Chapter 18: Secondary School Organisation

The Secondary School Leadership Team (SecLT) currently consists of the following people:

*Please see Chapter 2.2 for details of the Secondary Organogram.

At ISH, student participation in school development and organisation is considered to be very important. Students can influence the development and organisation of the school through the following channels:

• Student Council (a small group of the Student Council are also members of the MR and therefore have certain voting and advisory rights on key decisions concerning policy and the strategic direction of the school).
• Evaluations conducted within their year groups.
• Class representatives.
• Interviews with mentors and discussion during their mentor hour.

In the Service as Action (IBMYP), Creativity, Activity and Service (IBDP) and Service Learning (IBCP) programmes, Secondary School students contribute further to the community.

The ISH Student Council's main concern is to make sure that the needs of the students at ISH are being heard and addressed. To accomplish this, the Student Council meets with students on a regular basis to find out about any information or concern that they may have.

The Student Council then presents the views of the students to School Leadership in regular meetings with the Vice Principal. Three key members of the Student Council represent the student body in the MR meetings. One key member of the Student Council can be present at the GMR meetings. For details on the Student Council, please refer to www.ishthehague.nl. (Also see section 23 for further details on the Student Council).

Parents play an important role in achieving the mission and vision in the school and provide an important contribution to the cultural fabric of our school. Parents regularly attend school functions and are very keen to be a part of projects happening within the school. Refer to Chapter 8 for more information about the various Parents Association groups.

Below is an outline of how the day looks for secondary students and staff in general.

Every Wednesday school closes at 14:05 for students. After this time staff take part in collaborative work and professional development.

All students are expected to be in school 15 minutes before the start of their first lesson in order to have enough time to collect things from their lockers and to be at their classroom ready for the start of their lesson.

Students who arrive after the bell for their first lesson has sounded should go straight to their classroom. The subject teacher will then mark them late in iSAMS.

To allow for clear transitions between lessons all teachers keep students in their classrooms until the end of the lesson time. This means that teachers receiving students after a lesson must allow for some transfer time. Any student without an appropriate reason for the delay who arrives more than 5 minutes into the lesson will be registered as ‘late’. For lessons period 1 or after a break students are expected to arrive at the classroom right at the start of the lesson.

For security reasons, students should not arrive at school earlier than 08:00. Students should leave school after their last lesson or at latest 17:00 unless they are waiting for an extracurricular club, or a sibling. Students who remain in school outside of regular school hours must remain on the plaza unless taking part in a supervised activity.

Parents/guardians will be informed via an iSAMS notification that their child arrived unexcused late in class. School is expected to follow up on late arrivals with appropriate consequences according to the Dutch Attendance Law. Please note that traffic is not an acceptable reason for late arrival nor is oversleeping!

Consequences for Late Arrivals

• If a student has been late 3 times parents will be informed by the Deputy Year Leader by email.
• If a student has been late 6, 9 or 12 times the student will need to attend an Early Morning Start at 08.00.
• If a student has been late 15 or more times the school will inform the Attendance Officer (Leerplicht) and will decide on further consequences.

Absences
Parents/guardians should inform school of any absence via iSAMS or call the Secondary Reception 070 - 328 14 50 or email ish.reception@ishthehague.nl before 07:30.

Consequences for Unexcused Absences

• Parents/guardians will be notified via iSAMS about any unexcused absence before the end of each period.
• Parents/guardians are expected to inform the school within 48 hours of the reason of the absence.
• If the absence remains unexcused students will be expected to catch up with the missed lesson time during a Wednesday afternoon detention.
• Students with a high number of unexcused absences will need to be reported to the Attendance Officer (Leerplicht).

Special Leave
For any absence that is not for illness or a medical/dentist appointment, parents/guardians should ask for Special Leave by filling in a Request for Special Leave Form.
For more details about Special Leave please see Whole School section ‘Attendance and Punctuality’.

Students who are Over 18
Students who are over 18 are no longer legally obliged to follow education. However, once enrolled in our school they are expected to follow the same attendance regulations as other students. Parents/guardians are expected to keep us informed of absences in line with the procedures set out above. Students cannot excuse themselves. In the event that a student is living independently the parent/guardian must inform the mentor, year leader and secondary office and provide emergency contact details of somebody who will be in the Netherlands.