Message from Secondary - 26th October 2018

As I write, our Year 7 to Year 11 students are very much looking forward to their Project Week trips next week. Each of their trips involves a wide range of activities which will challenge them to learn new skills, go beyond their comfort zones and get involved in some community service.

You should now have all the information you need from the respective trip leaders including itineraries, packing lists, emergency contact details and information about flights. It is very important that students arrive at school on Monday morning promptly so our buses can leave for the airport with plenty of time to spare. Likewise, I would also request that you are prompt in picking up your children on Friday when the trips return. If there are any delays in flights, this will be communicated through Class Dojo (Years 7 to 9) or the trip Wechat groups (Years 10 to 11).

For those of you with children on the Year 7, 8 and 9 trips, it is very important that you have access to the Class Dojo group for that year group. If you do not have this, please contact me on a-joy@naispudong.com so I can resolve this. For those with children in Years 10 and 11, if you have not been able to join the trip Wechat groups, please contact Annabel Attwood (a-attwood@naispudong.com) for Year 10 or Greg Siccardi (g-siccardi@naispudong.com) for Year 11.

Next week, our Year 12 students will be undertaking work experience. This will be an important opportunity to develop life skills, to gain a greater understanding of what career path they want to take and to build up experiences which they can include within their university applications. The students will be writing blogs throughout the week which will encourage them to reflect upon and learn from their placements.

Meanwhile, the focus for Year 13 is on completing their Extended Essays. The Extended Essay is an essential component of the IB Diploma Programme which develops important skills such as research, academic writing and critical thinking. Students choose their own topic within one of their IB subjects which allows them to engage with a topic which really interests them. Completing an EE is a significant achievement as it is likely to be the longest and most thoroughly prepared piece of work that they will have undertaken so completing this should be a source of great pride for those students.

This week, we had the last of our term one Academic Review Evenings and it was good to see so many parents of Year 10 and 12 students in attendance. The next set of AREs take place on 15^th and 17^th January (for Years 7, 8 and 9), 29^th January (Years 10 and 12) and 31^st January (Years 11 and 13).

On Thursday, the Secondary school held a non-uniform day with a pink theme in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month which takes place in October. It was good to see so many students supporting this day and also making voluntary contributions to More Than Aware, a breast cancer support group.

Finally, a few reminders of upcoming events. 5^th and 6^th of November are now public holidays and school will not be open on those dates. We will now be running a normal school day on Friday 9^th November, though those students who have already arranged travel on that day will be treated as authorised absences. Assessment Cycle 1 begins in the week beginning 19^th November and runs until Friday 30^th November. Students have already been given information from their teachers about topics they can revise for these tests.