Friday Newsletter 10-11-2023

Dear Keystone and Kilittaşı Community,

We are leaving behind a delightful period for all of us. At the beginning of this school year, everything was planned and organized. We conducted system introduction meetings with you as soon as the school opened. We sent our students on trips related to team building and motivation. This year, we accelerated our students' enjoyable work by starting in-school clubs right after the school opened, which we typically launch in October. Additionally, we faced some challenges and unforeseen difficulties together. One of the significant challenges we had to face, even though we didn't want to, was changing the service company, but fortunately, we made substantial progress in this regard together.

Dear Keystone and Kilittaşı Community, challenges are experienced in every segment of society and will continue to be. What defines us is our attitude in the face of these challenges. This attitude also shapes our children's character because you are their most significant role models at home, and we are at school. Doing this within the framework of respect and love is of utmost importance. Regularly, we have lengthy meetings with parents whose opinions we highly value. They share their ideas, contributing significantly to our school's strategic planning. Thanks to constructive criticism and suggestions that we think will take us a step further, we were again reminded of how crucial healthy communication, transparency, and sharing are.

LAST WEEK

ANKARA

Last weekend, our dear students and parents who set out on Friday night had a wonderful day in Ankara on Saturday. They visited Anıtkabir to pay their respects to Atatürk and commemorated him with longing. They also visited the first Turkish Grand National Assembly and many museums. Parents, teachers, and students were extremely pleased with this trip. Our Social Studies teacher, Kağan, shared unknown facts about Atatürk with students and parents. We hope to go on another trip with Keystone and Kilittaşı soon.

PARENT MEETINGS

Last week, we completed our parent meetings with kindergarten and preparatory class parents on Saturday. In addition, we started academic council meetings for this year with Int 5 on Wednesday. We will also complete these council meetings for our other classes throughout the year.

KIDSLAND PARK

Our primary school students completed a challenging Survivor Parkour at Kidsland Park in Polonezköy. They experienced teamwork, problem-solving, and the ability to live in harmony with nature.

KANDİLLİ OBSERVATORY VISIT

Our 4th-grade students visited Kandilli Observatory, where they learned how seismology and earthquake predictions are made, how meteorology works, and how weather forecasts are created. They also received valuable information on how the sky is observed with telescopes.

ROUND SQUARE ORGANIZATION

The Roundsquare Team organized a Bake Sale for Breast Cancer Awareness. They also gave presentations to middle and high school students, emphasizing the importance of the topic. Students and teachers supported the day's significance by wearing pink. The money collected at the Bake Sale will be donated to a cancer foundation. We thank our students. Even our youngest students from the kindergarten contributed to the Bake Sale.

Canada Trip

We have started collecting the required documents from all students interested in taking part in our annual trip to Canada for our high school students. The trip provides a unique and remarkable experience for our students who want to immerse themselves in Canadian culture. If you are interested in having your child take part in this trip, please send us a confirmation email no later than the end of next week. The trip will be from April 6 to 20.

Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT)

Our Grade 11 and 12 students completed their OSSLT exams this week. The exam measures their proficiency in English and is a graduation requirement for only our Grade 11 and 12 students who will be receiving the Ontario diploma.

Midterm Grades for KIS and KIT

As our first quarter of the academic year ends, our teachers have shared information with all students about their academic standing. Primary school teachers have messaged our parents progress reports on K12 Net. For Keystone, Grade 4 to Grade 10 students' grades have been uploaded to K12 Net. For Kilittaşı, Grade 5 to Grade 7 students' grades have been uploaded to K12 Net. Grade 11 and 12 students will find their midterm grades listed on Canvas. By sharing updates on every student's academic progress, we hope to encourage students to set goals for themselves and identify areas of improvement.

Atatürk Commemoration Ceremony

November 10th is a day when Turks experience a mix of emotions. A day where sorrow and pride converge, and respect embraces longing. At 09:05 today, with the sound of sirens, we tried not to mourn but to understand and comprehend our founding leader. We spoke of him as one of us, acknowledging that we follow in his footsteps. As women, we again expressed gratitude for the privileges he granted us.

As teachers and students of Kilittaşı schools, we pledged to safeguard the values he instilled in these lands perpetually. We remember Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with respect, love, and longing.

NEXT WEEK We will enter a one-week break starting November 10th at 15:30, and our students will return to school on November 20th. Our students have just come out of a busy midterm exam, so we will not assign homework during this break. However, we recommend that they read plenty of books and wish them a wonderful break.