PAFA Needs You: On Tuesday, September 16, parents gathered in the Library for the first PAFA meeting of the school year. It was a great meeting and the minutes have been posted on the Parents Blog at www.njis.org/parents. Please refer to this site often as it is a great way to stay connected. If you wish to post items on the blog please send them to Trevor Cunningham at tcunningham@njis.or.id. A big thank you goes out to PAFA for donating shirts for LS sports. In addition PAFA has also donated the IISSAC banner that will be displayed at all of our IISSAC tournaments this year as well as other events that NJIS attends in Jakarta. Thank you, PAFA! We still need more parent involvement with PAFA. If you are interested in serving as a Room Parent, or are just interested to know more about PAFA, please come to our next meeting on Monday, October 20 at 8:30 A.M. in the Library.

ISA Testing Coming Soon: On Wednesday, October 15, and Thursday, October 16, NJIS will administer its fifth installment of the International Schools Assessment (ISA) to all students in Grades 3 through 9. The ISA provides an insight into students’ proficiency in the areas of Mathematical Literacy, Reading, Narrative Writing, and Expository Writing. In October 2007 over 21,000 students from 107 international schools in 50 countries participated in the ISA. Please note, the ISA is not a test the students can study or prepare for ahead of time. The best advice for your children to get successful results is to ensure they have plenty of sleep the night before, and they have a good breakfast the morning of the assessments. If they are feeling good and have enough energy, they will have the focus and the concentration they need to do as well as they can within the structure of the testing parameters. A reminder, these tests are an accumulative record of how well your children have learned throughout their academic career leading up to this testing period. It is not a reflection on your children’s current teachers, or their instructional practices. The results from the ISA will be very helpful in mapping the individual progress of your children, especially if they have been with us for three years and have already been administered the tests in an earlier grade. It will allow the administration and faculty to observe the learning trends or patterns that surface from the class results sent to us in school reports. The student and school reports arrive at the school in late January of this school year and we will prepare a presentation for the parents in February. For more information on the ACER organization and its purpose, you can access an ISA overview from their Web site: http://www.acer.edu.au/tests/school/isa/intro.html. If parents have any questions, please do not hesitate to call the Head of School at 450-0683.

Parent Teacher Conferences: This week, letters were sent home informing parents of the upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences on October 15 and 16. Thank you to all of the parents who have already returned their forms. Schedules are being prepared for these two valuable days and parents will be informed of their times in the week following the Idul Fitri Holiday.

School Photos Complete: Thank you to those families that have submitted their orders. Photo packages will be distributed to students after the Idul Fitri holiday.

New Futsal Court a Big Success: The new Futsal Court at the northeast corner of the campus is quickly becoming the most popular place for students to pass the time. This 215 square meter court is perfect for playing soccer or volleyball in a safe and controlled environment. It is a great addition to the school’s facilities and gives the school more options for practice spaces for sports and activities.

Upcoming Events:
Sep 29-Oct 3 Idul Fitri Holiday – No School
Oct 6 Classes Resume
Oct 10 Faculty vs Students Soccer Game
Oct 11 LS/US Track and Field at BIS
Oct 15-16 Parent/Teacher Conferences – 12 Noon
Dismissal
Oct 15-17 ISA Testing
Oct 24-26 IISSAC Soccer Tournament in Salatiga

Important Reminders:
Computer Use and Honor Code Form: Students are reminded to return this form to Ibu Anna in the Admissions Office at their soonest convenience.

As always, we thank you for your continued interest and support of NJIS. You may also see our Newsletter online at http://www.njis.org/. Please visit this Website regularly for updated information relevant to all NJIS community members. If you have any feedback, please feel free to contact our offices.

Mr. Samuel Cook
Head of School