Gyoshu Calendar and Activities
Ceremonies and Assemblies
- Entrance Ceremonies: There are two separate ceremonies that are held in early April to welcome the Grade 7 students to Junior High School and the Grade 10 students to Senior High School. This formal ceremony will usually start with a short program at the school gymnasium followed by a long homeroom and PTA representative selection.
- Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Students and teachers will gather at the start and end of each term. Speeches and announcements from the school vice-principals and school committee heads are given at these ceremonies. Some students who achieved awards from sports, contests and others will be awarded at these ceremonies. Students are expected to wear their uniform properly and wear the gym shoes.
- Whole- School Assembly/ Grade-Level Assembly: This is sometimes organized during seventh period on Thursdays or on days where the school has invited speaker(s) on various topics.
- Bilingual Assembly: The highlights of this assembly are the bilingual students’ presentation and speeches. This is usually done once each term.
- Graduation: It is considered a major life event for third year junior and senior high students. The Senior High graduation is held in the morning and the Junior High is in the afternoon. The ceremony includes mainly the presentation of diplomas, speeches from the school’s president, distinguished guests, student representative, graduating student representative, and a parent representative.
After School Activities
- Bilingual Study Hall, Tutorial and English Support
The BL study hall is used for students who need a quiet place to work on any school projects and assignments. Students who do not complete class work or assignments are asked to report to the study hall supervisor and finish the task. The tutorial is for Grade 10-12 students who need the help from the subject teacher or a place to study in small groups. Senior high teachers may ask a student to attend the tutorials. The English Support Program is for students who need additional assistance with their English studies. The English teachers determine which students are in need of this program. - Japanese Study Hall
Those who find it a little difficult to study at home or who would like to finish their work at school can stay at school until 20:30 if they their guardians come and pick their children up at school to take them home. Study hall is usually in operation on weekdays Monday - Thursday. Students must register beforehand and indicate the time they will be picked-up.
Aside from study hall, such subjects as English, Math, and Japanese have supplementary support classes after school. Students must register their names for these classes as well. Once registered, they should not give it up easily without the permission of the teachers in charge. - Club and Extra Curricular Activities
There are sport and cultural clubs outside the regular academic curriculum. Some of the sports clubs include basketball, soccer, tennis, table tennis and kendo. Some of the cultural clubs are broadcasting, tea ceremony, choir, calligraphy, Koto (Japanese musical instrument) and brass band. Students are recommended to join one of the clubs offered by the school. These activity hours can be counted in CAS hours.
Bilingual extra activities include debate contests, MUN, J8 and speech contests. Students and teachers spend a lot of time after classes to prepare for these activities.
Saturday Activities
The Junior and Senior High School is in session Saturday mornings about twice a month. Activities may vary on Saturdays when classes are held and may vary by grade level as well. Typical activities may include: regular classes activities, grade level activities, and school events (such as School Foundation Day, Festivals and Bazaar, Class Observation Day, Open School, and Entrance Exams.)Parent/ Teacher/ Student Conferences
General meetings will be held at the beginning of the school year, where information about the classes and other issues related to the IB are discussed.Each grade has Parent-Student-Teacher conferences after final examinations for each term. Some students are interviewed individually with the homeroom teachers and directors when necessary.
Grade Level Visits
Each year, Gyoshu hosts Grade Six and Grade Nine students who then have the opportunity experience lessons in the Bilingual Program at Gyoshu. Students get to experience lessons in English, Japanese and Math. The Bilingual Program is responsible for providing one English class on this day to students who wish to experience an English immersion style lesson. The Grade 9 Visit is traditionally held in September on a Saturday morning. The Grade 6 Visit is traditionally held in November on a Saturday morning.Examinations
Each term students take two exams (mid-term and final exam), except for term 3 wherein students take only one exam, for all of their subjects. The duration, examination content and style are determined by the subject teacher. The junior high exams are usually a 60 minute exam while the senior high exam can be up to 120 minutes. The exams are spread in a 3 or 4 half- day scheduleJunior High and Senior High Entrance Exams
Gyoshu offers entrance exams for Junior High School in January and for Senior High School in February. All entrance exam candidates generally sit the exams at Gyoshu, on the same day. Candidates take Japanese, English and Math entrance exams, and the Bilingual Program is responsible for creating, supervising and grading the English exams for Bilingual Program candidates.The Junior High School English Entrance exam consists of Listening, Reading and Writing sections. In addition, on Junior High Entrance exam day, Bilingual Program candidates along with their parents have an interview as part of their application process. The students are expected to answer a series of questions in English. Their parents will answer questions in Japanese.
The Senior High School English Entrance exam consists of Reading, Grammar/Lexis and Writing sections. There is generally no spoken interview as part of the Senior High School entrance process.
Vocabulary Contests (VC)
All Gyoshu Junior High students participate in a series of tests on English vocabulary known as “Vocabulary contests”. Junior High Bilingual students sit different versions of the tests that are created and graded by the Bilingual Program English teachers. The tests are comprised of questions on the vocabulary terms the students learned in the previous weeks. Students’ Vocabulary Contest grades are reported on their report card each term.Achievement Tests and Others
- Internal Achievement Tests are tests made by the teachers at Gyoshu, which are given, for example, in the beginning of the second term based on the summer assignment.
- External Achievement Tests are tests made by an educational company or a cram school (Yobiko), which are given to MYP students to determine their achievement in several subject areas in Japanese. As for the IB students, it is optional. Those who would like to take the entrance examination are strongly recommended to take those tests.
- Japanese Mock Exams: The Junior High mock exams are done within the school year to check the students’ progress mainly in Mathematics, English, and Japanese. In some year levels, Social Studies and Science are included. These exams are used to compare Gyoshu students’ standing within the national level. The Senior High mock exams are to prepare the senior high students for the Japanese Entrance examinations. The results of these exams provide the students their possible local college choices.
