Secondary Principal’s Blog

February 26 2021, Update

Christina Powers, Secondary School Principal

Thank you to all the parents and students who attended the virtual Town Halls and Coffees this week.  It was great to be able to reach out to our community and address your questions or concerns. As always you do not have to wait for a town hall, if you have questions do not hesitate to ask.

Town Hall on Thursday at 1:30: Having a voice when in an environment with constraints. 

 During Town Hall students will have the opportunity to listen to two recent college graduates speak about their experiences as filmmakers and how they use video and technology to promote understanding while protecting and defending human rights. Students will hear how they strive to communicate a message while being mindful of social and legal constraints.

Transition Days for next week:  Please remember that Transition days are optional

  • Monday: Grades 11 & 12 IB Students (Day 1)
  • Tuesday: Grades 9 & 10 (Day 2)
  • Wednesday: Grade 6
  • Thursday: Grade 8
  • Friday: Grade 7

Spirit Week is next week March 1-5, 2021. Students are encouraged to dress with the following themes in mind. It is just a fun way to add some spirit to our week. 

  • Monday: Pajama Day
  • Tuesday: Background Day
  • Wednesday: Dress up like a teacher Day
  • Thursday: Hoodie Day
  • Friday: School color Day
 Permanent Loss of access to Google
We have done some planning for the unlikely event that there is a country-wide permanent loss of access to Google tools.  In that event, everyone should log in to PowerSchool and look for the menu item on the left side of the screen called ‘Office 365 Credentials’.  Here you will see a single user name and password for both email and for documents. The email has already been set up such that all school email from now on is being forwarded to the alternative email platform.  The documents platform is the place where teachers would upload documents for students.  There is no need to log in to Office 365 before losing access to Google.  It is advisable, however, to login to PowerSchool just to make sure you know your login and password.  If anyone needs help with logging in you can review this simple guide to resetting your password and if that doesn’t help you can contact the PowerSchool Help team at powerschool@isyedu.org.
Temporary loss of the Internet
Although we have yet to lose complete access to the internet during the school day, we do have a plan for this happening.  In that event, students not involved in a transition day will work from home on pre-arranged work that they have downloaded already.  Elementary School teachers have sent a download to parents today and Secondary School parents and students will be getting their downloads on Monday.  Secondary students and Upper Elementary students will go through the download process with their teachers in class.  It is important that this work is downloaded as soon as it is received so no use of the internet will be required to access the instructions.  These downloads will be updated from time to time in line with the progress of students through their various studies.