Dear new families,
I am very happy to welcome you to the AIS community. I was new myself last year so I can empathize with the excitement and nerves of starting at a new school.
We are delighted and honored that you have chosen to enroll your child in the Primary School at AIS. I want to share some key aspects of our Primary School program. Hopefully, the following information will answer some of your burning questions.
I hope you have a fun, relaxing, rejuvenating summer break!
Sincerely,
Camille Du Aime
Head of Primary School
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Early Learning Center:
The 3K and 4K classes are in a purpose built building just across the street from the main campus. Maria Voutos, the Grade level Coordinator and Camille Du Aime, the Head of the Primary School are the administrators for the ELC and Anne Williams is the Administrative Assistant.
ELC Classes start at 8.30 a.m and end at 2.30 p.m.
Morning carpool: 7.40 a.m. to 8.20 a.m. Parents are welcome to park their car and walk their child in and stay with them for a few minutes until they feel settled.
Afternoon carpool: ELC walk-up is from 2:30pm to 2:50pm for students WITHOUT AIS siblings in older grades. For students WITH AIS siblings in older grades, ELC carpool is from 2:40pm until 3:00 pm.
Primary School (main campus):
Lower Primary School: The Lower Primary School (LPS) is led by the LPS Principal Lynda Sarelius and Camille Du Aime the Head of the Primary School. LPS includes students from 5K to Grade 2.
Upper Primary School: The Upper Primary School (UPS) is led by the UPS Principal Alain Poiraud and Camille Du Aime the Head of the Primary School. UPS includes students from Grade 3-5.
Lower and Upper Primary School Classes start at 8.20 a.m. and classes end at 3.00 p.m. Children who arrive between 7:40 and 8:00 will be supervised until the classes are open. During the first couple weeks, parents of 5K students are welcome to walk them in to help them get settled.
Primary School Morning carpool: 7.40 a.m. to 8.10 a.m. at the front entrance of the campus.
Primary School Afternoon carpool: 3.05 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. for PS students with no siblings in the secondary school. For students with older sibling in Secondary school, the pick up is from 3.45 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. If the youngest child is in 5K-Gr. 2 they will be picked up in at the front of the campus. If the youngest child is in Gr. 3-5, they will be picked up at the back parking lot.
Late Arrival: Students arriving to school after 8.20 a.m. must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to the ELC or Primary School office to sign in prior to being taken by the parent or guardian to class.
Half Days: The last Wednesday of most months is a half day, with school ending at 11:30 p.m. for ELC and 11:50 for LPS and UPS. Please refer to the school calendar to see when these half days occur.
KEY PEOPLE IN PRIMARY SCHOOL
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Primary Leadership Team Head of Primary: Camille Du Aime (cduaime@aischool.org) LPS Principal: Lynda Sarelius (lsarelius@aischool.org) UPS Principal: Alain Poiraud (apoiraud@aischool.org) PYP coordinator: Leonie Ley-Mitchell Learning Support Coordinator: Suzi Di Pietro (sdipietro@aischool.org) LPS Counselor: Bev Fetter UPS Counselor: Kat Cagle
Administrative Assistants ELC: Ann Williams (awilliams@aischool.org) Primary office: Julie Audibert (jaudibert@aischool.org) Lin Wong (lwong@aischool.org) |
Grade Level Leaders ELC: Maria Voutos (mvoutos@aischool.org) 5K: Tina Clark (tclark@aischool.org) Gr. 1: Linda Doulkhani (ldoulkhani@aischool.org) Gr. 2: Carmen Baker (cbaker@aischool.org) Gr. 3 Kim Aguirre (kaguirre@aischool.org) Gr. 4: Dianne Potdevin (dpotdevin@aischool.org) Gr. 5 Arndt Hafele (ahafele@aischool.org)
Language Coordinators French: Serge Petitpre (spetitpre@aischool.org) German: Annette Witte (awitte@aischool.org) Spanish: Vanenka Mosqueira (vmosqueira@aischool.org) English: Suzi Di Pietro (sdipietro@aischool.org) |
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION MODEL
In ELC, the children are with the same teacher and assistant in the same classroom, working every day in the target language (German, French or Spanish).
In 5K-Gr. 5 the school is organized into A days and B days. On the A days, your child will be with one teacher and on B days they will be in a different class, with a different teacher learning in a different language. You and your child will get skilled at remembering which day it is and what they need to bring with them. Specialist classes like PE, Music and Art will always fall on the same day (A or B).
School Supplies: Each grade level has posted a list of supplies on the school website. However, don’t worry, nothing is needed for the first day of school.
KEY DATES IN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER
Orientation day for new students in 5K- Grade 12 Mon. August 10th.
ELC will schedule in-take interviews with each family during the first week.
First day of school Tues. August 11th.
ELC students will only have half days until 11:30 during the first week.
Lower Primary Back to School Night Thurs. August 20th.
Back to School Picnic Fri. August 21st
Upper Primary Back to School Night Tues. August 25th