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.

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 education.

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.

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.

World Water Day

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WORLD WATER DAY
Every year the ISA Lower School Student Council organises a fundraising campaign to support East African Care in Kenya to improve access to clean water in their own communities. This can range from providing new wells to building latrines for schools and village communities.

ISA Lower School students collect Euro coins in a reusable bottles over a week. They place a coin in the bottle each time water is used in their home,  helping to raise awareness within their family regarding how lucky they are to have easy access to clean water in the Netherlands.

Last year the students raised over 2700 euros to support access to clean water in Kenya and hope to collect more this year.

 

Lower School EAL Parent Sessions

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On August 31, ISA hosted parent sessions covering the ISA English as an Additional Language programme.

The programme, while open for all parents, was geared towards parents of children who are still acquiring English as an additional language. The sessions were also provided in English, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Russian.

A sincere thank you to all parent volunteers who helped to bring this programme to our community

Early Childhood School Start Date Information

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School starts for all ISA students on 20 August 2015.  We would like to remind parents of returning ISA students in Early Childhood and Kindergarten that their children will only attend half-days for the first five days of the new school year. Full-time attendance for these returning students will begin on 27 August.

New children starting in the Nursery programme will have a differently scheduled school starting date.  Nursery families should check their email for more information on the starting date schedule.