Academic Day & Attendance, Withdrawal policy

School Year

The school year consists of 180 instructional days beginning in mid-August and ending in mid-June. There are 3 professional development days and up to 2 weeks of orientation/preparation days at the beginning of a school year. There are two semesters of two quarters each. School breaks include one week in October, three weeks over December/January, and one week in March/April. Tsagaan Sar is a brief but important Mongolian holiday in January or February to celebrate the Mongolian lunar new year. Please refer to the school calendar at the end of this manual. This calendar will be updated from time to time. The most current version will always be posted on the website and shared on the school’s drive.

Academic Day

The academic day begins at 8:00 am and ends at 3:10 pm except that classes end at 2:10 pm on Wednesdays, and IB Diploma HL classes are offered until 3:50 pm on the other four days. All students arriving after 8:00 must sign in at reception and will be marked late by their homeroom/advisory teacher. Daily attendance is taken in the first 30 minutes of the day. 

The 8-Day Rolling Schedule

Each school day in the academic year is numbered from “1” to “8”, with the first day of school, August 18th, being a “DAY 1”. For the subsequent 7 school days, there will be a different schedule each day. Students will need to know the day number in order to know which classes they attend that day. These day numbers will be obvious throughout the school and on the ISU website. You will notice on the ISU Community Calendar that when there are planned disruptions to the school calendar and no classes are being held on a particular day, that day is not numbered. The numbering sequence skips over that day and therefore classes are not lost. The numbering of the school days for 2020-21 has been set and will not be changed. If there are unplanned losses of school days, unfortunately the lost days cannot be rescheduled.

SCHOOL OPERATING REGULATIONS

ABSENCES & WITHDRAWALS

1. Absences up to 18 school days – non-consecutive

It is expected that all students in Primary and Secondary school be in attendance at least 90% of each school year from the date of enrollment. This means that in any given school year of 180 days, a student can be absent for no more than 18 days. Furthermore, IB Diploma students may not miss more than 10% of the classes of a particular subject in a given year. To do so may jeopardize fulfillment of their graduation requirements

Any student who fails to meet these minimum 90% attendance requirements risks serious harm to his or her learning and a consequent decrease in academic performance levels. The school will not be held responsible for such loss of learning nor if a student does not meet graduation requirements.

At the discretion of the school, the student may not be permitted to advance to the next grade level at year’s end.

2. Absences greater than 18 school days:

a. Consecutive absences greater than 18 school days:

The parents of children who will be absent from ISU for a continuous period of time of greater than 18 school days must notify the Head of Primary or Head of Secondary as appropriate no later than 10 working days before the planned absence. (See 9. below.)

It is strongly recommended that any student who will be absent for greater than 18 continuous school days be enrolled in a formal schooling programme offering similar learning and skill development as at ISU.

3. Temporary Leave of Absence / Partial Withdrawal / Complete Withdrawal:

         For absences of greater than 18 continuous school days, the regulations vary according to absence period:

a.     temporary leave of absence during the school year - planned for a period between 19 school days to 60 school days with the intention of returning the child to ISU     after the absence period;

b.     partial withdrawal during the school year planned for a period between 61 school days and 90 school days with the intention of returning the child to ISU after the absence period;

      c.     complete withdrawal deemed to apply when: i) the absence period is greater than 90 school days; OR ii) the absence period is for the remainder of the school year        regardless of how many days remain in the school year; OR iii) 10. below applies;

For a. and b. above, the school administration will determine the best course of action, whether the student will not be de-registered from ISU and/or their place in the class will be held for their return date. For c., the student will be de-registered from ISU and their place will not be guaranteed should they wish to return to ISU later in the school year or in a subsequent year. They will therefore be required to re-apply for admission to ISU following all steps in the admissions procedures and paying the Registration and Capital Building Fund fees as applicable.

4. Prolonged absence from ISU without prior notification = complete withdrawal:

Students who are absent from the school for more than 20 consecutive school days (1 calendar month approximately) without prior notification to ISU, will be considered to be withdrawn from ISU and will be de-registered as an ISU student. Their place in the class may be given to any child on the waiting list for that class according to priorities described in 1.h. above.

5. Unplanned Sudden Withdrawals:

It is recognised that from time to time situations may arise which require a parent to immediately withdraw their child from ISU. The Director in such a circumstance will consider all aspects so that the student’s and parents’ needs are best served.