News from the Executive Principal’s Desk

Dear parents, students, teachers and alumni of Sekolah Ciputra,

Last week was a big one, and I want to thank everyone for the time and effort put into all of the events. I want to particularly give a shout out to the University Counselors for the organization of the University Fair and to the OSIS Team, PE Team, Coaches and teachers who helped organize, supervise and run the Sekolah Ciputra Cup over the past 3 days. These were huge events with many moving parts, and they took a lot of time and effort to coordinate effectively.  As with everything we do, there were positives, but also things we need to reflect and learn from to improve going forward. Congratulations to our Senior Girls’ Volleyball Team for their 3rd place finish and our Senior Girls’ Soccer Team for their 2nd place finish in the tournament. I am sorry I missed both events, as they are always highlights of the academic year for me.

While the overall scope of the events this week are not as huge, there are still a number of important things taking place and are important for us to be aware of. First off, we have Diknas (Ministry of Education) coming to do our Early Years Accreditation visit this Monday-Thursday. I know the EY Team has been working hard to prepare for this visit, so now it is time for us to shine and show them why we are the best Early Years School in Surabaya! Bulan Bahasa continues this week, with continued events taking place, such as the High School Book Fair in the HS LRC this week and the Continuum Bulan Bahasa assemblies taking place on Wednesday.

Tuesday we will have the Kidpreneur sales event taking place on the BBC from 9:00-13:00, with set up starting Monday afternoon at 13:00. This is also one of my favorite events of the academic year, and I was telling the participants in my workshop at the EARCOS Conference yesterday about it, as it is a huge part of our school culture, connecting directly with our Ciputra Value of Entrepreneurship. Please keep an eye out for students (both PYP and HS) and parents throughout the event to ensure they make good choices and clean up after themselves.

We are sending a group of students to the THIMUN Singapore Conference this week, so good luck to the students participating and thank you to Ms. Dyah and Ms. Victoria for taking them.  We all know it is a 24 hour a day job when you take students away, and the stress can be even higher when it is an international trip!  Finally, similar to last week’s JISMO Competition, we will host the AMO Competition this Saturday. Thank you to everyone who helps organize and supervise these academic competitions, which add to the wide range of events our students are able to participate and compete in.

As always happens after people return from a conference, there is a lot going around in Ms. Diana’s, Pak Widarso’s, Ms. Gramelia’s and my heads as we try to make connections with what we learned at the EARCOS Leadership Conference to what we do in our school.  While it is NEVER a good idea to go away to a conference and bring back a new initiative for everyone else to try to do (particularly since they weren’t in the session with you, so they probably have no idea what you are talking about, and you might not be explaining it correctly anyways!), I do want to connect this week’s article and videos (English and Indonesian) to the work we are currently doing in planning our next Strategic Plan and one of the sessions I attended on bringing the Strategy back to the Strategic Plan.  As I have spoken about earlier in the year, we need to look at what we can take away, instead of adding more to everyone’s plates. This is one aspect highlighted in the article as it discusses how to more effectively implement initiatives in schools. As always, I welcome any feedback or thoughts on this topic or anything else that comes to mind.

Have a great week!

Dr. Christopher Allen
Executive Principal

Other Articles

News from the Executive Principal’s Desk

Dear parents, students, teachers and alumni of Sekolah Ciputra,

Last week was a big one, and I want to thank everyone for the time and effort put into all of the events. I want to particularly give a shout out to the University Counselors for the organization of the University Fair and to the OSIS Team, PE Team, Coaches and teachers who helped organize, supervise and run the Sekolah Ciputra Cup over the past 3 days. These were huge events with many moving parts, and they took a lot of time and effort to coordinate effectively.  As with everything we do, there were positives, but also things we need to reflect and learn from to improve going forward. Congratulations to our Senior Girls’ Volleyball Team for their 3rd place finish and our Senior Girls’ Soccer Team for their 2nd place finish in the tournament. I am sorry I missed both events, as they are always highlights of the academic year for me.

While the overall scope of the events this week are not as huge, there are still a number of important things taking place and are important for us to be aware of. First off, we have Diknas (Ministry of Education) coming to do our Early Years Accreditation visit this Monday-Thursday. I know the EY Team has been working hard to prepare for this visit, so now it is time for us to shine and show them why we are the best Early Years School in Surabaya! Bulan Bahasa continues this week, with continued events taking place, such as the High School Book Fair in the HS LRC this week and the Continuum Bulan Bahasa assemblies taking place on Wednesday.

Tuesday we will have the Kidpreneur sales event taking place on the BBC from 9:00-13:00, with set up starting Monday afternoon at 13:00. This is also one of my favorite events of the academic year, and I was telling the participants in my workshop at the EARCOS Conference yesterday about it, as it is a huge part of our school culture, connecting directly with our Ciputra Value of Entrepreneurship. Please keep an eye out for students (both PYP and HS) and parents throughout the event to ensure they make good choices and clean up after themselves.

We are sending a group of students to the THIMUN Singapore Conference this week, so good luck to the students participating and thank you to Ms. Dyah and Ms. Victoria for taking them.  We all know it is a 24 hour a day job when you take students away, and the stress can be even higher when it is an international trip!  Finally, similar to last week’s JISMO Competition, we will host the AMO Competition this Saturday. Thank you to everyone who helps organize and supervise these academic competitions, which add to the wide range of events our students are able to participate and compete in.

As always happens after people return from a conference, there is a lot going around in Ms. Diana’s, Pak Widarso’s, Ms. Gramelia’s and my heads as we try to make connections with what we learned at the EARCOS Leadership Conference to what we do in our school.  While it is NEVER a good idea to go away to a conference and bring back a new initiative for everyone else to try to do (particularly since they weren’t in the session with you, so they probably have no idea what you are talking about, and you might not be explaining it correctly anyways!), I do want to connect this week’s article and videos (English and Indonesian) to the work we are currently doing in planning our next Strategic Plan and one of the sessions I attended on bringing the Strategy back to the Strategic Plan.  As I have spoken about earlier in the year, we need to look at what we can take away, instead of adding more to everyone’s plates. This is one aspect highlighted in the article as it discusses how to more effectively implement initiatives in schools. As always, I welcome any feedback or thoughts on this topic or anything else that comes to mind.

Have a great week!

Dr. Christopher Allen
Executive Principal