On April 9th, the entrance ceremony was held at school, welcoming our new students of various grades.
To all new students, we hope that your time at CIS will be full of opportunities to learn new things and create fantastic memories!
To all of the new parents and guardians, we're happy to have you! We look forward to working with you to make the student's experience at school better than ever before.
Skipping ahead to April 15th, we had our first monthly PTSA board member's meeting. There, we were able to meet some new faces, which we were very excited about. We look forward to seeing more volunteers and staff join us in our monthly meetings, as well as in the events that are to come throughout the year.
Finally, we would like to note that all parents and guardians are always welcome to become a volunteer or staff of PTSA. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us!
On May 8th, Dr. Iguchi, the director of Iguchi Dental Clinic(いぐち歯科クリニック https://www.iguchi2525.com/), and Dr. Nakahama, an orthodontist, gave a lecture to the students about dental health. The students learned about four topics, which were:
①Teeth during its growth period and how to take care of it.
②What to do when you damage your mouth or chip your teeth.
③Good teeth alignment.
④The importance of having an education about dental health from a young age.
With the annual school-wide health check scheduled on May 12th, we believe this lecture helped students to learn and gain insights into why maintaining dental health is significant.
Due to the lecture being delayed by a few months from the original date in the previous school year, we had to hold this event on the day without prior notice. For this reason, the parents and guardians were not able to attend the lecture. However, the dentists included information directed toward the parents and the guardians. As a result, we have recorded and will share the second and third parts of the lecture. The link to the videos will be listed below, so if you are interested, please take a look.
On June 7th, we held a uniform bazaar, as well as a parents / guardians get-together during the first parents day of the year. Thankfully, we had a lots of visitors. Thank you so much for those who visited!
During the bazaar, we generated 61,510 yen in total. All of this money will be donated to the school, which will be used to improve the students' experience at school.
バザーで得た61,510円の収益金は、全て学校へ寄付し生徒のために使われます。
We will keep you up to date with all of the activities here on PTSA website, so please check the website now and then, if interested.
We prepared to swap in the new emergency food stock in place of last year's stock on June 7th.
昨年度購入分の災害時非常食を今年度購入分と入れ替えをする準備作業を6/7(水)に行いました。
As you may know, it is important to renew the food stocks every year in order to avoid them from being expired. For this reason, PTSA purchases a new set of food stocks each year, keeping it ready to be used all year round. The food stocks from the last year we will be swapping it out in favour of the new stock will later be distributed to the students to eat, so please try it out with your children.
【Emergency foods distributed in the past】 【過去に配布した災害時非常食】
The next step to renewing the emergency stock is to order the food stock, which PTSA will be doing soon. If you have any ideas on new kinds of emergency food stocks, please feel free to contact us. ※Please be aware that we may not use your ideas of issues regarding allergies is expected from the suggested product.
The school had an open day on Saturday June 24th. We had a lot of visitors who came around to observe the class of their interest.
6/24土曜日、学校公開が行われました。とても多くの方が来校し、熱心に見学をしていました。
During the day, some of the PTSA members who are also the parents of students from elementary and secondary school got involved in the event, answering the questions from visitors.
Meanwhile, several students from each grade guided the visitors around, answering questions too from the student's perspective.
In addition, alumni students were also invited to school to help out with the questionnaires, which they answered from their past experiences at Columbia and their current life.
On Thursday July 6th, the school celebrated Japan＋Canada Day＝“Japanada Day” under a terrific weather condition. As usual, the preschool and elementary students, and the junior and senior students enjoyed various activities including water balloon fights on the field. This year, unlike the previous years, the parents and guardians were also invited to join the students in the activities. We hope you had a great time with the students at school!
For this event, the PTSA board members mainly contributed in planning and preparing for this event, as well as helping the teachers run the event on the day.
PTSA Activity Report:
Donation of Sport Equipment to Elementary School
The PTSA has donated new sport equipment to elementary school.
The school had lacked amounts of certain sport equipment including basketballs and soccer balls. In addition, some equipment were in bad quality which was also a problem. The PTSA had a meeting discussing this and decided on purchasing equipment for the school.
The equipment was donated and presented to the elementary students on September 4th, the first day of fall term. The equipment has been used in PE classes and various club activities.
We would like to thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
The school held an open day on September 23rd, and had many visitors.
9/23(土)学校公開が行われ、たくさんの方が来校されました。
During the class inspection period, the PTSA members, along with the current students, graduates, and school staff, accompanied the visitors to answer questions, give insights on the school's atmosphere, as well as share their experiences on topics such as considering paths beyond graduation and how parents/guardians could support their child's education at home.
The kinder and elementary sports day was held under pleasant weather on October 14th (Saturday).
This was also the day where parents and guardians were finally able to visit and cheer on their children for the first time in 3 years. Not only the students, but teachers and parents were all enjoying themselves.
The PTSA prepared apples and were distributed to the students at the end of Sports Day.
Thank you to everyone for your hard work!
The school had a Halloween Party on Saturday, October 28th, 2023.
10月28日（土）ハロウィンパーティ2023が開催されました。
On the day, the students engaged in activities such as carving out Jack-O'- Lantern and creating Halloween themed posters. The Jack-O'-Lanterns were crafted by each grade from kindergarten to high school, each creating a unique and splendid design, showcasing their creative thinking. As well as homerooms from middle and high school also worked on Halloween themed posters, which got displayed on the walls of the main building later on.
After finishing up the Jack-O'-Lantern, the Elementary school students participated in a Trick-or-Treat event, parading through the school to find ‘wanted’ individuals. PTSA officers, dressed in costumes as "wanted" figures, joined the event, adding to the excitement.
For the Halloween Party this year, PTSA undertook tasks such as purchasing and transporting snacks for all students, acquiring and transporting pumpkins for the pumpkin carving, and preparing and providing prizes for the costume contest and the pumpkin carvings contest. Additionally, following the parents and teacher interview on the week before the Halloween, PTSA officers and spot volunteers collaborated to prepare snack packs and arranged it for the distribution to each class.
Children showcased their enthusiasm from the morning with costumes inspired by characters from books, anime, movies, and Halloween-themed ghosts, along with unique makeup looks and outfits. Teachers and staff also contributed to the festive atmosphere with creative costumes, concluding the Halloween Party on a high note.
The successful execution of such significant school events is made possible by the understanding and cooperation of parents. PTSA will continue the efforts to provide better support for the students. We sincerely appreciate the ongoing understanding and cooperation of all parents.
The Christmas Fiesta 2023 was a resounding success!
12/10(日)良いお天気の中で今年のクリスマスフィエスタが開催されました。
With 15 dedicated PTSA board members and 9 enthusiastic volunteers, they assisted in;
・Uniform Bazaar
・Charity Shop sales
・Advance preparation for food drives and the Fiesta
・Safety management during the Fiesta
【Uniform Bazaar】
At the Uniform Bazaar, we sold school uniforms donated by current and former students, raising a total of \115,500. Thank you for making it a hit again this year!
【Food Drive】
For this year’s Food Drive, we continued our support for "和田子ども食堂(Wada Children’s Kitchen)" in Tokorozawa and "Sophia Refugee Support Group" at Sophia University.
Thanks to your generosity, families and refugees benefited from regular food provisions.
Amidst the relaxed atmosphere filled with cheerful Christmas songs, diverse events unfolded, bringing the Fiesta to a successful close.
We hope everyone had a fantastic time!
Thank you for your cooperation and donations at the Christmas Fiesta. We have received appreciation from the Sophia University student circle and Professor David Slater, would like to share it with you.
First of all, we would like to thank the Columbia Family for all of your kind donation of clothes and food items.
We were able to distribute your donations during our December refugee cafe, one of our main activity events that we have in our support group. It was a treendous success and our refugee friends were overjoyed and very thankful for all of your support. We were able to give out most of the clothes and thanks to the Columbia family, our refugee friends can spend a comfortable time through the cold Japan winter.
Dear Columbia International School Family
This is David Slater, professor of cultural anthropology at the faculty of liberal arts at Sophia University. I just wanna tell you how hugely grateful we are for the wonderful effort and great results that you guys made on behalf of Sophia refugee support group.
When Hinano brought all of those clothes I couldn’t believe it. Your generosity is so impressive. Please know that your efforts meant that many many refugees are going to be much warmer this winter than they would’ve been otherwise.
I wish I could thank you in person but for now I will just have to say by text. Thank you so much.
The Science Fair was held for the first time in several years on Friday, February 2nd, 2024.
2024年2月2日、サイエンス・フェアが数年ぶりに開催されました。
At the school organized Eco-Science booth, students collaborated in groups to compile their research, engage in panel discussions, and deepen their knowledge together.
In the magic show, magic tricks that utilized everyday items in an eco-friendly way were shown, as well as science magic incorporating visual illusions. The students enthusiastically participated in the interactive experience.
The PTSA is continuously recruiting parents who would like to participate in proposing and preparing activities to make school life better for the students together!
As part of this year's Christmas profit, there were requests from junior and high school students to purchase instruments to replace damaged ones and to enhance opportunities for students to engage with music further. After consideration and approval by the board, we are pleased to report that a portion of the PTSA's funds has been donated towards the purchase of instruments.
We received a thank you message from Mr. Lucier, the teacher of the Music Club, written below.
Hello PTSA,
Here is a photo from our last Music Club practice. Your generous donation allowed us to get the musical gear we needed! Please know that items have been labelled with a PTSA sticker.
Event 2024-2025 
