Pre-Kindergarten

AST Update:  May, 2013

May is a busy month for testing at AST.  The SAT I exam was given on May 5 and will be repeated on June 1.  AP (Advanced Placement) exams will be given over the next two weeks.  Some students are still taking the TOEFL exam for their college applications.

Course selection is about to start for the Upper School.  There will be elective opportunities for tenth to twelfth grades for next year, including five AP courses, PE, Debate and Rhetoric, and  Drama.

Advanced Placement courses:  Advance Placement courses are advanced courses which are designed to emulate entry-level college courses.  Their syllabi are submitted to and approved by the College Board in the US.  The course load is heavier than with regular courses, allowing for more depth and breadth in the subject area.  Exams are given in May for all AP courses; students scoring well (1-5 is the range, with 5 being the highest) are often granted college credit by the universities that they attend, at least in the US.  Scores of 4 or 5 are usually required for credit.   AP results can be used to by-pass the UK Foundation Year requirements in many cases.

Letters have gone out to all families outlining the fee structures for next year and asking for commitments to the 2013-14 academic year.  The school needs this information in order to plan for the coming year.

The renovation for the upper changing rooms is complete, except for the hot water system.  Thanks to Karim Benzakour for seeing that through.

The accreditation process is moving forward.  At this time various people in the school are writing reports on how the school does or does not meet what are called “performance indicators.”  These reports will be collated and submitted by the middle of June and then processed by Middle States over the summer and into the early autumn.  We are hoping for our first visit sometime in October or November.

Souad Belcaid and Nada Beroual will be attending the second out of five workshops given by Erma Anderson, a math teaching expert working with the Office of Overseas Schools of the US State Department.  Ms. Anderson works with new techniques and concepts designed to promote a fuller understanding of math and its concepts, from kindergarten all the way up to calculus.  An anonymous donor is supporting their attendance at this workshop.

Aziz Laroussi’s AP Computer Science class has recently been working with robotics here at AST. 

AST welcomes Mr. Nabil Alami-Hmidane to its teaching staff for next year.  Nabil is currently teaching at the Brooks School in North Andover Massachusetts, where he has worked as a French and History teacher for the past sixteen years.  He is looking forward to returning to his native Morocco and to starting a new career here at AST.  Mr. Alami-Hmidane will serve as the Head of the History Department next year and will teach upper school history classes.

Progress is moving swiftly on the UNE site!  AST and UNE are already discussing UNE teaching interns and the coordination of security, for starters.  The opening date is scheduled for sometime in January, 2014.

AST building projects:  scheduled for the summer are the renovation of the building roof, the resurfacing of the upper court, the installation of the new gym floor and scoreboard, and various drive and drainage repairs.  The school looks forward to the restoration of the Upper School classes for next year!

The 2013-14 School Calendar will be posted to the website this week. 

Swimming is starting!