The fobisian term 2, issue 26 february 2018 (hr)

T H E e N E W S L E T T E R F O R T H E F E D E R AT I O N O F B R I T I S H I N T E R N AT I O N A L S C H O O L S I N A S I A

February 2018 Term 2, Issue 26 www.fobisia.org

Inside this Issue: The Friendly Games Roundup Record Turnout at Swimming Invitational Exhibitor Reflections on FOBISIA Conferences Advanced Orchestral Festival Delivers a Weekend of Musical Delights Online D&T Competition Winners Past & Present British Education Awards Recognise FOBISIA Member Schools

FOBISIA Executive Committee Simon Watson,

Dinah Hawtree,

Simon Mann,

Barnaby Sandow,

Paul Holyome,

John Moore,

Graeme Salt,

Vanita Uppal,

Chair simonwatson@ktj.edu.my

Vice Chair & Safeguarding Heads' Liaison head@britishschoolmanila.org Secretary & Membership Heads' Liaison paulholyome@bvisvietnam.com Treasurer graeme.salt@dulwich-seoul.kr

Heads' Support Liaison principal@gardenrayong.com

Committee barnaby.sandow@jis.edu.bn

Committee john@tbs.edu.np

Commitee v.uppal@british-school.org

FOBISIA HQ Tania Donoghue,

Siobhan Bland,

Daphne Wong,

Katrina George,

Executive Officer tania.donoghue@fobisia.org

CPD Coordinator daphne.wong@fobisia.org

Senior Administrator siobhan.bland@fobisia.org

Events Coordinator katrina.george@fobisia.org

39/4 Todsamon Clubhouse Building, M Fl, Soi Lasalle 39/1, Sukhumvit 105, Bangna, Bangkok, 10260, Thailand 1 THE FOBISIAN: February 2018, Term 2, Issue 26

Contents

7

From the Chair

3

FOBISIA HQ Update

4

The Friendly Games Roundup

7

Invitationals

11

Conferences

17

Festivals

23

Competitions

27

Simon Watson, KTJ, on taking the Federation forward Tania Donoghue, HQ, on the latest happenings at HQ

Muhammad Ruffie Bin Abdul Aziz, elc, on the U15 Friendly Games Ben Cantrill, BPREP, on the U15 Friendly Games Tania Donoghue, HQ, on the Swimming Invitational Lee Jones, TBSND, on the Swimming Invitational Lim Li Siok, ISPU, on the Tennis Invitational Michael Preston, HISB, on the Tennis Invitational

Joe Greenwood, SCIE, on 2017 Leadership Conference Paul Holyome, BVISHM, on the 2017 Teachers' Conference Andrew Wigford, TIC Recruitment, on the 2017 Leadership & Teachers' Conferences Karen Prout, HISB, on the 2017 Student Leadership Conference Hannh John, HISB, on the MUN Conference Paulette Wilkinson, BISP, on the Advanced Orchestral Fesitval Shona Berque, TBS, on the Choral Festival

Joe Greenwood, SCIE, on the Online Social Science Essay Competition Richard Smith, BPS, on the Online D&T Competition 2016-17 Steven Daly, REGP, on the Online D&T Competition 2017-18 Mun Yee Chong, BPS, on the Creative Coding Challenge Samantha Bruin, HISB, on the Creative Coding Challenge Bruce Hector, ABC, on the Online Maths Competition Neena Jain Sharma, TBSND, on the Online Maths Competition Simon Callow, BPREP, on the Online Maths Competition

Updates from the UK

David Rowlands' KeyNotes Excerpts Anne Keeling, ISC Research, on the British International School Awards 2018

Cover Photo: Winners of the D&T Competition 2016-17, Courtesy of Bangkok Patana School

THE FOBISIAN: February 2018, Term 2, Issue 26

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www.fobisia.org CPD & Events Calendar 35

FOBISIA @FOBISIA1 #FOBISIA

2

From the Chair Dear Colleagues, The next FOBISIA Heads' Business Meeting in March will be hosted by The English School of Mongolia, where the final decisions regarding the re-structuring of FOBISIA's governance will be taken.

At the previous Heads' Business Meeting in November 2017, the membership agreed to give executive authority to FOBISIA HQ staff in Bangkok and reconstitute the current Executive Committee as a strategically focused Board. This is a significant departure from the way in which FOBISIA business has been conducted from its inception, where every Head had been involved in the decision-making process, through lively discussion and a right to vote! The Heads will still have the final say regarding changes to the Constitution, but decisions will be made, after due consultation with the Heads, by the staff at FOBISIA HQ in Bangkok, led by a newly appointed CEO (work in progress).

As always the level of participation in FOBISIA events for students and teachers is phenomenal and I believe that FOBISIA is unique among all international school organisations with such a high level of involvement and commitment from schools.

The Games, held at Thanyapura, Phuket, have so far received mostly positive feedback. There will be a review conducted shortly about the viability and desirability of The Games continuing in Phuket; the agreed two-year pilot period ends in June 2019. A decision will have to be made relatively quickly regarding the format of The Games post-2019, so that planning may begin. If you have strong feelings regarding the format of The Games, please do pass these onto your Head of School who will have the opportunity to contribute to a review of The Games.

My period as Chair will come to an end at the March meeting, since I will be moving to a school in the Middle East for the next academic year. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Chair, and would like to thank all the FOBISIA HQ staff in Bangkok and my fellow colleagues on the FOBISIA Executive for their support, guidance and humour.

I will miss the friendships that I have established throughout Asia and hope that, should you be in Bahrain, you will drop by!

With warm wishes, Dr Simon Watson FOBISIA Chair - 2016 to present Principal, Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar

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FOBISIA HQ Update Dear Members, Welcome to the Term 2 edition of THE FOBISIAN. We at HQ are wishing that your term be a smooth and happy one. To start with, a very warm welcome to our newest Member Schools, Charter International School, Bangkok and Dulwich College Singapore. FOBISIA's School Membership is now at 57 schools! We also welcome the annual renewal of our Affiliate Members, including the newest members that joined during Term 1.

FOBISIA is synonymous with holding quality, shared CPD and sports, but now we hold so many more Student Events, whether they be online or involving a physical journey to the host school or venue. Since the start of this academic year, there has already been approximately 18 Job Alike Workshops (JAWS) for our Teachers, as well as the Bursars'/ Business Managers' Meeting. All the U15 Games have taken place. There has been an Online Maths Competition, a Social Science Essay Competition and a Language Competition, as well as a Creative Coding Challenge. On top of this, Harrow International School Bangkok hosted both the 2017 Student Leadership Conference and the recent Model United Nations (MUN) Conference. Several sporting invitational competitions have also taken place, these being FOBISIA Tennis at Uplands in Penang, FOBISIA Swimming at Bangkok Patana School, as well as FOBISIA Gymnastics, jointly hosted by The British School Manila and Harrow International School Bangkok. Our musicians have also had enriching experiences with the Advanced Orchestral Festival at British International School Phuket and the Choral Festival at The British School Kathmandu. Currently underway are the FOBISIA Short Story Competition & Online D&T Competitions.

In between all of these events was also the biennial FOBISIA Teachers' Conference and annual FOBISIA Leadership Conference. There is more on these events inside this issue. As always, a huge thank you to our Member Schools for taking on the logistical challenges of hosting. The feedback for all events from September 2018 until now has been incredibly positive. Well done to all of our participants too, the high standard of sharing best practice, skills, friendship and sportsmanship prevail. You can also see the experiences shared by students and teachers alike on the FOBISIA website – www.fobisia.org.

This time of year is especially busy for our Member Schools for recruitment. Please do send any positions vacant, so that they may be listed on the FOBISIA website. It is proven every year that the Recruitment pages are the most looked at during Term 2 and this service is included in our annual Member School benefits package!

We are now working towards the Calendar of Events for next academic year - we are taking bids for CPD events as well as FOBISIA’s Student Events. If you have any questions, please contact any of us at FOBISIA HQ. In addition to the articles in THE FOBISIAN please keep up-to-date with the latest news and real-time updates on Twitter (#FOBISIA), Instagram (@ FOBISIA1) and like us on Facebook (Fobisia). #FOBISIA = #StudentEnrichment.

Very best wishes for the rest of Term 2.

Ms Tania Donoghue FOBISIA Executive Officer

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Cross-Cultural Management Workshop: Guidelines for Global Managers & Leaders

By Siobhan Bland, Senior Administrator, FOBISIA HQ

Editor's Note

Welcome to the February 2018 issue of THE FOBISIAN FOBISIA’s termly e-newsletter for sharing events and other FOBISIA news among Member Schools and Affiliate Members.

This issue is packed full of reflections from various FOBISIA Student Events, and features articles from Member Schools and Affiliates on the 2017 "Health, Wealth & Self" Leadership Conference and the 2017 "FOBISIA Cares" Teachers' Conference.

We also proudly celebrate with the winners of the recent British International School Schools Awards 2018, the majority of whom are FOBISIA Member Schools.

This issue also moves us further into our redesign; our aim is to continue to bring content that resonates across our readership, so that THE FOBISIAN remains an essential benefit to all of our members going forward.

If you have any suggestions for content, do let let us know here at FOBISIA HQ. Happy reading!

Siobhan

On 31 January 2018, myself, Daphne Wong and Katrina George represented FOBISIA HQ at the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand's Cross-Cultural Management Workshop.

It was sponsored and delivered by Mr. Sukhavichai Dhanasundara, Honorary Advisor to the BCCT Board, and Chairman of the Management Development Group.

The workshop focussed on: • • • •

The challenges of globalization under the umbrella of cultural diversity.

The main cultural dimensions which influence social values and business behavior.

The various styles of management and leadership to direct and motivate employee performance.

Peer learning through exchange of experiences, both good and bad.

It started with a look at the cross-cultural playground characterising multi-national corporations today, and the nexus between stakeholder pressures in one's home country and one's host country. We looked at factors that influence business behaviour, the culture of a business, and the importance of trans-cultural leadership in the global business environment.

We learned about the six cultural dimensions and how they tend to play out in different regions of the world, including: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

high verses low power distance (PDI) individulaism verses collectivism high masculinity verses low masculinity (MAS) uncertainty avoidance (UAI) long verses short term orientation (pragmatism verses normative) 6. indulgence verses restraint (IDV)

One of the real strengths of this workshop was not only Sukhavichai's knowledge of the subject matter, but also the use of real-life case studies from around the world to demonstrate and reinforce the learnings. An understanding of the role culture plays in the workplace will assist us to work effectively with people across cultural borders, which is of particular relevance in an organisation like FOBISIA, with Member Schools in 12 countries across Asia, and Affiliate Members from around the globe.

"It was a great start to the workshop when Mr. Sukhavichai asked that people from the same company not sit together.

As the day progressed, it was fascinating to watch the dynamics of the classroom which had a mix of people from different cultures and backgrounds."

- Daphne Wong, CPD Coordinator, FOBISIA

"As a team that operates across a diverse range of countries it was great to gain a insight into how we all differ but also how having this understanding helps us find common ground.

Each person was able to share and discuss cross cultural issues, drawing on their experience to give examples to the group. A really useful training opportunity.

- Katrina George, Events Coordinator, FOBISIA

Build firm foundations for your students’ futures Cambridge Global Perspectives is a unique, transformational programme that helps students at every stage of school education develop outstanding transferable skills, including critical thinking, research and collaboration.

This year we are extending our Cambridge Global Perspectives programme to make it available for 5 to 14 year olds.

Come and find out more at our FOBISIA conference workshop: ‘Developing global competence with Cambridge Global Perspectives’ www.cie.org.uk/globalperspectives

THE FOBISIAN Image: The connectors on a child’s building blocks.

September 2017, Term 1, Issue 25

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The Friendly Games Roundup The Friendly Games provide students from Year 4 upwards with sporting opportunities at an appropriate level for all Member Schools in a safe, appropriate and competitive environment, by ensuring equal opportunity and participation for both boys and girls, and providing a learning experience in sportsmanship, the value of healthy competition and the benefits of training in preparation for competition.

elc Upholds Spirit of The Friendly Games

By Mohammad Ruffie Bin Abdul Aziz, PE Teacher, elc International School

The Under-15s Games (Green Group) were hosted by Sports Camps Australia (SCA), in Phuket, from 19 - 23 November 2017.

Member Schools are allocated to 'like groups' for The Friendly Games; the Under-15s Green Group consists of Bangkok International Preparatory & Secondary School (Bangkok Prep), Dulwich College Suzhou, elc International School, The British School Guangzhou, British International School Ho Chi Minh City, North London Collegiate School Jeju, and The British International School of Kuala Lumpur.

Last quarter - and it was a very close match between elc and Bangkok Prep - all eyes were on the match as it was the Basketball final, and the atmosphere and crowd were overwhelming. elc's boys prevailed and emerged the champions! The competition was intense throughout the four days, but it was worth every moment!

The elc contingent arrived at the venue the day before the event began and were given a mini tour and a briefing on what to expect at the event. The participants had time to settle in and get plenty of rest. The event started off with Swimming, with supportive parents and teachers cheering on the teams. elc did very well - our swimmers swam their hearts out to get to the podium in several events.

Day two began with Athletics. It was a challenging day for the athletes as the day was scorching. Track and field events were carried on simultaneously – with coaches moving

about constantly to support and guide the students, and the students themselves getting from one event to the next in succession, it was an exhausting day for all. The day ended just before sunset, making it the longest day of The Games!

Day three focused on team sports. The elc girls had Football, while the elc boys headed for Basketball. With all the preparation leading up to The Games, the girls played well in their matches and grabbed 3rd place to win the bronze medal. I was very proud of how the team tried their best to win all their matches despite coming from behind in some of them. The boys put up an impressive performance on the basketball court, ending a winning streak with a fantastic win over Bangkok Prep in the finals. Both teams were well-matched, and played with much skill and energy.

To say it was nerve-wracking understates the impact the match had on all the loyal supporters of both teams. We cheered ourselves hoarse, and when we finally won, it was an amazing feeling to see our elc family celebrating together.

The next day, it was the boys' to play Football and the girls' Basketball. The heat of the day and the excitement of the previous day took its toll on the boys. The girls kept their pace though, and they performed well in Basketball to win the bronze medal!

Overall, elc did extremely well, coming in 3rd place in the Swimming and 2nd in Athletics. We ended the successful

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Continued from page 7... event with the Closing Ceremony and Gala Dinner – the part that all students had been very much looking forward to.

The PE Department is very proud of all our elc students – it was a rewarding trip for them, parents and the coaches. More importantly, they upheld the spirit of elc throughout The Games!

Bangkok Prep Makes its Mark at The Games

By Ben Cantrill, Head of Secondary PE, Bangkok International Preparatory & Secondary School

The Under-15s Games (Green Group) were hosted by Sports Camps Australia (SCA), in Phuket, from 19 - 23 November 2017.

Member Schools are allocated to 'like groups' for The Friendly Games; the Under-15s Games Green Group consists of Bangkok International Preparatory & Secondary School (Bangkok Prep), Dulwich College Suzhou, elc International School, The British School Guangzhou, British International School Ho Chi Minh City, North London Collegiate School Jeju, and The British International School of Kuala Lumpur.

Day 1 was a great day for the Bangkok Prep Bulldogs; they were very tired at the end of the day and worked tremendously hard. Bangkok Prep has one of the smallest squads, but the other schools certainly knew who Bangkok Prep were.

Out of 32 entered Swimming races, Bangkok Prep placed in the top 3 in 27, including first-place finishes. All the students performed exceptionally well. In particular Dean and Angelina, who both won all three of their races.

With a small squad, Athletics was going to be a difficult ask, but the students gave it their all. Bangkok Prep had great performances, including Chalie (1st place in the Javelin), Jayden (1st place Long Jump), boys A team (1st place in the 4 x 100m). What was also great though, was the teamwork that the students displayed, such as taking part in events just to get points for the team and replacing others who had injuries. The behaviour was fantastic during and after the competition.

in a tie 26 - 26 and went into overtime where the boys only just lost out. Though the boys felt down after such a close game, they should be proud of what they achieved.

The students were all weary after the heroics of Day 2, but were still determined to put in the best performance possible.

The boys Basketball team knew it was going to be a long day and they performed fantastically well by winning the first three games. They then lost to the eventual winners, The British International School of Kuala Lumpur. But they didn’t let their heads drop and went on to win two more games and drew one to finish as runners up. Well done boys!

The girls Basketball once again went into the competition with a small squad and this wasn’t helped with an injury to Chalie. But the girls again dug deep to make it to the semi-finals. They unfortunately lost to British International School Ho Chi Minh City. In the 3rd Place playoff, the girls were suffering with such a small squad and elc with a much larger squad ran out winners, leaving Bangkok Prep in 4th place.

The Under-15s Bangkok Prep Bulldogs Team had a very successful tournament and it was a pleasure to take such a group of well-behaved students, who performed like champions on and off the court. Go Bulldogs!

On Day 2, the girls were outstanding, and with the smallest Football squad, they played with the biggest hearts. They worked hard and kept going throughout a very hot day in Phuket and a tough competition. We could not be prouder of their efforts. Chalie was our top scorer with 4 goals. They were all a credit to Bangkok Prep on and off the pitch. Well done ladies for getting 5th place!

An exceptional performance by the boys Basketball team on Day 2, who made it to the final with some great team work, inventive attacking play and hard work on defence.

The final was a game of a very high standard and finished

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Invitationals Invitationals provide an opportunity for Member Schools to host sporting events, including golf, swimming, tennis, gymnastics and sailing, with the option of inviting nonMember Schools to participate, at their discression.

Record Turnout at Swimming Invitational

By Tania Donoghue, Executive Officer, FOBISIA

The Swimming Invitational was hosted by Bangkok Patana School, on 20-21 January 2018.

The recent Swimming Invitational was hosted by Bangkok Patana School, and there was an impressive turn-out of 650 swimmers from 24 Member Schools across Asia.

As soon as I walked in I could see that the participants appeared friendly and happy, displaying fantastic comradery amongst their fellow competitors. Even after such a massive event, energy levels were high, and it was clear everyone tried their very best.

FOBISIA's Invitationals need the support of many to run successfully, and so a huge thanks goes out to Bangkok Patana School for hosting, including their dedicated coaches, support staff and volunteer parent group, who made it a very smooth well-organised and and executed event.

Bangkok Patana School’s Tiger Sharks were crowned the champions with 4,000 points, with Bangkok Prep in second place, leaving British International School Phuket with third place and the top visiting team with the highest average score per swimmer.

Hoenymay Y8: “...awesome”.

Jate Y6: “...a very exciting and fun competition”.

Kaishin Y5: “I want to thank my coaches and teammates who encouraged me when I was having hard time and needed help.”

Max Y5: "I really liked that I got to swim in the relays with my friends and everyone was cheering for eachother and shouting our names. I also beat my PB in two races".

A huge well done to everyone who participated! There is always a range of talent on display at these events, and the thing that FOBISIA is always most proud of, which was clearly evident at this event, is the friendly atmosphere amongst the competitors – true to the spirit of The Friendly Games.

Kaitlyn Y9: “...an exhausting but fun weekend with good people”.

Max Y8: “...a fun, exciting meet with strong competition and a chance to catch up with friends from other schools”.

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British School New Delhi Joins Swimming Invitational

By Lee Jones, Director of PE, British School New Delhi

The Swimming Invitational was hosted by Bangkok Patana School, on 20-21 January 2018.

Following six months of training and a 10-day winter camp, a group of 12 students from British School New Delhi went to Bangkok Patana School, in Thailand, to participate in their first FOBISIA Swimming Invitational.

The students from Years 5 to 10 performed in a number of events against some amazing swimmers from 23 other international schools around Asia.

The British School New Delhi team comprised of the following students: • Taiji (Year 5) • Nihal (Year 5) • Aarav (Year 5) • Kansuke (Year 7) • Isabella (Year 7) • Sophia (Year 6) • Ameera (Year 6) • Rayana (Year 11) • Arhaant (Year 7) • Hibiki (Year 7) • Miyu (Year 9) • Armaana (Year 11 - Captain) Despite the level of competition, each of our students were able to set new personal bests in each of their events, with some students managing to improve by two to three seconds, and Isabella taking an amazing six seconds off her 200-metre freestyle event.

This FOBISIA Invitational provided an amazing opportunity for our students to get involved and experience the level of competition outside of India.

Our students are all now looking forward to next year’s event, as they now know what to expect and what is expected of them.

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Uplands Hosts Tennis Invitational

By Lim Lee Siok, Tennis Coordinator, The International School of Penang (Uplands)

The Tennis Invitational was hosted by The International School of Penang (Uplands), on 7-9 December, 2017.

The International School of Penang (Uplands) was delighted to host the Under-13 (U13) and Under 15 (U15) Boys’ and Girls’ Singles Categories in December 2017, which included both Member and non-Member Schools.

The matches were played at two venues, including the Penang Sports Club and the Chinese Recreation Club on two different surfaces - omni and hard-court.

Participation levels were high with 140 players from 13 schools participating in this year’s event, playing over 188 matches over three days. The weather was accommodating and our young players exhibited some excellent gameplay and sportsmanship.

Most importantly, our young players had plenty of fun, made new friends and took home with them the many valuable experiences offered by such a high-quality event. We hope that the players, coaches and parents enjoyed the experience and found time to indulge in some famed Penang food and visit the many historical sites of Georgetown. This year’s winners were U13 Boys - Sameer (UWCSEA Dover), U13 Girls – Gem (Bangkok Patana School), U15 Boys – Aldrin (British School Jakarta), and U15 Girls – Clara (Bangkok Patana School).

Many thanks to all the coaches for their support and invaluable feedback to the event.

Harrow One of 13 at Tennis Invitational

By Michael Preston, Director of Sports, Harow International School Bangkok

The Tennis Invitational was hosted by The International School of Penang (Uplands), on 7-9 December, 2017.

A fantastic time was had by all at the 2017 Tennis Invitational in Penang, Malaysia, hosted by the International School of Penang (Uplands). A total of 140 players, 52 girls and 88 boys from south-east Asian international schools participated in the event.

Harrow International School Bangkok had 11 students in attendance competing in three different categories, with our students playing a total of 61 matches.

A big thanks to the International School of Penang (Uplands) and our coaches for all their hard work in preparation for the event. We are really looking forward to the next one.

Conferences FOBISIA HQ and Member Schools host a range of conferences throughout the academic year, with the aim of bringing members of the FOBISIA ‘family’ together, ultimately to enrich our leaders' and educators' professional development, and to inspire and enable our students' learning.

2017 Leadership Conference: Healthier, Wealthier & Wiser

By Joe Greenwood, Principal, Shenzhen College of International Education

STAFF EVEN T

The 2017 Leadership Conference was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 4-5 November, 2017.

The 2017 FOBISIA leadership conference theme of ‘Health, Wealth & Self’ attracted my interest as a sometime Biology and Psychology teacher who had, to date, failed to accumulate enormous wealth. I felt sure that I could learn something new, or failing that tell other people my opinion, in at least one of these areas even if enormous wealth still remained firmly out of reach.

A quick tour of the ground floor of the labyrinthine Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, ended with a Grand escalator ride up to the Grand Salon to hear the first keynote speaker. Our new Chairperson, Simon, supplied a witty welcome, followed by an upbeat update from the ever-inspiring world of UK education. The first keynote was delivered by Dick Moore, who gave a moving and personal account of his response to personal tragedy.

Dick’s story chimed with the presentation on suicide given at our previous Heads' Business Meeting. Dick started the Health strand of the conference theme and this was continued through a number of additional sessions over the next two days looking at how schools can better recognize and respond to the mental health issues by which they are confronted.

One innovation at this year’s conference was HEADTalks.

I had thought that it was going to be called Talking

Heads, and considered this to be a ‘Once in a Lifetime’ opportunity. Having volunteered to give one of the talks, I was a little nervous, wondering if my off-the-peg powerpoint animations would stand up in the highly competitive world of conference presentation. Graham Hill, going before me, went old school, delivering an offthe-cuff sans projector talk. To be honest, I was pleased when half the audience left after his talk, providing more intimacy for those of us left behind. I did not manage to get to hear any of the other Talking Heads talking, but I think it is a great innovation and a splendid means for sharing the best, and worst, of our collective experiences.

One school of thought believes that standing up to eat is good for the digestion in some way; this was the presiding philosophy at lunch on both days. Exhibitors with a lot of chairs around their desks soon became very popular, thus depriving a number of delegates of the health-giving benefits of standing up. As I explained to one colleague, “Roman Emperors had famously short life spans, and they always ate lying down."

Talking of Roman emperors, our post-prandial offering was a smorgasbord of erudition, supplied by Rob Holroyd. Rob opened up the Self strand of the

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Continued from page 17... conference with the poser, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Which he had kindly translated for us; the days when school heads could converse fluently in Latin are well and truly over, I can only remember that Caesar adsum iam forte and Caesar sic in omnibus. Day one ended with a buffet dinner in the JP teres restaurant.

Day two started with a presentation by John Littleford who shared an enormous wealth of knowledge from his experience in working with international schools, both in this talk and in the other sessions which he presented. John seems to have confronted every kind of disaster in every kind of school and is still standing, which is very reassuring.

He discussed the longevity of heads, which is a matter dear to the hearts of most of us in attendance. John’s contribution completed the three themes of the conference.

As something of an antiquarian grammarian, I objected slightly to two components of the title of the next keynote: "To boldly go‌Positive Leadership in a VUCA

world". Putting the vexed question of split infinitives to one side, I was not familiar at all with the word VUCA, which is presumably one of the words, like Brexit or ASBO, fewer and fewer of which you understand the longer you live outside the UK. It came as a pleasant surprise that VUCA had nothing to do with verruca, and its connotations of childhood swimming lessons. I was glad to hear that it means volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

This hopefully means that it is unlikely that a computer programmer will be able to come up with an algorithm to replace what school leaders do in the immediate future.

Two days of mind-altering insights were brought to a close atop the huge needle in central KL. Standing in the lift with my fellow delegates, I could not help but think FOBISIA is really moving up in the world. However, I found it harder to read any such metaphorical meaning on events when the floor of the restaurant failed to rotate. I guess that FOBISIA must be a no-spin zone. Well done and thanks to all organisers and contributors for a great conference.

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STAFF EVEN T

Biennial Teachers' Conference Booms

By Paul Holyome, Principal, British Vietnamese International School, Ho Chi Minh City

The 2017 Teachers' Conference was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on 20-22 October, 2017.

On 20-22 October 2017, BVIS and BIS played host to the biennial FOBISIA Teachers' Conference in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. Over 120 Teachers and Teaching Assistants made the journey to the wonderful city for two-and-a-half days of excellent CPD and networking under the banner "FOBISIA Cares".

The event started with a cocktail evening at a beautiful roof top bar in HCMC; an opportunity for delegates to mix and socialise with eachother, before the main event. Delegates were able to talk about their own schools and share experiences with likeminded professionals from across the region.

FOBISIA was delighted to be able to secure the services of Ben Walden and Jonathan Taylor. Both of these key note speakers were well respected and well known internationally and in the UK. Their keynote presentations and follow-up work shops were extremely popular, a huge success and very fitting for the theme of the conference.

We were delighted that a large number of Teachers stepped up to deliver excellent workshops over the two days. The Teachers had worked hard to prepare some very interesting and extremely useful workshops for delegates to choose from. We would like to thank all those teachers who took the time to prepare such excellent material for the conference.

On the Saturday evening HCMC hosted a record for the largest number of people on a Vespa motorbike tour. One hundred delegates jumped on the back of Vespa motorbikes to embark on an unforgettable city tour experience. Despite the down-pour of rain at the beginning, the delegates were treated to a very special evening of sightseeing, food and a live band to finish.

Feedback during and after the event has been extremely positive and we are already looking forward to the next conference in 2019!

STAFF EVEN T

Exhibitor Reflections on FOBISIA Conferences

By Andrew Wigford, Director, TIC Recruitment Angie and I attended the biennial Teachers' Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the annual Leadership Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and found both to be enjoyable and productive.

the Vespa Tour as much as Ben Walden's version of Hamlet! And who could forget John Littleford's session on million dollar salaries for Principals at the Leadership Conference or the trip up KL Tower!

The Teachers' Conference gave me ample opportunity to connect with teachers and spend some quality time talking to them about their future careers. Angie presented at the Teachers’ Conference on "Wellbeing and Resilience" which went down really well and she was able to follow up with Heads of Member Schools a few weeks later in Kuala Lumpur.

As always, it's the people who make conferences work and it’s hard to find a friendlier conference. The conference organisers are extremely approachable and helpful and quickly become old friends. The delegates at both conferences were full of fun and enthusiasm.

Recent changes such as lunch in the exhibition area have made a noticeable difference to footfall around the stands. Overall both conferences were excellent and I for one will be back next year, we are particularly looking forward to hearing the lovely background music in the Exhibition Hall, kindly provided by Paul Holyhome and Anthony Rowlands from their private collection in Vietnam, truly masterful work!

Both conferences were very well organised and we loved the emphasis given to social as well as professional pursuits. I'm sure that the teachers will remember

We are proud to be the chosen Management Information System for 40% of FOBISIA schools and over 700 schools worldwide BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL PREPARATORY & SECONDARY SCHOOL BANGKOK PATANA SCHOOL BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PHUKET DISCOVERY BAY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DOVER COURT INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL HARROW INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BEIJING NORD ANGLIA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL SHANGHAI, PUDONG PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL REGENTS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PATTAYA SHREWSBURY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ST. ANDREWS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, BANGKOK ST. ANDREWS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, GREEN VALLEY TANGLIN TRUST SCHOOL THE ALICE SMITH SCHOOL THE BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF SHANGHAI, PUXI THE BRITISH SCHOOL MANILA THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF BEIJING, SANLITUN THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF BEIJING, SHUNYI THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF GUANGZHOU THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL @ PARKCITY

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STUD ENT EVEN T

Student Leadership Conference a Success

By Karen Prout, Head of Sixth Form, Harrow International School Bangkok

The 2017 Student Leadership Conference was hosted by Harrow International School Bangkok in Thailand on 29-30 September, 2017.

In September 2017 Harrow International School Bangkok hosted 44 senior student leaders from Year 12 and Year 13 from thirteen different schools across the region for the 4th annual FOBISIA Student Leadership Conference.

The conference is a fantastic opportunity for students holding key leadership positions in their respective schools to engage with each other professionally over two days and share ideas, learn new skills and reflect upon their leadership styles as young adults. Workshops ranged from developing teamwork, investigating leadership behaviours and learning about personal motivators and how we as leaders can utilise a range of skills and motivators to drive successful change. All the student delegates demonstrated professionalism and energy during the conference and we thank all the schools who joined us in making the conference a success.

"Students travelled from across the region, which created a diverse and productive atmosphere. We shared our own school’s leadership systems and discovered interesting and different ways in which other schools approached leadership. An informative afternoon was then followed by a joyful river cruise along the Chao Phraya River, where the teachers and students all joined in singing karaoke, stepping out of our comfort zones."

- Prima C13 (Deputy Head Girl) "A truly exceptional experience - as student leaders from our respective schools, it was startling to identify the common ground we share amongst ourselves. The workshops brought out the best in us as we learned and adapted from others through a number of activities under the themes of teamwork, leadership styles or solving conflicts.

Besides all of this, we have made new friends, with whom we wish to keep in touch and potentially continue to learn from one another to further improve the community as leaders of our schools."

- Aum C13 (Head Boy)

Reflections from our senior student leaders: "The leadership conference has been an eye opener for me. Leaders from all around Asia coming together to share their own experiences, thoughts and visions, surely this gathering is undoubtedly something that doesn’t happen very often? I was able to see potential improvements that can be made to our Prefect Team by listening to how other schools operate. I learned new ways to approach and resolve conflicts and most importantly I have been able to make new life-long friends."

- Pax C13 (Deputy Head Boy) "What made the conference such a memorable experience was the people who attended. Everyone engaged in the activities and shared great ideas, making it easy to bond with them all. I could not have asked for a better cohort of students and teachers to spend the weekend with (and share karaoke with!). Even though the conference has come to an end, the connections and memories we have made will certainly remain!"

- Ice K13 (Head Girl)

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High Calibre Debates at MUN Conference

By Hannh John, MUN Advisor & Coordinator, Harow International School Bangkok

The MUN Conference was hosted by Harrow International School Bangkok, in Thailand, on 9-11 December, 2017.

Harrow International School Bangkok had the privilege of hosting students and advisors from 15 schools across Thailand and South-East Asia for a highly successful, exciting and topical Model United Nations (MUN) Conference.

This three-day conference, organised by Finlay and Jing Jing (Secretary Generals) gave students from all the participating schools the opportunity to display their debating and oratorical prowess in front of their peers, debating all manner of current affairs; from the economic impact of artificial intelligence, cyber security and the digitization of the financial industry.

The tone of the conference was set by the thoughtprovoking guest speaker, Mr Thani Thongpakdi, who is currently a Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the calibre of the debate which ensued was remarkable and a credit to all those who participated.

Festivals Member Schools organise a range of fesitvals throughout the academic year, with the aim of bringing members of the FOBISIA ‘family’ together, ultimately to inspire and enable our students in the Arts.

Advanced Orchestral Festival Delivers a Weekend of Musical Delights

By Paulette Wilkinson, Head of Performing Arts, British International School Phuket

The 2017 Advanced Orchestral Festival was hosted by British International School, Phuket, in Thailand on 9-14 November, 2017 In mid-November last year, the British International School, Phuket (BISP) hosted the FOBISIA Advanced Orchestral Festival, and welcomed 95 visiting musical students and teachers from The Alice Smith School, Malaysia; The British International School of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; British International School Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar, Malaysia; The British International School Shanghai Puxi, China; and British School Jakarta, Indonesia.

After hosting the inaugural festival two years ago, BISP was delighted to welcome back many old friends and also to make new acquaintances for what proved to be a fantastic weekend of music making and fun on the BISP Boarding Campus. Over three days the students worked with eachother, teachers and a professional conductor, Mr Jonathan Mann, whom many students knew from the previous festival. We were very privileged to welcome back Mr Mann, who once more introduced the students to an extremely challenging orchestral and concert band repertoire. He led the students through the diverse and challenging repertoire which included Danzon 2 by Marque,

Mozart's Divertimento in D and a Tchaikovsky Valse.

We were particularly delighted to welcome many flute and saxophone players, and to be able to create specific opportunities for these ensembles to practice and perform the works of Nimrod by Elgar, Dowd's Favourite arr. Crockford and Mexican Folkdlore Suite arr. Sakuma at the closing concert.

Mr Mann resided for several years in Bangkok, and although now based in Spain and working with the Trinity Laban College, he still works extensively with the Imanuel Music School, Khlong Toei. We were therefore pleased to be able to support this work by offering the proceeds from our closing concert as a contribution to this endeavour. In the future we hope to collaborate further with this group of highly talented musicians who recently performed Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

It was a lucky coincidence that the famous flautist Maxim Rubtsov from the Russian National Orchestra was in Phuket for the festival and just fantastic that he was prepared to play for the students, work with soloists and

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Continued from page 23... flute ensemble, and, to then return to hear the students perform in the final concert.

During the weekend, all of the students attending the festival were treated to an impressive aerial display performed by students of the Aerial Performance Academy, (as part of Mid Air Circus Art’s after school program partnering with BISP). They used many of the skills that the musicians worked on over the weekend – timing, collaboration, and creativity; but fortunately the FOBISIA musicians didn’t have to overcome a fear of heights!

A wonderful weekend; much enjoyed by visiting schools, teachers and by our BISP family.

creating the world’s best learning spaces to inspire young minds. furnware.com.sg

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Choral Festival: A First in Nepal

By Shona Berque, Teacher of Secondary Music, The British School Kathmandu

The Choral Festival (Percussion Cluster) was hosted by The British School Kathmandu, in Nepal, on 13-17 September 2017.

The British School Kathmandu (TBS) made musical history by hosting its first FOBISIA Choral Festival in September 2017. As a school, we were delighted to host students from The British International School Shanghai Puxi (BISSPX) and local guests Kathmandu International Study Centre (KISC) alongside our own students from TBS. Thirty-one students from Years 5 to 8 took part in three days of intensive rehearsals, practising a selection of choral repertoire based around the theme of ‘Kindness’.

There was also an opportunity for all students to learn traditional Nepali music and learn to play traditional Nepalese instruments such as the Basuri (Nepali flute) and the Madal (Nepali drum).

The final day, after the exhilaration of the final concert, an alfresco Gala Dinner, was enjoyed by all. More singing, games and enjoyment of each other's company occured, before the bittersweet goodbyes to departing schools.

A big thank you to BISSPX for travelling to Kathmandu and helping make this such an exciting occasion. I am sure this festival will mark the beginning of many FOBISIA music festivals to take place at TBS in the future.

Whilst the skills, confidence and repertoire grew in strength, the friendships between all the students did as well. This was cemented by the various activities that were on offer, but most notably during a lively Karaoke and BBQ evening at TBS. From ‘Uptown Funk’ (complete with break dancing) to ‘Shake It Off’, no pop song went amiss! However, the final concert was approaching and students were straight back to rehearsals the following morning with final technical and dress rehearsals.

The effort and commitment shown by the students over the festival could be seen in the excellent concert performance they gave on the final day. With students introducing the concert and each choral performance, it was clear students took tremendous pride in the work they had produced. The repertoire included Karl Jenkins ‘Adiemus’, Pharrell Williams ‘Happy’, ‘How Far I’ll Go’ from Disney’s film Moana, Spanish inspired song ‘Cantar!’ and finally Gary Barlow’s ‘Sing’. It was fantastic to hear the high quality of singing from all the students and to see them enjoying the variety of music.

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Competitions Member Schools organise a range of competitions throughout the academic year, with the aim of bringing members of the FOBISIA ‘family’ together, ultimately to inspire and challenge students in a range of academic subject areas, including Maths, D&T, Social Science, English, and ICT.

Inaugural Online Social Science Essay Competition

By Joe Greenwood, Principal, Shenzhen College of International Education

The inaugural Online Social Science Essay Competition was hosted by Shenzhen College of International Education, China, in November - December, 2017 This new competition was included in the calendar of FOBISIA Events for the first time in 2017. This competition is aimed at AS/AL/IBDP students studying Sociology, Psychology, Politics, History, Economics, Law, Philosophy and related subjects. The competition challenged students to write a short topical essay. Given the political events of 2017, there seemed to be an obvious choice for subject matter: ‘Donald Trump; Brexit; Front National; UKIP; Austrian Freedom Party; Kurdistan; Catalonia. How significant to global politics is the current rise in populism and nationalism?

Is populism the inevitable outcome for democracies?’

There were 28 entries in total, from five schools in four countries. Most entries were from the host, Shenzhen College of International Education (SCIE), so the number of SCIE entries was whittled down before judging began.

Three judges were invited from among Social Studies Teachers within FOBISIA Member Schools. Many thanks to Gemma Caines from The British School Kathmandu (TBS), Raymond Maher from North London Collegiate School Jeju (NLCS) and Richard Driscoll from SCIE for their judging efforts.

Judging was blind, with names redacted and results were based on the aggregate scores. Judges remarked that the overall standard was very high and that it was hard to choose between a number of excellent entries. Some tips for students from judges: • Avoid spending too many words on lengthy definitions • Make sure that your answer is relevant to the question being asked The winning students in order of place were: 1st: 2nd: 3rd: 4th: 4th:

Daniel: NLCS, Jeju, Republic of Korea Daniel: SCIE, Shenzhen, China Walter: SCIE, Shenzhen, China Anh: BVIS, Hanoi, Vietnam Candy: SCIE, Shenzhen, China

Highly Commended: • Cion: NLCS, Jeju, Republic of Korea • Peter: SCIE, Shenzhen, China • George: SCIE, Shenzhen, China • Hannah: Dulwich College Beijing, China • Nikita: SCIE, Shenzhen, China

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Continued from page 27...

Prizes and certificates will be sent out in the next few weeks. Prize money was donated by the Shenzhen Jianhui Charity Foundation. I hope that the competition provided a useful and worthwhile experience for those students who took part and that it will thrive and grow in future years.

Online D&T Competition Winners Past & Present: Part 1

By Richard Smith, Head of D&T, Bangkok Patana School

The 2016-17 Online D&T Competition was hosted by The British School Kathmandu and the 2017-18 competition is being hosted by Regents International School Pattaya.

Through our carefully tailored curriculum we aim to set high standards and stretch our students giving them every opportunity to exceed beyond their attainment targets at Key Stage 3 and excel at IGCSE and IB. To challenge our most able Design and Technology (D&T) students, we seek to offer curriculum enrichment opportunities throughout the year. The FOBISIA Design and Technology Competition is just one of many that we provide and needless to say our students always produce exceptional work and make us very proud.

We would like to congratulate the girls who were involved in last year’s D&T Competition, then in Year 8 and 9. The theme was “A Chair for Alice in Wonderland for the Mad Hatters Tea Party”. The students met at lunch times and worked in two groups. Their work involved conducting research into the Alice in Wonderland film set, looking at styles and aesthetics, generating ideas through sketching and model making and ultimately turning their ideas into reality using CAD/ CAM and CNC machinery. The students documented the entire process on video, which they skilfully edited with accompanying music and then submitted to the competition.

We would like to thank The British School Kathmandu for organising the challenge.

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1st Place – “The Mad Creators” • Nichapatr (Petch) • Natabhorn (Plume Plume) • Wei • Camila 3rd Place – “The Illusionists” • Angwara (Book) • Renee • Khushi A few words from “The Mad Creators”...

“Overall I found this activity to be really fun as I got to work with my friends and do something I had never done before. My favourite part of the process was at the beginning, when we were brainstorming and planning ideas for the chair as we had to make sure it fitted with the Alice in Wonderland theme but also be very imaginative to make it look different from a regular chair. We ended up with lots of cool looking ideas. From then on, it was more practical as we had to make a small model of the chair to make sure the final design we chose would work. After finalising the design and measurements, we started working in CAD 2D design to cut out the parts, as well as painting it and joining everything together. All the while, we recorded the

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Online D&T Competition Winners Past & Present: Part 2

By Steven Daly, Head of D&T, Regents International School Pattaya

The 2017-18 Online D&T Competition is being jointly hosted by Regents International School Pattaya and the British International School Ho Chi Minh City.

The FOBISIA Design & Technology (D&T) Competition, jointly run by Steven Daly, Head of D&T at Regents International School Pattaya (REGP) and James Chandler, Assistant Head at the British International School Ho Chi Minh City (BISHM), is a great opportunity for students to demonstrate their ability to investigate the world around them by understanding the needs of others.

Students were given the challenge to design and make a promotional gift for visitors to their school. This was a great opportunity for students to understand how many different types of people visit their school and for what purpose, and to be really innovative on how they can respond to this target audience, by communicating key values which their school wanted to promote.

Three schools made it to the finals: 1.

2.

3.

BISHM, Vietnam Seoul Foreign School (SFBS), Republic of Korea REGP, Thailand

The entries were judged by Jim Myers, D&T Teacher at Bangkok Patana School (BPS). REGP finally emerged as the winner, with BISHM in second place and SFBS a close third.

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Students at REGP designed and made a retro, working, handheld games console, with school branding to target potential teachers who want CPD in electronics and robotics, an initiative used to communicate the latest developments at the school.

We would like to thank all nine schools who participated in the competition, and a special thanks to Jim at BPS for judging the competition.

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Creative Coding Challenge Ignites Passion

By Mun Yee Chong, Secondary Computing Teacher, Bangkok Patana School

The Creative Coding Challenge is hosted across 12 countries, and was held in December 2017.

In December 2017, over fifty students came together to explore their love of coding while taking part in the annual FOBISIA Creative Coding Challenge, an internationally recognised competition hosted in 12 countries.

Judging by the popularity and success of the event, the CAS Project Team is encouraged to organise similar events later in the year to push the capabilities of even the most experienced coders in the school.

This year, the challenges were divided into different key stages and levels - bronze, silver and gold. The event saw a wide variety of students attending all the way through key stages two through five over the course of two days after school with many teachers as well as other members of staff attending to supervise and support the students. “Contrary to common belief, coding is more than just a language used to hack. To be able to code is one of the most liberating experiences presented to a student as it gives them the opportunity to build anything they desire, to solve any problem they feel passionate about�.

- Dhruv (Year 12 Student) With 50 participants attending, this event was remarkably successful in its attempt to ignite a passion for coding amongst the Bangkok Patana School student body. This success was possible thanks to the efforts of Patana Development Bank (the CAS Project Team that organised the event), their supervisor, Ms Mun Yee Chong, as well as the contribution from various other teachers in the Computer Science Department. The organising group would also like to thank all participants for their enthusiasm in collaborating with their teammates to tackle problems both intuitively and creatively. The outcome intended for the event was not just for students to display their computing skills but also to collaboratively develop new skills from each other whilst establishing team-working capabilities that will greatly help students in their development into working adults.

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High Standards at Creative Coding Challenge

By Samantha Bruin, Computing Teacher, Harrow International School Bangkok

The Creative Coding Competition is hosted across 12 countries, and was held in December 2017.

On Friday 8 and Saturday 9 December, 2017, 34 Harrow Students from Year 9 through to Year 13 gave up their free time in order to represent our school in the FOBISIA Creative Coding Challenge. This was the first time Harrow International School participated in the FOBISIA challenge and it was certainly a resounding success.

Students who took part were required to set aside five hours, during which they had to solve several problems using a programming language to help them.

The problems had varying degrees of difficulty, easier challenges were called ‘Bronze’ challenges, intermediate 'Silver', and the most difficult ones were ‘Gold’. The different awards the students could achieve were ‘Commended’, ‘Highly Commended’, ‘Excellent’ and ‘Outstanding’.

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We were able to connect with other participating schools remotely using a piece of online software called ‘Hangouts’, it was interesting to see the other schools working hard on the challenges and our students loved interacting with other schools across the world.

Students had to use their team work and problem solving skills to ensure that they completed as many of the challenges as possible, the atmosphere in the room was fantastic. All of the teams did so well and impressed us all.

When the results came in we were very proud to announce that out of nine teams four of them reached ‘Outstanding’, three reached ‘Excellent’ and two achieved 'Highly Commended'. We are very much looking forward to running the event again next year.

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Probing Patterns at Online Maths Competition

By Bruce Hector, Head of Mathematics, The ABC International School

The Online Maths Competition was hosted by The ABC International School, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in October - November 2017.

The Primary Online Mathematics Competition, which was organised by Bruce Hector from the The ABC International School, Ho Chi Minh City, was held during November 2017. A total of 33 teams entered, indicating the wealth of mathematical talent in our schools. A huge thank you to everyone for allowing your students to be involved involved.

Students were required to investigate the patterns in Pascal’s Triangle and present their findings in a threeminute video, undertake a group challenge and an online individual test.

Congratulations to our overall winners, Aryan, Misaki, Dahee and Amalia from The British School New Delhi.

They scored a massive 340 points out of a possible 360!

Congratulations to all who participated. You all have demonstrated excellent skills and understanding and show that there is a wealth of mathematical talent in our schools.

If you would like further information please contact me via email at brucehector@theabcis.com. Full details of the competition can be found at https:// fobisiaonlinemathscomp2017.wordpress.com/.

New Delhi Wins Online Maths Competition

By Neena Sharma, Primary Mathematics Coordinator, British School New Delhi

The Online Maths Competition was hosted by The ABC International School, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in October - November 2017.

Four extremely able mathematicians from the British School New Delhi, India participated in all the three components of the second Online Maths Competition held in October-November 2017. They applied their marvelous mathematical skills to solve a variety of challenging problems that were based on several concepts.

The students researched, recorded and uploaded a three-minute video on Pascal’s Triangle to score second highest in the Video Challenge. In the Group Challenge, the team (three girls and one boy) completely immersed themselves for two hours to solve 30 challenges with unequalled speed and accuracy to earn the first position.

According to Dahee, our youngest contestant of 9 years, “Some of the questions were very difficult.” Amalia and Aryan feel that this competition has helped them to improve their problem solving skills. “I enjoyed investigating the patterns in Pascal’s Triangle the most!” says Misaki.

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Bangkok Prep Team Excels at Online Maths Competition

By Simon Callow, Year 6 Teacher & Primary School Numeracy Coordinator, Bangkok International Preparatory & Secondary School

The Online Maths Competition was hosted by The ABC International School, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in October - November 2017.

Out of 38 of the best British international schools from across all of South-East Asia, Bangkok International Preparatory and Secondary School (Bangkok Prep) has finished in 6th place (2nd in Thailand). Competing in the FOBISIA Online Maths Challenge, Atty, Arjun (both 6SC), JL and Bonus (both 6AW) performed magnificently during the three rounds to finish ahead of some the most renowned schools on this continent. A truly fantastic achievement!

In addition to this, two of our students, Atty and Arjun, finished in the top-20 individually. Put into context, there were 148 students competing and each of these students had been selected in the top four of their respective schools; meaning that, in reality, they have finished in

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the top 20 out of thousands of students. Atty, incredibly, finished in 4th place and Arjun placed 13th.

The results were as follows: 1. British School New Delhi 2. The British School Manila 3. Dulwich College Beijing 4. Dulwich College Seoul 5. Bangkok Patana School 6. Bangkok Prep 7. Harrow International School Beijing 8. British International School Ho Chi Minh City (BISHM) 9. The International School of Parkcity, KL 10. St Christophers, Penang.

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Updates from the UK David Rowlands' Keynotes publication provides updates on British curriculum developments and key issues affecting British international schools. This segment includes excepts from Keynotes, with permission from the author, David Rowlands.

Baseline & KS1 Assessment

Assistant Heads

The DfE document “Primary Assessment in England” is proposing a standardised baseline assessment to be administered to all children during their first half term in reception. This will be trialled in 2019 and rolled out nationally in September 2020. Pupils taking these trial assessments in September 2019 will also take KS1 tests in 2022, when they reach the age of 7. This will provide the DfE with two sets of data to compare with the same pupils’ KS2 performance in 2026. This is the only practical way to correlate the baseline and KS1 assessments as a starting point for measuring pupils’ progress during their time at primary school. If all goes according to plan, KS1 assessments would become nonstatutory in summer 2023.

In the past six years, there has been a 28% rise in the number of assistant heads appointed. This is significantly higher than the increase in headteachers (1.5%) and deputy heads (2%). The principal reason for the rise is schools trying to retain their best teachers who may already be at the top of the upper pay scale (currently £38,633). Giving them additional responsibilities and moving them onto the leadership pay scale is one way of acknowledging their value to the school and, at the same time, raising their salaries.

Sensitive to the criticism that the new baseline assessment might put very young children under undue pressure, the document stresses that the DfE is not concerned with individual results, and these will not be published. The aggregated scores for the year group will serve purely as a marker, scrutinised once pupils reach the end of Y6, in an attempt to establish how much progress the cohort has made during their time at primary school. Currently, progress is measured between the KS1 assessments (end of Y2) and the KS2 assessments (in Y6).

The above extracts have been taken from the DfE’s “Primary Assessment in England”, published September 2017 .

Teacher Training Numbers An 11.5% rise in secondary school pupil numbers is predicted over the next four years coupled with a small, but still significant, rise in primary numbers. As a consequence, the number of graduates required for initial teacher training this September has increased by 4.5%.

DfE Consults on Relationships & Sex Ed The government wants ‘relationships education’ to be taught from the start of primary school, and relationships and sex education (RSE) to begin at age 11. This rule will apply to all state funded schools, starting September 2019.

The consultation runs until February 18th and asks what should be included in the curriculum and at what age.

The curriculum was last updated in 2000, and much has changed since then – particularly the prevalence

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Continued from page 35... of social media, ‘sexting’ and the ease with which pornography can be accessed online. The revised curriculum will include mental health, and staying safe online. Relationships education will include same sex relationships and transgender issues – topics likely to be problematic for British curriculum schools in some parts of the world.

Homework Cathy Vatterott has identified various characteristics of good homework: • Activities should be meaningful with students understanding the benefits of the task. This will increase motivation.

• Homework should not be too protracted or time consuming, but should necessitate some independent thinking.

• Ownership of the activity is a plus. Although this is not always possible, it is desirable. Providing students with an element of choice, for example, will enhance their sense of ownership. E.g. students chose their own topic to research.

• Students must be able to complete the task independently.

Work pitched at the right level should engage and challenge, being neither too easy nor too difficult.

• In an ideal world, homework should inspire students as this will increase motivation and focus.

Then there is the question of how long should be spent on homework? Government guidelines were abolished, but the consensus seems to be that, for primary age children, half an hour, twice a week (plus daily reading) is sufficient and an hour a day might be the optimum for secondary age pupils. Most heads know their students do more than this, particularly in KS4, but a recent Spanish study found that exceeding 90 minutes a day had an adverse effect on students’ performance – most notably in science and maths.

Teacher Recruitment & Retention A survey by the NAHT union found that 81% of headteachers had problems with staff recruitment in 2017. 63% reported difficulties in attracting suitable teachers, whilst 18% failed to fill a post. 33% of heads claimed that budget cuts contributed to recruitment and retention difficulties in 2017; this is up from 9% in 2016.

The government has responded by offering additional bursaries to trainee maths teachers and covering the student loan repayments of teachers working in areas where teacher shortages are particularly acute.

British Education Awards Recognise FOBISIA Member Schools

By Anne Keeling, Communications Director, ISC Research (Photos Courtesy of Charles Henderson Photography) The British International School Awards took place [on] Monday 22nd January 2018 in London. Headteachers and senior leaders from many international schools located around the world attended the gala event which took place at London’s Grand Connaught Rooms.

The awards, hosted by British International Schools Magazine and ISC Research, highlighted some exceptional initiatives spearheaded by British international schools and educators that are helping to strengthen Britain’s education brand globally. Nominations included schools from 38 different countries.

British International School of the Year 2018 was awarded to the British School in New Delhi, India. Expanding from 250 to 1,200 students, the school is accredited and recognised by 15 reputable education organisations, achieving exceptional results at IGCSE and IB Diploma, and is considered to be one of the best British schools in the world as well as one of the best schools in India. Its digital citizenship outreach project, which supports student safeguarding, and involves both students and parents, has been independently accredited by the Common Sense Education Accreditation Team which described the school’s dedication to teaching young people how to be safe, responsible digital citizens as inspirational. School Director, Ms. Vanita Uppal OBE received her award from Ms. Emma Goodwin, CEO of WCBS. “There are some exceptional initiatives that British schools are making independently, all around the world,” said Emma Goodwin. “International schools, large and small, frequently amaze us with their innovative and rigorous educational approaches and commitment to sustained best practice. It often takes platforms like the International School Awards to raise the profile of these initiatives to a level that all schools can learn, benefit and be inspired from.”

In the category awards, the British International School in Chicago, US was recognised for Creativity in Learning.

The school has set up a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) corridor which includes science labs, art studio, robotics workshop, design technology lab and a maker space to encourage students to move from room to room gathering inspiration, materials, skills and advice to bring their ideas to life; an approach that is developing academic, social and personal success amongst its students.

Harrow International School in Bangkok, Thailand received the Outstanding Community Initiative for training 300 teachers at refugee camps on the Thai/ Myanmar border since 2010. 140,000 refugees live in camps along this border with extremely limited educational provision. For the past seven years, staff from Harrow Bangkok have worked with Mobile Education Partnerships, a UK charity, to offer Cambridge examinations, educational support and community initiatives to these camps.

Other winning schools included Jerudong International School, Brunei (Outstanding Strategic Initiative for its student-led Outdoor Discovery Centre), Nadeen School, Bahrain (Outstanding Pastoral Care Initiative for its approach to engaging disaffected students and accelerating learning), Dulwich College Seoul, South Korea (Outstanding Teaching Initiative for a project to embed long-term learning in maths), British School Jakarta, Indonesia (Outstanding Digital Technology Initiative for school-wide digital citizenship), Silver Oaks Schools and College, Pakistan (International Impact Award for its global collaboration with schools to show we have more in common than separate us), Dover Court International School, Singapore (Outstanding Senior Leadership Team of the Year) and Mr. Ed Goodwin OBE, the Principal of St Christopher’s School

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Continued from page 37... in Bahrain received an award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to International Education.

British schools, teaching and learning approaches, curricula, qualifications and educational resources are increasingly in demand by schools and parents around the world. ISC Research data indicates that British oriented schools overseas now number 4,187.

The British International School Awards 2018 were hosted by British International Schools Magazine with the support of ISC Research, and sponsored by leading school information management supplier, WCBS.

FOBISIA MEMBER SCHOOLS British School New Delhi, India Jerudong International School, Brunei Harrow International School Bangkok, Thailand Dulwich College Seoul, Republic of Korea British School Jakarta, Indonesia Dover Court International School, Singapore

WIN 6/10 AWARDS!

THE FOBISIAN: February 2018, Term 2, Issue 26

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39 THE FOBISIAN: February 2018, Term 2, Issue 26

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FOBISIA's Member Schools Thank you to our 57 Member Schools for promoting excellence, high achievement and best practice in British curriculum schools in Asia; and a warm welcome to our new MemberSchools!

Bangkok International Preparatory & Secondary School www.bkkprep.ac.th Bangkok Patana School www.patana.ac.th British International School Hanoi www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/vietnam/hanoi/bis British International School Ho Chi Minh City www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/bis British International School, Phuket www.bisphuket.ac.th British School Jakarta www.bsj.sch.id British Vietnamese International School www.nordangliaeducation.com/en/our-schools/vietnam/hanoi/bvis British Vietnamese International School www.nordangliaeducation.com/en/our-schools/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/bvis Bromsgrove International School www.bromsgrove.ac.th Charter International School NEW www.charter.ac.th Discovery Bay International School www.dbis.edu.hk Dover Court International School Singapore www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/singapore Dulwich College Beijing https://beijing.dulwich.org Dulwich College Seoul https://seoul.dulwich.org Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong https://shanghai-pudong.dulwich.org Dulwich College Sinagpore NEW https://singapore.dulwich.org/ Dulwich College Suzhou https://suzhou.dulwich.org elc International School www.elc.edu.my Garden International School www.gardenschool.edu.my Garden International School, Eastern Seaboard, Ban Chang www.gardenrayong.com Harrow International School Bangkok www.harrowschool.ac.th Harrow International School Beijing www.harrowbeijing.cn Hornbill School www.hornbillschool.com International School Brunei www.isb.edu.bn Jerudong International School www.jerudonginternationalschool.com Kellett School www.kellettschool.com Kinabalu International School www.kis.edu.my Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar www.ktj.edu.my Nord Anglia International School Shanghai, Pudong www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/shanghai/pudong North London Collegiate School Jeju www.nlcsjeju.co.kr Prince of Wales Island International School www.powiis.edu.my Regents International School Pattaya www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/pattaya Seoul Foreign School www.seoulforeign.org Shenzhen College of International Education www.scie.com.cn Shrewsbury International School www.shrewsbury.ac.th Sri KDU International School www.srikdu.edu.my St. Andrew's International School Bangkok www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/bangkok St. Andrew's International School, Green Valley www.standrewsgreenvalley.com St. Christopher’s International Primary School www.scips.org.my St. Stephen’s International School www.sis.edu Taipei European School www.taipeieuropeanschool.com Tanglin Trust School www.tts.edu.sg The ABC International School www.theabcis.com The Alice Smith School www.alice-smith.edu.my The British International School of Kuala Lumpur www. britishschool.edu.my The British International School Shanghai Puxi www.nordangliaeducation.com/schools/asia/china The British School Guangzhou www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/guangzhou The British School Kathmandu www.tbskathmandu.org The British School Manila www.britishschoolmanila.org The British School New Delhi www.british-school.org The British School of Beijing, Sanlitun www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/beijing/sanlitun The British School of Beijing, Shunyi www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/beijing/shunyi The English School of Mongolia www.esm.edu.mn The International School @ ParkCity www.isp.edu.my The International School of Penang (Uplands) www.uplands.org The Regent’s International School Bangkok www.regents.ac.th Traill International School www.traillschool.ac.th

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FOBISIA's Affiliate Members Thank you to our 69 Affiliate Members for supporting excellence in British curriculum schools in Asia; and a warm welcome to our new Affiliate Members!

COMPANY

JOINED WEBSITE

BUSINESS CATEGORY

2 Simple UK 2016 www.2simple.com IT Software Ability Expeditions 2017 www.abilityexpeditions.com School Activities & Visits American Athletic Scholarships 2015 www.americanathleticscholarships.com.au Student Careers Advisory Services Andy Barrow 2016 www.andybarrow.co.uk School Activities & Visits; Consultancy &

Management Services; PD Services; Public

Speaking, Coaching & Mentoring Anthony Millard Consulting 2012 www.anthonymillard.co.uk Consultancy & Management Services APD Singapore (Malaysia) 2015 www.apdsing.com Publishers & Book Suppliers Asia Education Travel 2015 www.asiaeducationtravel.com Consultancy & Management Services; School

Activities & Visits BridgeU 2017 www.bridge-u.com IT Systems (MIS) Britannica Digital Learning 2017 http://edu.eb.com Teaching & Learning Resources; IT Software Buckinghamshire Learning Trust 2015 www.learningtrust.net PD Services; Assessment & Curriculum Services CambridgeAssessmentSingapore 2013 www.cambridgeinternational.org Assessment & Curriculum Services, PD Services;

Teaching & Learning Resources Capita SIMS International 2014 www.capita-independent.co.uk/international IT Systems (MIS) CES Holdings 2012 www.cesholdings.com Publishers & Book Suppliers; Furniture Suppliers;

Educational Supplies Administration Charanga Ltd NEW 2017 www.charanga.com Teaching & Learning Resources CHQ Group 2015 www.chqgroup.co.uk IT Systems (MIS); Inspectorates & Accreditation

Agencies Collins Learning 2014 www.collins.co.uk/international Publishers & Book Suppliers Consilium Education 2016 www.consiliumeducation.com PD Services CyberHound 2017 www.cyberhound.com IT Hardware; IT Services (Website); IT Software; IT

Systems (MIS) Dawsons Music 2013 www.dawsons.co.uk Musical Instrument Suppliers Double First 2014 www.doublefirst.sg IT Systems (MIS) Drums for Schools 2015 www.drumsforschools.com Teaching & Learning Resources; PD Services ECO Seek Foundation 2017 www.ecoseekfoundation.org Assessment & Curriculum Services; Consultancy &

Management Services; PD Services; Inspectorates

& Accreditation Agencies EduCare Learning 2016 www.educare.co.uk IT Services (Websites); PD Services Education Development Trust 2013 www.educationdevelopmenttrust.org Consultancy & Management Services Edvectus 2013 www.edvectus.com Recruitment Services EquipMySchool 2012 www.equipmyschool.com Educational Supplies Administration Finalsite 2013 www.finalsite.com IT Services (Websites); PD Services Firefly Learning 2015 www.fireflylearning.com IT Systems (MIS); PD Services Furnware Singapore 2016 www.furnware.com Furniture Suppliers Gapforce School Groups 2016 www.gapforceschoolgroups.co.uk School Activities & Visits GL Education 2012 www.gl-education.com Assessment & Curriculum Services Harlequin Floors 2016 www.harlequinfloors.com Construction Services HARTsport 2017 www.hartsport.com.au Sports Equipment Suppliers; Teaching & Learning Resources Hussey Seating Asia-Pacific 2015 www.husseyasiapacific.com Furniture Suppliers IINIZIO 2016 www.iinizio.com Recruitment Services; HR Solutions ICPA NEW 2015 www.icpa.co.uk PD Services; Safeguarding Services; Assessment &

Curriculum Services ISCA 2018 www.iscaschools.com School Activities & Visits Interactive Schools 2016 www.interactive-schools.co.uk IT Services (Websites); Communications &

Marketing Services iSAMS 2012 www.isams.co.uk IT Systems (MIS) ISC Research 2012 www.iscresearch.com Consultancy & Management Services

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COMPANY

JOINED WEBSITE

BUSINESS CATEGORY

JF International 2017 www.janssen-fritsen.com PD Services; Sports Equipment Suppliers LSC Education 2016 www.lsceducation.com Recruitment Services Mallory International 2016 www.malloryint.co.uk Publishers & Book Suppliers; Teaching & Learning Resources Oxford AQA Exams 2017 www.oxfordaqaexams.org.uk Examinations & Awards; Assessment & Curriculum

Services; Teaching & Learning Resources Penta International 2015 www.penta.co.uk Inspectorates & Accreditation Agencies Perrett Laver 2016 www.perrettlaver.com Recruitment Services Planet eStream 2015 www.planetstream.co.uk IT Software Pret-a-Portrait 2015 www.pret-a-portrait.net Photography Rift Valley Adventures 2015 www.riftvalleyadventures.com School Activities & Visits RSAcademics 2016 www.rsacademics.co.uk Recruitment Services; Research; PD Services;

Inspectorates & Accreditation Agencies S+B UK 2016 www.splusb.co.uk Consultancy & Management Services; IT Services

(Websites) Search Associates 2012 www.searchassociates.com Recruitment Services Signmee 2017 www.signmee.com IT Systems (MIS) St. George's Uni. Hong Kong 2017 www.sgu.edu Examinations & Awards; Student Careers Advisory

Services Tangible Wellbeing 2017 www.tangiblewellbeing.com PD Services; Teaching & Learning Resources Teachers' Wealth 2012 www.teacherswealth.com HR Services; Financial Services Teaching Abroad Direct 2015 www.teachingabroaddirect.co.uk Recruitment Services Texthelp 2016 www.texthelp.com IT Software; Teaching & Learning Resources The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Foundation 2017 www.intaward.org Not-for-profit Organisations; Examinations &

Awards TIC Recruitment 2012 www.ticrecruitment.com Recruitment Services Titus Learning 2014 www.tituslearning.com IT Systems (MIS) Transnational Education 2017 www.transnationaleducation.com.my School Activities & Visits; Consultancy &

Management Services; Recruitment Services;

Student Careers Advisory Services True Teaching 2013 www.trueteaching.com Consultancy & Management; Recruitment Services TTS Group 2012 www.tts-international.com Teaching & Learning Resources; Office Supplies;

Publishers & Book Suppliers Unifrog Education 2016 www.unifrog.org Consultancy & Management Services; IT Services

(Websites) Veema Education NEW 2018 www.veema.co.uk School Activities & Visits; Consultancy &

Management Services; PD Services; Inspectorates

& Accreditation Agencies Virco NEW 2018 www.virco.com Furniture Suppliers Warwick Mann International 2012 www.warwickmann.com HR Services; Financial Services WCBS International 2014 www.wcbs.co.uk/international IT Systems (MIS)

THE FOBISIAN: February 2018, Term 2, Issue 26

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14

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100%

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