Week Ahead: Sept. 30-Oct. 4

It was a busy weekend on campus – a major college/uni fair open to the entire city; a high school volleyball tournament; and a massive invitational swim meet for our MS swimmers.  Be sure to congratulate all our colleagues who worked so hard to pull off all of these events in true SSIS style.

This week’s PD sessions are an important step in the Learn It phase of our wellness initiative.  We will all be gaining a common framework and language to talk about wellness.  I have two thoughts as we head into the work.  1) This will likely feel intensely personal.  We are after all talking about how to be well as humans … and we are all humans.  We all have areas where we feel like we are doing great, and we all have areas where we feel weaker, vulnerable, or downright unhealthy.  Let’s be sure to grant each other space, grace and understanding as we learn and reflect.  2) Resist the urge to think about how you want to immediately implement this in the classroom or advisory program.  This is not where we are at in our work.  We must remain in the learn it phase so that we can ensure we don’t rush to any action, decision, or program alteration.  Instead, think about “live it” … for yourself. 

Here is what’s up this week:

Monday, Sept. 30
PD Day – No Students
7:50-2:30 Note: Start in Auditorium
2:45-3:45 MS Leadership Team (agenda)

Tuesday, Oct. 1
PD Day – No Students
*Deadline to complete contract renewal form; deadline for early notification of departure to qualify for gratuity bonus
7:50-2:30  Note: start in auditorium

Wednesday, Oct. 2
Day 5, CDAB (Special Schedule)
*HS Principal Candidate(s) Here
8:15-9:15 MS Student Assembly – Positive Ed Group
9:45-10:30 SST
10:45-1:15 WELL Core team with Positive Ed Group
3:15-4:30 Divisional Mtg (Comment and Report Writing Time)

Thursday, Oct. 3
Day 6, GHEF (ADV)
*HS Principal Candidate(s) Here
9:30-11 Admin Mtg (Molly attends)

Friday, Oct. 4
Day 7, DABC (DEAR)
*HS Principal Candidate(s) Here
*End of Q1 (gr 6 electives rotate on Monday)
7:30-8 Breakfast Club sponsored by Team 8
6-8pm Newbie/Oldie Party at Amor-Ross House

Upcoming (on the radar)

• October 6-8  WASC Team 3 Yr Visit
• October 7 – comments completed and peer reviewed (in Q1 bin) and grades completed by 3:00; verification reports printed by 3:45
• October 8 – verification report reviewed, signed (can be digital) and returned to office by 3:00
• October 9 – report cards sent home to parents
• Oct. 10 – Early Dismissal; Parent Teacher Conf  4-8pm
• Oct. 11 – No Students; Parent Teacher Conf  8-1:00
• Oct. 23 and 24 – PE Dance celebration special schedules and events
• Oct. 26 – PTA Halloween Event
• Oct. 30-Nov. 3: MRISA Tournament @ UNIS
• Nov. 1, 5, 7 – SISAC Tournaments

Positive Education PD:  We are so fortunate to have Carla Ford and Andrew Ford from the Institute of Positive Education joining us for 3 days.  In support of the Learn It phase of our work, there are two things required of you for these PD days:  1) Watch the 60 min online introduction to Positive Education.  You received an email fr0m Institute@ggs.vic.edu.au with the directions.  There are 7 short videos.

2) Take the online VIA Character Strengths survey:  Register (there is no charge) and complete the VIA Survey (Adult). This will take approximately 15 minutes. Print-out and review your character strengths profile and bring this with you. (yes, print it … a digital version won’t work for the activity)

Positive Education Assembly: Oct. 2 the Positive Education trainers will also provide training for our students.  Here is the schedule for that day:

• 8-8:10 Advisory
• 8:15-9:15 Assembly – Growth Mindset
• 9:15-9:30 Break
• 9:30-10:35 Block C (65 min)
• 10:40-11:45 Block D (65 min)
• 11:50-12:05 DEAR (15 min)
• 12:05-12:40 Lunch (35 min)
• 12:45-1:50 Block A (65 min)
• 1:55-3:00 Block B (65 min)

Quarter 1 Comments: Comments are due Oct. 7 at 3:00.  Remember to put the comments in the Q1 bin (NOT S1).  Please refer to the MS Faculty Handbook for guidelines for report card comments in preparation.  Please note that HS has a slightly different expectation for Q1 comments (only for students with a C- and below).  This change was made for HS only due to the increasing number of EEs and Early Decision/Action letters of recommendation being required of teachers at the same time Q1 comments are being written.  This decision was made last week in response to a review of the data.  MS expectation is that all students will receive comments in all classes for Q1.

PE Dance Celebration Schedules and Events: We are coming up to the PE Dance Celebration.  This is an amazing event that requires all of us to assist and support.  We will be running special schedules on Oct. 23 and 24 in support of this event.  On Wednesday, Oct. 23 we will run the early dismissal block schedule followed by lunch and then the afternoon will be a full school rehearsal.  All teachers will be required to be in the rehearsal area (auditorium) to assist with management of students.  On Thursday, Oct. 24, we will run the same basic schedule as Wednesday (early dismissal block scheduled, followed by lunch) but instead of rehearsal it will be a matinee performance in the afternoon.  Again, all faculty members will need to be on hand assisting with management of students during the matinee.  Here are the actual schedules:

Wednesday, Oct. 23

• 8-9:00 Block G (60 min)
• 9:05-10:05 Block H (60 min)
• 10:05-10:20 Break
• 10:25-11:25 Block E (60 min)
• 11:25-12:25 Block F (60 min)
• 12:25-1:00 Lunch
• 1:00-3:00 Rehearsal in Auditorium

Thursday, Oct. 24

• 8-9:00 Block D (60 min)
• 9:05-10:05 Block A (60 min)
• 10:05-10:20 Break
• 10:25-11:25 Block B (60 min)
• 11:25-12:25 Block C (60 min)
• 12:25-1:00 Lunch
• 1:00-3:00 Set up and Matinee

Update on HS Principal Search:  We will have at least one candidate visit in the coming week as a part of the high school principal search.  This stage of the process includes many meetings and interviews with a variety of stakeholders.