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through our buildings to see the extensive learning made visible in our halls and classes on a daily basis—and we look forward to adding more in both the immediate and long-term future. I hope you can recognize both the development within TISA as well as the continual authentic and meaningful learning throughout our community in these four months and we will see you again in the New Year!

Chris Andre Director

Contents

Director 1 Nursery Update 2-3 TISA Singers 3 Christmas and Occasion Cards 4-5 Cinderella Kids 5 TISA TITANS 6 Baku Sharks 7 Meet the Board 8 New Board Members 8-9 Board Minutes 9

Calendar

January 11 Term 2 Starts 13-19 DP1 Examinations 13-22 DP2 Mock Examinations 15-19 M4-M5 Examinations

15 M1-DP2 Semester 1 and

Quarter 2 ends 18 M1-DP2 Semester 2 and

Quarter 3 begins 19 Planning Afternoon 20 Martyrs' Day 21 MYP Parents' Evening:

Assessment 22 MYP Parents' Coffee

Morning: Assessment 25 Parent Technology Coffee

Morning 27 PTA Board Meeting 28-31 MS Girls basketball team -

trip to Tallinn, Estonia

www.tisa.az

communications@tisa.az

17t h December 2015 2015-2016 I s sue 5

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I would like to wish our entire community happy holidays and a joyful end to 2015!

Reflecting on our school year thus far, I found myself sorting through many positive developments. As I began to comprise a review of the fall term, the events and changes taking place throughout, it became quite a sizable list! I thought I might share it with you below. This is by no means comprehensive—one only need take a walk

Term Reflections and Season’s Greetings

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nurture social, emotional and cognitive skills likewise. For many children it was the first time that they had to wait, share, take their turn, consider other children’s feelings and actions and reflect on their own actions and reactions. For many it was also the first time that they learnt how to eat by themselves, to put on shoes or jackets or to simply sit down in a group and listen. Many children have already made friends, can name all their teachers and classmates and enter the classroom, knowing exactly what to choose and where to play. In many children, we have witnessed an impressive increase of vocabulary and language use, a boost in confidence and social competence and great improvement in their gross- and fine motor skills. Another important aspect of understanding children’s minds and development is to consider their individuality. A child’s development is not linear and does not occur in the same speed in all children. Here in the Nursery, we understand that children need individual support and challenges to develop best. We understand that some children take longer, some children need more emotional support, some children need more individual attention than others. We understand that children learn in different ways and through different means. Not everybody is made to sit down and listen for a longer period, so we give them time to develop these abilities (and give them plenty of time and opportunities to make use of their physical energy!) We also understand that children in the Nursery age group face different emotional challenges. Tantrums and outbursts are fairly normal and learning to be kind and gentle to other children is often a

TISA Times Page 2 of 9 Nursery Update

We Had a Great First Term!

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I would like to use this article to reflect about this first term and talk a little bit about what we actually stand for and what we see as our goal and purpose. The first five months in the Nursery went by very quickly. From the beginning, we have managed to establish a good and respectful rapport with the children and their families. For many, the Nursery is the first step in their school career. Leaving home and the individual care and attention and starting in a place with many other children and unknown adults, can be a quite a challenge for many. Here in the Nursery, we have an open-door policy for parents in the first weeks of their child’s settling-in phase. We understand, that it is often also challenging for parents to let go and accept their child’s new developmental step, so we try to work very closely with the parents in order to support and foster a positive, smooth start for each individual child. In the past, we have found that after the settling-in phase, it is easier for a child to say good-bye to a happy parent in the cubby area and to enter the classroom with a teacher. Some children feel better when their parents enter the classroom for a couple of minutes and then say good-bye inside. Whatever the individual preference, we cater for all needs. We have been very successful in getting the children accustomed to the Nursery so far and we can see our Nursery children blossom and grow every day. So many new routines have been learned, so many songs, so many activities, and so many new impressions. The Nursery is a fantastic opportunity for developing essential skills for later school-life. We

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path full of obstacles. We also understand that being a child means being physical and emotional and we understand that children can be quite rough at times in order to settle arguments. It is then our task to model gentle conflict resolutions and model the use of words instead of physical means. We often use circle times to talk about caring behaviour towards peers and the children are eager to contribute their understanding. On another note, we have started an arts-exchange programme with the TISA primary arts department and we have also started with the

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exhibition of our children’s artwork in the TISA 2 corridor. In a nutshell: the year in the Nursery has many benefits for our smallest members of the TISA community in terms of emotional, social and cognitive growth. Thank you to all our parents who work so closely with us and give us such great support and feedback! Let me wish you all a wonderful winter break, a joyful time with your families and a very Happy New Year!

Livia Gardner-McTaggart TISA Nursery

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Valerie Miller Isabella Pedersen Deniz Gulmez Henrike Sasse Anjali Kasmer Lillian Scarr Uzay Ciftcioglu Elifsu Dortoc Valentina Garcia William Aguilar Jack Wedlake Dylan Younger Gulara Aliyeva Jenny Gilmore Lucy Varoli Leila Penn Christopher Pietrak Ruby Chearnley Elizabeth Allan Grace Edwards Ryan Lang Harriet Norton Yul Jin Park Freya Mean

Charlotte Harvey Liz O’Neil

Primary Performing Arts

TISA Times Page 3 of 9 Nursery & TISA Singers

We Had a Great First Term! ...continued

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Thanks to this dedicated and enthusiastic group of 28 students who sung for their parents in the lunch hall last Wednesday, and then again at the JW Marriott on Sunday 13th. They looked and sounded very professional, and we received glowing praise from many corners. We would like to thank Ms Lala (piano) and Ms Nadia (violin) and Mr Aleksey (sound technician) for helping us to sound our very best. Thank you parents for enabling your children to attend our many extra practices and for getting them to their concerts on time. The students’ hard work and commitment certainly paid off! Ms Liz and Ms Charlotte are very proud of you. Here you are: Sami Chaouch Sebastian Cooper Koko Fukuda Emma Edwards Miah Varoli

The TISA Singers Have Sung!

TISA Student Christmas and Occasion Cards

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The TISA elementary students grouped together and designed Christmas and Occasion cards to sell at the Winter Fair. All the proceeds from the cards will go to a charity. This was done in connection with the TISA PTA charity group. Students were asked to submit a design or picture. The student council representatives voted for the chosen 12 Christmas cards and 6 chosen occasion cards. The following students had their designs copied. Congratulations go to: Christmas Cards Ethan Bell P5E Aida Bayramli P4J Antonio Langlands P7D Alsu Soyleyen P6K Megan Corbally P7J Freya Mean P6L Rebecca Harrisson P7D Gene Kleinman P7D Chris and Abigail Pietrak

P3 and P6

Vivian Lowe P5E Louise Madigan P8D Luca Kleinman P4L

Occasion Cards Madeline Heath P5J Rita Klenkar P5J Carlotta Anne P7D Melissa Stoobants P5A Wendy Ogilvie P8D Valeria Saez P5A

Many thanks go to Anne-Marie Corbally and Tania Langlands for supporting the scheme and all those who bought the cards in support of the students. The student council decided to donate the money towards the ‘Giving Tree’ collection. Following this on Monday 14th December the elementary student council accompanied the PTA

TISA Times Page 4 of 9 Christmas and Occasion Cards

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Charity Group to the homeless center to present the gifts. The students unpacked the cars, took the gifts in and sang to the group. All members were presented with personal gifts and then everyone enjoyed an afternoon snack together. We would like to thank all those parents that support the homeless shelter by their endless meals, (Jane and Donna) visits and kindness, particularly Tania, Nancy, Mette, Anne-Marie and Alexandra for making the trip happen. Our students were truly humbled by the sisters and found it to be an emotional yet rewarding visit. We look forward to many more. Our Visit to the Homeless Shelter On the 14th December 2015, some students from TISA Student Council and TISA helpers went to a homeless shelter for the elderly that have difficulties and disabilities. Some had no limbs and there was one blind lady. We sang ‘Rock’n Robin, Jingle Bells, Snowflake and Feliz Navidad’. Some of us even played on a little toy piano such as Sebastian, Popine and a few others. We had food and drink and some of us gave some food to the elderly people. We gave presents to everyone and some of the people even opened them. We dished out one

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Cards & Cinderella Kids

TISA Student Christmas and Occasion Cards…. continued

5 of 9

Cinderella Kids Casting is Complete

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The actual performance is March 15, 16 17th 2016 Thanks to all who auditioned. By now you will have all received your scripts. Try to learn your lines over the Winter Break. We begin rehearsals January 11th, 2016 as soon as we return! Please check the Call Board daily right beside Miss Charlotte's room for updates on rehearsals and all things Cinderella!

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present to every single person. All the presents had been donated through the Christmas Giving Tree we have at TISA every year. We think that people in TISA have been really generous. Megan and Rihanna gave the lady with no legs a wheelchair, she loved it! But she needs a little bit of time until she gets used to the new wheelchair but she was still happy. When we left one of the sisters gave out presents which had a bible and baby Jesus on it as a thank you present. Many of the elderly looked tired and had bags under their eyes. The sisters tried their best to help them, though. Almira and

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Jack went to deliver the food to some elderly who were too ill to sit down for a meal. Yet the elderly still enjoyed our company and then the sisters decided ‘why not show them the chickens, they might like that’ and so we went to the chickens. We weren’t allowed to touch them and we were told not to go far into the wire-fenced garden where the chickens were. We were all interested and we enjoyed giving out gifts to the people of the homeless shelter. It was an experience that we all enjoyed, and it was a chance for us to understand what others have to go through to survive. We were very happy to have been able to visit this place and know what charities TISA is supporting.

Freya, Megan and Gregor P7J

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Parents helping meeting is Thursday December 10th at 3pm. Mr. Jim led three writers' workshops as well to create more parts for the mice/villagers/royal family. It's going to be a fabulous show! Please contact Miss Charlotte if you can help in any way: you are most welcome!

Charlotte Harvey Liz O’Neil

Primary Performing Arts

Sport

Most Inspirational Player

Most Improved Player Most Valuable Player

Fair play player of the season

MS Girls Volleyball Rosa Terres Katie Drummond Nastassja Kyra McGregor

HS Girls Football Georgia Williams Sophie Hanneman Millie Onslow Maria Carmen Terres Morata

HS Girls Volleyball Annie Lowe Rena Mammadova Maria Carmen Terres Morata Ainsley Felter

MS Boys Football Rory Moore Kian Ladd Sam Norton Eduard (Edik) Smith

HS Boys Football Giacomo Niola Muhammad Alghifary Hugo Colby Alex Cross

MS Girls Football Nastassja Gerlich Katharina Hermann Holly Onslow Emilia Akhundova

MS Boys Volleyball Aahaan Tandon Patrick Caskie Sam Norton

Bruce McDonald

HS Boys Volleyball Jake McMullen Alano Marcano Stefan Papazov Jan Haverkamp

Titans Sports Awards On the 9th of December select athletes from the first season were awarded for their outstanding efforts. Awards given out were Most Inspirational, Most Improved, Most Valuable and Sportsmanship. These were chosen by their coaches relative to the whole season of work. Congratulations to all recipients!

Eric Buczkowski Head of Secondary Physical and

Health Education

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Page 6 of 9

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TISA Titans

TISA Times TISA Times

Page 12 of 13 Bingo Night Photos

Board Report

TISA Times Page 7 of 9 Baku Sharks

Sharks in new waters

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A term of hard swim training was concluded with a great evening of races and silly hats, as Baku Sharks hosted their annual Winter Club Competition on 10th December.

60 swimmers, across grades P6 - M5 demonstrated their swim skills, diving, flipping and sprinting their way through Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle, and for those swimmers competing in the Individual Medley, all of the above! Nearly all swim times (96%) were personal bests, with many swimmers shaving off an impressive amount from their PB’s. A great example of how dedication to training improves your stamina and technique!

The competition was held at the Ramada pool, the 'base camp' for the squad training which takes place under the Baku Sharks swim club. 3 squads - Dolphins, Seals as Sturgeons - train twice weekly, pushing through technical drills and stamina building swims to develop their strokes, get fit, and have fun!

This term has seen an exciting development with a weekly

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training session also being held at Baku's National Aquatic Centre. A legacy of the recent inaugural European Games, the centre is now accessible to public groups, and Baku Sharks have been quick to capitalise on this new facility. The centre is notable for housing a 50m pool, which provides an enhanced challenge to our strongest swimmers. Coach Orxan has also been on hand to step up the pace of these training sessions and we are very pleased with the good attitude and progress shown by our swimmers.

As a club, we continue to look for further opportunities for our swimmers to compete. TISA's recent membership of CEESA opens up the possibility of Sharks travelling to represent TISA in international school swim meets. Using the benchmarks provided by our Winter Club Competition we are also working towards travelling with our largest groups of swimmers yet, to Dubai in April for a school level competition. Watch this space - and don't forget to kick hard, swim fast!

Baku Sharks

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Drinks, and plenty of lively discussion, were in hand at the 'Meet the Board ' social held on 1st December. Hosted by PTA, and compered by TISA Director Chris Andre, the event was a relaxed opportunity open to all parents and staff, to put names to faces, and to find out who does what, and why, on the TISA Board of Governors.

At the heart of the evening was a fun, interactive 'kahoot' quiz, played over mobile phones. Players responded to quick fire questions, designed to myth bust questions around the role of the Board and provide a helpful snapshot of positive aspects of TISA life. The aim was to help draw the distinction between the

Meet the Board

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day to day operation of the school, and the more 'arms length' management and oversight provided by the Board.

Those in attendance were enthusiastic in their feedback, and welcomed the chance to meet, mingle and ask plenty of questions! The overwhelming request was for more events like this one, and so we look forward to hosting future dates, with updates on the Strategic Plan and the vision for TISA's future, and to introduce the new Board Chairman and Finance Officer already now in place.

Louise Scarr PTA President

TISA Times Page 8 of 9 PTA & New Board Members

New Board Members

We are pleased to announce Ewan Drummond as Chairman of the Board of Governors of TISA. Ewan arrived to Azerbaijan from an assignment in the US in January 2014. He holds a position of Vice President Projects, Shah Deniz 2 and he has 2 children at TISA. Ewan brings wealth of experience and great leadership skills to the position. Ewan has been with BP for more than 30 years and has deep experience in project and performance management. His assignments have included projects in the UK, Norway, Indonesia, the US and Azerbaijan.

TISA Times Page 17 of 18 Board Meeting Report

From the PTA…continued

TISA Times Page 9 of 9 New Board Members & Board Minutes

TISA Board of Governors Meeting TISA Conference Room Tuesday 10 November 2015, 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. MINUTES Present: Wilbert Long, Jonathan Davis, Lori Antolinez, Carol Hawkins, Chris Andre, Brigette Henk-Gulatowska, Louise Scarr, Reynold Ajodhasingh Absent: Zainal Abidin Zainudin Minutes: Brigette Henk Gulatowska Next Meeting: December 9, 2015 1. Welcome WL welcomed attendees and called for a review of minutes from last meeting. CA briefly described pending

action taken following meeting with Ian McGregor. WL requested documentation concerning action plan. Minutes accepted. WL referred to ongoing meetings to discuss TISA’s direction, and efforts to ensure that teacher work permits are granted without delay.

2. Matters arising from Director’s Report Financial accounting remains unchanged and the annual audit was successfully

completed. CA shared that enrolment has grown slightly. CA and WL addressed LA’s question regarding the BP travel advisory to Turkey and gave assurances that all safety procedures were properly adhered to and all required permissions were sought and granted before travel. Salary and benefits information has been communicated to staff members.

3. Meet the Board Proposal Discussion centered on the purpose of the “Meet the Board” and need to ensure that it is

inclusive, informative and relevant. LS and CA described the form the evening would take, noted suggestions and agreed to pass on the questions to Board members. The TISA lunch hall will be a back-up venue if necessary. Publicity will take place electronically and in the form of flyers to be handed out at Winter Fair. WL asked about safety of the venue; LS will follow up on the café’s evacuation plan, and IT capabilities.

4. Initial Enrolment and Fee discussion CA used historical enrolment data, broken down into tiers, to justify a more complete way of presenting enrolment trends and fiscal data. Current enrolment projections show a slight drop, with 20-30 students to leave and be replaced by 15 prospective students. School fees will remain unchanged. RA mentioned rumors of devaluation and the influence on the fee structure. CH asked about the capital levy. RA says that it gets pooled and there are no separate line items.

5. Any Other Business Building and grounds committee met to discuss possible projects.

New Board Members

We are pleased to announce Colin Allan a new member of the Board of Governors of TISA. Colin will lead the TISA Finance Committee. Colin arrived in Azerbaijan from the North Sea in September 2014. He holds the position of Area Planning and Commercial Manager, Midstream and he has 3 children at TISA. Colin has been with BP for more than 16 years and has deep experience in commercial and finance matters. He has worked across different geographies including North Sea, North Africa, Trinidad, and Angola. This is Colin’s second time working with the Azerbaijan business – in 2002/3 he was part of the negotiating team which took Shah Deniz Phase 1 to sanction.