Category: Staff

The TEDx steering committee is seeking another staff organizer to support the event. This role would entail backstage preparations and helping speech givers prepare their talks. If you need ASA hours, this is a great opportunity. It is open to all staff! Please get in touch with Triona, Jiawen, or Carol if you are interested!

Our Grade 5 students are beginning their PYP Exhibition journey, and we’re inviting members of our learning community to support them as mentors.

Sign up here: Mentor Sign-Up

Thank you for supporting student agency, inquiry, and action.

Please let me or the G5 team know if you have any questions.

Tristan

EARCOS awards at least 5 action research grants of $1000 USD each year for teachers to undertake research and complete an action research report.

Action research is a great way to develop your practice, do some effective professional development, and know your impact on students. The reports are often also published in the EARCOS Triannual Journal.

Grant applications close 1 March. More information, including guidelines, goals, and previous reports can be found here.

As always, chat to me in the corridor or send me an email if you have any questions or would like more info.

We are hosting a Peersphere event at NIS on Saturday, January 24th from 1-5pm. The event is free with a keynote by EIW architect, Philip Idle who was with us last fall. The event looks at design and maximizing the potential of learning spaces.

If you’re interested please feel free to register at https://www.peer-sphere.com/learning-spaces-people-place-pathways/. No need to fill in a PLA form.

Here are minutes for the Monday Briefing.
Week 19 – Jan 12, 2025  (Web view)

What is the LEAP Pilot

This spring, NIS is launching a LEAP Pilot (Lion Educators Advancing Practice) and inviting faculty and staff to join as LEAP Founding Members.

The LEAP Pilot is a Spring exploration phase of the LEAP Teacher Program. It offers interested educators the opportunity to engage in a trimmed-down pilot experience, review the full LEAP program design, and provide reflective, practice-based feedback to help shape the program for a full launch next school year.

The pilot is intentionally designed to be manageable and reflective. It focuses on exploration, shared learning, and feedback rather than completion or polished products.

LEAP Pilot experience includes

• Reviewing the full LEAP Teacher Program Handbook
• Attending three Innovation Café sessions (3:15–4:15 pm, HUB):
  • Thu, Jan 29 2026
  • Thu, Mar 19 2026
  • Thu, May 14 2026 (Pilot Feedback & Co-Design Session)
• Exploring a small, classroom-based micro-inquiry
• Contributing feedback to strengthen LEAP milestones and supports

Recognition
Educators who take part in the pilot will be recognized as LEAP Founding Members for their role in shaping the early development of the LEAP Teacher Program. Upon completion of the pilot, Founding Members receive preferred placement in next year’s LEAP cohort and a special LEAP Founding Member digital badge.

Interested?
Please complete the survey below to indicate your interest in becoming a LEAP Pilot Founding Member.
Survey closes Friday.

LEAP Pilot (Spring Semester) – Interest Survey – Fill out form

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): What You Need to Know

To better protect staff accounts and school data, we are introducing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all Office 365 faculty and staff accounts. MFA adds a second step when signing in, usually a quick approval on your phone, making it much harder for unauthorized users to access your account, even if a password is compromised.

The setup is simple and only takes a few minutes.

Please follow the steps in the guide attached by the end of this week Friday January 16th 2026. Come Monday, January 19th 2026, MFA will be turned on for all Staff and Faculty Accounts.

What You’ll Do (Overview of the Setup Guide)

• Install the Microsoft Authenticator app
  Download the Microsoft Authenticator app on your phone (iOS or Android). This will be your primary verification method.
• Visit the MFA setup page
  On a computer, go to https://aka.ms/mfasetup and sign in with your school email and password.
• Set up your sign-in method
  Choose the Authenticator app (recommended), scan the QR code, and approve the test notification to complete setup.
• Add a backup method (strongly recommended)
  Add a secondary phone number or SMS option in case you change or lose your phone.
• Know what to expect when signing in
  After setup, you’ll sign in as usual and occasionally approve a prompt on your phone, especially on new devices or when off campus.

📄 Need help?
A step-by-step visual guide and short video walkthrough are available in the MFA Guide, and IT support is available if you need assistance at any point.

Our Grade 5 students are beginning their PYP Exhibition journey, and we’re inviting members of our learning community to support them as mentors.

Sign up here: Mentor Sign-Up

Thank you for supporting student agency, inquiry, and action.

Please let me or the G5 team know if you have any questions.

Tristan

Thanks for those who have offered some activities already. We still have some spots!

If you’re interested in running a community connection activity in our February PLDs, please fill out the following form. Thank you so much for sharing your passion, experience and time to support community building.  Community Connections Sharing – Fill out form