Vienna International School Newsletter - 18 August
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Dear VIS families,
I would like to warmly welcome you to the 2023-24 school year at VIS! Our teachers and staff have been working hard to prepare the school for an exciting and productive year and we are looking forward to welcoming your children on the first day of school on 23 August (and the new students on the 22nd, for their orientation).
I look forward to communicating with you on a regular basis throughout the school year. I believe that clear and consistent communication with the VIS community is essential and will continue to do that through the weekly newsletter and in monthly Meet with the Director meetings to inform and update you on school issues and to respond to your questions. As we have done this past school year, the monthly Meet with the Director meetings will be broadcast and video recording of all meetings will be available for parents who are not able to join the live meetings. Podcasts and videos on specific topics of interest to the community will also be made available, and we will conduct surveys to elicit feedback from our families.
You will of course also be receiving extensive communications from your children’s teachers and from the principals related to specific activities in your child’s class, grade and section. I encourage you to contact your child’s teacher and/or principal with any issues, concerns or questions regarding your child’s education at VIS and feel free to contact me directly with any broader questions or issues.
I look forward to meeting many of you as we begin this new school year and thank you for your confidence in entrusting your children’s education to the outstanding staff at VIS.
Kind regards,
John Zuman
Director
At the time of writing this, we are pleased to be welcoming 124 new students into the Primary School in August and are pleased to welcome them on Tuesday 22 August for New Student Orientation Day. New families have been sent details about the orientation day from the Admissions Team which is also available on the Now What page.
New Primary School families will arrive to school according to the staggered starting times listed below:
- Early Learning Centre (08:30)
- Grade Primary (09:00)
- Grade 1 (09:30)
- Grade 2 (10:00)
- Grade 3 (10:30)
- Grade 4 (11:00)
- Grade 5 (11:30)
Please proceed down the Mall and follow the signs towards your child's grade level table and check in with one of our New Student Ambassadors seated at the marked tables. Our Ambassador team and staff will be on hand to help guide you to classes where you will meet the classroom teacher, ELA teachers, counselors and Learning Support staff. Afterwards, they will take you on a tour of the school. The orientation should last approximately 75 minutes.
Our Primary Student Council has also helped prepare a guide for new students about things they enjoy doing in and around Vienna. Be sure to check it out here.
Grade 4 and 5 Student Laptops
New Grade 4 and 5 students are asked NOT to bring their laptop to school on the New Student Orientation day. All grade 4 students bring laptops to school on Monday 04 September, not before. This time allows the class teachers and digital learning integrator to complete a series of lessons on Internet safety guidelines, strong passwords lesson, Gmail use guidelines and more.
Grade 5 students should bring laptops on the first day of school Wednesday 23 August. Students should also bring clearly named headphones, rather than ear pods (which can be easily lost and usually use Bluetooth).
New Families Meet Primary Principals
New families are also welcome to attend meetings with the Primary School Principal and Deputy Principal in the first few weeks of school. These meetings are a chance to meet the Primary Leadership Team and to ask any questions and address any needs from transition to the Primary School. Further details to follow, but please note the dates below for your diary:
- Friday, 1 September (08:30-9:30) - ELC to Grade 1 families
- Friday, 8 September (08:30-9:30) - Grade 2 to Grade 5 families
Safe Route to School
The traffic situation around VIS continues to be impacted by the major construction project across the street, with limited automobile access on Strasse der Menschenrechte. It is strongly suggested that students arrive to school by public transit or use the available Blagus bus service in order to limit the traffic congestion in front of the school.
Students arriving to Kagran station on public transit are now able to walk through the new building to get to school. Students walking through the new building must use the zebra crossing in front of the VIS main entrance.
Students can also walk along either side of Siebeckstrasse and cross the street at the traffic light. Please emphasize to your children that for safety reasons they are only allowed to cross Strasse der Menschenrechte using the zebra crossing in front of the school or at the traffic light at Siebeckstrasse.
The access routes from Kagran to the school are illustrated in the below graphic.
If you do need to come to school by car, please consider using the garage at Westfield Mall at Kagran and walk from there. There will be very limited space in front of the school for drop-off and short-term parking. The traffic from Siebeckstrasse has been reduced to one lane. Due to the construction project there is currently no parking on the construction side of Strasse der Menschenrechte.
This situation will evolve over time as the construction project nears completion, but please be aware of the current situation in order to avoid frustration and ensure our students’ safety and their prompt arrival to school. We greatly appreciate your patience and collaboration as we work to minimize the impact of the construction project on our school operation.
We strive to provide you with relevant and timely information and ask that you check these main sources of updated information regularly:
- School Calendar: While you will receive an overview of some of the important dates for key events in the newsletter, the School Google Calendar on the intranet lists events, trips, and deadlines throughout the year. It is updated regularly so please be sure to check in on it throughout the year. Please find here the link to the Google calendar*, as well as the school annual calendar.
- ManageBac*: We continue to use ManageBac to share learning information, general grade level and single-subject updates, and announcements with parents. Information about current units of study and other grade level information will be shared through the Parent Communications tab once a week. Please make sure your notification settings in ManageBac have been enabled so that you receive these updates. You may also wish to download the ManageBac app for iOS and Android devices. Individual student learning will be shared through the new portfolio feature in ManageBac.
- School Intranet* for information regarding the school governance, curriculum, extra-curriculars and other school services. How to access the VIS Intranet? Simply go to the VIS website www.vis.ac.at and you can find the Intranet icon in the upper right side of the screen. Here you can find a direct link to it. To register in the Intranet, please use the same credentials (username and password) which you are using to access Managebac. However, please be adviced that the two platforms are independent from each other, so once you reset your pasword in one, the change will not automatically reflect in the second.
- Weekly Parent Newsletter: You will receive school-wide information every Friday afternoon delivered to your email.
- Seesaw Portfolios (Primary School only): The Primary School continues to use Seesaw digital portfolios to provide a window into your child’s learning in class. We will be sending the annual consent form for Seesaw during the first week of school and we ask you to return it as soon as possible so that we can set up your child’s portfolio right away.
- Student Reports and Conferences: VIS shares formal reports on your child’s progress and attainment twice a year (January Progress Report and the June End of Year report). We also offer opportunities for one-on-one and student-led conferences twice a year. Further details to come about this year’s conferences in the next newsletter. Of course, we are also available to answer any questions you may have, so please see your Class Teachers, Grade Leaders and all of us in the Primary and Secondary Offices (open 07:45 – 16.30) if you need help.
- Curriculum Information Workshops: To raise awareness about learning and well-being programmes in the Primary and Secondary School, we invite parents to attend our many Curriculum Information Sessions throughout the year. A list of sessions and dates will be published in the newsletter in advance
*Please note that the ManageBac and Intranet will be enabled for access starting Tuesday, 22 August, 17:00.
New parents will receive an automatic email from ManageBac and will be asked to confim their logins in 24 hours* from receiving the email. As soon as the new parents will confirm their logins (username and password), they will be able to access the platform and check out to see their children' schedule and other learning related details. Please find here a tutorial of ManageBac use for your information. If you experience difficulty logging in, please try using the ‘Forgot My Password’ feature to reset it. (on Orientation Day, the class lists will also be posted on boards at the entry to school. Please do not take photos and share this with others, for data protection reasons.)
Dear VIS Community! We want to provide you with important information from the Finance Office:
- The currently applicable VIS Fees, Terms, and Conditions 2023-2024 can be found under the Admissions Section of the School’s website
- Invoices for school fees will be sent for each new school year by 30 June for students who are enrolled by that time
- Tuition Payments are due in full by 30 August, 2023 (4 weeks from invoice date)
- You may request an installment payment plan to the VIS Finance Manager at: financeoffice(at)vis.ac.at
- Per VIS Terms and Conditions, a Direct Debit Authorization or a Standing Payment Order with your bank is a pre-requisite to be eligible for an Installment Plan.
- An authorized Standing Order or Direct Debit Authorization is due to be submitted to the VIS Finance Manager at financeoffice(at)vis.ac.at by August 15 (within 14 days of the Tuition Invoice Date). Please find HERE a copy of the Direct Debit Form.
- Installment Plan Requests without a Direct Debit Authorization or Standing Order will not be approved.
- Installment payments are due on the Installment Dates (30 August, 30 October, 30 January, and 30 March for all students except graduating 12th graders with final installment due on 30 January )
- If you have any questions or concerns regarding invoices or payments, please reach out to us at: financeoffice(at)vis.ac.at
We look forward to supporting you throughout your child's educational journey. If you need any further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us at: financeoffice(at)vis.ac.at
As the new school year starts, we are doing our best to enhance the disability-friendliness of the weekly newsletter, for our members to receive the communications in an easy-to-read fomat. In order to have a better and legible format of the newsletter within only a few clicks, the existing Internet browsers can adjust their settings to read any communication in a larger screen or font.
To access it, please follow the steps below for the examples using Chrome :
- On your computer, open Chrome .
- At the top right, click More Settings.
- At the bottom of the Settings page, click Accessibility.
Please see the links below for some recommended Chrome features :
Use TalkBack to browse the web with Chrome
Get image descriptions on Chrome
Chrome low-vision features help
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Change text, image, and video sizes (zoom)
High-contrast Chrome extension
Use Chrome with accessibility extensions
Message from the Principals
Dear Primary School Families,
As the Primary School Principals, we welcome you to the 2023-2024 school year and hope you’ve all enjoyed a pleasant summer holiday! We look forward to seeing our new students on Orientation Day, Tuesday, 22 August (information below), and then all students for the first day of school on Wednesday, 23 August.
To help you prepare for a smooth transition into the school year, please read the information below carefully. We publish a parent newsletter every Friday which provides a summary of important information, events, and answers to questions you may have. You will also receive a weekly newsletter from the grade level teams that shares specific learning information from your child’s grade.
Finally, we look forward to welcoming parents onsite throughout the year to take part in celebrations of learning and workshops that raise awareness about our programme and ways you can support your child’s learning. These are just some of the ways we will work to foster a strong and supportive home-school partnership this year.
Wishing you all a pleasant weekend in preparation for the new school year.
Chad Wood, MEd, PhD - Primary School Principal, cwood(at)vis.ac.at
Ben Hacking - Primary School Deputy Principal, bhacking(at)vis.ac.at
The first official day of school is on Wednesday, 23 August. See information below on the ELC staggered starting dates.
We ask that your child arrive in the Lower Primary School Playground (ELC to G1) or Upper Primary School Playground (G2-5) between 08:00 and 08:25. In the event of rain, students will proceed to the following locations:
- ELC - ELC → Aula
- GP - G3 → Dining room
- G4 - G5 → Dome
Your child’s class teacher will meet them in the playgrounds and have a sign indicating their class code. They will line up with their class teacher. We will welcome them back and briefly review arrival and breaktime procedures before going inside
All students will be dismissed at 14:55. Students in ELC to Grade 2 will be led by their teachers to designated pick-up zones so that they may be released to a parent or authorized caregiver. Please be sure to complete and return the ELC-G2 Pick-Up form that will be sent home with your child next week if you authorize someone other than yourself to pick up your child.
Students in grades 3-5 may be picked up by the main gate or go home on their own.
Those students who are being picked up by a sibling in Secondary School, taking the school bus, attending the Extended Day Programme, or waiting for a late parent/caregiver pick-up, will be brought to the Dining Room where they can be temporarily supervised.
See Arrival and Dismissal Information below for maps and information table to assist.
On Tuesday 5 September (17:00 to 18:30) we would like to invite parents onsite to a Class Community Evening. The purpose of this event is for parents to meet their child/ren’s teacher so that an overview of the year can be shared. This event also provides an opportunity for parents to meet other parents within the same class and establish relationships moving forward. Further information to be published in next week’s newsletter.
Important Forms
On the first day of school, we will be sending home a couple of important forms which we request are returned as soon as possible - preferably by Friday, 27 August.
- Seesaw Consent Form: allows us to create your child’s portfolio for the year and get you connected to view and comment on your child’s portfolio contributions.
- Pick-Up form ELC- G2: authorises other caregivers to pick up your child(ren) from dismissal.
To register for bus and catering services, please click here. If you require a new student ID card (Grades 1-5 students only), please click here for the form, print, attach a passport-sized photograph and send to the Primary Office with your child. Information about the public transportation system in Vienna including the reduced fare ticket is available here.
Forms for the Mother Tongue Programme, After School Activities, and VISMA will come in the forthcoming weeks.
Attendance Policy
Regular attendance and punctuality are known to be factors for success in learning and play an important role in student achievement and well-being. As such, we ask all families to start the year off right by building routines at home that allow their child(ren) to get to school regularly and on time - no later than 08:30.
Providing a reason for absence: It is the responsibility of parents and caregivers to support students in attending school regularly and punctually and to communicate reasons for absence on ManageBac. The School monitors attendance and punctuality and asks all parents to provide information related to absence according to the following guidelines:
- Attendance excusals should be submitted using ManageBac before 08:30.
- When submitting an excusal, please select the number of days of absence. For absences less than one day, select the ‘1 day’ option and use the comment section to explain.
- It is not necessary to provide full details of the reason; a brief summary is sufficient (e.g. “Jane will be absent for health reasons”)
- The School cannot accept emails to teachers or emails or phone calls to the Primary Office as not all staff can access needed information to ensure student safety (ex. the teacher is away and the substitute does not receive the information).
Arriving late to school: If a student arrives late to school (after 8:30), he/she needs to sign his/her name and class on the list outside the Primary Office. Information from this list is then transferred to ManageBac.
Requesting time away from school: Although we recognise an occasional need to be away from school as a family, we ask that family events are scheduled in school holidays where possible. Where this is not possible, we ask that you note the following procedures for early leave and requests for absence.
Early leave throughout the day should be noted in the ManageBac message for that day no later than 08:30. Please come to the Primary Office to pick up your child and sign out. You will receive a dismissal slip to give to security upon exiting the building.
In cases of planned absence during school time, we ask that you speak to us via email or in person. To request an absence for:
- One school day, please contact the classroom teacher.
- Up to and including 5 school days, please contact the Primary School Deputy Principal.
- More than 5 school days, please contact the Primary School Principal.
* Please note that access to ManageBac and Intranet will be enabled starting Tuesday, 22 August, at 17:00.
Update Medical and Contact Information
As we begin a new school year, please make sure you have critical information updated in our records. For updates to medical information such as allergies, dietary restrictions, medical conditions etc, please contact the VIS Medical Team (medicaldepartment(at)vis.ac.at) to arrange an appointment. Likewise, if you have changed phone numbers, addresses, email, please email these changes to change(at)vis.ac.at and we will update our database and connected systems.
Primary Library - Summer Loans and Start of Classes
The Primary Library looks forward to opening its doors again when we return from the summer break. Students can bring their summer loans back on the first few days of school. Bins will be located outside the Primary Library. The Library will need time to process these and return them to the shelves. The Library will reopen for circulation and classes the week of 28 August.
Show your Panther Pride! Respect for Self/Others/Environment
The beginning of the year is about building safe and positive community, establishing and cementing routines, and developing a shared sense of responsibility for demonstrating expected behaviours.
In doing so, we will be having a strong focus on expectations for behaviour and conduct across school settings, as represented by demonstrating our “Panther Pride”. As you and your child prepare to come back to school, please have a reflective conversation together about what it means to demonstrate their pride in the VIS community when they respect themselves, others and the environment in different contexts. Here is a link to the Code of Conduct to review with your child.
We have also developed this expected behaviour matrix which shows what the code of conduct looks like in different settings across the school so that all students are clear about what the expected behaviours are.
We will also be taking time over these first few weeks to discuss and model what it looks like, sounds like and feels like when we demonstrate our “Panther Pride” and will continually share this with you as we work together to further strengthen our vibrant, diverse and caring learning community.
Message from the Principals
Dear Secondary Community,
We hope that everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable summer vacation.
We are excited to welcome Jessica Heyman, the new Deputy Principal, who joined the Secondary leadership team this year. You can contact her at jheyman(at)vis.ac.at. We also are excited to have several new teachers and an additional counsellor.
As the new school year begins these are some important dates for your agenda:
- August 22 - New Student orientation
- August 23 - First Day of School
- August 23 – MYP Programme Introduction for Grade 6s - 17:30 - 18:30 (Secondary Aula)
- August 23 – Back to School night - Grade 6 - 18:15 - 19:00 (Secondary Aula)
- August 28 - Back to School night - Grade 7 - 17:30 - 18:15 (Secondary Aula)
- August 28 - Back to School night - Grade 8 - 18:15 - 19:00 (Secondary Aula)
- August 29 - Back to School night - Grade 9 - 17:30 - 18:15 (Secondary Aula)
- August 29 - Back to School night - Grade 10 - 18:15 - 19:00 (Secondary Aula)
- August 30 - Back to School night - Grade 11 - 17:30 - 18:15 (Secondary Aula)
- August 30 - Back to School night - Grade 12 - 18:15 - 19:00 (Secondary Aula)
- September 5 - MYP Programme Overview - 17:15 – 18:00 (Secondary Aula)
- September 5 - DP (Diploma Programme) overview 18:00 – 18:45 (Secondary Aula)
- September 11th -15th - Activity Week
Have a great year!
Marc Starr - Secondary School Principal - mstarr(at)vis.ac.at
Eileen Rueth - Secondary School Deputy Principal - jrueth(at)vis.ac.at
Jessica Heyman - Secondary School Deputy Principal - jheyman(at)vis.ac.at
ManageBac goes live again for parents and students on Tuesday, 22 August. Please be aware that we are still in the process of assigning new students to classes and so student timetables may be incomplete or there may be last-minute changes to timetables. If there are any questions regarding timetables, your child should talk to their Advisory teacher on Wednesday, the first day of school. Please remember that if any of your contact details have changed over the summer please write change(at)vis.ac.at to update your contact details.
We hope you enjoy your last week of the holidays. We look forward to seeing all the students on Wednesday, 23 August.
Welcome to an ECO School Year
Dear VIS Community,
Welcome to our school year 2023-2024. We hope you had a restful and happy summer holiday!
We would like to invite our community, students, and parents, to participate in our Eco activities, projects, and campaigns through the year.
We are focusing this year on the Eco School Theme about Waste, further integrating the SDGs and continue working on our other Eco School Themes (https://www.ecoschools.global/themes).
Through our weekly ECO Newsletter section, we will be announcing our activities, action days and other Eco related issues. You are invited to join our efforts any time. Please contact us at ecoschool(at)vis.ac.at.
We are very grateful to our VIS administration and leadership for their ongoing efforts towards our Sustainability Agenda.
Over the Summer many changes had been made, and we proudly have increased our bike-scooter parking area at the school entrance. We hope to motivate our community to increase the use of public transportation, biking or walking to school to reduce our Carbon footprint.
Let’s continue our active journey together to achieve a sustainable future on our planet!
The Eco Team
Extra-Curricular Programme Welcome
Welcome back, VIS community, we are excited to be welcoming you all back onsite next week.
Here at VIS we strive to offer our students a unique learning experience that goes across and beyond the curriculum. We believe that the learning takes place in the classroom but also outside it. Considering our mission, to support our students to succeed by reaching their individual potential, we have developed the VIS Extra-Curricular programmes that combine a great range of activities, designed to help our students become all rounded individuals, with defined passions and highly developed skills.
We hope you will be considering the programmes that VIS has to offer and sign your child up for one or more of them: After School Activities (ASA), Competitive Sports, Performing Arts Programme, VISMA (instrumental programme) and Extended Day Care.
We are currently finalising the details, and will soon share a detailed schedule of the programmes available, how you can register your child etc. Please note that we will also be available to meet with all new students and parents this Tuesday, 22 August, so please pop over for chat should you have a query.
| Lunch Service | Transportation Service |
Please find HERE the lunch service details for your information and action. If any questions, please contact: andrew.warren(at)eurest.at. | Please find HERE the transportation service details for your information and action. Please contact vis(at)blaguss.com for further questions. |
Welcome and Save the Date!
Dear VIS families, welcome back to the new school year! Please join us at the PTA Newcomers Welcome Coffee Morning on Wednesday, 30 August at 08:30 in the VIS Dining Room. All parents/guardians are welcome to attend! Also, save the date for the first PTA meeting which is going to be on Wednesday, 6 September in Secondary AULA (all parents/guardians are welcome to attend) and the PTA Welcome Picnic on Saturday, 2 September, 14:00-17:00 (Rain Date: Saturday, 9 September 2023)! PTA Welcome Picnic is A VIS community event for students, parents/guardians, teachers, staff and their families.
We look forward to catching up with the returning families and meeting the new families. Let's have an exciting year ahead!
Best,
The PTA Team
Are you looking to connect with other VIS families who can answer your questions, help point you in the right direction and get your family acquainted with the community?
The PTA New Family Welcome Programme can help! We can set you up with an established family who will help guide you towards a successful and positive experience in our welcoming and diverse community.
Simply click the link below to complete the Request Form and we will come back to you shortly.
https://forms.gle/kVTZgFP9ZXRQRSTF7
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