2007-2008

University College of Utrecht visits ISR

In its endeavour to prepare students for life after high school, ISR hosted the first-ever visit of representatives from a higher education institution on 13 May. Mr. Cassé and Mr. van Himbergen from the University College of Utrecht, Netherlands gave an informal 45-minute presentation to Grade 10 students.

Mr. Otto, teacher of German at ISR and Utrecht alumnus, joined the meeting to share his experience when studying there. Known for its strength in liberal arts and sciences, Utrecht is among the Times Higher's Top 100 universities worldwide and even made the Top 50 for natural sciences. In all, it was a fruitful and inspiring start to what ISR hopes will become an extensice series of presentations from universities and colleges around the world.

ISR's First Theatre Production Coming Friday, June 13

ISR is pleased to announce its very first ISR Theatre Performance entitled "Holes" on Friday, June 13 at 16:30. The play is being developed by some students from Grade 4 to Grade 7 and the theatre director, Inge Harms. Hope you can join us!

ISR Holds All-School Assembly

ISR held an assembly for the entire school on Thursday, May 15. Teachers, administrators, supervisors and students (Kindergarten to Grade 10) gathered to recognize and acknowledge the efforts of everyone.  Over the last 2 1/2 terms, each member of the ISR school family has made contributions to the development and advancement of a positive school environment.  As a consequence, there was significant improvement in academics and in social behavior.

During the assembly, Mr. Tarrant also spoke about some of the highlights of Family Fun Day which was organized with active Student Life and Parent Network support.

ISR Pulls a Switcheroo at Spirit Day!

The Student Life Outreach Department in conjunction with the Parent Network organized a Day of Thanks for all staff at ISR. The PN delivered some wonderful cake to the staff. Each student was given two 'Thank You' cards by the Outreach department to give to ISR staff including teachers, administrators, supervisors, the Corporate Department, security staff, Sodexho and cleaning staff.

Thank you to the Parent Network for the cake slices delivered to several areas of the school and a big thank you to Laura Dos Santos, Senior Prefect for the Outreach Department of SLO. Incorporated with the Day of Thanks was a 'Switcheroo' Spirit Day. Students dressed up as staff members and staff dressed up as students. A good time was had by all!

Family Fun Day is Coming 17 May!

This year the format of the Family Fun Day has been changed. The SLO™ coordinator and prefects are happy to be involved with the organization of the event. This year Family Fun Day will be ISR’s major fund raising event for the Kenya School Project. Anticipated activities include a Sponsored Run, a Soccer Tournament, Climbing Wall activities and many more attractions. Further details will follow. Please mark this date in your calendars.

ISR looks forward to welcome all families at the event on Saturday 17 May!

ISR Polo Shirt Design Competition

On Tuesday 8 April, a panel of five students Vivian K., Justus L. from Gr. 2, Johann Z. Gr. 5, Frederic H. Gr. 6 and Laura D. Gr. 9 as well as board members from the ISR Parent Network Mr. Krebs, Mrs. Dahmen, Mrs. Schmitz, as well as School Director Ms. Lyons, Art Teacher Mr. Vogt and Marketing & Admissions's Ms. Wesley and Ms. Terhune judged the entries to the ISR Polo Shirt Logo Design Competition. After long and hard deliberation the winners of the age groups were selected and from these three the overall winner was selected.

Details of the winners will be posted in next week’s Newsletter when all students and parents have been informed. Once again thank you to all the students who entered the competition. There were 30 entries in total, and the panel of judges was extremely impressed by the standard of work.

Football Match Against Büderich FC

Büderich FC V. ISR Gr. 3 and 4 On Tuesday 8th April Grade 3 and 4 students played a Football Match against Büderich FC. Although well beaten by a better and more established team, the ISR team played well and really enjoyed the experience.

They will be able to use for future games. Well done to all the team and continue with the good work. Thank you also to Mr. McMinn for organising the game and to the parents for helping with the transport of the players to the game.

End-of-Term II School Trips

A big ‘Thank You’ to all teachers who accompanied our students on the End-of-Term II Trips on Friday prior to Spring Break. Students and teachers had great fun bowling as well as ice-skating. It is always a pleasure to take students on these trips. Not only did the students have a great time but ISR also often gets very positive feedback from the different venues it visits, because the hosts are impressed on how well ISR students behave.

Mr. Bistany Addresses ISR Parents at Annual Open Meeting

Mr. Carl Bistany, co-CEO of ISR GmbH, held his Annual Open Meeting at ISR on Wednesday 9 April. During the meeting Mr. Bistany presented his executive overview. The topics included an update on the development within the SABIS® School Network and the value added to students’ education at ISR highlighting the unique features offered at ISR.

This was followed by a Progress Report on ISR by School Director Eileen Lyons and a presentation given by two SLO Deputy Head Prefects, Saina and Rico, who spoke about the advantages of being involved in the SABIS Student Life Organization®. Thanks to all who participated in and contributed to the meeting especially during the Q&A session. The gathering reaffirmed the benefits of the open communication policy at ISR. For those parents who were no able to be in attendance, a PDF copy of the presentation can be downloaded from WebParent.

Superb ISR Results from NRW German Language Screening
Überragendes Ergebnis beim Sprachtest

For the second consecutive year, ISR Kindergarten students achieved a 100% success rate in the North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) Language Screening Tests which are required of all children prior to Primary School entrance. The ISR screening tests were conducted on March 4th and 7th.

By comparison, NRW had an average score of 57% from 145,000 kindergartners; therefore, 62,000 children need to retake the test. The ISR Kindergarten is an academic program with daily lessons in English, math and German and lots of playtime.

Im Rahmen der Sprachstanderhebung des Landes NRW bei dem Kinder, die 2 Jahre vor der Einschulung stehen auf ihre Deutsch-Kenntnisse getestet werden, konnte die ISR ein überragendes Ergebnis erzielen: 100% aller Kinder des schuleigenen Kindergartens bestanden den Test, der am 4. und 7. März in der ISR unter behördlicher Aufsicht stattfand, auf Anhieb.

Zum Vergleich: Von den 145.000 Kindern, die an dem Test in NRW 2007 teilgenommen haben, hatten lediglich 57% bestanden, 62.000 mussten ein zweites Mal antreten. Im ISR Kindergarten wird außer im Deutsch-Unterricht, der täglich auf dem Stundenplan steht, Englisch gesprochen.

Save It or Shave It" Contest Wins Big for the Kenya Project!

THE IDEA

This week students, staff and parents had to face the decision: "Save it or Shave it!" Two members of ISR faculty, Mr. Laurence Makowy of Vancouver, British Columbia and Mr. Scott Neas of Norfolk, Virginia, put their four-and-a-half-month-old beards on the line to raise money for the school's Kenya Project. A donation to the "Save it!" side was a vote for Mr. Makowy and Mr. Neas to keep growing their beards

RUN OF EVENT

From Monday until Thursday, the students, faculty and parents of ISR faced an important decision: to "Shave it!" or "Save it!". The sight of the two teachers drew the attention of curious students during breaks and even somewhat confused parents after school who did their best to beat the other side. Generous contributors did their best to fill both jars, and the final result was surprisingly close! It came down to the final contribution.

THE RESULT

As the counting had just been completed, a fifthgrader appeared out of breath in the doorway, donation in hand, and asked, "Am I too late?" Little did he know that the fate of the contest was in his hands. Unfortunately for the beard-lovers among us, this student was on the "Shave it!" side. The final count: 554,60 Euro to “Shave it” and 498,11 Euro to “Save it”, making a grand total of 1052,71 Euro in only three days!

Much to the shock of the school, the two bearded teachers appeared Friday morning clean shaven for the first time in four and a half months! Mr. Makowy and Mr. Neas would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to the school community for their support and are open to suggestions for future fundraisers.

2008 SABIS/ ISR Parent Survey and Annual Open Meeting

The Annual SABIS/ ISR Parent Surveys will be sent out during the first week of March. Parents will receive the surveys in the mail and are asked to complete and return the survey to the school by Friday, March 14. A stamped, addressed return envelope has been sent with the survey for ease of posting. Results from the 2008 surveys will be presented in the Annual Open Meeting with Mr. Bistany. This years meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 9th from 19:00. All ISR parents are invited to attend the meeting, which will be held in the ISR Exam Hall (2nd floor). The meeting will include a Q&A session during which pre-submitted questions will be addressed by Mr. Bistany and the ISR Administration. Please submit your questions to the ISR Marketing Department (marketing[at]isr-sabis.net) by Friday, April 4th.

New Climbing Wall at ISR

On behalf of the ISR school community, Mr. Thomas Uhling (CEO of ISR GmbH) proudly accepted the climbing wall and equipment from Mr. Werhahn, President of the IHK Mittlerer Niederrhein and Mr. Mller, member of the Board of the Sparkasse Neuss. This donation was made possible by Sparkasse Neuss and the Verein Internationaler Dialog e.V. Students and staff are excited about this new feature in the sport hall and look forward to an opportunity for friendly competition.

Pictured are: from left to right Mr. McMinn, PE teacher and certified climbing instructor, Mr. Werhahn, Mr. Mller, Mr. Carl Beach, English teacher and experienced climber as well as Mr. Uhling. Practicing their climbing techniques are students Paula H. and Ann-Cathrin R. (both Grade 4).

Grade 2B Present Love and Friendship Project on Valentines Day

The students of Grade 2B, together with their homeroom teacher, Mrs. Bilgin, explored the theme of love and friendship in advance of Valentines Day, February 14th. Through the project, students were encouraged to discover new vocabulary to express their understanding of the topic.

The project is on display outside the Grade 2B Homeroom.

Auf Wiedersehen and Thank You!

The ISR community was surprised to learn that of Thakur-Weigold family move to Switzerland. Mrs. Thakur-Weigold, in her role as president of ISR Parent Network, played a key role during the past 3 years in supporting the school and in building strong, open communication lines with ISR families and the school administration. Thank you to Mrs. Thakur-Weigold for her tireless effort and commitment to ISR. We wish her and her family happiness and success in their new life in Switzerland.

ISR Participates in Erftlauf

ISR was well represented on the running track at the Erftlauf on Saturday, Nov. 17th. Even our Kindergarteners had an experience of friendly competition with their peers. An enjoyable event for all participants. Above are some impressions of this year’s Neusser Erftlauf. Our runners were very visible in their brand new ISR bibs due to the special effort of Mrs. Feuerlein. As in previous years ISR runners performed very well. Among the many good results were two first places: Viola A. in Grade 4A and Simon C. in Grade 5B. Congratulations to everyone! A big thank you also to Mrs McCullim who volunteered to coordinate on site and to the many parents who came along to support and join in.

Idea Share: ISF SLO Pays a Visit to ISR SLO

On Monday 7th January ISR hosted a visit from the SLOTM Coordinator, the Activities Coordinator, Head and Deputy Head prefects from its sister school in Frankfurt. The purpose of the visit was for Prefects to discuss SLOTM issues that affect both schools, set up communication links and establish a close working relationship between the two school.

The day was a huge success and it is hoped that ISR Prefects will be able to visit ISF in the near future.

ISR Winter Concerts on 13 and 14 December 2007

We held our Winter Concerts on 13 Dec. (KG-G3) and on 14 Dec. (G4-G9). Students performed to a full house on both days. I wish to congratulate the teachers and students on two wonderful shows. Dr. Swartz, Ms. Semar and SLOTM activity leaders prepared their students from KG through Gr. 9. From the youngest KG elf to the senior dance troupe, the variety and standard of the performances were exceptional. Class choirs, jazz and ballet dancers as well as soloists entertained the captive audiences. The PN were on hand to offer refreshments and snacks to students before the shows. Thanks to all those who contributed to and supported the organization of these events!