Saturday, January 7, 2012

Introducing the HIS Niseko Website
A new and exciting chapter in the long history of Hokkaido International School begins in the first days of 2012. The HIS Niseko School will hold its first classes on January 23rd, and the HIS Niseko website is now online. Click HIS Niseko in the upper right corner of this page to launch the new Niseko website (or click on the HIS Niseko Website graphic above). In the near future HIS will be posting a new home page presenting links to your preferred HIS site—HIS Niseko or HIS Sapporo.

HIS Niseko Open House on January 15th
HIS Niseko will be hosting an OPEN HOUSE at the new school building in Niseko from 1:00 - 5:00 on January 15th. The HIS Niseko school building is located immediately next door to Niseko Elementary School in the middle of Niseko Town. Click Map to HIS Niseko for directions (page opens in a new window/tab).

December 5, 2011

Moments of Reflection
It's been an exciting four months of school and as we stand at the end of the calendar year, it is important to consider the things accomplished in this short period of time.

NEW NISEKO SCHOOL -- First and foremost is the step that HIS has taken through its partnership with Niseko Town to bring an international educational option to the region of Niseko. The area is increasingly home to an extensive foreign and bicultural community and we are excited that the school is scheduled to open this coming January 23, 2012. HIS, Niseko will be hosting an OPEN HOUSE at the new school building in Niseko from 1:00 - 5:00 on January 15th.

The HIS Niseko school building is located immediately next door to Niseko Elementary School in the middle of Niseko Town.

GROWTH IN THE ARTS PROGRAM: SHAKESPEARE -- We appreciate the many from the school and Sapporo community for coming out to support the first Shakespeare Festival. This event tied directly to the school's history and literature and visual art curriculum, which are focused on European studies this school year and drew in the musical expertise of our choir as well. It was a fun-filled and fascinating event that brought Shakespearean theatre and world to life for all involved.

The instrumental music, keyboard and music theory classes that have been incorporated into the music program are raising the skill level of our students and will, over time, prepare them for arts and performance programs around the world.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT -- Teachers have continued to work on the written curriculum of the school. In Language Arts the Reading and Writing is being incorporated into the Language Arts program to better support our students' development in this core part of the curriculum.

In math, teachers have been working together to select standards and benchmarks that will better define our curriculum and provide us with a direction in which to move forward.

WASC ACCREDITATION WORK -- Extensive work has been put into the school's accreditation report. We look forward to the direction we will receive from our WASC Visit in April.

Heading into The New Year
HIS elementary teachers will benefit from training in the International Primary Curriculum with a UK-based trainer who will join teachers immediately after Winter Break. This training will also include the Niseko teachers.

Basketball tournaments will take our basketball stars away to meets in Japan and of course we will be hosting our very own Snow Festival Classic, February 3 - 5.

March 13th is the much anticipated Music Performance at Kitara Hall. Please make sure to schedule this day into your calendar so that you may again experience the thrill of seeing our students perform in the choir.

Hokkaido International School will host the WASC Accreditation Team (the Visiting Committee) in late April of 2012. The team will spend approximately a week reviewing all aspects of the school. HIS has been working hard at its report for the past full year and we believe we are on a good road to better understanding ourselves and our areas of strength and growth. At the end of the Visiting Committee's time with us, the school will receive a report detailing the school, it's areas of strength and its areas of growth. This will help to be a major roadmap for the future improvement of HIS.

Sincerely yours,
Barry Ratzliff / Head of School