QSIP Newsletter 6th October 2014
Dear QSI Families, I would like to share with you some recent information.
Tea with Mr. Page: Thank you to all parents who attended our first “Tea with Mr. Page” on 25 September 2014. Our next tea is scheduled for the 16th of October, 2014 at 8:15 a.m. Mr. Page’s talk will focus on student performance evidence portfolios and how QSIP tracks
the academic and character performance of our students. Open house: We will be holding our annual Open House on Thursday, 9 October 2014 at 4:15 p.m. Parking will be available at the school. Please meet your child(ren) in the Breezeway at 4:00 p.m. and meet with Mr. Page and the staff in the Breezeway at 4 p.m. Mr. Page will introduce the community
to our new teachers and to share our plans for another great school year. This year the open house will be somewhat different than in the past. This year your child(ren) will be personally inviting you to this important event to share his/her learning environment with you! Please come to hear all about QSIP and see how proud your child(ren) is/are about their experiences here. Measure of Academic Progress testing: We are proud to be the only school in Phuket doing MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing. It is a computerized, adaptive test which helps teachers, parents, and administrators improve learning for all students and make informed decisions to promote a child's academic growth in Math and Reading. This test is run by NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) and is administered by more than 530 international schools in 140 countries around the world. It is one of many assessment tools we use at QSIP to gauge how well our students are progressing as an individual but also compared to students globally.
MAP testing started on October 1, 2014, and will be administrated to all students age 7 years old to Secondary 2. We are hoping that results of the test will be available during parent/teacher conferences. Parent/Teacher/Student conferences: We will be holding our first parent/teacher/student conferences on Wednesday, 15 October 2014. This year will be special, as we will conduct student-‐led conferences. Please see the attachment, which gives valuable information about student-‐led conferences. Each family will be given a sign-‐up slip for requesting a conference time. There will be no school for students on this day, as our parents and teachers spend time discussing the strengths and next steps for each student.
SAT examinations: QSI is a fully accredited SAT examination center (with the accurate facilities and qualified SAT teachers). Next PSAT examination is the 15th of October. 24 QSIP students will take this university entrance test. For more information about SAT, log onto our website: http://phuket.qsischool.org/index.php/why-‐choose-‐qsi/sat-‐examinations/530-‐sat-‐examination-‐center
Snack time: Every Wednesday until the end of November, the 11 yo class together with Thai teachers K. Jay and K. Pum will cook snacks for sale. The snack will be sold at reasonable price (between 20 thb to 40 thb) during elementary and secondary morning recess. The money raised will go to QSIP
student activity fund.
Career awareness: We are planning a series of career-‐focused seminars for our secondary students. These seminars will focus on providing our students with an insight into different jobs and careers that may be available to them when they complete their educational experiences. Given that our parent
body contains a highly diverse mix of professionals with extremely varied and interesting professions, we would like to extend an opportunity to you to share some of your experiences with the students. If you are interested in sharing your professional experiences on a Friday morning in the near future, please contact the school at [email protected].
Student Performance Evidence Portfolios: For the first time ever, QSIP will be creating Student Performance Evidence Portfolios for all of our students. These portfolios will serve as a valuable learning
tool for your child as well as a collection of "best work" evidence in all subject areas. We will continue sending samples of your child's learning efforts home in your child's backpack, but copies of your child's unit tests, writing samples, standardized test scores and other performance evidence will be placed in the Student Performance Evidence Portfolio to be shared with you at Parent/Teacher/Student conferences two times each year (Fall and Spring). At the end of the school year, your child's portfolio will be stored in the director's office to be passed along to the appropriate homeroom teacher the following school year. We hope you find the portfolios to be valuable to you as parents. Best wishes, Mr. Page -‐ Director, QSI International School of Phuket Upcoming events: 9th October: Open house 4 p.m. Parking at the school 11th October: Football tournament at Thanyapura, senior girls and senior boys 15th October: Parent/Teacher/Student conferences 15th October: PSAT test (a.m. only) 16th October: Tea with Mr. Page. 8:15 am-‐ 9:15 am in the breezeway 20th – 24th October: Chulalongkorn holiday/QSIP Fall Break