December 9, 2011

Dear Secondary Division Families,

Yesterday, we welcomed many of you at our THIS Winter Holiday Concert.  The concert featured performances from the Music classes in Grades 1-8, and Grade 10, taught by Mr. Sylvain Martinez and Ms. Tzu-Hsuan Ai.  We heard from our new and impressive THIS Choir Club, led by Ms. Ai, and also from several talented students during individual and group performances during the latter part of the show.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  I am very thankful for the wonderful team that put the show together, especially Theatre teacher Mr. Gregory Allen, for directing the show, and all the Art and administrative staff that provided the support needed to pull it off. Please check the website next week for pictures of this holiday event!

We found some items left in the auditorium, so if you are missing anything, please contact Nicholas Zhu at the THIS front desk (10) 6279-2390.  Also, please check what you took since there were a few items missing and we hope that things were not taken by mistake.  If you discover that something you took with you is not yours, please also call Nicholas at the number above.

PowerSchool Update:

Since Semester 2 of the 2010-11 academic year, THIS has been using PowerSchool, a school management system made by US company Pearson.  Many schools in the United States use this to manage their schools.  
Through this portal, students can get real-time reports of their grades, view upcoming assignments, and access previous academic records at THIS.  Each student has been given a log-in and password and has been instructed in Homeroom how to use PowerSchool. We have primarily been using PowerSchool for academic records and for attendance. There are also many functions which we are planning on implementing in the coming semesters.

For semester 2, we are upgrading to the latest version of PowerSchool, and one of the benefits will be the ability to translate the web access portal and all labels that do not change into various languages, including Chinese. We are also planning to provide parent access codes to all parents once this update is complete so that using the internet, you can log-in anywhere in the world and see how your child is doing.

Upcoming Dates：
Winter Holiday (No School): December 17-January 3, 2012.  School will resume as normal on January 4.  
Semester 1 Finals week:  Week of January 9, 2012
Last Day of Semester 1: January 13, 2012
Spring Festival Holiday: January 14-February 5.  School will resume on Monday, February 6.
* Holiday Recommended Reading Lists:
In preparation for this holiday break, English teachers in the Middle and High School will prepare and distribute a recommended reading list for the holiday vacation to each of their respective classes.  We hope that these suggestions are helpful to families in selecting quality reading materials to encourage students to become independent readers.

I wish everyone a wonderful, healthy and happy holiday vacation.

Peaceful wishes,

Martha Ortiz
Director of the Secondary Division
Tsinghua International School