01 December 2023
COMMUNITY UPDATE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE Dear Parents, It is difficult to believe that the End of Year Break is just around the corner. This is a busy but wonderful time with many exciting things happening across campus, and I wanted to start off by congratulating our student artists and everyone involved in last week’s High School Play. The immense amount of work that goes into these performances is truly impressive. Special Olympics season has also kicked off, and it is a joy to see our young athletes and their coaches practising together out on the field each week. Being an inclusive school that offers a multitude of unique opportunities for our students to enjoy, it is our responsibility to proactively protect their wellbeing and support their development as individuals. Building and sustaining a safe environment in which every child feels protected, listened to, and encouraged to speak is at the heart of who we are as a school, and all educators at ISB share in this responsibility to identify students in need of protection or help. As well as there being transparent systems in place, including a supportive counselling structure and yearly Child Protection Awareness and Training for all students and employees, we also have a dedicated Child Protection Officer and Safeguarding Lead who ensures that every student receives the appropriate support that they need. Appointed as our new CP Officer this year, Leigh Heglund, Assistant Head of High School for Student Wellbeing, works in collaboration with the school and with Leila Holmyard, CIS Internal Advisor for Safeguarding Needs, to define priorities and align procedures around child protection across ISB. At times, a situation might simply be resolved with a conversation addressing the student’s concerns. The CP Officer keeps a vetted list of therapeutic support services in the community and can connect families to the support that they need. When allegations of serious abuse or neglect are being made, the CP Officer will work with the Heads of School and the ISB Crisis Response Team to gather further information so that, if necessary, a Plan of Action can quickly be implemented to protect the student from further harm. No matter what process is adopted, our first job is to safeguard the student’s wellbeing, and so it is imperative that we retain a high level of confidentiality at all times. We also rely on our open and collaborative partnership with families to work through difficult situations and ensure that all our students at ISB can thrive. You can always reach out to Leigh Heglund for any questions you may have, or simply for a chat to learn more about the above. She is also reachable by telephone on +32 (0) 2 661 42 07. I want to end this letter by thanking Leigh and everyone who works tirelessly to support the learning, wellbeing, and development of all our students here at ISB. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
James Macdonald ISB Director
ATHLETICS Reminder Winter Teams You can view the weekly schedule for more details on all the ISB Winter Teams. This information can be found in the Athletics Resources on the ISB Community Portal, as well.
Last week, we had the pleasure of sitting down with 4th Grader Yunji Park, a talented young ISB artist, to talk about her work and her passion for digital art. Discover her video interview here! What kind of art are you interested in? I am interested in digital art because I can use various kinds of papers, brushes, colours, and cool effects easily. Where do you go for inspiration for your artwork? I get inspiration from my imagination, or from drawing videos I look at on YouTube. Do you have any ambitions for the future, and do you think it will involve art? My ambition is to become an artist, someone like an illustrator, and so I want to exhibit my artwork in art galleries and make my books with my own drawings.
Performing Arts at ISB in numbers this semester: 27 IB Theatre Students went to London for TAPS, a three-day Theatre Symposium We launched Arts in the Atrium and 223 students performed to a standing room only audience! Mark Worth from The Handspring Theatre Company collaborated with 25 MS actors and technicians to create an original play, as well as over 80 MS students in class. 17 MS students went to Geneva to attend a MS ISTA festival 110 student artists from the ES and MS performed in a sold-out Voice Works show for a very appreciative crowd. The Music Retreat saw over 130 MS musicians sharing creativity, enthusiasm and joy over three days in Destelheide.
The HS production of An Italian Straw Hat, performed to standing ovations over the last weekend in November. Over 40 student actors and technicians worked together to create an incredible performance, not to mention the staff team who worked with them, as for all the events above. And let’s congratulate our wonderful Theatre Coordinator Jess, who gave birth to 1 baby boy.
Over 653 students have performed for the ISB Community in only three months – a testament to our staff of Arts Educators and student Artists' hard work, creativity and passion!
COMING UP: We still have 5 seasonal concerts to offer before the end of semester. These are free but you do need to book your seats here. Further information on these concerts can be found below:
DATE
TIME
DETAILS
5 Dec
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Middle and High School Band - Winter Concert
6 Dec
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Upper School Strings Concert: Music without Boundaries
7 Dec
6:30 - 7:00 PM
Grade 5 Informance
7 Dec
7:15 - 8:00 PM
Grade 6 Band Winter Concert
10 Dec
3:00 - 4:00 PM
Jazz @ ISB
11 Dec
7:30 - 9:00 PM
HS Choir Winter Concert 2023
There will be no school on the upcoming Professional Development Days on Monday 8 January and Tuesday 9 January, 2024. Full day supervision will be offered, please fill in the ad hoc form to sign up. The cost is 70 eur for the day from 8:30 - 17:00. The deadline to register is Friday 15 December.
Notre Abri and Kinderdorp are both organisations that welcome children whose parents struggle to take care of them. Notre Abri takes care of 64 children between ages 0 to 6 and Kinderdorp focuses on 30 older children from age 7 up to 18. The children's stay at these homes are generally temporary as the organisations are built to allow parents to seek the help they need in order to take care of their children. Their main aim is to bring families back together and create safe homes for all the children. For Kinderdorp, this involves organising monthly activity afternoons either on campus or at the organisation, they also invite the children to events on campus such as the recent ‘Italian straw hat production’. With Notre Abri the activities are usually thematic to the season and are focused around holidays. For both projects HS students plan a variety of games, activities and treats suited for the age of the children and spend a few hours with them. By doing this, our students hope to make them forget about their worries for a while and create some memorable moments.
Join us in December as we close out the year with fun lunch gatherings, yoga or fitness classes, and cooking and watercolor workshops. We hope to see you at one of the great activities! Join the Creative Arts Support Team (CAST) The ISB Arts Department needs volunteers to help with the following: Help with Concessions during Arts Events and help with chaperoning younger students backstage during performances. If interested, please complete this form and we will contact you.
FA Classes Language Classes (French and English) - Wednesday and Thursday mornings FA Yoga Classes - Tuesdays at 09:00 Group fitness class with Sylwia - Wednesdays at 09:00 What’s On 7 December - Lebanese Cooking Class (Part II) 8 December - Watercolor Painting Class 12 December, 09:30-11:00 - FA Monthly Meeting 13 December, 14:00-15:30 - International Contacts Meeting 15 December, 12:30 - Holiday Lunch Gathering at The Nine Save the Date 19 January - Magritte Museum Guided Visit February - our next Brunch & Bubbles For event details and registration, please see the FA Update.
Connect with the FA:
UPCOMING EVENTS DATE
TIME
DETAILS
6 Dec
Whole day
Saint Nicholas
22 Dec - 5 Jan
Whole day
End of the Year Break
Kattenberg 19, B-1170 Brussels, Belgium +32 2 661 42 11 reception@isb.be www.isb.be