Dear Parents,

A well-deserved break indeed! We hope that the entire GJS community can enjoy time with family and rest. This school year has been both challenging and rewarding in many ways. Celebrating with family and friends comes as a welcome change to our reality of the past ten months. As we look forward into the new year, GJS wishes you a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!

This end of 2020 Kontak is a massive edition celebrating learning and capturing events from November and December, as well as looking forward to January 2021. Please enjoy this end of year double-edition.

WASC Mid-cycle Visitation Report

We have received and approved the written report from the WASC visiting team, who will formally submit it to the WASC Accreditation Commission for International Schools. We now wait for their final feedback and determination/confirmation of our accreditation status. Once we officially receive the report from the WASC Accreditation Commission, I will share it with the school community. The current draft version was very positive and recognised our progress.

That stated I am very proud to report to our community members that the report offers robust and positive validation of the steps we have taken to date. In summary, the WASC Visiting Committee recognised a range of school-wide strengths:

● A resilient and committed community, faculty and staff who have maintained learning continuity amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic

● A HBL Program that has ensured engaged learning both synchronous and asynchronous.

● A shared leadership model which has increased school-wide communication, collaboration and an improved focus on student learning

● A commitment to Child Protection as demonstrated by researched-based policy, procedures and ongoing certified training.

● A shift to a school-wide focus that provides for clarity of purpose, consistency of practice, and honours the continuum of IB programs

● The establishment of learning management systems that support various modalities of learning: distance, blended or face to face.

Progress on Implementation of the Schoolwide Action Plan and Critical Areas for Follow-up from the April 2018 Visitation Report:

Critical Area for Follow-up 1 related to Child Protection and Safeguarding has been completed, and GJS is clear on next steps for focus in this high priority area.

● Critical Area for Follow-up 2 related to collaboration across IB programs has been resolutely addressed. A school-wide focus and distributed leadership to a shared vision supported by leadership team restructuring has resolved this Critical Area for Follow-up. The significant shift to shared leadership bodes well for the school, and there is significant capacity for substantial school improvement.

● Critical Area for Follow-up 3 related to the pervasive use of data to inform student learning and support high levels of achievement has commenced through experimentation. The leadership are committed to building a data-driven culture and have established plans for building school-wide capacity with data systems, protocols and data teams. This critical area, given its scope and importance, remains an ongoing Critical Area for Follow-up.

● Critical Area for Follow-up 4 related to Technology Systems and Integration has seen significant infrastructure and systems development. This development was a key driver for success with the HBL program implemented with COVID-19 school closure. The ongoing consolidation of learning platforms and broader access to support learning is warranted. The COVID-19 Pandemic was a disruptor, though the impetus for technology uptake and innovation by faculty will benefit GJS into the future. The Critical Area for Follow-up should be sustained.

● Additional Critical Areas for Follow-up 1 and 2 related to leadership and the school-wide action plan have been addressed. The distributed leadership model and teaming at GJS in the opinion of the Visiting Committee is an influential shift that surfaces the capacities of leaders and faculty to realise the School-wide Action with defined responsibilities and timelines.

Based on the Mid-Cycle visit and the long term needs of GJS, the Visitation team revised and detailed additional Critical Areas for Follow-up to guide our efforts over the coming three years before our next full self-study and visitation:

1. The School Leadership teams further consolidate a culture of data-driven dialogue grounded in professional conversations of practice and focused on gains in student achievement for all students.

2. The Board and School Leadership in collaboration with the Dean of Students and Student Support personnel continue to expand school-wide student services provision – a provision grounded in the tenets of inclusion and the whole child.

3. The Head of School and Leadership build on the established open and transparent communication to expand community partnerships in the ongoing refinement of the school-wide action plan

4. The Leadership teams use the newly established shared leadership model and organisational structures to build greater curriculum articulation through the curriculum review process and a common document management system to improve student learning

5. The Head of School with stakeholder input confirms the strengths of learning at GJS and the profile of GJS graduates as key to the long-term viability and competitive position of the school in the educational marketplace.

6. The School Leadership, in collaboration with the ICT Team, continue to work on the development of technology systems and learning platforms to support innovative learning.

It is imperative to recognise and celebrate the significant period of development we have undertaken during the past two years. We should be very proud of this report as it highlights the critical work of faculty and administration, parents and students, as well as Board Members to focus on continuous school improvement. Many thanks for the dedication and commitment that helped in this positive outcome.

Return to Campus Plan - Stage 2 Blended Learning

The GJS community has demonstrated its adaptability and strength as we transitioned to Online Learning in February of 2020 and then launched the 2020-21 school year with Home-Based Learning.

Now we finally see indications from national and local authorities which will provide the opportunity for schools to begin to reopen, albeit in a significantly reduced capacity, starting in January 2021.

We continue our collaboration, with home and school working together, in support of student learning. The document below represents the next phase for GJS, as we seek to engage with a limited number of learners on our campus. We begin with a small, first step towards Blended Learning with small group opportunities for those students who would benefit from access to educational resources and supports not currently available to them via HBL. These learning engagements will compliment HBL, not replace them at this point. Student participation will be contingent on their parents supporting this effort and providing expressed approval for their child(ren)s on-campus involvement.

Please see the detailed explanation of Stage 2: Blended Learning in the updated Return to Campus Plan 2020-2021 documents below. As we have throughout this challenging period, we will keep you updated with regards to the information that informs our current situation or that helps us prepare for the transition to one of the other scenarios outlined within this document. Please note we have embedded the English and Bahasa Indonesian versions below.