Dear VIS Community,

Please be aware that due to the fact that next week will be a short school week (22-24 October), we will not be sending out a weekly newsletter. You will receive the next newsletter from the VIS on 9 November 2018, after the Autumn break. Thank you for your understanding! 

Click on the following links below and get directly to your prefered section:

How to get to the new VIS Intranet? Simply go to the VIS website www.vis.ac.at, then you can see the Intranet icon in the upper right side of the screen. Here you can find a direct link to it. After you click and enter the Intranet, you will be required the registration details. Please use your user name and password from ManageBac. 

Learn to navigate. Please find here a guide that will show you how to navigate easily through this new Intranet platform. For any additional question, feel free to email us at marketing(at)vis.ac.at 

What will you find in the Intranet? Information about the school, general information, contacts, information about the school's curriculum, extra currricular activities, additional services that school is offering and many other needed information. Please find here a map of the structure of the VIS Intranet, for your information. We hope you will find the new Intranet easy to navigate, friendly to use and useful in finding the specific information you will need. 

Parent Teacher Student Conferences

Parent participation in supporting student learning is recognised at VIS as one of the most positively influential indicators of individual learning growth. In each school year, there are plenty of opportunities for parents to get involved in their child’s learning, the most central one perhaps being the Parent Teacher Student Conferences (PTS Conferences). The PTS Conferences provide an opportunity for class and specialist teachers and parents to discuss how students have settled into school, academically, socially  and behaviourally. In addition, parents and teachers discuss goals students should focus on along with a range of strategies that that will support students to successfully achieve them.  In G1-G5, students are encouraged to attend and participate in their own conferences so they have greater ownership over the reflection and goal setting process. The PTS Conferences take place over two half-days concurrently with the Secondary School on the following dates:

Earlier this week you have received an email with the sign up instructions, please note that the system opened on Wednesday, 17 October at 18:00 and close Monday, 5 November at 23:55. Please click here to access the online booking system and find here a useful guide showing you the sign in instructions. Parents sign up for 15-minute conferences with their child’s class teacher and, where available, 10-minute conferences with specialist teachers (German, PE, Art, Music and ELA). Learning Support teachers will attend the meetings with Class Teachers where possible and appropriate. Parents with more than one child in Primary school and/or with children in the Secondary school, will also be able to sign up for conferences with those teachers using the same system. If parents cannot make the conference dates, or find that appointment slots are booked, they are encouraged to contact the teacher they wish to meet with to arrange an alternative time outside the conference dates.

While the school strongly encourages students to attend their own conference, child care will be available in Gyms C, D, and E for:

• Primary students not attending the conference with their parent(s) during booked Primary and Secondary conference times (ELC, GP, and other students who are not attending the conference with their parents), and
• Primary students who attend VIS that are siblings of other VIS students that are attending their booked conference time.  

Parents can drop their child(ren) into Gym C and must pick them up immediately following the completion of the conferences, making sure to sign them out. Child care will be available in Gym C for students who attend VIS that are siblings of other VIS students who are attending conferences. Parents attending the Primary and/or Secondary School conferences can register sibling(s) in Gym C in order to attend conferences with individual children. Parents must pick siblings up from Gym C immediately following the completion of the conferences and make sure to sign them out.

Note: On the day of the Conferences, school closes at 12:45 and school buses leave at 13:13. There will not be any After School Activities, VISMA, Mother Tongue lessons, Dutch School or After School Care on these days.

Reminders

School will be closed to students from Thursday, 25 October and we are looking forward to seeing them back on Monday, 5 November. As it is a short week this week, there will be no updates to the Grade Level/Department websites. We wish everyone a restful and regenerative break!

Primary Grade Websites

The Autumn holiday for students begins on Thursday, 25 October. On that day the teachers will still be in school. We will be working on the refinement of our Digital Literacies Curriculum. This work will be done by grade level teams of teachers and will be led by our newly appointed Chief Digital Integration Officer (CDIO), Ms Ioanna Karrariga. 

School will open again after the Autumn holiday on Monday, 5 November. Please note that during this period, Friday, 26 October and Monday, 1 November are public holidays here in Austria.  

This week you will have received an email regarding the sign-up for our first Grade 6 - 12 Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences of the year, which will be held on 8 and 14 November. Please click here to access the online registration system and click here for the sign in instructions. Conferences will begin from 14:00 on both days. (if you are experiencing difficulties signing up in the Parents Evening system, please click here for further instructions). Please be sure that the presence of students with their parents is expected and valued. The strength of these meetings is in a discussion that includes our students, in which all three parties contribute and everyone hears the same message and agrees on the next steps, to ensure that your child experiences a sense of wellbeing and success at VIS. We strongly encourage you to include a meeting with the Homeroom teacher/ Advisor in your schedule as well, as these are the people in your child’s school life who have the responsibility for monitoring that wellbeing and success.

Grade 10 and 11 parents and students received information this week about a possible trip to Mozambique this summer between 9 August and 26 August. The trip will include the possibility of helping as volunteers at the Marine Research & Whale Shark Conservation Project and engaging in a school project near to Tofo. Last year a group of students participated in a similar trip to Thailand. This is the feedback that we received from one of the parents: ‘I think the World Challenge journey far exceeded her expectations and has had a really quite profound impact on her and the way she is thinking about things now she is back in Vienna’. Tony Burns, a World Challenge Representative will come to school on Monday, 22 October at 18:00 and Tuesday, 23 October at 08:30 to give a presentation in the Aula on the planned trip.

Last night our Beginner and Intermediate Bands, Guitar Ensemble, Jazz Band Advanced Ensemble and String Ensemble, Choirs, the Pitch Blue Band and some of our IBDP vocal students performed at the Autumn Concert. Many congratulations go to them on all the quality of their performances at the first concert of the year. Watching the students perform highlighted for me the fact that this is a domain in which age does not matter. Even as adults we can continue to develop ourselves as musicians. This experience is a significant one in the preparation, not just for the journey through school, but for lifelong learning.

I wish you all a very restful and enjoyable holiday. I think everyone is ready for a well-deserved break.

University Counselling 

by Jeremy Handcock

1. European Universities Consortium Fair

The following universities will be attending: Bocconi University Milan, Jacob University Bremen, Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, IE University Madrid, Modul University Vienna, Vesalius University Brussels (all courses taught in English).

• Date: 24 October, from 13:10-14:15 in the Aula

2. CIS (Council of International Schools) University Fair

The CIS University Fair is a prestigious event with 120 universities from the UK, USA, Canada, The Netherlands, Europe and Asia. It is addressed to students in Grade 10, 11 and 12. Parents are welcome to attend.

• Date: 7 November, 09:00-12:00, in the Gym.

3. St. Andrews University Presentation

Information on St. Andrews academic programmes and  the  special joint programme with The College of William and Mary in Virginia. The presenters are Kyle Blain, responsible for Admissions, and Dr. Dave Evans – the University’s Pro-Dean from the Arts Curriculum. Parents are welcome to attend.

• Date: 8 November, 13:10-14:00, Rooms 123/124.

Performing Arts Autumn Concert 

It has become a tradition to present the results of the first few weeks of work in the music section of the Performing Arts Department in our annual Autumn Concert. 

It truly felt different this time, a wonderful “retro” feeling as, due to the GDPR regulations, telephones and private cameras were banned from the theatre. We extend a big thank you to all the parents who understood and followed the instructions given at the beginning of the concert. It was such a special feeling for the performers, that the audience gave them their full and undivided attention! It was absolutely worth paying attention to our students -  the concert went smoothly, with a variety of contrasting pieces presented by the different groups. The positive collaboration between the youngest students, supported by students in the higher grades created an atmosphere of care and diligence. 

 Closing the concert with “Lamma Bada”, a traditional Andalusian tune from the 9^thcentury, combined a majority of the performing groups that evening.  Our next event in the Performing Arts will be the presentation of the musical “Annie” 5, 6 and 7 December 2018.

VIS Holiday Camps

Great news! We are happy to announce that we will organize holiday camps during all the breaks. We do have a child supervision from 08:00 until 17:00. During the day we will offer various sports and different activities. Here you can find an itinerary, how a day would look like. Please find here all other information. Update: We have still places for the Autumn Camp, please apply soon. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us: sportbox.vis(at)gmail.com

Last Saturday morning around 40 Service & Action students, parents and teachers from VIS met at the Donauinsel to help clean up the local environment. After a couple of hours you can see that a lot of waste was collected. Well done to all involved!

Eco-School News - New look for our Eco Garden

New eco friendlier PE bags available at the PTA shop

Lost Property Display

There will be a lost and found property display for students and children to come and claim their items on Monday, 22 October, Tuesday 23 October, and Wednesday 24 October. The display areas will be:

• PRIMARY SCHOOL: in the mall close to the theatre. Any items not claimed by the end of the day on Wed 24 October will be collected and delivered to charity (Caritas)
• SECONDARY SCHOOL: in the rear of the Mall (Gym Area)

Thank you for those volunteers who organized and sorted today, Friday 19 October.   

Calling All Wine Lovers

Now that we have your attention, the hobby club is looking for wine corks to be used as part of a children's craft for the Winter Market.  If you have any used wine corks that you would normally be throwing away, please drop them off in the box under the Reception desk in the octagon.

French Teacher Needed

Do you speak French or know someone who would like to lead a weekly French conversation club? We have many people who want to learn and practice this language. We need someone willing to teach and lead this group. 

Monthly PTA Meeting (Wednesday, 7 November)

We will start at 8:45am in the Cafeteria. All members of the community are invited and encouraged to attend! Last year a decision was made to alternate the times of the monthly meetings between afternoons and mornings. As the October’s meeting was in the afternoon, November’s meeting will be in the morning. In addition to a variety of topics, we will be discussing plans for the Winter Market. If you can help in any way for the Winter Market, please join! We will also be brainstorming ideas on how PTA can use and allocate 1850 Euros available in a fund for the Mother Tongue programme. Do you have an idea on how PTA can use these funds?  Come share your ideas. All members welcome! 

Culture Club

Please click here to find information about the Culture Club's visit to the "Campus der Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien”. 

PTA Winter market

Please mark your calendars for this year’s VIS Winter Market, which will take place on Thursday, 29 November, from 15:00-18:00 in the Mall/ Octagon. Come and join us to enjoy, a festive atmosphere with music from the Primary choir and Secondary students, crafts to buy, a silent auction of themed baskets, festive food, drink and much more. Parent volunteers welcome - please contact: cjohn(at)vis.ac.at

1. All the gamers amongst you can visit Game City in the center of town (in and around the town hall) this weekend. Click here to read more about it!
2. If the weather holds (forecast for Saturday is dry) you could go for a walk in the beautiful Lainzer Tiergarten. If your kids have a collected chestnuts the past weeks they could bring them there - the wild boar love eating chestnuts. Click here to read more about it!
3. The forecast for Sunday is rainy so a trip to warm waters might be a nice idea. The Therme Wien is easy to get too and fun for young and old. Click here to read more about it! Or try The Sonnentherme! It is just over an hour drive from Vienna and has a lot to offer for children of all ages. Click here to read more about it!

Please find here the Lunch Menus for the two upcoming school weeks!

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In case you change your contact details (adress, telephone numbers or email adresses) please notify the school by email change(at)vis.ac.at so we can centrally update the information accordingly.

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