Thursday 31 May 2018

Minutes May meeting

Minutes of the Parents’ Council meeting of 7 May 2018

  1. Principal’s update
Recruitment of new teachers
Candidate for Grade 3 position has been selected and contract is being finalized.
With regards maternity and paternity cover for Grade 4, the decision has been made to employ a new member
of staff as opposed to bringing in a supply teacher. It is believed the children will benefit from having more
consistency and better contact with a regular replacement. This position is to be offered to one of the
shortlisted Grade 3 candidates.
Contract is being finalized for the MYP Performing Arts teacher (currently 80% but liable to expand)
Additional Norwegian teacher has also been selected.
Mr Robert will inform parents of new appointments and updates will be made on the Staff page.


School Expansion
Mr Robert informed that not a lot of work had been undertaken with regard the school expansion due to other
ongoing activities, however he is in dialogue with Asker Kommune and will be following up in due course.


Grade 9 School Trip
The first overseas trip by a class at AIS went very well and was a very positive experience for the students.
The children behaved well and were a credit to AIS during visits to the camps.


Miscellaneous
Grade 8 students had petitioned Mr Robert via the President of the Student Council, on the topic of allowing
students access to their mobile phones for one breaktime during the week.  The school are conscious of the
detrimental effect mobile devices can have on social interaction etc and are looking at possible alternatives.
Mr Robert and the Parent Council are impressed with the structured approach taken by the students and rather
than be dismissed, an acknowledgement of their maturity would be preferred.
Student performances for the May 17th celebration at the school are ongoing and being assessed.
Mr Robert agreed to look into the possibility of utilizing an online science learning programme created by
those responsible for Mathletics. This has not been assessed yet but is now available worldwide.

  1. PYP Disco Night


PYP disco went extremely well with 143 tickets sold. The newly introduced quiet room was well received by students
and is a great addition. The organizing committee has agreed to draft a resume of what worked and what didn’t for
use by next years organizers.
It was noted that the amount of food has decreased over the years but it was decided that this is not an issue.

  1. Mr Andrew’s Wishlist
Kyle has Mr Andrew’s list which consists of general items for playground use and other more specific items for
Peace Olympics and PE lessons.
On the topic of additional playground recreational items, PC members had concerns on reports of students
being bored during breaktimes and it was felt that there were some restrictions on MYP students not being
able to use the PYP play area. Some parents felt the restrictions on what students were able to do were too
severe and that there was a lack of flexibility by supervising staff. No staff were present in the meeting at the
time to answer comments or queries. Deliveries are sometimes made during breaktimes and children lose
valuable playtime by having to line up. Question: is there the possibility to delay deliveries? Students had also
requested additional seating – perhaps an extra fundraising opportunity?
Added by Annelise 30.5.17: Mr Robert contests the statements made regarding restrictions during break time and will address this on our next meeting.


4. Yearbook
It was commented that the quality of the photographs from Fabricia has been superb and that a gift from the
school/PC to reflect this would be appropriate.
Some parents had complained that they had not received any notification of the school group photographs.
Progress on the Yearbook was good with all major events covered. MYP athletics are too late to be included.
It was confirmed that there were no issues with including pictures of children whose parents had expressed a
wish that photographs containing their child were not to be displayed publicly. The Yearbook is an internal
publication.
Much discussion was had on how best to sell the Yearbook. It was concluded that a fixed number of books
would be printed and information sent out ahead of time advertising the sale. The Yearbook would be available
on June 10th and any copies not sold would be bought by the school.
Kyle would speak with Mr Robert and request the possibility of holding signing sessions where students could
get friends to put messages in their Yearbook. It was agreed this would be popular with the students.


5. PC Topics – May 17th
Challenges were reported on getting a photographer for May 17th parade and the gathering at the school
afterwards. It was agreed that parents would step in to ensure photographs would be available.
Organizing committee confirmed that no additional volunteers would be required on May 16th, but personnel
to run games, hand out prizes and to ensure food and drink were plentiful, were required. The expectation
would also be that all those attending would remain behind to help tidy up.
It was agreed that no PC speech would be necessary at the school, with only speeches from the Principal and
President of the Student Council required.


6. AOB
No parental interest was forthcoming from Grade 7, so the fundraising would be a cake sale to be held 14th
May after school.


Mark Williams

Test walk from Asker train station to the new AIS building and back - with a 9 year old

 Dear parents and caregivers,  Google maps suggests that it takes19 minutes to talk from Asker station to the school. That seemed like a lot...