Communication

The school has a website, which continues to become more and more interactive. It has developed into the primary method of communication throughout the school and features the most current information about ISZL and its community. We hope that the school website and its portals will become your chief sources of information. On the website, you will always find:

• Calendar information
• News from each campus
• Schedules and results from the various sports teams
• The school directory

Once a new student has been admitted to the school, parents will receive access to the portals of the school website and each parent receives his/her own personal login details. Please log onto the portal once you receive your password to verify your account information and make any necessary changes.

As soon as your child starts classes, each child and parent will receive a personal login for the student and parent portals. On the parent portal you will find the school directory as well as further important information. An overview of the different services on the website will be given to each parent at the beginning of the year.

Reports and notices are communicated electronically via the ISZL Report Card and Student Information Portal. Scheduled conferences between members of the staff and parents take place twice a year. As a parent, you will also be invited to school for special meetings on particular topics and selected informational meetings.

Parents can in turn communicate with the school via e-mail or the Schoology environment. The direct contact information for each staff member appears within the school directory on the parent portal.

The school newsletter, sent regularly via e-mail keeps families apprised of relevant school information and celebrates whole school activities and events. Because so much school information is communicated via e-mail, it is essential that ISZL has current addresses for every family. Should your e-mail address change, please ensure you update your account information on the parent portal of the website and inform the school office.

To better inform parents of the appropriate channels of communication we suggest these protocols for the following situations:

1. If the problem concerns the child and his or her learning at school, a parent and teacher should first try communicating via telephone, e-mail or the Schoology environment. If this proves unsuccessful and does not bring an outcome, a conference should be arranged with the child’s teacher or teachers.
2. Problems that have not been resolved through a conference with a teacher or teachers concerned should be directed to the Assistant Principal, via e-mail, telephone or in a meeting.
3. Problems still not resolved at this point should be directed to the notice of the divisional Principal.

If in doubt about which direction to take or to whom to speak about a situation not represented here, please call or send an e-mail to the office.

The Schoology environment provides a secure, closed environment in which teachers, parents and students can interact and communicate about day-to-day school activities via an easy-to-use social media style interface. All parents and students are provided with their own individual Schoology accounts. Schoology is an international product from a company of the same name. It can be accessed on any web browser and a mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices.

Learning materials, class updates, due dates and more are shared through the Schoology environment. Students and parents can also use the environment to communicate with teachers and vice versa. The Schoology environment is an integral part of learning and communication at ISZL and it is therefore important that all families are connected to and regularly use it.

If parents or students have questions regarding the Schoology environment, they should enquire with their homeroom or subject teacher.

An orientation event for new students and their families is held as the start of each term. This is an opportunity to meet school leaders and to become personally informed about school practices and procedures.

In weeks one and two of the school year, parents are invited by their class teacher to a Back to School Evening. The purpose of the evening is to have an opportunity to informally meet the class teacher and other class parents, to be informed about the class teaching and learning programme and classroom procedures.During the school year there are two more scheduled opportunities to meet your child’s teachers. Outside of these times teachers are more than happy to meet with parents and can be contacted via email.