCS and how our school will change and grow.

Students from all classes presented their ideas on:

What we love and can NEVER lose at ISOCS:

The teachers...they care about us and make learning enjoyable.
Getting out and about on the school bus/es!
Respecting different learners and learning styles
Teuflibach...no-one else has this and it makes us special!
The food...We love it!
RESPECT! We love that we get it and we need to always give it back!
The computers...It is so cool that we can use them whenever we need them to learn
Our Happy Hub time together... it brings us together in so many ways!
Wednesday afternoons to meet our Swiss friends or do clubs and activities
Our bright and happy classrooms...nowhere else is this bright and lively!

What would we like to add to ISOCS

More events and celebrations
Maybe some more after-school activities
More games at Happy Hub
Even more learning out of class

How can we make a difference?

Help to plan events that are important to us
Be buddies to other students in a caring way
Propose ideas to solve problems and improve the school in an organised way
Start a student council to have a system to get students thoughts aired regularly
Work with parents and teachers to make ISOCS the best it can be (even as we grow and change!)

The Outcome

We agreed by a unanimous vote that the senior primary class would explore setting up a student council and work with Ms Jax on the initiatives that students care most about.

Checking Out New Sports Facilities

2010-09-18T10:09:00.009+02:00

The finishing touches are being put to the all-weather pitch next to the school and some of the Senior Primary class took their break-time to check out the neighbouring facilities, audition me for goalie (!!!) and plan their after-school possibilities.

Earlier in the week I accompanied the Juniors to adjoining Vita Parcours course as part of our Unit "Working and Playing Together".

Please look at the Junior Class Blog for more information

The availability of these resources compliment the excellent provision of gymnasia, dance studio, athletics facilities and indoor pool that we already use, at the nearby Röhrliberg complex in Cham.

Everything we could possibly need (and more) is easily accessible within a few minutes walk!
We feel very privileged to benefit from the outstanding facilities that Cham offers and especially appreciate the people of Cham who make us feel so welcome in, and a part of, their community.

Farewell Ms. Lili

2010-09-18T08:53:00.009+02:00

We were all sad to say "au revior" to our lovely intern, "Ms. Lili", as she packs her bags to head of to St. Andrew's University in "sunny" Scotland.

Ms. Lili has been a tremendous help and support to everyone at ISOCS and I know she will be back to visit us often!

The students took turns presenting their cards, wishes and hugs, before Ms. Lili surprised us all with a treasure hunt around the school.

New ISOCS Handbook is on-line to download

2010-09-12T20:04:00.004+02:00

Doesn't the time fly when you are having fun?!

Behind all of the the fun and learning you see on our Flickr site, we have been spending our "free time" assembling the administrative things that you all look for at the start of the year.

Please let us know this week if you require any changes to the social contact list.

We have had several suggestions for improvements!

Also please remember to complete and submit the emergency contact form electronically so that we have an up-to-date list should we need to contact a child's family in a hurry.

Ms. Slavka is preparing your school confirmation forms to be collected at school, if you haven't yet received them.

ISOCS Family Handbook

The ISOCS Family Handbook went live tonight on the www.isocs.ch homepage and we hope you will all refer to it in the coming weeks. It spells out most of the ISOCS policies and practices needed at this stage of development. A hard copy will be available by request from the school office.

Monday

On Monday an esteemed artist from the Russian State circus (whose name I am not sure that I wrote down correctly!) will perform for us after school. Please stay around for a while if you can!

Thursday

Ms. Lili has been a wonderful help to us for the past six weeks and as she prepares to leave for St. Andrew's University, in "sunny" Scotland, we wish her every success. We will have a little "thank you and good luck" celebration on Thursday, her last day.

Future plans

Businesses in the area are growing, it seems, and we have several companies visiting in the coming weeks.

We met the building directors on Friday about added 3- 6 classes in the future dependent upon demand.

If you have colleagues looking for places please do mention us!

Our next mobility professionals breakfast is scheduled for 0.800 on Thursday 30th. September 2010. If you have colleagues in the business of HR or relocation please mention this to them.

Fantastic Friday Photos

2010-09-04T18:43:00.007+02:00

When the sun shines and it's "dessert day" at Teuflibach...it's another Fantastic Friday at ISOCS!

Captured here are the the students enjoying Brigitte's glorious home cooked food at Teuflibach; happy horse-play in the woods with our new intern and the beautiful short walk back to the school.

Our Olympian sports teacher poses momentarily by the school bus, before taking her class for an exciting gym lesson at our amazing gymnasia complex at Röhrliberg in Cham.

For regular updates about learning at ISOCS please be sure to visit the class "blogs" often.

They are all easily accessible from the www.isocs.ch homepage, but it is really worth subscribing to updates so that you keep up to date with all we are doing?

We also update the school "Flickr" photo website with weekly photos for you to view and subscribe to. As mothers ourselves, we know only too well that children don't always have the most expressive answers to the age old question... "so what did you do today"?

Enjoy your children's images!

What can a Learning Log look like?

2010-09-01T18:16:00.001+02:00

Judy Firkins has just posted a wonderful video on the great variety of Learning Logs the students used to share their learning last year.

Please take a few moments to check out the "Picassa" slide show at the bottom of the post to be inspired.

The Middle Primary Class @ ISOCS: What can a Learning Log look like?: "PERSONAL CONNECTIONS Connecting our learning with the home PART ONE Conduct a search for anything that helps measure or tell the time. Reco..."

Making Connections to the IB Learner Profile

2010-08-28T14:05:00.006+02:00

Choosing a photo every week seemed like such a simple and great idea...but the choice is excruciating!!

I chose this photo because it shows how our staff are making the IB learner Profile relevant to learners in both English and German, through our integrated bilingual days.

I also love that the children shown here actually understood the words and meaning better because given these two languages together they understood some new nuances of these important conceptsby making connections to French!

That makes us all feel great about the IB learner profile, our international learning connections and our terrific teaching team who compliment each other so well.

ISOCS first piano arrives!

2010-08-25T21:37:00.004+02:00

We were all so excited to witness the delivery of our first piano to ISOCS!

Ms. Karolina "Slavka" Müller has already made a huge impact on our school by selecting and organising the delivery of our school's first piano... from Germany!

A piano is "just a piano" until our amazing team members bring it to life!

We were truly spell-bound by Ms. Slavka's trial performance and amazed to see Ms Lili take a quiet moment to connect with this new and beautiful musical resource.

We are all busy people with varying talents and passions, but today we were united in a sense of awe for the emotional power of music.

We intend to make our students use this power fully in their learning!

We hope to share video of musical performances electronically very soon!

Thank you to all who make this possible for our learners!

P.S. "Ms. Slavka" (and her mother ..who taught her!) are accepting bookings for private tuition in piano, voice and violin.

Please contact the school office to inquire about details and prices.

Our photos of the week at ISOCS

2010-08-20T19:58:00.004+02:00

This week we were so inspired by our students that it was almost impossible to select one photo that encapsulates the excitement for learning and the new bonding that occurred.
However I chose this photo because it shows students really taking pride in sharing their learning.

The school is alive with the sound of music!

2010-08-18T17:10:00.004+02:00

ISOCS students had a wonderful introduction to the musical "The Gift" yesterday when they met the composer Allison Clarke.
Over the coming weeks Allison will share the process of developing, writing, recording and performing this new musical with our students.

Today Ms. Lilly Suter from the Musikschule Cham taught the foundation courses of the local music school to our Junior and Middle Primary classes. Here you see some students playing the recorder together.

Our First Morning

2010-08-16T17:03:00.006+02:00

All classes got underway this morning at the start of our new school year.

We were delighted to welcome so many new friends to our growing school and the atmosphere was extremely positive and industrious throughout the day.

A great start for all!

Early to bed tonight...even for the teachers!!

Welcome back to the new school year at ISOCS

2010-08-13T10:47:00.002+02:00

I hope everyone is as excited about our new school year as our faculty are!

Teachers have been working diligently getting classrooms timetables and learning plans in place for the new school year.

On Monday morning 16th August we look forward to inviting you for a short get-together in the Hub.

There we can welcome families "old" and new and introduce you to our growing team of dedicated educators and carers.

Students will then follow their teachers to their new classes whilst I

offer a short information session for new families.

Our "interns" Cédric and Lili will invite existing families who are familiar with our routines to be the first to enjoy refreshments and the new families will join them shortly thereafter.

Teachers are sending out their own letters to families in their class with specific requests for items. Please watch your email!

I look forward to welcoming you bright and early on Monday at 08.30!

Jacqueline Webb

End of the year slide show

2010-06-25T09:09:00.001+02:00

Welcome to ISOCS - the video

2010-03-06T21:08:00.000+01:00

Welcome to ISOCS

2010-03-06T20:59:00.000+01:00

Welcome to ISOCS

ISOCS loves the snow!

2010-01-25T18:41:00.007+01:00

ISOCS students children are really enjoying the snow! It is such a pleasure to hear the genuine “whoops” of delight when they are sliding, climbing and playing outside just now.

Thank you for providing suitable clothing and footwear for everyone to get "fully involved"!

The student reports for our second Unit of Inquiry are coming home now. I have included the explanatory letter that was sent out with our first report in October, as a reminder that our reporting system reflects the belief that all learners start by being introduced to new ideas and become gradually more independent over time, until the skill or understanding is easily applicable in real life situations. This independent application is our goal for all aspects of learning, but that level of application often takes many years (I reflect here on my learning of German!!)

We are also sending home a consent form which we would ask you to sign and return to school with the reports as soon possible. It covers official consent for your child/ren to participate fully in the day-to-day learning at our school.

We are updating the website at the moment, so you may be surprised (and delighted!) to see some lovely new pictures there. We have also added some Spring term photos to the Flickr site and would you to take a look and share in some of the special moments we have had at school over the past two weeks. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isocs/

This is Christiane's last week as our school secretary. She is very excited to have a wonderful new house to prepare and although we will miss her dreadfully she has been a great help to us in choosing her successor. After over 20 interviews Sylvia Stutz (Ms. Sylvia) will take over Christiane's position next week.

This week the Hünenberg School have reserved our swimming slot so we are awaiting word, but anticipate that both classes may be having "outdoor adventures" with Mr. Phil this week.

The Juniors and Seniors are trying to arrange a trip to Cham library in our busy schedule and next Tuesday 3rd February, the Seniors are going to the recycling plant at Horgen to explore energy. A consent letter will be sent home shortly.

ISOCS Hosts International PYP Schools

2009-12-05T11:01:00.004+01:00

ISOCS is truly launched in the International School Community!

On Monday 30th, ISOCS host 20 school leaders of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) at our school.This was the best attended such gathering of its kind so far and all but one PYP school in Switzerland sent a representative. We also had two visitors from Lyon and Paris join us for the day.

All of our guests were impressed by our facilities, warm atmosphere and the happy, confident children. They were also "wowed" by the presentation Judy delivered on current best practices in Mathematics. All staff staff and students are to be warmly congratulated on the very positive impression that they and the school made on this influential community. Word of mouth travels fast and a very positive message will be being circulated about our school and its ability to quickly establish high standards of excellence and take the lead in child-centred educational initiatives. Well done everyone!
The visitors also adored their Teuflibach lunch (despite the walk through the snow!) Brigitte really did us proud and all of the students were commended for keenly offering to clear up in preparation of the second sitting!

Our Educational Technologies Coordinator Kathy Epps was invited to be a guest International Baccalaureate Headquarters in Cardiff to discuss her fine work in schools and assist the organisation with their efforts to update the ICT Information and Communication Technologies curriculum for the IB PYP. Congratulations to Kathy for being one of only a few invited worldwide and for representing our small and new school so well internationally.

Snowy days!
We have had our first snowy morning and we have been discussing the joys and challenges this seasonal wonder will bring at our school.

We have all agreed to remind each other to use the hand-rail on the steps whenever it is dark or slippery. We also agreed that on snowy days we will open the back "Fire Exit" accessible from door number 2 at the Pavatex side of the building (which the students know from fire drills) so that the students do not have to use the exterior steps.

The many students who had remembered to pack gloves, hats and snow pants (or Teuflibach "splash pants"!) especially enjoyed playing in the snow today.

We will do our best to guide students to wear the appropriate clothing, as provided, and otherwise discourage play that will get them wet. However children will be children, and in the event that some children get wet outside, we are doing our best to dry off clothes and hair and ensure that children put on warm track pants in the class. Having appropriate clothing in school helps tremendously and we thank you for your efforts to ensure that they can enjoy themselves outside in the snow.

Coming up soon!!

Celebrations

A new Unit of Inquiry is starting in Juniors, through which students will investigate and compare how and why we celebrate in different ways. Ms. Babs is working hard to ensure our student understand and appreciate some of the Swiss traditions and customs that students will come across this winter. Juniors will learn about the tradition of making Grittibänz in a very hands-on way tomorrow and the Seniors will follow suit on Friday.Once again we extend a very warm invitation to all families to share any of their their family celebrations, traditions and customs with our students.
Self- Expression

Kathy Epps visits us again this week from Geneva. She will be helping the Seniors complete their work on expressing themselves and conveying moods through multi-media. We were inspired by the work of visiting Expressive Dance specialist that Ms. Christina organised for us all last Friday, and will continue to express ourselves through dance and drama interpretations in the coming weeks.

Library Presentation

The Seniors have prepared their suggestions about how they think our school library might best be organised, based upon what they have learned at the Cham and Zurich International School libraries. They will present their ideas to Gail and I on Wednesday morning. We are grateful that the students have been given time to consider how we will use our library as they will have an active role in its ongoing, use organisation and care.

Library book return

We are gathering our Cham library books together and will return them to the library at the end of this week. Please make sure your Cham library books are returned to school by Friday at the very latest so as not to incur any fines.

It is Swimming for the Juniors this week.

Please remember to pack a swimming cap for longer or thicker hair in this cold weather.

I hope you enjoy the remainder of the week and you find a way to stay safe warm and dry ;)

Kind regards,

Jacqueline

Welcome to a first...an ISOCS School Blog!

2009-11-14T19:05:00.015+01:00

Dear ISOCS Families,

Usually I spend a fair proportion of my weekend composing news, for you on my trusted Gmail.

I have now been persuaded to embrace the 21st Century and try to achieve the same effect by blogging!

To what end?...we may all ask!!

I am told that the advantages of blogging is that you can catch up with school news and current focuses wherever you might find yourself. In the event that families join us throughout the year they have access to all of our shared history and useful information.

So here we go..."hold on to your hats"...ISOCS now BLOGS!

Over the coming weeks I will trial the use of this ISOCS blog to inform you of coming events.

From here, we also hope that you will connect to the class that you are interested in, to learn about their current learning priorities. It is now so simple to sign up for email notifications each time one of our blogs are updated.
Please DO click on the "subscribe" option on the right side of each blog to be alerted when we enter updates. I am completely new to this too and I have subscribed to both the Senior and Junior class blogs and I promise that it doesn't hurt one bit!!

Once we all get used to this medium ;) I think it will serve us well.

However, in the meantime we will try to email you the link to remind you to use the blog to keep up-to-date!

Now, I know that you know, that every week at ISOCS is an exciting one!
However we offer you a little advanced notice of the events we have planned for the coming weeks:

Thursday 19th November:

Kathy Epps joins us from Geneva to help the Seniors explore how they can express themselves optimally through modern technology. Expect to be dazzled by their efforts!

Junior Students enjoy swimming with Mr. Phil.

Seniors will continue their outdoor education thereafter!

Mr Phil starts his tennis coaching in Meierskappel after school. Contact the school for details if you are interested in joining us!

Friday 20th November:

Please ensure the students have all the appropriate gym kit (shorts or track pants, a change of T-shirt and most importantly "indoor only" gym shoes.
If students continue to come ill-equipped for gym we may lose our possibility to use these state of the art facilities!

Wednesday 25th November:
ISOCS hosts its first "Drop-in before Pick-up" Coffee/Tea morning from 11.30 a.m.
You are invited to join us for refreshment at school. Usborne books will set up a display of English books in "The Hub" lest you are interested in purchasing high quality books for your child or as Christmas gifts. The local Usborne representative offers us 30% discount on orders.

Monday 30th November:
International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme Regional Meeting at ISOCS

ISOCS is extremely proud to host the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme regional meeting at our school.

Ms. Jax is hosting (and now passes her coordination of the group over for election) and Ms. Judy is presenting the best practices in mathematics.
Other presentations and discussion will include:

A review of the common use of IBPYP curricula in Language and Mathematics
"Benchmarking" writing within International Schools
Blogging as a means of communication
Re-election for the coordination of the Swiss PYP Group

Most of he Swiss IBPYP leaders (and some from France and Germany, too) will join us at Teuflibach for lunch. (Do you think that I should I tell them to pack decent footwear?!!)

Ms. Judy and Ms. Jax will be involved in hosting the event all day. Therefore Ms. Christina will be in Juniors all day, and Ms. Adele Carroll (an ex-colleague and previously 4th grade coordinator at ISZL) will substitute for the Seniors on the day. Ms. Christiane and Ms. Vicky will be on hand throughout the day for extra support.

We can't wait to show off our very special little school to the IB PYP community!

Thank you for all your support. Your positive energy is experienced strongly in our school, through your children!

Kindest regards,
Jacqueline