The Crane - Hiroshima International School

The Crane
The newsletter of Hiroshima International School
11th October 2013 Dates to note Please make a note of the forthcoming events. Monday, 14th October – Parent-‐Teacher-‐Student Conferences – 09:00-‐15:30 Tuesday, 15th October – School photographs Thursday, 17th October – Parent Coffee Morning, followed by PTA General Meeting 19th-‐27th October – Mid-‐semester break Parent-‐Teacher-‐Student Conferences On Monday we will be holding our Parent-‐Teacher-‐Student Conferences for this semester: this is an oppor-‐
tunity for you and your child to sit down with their teachers and follow-‐up on the Interim Report as well as learning issues in general. Parents of children in the Primary School should have received an appointment time in hard copy: please be on time, as teachers have to stick to the schedule. There will be an ‘open ses-‐
sion’ for secondary students, i.e. you turn up and wait to see teachers depending on their availability. Teachers will be taking their lunch break between 12:20 and 13:20, and all parents are asked to respect this: please make sure that you have ended any morning conference by 12:20. Thank you. School is closed on Monday other than for the conferences: there will be no activities. Bonfire Night On Friday, 8th November we will be celebrating the tradi-‐
tional British event of Bonfire Night. This PTA event will take place from 17:20 until approx-‐
imately 20:00. There will be traditional British food, fire-‐
works, and a large bonfire upon which we will burn a stuffed ragdoll called "the guy" (named after Guy Fawkes). Children in the Primary school should sign up for the childcare activity which will take place between the end of school and the start of the event. Otherwise they will have to go home as normal, and return for theevent with their parents. The childcare activity will be run by high school stu-‐
dents. To get into the history of the events surrounding the origins of Bonfire Night, otherwise known as Guy Fawkes Night, would take up a lot of space and have half of you falling asleep, and the other half arguing about accuracy. However, we'll try and give you a very basic explanation. A man named Guy Fawkes was part of a group of people who tried to blow up the British Parliament build-‐
ings in 1605, as a bold political statement against the religious policies of the government of the time, or an act of terrorism, depending on your philosophy. They were caught in the nick of time, and the Houses of Parliament were saved. They were sentenced to death for the crime of treason, and were tortured, execut-‐
ed, and their heads placed on spikes outside the Tower of London. The King made a law the following Janu-‐
ary, in 1606, making commemorating the saving of the House of Lords a compulsory annual celebration. All British children know the rhyme: "Remember, remember, the 5th of November, Gunpowder treason and plot! We see no reason why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot!" So, if Guy Fawkes himself wasn't actually burned at the stake, why do we burn his image? As with most modern festivals (Christmas, Easter, for example...), the rituals are hybrids based on various customs and beliefs which abounded at the time. To give some examples: • Burning at the stake was in fact a common means of capital punishment in the UK, until as late as the end of the eighteenth century. Public executions were celebrated and enjoyed in those days in a manner which would be considered cruel and barbaric today. • The timing of the festival is also near the time of the pagan Samhain, which is one of the forerun-‐
ners of Halloween, and bonfires and burning effigies were part of that. • According to some, the commemoration of the burning of Protestant martyrs by Catholic Queen Mary, has also been superimposed on the same event. Just as Autumn is busy for us, the British of the 17th and 18th centuries found themselves with a lot of events they had to celebrate at the same time of year, so, very practically, they started to kill a few birds with one stone and do them all at the same time. The result is the modern Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night as we know it in the UK. The Thanksgiving Law, which forced Brits to hold this celebration, was repealed in 1859, but, whether as a celebration that the historical monuments were saved, or that the government of the day prevailed, as a dire warning of what might happen to you if you committed treason, or just because hanging round a bon-‐
fire eating heartwarming food while watching the fireworks is a lovely way to spend an evening, the annual ritual of holding a bonfire meeting on the day Guy Fawkes and his friends were caught, has continued in the UK to this day. It may seem a little macabre to be burning someone in effigy, and we at HIS in no way wish to glorify the practice of burning people alive, nor any form of capital punishment. This is offered simply as an example of a British cultural tradition, exactly as it can be experienced on this night all over the UK. Many countries' customs have their roots in historical practices that we may be less than proud of but they are part of our heritage nonetheless. As British families, we use this as a chance to remind our children how lucky they are to be born in a time and place where they do not have to worry that they might meet the same kind of gruesome fate as Guy Fawkes. But mostly, like all of us at that age, they mainly remember the fireworks and the marshmallows. We hope this goes a little way to explaining our strange custom, and of course, that you can make it to HIS on November 8th, to join in the fun. 2 After School Activities It was wonderful this week to see so much life in school after 3.30pm: for years it has seemed like this has been restricted to sports team training or to our English Language Program. However, this week was different; students from Kindergar-‐
ten through to Grade 12 participated in cookery, homework club, manga drawing and kendo. One of the attributes of the IB Learner Profile is that students should be ‘balanced’, i.e. have a variety of activities in their lives, academic and non-‐
academic, as well as time and space in which to unwind: a good activities program is one part of providing such balance. Parent Coffee Morning The next Parents’ Coffee Morning will be held at Tully’s Coffee Shop – Chuo Dori Branch (3F) (near Parco) – on Thursday, 17th October starting at 09:00 prompt. Following on from a request at the last coffee morning, there will be a presentation, including videos, about the Pamoja online IB Diploma courses that HIS has just started running for our students. The presentation will cover what options are available and what the learning online looks like. If you have any questions or issues that you would like me to address after we’ve had the Pamoja presentation then please e-‐mail me at mexton@hiroshima-‐is.ac.jp and let me know what they are: this way I can be bet-‐
ter prepared and able to give fuller answers. Food Service We have had a few parents asking us if the school can run a cafeteria: unfortu-‐
nately, we are neither equipped in terms of spaces nor staffing. However, in the land of the bento lunch it should be possible to set up a system whereby lunches can be ordered for delivery to school. If any parents are interested in forming a ‘task force’ to look into this I can facilitate the group and provide them with the parameters under which such a system could operate at HIS. If you are interest-‐
ed in being part of this please let me know. From the PTA PTA からのお知らせ Main Points 今週の要点 l Family picnic tomorrow! ファミリー交流会：明日！ l Halloween Event Sign Ups & Reminders ハロウイーンいろいろ l Halloween Bento Sign Ups ハロウイーンお弁当オーダーサービス l Costume swap ハロウイーンの衣装の交換 l PTA Meeting October 17th PTA ミーティング１０月１７日 FAMILY PICNIC ファミリー交流会 Saturday October 12th, Hiroshima City Forest Park, meet near the Insectarium. Bring your own lunch. See last week’s The Crane for details. 3 明日、１０月１２日（土曜日）１０時から、広島市森林公園に集合！昆虫館の近くで集まりまし
ょう。ランチは持ち寄りで。詳細は先週の Crane をご覧ください。 Car pooling may be possible. 「行きたいけど、車がない！」という方、連絡ください。 HALLOWEEN ハロウィーン Please don’t forget to get your sign up sheets in for Halloween @HIS on November 1st. The deadline is Tuesday October 15th. ハロウイーンの参加申し込みの締め切りは、１０月１５日（火曜日）になっています。お早めに
オフィスに提出してください！ A box will be in the office from Monday waiting for your candy donations for the Trunk or Treat part of the evening. Remember: we can only accept individually wrapped items. Thank you in advance for your gener-‐
osity! 月曜日から、オフィスに Trunk or Treat のお菓子回収用の箱を設置します。ハロウイーン用の外国
のお菓子でもいいし、日本のお菓子でも構いません。ただし、個包装されているものでお願いし
ます。 We are still looking for helpers and volunteers to decorate the trunk of their cars for Trunk or Treat…. Trunk or Treat の為にお車のトランクを貸していただける方、まだまだ募集しています。 BENTO/HOT MEAL SIGN UPS お弁当注文申し込み For those staying at school after 3:20pm on November 1st who would like to order a hot meal from Hotto Motto bento shop, please use the sign up sheet your child has brought home today to let us know what you need. １１月１日、放課後ハロウイーンイベントの為に学校に残る人の為に、お弁当注文サービスを行
います。今日お子様が学校からお弁当の注文書を持って帰られていると思います。ご希望のメニ
ューと必要数をご記入の上、オフィスまで提出してください。 For those new to Japan, here are links to the 3 types of meal available: 日本に来られて間もない方、以下のリンクをクリックして、メニューの中身をご確認ください。(
メニューは 3 つご用意しております) 16 Grains Rice Healthy Meal Box ⼗十六六穀⽶米のバランス弁当 http://www.hottomotto.com/menu_list/view/34/203 Beef curry meal box ビーフカレーhttp://www.hottomotto.com/menu_list/view/34/188 Chicken Nanban Bento チキン南蛮弁当 http://www.hottomotto.com/menu_list/view/34/30 4 COSTUME SWAP ハロウィーン衣装の交換 From next week, we will start collecting the Halloween costumes, which your child may have grown out of to share for this year’s Halloween event. If you wouldn’t mind lending your old costumes to someone who doesn’t have one, please place them in a bag with the size and your name on it (If you wish it to be returned) and hang on the rail for the purpose in the genkan any time from next week. 皆さんの家のタンスに、使わなくなったハロウイーンの衣装が眠っていませんか? 必要な人がお
互いに貸し借りできるよう、学校にぜひお持ち寄りいただければ、と思います。他のお子さんに
貸してもいいと思われるような衣装をお持ちの方、袋に衣装と、衣装のサイズと持ち主のお名前
（返却希望の場合）を記入した紙を入れて、玄関に来週より設置予定のハンガーレールにかけて
おいてください。 Details about how to borrow a costume will come later. 集まった衣装の借り方については、後日、説明させていただきます。 PTA MEETING PTA ミーティング The next PTA meeting will be held in Tullys Coffee Shop – Chuo Dori Branch (3F) (near Parco) from 10am, directly after Mr Exton’s parents’ coffee morning. 次の PTA ミーティングは街中で行われます。１７日（木曜日）の午前１０時より、校長先生との
コーヒーモーニングの後に引き続き行います。場所はタリーズコーヒー広島中央通り店３F です。
皆様のご参加をお待ちしております。 AGENDA 議題 Introduction of plans for this year’s events and activities. 今年度一年の間に予定されている PTA 行事の説明 l Halloween & Bonfire Night Plans ハロウイーンとボンファイヤーナイトの予定について l Christmas Event Details クリスマスイベント計画の詳細 If there is anything you would like to add to the agenda, please contact us at pta@hiroshima-‐is.ac.jp . この他にも、このミーティングで話し合いたいことなどがございましたらい、お早めに
pta@hiroshima-‐is.ac.jp までお知らせください。以上、PTA からのお知らせでした。よろしくお願いいたします。 Thanks for reading! From the PTA Team Hiroshima International School tel. (082) 843 4111 3-‐49-‐1, Kurakake, Asakita-‐ku fax. (082) 843 6399 Hiroshima 739-‐1743 www.hiroshima-‐is.ac.jp l
5

Download Report