DET U R
P O N S MU
NDO
DULWICH COLLEGE || YANGON ||
THE COLLEGE MAGAZINE TERM 1 2018–2019
Contents 8
College
16 Events
10
Star City Campus
18
Yangon Youth Football League
12
Pun Hlaing Campus
20
House Competition
14
Message from Headmaster
21
Library Competition
15
Message from Head of School
22
Thadingyut Festival
23
Maths Olympiad
25
Mark Grist
26
Shackleton Lecture
27
European Languages Day
28
Ausburg University Visit
29
Hydroponics
30
TEDx Event
31
Mooncake Festival
32
Sport at Dulwich
34
Music at Our College / House Assemblies
36
Student Leadership
38
Eco Council
18
23
34
40 DUCKS
61 Senior School
42
Tapestry
63
43
DUCKS Assembly
Message from Head Boy and Head Girl
44
Our Approach to Early Years Education
65
EAL at Dulwich
67
Science
46
Toddler Transition
69
English
48
Of Colours and Mess
70
Humanities
50
Learning Through Loose Parts Play in the Early Years
72
Mandarin Programme
73
Clinics at Dulwich
74
Co-curricular Activities
75
Golf Club
76
Tech Integration
52
Phonics Workshop for Parents
53
Year 1 and 2 Development
54
Year 1 and 2
56 Junior School 58
Year 3 and 4 Weathers the Storm
59
Year 5
61
Year 6
48
67
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COLLEGE | The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19
College Star City Campus Message from Headmaster Pun Hlaing Campus Message from Head of School
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STAR CITY CAMPUS 10
COLLEGE | The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | COLLEGE 1 1
PUN HLAING CAMPUS
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COLLEGE | The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19
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Message from Headmaster, Star City Campus d a ry l o r c h a r d BA (HONS), PGCE, MA, MBA
Dear Parents and Guardians, I would like to welcome you to the Autumn edition of ‘The College’ magazine for the 2018/19 school year, which features news from both of our campuses – Pun Hlaing and Star City. The facilities at both sites are quite simply the best of any school in Myanmar and I feel that we have a group of students who also meet that description! The comment about the facilities was made official when we won the prestigious Myanmar Property Awards for ‘Best Educational Development’. The list of events that we have enjoyed this year is a long one – visits by author and slam poet Mark Grist, the Shackleton lecture from the Honourable Alexandra Shackleton, the Thadingyut celebrations, European Languages Day, Christmas concerts, Halloween night, Dulwich Earthquakes soccer camp, Yangon Football League, Chinese theme day and Maths Olympiad. My two favourites were Thadingyut and Halloween. The main reason for this is because we saw all our community working together and supporting the children’s learning and enjoyment. I continue to be impressed by our Friends of Dulwich parents group and their supporters in both campuses, who have been a vital part of the school’s success. And now we stand on the age of a new era for Dulwich College Yangon. The planned introduction of scholarships, a flexible boarding facility and the development of our outstanding sports centre at Star City, are beginning to create a great sense of excitement. We were also proud to take the unprecedented step of rewarding our current and future parents with the US$5,000 Founder’s Bursary. All of the above will allow us to launch the Dulwich Difference – bringing unique programmes to Yangon for the very first time, whether they be in the arts, sports or the ever increasing community work that we do for the good of the wider community. We are grateful that parents are helping us spread this message and are promoting the globally recognised advantages of a Dulwich education. Finally, please may I remind parents that they are always welcome to speak to our staff about any matter concerning their children’s education and the development of the school, so that we continue to work as one Dulwich College Yangon team! Warm regards,
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Message from Head of School, Pun Hlaing Campus luke chaeter BA (HONS), PGCE, MA, MBA
Dear Parents and Friends of Dulwich College Yangon, Yet again, the first term has been an enjoyable, exciting and busy time at Dulwich College Yangon, Pun Hlaing Campus. The school has continued to grow, and it is pleasing to see both previous and new students and parents alike, enjoying all that the college has to offer. The students have continued to work incredibly hard, and I am particularly pleased to see that the entire environment, both inside and outside, including the beautifully manicured sports field, being utilised to its full potential. Each academic year brings change, not just with updated facilities – such as the wonderful new DUCKS library, and outdoor environment in the Early Years, but with staff. All have settled into Dulwich College Yangon life, and have further enhanced the learning opportunities for all students. Also, Miss Cho has reinvigorated both libraries, reading has a strong ethos at Pun Hlaing. During this first term, students have had many opportunities to broaden their horizons. The Shackleton Lecture was a great success. Alexandra Shackleton gave an insightful talk relating to the life and times of Sir Ernest Shackleton, particularly poignant as this is the four hundredth anniversary of Dulwich College. Mark Grist also attended the campus to promote poetry, and deliver workshops to enhance the writing skills of all students. Mark was a real pleasure, who exuded enthusiasm, which had a positive impact on all. Students in our Primary school attended residential trips to Hpa-An and an eco-camp in Malaysia, as well as our older students partaking in the Dulwich Festival of Music in Seoul, South Korea. Further to this, we continue to flourish in sport, with teams representing the college locally in benchball, basketball and rugby, and internationally in football, competing in Phuket. The School Leadership and Eco Councils continue to drive student led initiatives in the college. The School Leadership Council is currently developing links with local schools to support teaching and learning, and have been instrumental in supporting the Step-up, Step-out initiative which has been designed to support members of the local community find work, through a training and employment programme. The Eco-council has continued to drive sustainability, and have heavily promoted recycling and are currently working on developing the raised beds to support sustainable, organic vegetables. It is also pleasing to see students and parents alike utilising the cycle path, to and from school. Assemblies have continued to flourish, and whether it is a Thursday or Friday, talent from the school is regularly showcased. I have particularly enjoyed the ‘House Assemblies’ which has further instilled pride in our students, and enhanced recognition with regards to what, and who the houses represent. A particular highlight for me during this first term was the Thadingyut Festival. Dulwich College Yangon is extremly proud to be in Myanmar, and this showcased, once again, the tremendous culture of this wonderful nation. As always, I would like to mention that Dulwich College Pun Hlaing, would not be the place it is today, without the wonderful support you have given us. The Friends of Dulwich have again been a tremendous asset, and I also know that they have already begun to think about the upcoming events in term 2, such as Founders Day. Finally, I hope you all enjoy browsing through The College, and that the images you see, will rekindle memories, of what has been an incredible first term!
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Events Yangon Youth Football League House Competition Library Competition Thadingyut Festival Maths Olympiad Mark Grist Shackleton Lecture European Languages Day Ausburg University Visit Hydroponics TEDx Event Mooncake Festival House Assemblies Sport at Dulwich Music at Our College / House Assemblies Student Leadership Eco Council
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Yangon Youth Football League P e t e r P o u lt o n
WHOL E COL L EGE
DULWICH
YANGON Y OUTH
FOOTBALL LEAG
UE
The Yangon Youth Football League was established last year and following on from the success of this event, we have launched it again but this time with more fixtures, more pitches and crucially more players! Now hosted at our top class facilities, we are able to run four games simultaneously and keep the players active throughout each round of games. It is our intention to provide young football players with the opportunity to play football in a fun, but competitive environment and the Yangon Youth League has proven to be a great success. The league has players between the ages of 7 and 14 and involves people from all walks of life. We have players from sixteen different schools across Yangon as well as children from our local community in Star City and a group of teenagers from a local orphanage. This enables everyone, no matter their background to participate and socialise together while enjoying the competitive nature of sport. There is a junior and senior age division, and during week one all players are assigned a team of either Alligators, Bears, Bulls, Eagles, Panthers or Rhinos.
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Once they have their team, they collect the team kit and the competition kicks off with 2 games per week, followed by play-offs to discover who will be crowned champions. We are currently halfway through the league and there has been some fantastic footballing ability on display. It has also been great to see how the less experienced players have been able to fully take part and get involved in every game. The spirt of competition is excellent with players maintaining a focused and determined approach, but at the same time, ensuring games remain fun and enjoyable for all involved. We will now look to build on this event and continue to provide sporting opportunities for the youth of Yangon. We intend to broaden this competition and run leagues in other sports. We have 8 badminton courts, 2 NBA regulation size basketball courts and 2 official size volleyball courts. All of this is inside our first class double gymnasium, meaning we can play in all weather conditions. Additionally, around our football pitch is a 400m grass running track and we have a 20m swimming pool, with completion of the Olympic 50m pool only weeks away. Sport at Dulwich College Yangon is taking off in a big way and there is exciting time ahead for all children and young people of Yangon.
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House Competition George Demetr iou
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS Sudoko-Bowl organized by the Maths department and led by M r D a n S i n n o t t ‘The Sudokubowl’ entails pupils fitting the numbers 1–4 (1–5 for the senior school) into a box, and satisfying the sum, which is in the top left corner of each box. We had a fantastic turnout, with 30 pupils taking part on day 1, and 22 on day 2. The top 3 from both primary competitions from day 1 were:
Year 3–4 Philip Kim (Year 4)
2ND
Seung Yu (Year 3)
1ST
Hima Arai (Year 4)
3RD
Melon Jenga organized by the Science Department and led by D r S h au n B a k e r 48 students, 12 from each house took place in the “Melon Jenga” Inter House Competition on Friday, October 19. This is where pupils from each house compete against each other to see who can explode their watermelon first by placing elastic bands around the middle of the watermelon. The continuing pressure applied by each elastic band around the watermelon will become too much for the piece of fruit and will become a devastating mess. One team was particularly successful, the Y6 to Y8 Anawrahta Team led by R i c h i e K y a w , whose skillful coaching resulted in them running out as clear first place winners. A very messy, but fun lunchtime was enjoyed by all. No one now underestimates the power of the humble elastic band!
Year 5–6 Su Phyu (Year 5)
2ND
Anna Kyaw (Year 6)
1ST
Results
Thinzar Wady (Year 6)
3RD
Johnson
2
ND
The Senior Sudokubowl took place on day 2. To make it more competitive, I awarded the top 3 from the year 5–6 competition entry to the competition. H e n r y H e i n (Year 6), who finished 4th on the previous, came to see me in the morning and asked if he could also take part. After a grueling 30 minutes of tackling the puzzle, it was H e n r y who successfully completed the puzzle quicker than anyone else. The top 3 were:
Year 7–9 (Plus top 4 from Year 5–6) Emily Nyein (Year 9)
2ND
20
Henry Hein (Year 6)
1ST
Thinzar Wady (Year 6)
EVENTS | The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19
3RD
Anawrahta
1ST
Curie
3RD
Shackleton
4RD
Library Competition Craig Holme s
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS
House points are always in high demand at Dulwich College Yangon. The library is one of the most popular places in the school. Thanks to the hard work of Miss Cho, these two things have been brought together for the first time to create the Library House Competition. In order to encourage students to increase the amount of nonfiction they read, a weekly competition now takes place in the library. Students collect a task based on the First News student newspaper, complete it independently and return it to Miss Cho before the end of the week to score house points. First News is a newspaper published weekly and targeted at school students and covers a range of topics from politics to entertainment to sports and the environment. The higher order skills required to complete the weekly tasks include research, inference, deduction and independent research – all increasingly important in abilities.
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Thadingyut Festival Hnin Po Po
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS Myanmar is rich in culture and has developed its own distinctive culture. Thadingyut Festival is one of the most famous traditional festivals in Myanmar and Dulwich College Yangon hosted our own celebration on Thursday 18 October from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Throughout the first few weeks of term, the students were busy preparing for Thadingyut celebrations, which was made up of various activities to showcase our beautiful culture. Students from different year groups participated Myanmar cultural performances in groups. Parents, students and staff wore traditional Myanmar costumes for the event. We would like to say thank you to the Friends of Dulwich who raised an incredible sum of money in our Thadingyut raffle, which will be of great support to the monastery school.
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Thadingyut Festival Phyu Thi
STAR C IT Y CAM PUS
Thadingyut Lighting Festival is one of the most famous and meaningful festivals in Myanmar, a nation that has rich Buddhism practice and culture. It is celebrated in the second or third week of October as a sign of welcoming back the Buddha to the Earth after preaching “ Abhidhamma” the highest doctrine of Buddhism to his previous life mother in heaven. The festival is in the seventh month of Myanmar Calendar. For this year 2018, Full Moon Day of Thadingyut is on 24th October. Every Buddhist in Myanmar lights up colourful bulbs in front of each house and celebrates the festival in nationwide. Monasteries, pagodas, houses and streets come alive with candles flames.
have done wrong. In return, the elders forgive them and bless them. Most of the elders and Buddhists go to monasteries and pagodas to do merit, show good deeds and pray. At our school, Dulwich College Star City Campus, we celebrated Thadingyut on Thursday 18 October. Our students performed Thadingyut activities such as dancing Thadingyut Night, singing Thadingyut Pi Lay, performing a Myanmar Model Show, acting Maung Shwe Yoe and Chit Sabal, presenting the Myanmar major ethnic groups and singing and dancing “Si Lone Chin Atwat Thachin Ta Poke”. All the parents, students and DCY staff lit the candles and enjoyed the Myanmar traditional food at the end of the celebration.
During the festival, children, youths and all ages pay homage and give presents to the elders and ask for forgiveness if they
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Maths Olympiad Dan i el Si nnot t
WHOL E C OL L EGE On Friday 2 November, we at DCY Pun Hlaing hosted the first Junior Maths Olympiad to be held in Myanmar. Our school invited other international schools to bring teams of four to compete with our most talented mathematicians in a host of different mathematical challenges. In total, there were 9 teams competing and each team was named after a historical mathematician. The competition incorperated 3 rounds. The first being a multiple choice round using the app ‘Kahoot’, the next being a ‘Sudokubowl’, with the final round being a maths relay. The events took place in the Black Box Theatre and in our Middle School MUGA building. After a closely fought contest, it was Network team of ‘Gauss’ who won the Junior Maths Olympiad, beating DCY’s Fibonacci team, who finished a close second. It was a wonderful occasion to which the pupils all thoroughly enjoyed. A huge thank you to m S c o z z i and m r c l e a r who helped coordinate the event and Aden for organising a delicious BBQ for all participants and finally, the dozens of parents from all schools who were a wonderful audience during the Olympiad. We can’t wait until the next one!
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Mark Grist M a x i n e L e e -M o r a t h WHOL E COL L EGE Outstanding slam poet and published writer M a r k G r i s t , visited Dulwich College Yangon in October as our first diversity artist. He performed for all students from Foundation 2 to Year 9, and delighted his audiences with tales from his life and imaginative stories, all told through the mediums of poetry and rap. M a r k ’ s poems told stories of pirates, childhood adventures and even his first love, which as it turns out, was not meant to be! Mark conducted poetry workshops with our Year 4 to Year 9 classes, and was impressed at the creative and poetic skills of our students, commenting on the high level of work produced by each class in just a short time. Congratulations to all students involved in the day, and we hope to have M a r k back at DCY again soon!
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Shackleton Lecture Philip Clear
WHOL E COL L EGE On Friday 21 September, we welcomed the honourable Alexandra Shackleton to the new Dance Studio of the Star City Campus to talk about the life and in particular the expeditions of her grandfather
S i r e a r n e S t S H ac k l e t o n . As all students know, one of the houses here at Dulwich Yangon is named after him. He was a pupil at Dulwich over 100 years ago. She gave a fascinating account of the expedition that he led in 1914. Although it did not achieve its mission of reaching the South Pole, it was successful in as much as all of the men survived for over two years with limited supplies in freezing temperatures. He showed amazing courage, determination and leadership to ensure that in spite of the main boat sinking under the ice, its tiny lifeboats made it to land to raise the alarm. The Pun Hlaing pupils travelled over to Star City. After the lecture they all made use of the new sports facilities, the sports squads had the chance to practise together. Pupils from Year 5, who had been studying the Antarctic and the Shackleton expedition had a question and session workshop with a l e x a n D r a S H ac k l e t o n . After lunch, the older students were involved in a leadership workshop. We thought about the most important characteristics of a leader. We came up with quite a characteristics: ability to inspire, creativity, honesty, fairness, positive attitude. For each of these characteristics, a l e came up with an example from her grandfather’s expedition.
x anDr a
He was a truly remarkable man. One of his best known quotations is ‘Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.’ As difficulties go, rescuing over 20 men, stranded hundreds of miles from human habitation in subzero temperatures, in the roughest seas on the planet, with little more to eat than penguins and seals must be one of the greatest imaginable. Nevertheless, with courage, resilience, good humour and determination, he managed to overcome that difficulty. Although these events took place at the beginning of the previous century, these characteristics of leadership are what we at Dulwich are developing in the students on a daily basis. 26
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European Languages Day B e r n a d i n e C a ss i m e r WHOL E COL L EGE
For the first time at DCY in September, the European Day of Languages was celebrated at both campuses with great success highlighting our ethos of international mindedness and global citizenship; key parts of our Dulwich values. All our students from DUCKS to Year 9 took part in activities to raise awareness of European diversity, culturally, geographically and linguistically. Students participated in songs and dance, cooking and quizzes. They also experienced learning in different contexts, discovering European origins of novels, enjoying German taster lessons with music, devising Spanish dramas and discovering the origins of scientific language as well as countries connected with the elements. They even had a whole maths lesson delivered in Italian! It was a memorable day for all culminating in a delicious Friends of Dulwich Bake Sale at Pun Hlaing and an equally scrumptious Friends of Dulwich Pancake Sale at Star City. At DCY, our students Graduate Global.
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Ausburg University Visit R i ta H i n o j o s a
WHOL E COL L EGE This September we were excited to welcome our first university representative for the year, T r ac y H ow from Augsburg University. Her presentation was informative and insightful as she spoke about not only the academic aspect of the American university experience but also everyday student life. Through a “jeopardy game” style presentation, our students were engaged and were able to answer questions. The highlight of the message was that while there is emphasis on academic attainment such as grades, universities review candidates through a holistic lens that is inclusive of extracurricular activities, volunteerism, leadership roles, and special talents. This is something we cultivate at Dulwich as we strive to prepare students to be leaders and pioneers who will thrive in the 21st century workplace.
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Hydroponics Elena Coz zi
STAR C IT Y CAM PUS Pioneering Spirit Grant: Hydroponics At the beginning of the school year we launched our Hydroponics project, funded thanks to the award of $30,000 Pioneering Spirit grant. We closely collaborated with UNIvege Premium, a Japanese-Myanmar joint venture which grows salads, herbs, microgreens and sprouts using hydroponics and build for us all the classrooms’ minifarms. Year 1 to 4 students received aquaponics systems. They used it as a prompt to explore the amazing animals topic, and learn how to take care of fish and be responsible for cleaning the tank. Students from Year 6 to Year 9 began the project by visiting the hydroponics farm of UNIvege Premium in East Dagon, Yangon. During the visit, Japanese agronomists explained the principles behind hydroponics and farming indoors. Our students learnt from experts how to seed and plant, and what key parameters need to be monitored and controlled to enable the plants to grow well. Upon returning from the visit to the farm, the students started experimenting with growing their own lettuces and herbs – challenges included finding the perfect nursery, preparing the nutrients solutions, seeding and spacing the plants. As part of the project, students have been learning how to write storyboards and record videos using a variety of lenses and apps. They have also received specialist training on Raspberry Pis, tiny computers that they can use to learn programming through fun, practical projects. In the next term, we will look for applications to monitor variables and the growth of plants. The highlight of the term was the cross curricular Hydroponics day. Older students planned their own assembly using a range of media, including live performance, quiz and documentaries. They also taught the younger pupils how to seed and prepare the nursery. We are now waiting to see which class will be able to produce the biggest yield!
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TEDx event S h au n B a k e r
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS Seven students from the TEDed CCA volunteered to assist at the TEDx Yangon event hosted at The Strand on Saturday 6 October. They were able to see behind the scenes at this busy event and played roles as ushers and “sign bearers”. Most importantly, having been at one of the rehearsal sessions hosted at The Black Box Theatre at DCY Pun Hlaing, they were able to experience first-hand how the speeches were developed and compare these to the final versions. The students have been some weeks in preparing their own talks and can draw on their experience at the Yangon event in the coming weeks, as they will have an opportunity to spread their own idea and have it showcased at a Friday assembly next term. We wish them all the very best.
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Mooncake Festival Serena Zhu
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS On Wednesday, 26 September, all the students in Dulwich College Pun Hliang enjoyed a fantastic day. We learnt to make traditional mooncakes from the professional chef in Acacia Tea Salon. It was so much fun. Mooncake in China represents family reunion. On September 24, students also reviewed the traditional culture background in China on the mid-autumn festival day. It was a great experience for each one of them to get the chance to learn how to make a mooncake. They enjoyed eating their mooncakes and this made them think about the importance of family.
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Sport at Dulwich George Demetr iou WHOL E COL L EGE Year 3 and 4 MISAC Junior Benchball Tournament The Year 3 and 4 students from Pun Hlaing campus combined with students from Star City to represent Dulwich College in a Benchball competition. The MISAC Junior division includes MSY, MISY, Network and BSY where all schools competed in a round robin format. Our students worked very hard and applied a great attitude to their performances, which saw both our Year 4 squads receive the Fair Play Awards in their categories. Unfortunately, we missed out on the main awards but we were all very proud of their efforts and they represented Dulwich College in the correct manner and with excellent team spirit. This was the first time the spectacular sports facilities were used at Star City with a large crowd of supporters enjoying the smooth tournament organized by M r P e t e r P o u lt o n , Head of Physical Education at the Star City campus. The indoor gymnasium was split into four courts for the teams to compete on and the wonderful new terrace seating was used for parents, teams and supporters to enjoy the competition in a professional setting. The students who played particularly well were A v e r y N a i n g leading on assists and points scored, J u n L o an energetic and agile court player, J e ss e Y o u n g a competitive and feisty defender and S e u n g Y u a calm playmaker. These pupils received the Most Valuable Player awards for each of their teams. Year 5 and 6 MISAC Junior Handball ‘A’ Tournament This term, we competed in the MISAC Junior Year 5 and 6 Handball tournament at British School Yangon. Pupils from both campuses represented Dulwich College Yangon with a great attitude and enthusiasm. We competed in a Round Robin league against all the other schools gaining some well-earned victories and some developmental losses. The Year 6 squad came 4th in their league and the Year 5 squad managed 3rd in their league, achieving the Fair Play Award voted by all the other members of staff. There were many candidates in both our squads who could have won our Most Valuable Players Award like A l f r e d N i a n g whose performance improved the more he played, T h o m a s W i l d and H e n r y H e i n played well as goalkeepers saving countless amounts of shots, G l o r i a K h i n and J u l i a Y o u n g 32
EVENTS | The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19
who were bright attacking forwards creating and scoring many chances but our selection went to A l a n D a lt r y in the Year 5 squad who was an aggressive forward scoring most of the goals for the Year 5 team and A n n a K y a w who was a tenacious defender pressing the oppositions attackers with real purpose and thought for the Year 6 team. Well done to both players. Overall, this was a valuable experience for all the players. It taught them about winning and losing, the importance of collaboration within a team, they developed their decision making skills, practical skills and how to apply them in the right way. They developed tactical knowledge and strategies they could apply in the competition. Year 5 and 6 MISAC Junior Handball ‘B’ Tournament Our B Squads competed at the MISAC Junior Handball Competition hosted at Star City. This time the tournament was held outside on the fantastic grass pitches and the new terrace stand house all the competitors, staff, parents and supporters. It was truly an amazing event. Our teams competed very well in every match they played. For some of our pupils, this was the very first time they had ever competed in an organized tournament against other schools. This experience is highly valuable especially to the pupils who have been rewarded for their development and progress within their PE lessons studying this sport. Our Year 5 team finished in 6th position and our Year 6 team finished in 4th place in the final standings.
B r o d i e K i r k l a n d here on the left scoring the winning goal using the jump shot technique. B r o d i e was outstanding in all games, scoring multiple goals and leading his team by example. As a result of his excellent performance throughout the tournament he was voted as Most Valuable Player by the coaches. The Year 5 award went to C h a r l i e O r c h a r d for a continuing effort to drive his team forward, excellent analytical skills on the opposition and his general application of his skillset to the game.
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Music at our College M a x i n e L e e -M o r a t h
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS Music has come a long way at DCY Pun Hlaing in the last few years. From humble beginnings, we have started the 2018/19 school year with five highly experienced teachers delivering excellent teaching and learning across classroom music and instrumental music lessons. Our compulsory string and band programs continue to run successfully, and we have expanded to include brass instruments this year for the first time. This term we have also expanded our co-curricular ensembles, and almost one third of our students across the school are now learning a musical instrument as a cocurricular activity. We have three key stage choirs, an auditioned vocal group, and our ever expanding and improving orchestra, all consisting of dedicated students willing to give up their own time to pursue involvement in music. Term one saw the first performance of our KS1 choir, and our older choirs, orchestra, and instrumentalists are tackling repertoire of far greater difficulty than they have in the past, all signs of the ongoing success of music in our school. Christmas was a creative and musical affair. All DUCKS children combined for the first time to produce a wonderful show, the KS3 Christmas concert was a credit to the musical and dramatic skills of our older students, and KS2 performed their major production of the year, of ‘Sulky Santa and the Boy Who Didn’t Believe’. We look forward to sharing photos and more detail of these events. Congratulations to all students involved in music this term, it has been a successful and positive start to the year!
House Assemblies M a x i n e L e e -M o r a t h
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS Term One saw our oldest students take on the task of delivering House Assemblies. Year 6, 7, 8 & 9 students delivered informative and creative presentations and performances, based on the four DCY house namesakes – Johnson (Year 7), Shackleton (Year 8), Curie (Year 9), and Anawrhata (Year 6). The performances showcased the talents of our students as writers, directors and performers, and utilized our fantastic Black Box Theatre to full effect, with audiovisual SFX enhancing each assembly. All classes did a fantastic job of presenting, and really set the standard high for assemblies throughout the year! Congratulations to all involved.
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Music at our College Graeme Abernethy
STAR C IT Y CAM PUS The 2018–19 music programme is now well under way at the Star City Campus. Foundation students are enjoying a range of musical activities involving movement and singing with use of percussion instruments to help focus their control over rhythm. Newly arrived outdoor music equipment means that they can now experiment with music and sounds in the playground. In Year 1 students have learned how rhythm is a fundamental part of music while their counterparts in Year 2 have spent time enhancing techniques gained last year on recorder. Year 1 and 2 students will also be working together on developing tuned percussion (xylophone and glockenspiel) skills. Year 3 and 4 students continue with the violin programme, working in one of two groups; beginners under our new violin instructor M r S a w (Y3 and new Y4 students) and second year players under M s M a y (most of our Y4 students). The violin programme under M r S a w has also been extended to our Y5 students in order to consolidate and further the basic skills learned last year. In Years 6-9, brass playing is the primary focus and with most of the students in their second year of learning the trumpet or trombone, a wider, more demanding range of music is being studied. As we build up our pool of more experienced string and brass players, we hope to be able feature them more regularly in public performances. Of course, singing continues to be an integral part of the music curriculum for all year groups and students from Y1 – Y9 combined to sing in public for the first time this year at our Thadingyut festival. Our programme of individual piano and violin lessons has grown substantially this year. M s M a y , who was teaching violin and piano on Thursdays last year, is also working with us on Wednesday afternoons. As mentioned earlier, M r S a w has now joined us as an additional violin teacher and teaches individual lessons along with his Year 3 and 5 violin classes. We plan to highlight the progress made by our instrumental students with an informal concert later in the year. At the time of writing, the usual preparations are being made for forthcoming Christmas celebrations in which our students look forward to regaling you with some traditional festive favourites as well as introducing some less familiar, but equally entertaining material. The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | EVENTS 3 5
Student Leadership C h r i s t o ph e r P e r k i n s
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS
This academic year, we have made a few changes to the composition of our Student Leadership Council at Pun Hlaing. Rather than selecting two representatives from each class, we have now limited this to just one. Although this gives us a much smaller Council, it has meant that each child has a stronger voice and has made the management of meetings much easier. We also welcome our new School Guidance Counsellor, M s R i ta H i n o j o s a , to the team, a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ with some great ideas about how we can help the School to move forward. So far this year, the Council has been trying to push for a much healthier Dulwich College. They all agreed that they wanted to encourage the students to make much healthier eating choices. This not only helps improve everyone’s overall health and wellbeing, but also supports all children in learning to the best of their ability. Look out for healthy eating prompts in the café and dinner hall, and for a range of student-made posters around the campus. The Council also have some big plans this year for how they can help support two local schools – Nyaung Ywar and Daing Su Government schools. We will be asking staff and parent volunteers if they can help to support these schools. Of course, there will also be our annual Christmas Disco, so do look out for information about that very soon.
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Student Leadership M at t h e w C h a pi l l on
STAR C IT Y CAM PUS
Following elections, the Star City student council got underway this term, meeting every fortnight to discuss priorities. This year, the Student Council is made up of A l e x i s and H n i n e from Year 1/2, W i l s o n from Year 3/4, M a y B r a n i from Year 5, B r o d i e from Year 6/7 and J u s t i n from Year 8/9. The priorities for the students were to think about some events for this term. One again, a Halloween party was top of the list and this took place on Friday, 2nd November. A fun night was had by all. Other events scheduled for the term included a movie night and ‘Dulwich’s Got Talent’. Additional priorities decided upon for the year are improving the indoor play experience, developing inter-school competition opportunities and developing the CCA offering.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | EVENTS 3 7
Eco Council M a t t h e w G r ac e
WHOL E COL L EGE
The whole of Dulwich College Yangon have got behind the college’s drive to become more sustainable and this push is being spearheaded by each campus’s eco-council. The elected eco-council student members meet fortnightly to work on achieving the Eco-Schools Action Plan which was created last year.
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The student body have made great progress towards completing their action plans and will hopefully be awarded with Eco-Schools Green Flag awards by the end of the academic year. This award is internationally recognised as a sign that this college is committed to living sustainably.
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Some of the key developments this term from the eco-council are:
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Recycling collection points are now available at both campuses, allowing paper, plastic and cans to be recycled, rather than sent to landfill. Raised beds have been installed at both campuses, allowing students to attempt to grow their own vegetables.
EVENTS | The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19
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A cycle path has been created from the Pun Hlaing Estate to the Pun Hlaing Campus, allowing students a healthier, safer and more environmentally-friendly route to school. Disposable cups have been removed from water dispensers around the school, encouraging students, staff and visitors to use their reusable bottles and therefore create less waste. Litter picks were carried out by senior school students in Hlaing Tharyar and by Star City students (and Magic Bus Myanmar volunteers) in Thanlyin. A poster competition was held at both campuses providing ‘eco-tips’ the school community. Steps have been made to install solar panels on the Pun Hlaing campus. Eco-Code has been created to give students some lessons to live by.
The eco-councils will continue to work hard, encouraging the whole school community to consider their actions. Thanks also go to the parents at the school for their support of our students’ sustainable initiatives.
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DUCKS | The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19
DUCKS Tapestry DUCKS Assembly Our Approach to Early Years Education Toddler Transition Of Colours and Mess Learning through Loose Parts Play in the Early Years Phonics Workshop for Parents Year 1 & 2 Development Year 1 & 2
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | DUCKS 4 1
Tapestry D a n i e l l e D e va n n y
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS development levels, allows us to do this confidently and effectively.” M s H e g a r t y “We love to see Tapestry. I want to post my own observations from home because I heard from the other parents that the teachers printed out the home observations and shared them with other children in the classroom. The children were very happy and told their families when they got home how proud they felt.” F o u n da t i o n 1 pa r e n t “It is nice because it can be easily downloaded and accessed at any time. I like to see the posts because I get to see what my child is doing at school.” F o u n da t i o n 1 pa r e n t “Tapestry is great. It shows me what my child is learning and what he is doing at school. I can also post photos from home. When my son does something at home, I tell him that I will put it on Tapestry and this motivates him.” F o u n da t i o n 2 pa r e n t
Tapestry continues to be such a valuable resource to ensure learning is being shared between school and home. It enhances special times, helping teachers and practitioners to capture children’s experiences as well as monitor development and learning. This unique journal is shared online with parents, who are able to see special moments. It also provides a permanent version of their child’s journal as a keepsake. Below are a few thoughts from parents and teachers about their experiences using Tapestry. “Tapestry is a fantastic tool for helping us as teachers, share children’s experiences. It is a wonderful way for parents to view their child’s progress, share these experiences, and talk to their children about them at home, increasing their communication and language skills and further embedding their learning.”
Mrs Baker “Tapestry allows us as practitioners, to prepare a comprehensive learning journal for your child, with thoughtful observations on a child’s development, photographs of their achievements and examples of how we’re supporting them to learn. The purpose of these observations is to determine where a child’s development is at and what we can do to support them and extend their learning. Having all of your observations available on screen, in a searchable format and mapped against 42
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“Tapestry is a fantastic tool to connect home and family with the experiences that the children have at school, and vice versa. We absolutely love the photos, videos and commentary that Tapestry provides us. It’s an insight into what happens in our child’s day and helps us to feel connected and part of what happens at school. Grandparents living in other parts of the world also love logging onto Tapestry, and we know it makes the physical distance feel less for them, to be able to see and share what their grandchildren are experiencing at school.”
F o u n da t i o n 2
pa r e n t
It was wonderful to hear all the fantastic experiences that Tapestry is bringing to parents, teachers and children. An excellent educational tool that, hopefully after the Tapestry workshop, everyone is accessing with ease and pleasure. Keep those observations coming!
DUCKS Assembly D a n i e l l e D e va n n y
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS The introduction of the DUCKS assembly has been a fantastic success! It has enabled the Early Years’ children to come together with the Key Stage 1 children. For the younger students, this is supporting them with their confidence, by being a part of new social experiences. They are learning to follow simple assembly agreements, including sitting for a period of time, and not speaking or shouting out when others are talking and/or praising other children for their achievements. For our Year 1 and 2 children it has created a huge sense of pride being the oldest in the assembly and feeling wiser and more responsible. The DUCKS leaders have also played an important part during our assemblies, giving the Year 2 children an opportunity to put their leadership skills into practice. They have taken the role very seriously and I am sure will be putting their teachers out of a job! The DUCKS assemblies have really helped us target our younger students, making the experience more worthwhile for them. They are always excited to see their siblings, other teachers, and their parents. They love being able to share these experience with their families. The look on the students’ faces when they stand proudly at the front performing with their class, singing a song, receiving a certificate or achieving the ‘DUCKS Leader’ position for the coming week, proves what a worthwhile weekly event this is. A big thank you to the children, staff and parents, who as a group make the DUCKS assemblies so enjoyable.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | DUCKS 4 3
Our Approach to Early Years Education Becci Lee
STAR C IT Y CAM PUS
We have a very child-led approach to learning in our early years. We aim to follow the learning journey of each individual child. We do not follow pre-set topics or themes in our Toddler and Foundation Stage classes. Rather, we work together in our teams (teachers and assistant teachers) to make careful observations of each child and plan our environment so that children can follow their own areas of interest. The U.K. ‘Development Matters’ early years framework guides our assessment of children’s progress but our approach clearly recognises that each child develops at their own rate. We place a strong emphasis on outdoor learning, aiming to ensure a free-flow, indoor-outdoor environment whenever possible. Relationships are a very important feature within our setting. We aim to ensure that through feeling happy and secure at school, children gain confidence and learn to be independent from a young age. We have annual visits from the Dulwich College International (DCI) Director of Early Years and from other colleagues on the
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DCI Education team, to our learning environments to ensure that we are constantly reviewing what works to create the best quality learning within our context. Our last ‘Engaging Spaces’ audit was in May 2018, led by M r s K a t e B e i t h , former Deputy Director of Education for DCI (now retired). Here are some quotes taken from the Toddler and Foundation Stage reports written by M r s B e i t h . Our next visit will be in May 2019 and until then we will continue to reflect on every aspect of our early years provision, working together across the Star Ciity and Pun Hlaing campuses. “The staff have clearly worked hard to develop a space that offers a range of learning opportunities and changes as the children’s interest emerge. Much of the documentation of learning was to purposefully encourage parents to understand and engage in the concept of play-based learning.” “A hugely developed under threes environment which is not only aesthetic but a well planned and organised environment
for under threes. The team who are clearly working together and a range of learning documented throughout.” “A calm and happy atmosphere, which promotes positive behaviour and relationships. Children are valued. “ “A wide range of thoughtfully considered resources and provocations.” “Families are celebrated in the learning environment, an example of this was a great provocation on the carpet, inviting children to do a variety of writing activities about their families. This was followed later by a lively and interactive circle time.” “It is evident that the team knows the parents and they are warmly welcomed into the setting. Families are celebrated in the learning environment.”
“The relationships within this unit are an absolute strength with a clear knowledge of each child being shown through individualised learning and planning.” “The setting abounds with relevant documentation celebrating individual learning journeys. The helicopter stories are particularly impressive.” “Adults model excellent health and safety practices and awareness throughout the day.” “Assistant Teachers are very responsive to the children and have genuine interactions with the children.” If you have any questions about our Early Years provision, please do not hesitate to ask your child’s class teacher, M s L e e , the Ducks Coordinator at DCY Star City or M s D e va n n y the Foundation Stage Coordinator at DCY Pun Hlaing.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | DUCKS 4 5
Toddler Transition Nwe Ni Win
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS Creating a smooth transition into school life is vital to ensure children get the best possible start in their new setting. There are many people involved in the transition process and they all need to be updated and work closely together during this time. Parents, teachers, and the children themselves, are all part of the process. In our Toddler classroom, we have all worked hard together to make for a smooth and positive transition for the children. Thank you to all the parents and carers for working very cooperatively together, sharing information with us. All the children are now fully settled and feel safe in their environment. They are very independent in choosing activities, selecting resources, and can express their own needs and wants using words or gestures. They are also building good relationships with other children in the class, around the school and with their teachers. They have been showing their confidence in exploring the learning environment independently, and this confidence grows every day.
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Of Colours and Mess Ingr id
va n
Ginkel
STAR C IT Y CAM PUS
When walking into the Toddler setting, you may well ask the question, “Where is the learning in all this play?” An environment enriched with colours, sounds, exciting resources, friends and laughter provides the platform on which the children can explore their world and develop their learning journey into one of happiness and richness. Alongside this, we must never underestimate the value of mess in a Toddler setting. It can vary in size – growing into huge heaps and bundles, scattered everywhere, seemingly a disaster of note. It can take on a very slimy, sticky form or be brittle and make crackling sounds. It can be freezing cold. It can make you sneeze and feel crunchy. It can even balance at great heights or spread all along the length of the room. It is lovingly referred to as the “Beautiful, useful mess!” Amongst the colours and mess of our Toddler setting, children are growing and developing. They are independent, happy and secure. They build relationships. They learn about how things work and why they happen. An example being, watching the ice melt and baby ‘dinosaurs’ being born! They learn to face challenges and to find solutions – resulting in self-confidence and a belief in themselves. Tearing and pasting bits of paper onto large pages creates a mess but from it the Toddlers learn to create something from nothing at all. They learn to see beauty in everything. Give a Toddler some feathers, glue, ribbons and sand. Add some corn, dry rice and food colouring. Observe them making a mess. See the learning!
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Toddlers learn about different sensations and textures through creating a mess with shaving foam, sand and ‘gloop.’ Mixing and exploring colours develops an awareness of patterns, develops creativity and encourages initiative and risk-taking. Great meaning is given by the child to the marks they make. Decision-making is encouraged as a child selects various colours and resources. Smothering their hands and often feet, in sticky paint provides the opportunities for Toddlers to learn more about their own bodies and to count their fingers and toes! The joy and success of a messy environment is evident when the Toddlers, on their own accord, decide to wash and clean it all up. Then the real “beautiful and useful mess” occurs. Huge amounts of soap, water and bubbles are used to wash everything in sight – developing an awareness of health, hygiene and caring for the environment. Gross and fine motor skills are developed through playing with an array of colourful containers with which the children learn to transfer liquids and objects. Sharing and turn-taking, language and social skills, self-confidence and independence are all developed through play. And… when that play is encouraged and nurtured in a colourful and messy environment, there are no limits to what our children can learn!
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | DUCKS 4 9
Learning through Loose Parts Play in the Early Years Anne He gart y
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS In F1 our learning environment has been created and set up to provide lots of open ended resources and ‘loose parts’ for the children to explore and learn with. This might mean less plastic toys in the home corner or costumes in the role play area. But why is this the best approach for learning in the Early Years? To prepare our youngest children in school for a life time of learning ahead it is so important to encourage children’s curiosity and appetite for learning. This love of learning, along with the skills to communicate and problem-solve are invaluable and important to instill at a young age. There is a growing body of evidence that says, for young children, play is learning and intentionally created environments which offer opportunity for open ended play provide powerful contexts for children’s growth and development. Architect S i m o n N i c h o l s o n used the term ‘loose parts’ to describe materials with varied properties that can be moved and manipulated in many different ways. He asserted that the richness of an environment depends on the opportunity it allows for people to interact with it and make connections. With no specific set of directions and powered only by a child’s imagination, an assortment of shells might become a collection to sort, scoops to move sand, or plates in the kitchen. When children are encouraged to use loose parts and try their own ideas, they are driven to learn. They are driven to not only ask their own questions, but also discover their own answers and create new solutions. In F1 we have used the loose parts available to us in many ways this term. The cardboard boxes in our role play area have been houses, trains and caves. We have used glass pebbles to make patterns, as pretend food in our ‘kitchen’ and as an aid to count. We have also constructed with various loose parts, such as dominoes, picture frames and pieces of wood. We really have been stretching our imagination and problem solving skills. A loose part can be as big as a cardboard box or as small as a button, but the children are given ownership of the resources available to them and can use them in a myriad of way. I can’t wait to see what they will create next!
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The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | DUCKS 5 1
Phonics Workshop for Parents Jem Eliscupide z
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS
On October 15, DCY Pun Hlaing held their first phonics workshop, hosted by the Foundation 2 teachers. Parents were invited to attend, to help them understand what phonics is and how it works. Phonics comprises a big part of learning in Foundation 2 and this workshop was aimed at making parents really understand the importance of it. Attendees watched a video of why children have to be taught phonics and the main reason being that the English language is so complicated! The parents were shown that phonics is a method for teaching reading and writing. M s E l i s c u p i d e z explained that it is taught by developing awareness of the sounds in words and the corresponding letters used to represent those sounds. Parents now know that phonics rely upon children being able to hear and distinguish the sounds within words. The attendees participated in a short exercise of identifying rhyming objects to see if they were able to hear the sounds in words. The terms ‘pure sounds,’ ‘blending’ and ‘segmenting,’ were explained. All parents were good sports, as M s E l i s c u p i d e z showed them the sounds that the class will be learning this year, and asked them to repeat them out loud, as she does with the children. This helped all Mums and Dads know exactly what is meant by ‘pure sounds’ and how this is important in children’s reading and writing. They even had a go at blending and segmenting some cvc words. ‘Tricky words’ or sight words were also discussed. These are words that the children just have to learn, as they cannot be sounded out using phonics. Letter formation is also important,
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as if it is done correctly in Foundation 2, children will find their subsequent work, in cursive, much easier. The slideshow throughout the workshop illustrated Foundation 2 children in action, learning phonics and applying it in their chosen activities in class. The workshop finished with some top tips about how parents can help their children at home with their phonics. For those of you that missed out, here they are:
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Work on listening skills. Practise our new sounds and tricky words taught. Practise segmenting and blending. Look for familiar sounds and words in your environment. Read to, and with your child every day. Encourage mark making.
There are some useful apps and websites that can be used with your child at home too. Here they are, if you missed out:
Year 1 & 2 Development M a r t i n T h o m ps o n
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS The summer break provided the perfect opportunity for improvements to be made to the Year 1 and 2 area, and what a lot of changes there were. The Year 2 classroom was doubled in size by taking over the space that was once occupied by the KS1 library. Year 2 now have access to two large work spaces which are joined together to allow free flow between the different areas. This extra space gives more opportunities for simultaneous adult led teaching within the class and provides more space and a wider variety of resources and activities for the students to use. The KS1 library has been moved into the old Year 3 and Year 4 canteen area and has been a real hit with students, teachers and parents. M s C h o has done a fantastic job of organizing the library and it is a truly welcoming place which the students love spending time in. New books were sourced over the summer break and the range on offer is fantastic with many books being brought in to support the topics that are taught in class. Students in KS1 use this space on a regular basis and enjoy being able to select books from the library which they are able to take home to read. The toileting facilities in Year 1 and Year 2 have been improved with new toilets and sinks being installed in both classrooms. Cubicles have been added to provide extra privacy and the toilets were upgraded. Extra sinks have been fitted and more soap dispensers provided to help promote good standards of personal hygiene. The biggest changes have occurred in the KS1 outdoor spaces. A wooden shelter was built and provides a quiet shaded area for the students to enjoy during their playtimes. Planting has been removed to increase the space the students have access to, and a path was built to create two distinct areas. One area has been designed for the students to run and play a variety of different games and the other area contains a range of play equipment for the students to climb and swing on. The new play equipment has been very well received by the students and we have already seen improvements in their ability to balance, swing, jump and climb. We hope to continue to develop this area for the students, with plans in place for planting troughs and more shaded seating.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | DUCKS 5 3
Year 1 & 2 Kerry Aryal
STAR C IT Y CAM PUS Not so long ago, I spent a lovely evening catching up with a dear old friend of mine, a recently retired Primary teacher, who spent over thirty years teaching in schools in England. As we sat out in her beautiful rose garden, we reminisced about our lives as teachers and what makes it such a special job. I asked her what she thought her greatest contribution as a teacher had been, given the many things she must have taught them over the years. She put her cup of tea down on the table, gave me a very surprised look and said ‘Goodness me - I always learnt FAR more from the children than they ever learnt from me! More importantly, what matters the most is what they learnt from each other’. It was the truth behind those two sentences that gave me the inspiration for this term’s article. Teaching in Year 1 and 2 is constant, wonderful adventure – every day there are so many moments of great excitement, curiosity and discovery, it is hard to keep count, but some of the most meaningful learning adventures we have had so far have come about through the children taking on the role of peer educator, sharing their passions, knowledge and understanding with each other. This kind of learning happens spontaneously, many times a day in Year 1 and 2, but just occasionally there are some examples peer learning that take your breath away, so rich and engaging is the learning taking place in front of your eyes. Witness, then, a Year 2 student, new to our school, and new to English, having the confidence just a few weeks in to lead a workshop on Korean language and culture, generating such enthusiasm and interest amongst her friends, she is still reading Korean stories to them a month later. Witness another Year 2 student, a gifted, creative Lego builder, sitting patiently next to his friend for an hour and half, working together to complete the 27 steps needed to build a complex Lego model, using a kit designed for much older children. Witness two other children sitting together, day after day, working on same Maths challenge on an iPad app until they had figured it out, and completed the highest level! And finally, witness the incredible hour of learning
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that occurred after watching a programme on electric eels, brought in by our resident Year 1 zoologist, which inspired the children to spend the next hour creating their own electric eels, complete with real battery-powered electric eel power! It is hard to explain the depth of learning that takes place during peer learning experiences such these, not to mention the incredible levels of engagement, motivation and curiosity such experiences create in the children. These three examples, along with many others, have led to myriad of other inquiries and investigations, in which the children have been able to build connections to the wider world, learnt many new skills and developed wonderful new passions. And it is only Term One!
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Junior School Year 3 & 4 Weathers the Storm Year 5 Year 6
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Year 3 & 4 Weathers the Storm Er i k Wong
STAR C IT Y CAM PUS
To start the year off, the Year 3 and 4s investigated a unit on the weather, we looked at the water cycle and observed evaporation, condensation and precipitation using a class model. The class split up to work on research projects; the Year 4’s studied different climate zones and the Year 3’s studied about the different seasons in a temperate climate zone. To showcase our learning, the children used green screen technology to present their own weather reports in our assembly.
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Year 5 Mark Vincent
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS This term has seen the students from Year 5 engage in a large variety of learning experiences across a wide range of lessons. One of the main focuses has been developing our understanding about Shackleton and Antarctica. We were very lucky to be visited by A l e x a n d r a S h ac k l e t o n as part of the Shackleton lectures across the network of schools. Students were able to ask questions and find out more about A l e x a n d r a and her grandfather E r n e s t . Other highlights include the visit by slam poet M a r k G r i s t who was able to do a workshop with the students all about different rhyming schemes and how to create poetry for different audiences. The Year 5 students particularly enjoyed the funny poem about the smelliest pirate in the whole world! In latter part of the term students began to demonstrate their singing, acting, artist and literacy skills through practise and development for their school production of Sulky Santa. At the time of writing this article we are in the midst of rehearsals. However, with the enthusiasm shown and dedication from the students thus far I am assured that it will be a fantastic show. A great and memorable firsts term with lots of experiences which I hope will be remembered by the whole of Year 5 for many years to come.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | JUNIOR SCHOOL 5 9
Year 5
M at t h e w C h a pi l l on STAR C IT Y CAM PUS Year 5 at Star City have spent much of the first term investigating the Antarctic continent and Shackleton’s expedition. Shackleton is one of the college’s houses, and so this gave the students the opportunity to find out more about the explorer. In topic lessons, they delved into the geography, flora and fauna of Antarctica, while also considering how it is being impacted upon by climate change. They also read about Shackleton’s expedition and wrote a play about it, using their play scripts learning from English. Using Office 365 as a collaborative tool, they wrote a scene each, which came together to form the play script. This, in turn, was performed as the class assembly. Through these units of learning, the students developed numerous skills, including collaboration, research, using ICT and performing confidently in front of an audience.
Year 6
M a x i n e L e e -M o r a t h PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS Year 6 have worked hard during term one, and have had a highly successful term. Students have been involved in a wide range of academic and co-curricular pursuits, including sports tournaments, house competitions, music ensembles, instrumental lessons, and a brilliant residential trip to Malaysia. Students have transitioned well into a full specialist timetable, and have worked hard to improve their organization skills. Well done Year 6 on a great first term!
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JUNIOR SCHOOL | The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19
Halloween at Dulwich
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SENIOR SCHOOL | The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19
Senior School Message from Head Boy and Head Girl EAL at Dulwich Science English Humanities Mandarin Programme Art Clinics at Dulwich Co-curricular Activities Golf Club Tech Integration
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | SENIOR SCHOOL 6 3
Message from Head Boy and Head Girl Richie
and
Min Hein
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS
We have seen this school develop since the beginning and we would like to say that we are both very proud and thankful to have been selected as Head Boy and as Head Girl for this year at Dulwich College Yangon. The school year has started off very well with new members of staff and students who have joined us recently. This term has been wonderful and eventful.
Being healthy, safe and protecting ourselves are the most important parts of life. We should always feel safe at school and at home. Eating healthy meals is important. If you are not healthy you will be ill and tired. To protect ourselves, we must make sensible decisions. We hope everyone stays safe and healthy.
We have a new Head of Senior School, Mr. Clear and a new school counselor, Ms. Hinnajosa, who have joined us this year. There have also been many wonderful activities and events this term. For example, there was a first litter pick at FMI City and visit by medical students from Imperial College London, who told us about cardiovascular disease and the dangers of smoking. We also celebrated Thadingyut festival. Last week we had Dr. Kelly warn us about the misuse of drugs, and many more events.
Finally, we would like to say thank you to Dulwich College Yangon for giving us an amazing opportunity to represent the school as Head Boy and as Head Girl. We would also like to thank you for all the encouragement and support we needed. Even though we have extra responsibilities, we are very grateful to have this incredible experience. As the oldest students in this school, we know it’s our job to be good leaders and role models to everyone else in the school. Last but not least, we hope everyone continues to progress through the year and we can’t wait for another fascinating term, next term.
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EAL at Dulwich Re be c ca Carv er
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS
Teachers
Students
In May of this year, I travelled to Bangkok to be trained as a Tutor for the Lexis Education course, “Teaching ESL Students in Mainstream Classrooms”. It was enlightening and has certainly had a positive impact on my teaching. I am now qualified to train others and will be holding training sessions, with teachers and our librarian, throughout this academic year. At the end of training, next June, participants will receive a certificate in recognition of their completion of the course. As a result of implementing this, all students with English as a second language will benefit.
EAL students have been learning to create effective ‘Expanded Noun Phrases’. Our mission in EAL lessons (and beyond!) is to pack as much information into sentences as possible (Lexical Density) so that writing becomes more interesting. I have developed Sentence Grids that I hope will also support them to develop better ‘word-order’ understanding.
Assistant Teachers In addition to training teachers, I am also running EAL workshops for our Assistant Teachers to support them in developing Standard English skills in speaking and writing. We meet weekly and are using ‘Video Diaries’ and transcripts to measure progress. The work that we do together will form the evidence for a PLC project which will be shared with everyone at the end of this academic year. A subscription to Fluent U, has been purchased by the school to support our Assistant Teachers to develop their English vocabulary at home. This superb web-based platform has also been provided for our KS3 EAL students to use.
To remember new words more effectively, we have been creating ‘Word Hooks’. This idea is based on Mnemonic strategies that have been proven to aid memorisation. Each week they are given 10 new words to learn and are encouraged to create visual imagery, in their personal dictionaries. The intended outcome is that they will acquire a large and sophisticated mental vocabulary bank, therefore, spending quality time learning these words will benefit them enormously over time. In the final lesson of each week, the students are given a timed writing task. During this task, they demonstrate their understanding of the words, both the meaning and spelling, as well as showcasing their ability to construct high quality Expanded Noun Phrases and sentences. The timed nature of the task also helps to develop study skills, which should prove useful during exams. Students are using self-assessment, colour-coding their writing, to highlight which key elements of a sentence are missing and then setting targets for the next time they write. This is proving to be very effective! The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | SENIOR SCHOOL 6 5
EAL at Dulwich Re be c ca Carv er
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS I have introduced Video Diaries this year so that it will be possible to assess their progress with spoken English more easily. Students were recorded talking to camera at the beginning of the year, further videos will be collated during the year, with transcripts made of each one. This will enable students to witness their personal progress in a visual way and to also set their own targets for improvement. All students have APPP as their overall target. This stands for: Articles (a/an/the) Past tense verbs Prepositions Plurals These four areas stand out as being the most significant areas of weakness for the majority of EAL learners. These key grammar elements are therefore built in to lessons and assessments in the hope that the students will make even greater strides this year with their language development. I assess targets in December and you can expect reviewed Learning Plans to be sent home, including new reading age data, before the end of term. Please do encourage your child/ren to read at home every day for at least 20 minutes as this will have considerable impact on their English language skills!
Peter Colli er STAR C IT Y CAM PUS It has been a busy and exciting term for the students learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) at Star City. Year 1 and 2 students have been improving their speaking, listening and understanding through learning about food groups, celebrations and animals. Year 3 and 4 students have been working hard to improve their reading and writing and have produced some excellent stories. In Year 7 and 8, the Senior School students have been learning how to construct effective written arguments. They have examined comparable texts, analysed key features and researched to write their own.
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Science S h au n B a k e r
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS YEAR 9 It has been a busy year. By the end of the term, Year 9 will have completed all of the mandatory Key Stage 3 Science material. At the time of writing we have completed on the complex chemistry topics of “Making Materials” and “Patterns in Reactivity”, during the course of which the students completed many complementary experiments; investigating different types of chemical reactions, interpreting displacements reactions and investigating factors that influence the oxidation of metals. The topic area of “Forces and Motion” will be finished by the end of the calendar year. YEAR 8 Year 8 have completed the topic of “Combustion”, fundamentals from Year 7 were built upon and students completed a complex practical whereby they used mass ratios from the oxidation of magnesium metal to its oxide to gain insight into the stoichiometry of the reaction. In the physics topic “Energy Transfers”, again the work has been more quantitative in nature. The students have made encouraging progress and have demonstrated good Maths skills and a steady improvement in their ability to evaluate data when performing calculations in Physics. YEAR 7 In the Autumn Term so far Year 7 have completed the topics of “Plants, Cells and Tissues” and the topic of “Ecosystems”. The students have built significantly on their knowledge from Year 6. The theme has been effective communication of Science. Most recently have worked constructively on producing materials that explain to lower year groups the processes of biomagnification and bioaccumulation. YEAR 6 Year 6 have completed an augmented module on the topic of electricity. They have investigated numerous circuits and explored both current flow and potential difference in both series and parallel circuits. The class completed the topic by contributing to two end of topic question booklets, which we used to consolidate their understanding in both in classwork and homework tasks.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | SENIOR SCHOOL 6 7
Science
A n n a R av e n s c o f t STAR C IT Y CAM PUS
This term we have been looking at a variety of different topics in science: Year 8 and 9 have been studying genetics and inheritance and looking at how are genes can interact with environmental considerations to affect the way that we look and our personalities. They have also looked at human reproduction and studied the different stages of the menstrual cycle. Recently, they have moved onto the physics topic of ‘forces’, where they have looked at a range of different forces and examined how they affect humans on an everyday basis. Students have taken part in practical work, investigating density, upthrust and acceleration. Year 6 and 7 have looked at ‘light and sound’ and they have investigated how rooms should be designed to minimize echoes and also looked at the relationship between frequency and wavelength. They have done several practical tasks, where they looked at reflection, refraction and the splitting of light.
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They have also studied the chemistry topic of ‘acids and alkalis’, where they were able to make their own red cabbage indicator and test a range of substances to find out whether they were acids or alkalis. Students also looked at acids and alkalis that are commonly used and considered the best way of treating bee and wasp stings! Year 5 have also been looking at ‘forces’ and have investigated the effects of friction, air resistance and water resistance in different sports. They have taken part in practical work where they were able to identify how these forces can be optimised to suit different purposes. They have moved on to the biology topic of ‘living things’, where they have looked at how we classify different organisms and how scientists define when something is alive and when it is not. They have also looked at the life cycles of different organisms and thought about similarities and differences.
English Craig Holme s
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS It has been an incredibly busy first term in Senior School English during which all students from Year 6 to Year 9 have done some wonderful work and made impressive progress. The first half of the term was spent studying novels and poetry while the second half of the term has seen us studying Shakespeare. One of the greatest pleasures of being an English teacher is sharing texts that I know and love with students and seeing their reactions. Reading Animal Farm with Year 8 for example and watching their anger and indignation grow as they witness the pigs increasing corruption reminded me of why I became an English teacher and why I enjoy it so much. In our second year in this fantastic new building we continue to take full advantage of the wonderful facilities available to us. A huge purchase of new novels and books for the library over the summer, and the exceptional job being done by M s . C h o our new librarian, has made the library an even more exciting place to spend time. In addition, we are spending more and more time in the theatre which has provided us with a glorious space to bring some of the texts we are studying to life; there is no better way to grapple with the challenges of Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet than getting into the theatre and doing some performing. How lucky we are to have such an incredible space in which to do so.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | SENIOR SCHOOL 6 9
Humanities M a t t h e w G r ac e
WHOL E COL L EGE
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Students across both campuses are taught a range of subjects in their humanities lessons. In geography themed lessons, the younger senior school students have been studying the history of our planet and how humans have only occupied Earth for a tiny fraction of its existence. They have also been studying how our planet changes over time and the causes behind these changes. In their history lessons, some students have been studying life in the Stone Age whilst others have been studying the Second World War. The latter is a theme that reappears later this year in Year 9 and this will give those senior students opportunity to learn about the effects of World War II on Myanmar. Our older students have studied the history of farming and industry, looking at how the industrial revolution changed the landscape of countries. They have also compared their lives to those of pauper children who worked in the factories during the industrial revolution. They went on to look at reforms that have been introduced to keep workers safer and how some issues associated with workers’ rights still exist today.
This term, there has been a particular focus on ‘Energy’ as a geography topic across humanities classes. This is because solar panels will be installed on the school roof at the end of 2018, as an educational tool for students. As a result, students have already looked at the positives and negatives or various energy sources as Myanmar’s demand for energy increases every year. Students have had the opportunity to develop their skills as well as their knowledge, involving themselves in debates where they must apply their newly acquired knowledge in an effective and persuasive way. They have also had to arrange information in terms of importance as part of a decision making exercise on historical events. As well as debating, the ability to present information well is one that is key in the workplace. Pupils have presented on a range of topics including the history of our school and sources of energy.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | SENIOR SCHOOL 7 1
Mandarin Programme H u n g H ua C h e n
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS In DCY Pun Hlaing students taking Mandarin as a Foreign Language (MFL) are using the new and innovative “wohui” website to enhance their Chinese skills. The term “wohui” means “I can” and the goal of the site is to get Dulwich students using Mandarin in a meaningful way. Students taking Mandarin as First language (CNL) are learning Chinese literature as well as provides students with the necessary skills and intercultural understanding to enable them to communicate successfully in an environment where the language studied is spoken. This process allows the learner to go beyond the confines of the classroom, expanding their awareness of the world and fostering respect for cultural diversity.
Esther Wong STAR C IT Y CAM PUS In Star City campus students who are learning Mandarin as a second language have expanded their language skills in term 1, communication topics including school facilities, school life, healthy food, friendship, sports, climate and weather. Students have experienced Chinese cultures as well, like making Chinese traditional mid-autumn festival lanterns. In Mandarin class, the students developed different skills, such as social communication, self-management and digital literacy skills.
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Clinics at Dulwich Dr Nyi
and
Dr Yin
WHOL E COL L EGE
Here, at the Dulwich College School Yangon, there are two clinics in each Star City Campus and Pun-Hlaing Campus that are managed by the qualified doctors from International SOS. In order to ensure the provision of good quality health care service to Dulwich College Myanmar, a series of clinic procedures are set up, based on school population characters and special requirements, named Dulwich College Myanmar Clinic Procedures, and is followed by the doctors and school members. The school clinics are mainly responsible the primary and first aid care. As the responsible persons at the school clinic are the qualified doctors, the clinic could provide the emergency and medical treatment in case of necessary without delay. Together with the joint co-operation of Dulwich College and International SOS, our clinics are fully structured with necessary medicines and equipment such as anaphylaxis kit, automated defibrillation machine, nebulizers, trauma kit and so on. The school doctors are also responsible as the medical cover in the extra curricular activities like sport tournaments. International SOS offered a full range of expert, personalized services for corporation in a range of sectors and for individual. We can provide prompt stabilization and even medical evacuation to foreign countries if it is needed. Very recently we have opened our gymnasium, In the gymnasium also there will a well equipped first aid room prepared for the most possible injuries likely to happen in PE sessions.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | SENIOR SCHOOL 7 3
Co-curricular Activities L au r i e S t e v e n s o n
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS At Dulwich College, we are proud of our meaningful Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) programme which provides students with a range of opportunities that facilitate growth and learning outside the classroom. Forming new friendships, solving problems, learning about teamwork, sportsmanship and fair play are just a few of the benefits. As ever, the CCAs are off to a fantastic start this academic year. Students have been able to enjoy an increasing number of activities, ranging from sporting, artistic and cultural to academic activities – we have options to cater for all. Some of our new clubs available include, the Golf Academy, Basketball and Dance Club. EYFS and Key Stage 1 students, who are part of the Ballet Club, recently performed Swan Lake at British School Yangon. The students had a great time performing for families and the wider community around Yangon. Many students in Key Stage 1 have joined M s . H e g a r t y and M r s . B a k e r in the Foundation 1 classroom for Imaginative Play this term. This allows students to act out something that is of interest to them, experiment with decision making and practise their social skills. Others have enjoyed Mindfulness; a chance for students to relax, develop concentration and self-awareness. Another popular activity this term has been Newspaper Club. Key Stage 2 and 3 students have enjoyed being able to choose personal areas of interest to report on. Many have chosen to write about important topics relating to the environment, nature and recycling. It’s wonderful to see our students engage with such current issues and understand the positive impact they can have on our world. M a i s y C h a e t e r in Year 4 wrote an excellent report titled, ‘Castle Built out of Plastic Bottles’, which highlights the importance of minimizing the use of plastic and recycling whenever possible. It’s great to hear so many of our students are enjoying the activities available to them. Only this week did a group of Year 6 students approach teachers regarding an idea they had for a student led CCA. We look forward to continuing CCAs next term with students leading the way!
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Golf Club Dan i el Si nnot t
PUN HL AI NG CAM PUS This term, it gives me enormous pleasure to announce the formation of the DCY Golf Academy. It made sense to start a golf CCA, given the fact that the school is located so near a championship course. It has proved to be a hugely popular feature of our already vast CCA programme, with us catering for two groups of six pupils (Junior and Senior school) with a short waiting list to join also. With the tutelage of PGA professional J e f f C r a i g (also former caddy to S i r N i c k F a l d o ) and myself, we have seen huge developments in our young golfers game. We have focussed on the basics to start, with young golfers practicing their grip, stance and swing on the range. These basics are the fundamental mechanics of becoming a competent golfer and as you can see in the array of photographs, this is already being embedded in all our our young golfers. We have also focussed on chipping and putting on the greens at Pun Hlaing Golf Club. It is always a highlight of my week taking our young golfers out every Thursday and I am very much looking forward to seeing them all progressing going into the new year.
The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | SENIOR SCHOOL 7 5
Tech Integration Mark Vincent
WHOL E COL L EGE This term there has been a push to integrate technology throughout the curriculum and enabling students from Year 8 upwards to bring in their own devices (BYOD) is evidence of this. This initiative will enable learners to bring into The College appropriate technology which can be used throughout a range of lessons to create a more seamless delivery of content which can help to bridge the learning from school to home more effectively. Students across both campuses have been able to experiment with using Raspberry Pi in the curriculum and have been able to link their knowledge of coding and programming with these microcomputers. These relatively inexpensive devices enable students to get really hands on with the core elements of the computer and assist in creating more competent computer scientists for the future. When the devices are not being used for specific lessons they are being used as research terminals in the library at PH. With the Pioneering spirit grant at SC students were visited by an experienced technology integrator and inspirational teacher named Mr. Taylor. He was able to impart his knowledge of coding and how students at both campuses can use a variety of sensors, components and circuitry in conjunction with Raspberry Pi to enhance their computer studies learning. Students were able to create codes that allowed them to see in real time how sequencing and electrical circuits can work.
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The College Magazine Term 1 2018–19 | SENIOR SCHOOL 7 7
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