Dear Middle School Parents & Students,

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of speaking with our current Grade 5 parents about the Middle School experience as their children prepare for Grade 6 next year. This was the first of several sessions designed to help these families transition smoothly into Middle School. It was a joy to walk them through the many highlights of the Middle School program at ICS.

It was also a pleasure to highlight the love and care provided by our Middle School teachers. ICS is truly blessed to have such a talented and dedicated team. I am reminded of this daily as I witness their caring conversations, gentle corrections, shared joys in student success, and the way they help carry each other's burdens. Teachers are the backbone and lifeblood of any school, and a school is only as good as its teachers. We are a great school precisely because we have great teachers. I encourage you to reach out with a note of encouragement to your child's teachers, to let them know how much you value them.

On a separate note, I wanted to share initial details about the implementation of Middle School Semester Exams. One of the main purposes of adding exams to the Middle School calendar is to give students the opportunity to practice exam taking before they reach High School where these exams have university entrance implications. In Middle School, we have the opportunity to practice this skill in a low stakes environment that does not impact their GPA or university applications. Students will sit exams in six subjects across three days. They will take exams in ELA, Social Science, Math, Language, Bible, and Science. We will be providing further information on reporting and stress management in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

We will be running an adjusted schedule from December 15 - 18 to accommodate these exams. On December 15-17, students will arrive at normal time and be dismissed at 12:00 following our normal half day schedule. On December 18, only students who have makeup exams will be at school. There is no way of knowing at this time who will need to take an exam on Friday due to absence so it is essential that parents do not plan to start their vacation early. Leave requests will be highly scrutinised during this period.  

You can see an outline of the exam plan below.