Newsletter

Dear parents and members of the OLSH community and extended OLSH community,

Learning has begun in earnest across all year levels.  The Leadership Team has observed a new energy based on our 2020 success at the National Examinations and a new willingness on the part of our students to shine at their best.  Teachers are building on this energy and long may it continue.

The Leadership Team joins me in thanking all parents who have taken the time and effort to come to school and have conversations with us about your child’s progress over the past 2 weeks.  Thanks to the marvels of technology, I have enjoyed putting faces to your names and seeing each student again.  We encourage more parents to make appointments to speak to the relevant Head of School (Mrs Thomas or Mrs Baiwan) and Mr Baiwan or me.  We welcome the opportunity to have conversations with you in the presence of your child; conversations that are affirming to your child as they begin to realise and appreciate that the parent-school partnership is working for their benefit. 

Parents as partners evening

Primary - Monday 8 February from 4 – 5 pm – Group presentation by Head of Primary and distribution of Unit Outlines and Assessment Schedules. Following this, parents will be able to meet the class teacher of your child/children.

Secondary – Monday 15 February from 4 – 5 pm in the AV Room.  Similar proceedings as in Primary.

“EVERY STUDENT UNDER THE MICROSCOPE” - YEAR LEVEL TEACHER MEETINGS

These strategic meetings will be held after school as follows:

Teachers at each Year Level will meet with the respective Head of School to discuss and track individual student progress from Semester 2, 2020 reports as well as audit reports from the Transition Meetings held in December last year and revisited in the Staff Professional Learning Week in January.  Parents are encouraged to attend the Parents as Partners Evenings.  Please also feel welcome to make appointments to meet with Heads of School and me either before or after the above meetings, to discuss your child’s needs and progress.

I trust students and parents were satisfied with the information presented to guide your child’s/children’s subject choices.   Subject selection closes on Friday 5 February and students will be informed about their subjects next week.  The work for Year 12, 2022 success started on 25 January.  Year 11 is the foundation year for the National Examinations.  Students are being asked to attend classes and intervention classes regularly, be punctual and put in solid hours of home study each evening and especially at weekends.  Parent support for our expectation will go a long way in ensuring your child’s success.  

A further reminder that all 2021 Re-Enrolment Forms are now overdue and need to be returned as soon as possible.  This is a legal document and required by the school to maintain accurate enrolment records as well as to finalise our 2021 census.  If you require a fresh form, please request this from Student Services and comply with our request at your earliest.  Thank you.

LParents of new students are requested to submit a copy of your child’s/children’s 2020 Semester 2 report at your earliest.   We have been using student reports as one of the tools for the planning of our focused approach to best respond to your child’s learning and social-emotional needs.  School reports provide the data that help teachers have professional conversations for student progress.  If you have not received Semester 2 reports from your child’s school, please may I request you to make contact with the school and obtain these reports as soon as possible.  Thank you.

I have spoken at length in earlier newsletters this year about 2 of the 3A’s:  Attendance (Regularity & Punctuality) as well as about Application.  Of equal value is the first A - Appearance.  The Heads of School are unrelenting in their effort to ensure “the OLSH look” every day, in each of our students P-12.  We wish to work co-operatively with our parent body, in order to ensure that our students take ownership and pride in their appearance and present neatly from head to foot every day.   Mrs Thomas provided positive feedback on the appearance of all Primary students last week.  I ask Secondary parents to please heed Mrs Baiwan’s message below.   Thanking you in anticipation of your support.

Appearance Matters

This year we are protecting learning time as much as we can, making every minute of classroom learning time count. Therefore, I wish to avoid sending students home due to the wearing of incorrect uniform.   Disregarding A for Appearance is regarded as Level A behavior.   Therefore, from Monday 8 February, students will receive a note on the day of wearing incorrect uniform, to inform parents of their inappropriate dressing. In addition, they will do community service after school.  After 3 instances of wearing the incorrect uniform, the student will be sent home to rectify their uniform and return to school.   This will result in the loss of valuable learning time.  Hence I ask for your support to avoid this and to help us give your son/daughter an appreciation of appropriate dressing for school.  If there is a good reason why your son or daughter is unable to wear the appropriate OLSH uniform, please send the Pastoral Care (PC) teacher a note of explanation or email me at secondary@olshinternational.org

 Mrs Rachel Baiwan - Acting Head of Secondary

Primary and Secondary Teachers commenced their Term 1 Professional Learning on Thursday 4 February and will continue every Thursday each term for the whole year.

Some of the topics being covered over the next few weeks are:

Primary

·         Text Types in Primary English; Writing Framework: A Thematic Approach;

·         Explicit Teaching of Reading:  Developing Active Readers

 Secondary

·         Differentiated Learning and Assessment; Effective Teacher Feedback for Improvement;

·         Assessment and Rubrics