Monthly Newsletter
APRIL 2021 ISSUE
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students, April has certainly been a breakthrough month for us here at ACG School Jakarta with students returning to campus and the successful implementation of the transition and pilot programmes. We welcomed Pak Totok Amin Soefijanto, Senior Advisor to the Governor’s delivery unit, along with colleagues from the South Jakarta and Jakarta Provincial Education Offices as they visited our campus and inspected our health and safety protocols. Building stronger relationships with local authorities is a priority for us over the next few years and we look forward to supporting the broader education landscape of Indonesia. Our transition and pilot programmes will continue through to the end of this academic year (18 June) and we are really looking forward to finishing this challenging year by strengthening our community connections and improving home and school communication. Our upcoming Council of International School membership evaluation will see groups of students and parents representing the school through various meetings along with faculty and staff participating in important meetings where the central focus is on school improvement. We thank our community members in advance for their support and willingness to help the school improve. Idul Fitri holidays will begin from 12 – 18 May and the school will be closed during this time (apart from the online CIS meetings taking place on 12-13 May). We would like to take this opportunity to wish our entire community an enjoyable and blessed holiday break with family and friends. After the Idul Fitri holiday break, we have a very busy four and half weeks to end the school year. End of Year Examinations for Secondary School students, Graduation, PYP Exhibition, Prizegiving, and the VR Design Exhibition are all important events for the school. We will also release our digital yearbook again this year and although a little different from previous years, we hope it will capture and celebrate the memories and experiences of our students, teachers and community members. Shawn Hutchinson Principal
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April Newsletter
Upcoming Events 12 - 18 May Eid Fitr Holiday
Message from the
VICE PRINCIPAL
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students, I don’t think any of us would care to repeat this year in a ‘Groundhog Day’ fashion, but it is true to say that alongside the stress and the worry, many fantastic things have happened. This April has seen all of the IBDP required coursework and grades uploaded and the Year 13’s say goodbye to their formal studies at ACG School Jakarta. We are also in the middle of completing our IGCSE Portfolios for upload; not an easy task and certainly stressful (as exam related things always are) but our Year 11’s have done admirably well.
School Closed 20 May VR Art Exhibition IBDP 1 IGCSE 24 -28 May End of Year Examinations (Years 7 - 10 & Year 12) 26 May Vesak Day School Closed 28 May Whole School Assembly
End of Year Examinations will take place for Years 7-10+12 from 24 May to 28 so please support our students in their endeavours!. Our 5 June Graduation plans are coming along very well. As you know the event will be face to face at The Dharmawangsa Hotel. Sadly because of Covid restrictions, our attendance is strictly limited to parents of graduates only. Everyone is invited though through our live streaming of the event on our YouTube channel! Prizegiving on 11 June will be a 100% online event this year, so we look forward to welcoming you all as viewers on our Youtube channel. Thank you for all of your support in the month of April. Richard Todd Vice Principal
April Newsletter
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Learner Profile Attributes Name of student: Alexandros Mataragkas Name of student: Jessy
Year level: 3
Year level: Kindergarten
Learner Profile: Principled
Learner Profile: Communicator
Reason: Alex is admired for respecting and listening to the opinion of his peers during Zoom discussions and often raises his hand when he wishes to share thoughts or knowledge. He takes accountability of his work by ensuring he submits his work timely.
Reason: For being such a confident communicator with her new friends and teachers in Kindergarten. Jessy has settled into Kindergarten so brilliantly! Name of student: Maria
Name of student: Affan Azman
Year level: Year 1 Learner Profile: Communicator Reason: Displaying improved confidence when speaking in front of an audience. Maria shares her ideas and understanding of math problems and consistently volunteers to communicate in front of her class, both in school and when participating online. Maria understands that making mistakes is part of learning, however shares her ideas anyway and listens carefully to the ideas of others too. Amazing! Name of student: Pranjal Yadav Year level: Year 2 Learner Profile: Principled Reason: Always trying her best and completing her learning activities in a timely manner. Pranjal follows our Essential Agreements and gives her best efforts to her learning.
Year level: Year 4 Learner Profile: Thinker Reason: For applying his initiative and critical thinking skills by contributing to discussions on new topics. Affan has also developed good independent habits with his asynchronous work. Name of student: Timothy Siahaan Year level: Year 5 Learner Profile: Communicators Reason: Great improvement in communicating his understanding his classwork. In the past month, Timothy has participated more and showed his natural skills in learning. Name of student: Oliver Thornley Year level: Year 6 Learner Profile: Balanced
Oliver Thornley Oliver understands the importance of balancing different aspects of his life. He has demonstrated balance with his intellectual, physical and emotional development and well-being. 8/05/2021
Reason: Oliver understands the importance of balancing different aspects of his life. He has demonstrated balance with his intellectual, physical and emotional development and wellbeing.
Y6FMA
Ms Faaiza Mahomed
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Aprill Newsletter
Primary Years Programme Update What another fantastic week of learning it has been! It has been an absolute joy to see all the students back on campus for face-to-face learning and I am so proud of their ability to follow all our health and safety protocols and new ways of working. Visiting them in their classrooms, I have observed students who look so happy, focused, and engaged in their learning. They have adapted so well to this ‘new normal’ and this reflects how open-minded, resilient and principled our students of ACG School Jakarta really are. A personal highlight for me is having the opportunity to welcome each student from across the whole school each morning. It has been a pleasure chatting to them, learning the names of so many students and really getting to know them over their snack, play and lunchtimes. I am delighted to have them back on campus and I really look forward to getting to know everyone even more over this last term of the academic year.
April Newsletter
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Primary Years Programme Update Exhibition is a tradition in the PYP and marks a celebration of the learning and skill development that Year 6 students have experienced throughout their time in the Primary school and as a transition to the Middle School. I am so pleased to work closely with the Year 6 team and students during this time. Students have been hard at work developing their focus on a chosen topic under the theme Sharing the Planet. During this time, students get to express their creativity through an art component that explores their Central Ideas, meet with their mentors weekly (or more) to receive individualized support, and practice their Research Skills to build the conceptual understandings needed to share their learning during the Exhibition Presentations. A crucial component of the exhibition is for students to take action. This is an opportunity for students to take their learning into the world to make a difference through service. As we are still in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, this presents an additional challenge as many avenues of action may not be able to be completed. However, students are already brainstorming how they can make a difference. If you’d like to volunteer to support our students in Exhibition, we are still seeking experts who would be willing to be interviewed by students. Please find the volunteer form here if you’d like to be an expert.
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April Newsletter
Learning at ACG School Jakarta Kindergarten Our Kindergarten students love to ‘tinker’ and we love to provide them with endless opportunities to use different tinkering materials such as padlocks and keys, bolts, and real-life materials. When they tinker, they use their senses to explore materials and develop their understanding of the concept of Form (What is it?) and Function (How does it work?). They take things apart, put things together, find out how things work, and build and make creations using different tools. During this type of playful learning, students develop their fine motor skills, their vocabulary (by learning the names of new materials and their properties) and engage in collaboration, communication and problem solving.
April Newsletter
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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 1 Currently we are studying the Unit of Inquiry How we organize ourselves, with central idea “services work together to meet the needs of a community.”
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April Newsletter
Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 2 Thank you so much for your support and understanding as we returned to Virtual School last week to allow for our Parent Student Teacher Conferences.
In literacy activities we have continued with daily phonics and targeted reading groups activities as well as weekend writing on Monday.
In UOI this week we have been tuning into our new unit as the students have explored needs and wants, shared their experiences of marketplaces and learned about goods and services and producers and consumers.
Maths activities have continued to focus on money as the students become adept at recognising, counting and manipulating Indonesian currency, impressing us with their grasp of the very high numbers involved!
April Newsletter
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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 3 When learning about how ‘Organisms respond to changes in the environment with the team ‘Sharing the planet’, Year 3 students drew their own imaginary animal sanctuary plan that was designed to protect endangered animals. During this activity they also incorporated their knowledge of Mathematics topic shapes, angles and lines in their plan. Students presented on the different shapes, angles(right, acute and obtuse angles) and parallel lines used in their sanctuary plan. In a separate activity of Shapes, students used ice-cream sticks, toothpicks, and clay to make 3D models. They then shared the number of faces, edges and vertices the shape had. Year 3’s have been definitely busy the last few weeks.
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April Newsletter
Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 4 After being away from school for just over a year, our students were excited to come back to school to see their friends and teachers again. ACG was part of the transition pilot programme which provided our students the opportunity to finally learn with their classmates some of whom they have only met online. Both our online and face to face students collaborated to create a new essential agreement that featured new safety protocols. Our online students brainstormed in Zoom, while our face to face students created skits that they filmed to share.
April Newsletter
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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 5 Year 5 have completed their Where We Are in Place and Time unit which explored past civilizations. During this unit, students had the opportunity to be creative, collaborative learners by using our class research to plan and design their own civilization. They chose different parts of their civilization that had advanced such as education, language, infrastructure, and technology. Students demonstrated their skills in technology by creating visuals of their civilizations using a variety of platforms such as Scratch, Minecraft, and Roblox. This unit provided unique challenges as we were still virtual, and collaboration wasn’t easy. However, they persevered and were able to demonstrate their understanding of the unit.
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April Newsletter
Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 6 Year 6 students have set off on their journey with the Exhibition. Students have been working on their self-management skills, following the schedule set out for them and have successfully created their central Ideas and lines of inquiry. Mentors have been instrumental in assisting in the development of individual students. Students are in the final stage of planning for all components of their Exhibition and have been researching collaboratively to find out more information about their chosen topic.
April Newsletter
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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 6 Transition to Secondary Moving from primary to secondary school is an exciting time for students and parents. To help prepare our Year 6 parents we held a Transition to Secondary workshop, on Tuesday, to provide key information about our lower secondary programme, and the ways that secondary school may be different. Parents were then invited to ask questions to our panel, which included the Year 7 Student Council Representatives: Aahana Patel and Inaya Saad. On Thursday we invited our Year 6 class, to take a day out from Exhibition preparation, to join a Year 6 Hybrid Transition Day, where students got to experience some of the core subjects: English, Mathematics, Science, Global Perspective and Design Technology, taught by the secondary teachers. After a shared lunch, in the afternoon, the class then joined a Q & A session where they asked the Year 7 student ambassadors: Aahana, Inaya, Vivan, Dhaval, Izzie and Do Hee some burning questions about what to expect in Year 7. It seemed like the Year 6 students are looking forward to taking their next steps on their learning journey and we’re all excited in secondary to welcom them all in August.
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April Newsletter
Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 7 - Elastic powered cars DIY project In this activity Year 7 students were making a car powered by an elastic engine. Rather than converting chemical potential energy to kinetic energy like most cars, their cars convert elastic potential energy to kinetic energy.
Izzie
Inaya
April Newsletter
Fahmi
Hye Min
Meyher
Chloe
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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 9 Science In our Year 9 Science class we were able to do a quick metal reactivity demonstration in class while streaming live for students who are learning from home.
Year 13 Chemistry This week on Wednesday, we had our last Year 13 last Chemistry lesson, and students shared their excitement, gratitude, and reflections from a challenging academic year. I want to thank them for their great flexibility and commitment to overcoming many obstacles this year. I know the IB programme has prepared them to be better learners for life. Well done, Year 13s, we will miss you.
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April Newsletter
Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 11 Physic Mei and Salma are sharing their personal notes about mass, weight and density from Physic class.
April Newsletter
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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 8 Mathematics After more than a year of virtual learning Mr. Hickey was thrilled to welcome students back into his classroom this week. The students were also excited to return to “real school” No time was wasted in the hybrid classroom as students both in the class and online continued their study of area and measurement. This week the Y8 investigated Pi and its relationship to the circumference and area of a circle. There is still much to learn to prepare the students for their upcoming project where they will apply their math knowledge to create real world house designs. Mr. Hickey feels the most impressive thing about his Y8 math students this year has been their positive attitude and their ability to have fun despite the uniquely challenging circumstances.
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April Newsletter
Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 13 Mathematics Mathematical exploration The aim of the mathematical exploration is to give students the opportunity to increase their understanding of mathematical concepts and develop a wider appreciation of mathematics. This is an integral part of the course and enables students apply their skills and knowledge and pursue their own interests. And this year’s Year 13 Analysis and Approaches HL class have done just that. Here is a snapshot of their explorations, and along few thoughts they have about the exploration process.
Investigate how music has changed over time using the Rolling Stone magazine 2020, the greatest 500 albums of all time.
“I think the Math Exploration is a great opportunity to explore a specific area of Mathematics you are interested in. I personally really enjoyed the topic I chose and made me appreciate the intricacies of mathematics. Because the exploration needed context, it was also very interesting to see how the textbook-math’s, I have learned in class, has such versatile uses in real life settings.”
By using integration on a Cartesian plane, what is the area of the surface of revolution of one of the Borobudur Stupa’s? “The exploration has made me realise how important and useful mathematics is in everyday life. It made me appreciate calculus more and has made me eager to learn more of how it can be applied practically.”
April Newsletter
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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 13 Mathematics
Modelling the spread of the coronavirus in Malaysia.
Investigate the distance between the earth and celestial objects using trigonometric parallaxes.
“The Math Exploration helped my understanding in Mathematics by extending its applications to real-world problems. My exploration involved imaginary numbers and the name itself, although misleading, implies that these numbers are not real and therefore, of no use; my exploration showed that even the most abstract concepts are integrated in everyday life. This has helped enhanced my interest in Mathematics since I discovered that most things can be explained using Mathematics, even why piano’s sound is different to a guitar’s sound, which is what I learnt.”
The role of Fourier analysis in music.
Finding the fret distance on a guitar’s fretboard using equal temperament.
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April Newsletter
Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 13 Mathematics
Approximating the volume of a perfume bottle using multi-variable calculus.
What advice would you give to students who will be carrying out a Math Exploration? The best advice I can give is to decide on the topic you would want to focus early on. Once you have found a chapter you find yourself comfortable with, find ways to incorporate it in real life. Writing a long essay on something you like will help with the motivation to write it. Conduct an exploration on a topic that you genuinely have interest in. That way, you will view and appreciate Mathematics in a way beyond mere numbers and symbols. My main advice would be to choose an area of mathematics you are interested in – do not choose something purely based off the level of difficulty. The IB Math exploration is no easy feat, it takes a lot of research, learning new mathematical methods, and integrating different technology to reach the end result. If you write an exploration on a random topic or one that you do not particularly enjoy, it will become harder to motivate yourself to really dig into the topic and dissect it mathematically – which is really what you want to achieve. Choosing a topic that you are interested in/enjoy will also help you appreciate the mathematics that comes with it and be motivated to investigate it as best as you possible can, instead of seeing it as just another task or assignment. It will show in your exploration report whether you are interested in it or not.
Five words that describe the process of writing a Math Exploration: • Eye-opening, meticulous, in depth, challenging (in a good way), fascinating. • Challenging, rewarding, difficult, stressful, eye-opening. • Stressful, difficult, challenging, long-lasting, rewarding (towards the end).
April Newsletter
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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 10 - Bahasa Indonesia Year 10 IGCSE Bahasa Indonesia students have been developing their skills in narrative writing: focussing on theme, characters, setting, plot, climax, and resolution. To strengthen their skills and strategies in reading, particularly ‘text to text’, the students converted their narratives into four comic panels to show the beginning, conflict, climax, and resolution.
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April Newsletter
Learning at ACG School Jakarta Secondary – IBDP Indonesian B In Year 12, through the theme of Sharing the Planet, the class has been exploring the topic of Human Rights. Students investigated the meaning of Human Rights, collated online images and created appropriate captions. The images were then used to create narrated videos. Please enjoy one of the videos by Euan Komasurya by scanning the barcode.
April Newsletter
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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Physical Education and Sports Update This month saw the return to on-site physical education classes and the addition of training sessions for the Senior Volleyball and Junior Basketball programs, to go along with the Orcas Swim Team and Junior Soccer programs already in progress. All the classes and training sessions have been a great success. Students, teachers, and coaches alike are thrilled to be physically active and practise their sports safely on campus again. For those who may be interested, there is still room on most sports teams for students to register and take part. The teams will continue to practice until the end of the academic school year. Recently, the practice times during the week moved to the earlier start time of 3:00 pm, to make the sessions more convenient for all involved. Please use the link HERE for further information and to sign-up for all the teams on offer! Go Wolves and Go Orcas!
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April Newsletter
April Newsletter
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Inspired Global Camps 2021
Dear Inspired Community, Don’t miss out on your exclusive 10% discount on our Summer Camps. We hope you have had the opportunity to look though our Global Camps brochure and learn about the fantastic camps we have on offer this summer. As valued members of the Inspired family we are delighted to offer you an exclusive 10% discount on Global Camp bookings that are made before 1st May 2021. Fun and relaxation have never been more important, and our Camps Team have been hard at work behind the scenes ensuring we can provide some safe, entertaining, and challenging options for our students this summer. Our Summer Camps give young people the chance to stay at some of Europe’s top boarding schools and take part in programmes including football, basketball, golf, and tennis camps in Spain; fashion, design and art in Italy; and drama, STEM, and lake and mountain activities in Switzerland.
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Extraordinary experiences, lifelong memories
To download the brochure, please click on the image
Enter
Global Camps 2021
They provide a fantastic opportunity for students to travel, meet peers from other countries, get involved with inspiring activities, and learn new skills that will stay with them forever. This year, we sincerely hope that travel will be permitted, both within countries and internationally. We know however, this is not guaranteed, which is why we have introduced the Inspired COVID Peace of Mind Policy. COVID Peace of Mind Policy At Inspired Global Camps, we are committed to ensuring everyone’s safety and comfort – from our campers and staff to the communities and countries that host our camps. This summer, you can book an Inspired Global Camp safe in the knowledge that we have worked with local authorities and implemented policies and procedures to ensure our camps provide the safest environment for your child. In addition to being confident that our camps meet strict government standards for safety and increased hygiene, we also offer you the security of being able to cancel your camp booking if COVID19 prevents travel*. With our COVID Peace of Mind Policy you can book with confidence, and we can all look forward to a safe summer full of adventure. Booking is simple, choose your camp from our webpage and make your reservation directly with the school, advising them which Inspired school and year group your child is currently in. To qualify for the exclusive 10% discount, booking must be confirmed before 1st May. We look forward to welcoming your child to a summer full of adventure. Global Camps Team! *We will transfer your registration to summer 2022 or offer a full refund of the camp fees in these circumstances: Student cannot travel to camp due to contracting Covid19; Student is unable to travel to Summer Camp due to travel restrictions or quarantine caused by Covid19; Summer Camp registrations do not reach the minimum number required. Proof of positive test or quarantine may be required. 28 | ACG JKT
April Newsletter
FIRST EVER INSPIRED STUDENT LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
After months of intense preparation, the first Inspired Student Leadership Conference was held virtually on April 22nd and 23rd. This conference, which has been led and organised by Inspired students, left everyone motivated and keen to make a difference in their local and, hopefully, the global community. The event consisted of different online activities related to the environment on the first day, since this was ‘Earth Day’ and a student leadership day on the second day. Students from all over the world participated in the conference, creating a truly multicultural atmosphere. Workshops, debates, and talks were held that explored both the problems and solutions associated with the environment and the importance and impact of leadership in human societies. In addition, sessions were delivered by leading personalities from the world of environmental protection and leadership; examples include Michael Mann, the EU ambassador to the Arctic; Fuencisla Clemares, CEO of Google in Spain and Portugal; and Roberto Martinez, the current Belgium football manager. The conference has been a complete success, both in the organisation and in the event itself. A multicultural atmosphere was created, which gave rise to the sharing of different ideas, opinions, and perspectives. Moreover, this has taught us all the art of teamwork, even when thousands of kilometres separated the participants the possibility of learning from one another arose, and many discussions took place about crucial issues that are affecting our world today. Leadership is a skill, and like any skill, it needs to be developed through practice and training. This conference has allowed us to become more confident in ourselves and unafraid to take on daunting challenges. For those of us organising it, it has tested our leadership skills to their limits, but it has helped us grow into more resilient individuals. Moreover, in our multicultural atmosphere, we have torn down cultural barriers and developed a positive and constructive atmosphere where we could work together in an organised and efficient way. For those participating in the conference, it has been a hugely enriching and rewarding experience where we had the opportunity to meet amazing young leaders from all over the world. Finally, we would lThank you to Inspired students from around the world for taking part and making our first ever conference such a success. Student Marketing Team Student Leadership Conference 2021 April Newsletter
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April Newsletter
April Newsletter
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Whole School Updates Library To support students’ access to reading materials, ACG School Jakarta will provide a Drive-thru Library Service. This service is to ensure the health and safety of our community while providing access to library books. Easy Steps to follow: •
Visit acgschooljakarta.follettdestiny.com to search the catalogue of books and place a hold on your selected items.
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Once you receive an email notification to tell you that your items are ready for collection, you will have 6 days to pick them up from school.
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The Drive-thru Service allows you to drop off and pick up library books Monday to Friday from 7.30am – 4.30pm
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To further limit the spread of COVID-19, the library sets aside all returned materials in UV containers before staff checking items back in.
Please see our short video for further details about our Drive-thru Library Service. HERE Parent Information Portal Please visit https://jakarta.acgedu.com/school-information/parent-essentials/ for updated information for parents and students. Social Responsibility As a community of learners, we have the responsibility to model behaviours and actions that we want our students to display. We are committed to embracing the energy and events of our time to advance social change in the areas of environmental protection, animal welfare and disaster relief. Parents as Learners Parents are encouraged to visit this section of our Information Portal to learn more about upcoming parent workshops and learning opportunities. Uniforms: We now have an online uniform order system and would like to encourage parents to use this online service. Payment can be made easily by bank transfer, credit card or cash.
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March Newsletter
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April Newsletter