It’s May already! The school year has flown past so quickly and so many great things have happened throughout the year. I want to thank parents, teachers, staff and students for all the great support you have given throughout this year. Personally, this has been a year of grace where I’ve received so much from the Wesley community and I hope you feel the same way too.

 

There is a lot of important information in this newsletter. Our dates and activities is toward the end of the document. Please take the time to read through the whole letter.

Farewell to…

This will be a month of goodbyes for some very important and precious people from our community. Firstly we will be farewelling our graduating class. Secondly we will be saying goodbye to some wonderful staff, volunteers and board members.  We pray God’s abundant blessings on them all as they step into the next part of their journeys in Him.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Van Leeuwen will be returning to Australia with Laurie. Robyn has done an outstanding job as High School Principal this year. Her leadership, creativity, great teaching, sense of humor and faith will be greatly missed. As you look at this year’s yearbook, please remember this is the legacy Robyn has deposited among us. I want to acknowledge that working with Robyn has made my job that much easier.  Kevin has been a great Science and Math teacher helping students achieve excellence in his subject areas. He often has worked behind the scenes in keeping our school functioning well. Mr. V. has mentored and inspired many students over the last 6 years and blessed them with his wisdom and generous spirit. His quiet leadership and diligence has been a tremendous blessing to our community.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Williams (with Michael and Rebeccah) will return to England. Pastor Chris has worked tirelessly discipling students from Elementary to High School, overseen the development of a culture of celebration of spiritual life, created some truly memorable camps and taught many subject areas from Bible to Computing. He leaves a very large imprint for good in our school! Mrs Williams, has been our frontline Nurse for the past 6 years and a brilliant teacher to boot! I’ve worked closely this last year with Sarah and have benefitted from her attention to detail, her creativity and energy. This couple has enriched the educational and spiritual life of our community with their leadership and service and will be missed.

 

We will also be saying farewell to Miss Esther Jeohn, who returned to Wesley after being a student here and has taught Psychology, Senior Project, Senior Transitions, Drama, History, Math American Literature, Year Book, provided College Admissions Counseling and coached basketball in a very busy two years. Her contribution to our school has been enormous as a teacher and mentor to students.

 

Mr. David Swarbrick and Mr. Brian Hofman have taught mathematics and provided leadership throughout this last year. David has also mentored the Boy’s football team and provided some great spiritual encouragement to his students. He’ll be returning to a training school in the US. Brian started in the second semester as a volunteer teacher and will be returning to the US to marry his fiancé, Tessa and attend seminary to become a pastor. We pray God’s blessing on both these young men and thank them for their willingness to serve our community.

 

We are also saying goodbye to two families who’ve contributed enormously to the life of Wesley International School, the Buckner family and the O’Quin family. Mrs. Buckner has served as our Medical Officer and former Board Chair. Mr. Buckner has provided leader training, mentorship and contributed frequently to camps and worship nights. Their children, Dorothy, Jon Mark, Joshua and Grace have all contributed greatly to the student community in various leadership roles. Mr O’Quin has served on the Board as Chair and Vice Chair. He frequently spoke at school camps and worship nights and provided leadership to many of the high school youth with his passion for the gospel. Mrs. O’Quin has served as a Biology teacher and past President of the PTFA. Their children, Caleb, Ana and Jordon have been members of teams and served in various leadership positions in the school. We will miss you.

 

Dr. Sophia Theophilus and Mrs. Susan Kwon are two retiring members of school board. Both women have contributed greatly to the governance of our school and are deeply appreciated.

Appointments and Welcome to…

Mr. Jonathan Heath will be resuming his role as Director of School and teaching High School Math after returning from the UK.

Mrs. Cindy Freer will resume the position of HS Principal and teaching US Literature, and other Electives next year after Robyn Van Leeuwen returns to Australia.

Mr. Richard Gallagher will start in the new role of Director of Pastoral Care for the Wesley Community. This role will include development of programs for students, teachers, staff and parents. I look forward to interacting with you all in this new role.

 

We welcome back Mrs. Jennifer Feliciano from the USA, who will take on the role of School Counselor and Language Arts Teacher. Mrs. Kathy Konieczny, from Canada, is returning to teach Junior High Sciences and Geography and some electives. Mr. Mike Lucero (USA) is another returning teacher who will be teaching Sciences, Math, Physical Education and Economics.

 

Our new teachers will be Dr. Ongky Tejayadi will be teaching Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. He will be returning to Indonesia with his family after living many years in the US.  Mr. David Thomas (Australian) and his wife Enty will join the school in the roles of ESL lead teacher and Grade 3 teacher respectively. Miss Danielle Flood-Coleman from Ireland will also be joining us to teach Grade 2 in the new year.

Other News

If you have students graduating this year, or are leaving and need transcripts, etc, from the school, please let the office know by May 14th what letters/reports you need and how many copies. Then we can prepare them for you. This is especially important for the students who are graduating.

 

Please remember that if you owe any money (such as tuition for this year) or your child owes any money (i.e. for library fines, etc) or hasn’t returned school textbooks, uniforms etc., you will not be able to get your child’s report card or transcript for this year. Please take care of this before the end of the school year. The school is also missing several Quest Bibles and asks that you check in your homes and return them to school.

 

Congratulations

The IISSAC Swimming, Cross-country and Badminton tournament is held on the last weekend in April.   All our competitors participated with excellent effort, admirable attitude, and superb sportsmanship. Congratulations to all of you.

Our Swimming team was coached by  Katie Nicholson and Greg Geisson, and performed brilliantly with almost every swimmer recording personal best times. Our girls’ team came in  4th place and our boys’ team in 5th place. This is a great effort considering we are the smallest team in the conference. Congratulations to Grace Buckner,  Danial Pope, Laura Pope, Garret Nicholson and our Junior Girl’s relay teams, who all placed in the finals.

Cross-Country was held in hot and trying conditions on Saturday. Our team was coached by Mrs. Krista McAtee and Mrs. Lynlee Gallagher. Several of our student’s won or placed in this event. Congratulations to Amber and Connor McAtee, Rah Hee Han, Peter Cho, Yejin Lee and Charis Parkinson.

The Badminton event was organized by Pak Danny with the help of several students. They did such a great job that our school has been asked to organize next year’s event at Surabaya International School.  Our team came in as runner up in the inaugural IISSAC Invitational Badminton Tournament. Well done to all our players. You played with great spirit, skill and sportsmanship.

 

May’s Events

Now, May is jam packed with activities. So let me tell you about some of them. As you read over some of these events please uphold them in prayer.

 

  • Saturday, May 4, AP Practice Exams
  • Saturday, May 4, SAT Exam
  • Monday, May 6 – Friday, May 17, AP Exams
  • Thursday, May 9, Ascension Day – No School, except for AP exams.
  • Thursday, May 9, Badminton Team Party in the Gym
  • Thursday, May 9, Swimming Team party
  • Friday, May 10, Grades 7 & 8 outreach to an orphanage in Batu
  • Friday, May 10, Cross Country Team Party
  • Monday, May 13, Teacher Appreciation Event
  • Tuesday, May 14, Elementary Praise Party, 5.45-7.30pm
  • Wednesday, May 15, ASB Elections
  • Friday, May 17, 6th Grade Rafting Field Trip
  • Monday, May 20, Teacher Appreciation Event
  • Thursday, May 23, Teacher’s Farewell Dinner
  • Friday, May 24, High School Exams commence
  • Wednesday, May 29, ASB Senior Celebration
  • Wednesday, May 29, Elementary End of Year Field Trip
  • Thursday, May 30, Graduation. Last Day of School / Field Day
  • Friday, May 31, Teacher Work Day, – No School

Great news! The school’s Yearbook will be available on or before May 24th. The yearbook team and Miss Esther Jeohn have put so much work into making another great year. I have had a sneak preview. It looks great. If you want a copy you can preorder one with Pak Jimmy in the cashier’s office for only Rp. 140,000. Get them before they are all sold out.

 

There are going to be high school exams from May 24th to the 29th. Please check the exam schedule that will be sent out shortly. Just like previous years, High school (Grades 7-12) students only need to come in to school during their scheduled exam times. The rest of the time on these days they can stay at home or study in the Library. They should not be here at school to play in the gym or play Frisbee or anything else.

 

On May 29th, the Elementary will be going on a field trip as an end of year outing. Where they are going is still to be determined. There will be more information to come about this.

 

On May 29th the junior class and the new ASB members are jointly hosting the Senior Celebration. This is a time where students can express some appreciation of the senior class. This will be a ticketed event and details of the venue and the price will be forthcoming from the Junior class.

 

May 30th will be the last day of school and as usual we will have a chapel all together and then enjoy time together as a whole school in “Field Day”. This will be a half day of school and most students will go home at 12 pm. There will be a practice for the graduation ceremony after that so seniors and other involved in the graduation ceremony will need to stay for that practice before they go home.

 

Graduation is going to be held on the evening of May 30th at 6 pm. We will celebrate together this momentous and wonderful milestone for our senior class. You are all invited to come along and share this time of celebration with us.

 

Let’s work together to finish well. I look forward to seeing you all at the graduation at the end of May. Thank you again for all the help you have given me and the school over the course of the year.

May God’s grace sustain you through this busy time,

Richard Gallagher
Pimpinan