From the Director. Events Calendar. Michael Lees Director Italian Culture Day. Parent Handbook. Holidays. Cognitive Coaching. Wednesday, October 10

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1 From the Director Michael Lees Director Italian Culture Day Our Italian community is getting ready to prepare a spectacular Italian Culture Day on Friday, November 30. If you are interested in supporting this event, please contact: Paolo / paolo.clavorino64@gmail.com Giselle / giguerra14@gmail.com Cognitive Coaching From Thursday to Sunday, 40 participants including administration, teachers, eleven visiting educators from Colombia, Guatemala and Panama and even one ISH Board member took part in Cognitive Coaching training in our Calle 22 library. These four days of learning were focused on the tools and techniques of fostering deep thinking and selfdirectedness in ourselves and our colleagues. Part 2 of the training will take place in May during which these same 40 people will engage in further learning. Parent Handbook The Parent Handbook is currently being updated. It will contain comprehensive summaries of the operational procedures and policies of the school as well as other important information. Once completed, it will be available online, electronically and in print as requested. Holidays Just a reminder that this Wednesday, October 10 is a national holiday and school will be closed. The school also has its midterm break from October 20 to 30. Remember that October 29 and 30 are Professional Learning Days for teachers and staff. There will be no classes on those days. Events Calendar Wednesday, October 10 SCHOOL CLOSED Monday, October 15 G6-8 Family Learning Opportunity at 8:30 am Wednesday, October 17 Learning Coversations from 12:00 noon October 20 to October 28 SCHOOL CLOSED October School Closed -Professional Learning Days Friday, November 9 PTSA Food Fair at 5:00 pm

2 From the Secondary School Anna Brunskill Principal, Secondary School This week we have our bonding trips on Thursday and Friday. This year these will be happening in Havana at two different locations. At Finca La Pinta, Ms. Rebecca and Ms. Crystal have organised a day of bonding activities and games; and at Parque Lenin Mr. Oscar, together with a group of students from Grades 9 to 12, will be running a series of activities focussing on team building and collaboration, as well as an Open Space Technology activity see for more information. A letter has come home with specific information about the trip please contact the office if you have not yet received this. Students are going to different locations each day and this will affect what they need to bring each morning, so please check the letter carefully. Last week, students from Grades 8 to 11 took part in a photography workshop organised and run by Heidi Hollinger, ISH parent and photographer. After some discussion about techniques and composition, our students took to the streets of Havana to take photographs; these will be edited and then a group chosen to be printed and displayed at our beautiful new campus at Calle 22. Our thanks to Heidi and Mr. Otto for this terrific opportunity and we look forward to showing you the results of their work. Physical Education A few things to bring to your attention regarding PE at ISH: Please ensure that your child brings their ISH PE uniform with them on the day that they have PE and for all official ISH sporting events. The PE staff will contact you should your child not bring their uniform on a regular basis. For your information, we are asking students to leave their bags in school when they go off-campus for PE. We cannot ensure the safety of their belongings when they are doing PE off-site and believe the safest option for their personal belongings is for students to leave their bags in their lockers at school. From the Lower School Georgina Schofield Principal, Lower School The school will be closed on Wednesday, October 10, for the Cuban public holiday. I hope you enjoy the mid-week break! Next week, Learning Conversations will take place on Wednesday, October 17, beginning at 12:00 noon. Afternoon lessons will not take place; instead students, parents and teachers will be involved in goal-setting conversations by appointment. Parents will be able to make appointments on the note sent home this week. Please collect your children at 11:40 am on Wednesday. Our Primary football teams played against the La Lisa football club on Saturday it is exciting to have competitive matches against other clubs and teams.

3 The CAS Fair by Karen Gaynor, CAS Coordinator Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) are at the core of the IB Diploma program and aiming to promote and support the well-being and care of both students and the broader community. This year we hosted a CAS Fair for Grade 12 students in the Calle 22 Library, which was an opportunity to celebrate and educate fellow students and teachers about the work they have been doing. It was encouraging to see the passion and enthusiasm with which our students have been supporting different community projects in and around Havana. They have a lot to be proud of! Below you can find student perspectives about the event. Alphonsine Bouanga Castillo The CAS fair was a success! We all managed to present our previous CAS work to the new IB students. Having already done half of our IB course we were all able to answer most questions from students and give great advice in terms of time management and organisation. The fact that our class has a wide range of different career interests was also very useful, as we all gave insight into what you might think of doing, if you plan on taking a particular career path. For instance, during my presentation I recommended many students interested in medicine to use CAS as an opportunity to gain experience with children and/or the elderly. I believe most students overall ended up with a better view of what CAS is all about, as well as what they can do and who they can help in the community. Wouter Valkenburg On Wednesday, September 26 we organized a CAS fair at ISH during which all Grade 12 students presented their CAS projects, trying to persuade teachers and other students to join them. With a lot of CAS projects but a limited number of recruits, tactics between groups to get people to sign up varied. Some groups of students needed cupcakes or brownies to convince people to join their projects while other students used the cuteness of dogs to recruit more people and then there were a few who just trusted their charming personalities. Overall the fair was a success and each project got a few new students to sign up and help improve the community in which we live.

4 Bake Sales and Juice! This Tuesday, October 9, the HIV Awareness Charity will be holding our monthly bake sales. The first bake sale will be held during break time (10:20-10:40 am) in Calle 22 for Grades 9-12 and the other during Lunch (1:00-1:20 pm) for Grades 6-8. Alongside us we ve collaborated with two of our fellow grade 12 s, who sell delicious fresh Juice sold by cup or bottle PTSA NEWS A huge THANK YOU again for the overwhelming support for the Teacher s Day Breakfast celebrated at ISH October 1. Teachers and staff very much enjoyed their rich early morning buffet breakfast! Thank you to all parents and student council members involved! A warm welcome to the new Student Council that has been elected recently. Being part of the PTSA, we very much look forward to working closely together! You can, of course, count on our support for your upcoming projects! We kindly remind all room parents from Lower and Primary School that you should start to collect the suggested CUC 5 per child. Please also reserve your table for the upcoming International Food Fair. INTERNATIONAL FOOD FAIR - November 9, 5:00 pm at Main Campus, Calle 18, the PTSA yearly Food Fair will take place. Tables are open for sale from next Monday, October 15 on. More news on this and details and the form for table reservation will follow in next weekly! Bake Sales: Kathleen, Olivia & Greg Juice Stand: Alphon & Heinoa

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