Erika Harriford

ISA Beach Cleanup a Real Success

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via The Lower School News Blog

The ISA Green Team organised a beach clean-up for the first time on Saturday. A group of students, parents and staff participated, bringing together people from across our school. We’d been warned to dress up warm after a windy week and were fully prepared to brace ourselves against the cold.  But we were pleasantly surprised by the gorgeous weather that awaited us on the beach at Zandvoort.  We found a wide variety of objects including a diaper, bottle tops, cans, cartons, plastic bags, straws, socks, string, styrofoam, pieces of glass, buckets, string, an old body-board, a tyre and even a curtain!  

We also visited the Jutters Museum further along the beach which houses a fascinating collection of an even wider range of objects than we’d collected such as pacifiers, slippers, buoys and boat signs. The museum also houses displays of local natural history and creatures from the sea.  

A Spring event will be organised as well. Keep an eye out for more information after the Crocus break.

Erika Harriford

PTA Festivals of Light

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In the lead up to the darkest time of the year, the annual PTA Festivals of Light event took place on 17 November, with parents from our Israeli, Indian, Dutch, Spanish and Italian communities presenting information about their cultural events which celebrate light.

An annual favourite, this event was open to the ISA community as a whole and a number of Lower School classes had scheduled visits to learn more about the different celebrations, which will be especially meaningful for those grades who were studying ‘Celebrations’ and ‘World Religions’.

As an international community of learners, understanding the meaning behind the celebrations of our friends and families allows us to remain true to our mission to educate for international understanding.

Erika Harriford

Raising Teens to be Happy, Healthy, Confident Adults

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Always wanted to know what’s going on in your teen’s mind or how to discuss topics such as body image, social media or substance use? Ever needed help with   promote resilience and self esteem for your teenager or his or her friends.

These topics and more were discussed in the interactive and informative parent session  Raising Teens to be Happy, Healthy, Confident Adults: Practical tips, led by  paediatrician and ISA parent Anisha Abraham in November. Abraham, specialises in teen care and has been a consultant visiting high schools around the world to guide students  and parents though the transitional stages of the teenage years.

To get a better understanding of what Dr. Abraham offers, be sure to listen to her TEDxWilmington talk on this subject.

Erika Harriford

Introduction to the PYP – Workshop for Parents

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The parent workshop ‘Introduction to the Primary Years Programme (PYP)’ was held for Lower School parents on 8 November. The half-day event gave parents who are new to the ISA PYP programme insight into the structure of the curriculum, the various methodologies employed by teachers and the overall holistic approach to learning that the programme provides.  With presentations and hand-on activities, therapists were able to experience how the ISA approach to the IB PYP works and were able to have any lingering questions answered from the heads of the programme.

This programme is held annually and offers the opportunity for translation services in Korean, Japanese or other languages as needed to help ensure that all parents gain a deeper understanding of the PYP.

Erika Harriford

Parent Information Session on Dutch Traditions and Celebrations

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Who is Sint Maarten? What are olliebollen? Why do children leave out a shoe for Sinterklaas? These questions and many more were answered at the Lower School parent information session on “Dutch traditions and celebrations” in November.

Geared towards families new to the Netherlands, the session allowed newcomers to learn more about some of the most important Dutch festival s and traditions that they may wish to take part in while making Holland there home. Additionally parent had the opportunity to find out more about which celebrations are observed at ISA, how the school chooses to participate and how Dutch families at the school celebrate these occasions at home.

Matthew Jasinski

Green Team Trash Audit

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On 31 October the Green Team and their volunteers gave up their Sunday morning to help reduce waste at ISA. Over two days the Green Team collected garbage bags from around the school that volunteers would sift through to ensure that the waste was disposed of properly.  

The Green Team discovered some good news, as well as some areas of improvement. On the plus side— the total amount of non-recycled waste collected went down since last year, despite a rising school population. But on the down side— the food waste continues to climb. The Green Team found a whopping 85kg of food that had been thrown in general waste, despite prominently labeled food bins. Another problem was finding 6kg of plastic bottles that were not thrown out in the designated plastic bins.

Over the next year the Green Team and the cafeteria staff will work on solutions to ensure that less food is wasted and that waste is properly disposed of. Some recommendations will include:

  • Encouraging students to bring reusable plastic bottles to school either by bringing one from home or purchasing reusable Doppler bottles from the PTA Store
  • Supporting better waste disposal habits at home by encouraging students to segregate and throw waste into the right trash bins at home

Everyone can play their part in reducing unnecessary waste going to landfill: so please ‘Think Before You Throw’! With these efforts we hope to see less waste at next year’s Trash Audit!