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Principals’ Post #23

Dear SCIS Families,

As we finish our third week of virtual learning we would once again like to thank you for your patience and support. Our goal in this time of crisis has been to support the health and safety of the entire school community while minimizing the impact on student learning. The parent support of students, the teachers, and the school in general has helped us to ensure that we are able to provide the best program possible under these circumstances. This home-school partnership is as important as ever in leading our students through the crisis. Thank you for your messages, your feedback, and most importantly for your daily support of students during this difficult time.

By now hopefully everyone has had a chance to read the most recent update from Director of Schools Dan Eschtruth (sent Feb. 19) regarding our campus closure and the resulting changes to our academic calendar. As Mr. Eschtruth explained, in order to maximize our face to face instructional time, we have moved Spring Break to coincide with the seven day return-to-Shanghai period previously announced. We are also canceling the February 28th professional development day and we will continue with virtual learning on that day. We encourage everyone to monitor their email and refer to the SCIS Community FAQ page for the most up to date information.

Virtual Learning Update

Each week we collect data from students, parents, and teachers regarding the success and challenges that they experience. We are incorporating this feedback into our practice on a regular basis. Students and teachers receive updates on a daily basis through our daily email and ManageBac messages. There are a few updates we would like to highlight for families. First, in an effort to maintain personal interactions between students and teachers, we have asked teachers to hold virtual Office Hours for their classes. Teachers have communicated their availability to students and schedule realtime instructional and help sessions to support students. These interactions take place on the Microsoft Teams platform which all students and parents have access to as part of the Office 365. This is one example of the many ways we are working to fine tune our virtual learning program for students. We also shared Virtual Learning Guidelines in Post #22 that we encourage parents to reference. We ask that you continue to provide your feedback through our weekly surveys to ensure we are addressing your concerns and celebrating the successes.

Week 3 Virtual Learning Parent Feedback Survey

Virtual Learning ManageBac Refresher for Parents

Whether we are together on campus or spread across the globe, ManageBac is your most essential interface for monitoring your students’ day to day classwork, assessment tasks and ongoing feedback. During Virtual Learning, students will log one every morning (in any timezone) to see the day’s four scheduled lessons posted on their ManageBac calendar. Each lesson includes a range of learning experiences using a variety of media. ManageBac is MOST effective when you sit with your child and look at it together, but logging in as a parent gives you full access to your students daily calendar of learning experiences, messages to classes from teachers, and feedback on formative and summative assessment tasks. Check the tutorials below for further assistance.

ManageBac Video Tutorials

Calendars and Messages on ManageBac
Checking Progress in ManageBac

Virtual Learning Survival Guide

The virtual Learning Survival Guide is a great resource for parentsa nd students. Please take some time to review the Virtual Learning Survival Guide. This guide has been designed to identify resources for students and parents to support the adjustment to virtual learning. There are also some tech tips for students in using the school platforms. Please click HERE to review the Guide.

College Counseling Update

While the CoVid19 outbreak has certainly disrupted our daily routines, our commitment to supporting students with their plans and goals for the future has remained unchanged. Students continue to receive support and benefit from resources to help them identify the best path for the future. The majority of our 12th graders have completed their applications and have already received acceptances from universities from all corners of the world. The 11th graders continue to research the universities they have shortlisted and explore careers and majors that might be a good fit for them by completing the tasks assigned to them via BridgeU (https://bridge-u.com/). Individual university planning meetings with grade 11 students will continue as planned through March and April, either virtually or in person, depending on the return-to-campus timeline.

As usual, grade 9 and 10 students are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to attend university presentations and visit university campuses, if possible. Universities from around the world are offering an increasing number of digital visits and webinars to replace school visits in China which were scheduled to take place this spring. Visit this website for a list of upcoming webinars and registration links. If you are unable to attend the live webinar, a recording of it will be available on the website after the event has passed. These webinars are open to students and parents. We encourage you to visit the website frequently, as more events will be added as soon as they are announced.

Families who have questions or would like to make an appointment to discuss the university planning and application process are encouraged to reach out to our College Counselor, Maja Kelly, at mkelly@scis-china.org..

Announcements

Coronavirus Community Information

SCIS has developed a webpage on our system website outlining the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). We encourage families to check this link in order to access important information regarding our current campus closure and our response to the coronavirus. Previous updates are also logged on this site. If there are specific questions you feel need to be added, please email the administration.

Technology Support Reminders

Re-enrollment has begun for the 2020-2021 School Year

SCIS families should have received an email via your scis-parent email account providing instructions regarding re-enrollment for the 2020-2021 academic year.  Please be sure to follow the instruction contained in the email for re-enrollment. Please note, you must use your @scis-parent.org email account details when signing in to the Online Re-Enrollment Website.  The re-enrollment deadlines have been adjusted to account for the current situation. Please visit the admissions page for more details. If you have any questions regarding the process for re-enrollment, please do not hesitate to reach out to the SCIS Admissions team at admissions@scis-china.org.

Warm regards,

Frank Volpe, PhD Naomi Shanks

Upper School Principal . Upper School Vice Principal

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Principal’s Post #22: Upper School Virtual Learning Update

Dear SCIS Families,

We would like to start out by thanking all of you for your patience and well-wishes as we work to ensure learning continues for the SCIS community.  Given the realities of the extension of our campus closure as outlined in Director of Schools, Dan Eschtruth’s email (Feb 14, see below), we would like to provide you with a virtual learning update.  We recognize that many families find themselves in unique circumstances and our update may not address all of your individual questions.  We encourage you to reach out to the administration with your specific questions so we can identify the best way to support you and your students. 

Feedback on Virtual Learning

We have received over 200 responses from parents and students over the past week.  We are grateful for the time you have all taken to provide your valuable feedback.  We are making adjustments based on the feedback we have received.  Please expect that we will be sending out weekly surveys to parents and students alike, as it is essential that we have a finger on the pulse of our SCIS community throughout this virtual learning period. Please continue to provide us feedback through these surveys so we can continue to fine-tune our program. 

Support for Students and Parents during Virtual Learning

One of the most important outcomes of the feedback we have received is that we have been able to tailor our faculty efforts to continuously improve the virtual learning program.  From the student perspective, we have received valuable information regarding workload, communication, technology challenges, and the many successes students are having.  Parent feedback has helped us identify additional areas of support that are needed for both students and parents.  Overwhelmingly, the feedback has praised the job that teachers have done in designing engaging online learning experiences and supporting students.  We would like to join students and parents in thanking teachers for their efforts.  We would also like to draw your attention to specific supports we have available for parents and students. 

Virtual Learning Survival Guide

Please take some time to review the Virtual Learning Survival Guide. This guide has been designed to identify resources for students and parents to support the adjustment to virtual learning. There are also some tech tips for students in using the school platforms. Please click HERE to review the Guide.

Virtual Learning Guidelines

As we enter our third week of virtual learning, want to ensure that we are clearly communicating the important guidelines we are operating under during this period of virtual learning.  If you have a questions regarding a topic not addressed below, please reach out to the administration.

Virtual Learning Course Credit: High school students that complete the requirements of virtual learning courses will receive full credit for the duration of the virtual learning period.  As a WASC and IB accredited program, SCIS reports and transcripts are recognized by all schools and universities.

Virtual Learning Assignments: All virtual learning assignments, tasks, and assessments will count towards grades earned on student semester reports.  It is essential that all students continue to treat virtual learning with the same gravity they would treat face-to-face learning.  While teachers will continue to be flexible and supportive of students who face unique challenges, it is important to note that all assignments, tasks, and assessments will be factored into final grading.

Attendance: Attendance during virtual learning is earned through the completion of posted assignments, tasks, and assessments.  Teachers will reach out to students and parents if there is a concern.  Parents are asked to continue to email the Upper School Secretary Jelly Ling (jling@scis-china.org) if students are unavailable for learning because of illness, or other family reasons. 

Submitting Class Work On Time: Given that students are across many time zones, teachers have been asked to be flexible with students regarding work submission by providing up to a 24 hours grace period for assignment submission.  Students who log in on a daily basis to complete and submit the day’s tasks, are considered to be on time, regardless of where they are in the world. If students need more time beyond this window, students should proactively request an extension from their teacher prior to the deadline. 

Parent Support and Involvement: Research shows that parent involvement in learning is essential.  This involvement during virtual learning is even more important.  We encourage parents to support students in identifying a productive work environment, organizational and time management strategies that work for them, and for parents to build in regular set times to review progress with students.  We recommend that this be a daily conversation between parents and students during the period of virtual learning.  The isolation of quarantine for those living in Shanghai and the solitary nature of online learning can also be an additional stressor for students.  We encourage parents to more closely monitor the social-emotional wellbeing of their children during this difficult time and reach out for help when needed.   For support on all of the above, please reference last week’s blog and visit the parent section of our Virtual Learning Handbook.

Reminders

  • We continue to follow the rotating day calendar as published in ManageBac
  • Daily assignments for the day’s four classes are posted for students by 8am Shanghai time each day
  • ManageBac remains the primary platform for communication and work submission
  • Technology Help Desk Support: is available Monday-Friday 8am-11pm Shanghai time.
  • Contact Information
  • Passwords:  email PD-technology@scis-china.org if you need your password reset.

How is it going? Click to provide feedback on Week 2 of Virtual Learning.

Click to give parent feedback on Week 2 of Virtual Learning

Message From Director of Schools Dan Eschtruth

Dear SCIS Community,

I write to inform you of a recent announcement received from the Shanghai Education Commission and our Changning District Education Bureau. It states that all individuals returning to Shanghai, from either domestic or international locations, will need to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine period before being permitted to return to campus or participate in any related school event or activity. Our current understanding of the requirement is that it will be applied to all community members, meaning SCIS employees (Faculty & Staff), students, and parents. We do not currently have guidance on what the specific requirements of the quarantine will be, but should we receive further information, we will share that on to all.

I continue to remain in touch with other international schools in Shanghai and across China. Further, our Government Relations Department has been on the ground connecting with all available agencies to verify this information. We will continue our efforts to communicate with these groups with the hope of soon receiving guidance on when we will be able to return to on-campus learning. However, without a confirmed date, we intend to provide a reliable notification process to reduce the anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the potential unknown return to campus learning. As such, SCIS will provide notification of at least 21 days before our expected return campus learning date. We hope this will giveyou enough information to support your decisions on potential travel plans.

We are all eager to return to campus and come together as a community of learners once again. In the meantime, we remain committed to continuing our virtual program of learning throughout the government-mandated campus closure period. While we hope our 21-day notice will support families in making their return plans, we also understand that this may not be possible for some families. As such, I am working with our leadership team to determine how we will best support the likely transition period where we will have some students back on campus while others have yet to return.

I ask for your continued support as we approach this as a unified SCIS community – supporting one another where we can. Our partnership in learning has grown even closer as we witness the exceptional efforts of our faculty, students, and parents in working through the virtual program of learning. Our faculty remains committed to delivering the best virtual learning experience while our leadership team strives to provide clarity about our eventual return to campus learning.

Sincerely,

Daniel D. Eschtruth

Director of Schools

Announcements

Coronavirus Community Information

SCIS has developed a webpage on our system website outlining the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). We encourage families to check this link in order to access important information regarding our current campus closure and our response to the coronavirus. Previous updates are also logged on this site. If there are specific questions you feel need to be added, please email the administration.

Re-enrollment has begun for the 2020-2021 School Year

Last week, all SCIS families should have received an email via your scis-parent email account providing instructions regarding re-enrollment for the 2020-2021 academic year.  Please be sure to follow the instruction contained in the email for re-enrollment. Please note, you must use your @scis-parent.org email account details when signing in to the Online Re-Enrollment Website.  If you have any questions regarding the process for re-enrollment, please do not hesitate to reach out to the SCIS Admissions team at admissions@scis-china.org.

Warm regards,

Frank Volpe, PhD Naomi Shanks

Upper School Principal . Upper School Vice Principal

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Principals’ Post #21

Dear SCIS Families,

We hope this message finds you safe and healthy wherever you are in the world. We would like to start with a message of thanks for every member of the school community. We would like to thank the students for their resilience and positive attitudes in the face of the many challenges they are facing. We would like to thank the parents for their patience as we respond to the dynamic nature of this situation and for the support you have provided your children. Finally we would like to thank the teachers for their hard work and professionalism in this transition to virtual learning. In times of crisis, the true nature of a community is revealed and the SCIS community has risen to the challenge!

Coronavirus Community Information

SCIS has developed a webpage on our system website outlining the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). We encourage families to check this link in order to access important information regarding our current campus closure and our response to the coronavirus. Previous updates are also logged on this site. If there are specific questions you feel need to be added, please email the administration.

Virtual Learning Update and Survey

As shared by Director of Schools Daniel Eschtruth, SCIS campuses will remain closed through the end of February (please follow the FAQ link below for the text of this communication). We will continue to update families as soon as information becomes available. In the meantime, we will be doing everything we can to ensure learning continues. While virtual learning is new to SCIS, our extremely talented educators have made an amazing transition to supporting students through this new medium. With this transition in mind, we would like to ask you for your feedback on how things are going. Please complete the PARENT VIRTUAL LEARNING FEEDBACK SURVEY.

Parent Resources for Supporting Virtual Learning

With the information below, we hope to provide you with guidance and useful tips for supporting your child during virtual learning.  While virtual learning places higher demands on self-management skills for students, there are specific steps you can take as a parent to help support your child find success.  Please read through the suggestions below and don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s teachers, advisor, or the administration with questions.  

Environment 
We realize that many families are staying in hotels, are guests in friends’ homes, and otherwise do not have full control of their environments. Wherever possible please arrange an environment conducive to online learning.  

  • A quiet room, with as little environmental noise as possible.  
  • A clear table and a comfortable chair, where the student can work on writing and computer-based activities while the computer is charging.  
  • A comfortable chair or sofa for reading.  
  • If multiple family members are using the room for parallel activities, everyone should use earphones.

Planning the Virtual Learning Day 

  • Upper School students should consult with their parents to set aside 6-8 hours a day, Monday to Friday, for daily virtual learning. No other family activities should be scheduled during this time. 
  • Students should plan to work at the same time every day.  
  • Each Virtual Learning lesson is expected to take 60-80 minutes for students to complete.  
  • Plan for breaks, just as we do during a campus-based school day. Students should take at least 10 minutes off between lessons, and at least 45 minutes for a full meal between their first two lessons and their second two lessons. 
  • Take at least one “Brain Break” in the middle of each lesson. This may be a simple as standing up and walking around the room one time, or walking to the kitchen and getting a drink of water.
  • Make sure healthy snacks are available for the taking all day long.  

Due Dates 

  • Students should plan to work on their four scheduled lessons each day. 
  • Virtual learning lessons are framed as daily classwork. In school, teachers plan to start and finish the day’s learning experience during one class period. This is paralleled in the daily Virtual Learning lessons.  
  • While lessons are posted and ready for students to begin by 8am Shanghai Time every day, it is understood that students will be logging in and submitting work according to their own time zones over a 24 hour period. As long as students complete their daily tasks every day, following a routine schedule, WHEREVER THEY ARE IN THE WORLD, their work is considered to be on-time. [The ManageBac interface does not support rolling deadlines, but our teachers absolutely do. Students should ignored a “LATE” label on a ManageBac dropbox.] 
  • Any task that is not designed to be completed during the daily lesson will have specific instructions about where and when to submit longer term work.  

Announcements

Re-enrollment has begun for the 2020-2021 School Year

Last week, all SCIS families should have received an email via your scis-parent email account providing instructions regarding re-enrollment for the 2020-2021 academic year.  Please be sure to follow the instruction contained in the email for re-enrollment. Please note, you must use your @scis-parent.org email account details when signing in to the Online Re-Enrollment Website.  If you have any questions regarding the process for re-enrollment, please do not hesitate to reach out to the SCIS Admissions team at admissions@scis-china.org.

Warm regards,

Frank Volpe, PhD Naomi Shanks

Upper School Principal . Upper School Vice Principal

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Principals’ Post #20

Chinese New Year Celebration

We would like to wish everyone in the SCIS community a Happy Chinese New Year! At this time of the year, we like to reflect on how lucky we are to live in such a rich cultural context. This week’s Chinese New Year Celebrations provided students and families with a chance to immerse ourselves in Chinese cultural activities and events. Classroom activities and our Chinese New Year assembly gave students the opportunity to learn more about our host culture and just take a moment to enjoy it. We would like to thank the Mandarin and Arts departments for all of their hard work preparing for today’s Celebration. 新年快乐!

Upper School Language Acquisition Classes Celebrate Chinese New Year

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Personal Project Exhibition and Design Food Truck Festival

MYP Grade 10 students presented their Personal Project Tuesday, showing off the knowledge and skills they gained over their MYP years. The projects demonstrated the diverse interests and talents of our students. The Personal Project is a culminating experience for students where they apply the skills and knowledge they have learned throughout their time in the MYP to an area of interest. This year’s grade 10 class explored a wide range of topics including music, visual arts, technology, sports, crafts, interior design, media and other contemporary issues. Students from across the Upper and Lower schools were on hand to learn about the projects. The next step in the Personal Project journey will be for students to write up their experience and reflect on the lessons they learned. This report will be graded internally by Personal Project advisors and will be submitted to the IB for moderation. The IB assessors will provide final scores and feedback over the summer. We would like to thank the Grade 10 Advisors, Ms. Hedderson, Mr. Demas, and Ms. Whiteside for their support and Coach Vic for his leadership as the Personal Project Coordinator.

Students in Mr. Willauer’s grades 7 and 8 Design classes also had a chance to show off their learning during the Exhibition, presenting our first ever International Food Truck Festival. Students were tasked with designing a food truck company complete with a logo, business cards, and a menu. Students were required to combine at least two distinct cultures in their themes and menus. Each group prepared one dish to share with the visitors. The food was a hit, adding a festive atmosphere to the Personal Project Exhibition. We would like to congratulate the students on a very successful day. We would also like to thank Mr. Willauer for designing such a fun unit and offering to integrate it with the Personal Project Exhibition.

MYP Science Astronomy Exhibition

Capping off the week’s academic presentations, students in grades 6 and 9 presented their astronomy projects in the Upper School gallery Wednesday and Thursday. Students chose to research individual topics based on their interest and the options provided by their teachers in the context of their units of study. The goal was for students to extend their learning from the unit, develop deeper knowledge in an area of their choosing, and share that knowledge with others. During their presentations students demonstrated interest in their topics and mastery of the material they had researched. A big thank you to Ms. Marcos and Ms. Sculerati for organizing the event and to the students for sharing what they’ve learned.

Community Update from Director of Schools Dan Eschtruth

Dear SCIS Community, 

As we close out the various Chinese New Year festivities across our campuses, we prepare ourselves to bid farewell to the Year of the Pig and welcome in the Year of the Rat. These celebrations are but one part of the unique opportunity our students’ have to engage in meaningful experiences as they develop deeper understandings of our host country, it’s culture and traditions. Before many of you depart on your travels for the holiday season, I wanted to share the following announcements and updates:

2020-21 School Year Calendar
Please find attached the 2020-2021 SCIS school year calendar (it is also now posted on our main website here: https://www.scis-china.org/about/calendar/). As always, this calendar represents our effort to optimize learning while covering all confirmed and expected school and national holidays. Further, it provides opportunities for our work with our WASC/IB accreditation process and adheres to the calendar mandates established by our SCIS Board of Directors.

2020-21 Re-enrollment 
You will also have received an email from our Admissions Department marking the commencement of our re-enrollment process. Re-enrollment is a vital process for both securing your family’s seat placement for the 2020-2021 school year and our ability to effectively plan for the school year to come. The process of re-enrollment is relatively short and is required for families intending to return and those that are confirming that this will be their final year with us here at SCIS. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with your children and, of course, hope to be doing so once again in the new school year. 

WASC & IB Self-Study Update
Our work focusing on our synchronized WASC/IB Accreditation & Authorization process is well underway. As a reminder, the following dates in February have been earmarked as time available for our faculty to focus on this critical process: 

  • Hongqiao Main & ECE Early Release Dates (2:00 PM Student Dismissal): Feb. 12th & 26th 
  • Pudong Campus Early Release Dates (2:00 PM Student Dismissal): Feb. 10th and 24th 
  • Professional In-Service Day (No School for Students): February 28th 

School-wide Learner Outcome Update
I want to thank the many parents that joined us for both sessions of our School-wide Learner Outcome discussion. Both sessions were inspirational reminders of the incredible community we have here at SCIS. While we had two packed houses, we still aim to get input from as many of you as possible. So, we will take the feedback from the meetings to inform our next steps in gathering parent and, eventually, student feedback into our organizational and educational program. 

Health & Safety
Along with the wonderful opportunities for travel and time with family and friends that this time of year provides, comes the unfortunate increase in illnesses. To be clear, SCIS has already instituted our heightened seasonal cleaning protocols across our campuses and has maintained our effort to remind students of best preventive measures (covering our mouths to sneeze and cough, sufficiently and frequently washing our hands, staying home when displaying symptoms, etc.). However, in addition to the heightened influenza season this year we are also closely monitoring the recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) here in China and now the East Asia region. A critical piece for our community is for us to continue to adhere to our proactive and preventative measures established to reduce the spread of any infectious diseases. That being said, we are working with relevant authorities, our health and safety team, and our school cleaning and clinic providers to initiate additional protocols that will further support our efforts to maintain a healthy learning environment for students, faculty, and staff. For additional information and advice on staying healthy and further resources on the novel coronavirus, please follow this link. 

For now, we turn our attention to bidding farewell to the Year of the Pig and welcoming in the Year of the Rat. May it bring all of us great happiness, health, and prosperity! 新年快乐! Happy Chinese New Year!

Sincerely,
Daniel D. Eschtruth
Director of Schools

New Sports Seasons Start after Break

We would like to encourage students to participate in the following upcoming team sports. All students are welcome!
MS Volleyball: Tuesday, February 4th
MS Badminton: Friday, February 7th
HS Badminton: Tuesday February 4th
HS Soccer: Tuesday, February 4th

20-21 School Calendar Finalized

Warm regards,

Frank Volpe, PhD Naomi Shanks

Upper School Principal . Upper School Vice Principal

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Principals’ Post #19

With less than three weeks between Winter Break and Chinese New Year, SCIS students and teachers were busy making the most of limited time this week. New students started to feel settled in and returning students and teachers started to feel like they’d never left! This week we ran a special testing schedule, with students in Grade 6-9 taking the winter administration of the NWEA-MAP test, a standardized assessment that provides valuable data for teachers, parents, and students on progress towards US common core standards. Please watch your ManageBac notifications for the score reports to be posted in coming weeks. During the same period, Grade 10 had dedicated time to finish their Personal Projects, ready for exhibition next week. Grade 11 made their first deep dive into their Extended Essays, and Grade 12 had additional Higher Level classes to kick off the final semester of their secondary education. A lot going on this week!

ACAMIS and MUN

On Wednesday afternoon 20 of our intrepid Dragon B-Ballers, accompanied by their Coaches Volpe, Shultz, Nedeljkov, Berezowski, and Vic, headed for Shenzhen for the ACAMIS Basketball tournament, the culmination of a tremendous season of growth and development for our basketball program. Students and faculty alike watched the live feed of the games during breaks, and we encourage you to do the same as the tournament heads into the finals on Saturday.

Our athletes aren’t the only Dragons representing SCIS this week. Our MUN Delegation left campus this morning for a two day conference hosted by Concordia right here in Shanghai, where they will present and debate resolutions exploring true global issues and the international cooperation needed to solve them.

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Personal Project Exhibition

Please mark your calendars for next Tuesday, 2pm, when our Grade 10s will present their Personal Project Exhibition. The Personal Project is the capstone of the MYP–an opportunity for Grade 10 students to apply the skills they have developed over their MYP years to a individual passion project of their own devising. Each personal project is a unique reflection of the student behind it, and a demonstration of the application of knowledge, skills, and understandings that our students have been developing year upon year. While Grade 10 parents will no doubt have marked their calendars months ago, we encourage all Upper School Parents, particularly Grade 9s who will be starting project of their own next year.

This year the Personal Project Exhibition will be accompanied by bonus event, the MYP Design Food Truck Festival! Grade 7-8 Design students have been developing innovative treatments for a cultural fusion Food Truck, developing brandnames, advertising, menus and more! Those of us who have been lucky enough to taste the earlier design iterations of the menu items know you are in for a treat. Come for the Personal Projects, stay for the Curried Jiaozi and Banana Crepes!

Celebrate China!

Our Mandarin department has been hard at work since last semester preparing for next week’s Chinese Culture Days. Students in Mandarin classes will enjoy a range of activities over the week, including calligraphy and ink-painting, making dumplings and tanghulu, traditional martial arts, and much more. The week will culminate with our annual celebration of Chinese New Year, in the Theater at 1pm on Thursday. Grade 6 Performing Arts classes have been working hard on a joint cultural performance for the occasion, and there will be a mix of student groups and professional guests on hand to entertain and inspire. 春节快乐！

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Principals’ Post #18

Dear SCIS Families,

We would like to welcome everyone back from the winter holiday. It was great to see students and faculty return to the building rested and refreshed. There was renewed energy in the school Monday with students and teachers excited to settle back into the school routine and connect with friends.

This week we also welcomed 12 new families to SCIS across the Upper and Lower Schools. Students and their families attended our New Family Orientation Monday, where they met the administration, classroom teachers, and took care of important logistics. This week we reminded students of the important role they play in welcoming our newest students into the SCIS community. We reminded students that many of them were recently the new students who benefited from the attention and kindness of their classmates and we asked them to reciprocate. We would like to encourage parents as well to reach out to new families in an effort to integrate them into our wonderful community.

SCIS Schoolwide Learner Outcomes

SCIS is currently conducting a self-study in preparation for WASC accreditation and IB evaluation reviews which will take place in the spring of 2021. WASC stands for Western Association of Schools and Colleges, a U.S. based, internationally recognized school accreditation body. We will be hosting a WASC team of educators from around the world who will evaluated the effectiveness of our self-study and provide feedback on the effectiveness of our practices. The International Baccalaureate Organization will be sending multiple teams at the same to to evaluate the three IB Programs offered at SCIS, the PYP, MYP, and DP.

The main goal of the self-study process is to evaluate the extent to which we are fulfilling the mission and vision of our school. We have taken this opportunity to clarify the Schoolwide Learning Outcomes we have for our students to ensure there is alignment between our mission and the educational programs we offer. Clearly articulating these outcomes communicates our school values so all members of the school community have a shared understanding. As we continue the process of refining our Schoolwide Learner Outcomes, we would like to invite parents to learn more about them and share their input. Mr. Luebbe and Ms. Gale will be presenting to parents on our Schoolwide Learning Outcomes at the PAFA General Meeting this Tuesday, January 14th. We hope to see many of you in attendance. Please see the flyer below for further details.

 Upcoming Events

Warm regards,

Frank Volpe, PhD Naomi Shanks

Upper School Principal . Upper School Vice Principal

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Principals’ Post #17

Dear SCIS Families,

We would like to thank everyone for an amazing semester.  The academic and social-emotional growth, the impressive artistic performances, the athletic triumphs and day-to-day experiences truly make SCIS a community we are proud to be a part of.  We encourage everyone to look back on the semester’s success and failures as we take these lessons into semester two. A special thank you to everyone that contributed to today’s end of semester festivities. 

International Breakfast

This morning’s International Breakfast was a great opportunity for students to share some of their culinary cultural traditions with their classmates.  As always, we thank the parents who helped students prepare the dishes for this morning’s meal.  The International Breakfast is always a highlight of the semester.  

Celebration Activities

This year teachers took the lead in organizing a full day of semester celebration activities. Energized by the International Breakfast, the entire Upper School headed to the gym for “Minute to Win It.” Grade level cohorts vied against each other in a wide range of highly entertaining relay races. Grade 12 emerged victorious! This was followed by two sessions of special choice activities—teachers open their classrooms for workshops on everything from songwriting to crochet, American football to origami. Even lunch was special today, with Lunchtime Karaoke featuring an Addams Family cast reunion.

 Semester Celebration Assembly

The official end to the fall semester was celebrated in the theater at the end of the day with musical performances, recognitions of excellence, and a formal farewell to departing classmates.  A special thank you to all of today’s performers and those that prepared the videos for today’s celebration.   Finally, congratulations to the students who achieved Honor Roll and Principal’s Honor Roll this semester. Your hard work and dedication to academic excellence is an example for all of us. 

As a reminder, our first day back for semester 2 will be Monday, January 6th.  We wish all of those traveling over the break a wonderful journey and a safe return to Shanghai. 

Warm regards,

Frank Volpe, PhD Naomi Shanks

Upper School Principal . Upper School Vice Principal

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Principals’ Post #16

Dear SCIS Families,

We would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the amazing display of community and artistry this past weekend. Thank you to PAFA for organizing a wonderful Winter Festival last Saturday. The decorations, the vendors, the gingerbread houses, and the appearance of Santa and Mrs. Claus brought the holiday spirit to SCIS. Special thank you to PAFA, our vendors, and all of the volunteers that made Winter Festival possible.

In the third floor gallery and on the stage we were treated to an amazing display of the hard work and talent on both Friday and Saturday. Our Design and Visual Arts students work was on display for all to enjoy while the arts patrons were treated to MYP Music, Grade 6 Drama, both Middle and High School Jazz Bands, and Strings Ensemble performances. This was a tough act to follow, but the true highlight of the weekend were the performances of The Addams Family. Students had been hard at work since the first week of school preparing for the performance. For the performers and the backstage crew, the performance and the process of staging a musical will be a memory to last a lifetime, and for those of us lucky enough to be in the audience, it was a fantastic night of family entertainment. Congratulations to all involved, especially our Musical Team: Ms Whiteside, Ms Riddle, Mr Demas, and Ms Williams.

Winter Festival Fun

Congratulations to the Cast, Crew and Directors of The Addams Family!

Semester Exams

The Upper School semester exams will end on Monday December 9th.  In the MYP(6-10), the end of semester summative assessments are not weighted more heavily than other assessments completed over the course of the semester, and may follow a range of formats including projects and performance tasks in addition to formal written tests. The format of these final assessments will vary by subject group and grade level.  Students in grades 11-12 in the Diploma Program practice formal exam style assessments that mimic the format of the externally assessed “Papers” of each course.  Following exams, students will spend time looking at feedback from their exams, reflecting on their skill development over the semester, and getting a head start on Semester 2 units of study.  Final report cards for the fall semester will be published in ManageBac on December 13th.

Warm regards,

Frank Volpe, PhD Naomi Shanks

Upper School Principal . Upper School Vice Principal

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Principals’ Post #15

Students were treated to a preview performance of The Addams Family musical on Wednesday afternoon. The theater was packed with students from Kindergarten through grade 12. Cast members were dressed in jeans and cast t-shirts instead of full costume but that did not dampen the performance. The preview performance served as a partial dress rehearsal for the cast and crew to prepare for this weekend’s performances. The audience left the performance excited to experience the full production this weekend. Everyone is invited to attend the performance this Friday at 6pm, Saturday at 3pm after the Winter Festival or both. We’ll see you in the theater!

  • Winter Arts Night (Middle School Showcase) – Friday 29 November 5pm
  • The Addams Family evening performance – Friday 29 November 6pm
  • Winter Arts Day (High School Showcase, part of the PAFA Winter Festival) – Saturday 30 November 1-3pm
  • The Addams Family matinee performance – Saturday 30 November 3pm

Upper School Spirit Week

Principals’ Coffee: Wellness

Maja Kelly, Upper School Counselor, presented to parents this week on student wellness at SCIS. Ms. Kelly reviewed data from our fall wellness survey, shared school initiatives promoting wellness, and provided resources for parents. The annual SCIS Student Wellness Survey, based on the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (created by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in the United States), collects information about six categories of health-related behaviors: behaviors that contribute to injuries and violence; behaviors related to interpersonal relationships; alcohol and other drug use; tobacco use; dietary behaviors and physical activity. During the Principal Coffee Morning, we shared an overview of the survey results, and discussed two wellness topics that are included in our prevention programs this academic year – Alcohol & Tobacco Prevention and Digital Citizenship & Internet Safety.

Below are a few selected resources that parents may find helpful as they continue to provide guidance to their children on these two important topics.

Alcohol & Tobacco Prevention Resources:
– “Talk. They Hear You” App – this interactive tool, created by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) helps parents develop effective ways to speak to their children about underage drinking and substance use. The app is free and available through the App Store and Google Play. It follows a game format, and it allows parents to practice “talking” to a virtual teenager.
– KidsHealth article: Talking to Your Child About Drugs: https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/talk-about-drugs.html

Internet Safety & Digital Citizenship
– Common Sense Media: www.commonsensemedia.org. A comprehensive resource on technology and media for parents and educators.
– Digital Citizenship Guide for Parents – created by Public Safety Canada and MediaSmarts, a Canadian not-for-profit organization for digital and media literacy.

Exam Schedules

Warm regards,

Frank Volpe, PhD Naomi Shanks

Upper School Principal . Upper School Vice Principal

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Principals’ Post #14

The Musical is Here!

The anticipation is building for what will certainly be one of the highlights of the semester, our Fall Musical, The Addams Family. Students have been preparing since August when the first auditions were held, and rehearsals are ramping up. The sets are built, the costumes sewn, the lighting perfected–everything is coming together! This year the production will be framed by our annual Winter Arts Showcases, and planned in support of the PAFA Winter Festival. Please note the following:

  • Winter Arts Night (Middle School Showcase) – Friday 29 November 5pm
  • The Addams Family evening performance – Friday 29 November 6pm
  • Winter Arts Day (High School Showcase, part of the PAFA Winter Festival) – Saturday 30 November 1-3pm
  • The Addams Family matinee performance – Saturday 30 November 3pm

Waterloo Math Competition

This week over twenty Upper School Students participated in the Waterloo University Math competition. Waterloo University of Ontario, Canada sponsors the international math competition annually. According to the University, “the Center for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) develops and administers internationally recognized contests to help to inspire the next generation of students to develop an interest in and love for mathematics and computer science.” Congratulations to the Upper School math students on their participation and a special thank you to Etienne Bilz (Upper School Math and Physics) for his organization of the competition and sponsorship of our Math Club.

SCIS Swimmers Travel to Suzhou

Congratulations to the SCIS swim team for their strong showing this past weekend in Suzhou. The event marked the second swim meet of the season for our teams which compete in the Shanghai Swim League. Both Upper and Lower School swim teams had a strong showing with a number of heat winners and personal best times. Congratulations swimmers and thank you to Coach Oscar and Coach Mount for giving up your weekend so students could have this amazing experience. Go Dragons!

Counselor’s Coffee: Focus on Student Wellness

Please join us on Thursday 28 November 9am in Room 411 for an Upper School Parent Coffee – Focus on Student Wellness. Our Upper School Counselor, Ms Maja Kelly, will be sharing survey results addressing a range of habits that impact student health and wellbeing. We will explore current trends in adolescent health and wellness, and discuss how we can effectively support our students towards healthy choices both at home and at school.

Upcoming Events

Warm regards,

Frank Volpe, PhD Naomi Shanks

Upper School Principal . Upper School Vice Principal