PSI Weekly - Pechersk School International

PSI Weekly
Issue #9 31/10/2014
Important Dates
30 October - 2 November:
MS Boys Football CEESA
Blue (Sofia)
30 October - 2 November:
MS Girls Football Blue
(Belgrade)
30 October: End of
Quarter 1 - Secondary
A Place Where We Belong
An IB World School since 2000
Director’s Message
Dear Students, Parents and Community Members,
School / home communication and the partnership
of school leaders and teachers working with families
is very important to us. Being on ‘the same page’,
understanding, supporting one another and generally
being in good contact are all important in maximising a
student’s schooling experiences and learning.
31 October: Halloween
Trick-or-Treating (5:00pm 6:00pm)
There are many ways to communicate with PSI but it is
not always clear with who and how. We want to communicate, hear from
families, take questions and solve problems. We understand that families
often have question and we would like to answer them.
5 November - 9
November: HS Boys
Football CEESA (Skopje)
The table is also part of our Parent Student Handbook link that is also worth
a second look now that the school year is up and running. It has lots of great
PSI family information. It is also available at all times on our PSI website.
3-7 November: No ASAs
(ASAs Sign up Week)
5 November - 9
November: HS Girls
Football CEESA (Helsinki)
10 November: ASA Season
2 Starts
The table attached to this link helps with this process of who to contact on
what topics.
So please have a read, email us, set up a meeting if needed and keep talking
to the PSI staff.
By John Burns, PSI Director
11 November: PTA
Meeting, Coffee with the
Primary Deputy Principal
‘Assessment in the PYP’
13 November: Secondary
Report Cards Go Home
7a Victora Zabily, Kyiv, Ukraine, 03039 | Tel: (380-44) 377 5292 | Fax: (380-44) 377 5242
[email protected] | www.psi.kiev.ua
A Place Where We Belong
PSI Weekly Issue #9 31/10/14
From the Primary Principal
Dear Parents:
As I write this, we are frantically
collecting candy for the extravaganza
trick-or-treating tonight!
Here are some key points about the
event:
• Please remember there is no supervision for
children between 3 and 5.
• Parents are welcome to relax and chat in room
105a (the former kindergarten room). There will
be coffee and tea.
• In the art room, children can make cards for
rehabilitating soldiers
• In the entryway, children have the opportunity
to get their faces painted
• The haunted house will be in the cafeteria
Upcoming Events:
Next week is our week with no ASA. Our new
tradition is to host House events during this time. In
the Primary, you will receive an email for your child
to sign up for some events on Thursday and Friday.
If your child participates, s/he will need to be picked
up at 4pm or ride on the 4pm bus.
The week of 10th November is International
Week at PSI. The theme this year is Peace Makers.
We will honor Remembrance Day on Tuesday with
an assembly and a moment of silence. More details
about this week will be available next week.
On Tuesday, 11th November you can learn about
assessment in the PYP. Michael Palmer will host the
Coffee with the Principal, which is held after the PTA
meeting.
From the Secondary Principal
Dear Parents:
Congratulations! We’ve officially 25%
of the way through the school year.
The first quarter officially ended on
Thursday. Your child’s first report
cards will be sent to you by email on
Thursday, 13th November. At that time, you’ll
also receive instructions on how to sign up for
Parent Teacher Conferences, which will be held
on Wednesday, November 19. Please bring your
child along to those conferences, as it’s very helpful
if teacher, parent and child are all part of the same
conversation.
In the meantime, we have our first non-ASA week
coming up next week. Please encourage your child
to sign up for the House activities that we are
planning during lunch, breaks and after school. This
is a great opportunity for your child to work and
play with students from other grade levels and to
develop a stronger sense of school spirit. Students
can sign up for activities during their homerooms.
Please note that students who participate will take
the 4pm bus home or may leave on their own as
they usually do.
And, of course, we encourage you and your child to
come to International Night on 14th November
in the gym. Students will get house points for
wearing national dress or national colours during
the school day on that Friday. Please join us for this
annual celebration of our diverse community. It’s
always one of the high points of the school year!
Happy Halloween!
Regards,
Patricia Puia
By Tatiana Lopukhin
House Points Totals, October 31st
Khoriv - 84
Schek - 68
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Kyi - 90
Lybid - 89
Schek - 68
PSI Weekly Issue #9 31/10/2014
A Place Where We Belong
New/Returning Students this Week
PSI would like to welcome the following students who
joined us this week:
Illia (K/1D)
Kateryna (2P)
Mykhailo (2P)
Bogdan (4A)
Kateryna (6K)
Christopher (7S)
Lev (8C)
We would like to wish the students to have a smooth
transition period and enjoy studying at PSI!
Primary Reading Frequently Asked
Questions
Dear Parents,
In an effort to further develop understanding of
learning to read and reading to learn we are posting answers to questions that have been asked by
parents in our school as a result of our recent survey.
The questions and answers are here.
By Michael Palmer, Deputy Primary Principal/
PYP Coordinator
ASA Season 2 Sign Up Goes Live
Dear PSI Families, we are delighted to announce
that the online registration for Season 2 of the After
School Activities (ASA) and Super Saturday Sports
(SSS) programmes are open now. You can sign-up
your child/ren following our ASA link. Registration
will be closed on Wednesday, 5th November at noon.
The dates for Season 2: Nov 10 - Jan 24 (9 weeks).
The lists of activities are provided under the titles of;
Primary, Secondary and Super Saturday Sports
tabs accordingly.
For any other information including the scheduled
days with no ASA programme, payments, the changing activities policies and updates on the programme
offerings, please visit our ASA website.
Should you have any questions or concerns about registration, please email us at [email protected].
By ASA Coordinators
Mrs. Natasha Griboyedova and Ms. Vogel
Movember Initiative at PSI
Dear Male
Community
Members:
Every year
during
November,
Movember
asks men
around the
world to grow
a moustache
(even three
little hairs will
do) with the
purpose of
raising money
and awareness
for men’s health issues. This is the fourth time PSI is
hosting Movember and we are asking you to send us
a photo of yourself clean-shaven on 1st November
to [email protected] or upload here; and
at the end of the month, take another picture with
your moustache. You will be competing for the best
moustache of PSI. If you would like to participate,
please write your name on this spreadsheet. Of
course, you can tell us and we will add your name
ourselves.
Good Luck and Enjoy!
PSI Mo-Crew
Russian Lessons for PSI Parents
Once again this year, we are pleased to offer Russian
language lessons to our parents free of charge. As
part of the PTA programme, we run these classes
alongside the ASA second, third and fourth seasons
(November to June).
We are also pleased that our teacher, Ms Olga, will
return to work with parents once again.
Classes will be held from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
beginning on Tuesday, November 11th.
• Beginners - Tuesday & Thursday afternoon.
• Intermediate - Wednesday & Friday afternoon
(people with some experience).
Please confirm your participation with a simple
email to Natasha, our ASA Coordinator (asa@psi.
kiev.ua), as we begin shortly.
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A Place Where We Belong
PSI Weekly Issue #9 31/10/14
Ure dolore vel ing eugue
Different News and Updates
Veracross (IT Parent Portal) is Coming to
PSI
Over the coming months, we will be introducing
Veracross to PSI. Veracross is a ‘one stop,’ secure
website for every PSI family that will provide families
with contact information, daily attendance data, school
timetables, calendars, classroom websites, homework
information, photo libraries and much more.
Our Veracross release for the Primary School is in the
coming weeks (November).
The Veracross release for the Secondary School will
begin in February.
Our aim is to communicate well and work closely with
families through these steps. Please see the document
attached link for the Veracross Primary School
Induction Plan and all key dates, information, meetings
and workshops to get involved.
Stay tuned for more information every week in this
Winter Gas & Crisis Planning - Update 3
Every two weeks we will provide updated information in these two important areas. We do this not to
worry families or to preempt any danger, but to keep
the community informed of ongoing planning in this
area.
Gas heating has been turned on at PSI, which is great
news.
Our 60 portable electric heaters, which are part of our
‘back-up planning,’ have all arrived and are in classrooms and offices.
Our investigation with the PSI facilities management
company into external heating options indicates that
both fuel generators and solid fuel boiler options have
downsides. In particular the small size of our campus and legislation for the distance a generator (with
fuel) needs to be from our buildings make this option
impossible to implement.
The PSI Board Facilities and Building Committee will
continue to look at alternative heating plans as it also
monitors all government information about gas supply and our needs over the coming months.
Key documents in this area:
• Our original letter regarding ‘limited gas for winter’
and all plans. LINK
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• PSI Emergency Communication Procedures. LINK
important area.
Family Contact Directory - Version 2
Included with your Monday Homeroom Email this
week (27/10/2014) was an update of the PSI Family
Contact Directory. The Directory comes in the format
of a ‘live link’ so that as we do updates you will always
be referring to our latest edition. The purpose of the
Family Contact Directory is simply for PSI families to
be able to connect and communicate. The Directory is
strictly for internal PSI use only. Using the Tab at the
bottom of the document it can be viewed by surnames
A to Z or by Grade / Homeroom.
Please contact Masha [email protected] if you are not
listed and would like to be added to the Directory.
The link to the Directory is above but please look back
to your Monday email for the password or contact
Masha if you require it.
• Ukraine Crisis Management Procedures /
Documents. LINK
Family Contact Directory - Version 2
Included with your Monday Homeroom Email this
week (27/10/2014) was an update of the PSI Family
Contact Directory. The Directory comes in the format of a ‘live link’ so that as we do updates you will
always be referring to our latest edition. The purpose
of the Family Contact Directory is simply for PSI
families to be able to connect and communicate. The
Directory is strictly for internal PSI use only. Using
the Tab at the bottom of the document it can be
viewed by surnames A to Z or by Grade / Homeroom.
Please contact Masha [email protected] if you are
not listed and would like to be added to the Directory.
The link to the Directory is above but please look
back to your Monday email for the password or contact Masha if you require it.
PSI Reminders
Community Emergency Communication Policy Please follow the link to this important information.
School Calendar - Is available to all families for your
semester and holiday planning. Click here.
PSI Facebook - We use Facebook every day at PSI.
Please visit our site to ‘Like Us’ and join in.
Feedback - PSI welcomes feedback, questions and
concerns. Please email [email protected]
A Place Where We Belong
PSI Weekly Issue #9 31/10/14
PSI in Brief
PTA News
International Night is coming up soon! It is on Friday
November 14th. International Night is an all family evening
dedicated to celebrating, and showcasing the best of our
countries. By now you should have all been contacted by
your country representative. If you don’t know who he/she
is, or have not received anything, please contact Tamara,
[email protected].
Upcoming PTA events:
4th November: PTA Steering Committee Meeting: 9 am
Home Cafe. Join us for a warm drink and get an idea of what
the PTA does and how events come together.
11th November: Next PTA meeting . The meeting is followed by coffee with the Deputy Primary Principal.
14th November: International Night is a great
all-family evening to celebrate our nations and
our unique customs through a potluck type fair.
The Winter Bazaar has been moved from 19
November to 10 December, to coincide with the
Primary Concert. More info prior to the date.
PSI VZSC Band Presents....
Gate Security Cards - To issue
security cards for your family,
we kindly ask you to fill out this
Parental Security Form. Please
send your photographs to this
email address: securityphoto@psi.
kiev.ua For additional information
please contact the PSI Security
Office: [email protected]
Secondary School Smart Cards
- All Secondary School students
are reminded to use their gate
security as a ‘cash smartcard’
in the cafeteria. Money can be
charged to your cards before and
after school and then it is used
daily for all purchasing. As we get
more students involved, this will
help our waiting lines move more
quickly.
Saturday Sports Programme
Days for Season 1:
During Season 1, the following
Saturdays will have Saturday
Super Sports activities as well
as Secondary Ukrainian Mother
Tongue lessons:
• 1st November
Menu for the Next Week
Please click here.
PSI Social Media Links
PSI Contacts
PSI Reception: Olga [email protected]
PSI Cashier: Oksana [email protected]
After School Activities: Natasha & Melissa asa@
psi.kiev.ua
School Buses: Lilia [email protected]
Security Cards: security [email protected]
PE Uniform Orders: Oksana [email protected]
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