The Eagle Beat
January, 14, 2022
January
17: Term II Elementary activities begin
20: Martyrs Day: Holiday No School
28: SO assemblies--Concern for Others (Zoom)
February:
8: 9:30am Virtual Parent Coffee on Zoom: What Does a Good Transcript Look Like?
9: PSG Meeting at BIS 9:00am
16: Preschool assembly on Zoom 3:00pm
25: Quintile 3 Status Reports will be sent out
March
4: Parent Teacher Conferences
Ms. Tanya’s PE Class
In physical education, the 5-year-old students started the New Year with Object Manipulation Unit. The students are working on developing their skills of rolling, throwing and catching balls of different kinds and sizes. In PE class, they work individually, with a partner or as a team, demonstrating and improving these essential abilities. One of their favorite exercises is playing with a big ball, also known as “Mr. Double B”. They enjoy rolling and pushing the ball to each other. During a team activity, called Freeze Dodge Ball, the students apply what they’ve learned in a fun and entertaining competition.
Congrats to Ms. Ayten & Family!
Ms. Ayten had her beautiful baby girl, Shams, on January 11, 2022. Congratulations!!
Teacher Transfers
Overseas teachers who work for QSI have the option to transfer to another QSI school after two successful years in one location. Please help me congratulate the following staff members on their new positions.
Jen Caires: Academic Coordinator, QSI Tajikistan
Kate Johnson: Teacher, QSI Haiphong
Sylvia Olinger: Teacher, QSI Kosovo
Tom Nykl: Teacher, QSI Brindisi
We are looking forward to spending the remainder of the school year together and wish them luck as they move on to their new locations this summer.
Congratulations to all!!
Counselor's Corner
First off, if you are sick, taking care of your physical wellbeing is always your first priority. However, if you find yourself stuck at home while being completely healthy, please do not consider this a VACATION; this should be treated as if you are going to SCHOOL.
This means you need to set reasonable times for going to sleep and waking up and then keep this routine throughout your quarantine time. Not only will this help when you come back to school, it will also help you stay organized and keep a proper schedule.
When you get up in the morning it can be very useful to make a quick list of all you need to accomplish that day to keep yourself on task. Make sure you are scheduling out times for learning your class material and doing your assignments. You need to be doing this as early as possible so you can contact teachers and/or classmates for help or clarification. Nothing can makeup for in class instruction, so it’s doubly important you use all the resources available to you to ensure you make progress.
Inclement or Bad Winter Weather Procedures
Should BIS have to close the campus due to inclement or bad weather, the students will have their classes online.
The decision to close the campus due to snow or other weather-related incidents will be made with the consideration of the students' and staff members' health and safety. In Baku, weather-related closures are usually due to road conditions and/or if students and staff can safely get to school. We will follow the procedure below as much as possible.
- Notify the community the night before if there's a pending bad-weather advisory.
- Make the final decision by 7:00am.
- Notify the community via email and Whatsapp messages as soon as possible.
- Teachers will notify their students about online classes and assignments.
If you wake up and there's severe weather outside or the roads look icy and closed, please check your email or Whatsapp before bringing your children to school.
COVID Update
BIS has experienced an increased number of positive COVID cases in our school community this week. Most of the students who tested positive had not been on campus for the days before getting a positive COVID test result. There have been no new quarantines needed this week. We will not be sending out letters detailing every case in the school community, but only those that result in a class quarantine.
According to the local news, the Omicron variant is now present in Azerbaijan. This coronavirus variant is quite contagious. Please notify the school if your child is sick and if they test positive for COVID. We rely on your help with this to keep our school and community safe and healthy. We will continue to be vigilant in our hygiene, school cleaning, social distancing and quarantine practices.
If your child has been vaccinated, please send Sevda a copy of their vaccine card.
Phone Free Lunch
Please be aware that if we see a student on the phone while eating lunch in the cafeteria we will keep the phone in the office for the remainder of the day. If it's a repeated offense we will contact parents to pick up the phone. We would like your help in reminding your Middle and Secondary students to turn off their phones for this time and enjoy communicating the old-fashioned way....talking to their friends out loud!
5-10 year old activities
Event Calendar for February-June
Below is a list of activities that are planned. We hope to add in other events if the pandemic eases and community events are allowed. There will be other events for children throughout the year too.
February
8 Parent Coffee
28 Pink Shirt Day
March
4 Parent-Teacher Conference
8 School Holiday: Intl Women's Day
12 SAT
21-25 Novruz Holiday/Spring Break/No School
28 Term 3 Begins
April: Earth Month
26 Parent Coffee
22 Earth Day: NHS and Environmental Committee
26- May 6 MAP Testing
30 Fine Arts Festival
May
3-4 Ramazan Holiday
7 SAT
9 School Holiday: Victory Day
2-13 AP Testing
12-13 Parent/Teacher Conferences
16-20 Teacher Appreciation Week
26-29 Book Week/Talent Show/Char Day
June
2-3 5yoc-10yoc writing assessment
9 Graduation
14 EOY Awards/Last Day for Students/ Half Day
15 Last Day for Teachers
From the PSG Executive Committee
A Bake Sale will be organized on February 14 for Valentine’s Day. Parents will be asked to kindly donate sweet and savory baked goods for sale. All funds raised will be used for future PSG school projects.
PSG is preparing for the annual event of Fine Arts Festival and is looking for parents to volunteer in joining the FAF committee. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. Please contact us if you are interested!
PSG brought ideas about charity organizations to be considered.
Prior to the winter break, a group of parents organised necessities for children’s orphanages.
We are currently a small group, meeting regularly to discuss charitable organizations that need our help. Please consider volunteering to participate in fundraising, shopping, or event organisation.
Our next meeting will be held on January 20 at 1:30 pm at Stonepay, Royal Park Cellos.
Please click the link below and join our WhatsApp group if you would like further information are interested in making a difference.
+994508087351
Lunch Menu for Jan. 17-21
BIS Important Contacts
School phone number: +994 12 440 66 16
Director of Instruction: Katie Holmquist- katherine-holmquist@baku.qsi.org
Counselor: Michael Lewis- michael-lewis@baku.qsi.org
Business Manager: Parviz Hasanov- parviz-hasanov@baku.qsi.org
Secretary: Gunay Ibrahimli- gunay-ibrahimli@baku.qsi.org
Nurse: Sevda Kerimova- sevda-kerimova@baku.qsi.org
Security/Bus: Hayyam- hayyam-gadjiyev@baku.qsi.org
Lunch: Natavan Hatemi- natavan-hatemi@baku.qsi.org
Parent Support Group (PSG)
How do I stay informed about PSG?
PSG has a WhatsApp group that all parents are welcome to join. This group is used to communicate information as well as gather feedback throughout the year.
Please use the link below or the QR code to join the group.
Want to stay connected with BIS?
BIS WhatsApp Group
This group will be used strictly to communicate general information from BIS to parents. Announcements, updates, reminders, and the weekly newsletter will be sent via this group.
The group is set up as a one-way communication tool, so participants only receive messages but can not respond in the group. This allows BIS to communicate information without the distraction of numerous responses.
To join the BIS WhatsApp group, use the link below or the QR code.
Instagram Nametag
Baku International School
Email: baku@qsi.org
Website: baku.qsi.org
Location: Darnagul Qasabasi Str. Ajami Nakchivani Block 3097 (1.94 mi) Baku, Azerbaijan AZ1108
Phone: +994 12 440 6616
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qsi.baku