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Harare International School News |
9th December 2013
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Reminder: Noon dismissal on Friday, 13th December for all students.
Strength and Courage-Nelson Mandela
Our hearts and minds join with the people of South Africa and the world as we celebrate the life of a strong, courageous humanitarian who has forever brought enlightenment to our thinking about the human rights of all people. The sadness of his loss is buffered by the memory of his greatness.
ISSEA Band Festival
This year for the first time, the International Schools of Southern and Eastern Africa will have an international band festival. This includes the schools that are involved in the ISSEA sports that most of you are familiar with. ISSEA has expanded its activities to include the arts, starting with band. HIS will host this premier event January 23, 24, and 25. On Saturday, January 25 there will be a full concert to which our school community will be invited. More details will come after the break. We are very excited about this event and also very proud to be the first school to host.Click here for the mission statement of ISSEA ART'S:
Assistance Needed
Dear parents and school community,
As we work towards the opening of our pool, we are looking to bring back some safety equipment that is not available in Zimbabwe. These are rescue tubes (see picture at the following link ), which can fold into one bag. If you are traveling to the USA during the December holiday, and you would be prepared to bring back an additional bag, can you please contact Noeleen to arrange the logistics.
Families Leaving
The nature of an international school is one of constant change and that includes families coming and going throughout the year. No matter what the length of the stay at HIS, we are grateful that as a school we have the opportunity to be part of the learning experience of each student who attends. We appreciate each family who has been part of our HIS school community. We wish all of those who are going on new adventures the very best. You will be remembered here even as you are making new friends and doing new learning in your next setting. Good luck, Warthogs:
EC2A: Waweru Mucoki, Nicolo Leonardi EC2B: Ethan Bvute, Kidan Tesfahun KA: Kenneth Chakanetsa KB: Rabia Murtaza 1B: Kena Waweru 2A: Siphesihle Sibeko 2B: Birhanu Tesfahun, William Branks 3A: Clara Mentzner 4A: Khuzar Malik, Vaughn Stumbras Grade 7: Paul Mentzner, Shalizeh Murtaza Grade 8: Pablo Corrales Fernandez Grade 10: Shreya Naik Grade 11: Jessica Branks
Lost and Found
Upon return from the long break, there will be a new procedure for lost and found items. Lost items will be kept in reception. When an item is collected as 'found', a description of the item will be recorded and the person collecting the item will have to sign as having collected the item. Items that have not been collected after two weeks will be donated to charity. Electronic items found will be kept locked until retrieved. A description identifying make, model, and serial number will be recorded and as with other lost and found items, the person collecting will need to sign for the item.
The Holiday Season
Many of our families will be celebrating holidays during the school break. If you are, we hope this will be a magical and memorable time for your family. For everyone, whether holidays are being celebrated or not, the long break can be a time of special thanksgiving for all. We are so privileged to be part of a caring school community that supports its children and each other. On behalf of the entire HIS staff, I wish all of you Peace, Joy, Love and all good things during the closing of 2013 and beginning of 2014.
Sincerely,
Kathryn
 Kathryn Carter-Golden, Ed.D. Director Harare International School kcartergolden@his.ac.zw
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December 12th
MS Drama - An Evening of Song, Dance and Verse
December 12th
ES Q2 AfterSchool Activities
December 12th
Open Board Meeting
December 13th
Last Day of Semester - Noon Dismissal
December 13th
Semester 1 Report cards available
December 16th 2013 - January 6th 2014
School Holiday
January 7th
Classes Resume
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I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year! We have a few more busy days ahead followed by 3 weeks of a well-deserved rest. I am very proud of our middle school students, and I am looking forward to seeing them all continue to grow during the second semester.
Grades
Middle school student report cards/grades will be available to download in PDF format as of this Friday, 13 December. This is a good time for students and parents to have reflective conversations about areas of strength as well as areas for growth. The grade is not the most important part of this conversation, particularly in middle school. However, students will benefit from having involved parents who help them think about their progress and set goals for continued growth. Should you have any questions or need support, please feel free to contact your child's teachers, the Guidance Counselor (Mr. Phipps), or me after the break.
Middle School Play Performance
Please note that Middle School Drama will be performing their Evening of Song, Dance and Verse this Thursday, 12 December at 18:30 in the PAC. The performance will be a montage of Roald Dahl poetry and songs. The performance is free and open to the entire HIS community. Please come out and support our middle school drama students!
Find my iPhone (iPad)
Students have been more successful this year in taking better care of their iPads. Both loss and breakage has been reduced overall. Unfortunately, we have had a couple of recent issues with iPad loss/theft on campus that we are investigating and putting in procedures to avoid in the future. One thing I would like to ask parents to support us with is to ensure that your child has subscribed to the Find My iPhone app. The app is already installed on the iPad and it's free. However, it requires each student to create an Apple ID and sign in. If you do no want your child to have their own Apple ID, or if they are too young, please consider using a family Apple ID instead. The Find My iPhone App allows you to track the device through the Internet, or in the worst-case scenario to lock the device and erase personal data. Thanks for your assistance with this!
Sean Areias
Middle School Principal
Harare International School
sareias@his.ac.zw
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In the past two weeks we have been given the special treat of two music performances. The first one was our violin students in Elementary School performing and the second one was Thursday evening's Kindergarten through Grade 5's music performance. In both performances we were able to see and hear how our children are growing within the arts, specifically in music. They all did an outstanding job as did our fantastic music teachers.
I hope that you all enjoy your December break. For those of you moving on to another school I would like to thank you for being a part of our community and you will be missed. We wish you all the best in your new adventures and new schools. For everyone else, please have a safe and restful break and we will see you in the New Year. Best wishes.
Kari Boazman
Elementary School Principal
Harare International School
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A reading program for students in Grades 1-5. Students will be able to earn a Reading Certificate for reading a set number of books and completing activities that make connections to the IB Learner Profile and the PYP Attitudes. Be on the look out for more info when we get back in January. Wanna know more now?
Email mchifokoyo@his.ac.zw or schitaukire@his.ac.zw or stop by the library to get more details.
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 Sending out a HUGE thank-you to all the parents and students who generously donated grocery items for the holiday gift baskets. The baskets will be distributed this week to every gardener and guard who helps make our HIS campus a better place..there are 34 in all! Please pat yourselves on the back for brightening someone else's day! |
| 2 litre Bottles Needed !! |
 Please save them, rinse them, and bring them to the library for Mrs. Chifokoyo! Thanks a bunch! |
Attention Holiday-Makers!!
I am sure we are all getting very excited for the up coming festive season and long holiday break from school?! Have you thought about wrapping paper for all those pressies, yet? Do not panic if you haven't!
ES Green Machine are selling nature-inspired, hand-printed wrapping paper just for you! There will be limited supplies, however, so rush to get yours TODAY! Three (3) sheets are being sold for just $1.
You can purchase your wrapping paper from Reception or from 4B classroom.
Thank you for your support!
Holiday Recycling
Don't forget to recycle all those envelopes from your greeting cards, wrapping paper from gifts and any worn decorations you may want to get rid of after the excitement of Hanukah and Christmas this holiday.
Also, if you are having any kind of a clear-up in your house, remember that nothing need be thrown out!
You can save them all up and bring them into school in January.
Thank you.
Have a happy and green holiday!
Motorists to be fined for litter bins
The Herald December 3, 2013
MOTORISTS must have litter bins in their vehicles or risk a US$15 fine,
the Environmental Management Agency has said. In an interview during the
anti-littering campaign in Harare yesterday, EMA education and publicity
officer Mr Rambwayi Mapako said passengers face the same penalty. Click here to read more...
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Parent Technology Professional Development
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Parent Technology PD sessions will continue the second Monday after we return to school. Thank you to all the parents that have participated in making these sessions successful, eventful, and fun.
As many of you will be traveling over the break. I thought it would benefit you to have a few tech purchasing ideas to keep an eye out for. Click on the links to find cool tech items, accessories, and apps. 
The iPad seems to be more prevalent than ever. Its not just on our campus its everywhere, check out the top holiday iPad accessories. An accessories list would be incomplete without a list of chic and rugged iPad cases to protect those precious tools.
If accessories for the iPad are a little out of your budget then perhaps some of the most popular educational apps will suffice for your lifelong learners. Or maybe you are searching for apps geared toward iPad Users in the work force, then these Productivity Apps will help. It is possible to purchase an app and "gift" it to someone else. It is pretty simple ( click the link to follow a tutorial) and a great way to give a gift to those important people who live far away.
We cant forget our macbook users out there. Here is a collection of widely used macbook apps as well as some great accessories for the macbook.
For those people who have not embraced the apple invasion (yet) there are still tech gadgets available for them too.
Finally, I had to include a few tech toys that I just think make the iPad really fun. Even if you don't purchase anything its always interesting to see what new cool gadgets are being developed. Check out theses three:
The Flying RC Drone
Smartphone controlled Paper airplane
and the Kubi takes skyping to a whole new level
Have a great break.
Troy Gordon
Technology Professional Development |
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Building Resilience In Our Children
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On Thursday, November 21st we held the 2nd of a 2-part workshop on Resilience which was adapted from the Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents developed by psychologists Mary Karapetian Alvord, Bonnie Zucker and Judy Johnson Grados (a copy can be found in our school library). We continued to share and discuss tips and strategies on how to help our children increase their ability and preparedness to "bounce back" from life's many challenges. In Part 2, our focus was on:
· Being a good sport (team play and game etiquette)
· Optimistic thinking
· Problem solving (generating choices and alternative ways of behaving)
· Stress management
· Assertiveness training
· Empathy and perspective taking
If you would like a copy of this PowerPoint presentation or from any previous workshop, please email schitaukire@his.ac.zw.
Our Parent Workshops will resume on January 30th, 2014 with a Welcome Back to School session that will serve to orient parents new to the HIS community as well as focus on events and other things to look out for in the 2nd half of the school year.
Whether staying in Harare or traveling over the break, enjoy quality time with those near and dear to you. To all families moving on, we trust you have enjoyed your time at HIS and wish you well on your next adventure!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
Sekai Chitaukire
ES Associate Counselor
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Holiday Overindulgence
Traditionally the Christmas Holidays are a time of calorie laden food and over indulgence of all those 'good things' that really are 'not good for us!'. By the end of the holidays you're tired, snacking on all the leftovers, exhausted and hanging onto every extra slice of Christmas cake, plum pudding or egg nog that you consumed. Try things a little different this year and follow some of these tips to alleviate the 'post-holiday blues'.
Carol Madziva Morgan
cmadziva@his.ac.zw
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 All items in the lost and found Bins will be donated to charities when school closes at 12.00 noon on Friday 13th 2013.
Please come and claim your precious valuables and belongings.
Many Thanks
Britta Aryee
baryee@his.ac.zw
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Please be advised the Board meeting scheduled for Thursday, 12 December at 6:30 PM will take place at 5:00 PM, in the Room above the Library so it will not conflict the Middle School Drama presentation. We regret any inconvenience for the time change.
Thank-you
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The Grants program
The PTO would like to thank all of the students who applied for a PTO Student Grant. We received 8 applications from elementary, middle and high school. The PTO is discussing the applications and will let students know its decision before the school holiday. Thank you again for your creative and thoughtful ideas!
Judith Sherman
Grants coordinator
The Talent Show Is Around The Corner
TALENT SHOW 2014!! - AUDITIONS are coming soon. SIGN UP SHEETS WILL BE UP ON BOARDS FROM 8th - 10th JANUARY. We encourage all students to start thinking about individual or group or class performances in either dance, skits, singing, magic, acrobatics,band or quartet, each performance to be a maximum of 5mins! This year we are really appealing to the middle and high school to participate and collaborate to make this a truly school wide event with the High School taking the lead!
Please contact Karen Mutasa on kmutasa@aol.com or +263772572645 for any questions, advice or help!
Karen Mutasa
Talent show coordinator.
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 Towards the end of the 2012/2013 school year we were pleased to announce the launch of the School Communicator - an innovative and exciting new way of communicating with parents. The School Communicator keeps you up-to-date with what's happening at the school. It updates automatically, and brings you all the latest news and calendar events. It also contains a photo gallery, contact list and a range of useful links and documents. For more information You can install your communicator: http://www.school-communicator.com/download.php?schoolid=7102Â
If you have any questions regarding use, system requirements, security, or anything else, please contact us immediately.
Jeff Klancke - jklancke@his.ac.zw
Leila Johnson - ljohnson@his.ac.zw |
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Update Your Contact Information
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 If you have changed your email address,phone number, or physical address, please be sure to email Leila Johnson on ljohnson@his.ac.zw or Britta Aryee baryee@his.ac.zw so that we can update our records.
Also, if your emergency contacts change their contact information, please remember to notify the school. |
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Harare International School
66 Pendennis Road, Mount Pleasant, Harare
his@his.ac.zw
Tel: 04 870514, 04 870515, 0772 423 494, 0772 101 277
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