BUSI NESS NAME School News School News October 2014 Leadership and Leading Dear Parents, Studenst and Friends of ISSH The theme of this newsletter is on Leading and Leadership. You will find reflections on leadership and examples of leaders in our community. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the leadership work done on Board level and on the School Leadership Team level. The ISSH Board meets 6 times a year, two of these meetings include the Foundation Board members. The boards are responsible for determining the overall direction of the school, for providing the facilities needed and for overseeing the financial and strategic development. All board members are leaders in their field in local or international businesses or politics. They contribute to the development of ISSH on a voluntary and honorary basis. Some of our board members have been serving the ISSH community as long as 16 years. Continuity in leadership and longterm vision is no doubt one of the strengths in leadership at ISSH. The school leadership team comprises secondary and primary department and programme leaders and also includes the Head of Administration. Over and above the day-to-day running of the school, we focus on determining the short-term and long-term goals in order to meet the overall development targets set by the board. Our meetings are held on a monthly basis and include topics like finances, infrastructure and resources, safety, communication, staffing and events. Yours sincerely Gundula Kohlhaas, Head of School [email protected] Calendar PA Coffee Morning Wednesday, 29 October, 09:00 Güterhof Halloween Party for Primary Sunday, 2 November, 16:30-18:30 Assembly Hall, Logierhaus Secondary Student-ParentTeacher Conferences Monday, 3 November, 16:15-19:00 grades 6 and 7 Wednesday, 5 November, 13:00-16:00 grades 8 and 9 Friday, 7 November, 16:00-19:00 grade 11 Grade 10 have individual appointments. Professional Development Day for our Teaching Staff Monday, 10 November NO SCHOOL FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY National Future Day Thursday, 13 November For grades 5-9. Argentinian Tango Night Friday, 14 November Assembly Hall. ISSH Thanksgiving Dinner Sunday, 23 November, 16:00 Assembly Hall Primary Winter Crafts Event Friday, 28 November, 15:30-17:00 Assembly Hall Primary Winter Show Tuesday, 16 December, 19:00 Gym Hall Christmas Break 18 December—7 January 2015 S CHOO L N E W S P AGE 2 Silke Fox-Welcome to a new Member in the Leadership Team Silke Fox joined ISSH in August 2006 as a science and general MYP subject teacher. This was when ISSH had about 120 students with a small secondary school section of 25 students in grades 6-8. At that time, we were located in the centre of Schaffhausen with much smaller facilities. Silke was part of the pioneer group of secondary teachers who implemented the MYP curriculum and established the secondary traditions and routines. Beside her subject specialism Science, Silke was also teaching subjects such as English and some Mathematics. After a maternity leave of 2 years, she returned in 2009 to a part-time science position and was ever since our lead- teacher for science. She shaped the MYP science curriculum, built up the science resources and drove the development of the science facilities to now 3 science labs. In 2012 she took over the responsibility of teaching Biology in the DP programme. 2013 she was appointed Science Coordinator with the added responsibility of guiding new teachers and overseeing the entire science curriculum. Beside her science role, Silke has always happily taken on the extra responsibility of being a homeroom teacher. She has a genuine interest in people and has great people skills. When the school decided last year to open up a residential programme and advertised the position of “Head of Boarding”, Silke stepped forward. I can truly say that there was a sigh of relief to be heard in the leadership team. We felt so lucky to find a competent and inspiring Head of Boarding in a long-serving member of the second- ary team. To venture into this new experience of building up a boarding programme seemed a much easier route with an experienced and dedicated educator like Silke in the newly created position. Silke was invited to join the SLT (School Leadership Team) in August 2014. Now that the boarding programme has taken off successfully with 6 boarders living in our boarding facilities and 4 carers taking turns in supervising the evening and weekend activities, we can congratulate Silke to such a positive start. Being a leader means amongst other taking on extra responsibility and happily going the extra mile. Silke Fox has always been a role model in this respect. Gundula Kohlhaas Head of School Leadership in Schools It is a challenge to succinctly define the role of school leaders. School leaders generally wear a number of hats; leaders of change, strategic planners, public relations specialists, resource managers, HR specialists, accountants and even therapists. The importance of management skills versus leadership qualities continues to inspire debate with the question of how educational leaders balance the responsibilities of management with the need to lead their schools forward: Undoubtedly the formation of vision is part of ‘setting directions’ for the organization and a role school leaders must take on. Leaders endorse ideas that embody the best educational thinking, push efforts to achieve ambitious goals, help the community understand where the school is going and why, openly expect high quality performance from both staff and students and promote co-operation by inviting interchange and offering assistance. Educational institutions are learning communities and their visions should involve shared meanings and understand“Leadership is the process of influence leading to ings. It is essential for school leaders to have a good the achievement of desired purposes. It involves inspiring and supporting others towards the achieve- understanding of the school community and their needs, as the vision they endorse must take into ment of a vision for the school which is based on account the current climate of the institution and the clear personal and professional values. Manageprevailing values of those involved. ment is the implementation of school policies and the effective maintenance of the school’s current “Principals must, above all, build consensus activities. Both leadership and management are re- amongst diverse stakeholder groups, and establish, quired if schools are to be successful.” (Bush and communicate and implement shared vision and straGlover, 2003) tegic direction.” (Thompson, 2001) S CHOO L N E W S This was put into practice recently during the current ISSH Mission Statement revision process. We gathered input from all stakeholders. The results of the process, which involved input from teachers, board members, students and parents, will help us, as school leaders, adapt our current mission and refine it based on the needs and expectations of our whole community. The main suggestions for change were: the inclusion the ISSH Core Values - be unique, take responsibility and achieve your potential, the need for further emphasis of academic excellence/ P AGE 3 challenge/rigour, and the importance of recognizing our responsibility for the environment. With the dynamic development of our school, considering the continuous extension of the programmes offered (DP, childcare, boarding), our school leaders recognize that is it important, not only manage the day to day successful running of the school, but also to maintain this shared vision and drive the school ever forward. Nick Wragg, Deputy Head A Primary Perspective on Leadership The Grade 5 class has recently concluded a unit focused on teamwork. Their inquiries led them to investigate the roles and skills of different team members. This is a selection of some of their thoughts regarding team leaders: “They lead by example and keep followers working towards their common goal.” (Paula) “A leader’s skills are: organization, communication, innovation, decision making and problem solving.” (Ruben) “Leaders must have good organization, communication and cooperation skills.” (Charlotte) “A leader sorts out the team and their roles, they must find out their team members strength and weaknesses.” (Devon) “Leaders need to be clear so his/her team knows “Leaders can be both strict and nice at the same what is going on, good at resolving conflict and must time.” (Cameron and Alessandro) worry about the team before themselves.” (Abby and “A leader has to know how to listen well.” (Delta) Emilie) “A leader has the skills of cooperation and decision making and knows how to motivate people on the team.” (Jan and Saba) “A leader always tries to make the team work, making sure everyone has something to do. A leader gets their team help and tries to get the best out of them.” (Rebecca) “A leader needs to be very organised and very principled.” (Naila) S CHOO L N E W S P AGE 4 The Secondary Student Council of 2014 Basil Hahn, a grade 11 student has taken on the role of President of the Secondary Student Council. Following last year’s successful leader, Victor Dorph, is no mean feat. Last year, Victor galvanized the newly formed council to raise a significant amount of money (1500 CHF) for the school’s charity, SOS Children’s Villages, as well as providing entertainment for the student body. We thank Viktor and his team for their great efforts. As the new leader of the student council for the year 2014, I do not want to start by making any big promises. I hope to introduce some changes and lead the student council in the right direction. First I want to look at some problems that we identified recently and want to work on these, so we have these complications solved as soon as possible. For instance, the bus problem that has now been going on for some time, in that the students who need to get the 1st bus miss the bus due to the fact that, it is already full with students who do not need to get the first bus. I will be investigating into this problem and with the help of the student council, put forward some possible solutions. In addition to that, I would like to think about the school charity again this year. Last year we were very successful and collected a lot of money for SOS -Kinderdorf, however, this year I would also like to focus on another charity (Swiss Solidarity) that is helping people in Iraq right now. To me it is important that these people receive help because they need the aid right now. I will be looking forward to working with the members of the student council and I hope that we are all able to make a change in some people’s lives. I hope for your support in this venture. Last, but not least, I want the students of each class to be more involved in the student council’s decisions. The past few years, from my point of view, it always looked to me as if the student council just made the decision but never really asked their classes. Therefore, I would like to make the suggestion that when the student council has an idea then each representatives of each class will present the student council’s idea and discuss it with their class in order for us to see if it is worth doing and if the ISSH community likes it. That way we can move forward and truly represent the views of the ISSH student body. Hopefully I can make a difference whilst leading the student council into 2015. Basil J. Hahn, grade 11 The ISSH House System in Secondary School The ISSH House System builds spirit, promotes community involvement, and a drive for personal excellence. The House System encourages students to work with their peers across a variety of year levels, and to come together, united to support their House. It is an excellent opportunity for individuals to get to know each other across year levels and extends to promote group skills. House events are created to promote showcasing our students’ variety of talents, including sporting, academic and creative events. The House system aims to promote our core values of Be Unique; Take Responsibility; Achieve Potential. Leading the House system is Physics teacher Mr Paul Williamson. With a British background, Mr Williamson is familiar with the House system from his own schooling experience. Even as a student, he was involved in running House events for his year group. Now as a teacher, Mr Williamson continues to uphold House traditions, and espouses the values the House system aims to uphold. Mr Williamson believes the most important qualities of a leader is having a vision, knowing what it takes to get there, and helping teams move forward to achieve. Most importantly, it is having a team that is motivated to work together. Mr Williamson leads every day in his Science classrooms, ensuring he shows his students where the class is headed in S CHOO L N E W S their learning and what learning experiences will be involved. Most importantly, he establishes agreed upon classroom rules, as working together cohesively and carefully is the most important factor within a Science classroom. Mr Williamson inspires students within his classroom to achieve by providing them with a variety of challenges. As a leader, there are certain challenges that one is faced with on a regular basis. Mr Williamson believes that leading motivation and agreeing upon a vision or priorities with other people without being authoritative can be the most challenging. He believes that effective communication and making people feel heard and valued can help overcome these challenges. Mr Williamson also leads by example to help inspire his peers. Mr Williamson has a variety of plans for the House system this year. He aims to have all teachers involved with various House activities, trips and clubs (he himself runs three clubs!). He wants to see students take responsibility and give them the power to P AGE 5 award House points to their peers for exceptional attitudes and behaviour. There is also talk of creating leadership opportunities within the student body in the form of House captains, as Mr Williamson firmly believes in the greater involvement of students running the school for students. It is important for him to give opportunities for students to lead so they can be given a voice in order to take on responsibility and leadership roles themselves. The first House challenge that the students will face this year will be a team-building challenge, where the entire House from Grade 6 to 11 will have to work together to achieve success. Last year’s overall champions were Matterhorn…but who will lead the way this year? Lauren Tasovac, Mathematics Student Leaders Grade 9 and 10 students who do not study French or extension mathematics, follow a course called Structured Study. During the course of the year students work independently and plan their work accordingly, depending on their needs and subject choices. Some students opt to act as peer support for younger children at ISSH. They choose which subjects they are confident to lead and join a primary class in order to help younger children with their subjects. This year we have students taking the lead in ICT (Mrs Wragg’s class), in German (Ms Güver’s class) and in mathematics( Mrs Gubler’s class). Cameron Conn (Grade 9) has chosen ICT as his specialist subject and joins Mrs Wragg every Tuesday in the ICT lab in order to explore the inner secrets of the computer. Mia Green (Grade 9) has chosen to help lead the transition class of Mrs Gubler and visits the primary classroom every Monday to use her mathematical skills to aid these very young children. Laura-Lou Hubli and Stella Burkart (Grade 9) are supporting the German department and assist the learners every Tuesday during the German lessons. S CHOO L N E W S P AGE 6 I am sure you will join me in congratulating these young leaders as they use their time productively and help our young students progress. Chris Taylor, Secondary Principal New enrollments since August New to ISSH: We said goodbye to Max Schalow in grade 11 Heidi Haslinger in grade 3 who returned to the US Clément Stratmann, grade 8 (Nov 3rd) Jakub and Maksymilian Jackowski in Trans G and EY 1 Karolina and Paulina Nierychlo in grade 3 (Nov 3rd) Jediel Magtibay in grade 2 S (Nov 3rd) We wish you a very warm WELCOME and a great start! Colourful handmade key chains made by grade 10. Buy and help to donate for SOS children’s village charity. Date and Time: 31st of October, Friday during lunch Venue: Playground S CHOO L N E W S P AGE 7 Parent Association Leadership As President of the PA, Chantal runs all bi-weekly meetings of the 8 person PA and strives to ensure the PA exceeds its expectations in everything it does. She takes personal pride in the success of the PA and all its events and communication. She has the natural leadership ability in balancing the opinions of all the key stakeholders to ensure quick decisions are made so that events are planned effectively and efficiently, run smoothly and are also reviewed afterwards with written documentation on what worked well and what could be improved. Chantal Dewit—De Meester is leading the ISSH’s Parent Association (PA) as its president for her second year. This leadership role is not new to Chantal, the mother of two ISSH students, as she has held leadership positions for many years in her professional career at Johnson&Johnson. The Parent Association supports the ISSH in all matters supporting its students and is a voice to focus the needs and interests of the ISSH parents and community. In particular, the PA supports the school in welcoming new families, organizing and supporting student events as well as parent social events, providing a forum of communication and support between the parent community, the student councils, the board of directors of the ISSH and the school administration. Chantal is also responsible to ensure the PA reports any known matters to both school principals, which can be a very delicate yet critical task. Chantal’s experience enables her to communicate all issues objectively and proactively assists the principals in working on a solution and its related communication. She also takes full ownership of the PA section of the weekly school bulletin which includes both the PA activities as well as extensive information on what is happening in the area of Schaffhausen that might be of interest to ISSH parents and students. The PA is so fortunate to have a fluent speaker of 5 languages in its lead position that understands the necessity of open and honest communication and welcomes the opinions of all its constituents. Chantal brings her leadership experience, her creativity and her sense of humor to her position. Her commitment to her PA President role is so clearly demonstrated by her positive attitude and ability to inspire others. Kim Hoyt Vice-President and Treasurer ISSH Parent Association ISSH Primary Show 2014—Save the Date! Tuesday, 16 December at 19:00, Gym Hall S CHOO L N E W S P AGE 8 Leading through the Primary Student Council Leadership Entrusting your vision in others What is a leader? Is a leader someone with a vision; a mission to fulfill? Perhaps a leader can only be someone who is good at delegating? We all have our own experiences and stories to tell. For me, leadership shouldn’t be about dictation and control but more about guidance. Yes, a leader should have a goal and along with that, great passion, but also should be able to take a back seat and develop the art of modelling and influencing and should be able to “enlist and aid the support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership A key attribute in a leader is trust, but what about trusting others to get the job done? Many of our student council leaders plan great things for the school but sometimes may not actually be able to do the task themselves.One group had initiated the idea of painting outdoor games for the playground, however, due to seasonal changes and weather conditions, their plans were put on hold and used a year later by a new student council body. They learned to share their vision with others and discovered that sometimes leading others involves planting the seeds first. My role in coordinating the primary student council is just that. I aim to open the eyes of my team, finding out what needs to be done, what lies in each member's heart and supporting them in achieving the task required. Most importantly, I aim to model positive leadership in the hope of developing young new leaders within the school. What does leadership look like in student council? At ISSH, we give primary students the chance to join student council twice a year. This allows students to explore those all important transdisciplinary skills (Thinking, Social, Communication, Self-Management and Research) in more depth and helps develop the art of taking responsibility. Each member elected is unique and has something to offer. They are chosen because they have a vision and upon their very first meeting, this vision is shared; a new enterprise is born. Mission accomplished During the past two years, I have witnessed great action and change across the primary school. The student council have led the school in raising money for two very important charities: WFP (World Food Programme); and a little closer to home, Schaffhauser Tierschutz (the animal shelter affected by the 2013 floods). Like all good leaders, they have responded to the ongoing needs of the primary school too. They initiated a healthy eating campaign, devising posters for use in the lunch hall and presenting good healthy eating habits in assembly. They supported the needs of our football fans, creating an intervention programme in the football pitch and guiding students on how to play fair on the pitch. And in addition to this, Student Council have constantly modelled and monitored good behaviour in the playground; they also provide a “safe place” for students to go to. Carolyn Dube- A colourful journey.com What will tomorrow's flowers look like? Taking care of nature and striving for a more sustainable school lies at the heart of this years’ student council, they came up with this mission statement: “We will help lead our community in making a difference to our school and the environment.” What a great vision! We look forward to following their lead and becoming more environmentally friendly over the course of the next academic year. Abigail Gubler (Transition Teacher and Student Council Coordinator) S CHOO L N E W S P AGE 9 Staf f Po rt rai ts Camilla Lundström is from Sweden and has, together with her family, been living in Schaffhausen since August last year. She is a teacher in Economics and Business subjects with a background in sales and marketing prior to becoming a teacher. She is enjoying to be back in teaching after taking a year off. She enjoys living in Switzerland with its beautiful landscape. In her free time she likes to explore Switzerland and its neighbouring countries. As soon as the skiseason starts you will find her in the ski slopes. You might say that she and her family live for skiing.
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