QUEST Families,
Our IB Profile focus for the month of December is caring, and how timely that is. Between our Joy Shop, Giving Tree, and the general energy found in the month of December, examples of caring are in abundant supply. December also marks the official start of the second marking period; thank you for a great start, and thanks for your continued partnership as we move into a new marking period!
Inquiry at Home!
Our School Improvement Team (SIT) is working on strengthening our approaches around inquiry based learning. QUEST has long been known for being an inquiry school, so we are using this year to improve our practices and to ensure we are providing our learners with rich, meaningful learning experiences...through an inquiry based approach!
There are many ways to promote inquiry. Here are a few ideas to get started:
- Lay random books around from time-to-time. Put a book in a spot where your child will notice it and, perhaps, even pick it up!
- Put objects in front of your child that make them curious! When I was mowing this summer, I came across a dried out dragon fly. I brought it inside and just showed my daughters. Their questions and curiosity took off, and I pushed them to do the research to find answers to those questions. What can you put in front of your child that will spark their questions?
- Model questions! Stop, notice, and question the things you are noticing. If your child sees that, and if you sometimes ask them some of your questions, they will see what lifelong learning looks like!
- Limit screen time! Allow your child to be bored each day. It is incredible how they will default to creativity when they claim they are bored and there is "nothing to do!"
Staff Shout-outs
Further in the blog, you will see our staff shout-outs, submitted by our families. Please join me in celebrating our awesome staff here at QUEST. If you'd like to give someone a shout-out, you can find it at the top of the blog. See the image below to see where you click to submit a shout-out.
Parent Information Night: your feedback is wanted!
This fall, our Parent Information Night had about 50% family attendance across the school. Life is busy, but our school community wants to ensure that we are supporting our families in a way that fits you, the family member! With that in mind, please take a moment to complete a survey using the link below.
In this survey, we provide three future options: a standard Information Night (what we do now), an Open House, or using Ice Cream Social coupled with a Parent University (optional learning for parents). We have a committee at the school that will be taking the results and reimagining this event based on the feedback we receive.
Thanks for sharing your feedback
here!
Applications for QUEST
According to applications we receive, 90% of the people who apply to be part of QUEST do so because of word-of-mouth. That is, they've spoken with a current QUEST family and it has sparked their interest.
We will be sending out applications for the 2023-2024 school year on January 3rd, with an application deadline, for new potential Kindergarten families, by February 1. Please join me in celebrating and getting all the good from QUEST out into the community. Your opinions are a huge help!
12/23/22 Reminder!
12/23 is a half day of school. Please contact the attendance office if you are picking your child up on the half-day. Our parent pick-up is at 11:25, and our buses pull away from the school at 11:45!
I hope you and your family have a restful break during the week of 12/26/22. 2023 is just around the corner, and I am confident that it will be another awesome year for our learning community.
Be well,
Derek Warren
QUEST Principal
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