Grade 11 and 12 Know Your school meeting: Tuesday 24th August 2010

Good Evening and a very warm welcome back to all of you. This is a very important occasion as we
meet in order to help prepare the best possible year for your son or daughter. Our aim tonight is to
help you provide as much help and support as you can and to understand the demands of the IB
programme which your son or daughter will be following. It is a demanding and academic
programme but it is rewarding and will help develop key skills for your son or daughter as they
prepare for university.

There are a number of issues I want to talk about generally before handing over to Mr. Quijano and
Mr. Starr. The first issue is punctuality. Punctuality is a very important attribute. It is impolite to
arrive late to a meeting or to an event where your presence is expected and we view the arrival of
your son or daughter at school in this respect. We need them to be in their tutor rooms at 7 am each
morning so they are ready for the day ahead. We have looked back at our data for last year and we
have seen that some students have developed poor punctuality and we are not prepared to tolerate
this. If your son or daughter arrives late on more than three occasions we will be contacting you as
parents and asking for your help in ensuring that their punctuality improves . Persistent late arrivals
will be suspended from school until we have an assurance that their punctuality will improve. We
are determined to make a big issue of this in order to achieve a significant improvement in this area
– so please can you help by ensuring your morning schedule includes dropping your son or daughter
on time.

The second issue is uniform. Our Grade 11 and 12 students are role models for the rest of the
school. The younger students look up to them and we expect them to provide the right example and
leadership. This means they must be wearing their uniform properly and with pride. No short socks
for girls. Skirts no more than 2 inches above the knee. Boys with their top buttons done up and their
hair cut around their ears and off their collars. Collectively our student body is sometimes judged by
their manners and their appearance and we expect these to be perfect at all times. It is part of being
an ABC student.

In Grade 11 and 12 our students still have Planners and we expect them to use them. This means
that you also need to be looking at them and signing them. Independence is important and our IB
students should be independent but we want to know that you are helping at home to monitor their
work. Please check them and sign accordingly each week. My last request is that you sign up for our
Newsletter which comes out each Monday and should come into your email inbox. You can do so
through the school website.

I have been pleased with the start of the new year and I am looking forward to all it will bring. I
sensed an excitement amongst the students on Thursday and we want to ensure this interest and
enthusiasm is maintained throughout the year. There will be moments of disappointment as well as
joy but overall together we can work to make it a year to remember. A year of progress,
development and success provided we all play our part. The effort which leads to success needs to
be from the students, the teachers and you their parents but most importantly in a manner in which
the students see the school and their parents working together.