Message from the Principals 4/11/2025

Today's Topics:

1: Important Reminders

2: Celebration of Learning: Action Ambassadors

3: Curriculum Focus - Reflection

4: Learning Highlight - G3

5: House Points

6: Photos of the week

1: Important Reminders

April 29th - OPEN SCHOOL!
- The Friends of Hope will open the Uniform Resale!
- Visit the Library (202) to congregate with other families
May 5-6 - NO SCHOOL (Golden Week)
May 23 - Celebration of Learning: Action Ambassadors

2: Celebration of Learning: Action Ambassadors!

On May 23rd, Hope International Academy will be hosting their final event for the year at the Nirai Center in Chatan. The focus for this event is: ‘How can we as learners contribute to our SDGs within a global or local context?’ Each class has decided on a project using their creativity and innovation, and have linked it to one or more SDGs where they will present their understanding, knowledge and display their skills in action.

Parents are welcome to join us during this exciting event by attending and journeying through the many booths where you will come across global perspectives, learn about the SDGs, be mindful of how we can support our local communities, and participate in our action projects!

Make sure to let us know if you are going via the Parent Portal:

3: Curriculum Focus - Reflection

Throughout February in the Curriculum Focus section of the blog, we’ve explored the mini learning cycle that takes place during subject based tasks - Research, Record, Reflect. This week we will focus on the final part of the cycle, the role of reflection.

Reflection is an important part of successful learning at any age but is often the most overlooked. After taking part in exciting research and recording tasks, pausing to take time to understand and process the new information and skills you are developing and making note of this supports students in continued growth. It also supports students in goal setting for the future and understanding what next steps are required to continue improving. The use of rubrics helps students to self-assess and through taking note of these self-assessments, students can refer back and see their progress over time.

The most powerful reflections allow students to identify their successes and identify areas for further improvement, which matches the approach to assessment and reporting at Hope. Our school strongly believes in the role that reflection plays in allowing all students to grow and see their growth.

Our recent Student-led Parent Teacher Conference is built around the concept of reflection. It is the students' opportunity to showcase their learning and growth so far in this semester. This provides a valuable, dedicated time for them to gain a deeper perspective of their own learning journey.

4: Learning Highlight - G3

G3's Exit Point for Bright Sparks happened on March 21st.

During the exit point Parents got to:

1. Watch the kids talk about different sources of energy for electricity production.

2. Listen to the kids talk about static electricity.

3. See a dinosaur helmet with lights installed. It was adorable.

4. Have an interactive experience, experimenting with different types of electrical circuits, demonstrated by the students.

5. Watch a safety video about electricity and a video about using electricity safely (students acted brilliantly in the videos; parents had a good laugh).

6. Participate in quiz about what the kids talked about today.

The students displayed PLGs such as adaptable, thinker and being resilient by trying to find ways to improve their presentations or resolve issues that they faced. They collaborated well and some were empathetic when trying to support their classmates who needed help.

Their new unit is "What's on the menu?" For the upcoming Exit Point, their parents will be coming to evaluate and judge their food! The class has been split into Red and Blue teams with different menus.

In a recent ELA activity, they were learning Procedure Writing. They each had to come up with their own recipes for a sandwich using the "procedure writing" skill. The best recipe from each team will be the first item on the menu for the exit point.

You can view the photos from both activities here: