Week One - September 2nd 2022

Primary School

Whole School Newsletter

Secondary Newsletter

Dear PYP Parents,

Welcome back to school and to the 2022/23 academic year! We have had a great first week of learning and it has been wonderful to make my way around the primary school welcoming the children back and meeting a few new faces as well.

We look forward to welcoming you all to our 'back to school night' on September 13th, where you will learn about our curriculum and meet your child's teachers. This is an event to learn more about the amazing learning opportunities your child will experience over the year, here at GIS!

Ms Kim Conlin

Head of Primary

Newsletter at a Glance

In this edition you will find:

Drop off / Pick up Procedures
Calling All Room Parents!
Announcements / Reminders / Upcoming dates
Peek Into Learning: Settling In
Primary Pages - link to Grade and Class pages
PYP reminders and resources
Whole School Calendar

Upcoming Dates

GIS Community Calendar - subscribe by clicking

September 13th - PYP Back to School Night

Drop off and Pick up

Families may enter Gate 4 or Gate 8 (Gate 6 also available for Early Years) Doors open at 7:50 for students.

Families may pick up from Gate 4 or Gate 8 (Gate 6 also available for Early Years).

Outside of these times, only gate 4 can be accessed through security

*Students in early childhood (Prek - G1) need to be escorted to/from classroom by a parent or guardian, and students in G2-5 walk to class independently to/from gates.

Late/Tardy: any student arriving after the national anthem must get a late slip at front reception/gate 4

My child will be absent

Email your child's homeroom teacher before 8am so that he / she can mark their absence as excused.
Complete an absence form for an absence of more than 2 days and submit to PYP office or homeroom teacher on the child's first day back.
Absence for more than 3 days requires prior approval if planned or a doctors clearance for illness related leave (in some cases a medical certificate is requested )

My child will leave during the school day (exceptional/unavoidable cases only)

Email the gis_primaryleaverequest@gemsedu.com and your child's homeroom teacher 24 hours in advance to ensure your child and their leave slip are prepared in advance.
At the time of collection, please come to the Primary Reception at Gate 4.

Keeping our community safe with Covid-19 Protocols: if your child is a close contact or receives a positive test result please inform: gis_medicalalert@gemsedu.com

We love our room parents!

Each class in PYP is looking for a Home Room Parent. This person is a volunteer parent who agrees to support the teacher and GISPA throughout the year. They provide the link between parents, teachers, GISPA and administration, with the overall goal of improving communication and support for students and families. They are an integral part of our community and the glue that keeps the class community together. If you are interested in taking on this role for one of your children's classes, please inform the class teacher.

Role Description

If you are interested in connecting with other parents in the same class, join the WhatsApp group. This is completely optional and not an official channel of communication, however it's a useful tool to connect with other parents.

See your class page for more details.

Parent WhatsApp Groups - Essential Agreements

Be mindful of your audience/group and respect their sensibilities.
Refrain from “chatting” with one or two people in a group (private conversations should take place away from the WhatsApp group).
Stick to school related topics. No soliciting of business.
Evaluate the usefulness of your messages to others – “does everyone really need to know this?”
Be a role model in your use of social media - keep it respectful at all times!
Keep your posts short and to the point.
Use the official school channels to seek support with individual issues

Announcements and Reminders:

A Peek into Learning: Our First Week of School

What a great first week of school! We have spent the week getting to know our new environment and learning new routines. Across the PYP the focus on learning has been devoted to establishing class agreements, making new friends and settling into our new grades and classes. Our goal at the beginning of each school year is to focus on wellbeing by getting to know each other and becoming comfortable in our new spaces.