Welcome to ASA Session 1, AISL has new and exciting ASA 's for this term and we hope you will enjoy them .Please note that ASA's are offered for Grades 1-12 only.

​This year the Activities office will be offering 4 sessions in the year instead of the normal 3.
Kindly take note of these important dates 

• Session 1 - August 20th - October 11th 
• Session 2 - October 29th -December 13th 
• Session 3 -January 28th - March 3rd
• Session 4 -April 21 - June 5th 

 The website is : 
mychq.net/aislusaka
You will notice that the website has changed. However, the content and way to sign up for ASA's is still the same .
If you have any problems, please feel free to contact us. 
 Deadlines to remember for Session 1 After School Activity : 

•  August 15  - ASA Viewing Only
• August 16   - 8AM - ASA Registration Opens
• August 18  - ASA Registration Closes
• Tuesday August 20   - ASA"s Begin
• September 2 - Last day to make changes 
• October 11 - End of Session 1 ASA's

 If you are interested in Paid Private lessons in Horse Riding, Judo, Karate, or Acrobatic Lessons. They can be found on the AISL website under "After School Activities" or can be found after you log into mychq under "Private Lessons".
Please contact the Private activities Individuals personally for details. 

**Any changes or additions can only be made after the registration closes and can only be done through the Sports & Activities Office , No changes will be made when the portal is open for sign ups **

Please note that this year Middle school and Primary school parents will receive an email if your child has not attended their ASA. Please note that this is for your information only .

For New Parents and students , here is a guide on how to sign up for activities:
1. Enter the username and password details
(Hint : username is your child's school email address e.g 2017ebrown@aislusaka.org) If you forgot the password ,please email activities@aislusaka.org.
2. In the members area , click and fill in the details ,follow the instructions and move through the registration process
3. Click on "My Activities Tab" to view the activities available to  your child. 
4.To select a club , put "1" in the box and click submit. You do NOT need to put any other number than 1
(no 2nd or 3rd options needed). 
5. click “SUBMIT” when completed. 

No other numbers apart from "1" will be accepted!.If an activity is full , the activity will automatically disappear from your page.

Once the sign up session has been closed the ASA administration team will close the portal and prepare the class list for each activity.
If you require any further assistance with any of the stages above please don’t hesitate to contact us by sending an email to activities@aislusaka.org
For a faster response , when you send your email , kindly include your child's full names and grade levels.

Hope you enjoy the program!
​

Welcome to the new school year!

Inquiry is at the core of all of our teaching and learning at AISL as an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) school. Inquiry nurtures curiosity and promotes enthusiasm for continued learning. Effective inquiry encourages students to think, challenge and extend their ideas; it prompts students to reflect and take action. Through the inquiry process, students develop, demonstrate and practice the approaches to learning and attributes of the Learner Profile.

​During the year important topics about the PYP will be shared with you via the Leopards Tale. Please click on the button below to enjoy the first in our series on Powerful Inquiries. If you have any questions or comments please join us next Tuesday, 20 August in the Palm Pavilion at 07:30, for our PYP Introductory meeting or email our PYP Coordinator Christine Kelly (ckelly@aislusaka.org).

Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year. Over the past week it has been wonderful to see so many smiling faces from both the returning students and those just joining us. As the school year gets underway, we wanted to share a few upcoming dates and other information that will take place over the next few weeks.

Primary Listening Conferences will take place during 19-30 August. This optional conference is a chance to meet your child's new teacher and share with him/her any information that you feel would be good to know as we begin a new school year. Each homeroom teacher will be reaching out directly with information on how to sign-up for a 15-minute slot either before or after school. 

After School Activities begin Tuesday, 20 August. The activity choices will be open for viewing to families on Thursday, 15 August and sign-ups begin on Friday morning, 16 August, at 08:00. ASAs are open for students in G1-G5. If you have any additional questions, please contact the Activities Office at activities@aislusaka.org. A reminder to parents about pick-up procedures when ASAs are in session:

• All children attending an After School Activity (ASA) will be accompanied to the Waiting Hut when their ASA finishes. Parents are asked to please meet and collect their child(ren) there at 15:40. If your child is signed up for the ASA bus service, we will make sure they are on the bus to go home at 15:40.

If your child is not attending an ASA on a given day:

• Parents with children in KG-Grade 3 must collect their child(ren) from their homeroom classrooms. To respect the full lessons happening at the end of the day, parents are asked to please proceed to classrooms no earlier than 14:30 and to refrain from peeking in the windows and/or conversing outside the classroom door before school officially finishes.
• Parents with children in ELC are asked to pick up at the classroom door every day at 12:00.
• For Grades 4-5, the students will be dismissed from their homeroom classroom and independently transition to their pick-up point. Parents, please communicate with your child and let him/her know where to meet you. We encourage you to meet your child at the Primary Waiting Hut, if possible, as there is supervision there after school. This is a student privilege as we aim to support students in making good, informed choices
• All children will be dismissed from their homeroom classroom even if they have a specialist class at the end of the day.
• Those children not collected by 14:45 will be brought to the Primary Office. If you are running late, please inform the Primary Office (primaryoffice@aislusaka.org) and collect your child there.
• Any children playing on the playground after school hours are required to be supervised by an adult. Please make sure you are at the playground if your child is playing there.

Greetings, my name is Kate Dobson and I am a speech language pathologist here at AISL. I will be conducting speech and language screenings for all new students from grades ELC2 to grade two within the next few weeks. The purpose of the screenings is to identify students who may need targeted instruction or progress monitoring in the areas of speech and language. Because oral and written communication skills are critical to a student’s success in school, it is important to identify students who may need additional support in speech and/or language as early as possible. The screenings will take place in or just outside the classroom during the school day and will take approximately 5-10 minutes per student. Parents will be notified if a need is identified through the screening process. Speech and language support is available to students during the school day and in collaboration with the classroom teacher at no additional cost to families. Please contact me at kdobson@aislusaka.org if you have any questions or concerns.

Primary Open Day will take place on Wednesday, 4 September. Families (G1-5) are invited to attend their child’s classes from 7:25-12:20 on this day. Each grade-level team (ELC-G5) and specialist teacher will have a time to present the year’s overview. Here is the Open Day Schedule for the grade-level presentations, specialist sessions and additional parent information sessions. We hope many of you will be able to attend.

AISL Primary Talent Show is coming soon! The date is set for Friday, 13 September at 11:00 in the Tiyende Pamodzi Theater. This show is to be a celebration of our many talents. There will be no prizes; anyone who has the courage, persistence, and commitment to prepare an act is a winner!

In order for the show to be a success and to have as many performers as possible, we limit the time for each act to no more than one minute and a half. We also allow each student to be in only one act. The performance must be prepared at home and be consistent (the same each time). Any lyrics of songs must be appropriate for our young audience. Lip-syncing is not allowed.

While there are tryouts, anyone who comes prepared and meets the above requirements will be invited to perform. Performance Plans with a parent’s signature must be submitted by Friday, 16 August. If you give permission for your child to participate, please ensure that your child fills out the Performance Plan, with your signature, and return it to the Primary Office (Ms. Janke’s desk) before they can tryout. EACH performer must submit a plan, even if it is a group performance.

Submission Deadline for Performance Plan/Parent Permission: Friday, 16 August
Tryouts: Monday, 19 August – Friday, 23 August during snack and lunch recess. Students will be allocated one time slot during the week to share their performance.
Practice and Polish: Monday, 26 August - Friday, 6 September (No new acts at this time) 
Dress Rehearsal Week: Monday, 9 September – Friday, 13 September
TALENT SHOW: Friday, 13 September at 11:00 in the Tiyende Pamodzi Theater

If you have any questions or comments, please email Ms. Natalie (ncoombs@aislusaka.org), Ms. Elisa (eingles@aislusaka.org). Thank you for your support!

"The MYP has been designed as a coherent and comprehensive curriculum framework that provides
academic challenge and develops the life skills of students from the ages of 11 to 16. These years are a
critical period in the development of young people. Success in school is closely related to personal, social
and emotional well-being. At a time when students are establishing their identity and building their self-
esteem, the MYP can motivate students and help them to achieve success in school and in life beyond the
classroom. The programme allows students to build on their personal strengths and to embrace challenges
in subjects in which they might not excel. The MYP offers students opportunities to develop their potential, to explore their own learning preferences, to take appropriate risks, and to reflect on, and develop, a strong sense of personal identity." MYP: From principles into practice. May 2014 (IBO, updated September 2017).

Because the MYP is a framework, teachers develop lovely curricula using Key concepts, Related concepts and a Global context exploration. What this means is that the learning within each subject area is carefully constructed to be meaningful to the world around us. Teachers artfully pull subject content (knowledge, concepts and skills) into a unit and ensure vertically and horizontally that a broad range of content is covered. Approaches to Learning skills, which are the life skills that 21st century organisations are looking for, are aligned with each unit. Students also focus on Learner Profile attributes within a unit. Of course, all this requires enormous time, effort and thought on the part of the wonderfully collaborative teachers here at AISL. The IBO review our curricula and give us feedback on our teaching and learning every 5 years. In this way, AISL upholds excellent curriculum.

What I am excited about this week…
 
A smooth start! The new school year got off to a great start yesterday. We welcomed nearly eighty new students and eight new teachers to the AISL community. It was fun to walk around the school and see the excitement that teachers, teaching assistants, admin staff, support staff, parents, AND students all brought to the day. The school was abuzz as everyone caught up with old friends and made new ones. It is a joy to be a part of such a warm and caring community.

Construction progress! The current phase (Phase 1B) of our campus improvement program is proceeding well. This phase includes a renovation of our Primary School spaces and a change to the way traffic flows through campus. It is scheduled to be completed in January. When it is finished, our school will have much more comfortable and inviting learning spaces, improved safety and security, and more parking. In the meantime, the leadership team has worked hard to ensure that the construction will not have a significant impact on our Primary School program.  The temporary classrooms for Grades 3-5 are proving to be great spaces for teaching and learning. Please also note the following temporary locations:

• Library and Discovery Center: Palm Pavilion
• Business Office: Protea Room
• Director’s Office: Palm Pavilion
• Admissions Office: Palm Pavilion
• Transport and Health & Safety Offices: adjacent to the nurse’s station

​
Open Day/Open House events! A great way to learn about our programs is to attend our upcoming Primary School Open Day and Secondary School Open House. The Primary School event will be held during the day on 4 September. The Secondary event will take place next week on 15 August starting at 17:00 in the Tiyende Pamodzi Theater. 

Tuesday Morning Information Sessions! AISL is a very large organization with a lot of moving parts. The scale of our programs can be confusing to new – and even returning – parents. To help everyone get a better understanding of what we do, we host a weekly information session on some aspect of our programs all throughout the year. These sessions take place every Tuesday morning at 07:30. Although these are often targeted toward parents of students in certain grades, anyone is welcome to attend. Please get into the habit of coming by to have a coffee or tea and to learn something new about your school. We post the topics every week in the Leopard’s Tale. Here are our first two presentations:

• 13 August: The University Application Process for parents of Grade 12 students (note: this starts at 07:45) in the Palm Pavilion
• 20 August: Introduction to the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) for parents of Primary School students at 07:30 in the Palm Pavilion.

 
PTA Coffee Morning on 16 August! Please come enjoy some coffee, tea, and snacks and learn more about the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) on Friday, 16 August at 07:30 at the Palm Pavilion.

The first middle school social event of the school year is on Friday 16 August at 6-8 pm.  The students will enjoy a movie that they are voting on during Advisory next week.  The movie will be shown on the Primary field.

For this movie night, students should bring:

1. Their own blankets and pillows
2. Their own snacks and drinks
3. An extra sweater or layer in case it gets cold

Students should avoid bringing iPads, video games, and non-AISL friends.  Phones to call parents are okay.

The Student Portal and the school website will be updated next week to let the students and you know which movie will be shown once the students have made their selection. 

Please pick up your child between 7:45 and 8 pm at the Primary parking lot.

​ 
Welcome to all our families, both returning and new! The AISL Library & Discovery Center team is excited to kick off the year in our new temporary space in the beautiful Palm Pavilion. At the end of last year we moved much of the library’s contents into three large shipping containers for the campus development project and shifted a smaller collection into our Pavilion space.
 
If you haven’t stopped by yet to say hello or to open a parent account, please do so! We’d love to show you around and hear about what you’re reading and share exciting projects we have going on with your children’s classes.
 
To those of you who frequent our coffee bar, do not fear! The machines are now located in the kitchenette off the Palm Pavilion, which may be entered from the door off the outside deck. You can enjoy a cappuccino out under an umbrella table or inside on a comfy couch.
 
Though much of our physical library may be in storage, today’s library transcends any brick and mortar facility as it is a program & approach to inquiry woven into all student learning at AISL. Our robust virtual libraries are available 24/7 and the password is the same as the one for our parent portal. Our two teacher-librarians, Ms. Jill Daley in the Primary School and Ms. Terry Maguire in the Secondary School, work closely with teachers to support student learning in the classrooms and in the library. Mr. Sam Chabi and Mr. Lunyunge Sinyenga, our library assistants, also support student learning and are a wealth of information about Zambian culture. Our entire staff is always ready to recommend great reads both to students and to our parent community. Additionally, our library hosts special events throughout the year including Coffee Houses, Banned Book Week, Computer Science Education Week, Cultural Days, Holiday Crafts, Poetry Week & Poem-In-Your Pocket, Comic Con, book fairs, visiting authors (in person and via Skype), and more!
 
Our hours are as follows:
Monday-Thursday: 07:15-16:30
Friday: 07:15-14:30
Saturday: 09:00-14:00
​Vacation hours on a limited basis- posted the week before each break
 
Welcome back, everyone! We look forward to a great year with the entire AISL community.

ISSEA TRYOUTS FOR VOLLEYBALL AND TRACK & FIELD

START
MONDAY 12, WEDNESDAY 14 & FRIDAY 16 AUGUST

TIMES
14:40 - 16:00 HOURS (MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY)
13:30 - 15:00 HOURS (FRIDAY)

LOCATION
GYM - VOLLEYBALL
SECONDARY FIELD - TRACK & FIELD


SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!
Buses will be available for Bus riders.