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News | 13 December 2022

And so, another term passes in what, for some, feels like the blink of an
eye. With Spring term coming along with the new year, now is a great
time for giving thanks and making goals before we start anew. Please
continue reading for holiday wishes and reflections from our
principal, Mr. Carl Waddington

Dear guardians and students at IES Johanneberg!
I would like to thank you all for this term and for your collaborative efforts. As
you know, collaboration between home and school is an important factor behind
high academic achievement for students. I would like to stress the importance of
strengthening this cooperation even further for next term. I kindly ask guardians
to support your children by frequently checking in with them about school and
making sure they have structured daily study time. Working in school for many
years, I am convinced that students who work hard in school and at home reach
the highest academic success. Limiting learning time to within the school
building and expecting teachers to provide the entirety of education is just not
enough. Regardless of the grade the student is aiming for– E or an A– they are
more likely to reach their goals with support on both ends. Our fantastic teachers
here at IESJ do an amazing job to make sure that our students have everything
they need on Schoolsoft to succeed both in school and at home. We all know that
a teenager’s tendency to quickly answer that “school was fine, no I don’t have
any homework” usually leaves out the full truth. Our students almost always
have something they need to do for school, could study to improve, or could
reflect on for the future. Please check schoolsoft diligently.

My second topic is attendance. Students in Sweden go to school 178 scheduled days per year. Or if you want to calculate it in
weeks, 35.6 weeks. That's it. This means that every hour and every day in school is important. We see a strong correlation
between absence and lack of academic success. To summarise, in order for students and staff to live up to the Ethos of IES,
all stakeholders need to show determination and grit 178 days per year.
During the Autumn term we started the Perception Project. The purpose of the Perception Project was to ask and define a
common definition of; safe, peace and calm. The aim was to understand how our students and staff perceive these words and
work to find a common understanding and expectation behind these concepts at IESJ. It was striking how inline staff and
students are in their expectations! Now we focus on implementing the feedback from this project to have an even safer and
even more orderly work environment at our school.
As of January, mentors will no longer offer Monthly phone calls to guardians. By doing this
we can offer students even more tailored support in school. Mentors will call if needed and
guardians are always welcome to call the mentor or subject teacher when needed.
Finally, a few words about the final days of this term. On the 19-20th of December students
will have House days in which we offer them fun events. On the 21st of December we have
our End of Term ceremony at school. Due to lack of space, guardians can not join the
ceremony. A separate schedule for these days will be shared to you on Schoolsoft.
With that I would like to thank you for this year and look forward to greeting the students
back to school on the 10th of January. Have a safe and joyful holiday season.
On behalf of the entire team here at IESJ we wish you the best wishes for 2023!

Carl Waddington