September 5, 2025 - Secondary School Principal Blog
Mr Mike Simpson
Dear Secondary School Families,
It was wonderful to see so many parents at Back to School Night (BTSN) on Wednesday.
To me, BTSN is a milestone that signals that the lines of communication are open between home and school. These lines of communication remain open throughout the year.
Our first set of Parent Teacher Conferences are on Wednesday, November 5 and Quarter 1 Progress Reports will be available on Powerschool before then. However, you do not need to wait until these more formal reporting methods to be updated on your child’s progress.
If you have not already, you are able to subscribe to a summary of your child’s assignments on Google Classroom. Please look out for an invite from Google Classroom.
Importantly, you are also very welcome to reach out to your child’s teacher via email. Our teachers are very happy to hear from you as parents, as you have an insight into their learning at home that can inform what happens in the classroom.
Communication is one of our ISY Learner Attributes and open communication is an important part of the learning partnership between home and school. We are happy to be partnering with you in the success of your child.
Warm Regards,
Mr Mike Simpson
Secondary School Principal
✨ What’s On:
On Wednesday, September 10, our counselors and learning support specialists will provide an overview of how we ensure that every student’s social-emotional needs are supported at ISY. We will demonstrate how to do this within a framework that supports every student’s learning needs. Finally, we will provide an overview of how we support our students in navigating the college application process and finding their best-fit universities.
We are excited to share that ISY will once again host the MISCA University Fair on Monday, September 15. The fair will feature a virtual session in the morning, open to Grade 11 and 12 students from all 13 MISCA international schools, followed by in-person workshops in the afternoon with visiting university representatives.
This promises to be a valuable opportunity for our students to explore their post-secondary options while strengthening connections across the MISCA community.
NWEA MAP Testing: September 8 to September 19
MAP stands for Measure of Academic Progress. MAP assessments are online adaptive assessments that provide useful data in developing a fair and accurate assessment of student academic achievement and growth. MAP Growth uses a scale to measure what students know, regardless of their grade level. It also measures growth over time, allowing us to track our students throughout the school year and across multiple years.
The academic achievement and growth data obtained from MAP assessments forms one part of a student’s data profile. MAP assessment data is combined with data gathered by classroom teachers to ensure that we have a fair and accurate understanding of each student’s academic and learning needs. This understanding of student academic and learning needs then guides teacher planning and instructional practices in meeting the needs of individual students.
There are two MAP assessment sessions in an academic year:
- September:
- Grades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9: Reading, Mathematics, Language
- February/ March:
- Grades 2 and 3: Reading, Mathematics, and Language
- Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9: Reading, Mathematics, Language, and Science
As we confirmed last year, we would like to remind you that Chinthe Expeditions will run again this year. More details will follow, but we wanted to again share with you the planned dates and locations for each grade level’s expedition.
We want to make sure that we have up-to-date passport information for every student. Students must have a passport that has more than 6 months validity past the date of travel.
If your child has a new passport that is different to the passport we have on record, please use this Passport Information Form for ISY Chinthe Expeditions to provide the passport details and upload a photo of it.
