Oct 253 min read

Message from the Principals 10/25/2024

Good morning, Hope Community!

1: Important Reminders

2: Open School

3: Friends of Hope - Picnic

4: Curriculum Focus - Skills

5: Learning Highlight

6: House Points

7: Photos of the week

1: Important Reminders

Nov 1: Open School (see more information below!)
Nov 11-13: NO SCHOOL
Nov 22: Sports day!!
Nov 28-29: NO SCHOOL
Dec 6: Parent Workshops

2: Open School

November 1 - Open School

Session One: 08:30-10:00
Session Two: 10:10-11:30
- We will have the school’s Library set up for parents to come and meet with other families (Hosted by "Friends of Hope"!)
- The room will be open from 08:00 to 11:30
- (Parents will be asked to wait in the Library until 08:30)
The school will provide drinks and snacks.
- Refreshments will be available in the library.
Used Uniform Sale
- The Friends of Hope will have our donated uniforms for resale. It is a "pay as much as you wish to support the organization" style.

3: Friends of Hope - Picnic

Part of the purpose of Friends of Hope is to facilitate connection within our community, so we hope you can come to some upcoming events!

November 1, 8.00am to 11.30am - Open Day break room
November 8, from 5pm - Picnic in the Park

Come and socialize with other Hope families at Baba Park, Sunabe while the kids play! Bring your own food/drinks and blanket, and enjoy a fun evening outdoors with music.

We have some exciting ideas for future events and welcome ideas from everyone! You can get in touch with us at friends@hopeoki.org.

4: Curriculum Focus - Skills

During last week’s Curriculum Focus, we shared details about the 3 types of Learning Goals that you will see reported on for Elementary and Middle Years students - knowledge, skills and understanding.

At Hope, we define skills as: “Actions we are able to do”

This ties perfectly to the IPC and IMYC Skills Goals, which all begin with “be able to”. In class lessons throughout each unit, students will have the opportunity to practice a skill, leading to an assessment where the student will have to independently demonstrate the skill. Teachers will then assess the progress of this skill through observation and categorize the fluency of the skill in one of four areas:

Beginning - starting with the skill for the first time, needs coaching and support to apply
Developing - building up fluency and confidence, some support still needed
Mastering - can apply the skill fluently with little external support
Innovating - can apply the skill in new contexts or further than age related expectations

To support teachers in making informed judgements about the skills observations, rubrics are provided for what the IPC and IMYC identify as the “key skills” for each subject. Key skills are identified to be the foundation for each subject and can be applied in a variety of different tasks. For example, in Science, the key skills revolve around the Scientific Method and accuracy in conducting and recording experiments, something that students will have to regularly return to at every stage of their school experience. Each student’s progress with the key skills are also recorded in the school’s semester Report Cards.

Throughout the school year, students will have plenty of opportunities to revisit the key skills and further develop their abilities.

5: Learning Highlight

For their Entry Point to their new International Middle Years Curriculum unit "Responsibility", 8th-grade students were tasked with creating and filming a trailer for a movie of their choice. Inspired by the film "Be Kind Rewind," students were required to make a "sweded" version, focusing on intentionally creating a low-quality film while maintaining humor and creativity.

Through this project, students practiced delegating roles and responsibilities, as well as exercising their creativity as collaborators, communicators, adaptable thinkers. The project connected to the Big Idea "Each of us is in charge of the action we choose," as students actively participated in the decision-making process and task delegation.

Original Trailer (Totoro)

Original Trailer (Despicable Me)