Happy New Year! Whether you celebrate January 1st as your New Year or if you follow the lunar calendar and celebrate Chinese New Year or, if you are like the school and celebrate both, we are all excited about the coming year. About this time each year, we start to plan for the next academic school year. 2017-18 has been a fantastic year and despite my role changing for 2018-19, I am confident that the coming year will be even better than this one!
2018-19 School Calendar
The 2018-19 School Calendar is now finalized. Each year is a challenge to meet both Alberta Education’s requirements and DSEJ’s requirements. You will see two sets of day calculations on the calendar since both agencies calculate instructional days differently. Please feel free to contact the office for clarification if you have any questions.
Tuition Increases for 2018-19
Each year, the Board looks carefully at the budget. It considers the current expenses and the anticipated development of the School. We strive to maximize the contributions from the DSEJ School Development Plan and various subventions in order to offset the full educational cost per student. Looking at 2018-19, the Board has approved a 7.4% increase (JK-Gr12) for school fees.
| 2017-18 | Increase | 2018-19 | |
| PreK | 74,000 | 9,000 | 83,000 |
| JK, SK | 74,000 | 6,000 | 80,000 |
| Gr 1-3 | 93,000 | 7,000 | 99,000 |
| Gr 4-6 | 100,000 | 7,000 | 107,000 |
| Gr 7-9 | 105,000 | 7,500 | 112,500 |
| Gr 10-12 | 111,000 | 8,000 | 119,000 |
School fees consist of two parts; the tuition fee and other fees. Approximately 25% of school fees are designated as other fees. Other fees include textbooks and handouts, online educational materials, arts and crafts supplies, insurance, all field trips within Macao, snacks for kindergarten, and overseas examinations for high school.
The tuition increase will help to fund the following:
– Staff salaries: average increase of 4.0%. This is in line with the Macau inflation rate and includes an increase to teachers’ housing allowance.
– Additional support for social emotional learning (SEL) for all students.
– Additional opportunities for unique learning experiences in the Learning Lab, Black Box Theatre, Library, and other new spaces.
– Additional operational costs associated with the North Wing. As a reminder, as per DSEJ requirements, student tuition cannot be used for construction costs. School fees are used for the annual operational and delivery costs associated with the TIS program.
Kindergarten Equalization Plan
Historically, kindergarten has had the lowest tuition levels. However, kindergarten has unique costs such as additional teaching assistant costs, snacks, and specialized equipment. Kindergarten tuition is currently 20% lower than G1-G3 tuition. Kindergarten classes also have 20% less students. Our goal is to increase kindergarten tuition over time so that it better reflects these additional costs. We have discussed this the DSEJ. This would be done over a 3 year period so as not to affect our current students. In 2018-19, the PK tuition will be increased by 12%. In 2019-20, the JK tuition will be increased and in 2020-21, the SK tuition would be increased.
Information about the Kindergarten Equalization Plan will be shared in April (date to be confirmed) and at the Kindergarten Information Night on May 22.
Admissions for 2018-19
We are pleased to announce that we will be adding classes to PreKindergarten, Junior Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3 and Grade 6. The addition of the North Wing has enabled us to continue to meet the increased requests for admission to TIS. Next year there will be 6 classes of PK-SK and 5 classes of G1-G3. We will also be adding a 4th Grade 6 class. Please feel free to share to encourage your friends to apply to TIS for the coming year.
IB Program
This year 9 Grade 11 students are taking the full IB program and 29 students are taking 1 or more IB classes. Next year, we will add our second cohort to the IB Diploma Programme. Students in G10 should now be applying to enrol. Interested students should contact Jody Hubert, our IB Diploma Programme Coordinator, for application details.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to call, email or meet with me at your convenience.
Howard Stribbell, Head of School
新年快樂！
無論你是慶祝一月一日元旦，還是慶祝中國農曆新年，或是慶祝學校日曆上的中國新年嘉年華，相信大家都熱切期盼新年的來臨。每年此時，學校開始為下學年作計畫。2017-18學年是十分美好的一年，儘管明年本人的職位有所變動，但我相信明年一定會更上一層樓。
2018-19 學年校曆表
下學年的校曆已經完成。由於要同時滿足澳門教青局及艾伯塔教育局的要求，編製校曆已成為每年的一種挑戰。兩個教育機構對上學日數的計算方法有所不同，因此在校曆上會看到不同的日數。若有任何疑問，歡迎到校務處查詢。
2018-19學年學費調整
考慮到每年的開支及學校的發展計劃，校董會每年都仔細地審批預算。我們力求最大限度地提高澳門政府和其他各項資助的效益，平衡每名學生的教育成本。2018-19學年，校董會落實了平均百分之七點四的學費加幅。
| 2017-2018學年 | 升幅 | 2018-2019學年 | |
| 幼兒教育一年級 | 74,000 | 9,000 | 83,000 |
| 幼兒教育二、三年級 | 74,000 | 6,000 | 80,000 |
| 小學一至三年級 | 93,000 | 7,000 | 99,000 |
| 小學四至六年級 | 100,000 | 7,000 | 107,000 |
| 初中一至三年級 | 105,000 | 7,500 | 112,500 |
| 高中一至三年級 | 111,000 | 8,000 | 119,000 |
学费由两部分组成：学费和雜費。雜費佔學費的25%，用作購置課本、講義、線上教育材料、藝術學習用品、保險、澳門境內的實地考察、幼稚園茶點以及高中生海外考試費。
學費調整用以平衡以下開支：
– 教學人員薪金平均上調4%，以符合澳門通帳率及補貼老師住宿費。
– 因應新北翼大樓而衍生的營運成本。根據教青局的指引，學費收入不得用於學校基建成本，只能用於支付年度運作及提供教育服務。
– 擴充教學資源並利用校內不同的空間及設施，為學生創設多元而特別的學習體驗機會。
– 加大支持全體學生的德育教育（SEL）。
幼兒教育階段學費均衡計劃
根據數據顯示，幼兒教育學費一直是各級中最低的，然而幼兒教育有獨特的成本，例如助教服務、茶點、專用設備等。目前幼稚園的學費比小學一至三年級低20%，幼兒教育階段的學生人數比小學一至三年級少20%。我們已經與教青局商討提升幼兒教育階段的學費。為免影響在讀學生，有關學費升幅方案將分三個學年實施。2018-19學年，幼兒教育一年級學費升幅為12%；2019-20學年以及2020-21學年，幼兒教育二、三年級學費亦會相繼增加。 幼兒教育階段學費均衡計劃詳情將於四月份（日期待定）及5月22日幼稚園資訊日上公佈。
2018-19學年招生
我很高興地宣佈，隨著新北翼大樓的建成，已可滿足學位增加的需求。下學年幼兒教育一、二年級，小學一至三年級以及六年級的學額將會增加：幼兒教育各級將增至六個班，小一至小三各級增至五個班，小六將增至四個班。歡迎報讀。
IB文憑課程
本學年，本校共有11名初中三年級學生修讀全IB文憑課程，有29名學生選修至少一門IB文憑課程。2018-19學年，學校將有第二批學生選擇修讀IB文憑課程，高中一年級在讀學生將於近期申請修讀。感興趣的學生可與IB文憑課程協調員Jody Hubert老師聯絡，了解報讀詳情。
若有任何疑問，歡迎致電或透過電郵方式與本人聯絡，以安排會面時間。
Howard Stribbell
學校負責人