Message from the Principal

Good afternoon Parents，
 
Although the weather is much colder this week, we have enjoyed sunshine in the afternoons.  Let’s hope the bright days continue over the weekend.
 
I was pleased to announce in the Primary assemblies the weekly House Point totals.  Students are being awarded house points when they complete excellent work in class or at home, when they are kind and thoughtful, when they show resilience or fantastic effort, and for a whole host of positive behaviours in school.  These house points are collected and collated, with all house points going towards an overall house total, as well as being counted individually as we aim to celebrate those students who earn ‘milestone’ amounts of points.  So it is both a collective and an individual reward for effort in school.  It was very close this week, with just over 200 house points being earned in total, and very close between 1st place to 4th.  This week however saw White Tigers earn the most and be crowned our first weekly winners - so well done to all White Tigers, and keep up the hard work and positivity everyone else, maybe it will be your house next week who finishes first.  Incidentally, and without any prompting, it was amazing to see the students applaud each house, from 4th place to 1st, showing a respect and appreciation of their classmates and friends.  Each house point is a recognition of someone, and each point earned deserves to be celebrated.

Could I take a moment to remind you to complete the annual Parent Satisfaction Survey.  I am very grateful to the 40% of parents who have so far submitted this anonymous survey, but would like to encourage everyone else to take a short time to answer the questions.  It really does help to inform what we do in school and how we can improve, and is especially useful if we have a large number of opinions and feedback from you all.  There will be a special reward for the students if we reach our target for completion, details of which will be shared with the students soon. Following on from an earlier update, here are some more examples of progress we have made as a direct result of your feedback.
 
“Kindergarten clubs arrangement.” We have listened to this and after the success of the extended day for EY during the summer we are looking at ways to extend our club provision for younger students for Season 2.

“Online learning platforms need to be chosen based on accessibility in China.”  We are close to the release of our new platform which has been fully trialled by the Nord Anglia IT team at Head Office and also extensively tested by our own team here in Chengdu, with support from teachers (lead by Mr Alec Riley, thank you) and other key staff (thank you to our IT Supervisor Mr. Peter Zeng).  We are confident it is more accessible and stable in China and details will be with you soon.

“Facilities need to be upgraded eg. modern high tech equipment.”  We have recently installed 12 new Smart TV’s in a number of classrooms to enhance the teaching and learning taking place. These state of the art monitors allow for a whole range of interactive, meaningful presentations and tasks.

“The school is not familiar enough with the IB system.”  We were successfully authorised to deliver the MYP program last academic year, and in that process our teachers went through an extensive range of workshops, activities and professional development, both lead by Mr. Jarrett Brown as MYP Coordinator, and supplemented by our DP Coordinator Mr. James Sutcliffe, as well as externally provided training.  They have continued to develop our teachers’ already impressive capability, and we have continued to invest in staff training to ensure we are as knowledgable as we can be.
 
As you can see it is vital that you have your say.  Please add the school’s email address admissions@lis-chengdu.com to your whitelist so that you won’t miss our newsletter or any important notices, otherwise, the emails may go into your junk mailbox.”
 
One final point regarding access to our campus.  May I remind you that, now more than ever, in order to access our campus you need to have a prior appointment with a member of staff here in school.  We are not able to facilitate spontaneous or unplanned visits, unless in the case of an emergency.  Please contact your child’s class teacher or tutor, the Admissions team or either of the Academic Secretaries to make an appointment in advance of arriving at school.  If you do not have an appointment, we may not be able to authorise your entry to campus.
 
 
Kind regards,

Tom Ferguson
Principal