On Friday 6 December from 18:00 to 20:30, the High School student council will host the social event Remember December for students in Grades 9-12.  Admission is free.  Students will be provided with a snack/small meal as well as have access to the sports facilities in the Secondary school.  There will also be a Xbox FIFA 2020 tournament and outdoor movies.  Only AISL students are allowed to attend this event.

Come play games with your friends, make new ones, and support charity work!

The Middle School Student Council is hosting a board game night in the Library on Friday 13 December, 17:00-19:00.  Students can bring games from home to play with friends or they can use the games (like UNO and Settlers of Catan) provided.  The school will provide fruity drinks and snacks.
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Please kindly note that this event is for AISL students only.

What I am excited about this week…
 
Thanksgiving! The upcoming American Thanksgiving holiday is my favorite holiday of the year. The focus of the day is to share a meal with family and friends and to pause and be grateful for all that we have. No commercialism, no materialism, just gratitude and the company of loved ones. Who could ask for more? Whether you are American or not, I hope you take a few moments over the long weekend (or every day, for that matter) to take stock of all that you have to be thankful for. Better still, take some time to make sure that the special people in your life know that you are grateful that they are there. Happy Thanksgiving!
 
Shine! Don’t miss next week’s choral event, Shine! This celebration of song will feature student choirs, the community choir, and the St. Matthias Choir. The show will begin at 18:30 sharp on 5 December in our Tiyende Pamodzi Theater.
 
Flash Gordon Redux: Lusaka 2019! Congratulations to the cast and crew of Flash Gordon. What a fun and memorable performance! These productions take months of hard work and a grand vision. Many thanks to the Director, Vanessa Tolino, and all of the teachers and support staff who helped make this happen.  
 
 Academic Calendar for 2020-21! The Board of Directors has approved our 2020-21 academic calendar. It is attached to this newsletter so that you can begin planning for next year. As usual our calendar reflects the following priorities:

• 180 student days - starting after Farmer’s Day in August and ending as early in June as possible. The reason for the early June finish is to have as few school days as possible AFTER the Grade 12 students have started their IB exams so that they can benefit from as many academic days as possible beforehand.
• Equal semesters – we try to end our first semester before the December/January school holiday. We want those semesters to be as similar in length as possible.
• Respect for Zambian national holidays
• Four-week holiday in December and January
• One-week holidays in October and March/April

 
 

Save the date: Shine! A choral celebration of traditions, cultures, and light will be held on Thursday, 5 December at 18:30 in the Tiyende Pamodzi Theater - Don't miss it!

Our Personal and Social Education (PSE) curriculum is taught in Advisory lessons and sometimes during classroom learning.  For example, lessons on family and relationships might happen during a Language and Literature discussion. Lessons that relate directly to biology would be taught in that class.  Our weekly updates include hyperlinked learning materials when possible.​​
For the week of December 2, the following PSE learning is planned:

• Grade 6 - Families with the Advisors
  
• Grade 11 - Body image with the Student Support Services Coordinator
  
• Grade 12 - Biology of reproduction - finishing lessons from the previous week if needed; the resource is our Biology textbook [Taylor, D. J. (1997). Biological Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 725 - 743]
  

For the week of December 9, the following PSE learning is planned:

• Grade 11 - Gender identity with the Student Support Services Coordinator
  
• Grade 12 - STDs and HIV, sexual arousal, consent - with one of our Science teachers - resources to be posted
  

Parents can reinforce learning at home by sharing what they know about these subjects.  They can share their family’s, culture’s, and religion’s perspective on these aspects of Personal and Social Education.

If you would like your child to opt out of any of these lessons, just send an e-mail to your child’s Advisor and make sure your child knows.  If you have any questions about any of the PSE lessons, you can contact your child’s Advisor.

You can find the Personal and Social Health Handbook here.

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ISAZ has the following divisions in swimming, junior 1, 2 and 3 plus the senior division. 
All divisions have a first leg and second leg gala where the total of the two legs determine the winners of the division.
AISL participates in divisions 1, 3 and the senior division. This session all division 1 and senior galas were hosted by AISL and
​all division 3 galas were hosted by Baobab.
Last week on Friday 22 November, AISL hosted the last ISAZ gala of the year, which was the divisional junior and senior Relay Gala, where the trophies from all the divisional galas were awarded.
AISL went away with the following divisional trophies.
Division 3 - Girls champions
Division 3 - Boys champions
Division 1 - Boys champions
Senior Division - Girls champions
At the relay gala our junior boys won the relay trophy.
The gala was a great end to the season. Well done Leopards!

Thank you to the parents who came to the parent information workshop this morning. Ms. Conte and I presented information, had parents take part in two activities, and we answered  questions. Parents felt they gained clarity around MYP Assessment. We would love more parents to join us for these sessions as frustration can occur around the MYP if aspects of the programme are not understood. And it really is a fabulous teaching and learning framework!