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Welcome to the monthly update from the Northbridge International School Cambodia Parent Council, which follows their regular meeting and discussion with Principal Mr Richard Vaughan. Here are the topics that were addressed at this month's meeting.
By Parent Council Chair Natashia Ma
Christmas Fair
The Christmas Fair will be hosted on Tuesday 11 December, from 3pm in the Cafeteria. The Parent Council needs more mums to help set up this event and host during the Fair. Please contact Natashia on pc@nisc.edu.kh if you are available to help on that day!
Click here to view and share the Facebook event link.
EL2-G2 Performance
The Parent Council wishes to extend a big thanks to the teachers involved and parents that helped in preparing the EL2-G2 performance on Monday.
The performance was huge for such an early age, but the little kids were amazing and all did fantastic jobs on stage. Many parents were both surprised and grateful when watching this performance, because they found a tremendous improvement on this assembly compared with those in the past.
The Parent Council suggests the school provides every student the chance to perform on stage in the future, especially those who were unable to join this time around.
However, parents also understand that it takes an intensive effort to prepare for such a big show, and suggests that the school give parents more advance notice before rehearsals so that more parents can volunteer to help out. All in all though, we are very proud of our kids!
Click here to view and share the Facebook photo album
Digital Devices
Following last month's meeting, some parents still hope the school can ban or restrict students bringing mobile phones to school, especially smaller children. Mr Richard informed parents that the school is looking into what can be done.
Further to this matter, IT Director Mr Alirio Rodriguez will be holding a discussion on Digital Citizenship this Friday during the Parent Coffee Morning, so any concerned parents are welcome to join his talk.
Sweets and Junk Food
The Parent Council gave feedback that it feels sweets are not controlled enough inside school as students are sometimes rewarded with sweets at STUCO events and some LEAP after school activities as well.
Parents hope sweets consumption can be reduced in school, and thatteachers can remind students how harmful junk food is to their health.
House Color System
The Parent Council noted that the school sometimes sends notices to parents to inform about activities on the next day that require dress code, and parents often have no time to prepare.
Some parents also commented that our children have no standard uniform to represent our school on special occasions, such as attending the Christmas Choir event on 5 November. The choir was asked to wear the school white T-shirt, but some children just wore a plain white T-shirt without Northbridge logo because they didn't have one.
Parents think it is very important for our children to wear the same uniform if our team attends some special occasion off campus. It distinguishes us as NISC, and makes us united as a team.
Though we have the PE uniform, parents also suggested the school adopt a 'house color system', which means students are assigned in different groups with the house color and house-colored uniform.
That way, if the school holds activities or friendly competitions, students can wear their house T-shirt (click this link to see what our sister school in Guangzhou does).
School Infrastructure
Parents gave feedback that there is still disordered parking in our school, with some visitors parking their car ad hoc. Parents hope security can continue to monitor this.
It was mentioned some toilets are not as clean as expected, especially in Primary
Many parents say they are unable to find things in the Lost & Found area—parents requested the help of all staff and students to take lost objects to the correct areas
Sports Hall Usage
New parents asked if they could use Northbridge facilities like the tennis courts after school hours if they do not live in Northbridge Community (NBC).
Mr Richard advised booking directly with Northbridge Community management (via Cafe North) in advance.
Student Voice
The Parent Council would like to know how our children can speak out, if they are not happy with a certain situation.
Mr Richard advised that if students do not feel comfortable speaking with their teachers, they could seek help from the Student Council (STUCO) that helps form a closer relationship between the students and the school staff.
STUCO also gathers feedback from students and can arrange a meeting with Mr Richard if necessary.
Cambodian Culture
Some local parents suggested the school introduce more cultural activities for Cambodian students in Khmer class, such as songs, so they can develop their sense of citizenship.
Next Meeting
The Parent Council meets at 8am on the first Tuesday of every month in the Hub Meeting Room.
If you have any topics or concerns that you would like to discuss among our parent group, please feel free to join the meetings or send an e-mail to: pc@nisc.edu.kh
Please follow the school Facebook page for regular event, information and photo updates!
The NISC swimming and sports department has been working tirelessly to ensure that every child at Northbridge becomes water safe and understands the dangers of water from an early age.
By Donita Bell
PYP Co-ordinator/Assistant Principal
The importance of home-school partnerships have long been documented as having positive impact on student wholistic development, wellbeing and life-long learning. Research shows that the role of the relationship between Parents and Educators creates the conditions conducive to student success.
'No school can work well for children if parents and teachers do not act in partnership on behalf of the children's best interests' - Dorothy Cohen