Dear Parents

I hope you have had a good week. 

It was a pleasure to meet so many of you with the PTA on Tuesday. It was so encouraging to see so many members of the parent community come together to support the school. The energy, enthusiasm and commitment you bring really does make a difference. We appreciate not everyone can make the day time meetings and want to reassure you that all of you can contribute in some way. There are numerous events throughout the year and volunteering your time, making food or supporting students prepare and take part are all valuable contributions. 

Camps and residentials are such an important part of growing up as they provide immersive environments where young people build independence, resilience, and social skills outside the traditional classroom or home setting. Meeting peers outside normal school cliques helps break down social barriers and leads to new friendships. Living and eating together in shared spaces encourages children to tune into the needs of others and develop empathy and cooperation. Teachers often comment on the tangible development and growth seen in students after camps and we encourage you to let your child take part. You only have to see our Grade 11 students after their retreat last weekend to see the positive effect!

Thank you to all of you who joined our MYP parent workshop this week. We welcome opportunities like this to share more about our programmes with you and we are looking forward to meeting with you next Tuesday during our Open House.  As part of Goal 3 -Community Engagement we want to address some of your frustrations and iron out any ambiguities about communication channels. With this in mind our wonderful IT team have made some guides called Toddle for Parents which you can access from this newsletter. The guides include how to report absences, message staff, view timetables, reports and announcements. The majority of parent questions should be directed to the class teacher through Toddle and this can be done directly through the platform. Acting on feedback you have shared we are also introducing Primary, Secondary and Admin channels for you to direct queries too that are not directly related to the class teacher. I will be sharing a contact list and overview of homerooms and advisory staffing with you through Toddle next week to further support you with knowing who to go to. 

One of the issues in all schools is that institutional knowledge is held in individuals' heads. This is not a sustainable model. It is great that BIS has had a history of allowing parents to use facilities however systems break down when people are not present. Going forward, school facilities are available to parents out of school hours and we ask that you follow our processes to support us with Goal 2- Campus Health and Safety. Our swimming pool use guide can be found here and our facilities booking can be found here. The introduction of fees for booking is to help support the maintenance and upkeep of the facilities. We will also make these forms available on Toddle under School Policies and Resources. Under no circumstances should parents use our changing room facilities during the school day as these are exclusively for the use of our students for PE and swimming. 

Friday and Monday see us celebrating Indonesian Independence day together. These events allow us to honour history and promote cooperation. Playing games symbolises past struggles and community resilience and sharing food supports us to build unity through shared experience. Thank you to everyone involved, it is a privilege to share this cultural experience with you. 

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

Dr Heather

Dear Parents and Students, 

Have you ever been reading about global politics on the news and thought, “Oh, I could make better decisions than that”? Well, here is your chance to put that to the test! Join us for MUN (Model United Nations) on Thursdays after school, where you can step into the shoes of a delegate representing a country in the United Nations and address real-life global issues. As students prepare for MUN, they will develop skills such as public speaking, teamwork, research, critical thinking, and negotiation.

We are looking forward to attending three conferences this year: ISPPMUN in Cambodia, BALIMUN, and UNIS MUN in Vietnam.

No experience is needed to join the club, only a desire to improve, grow, and learn! If you are interested, please contact our supervisor, Mr Alan, via email (afurnas@baliis.net).

Warmly, 

Allison

PTA Chair