Parent Communication

The educational process is a partnership between school and home; for this reason open and regular communication between school and parents is essential for the success of the child. EBI will promote an open door policy and different ways of communicating with parents as outlined below. Parents should always feel free to contact their child’s teacher if they have any questions. The best way to do so is to send the teacher an email message, which will be answered by the teacher within 24 hours in most cases and no later than 48 hours, or leave a message in their mail box in the School office.

Additionally, parents have the responsibility for reading communications published by the school; these come in a number of forms including the “al Día” (see below), e-mails, as well as the lesson plans and unit letters made available by the teachers. It is also parents’ responsibility to inform the school of any relevant occurrence in the family that might impact the child emotionally in any way (i.e.: birth of a sibling, changing homes, parental job change, separation, divorce, marriage, death in the family, accidents, parental travel, etc.). The School will regularly communicate with parents through e-mail both for efficiency and environmental reasons. Parents should ensure that their e-mail address at the school is always current as well as their phone numbers.

The EBI Directory should be used for internal purposes only, and should not be disseminated outside of the School, nor made available to the general public, or used for any reasons other than the originally intended purposes. Any other unauthorized use of its contents, without specific written permission from EBI administration, is strictly prohibited.

Whom to contact when you have questions?

• For concerns about your child please contact the lead teacher or EBI Aventura teacher (depending on the concern). If the issue persists without resolution, please contact the Head of School.

• For questions regarding the program or co-curricular activities contact the Associate Head of School or the EBI Aventura Coordinator.

• For financial questions contact the Business Manager or Head of School.

• To report a child’s absence notify the office.

• To report any change in personal information notify the office.

EBI al Día

This bulletin is sent via e-mail regularly throughout the year. Contents include dates of importance, special events, students' achievements and class activities as well as important information from the school administration. It is parents’ responsibility to read this weekly publication as it provides information critical to the functioning of the school and their child’s education.

Back-to-School Night

Parents are strongly urged to attend this special evening. This is our official welcome to parents at which we share information about our program and the school year. We hold a Back-to-School event for both EBI campuses on different evenings so parents with children at both campuses can attend. Parents attend a general meeting at which they hear an overview of EBI programs and are invited to ask questions. This is followed by presentations in the classrooms by individual teachers and a display of books and materials. Teachers will discuss aspects of their program and answer questions of a general nature. Please note that individual student progress is not discussed at this time.

The State-of-the-School

The State-of-the-School presentation in January provides an opportunity for the administration and the Board of Trustees to address issues such as the financial state of the school, fundraising, long-range plans school-related issues. There is always the opportunity for a question and answer session.

Conferences

At EBI we believe that ongoing, proactive communication between families and the school is critical to each student’s learning. For that reason we hold four parent conferences throughout the year. In general, the purpose of conferences is to provide information about the progress and needs of students, share information about what is happening at home, and to develop a collaborative plan together so that students can continue to be successful. However, each conference during the year also has the following specific objectives:

• August/September (before classes begin) - Initiate the relationship of collaboration between the family and teachers. Teachers ask questions about their new students and parents have the opportunity to share information the believe the teacher needs to have about their child.
• October - Check in about the child’s transition into the new school year and develop any specialized goals for the team supporting the child to best do their work throughout the year.
• March - Report on the child’s progress.
• June - Student led conference in which the child reviews his/her portfolio with family and teachers, reflects on the year and sets goals for the next year.

Any other conferences are scheduled as needed by the teacher or by parents. Parents or guardians are welcome to make appointments with teachers as necessary to discuss their child's progress throughout the academic year. These follow-up conferences should be scheduled either before or after regular school hours, or possibly at lunchtime, if mutually convenient.

Progress Reports

The school uses the progress report to communicate progress in the learning objectives in the different disciplines and to describe how the students have developed the attributes of the IB learner profile and the PYP attitudes. Summative progress reports are sent home in December and June. Parents need to review progress reports and return them within three days.

Lesson Plans and Unit Letters

Teachers publish lesson plans each week for parents. Additionally, they send a letter explaining each unit of inquiry with the unit plans at the beginning of each unit. Parents have the responsibility to review these plans and learn how they can support the classroom learning throughout the year.

E-mail Messages

E-mail is the most effective form of communication with teachers in the Lower School since children are often dropped off rather than parents walking them to class like in the Pre-Kinder. You can send a message to any member of staff by writing the person's first name initial, full last name and @ebinternacional.org, for example jfulk@ebinternacional.org for Jon Fulk. Telephone calls are discouraged except in the case of emergency. If you do not communicate by e-mail, please work out other arrangements with your child’s teacher.

EBI Web Site & EBI Blog

The EBI Web site (www.ebinternacional.org) features expanded School information, online forms, secure credit card donations, photographs and publications. The EBI blog is especially valuable in terms of ongoing information about what is happening at EBI.

BigTent

EBI parents communicate regularly among themselves and with teachers via the bigTent website. BigTent is a great way for parents to get information about what is happening in the classroom, download permission slips, share picture, view lesson plans, organize events and activities and much more!

Facebook

EBI uses Facebook to update the extended community about happenings at EBI. Please support this effort by becoming a fan. Help EBI spread the word about the great things that are happening in the school community.