IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 101, Week 4, January 2017
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Inside This Week Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles 2 Head of School .............................................................. News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod 2 Elementary School Principal .............................................................. News from Secondary School Mr. Michael Arcidiacono 3 Secondary School Principal
PYP Workshop. ~ Pg. 3
Happening.
Library News ~ Pg. 3 Congratulations to Grade 8 Students ~ Pg. 4 G10 Individuals & Societies Energy Management Exhibition ~ Pg. 5 College Counsellor News ~ Pg. 5 PVO News ~ Pg. 6
++ Monday 6th February First day, Semester 2 ++ Tuesday 7th February ~ PYP Parent Workshop ~ Malaysian University Fair ~ SS Track Friendly ++ Wednesday 8th February Career 101 (Grades 9 & 10) ++ Thursday 9th February SEAFA Singapore Basketball Trip ++ Friday10th February ES Assembly (KG)
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• The new secondary school’s library. Pg.3
• MYP Community Project Exhibition. Pg.4
• I&S Energy Management Exhibition. Pg.4
Message from Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, The Chinese New Year assembly held this week was a wonderful display of our students’ abilities in the Chinese language as well as an excellent means of sharing Chinese history and culture with all of our school community. This year we also learnt about the ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity in China. Thanks are extended to our Chinese teachers and others who spent many weeks in preparation, particularly Ms Yuri Kim, who again oversaw the organisation of the assembly. Appointment of Elementary School Principal We are pleased to announce that an appointment has been made of the Elementary Principal to succeed Mrs Claire McLeod when she returns to Australia at the end of this school year. After advertising world-wide for a new Elementary Principal, we are delighted that Mr Simon Millward, our current PYP Coordinator, has been chosen for the role. Mr Millward, holds a BA (Hons.) and an MBA in Educational Management. He had held teaching and leadership positions in the UK, Kuwait, Frankfurt, Bangkok and Istanbul before joining IGBIS. Mr Millward is an IB workshop leader and school visitor for both the PYP and MYP, and was selected by the IB to contribute to a review of the PYP at the IB Global Centre in The Hague. He is already working closely with Mrs McLeod and will ensure a seamless transition takes place in the coming months. I hope that you all enjoy some quality family time over the break next week. Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai! Xing nian kuai le!
Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School
News from Elementary School Our Chinese New Year assembly this year opened with two beautiful music pieces that helped set the atmosphere for the assembly. Then the audience was captivated by a series of creatively designed short performances that highlighted the different geographical areas of China and their unique customs and ethnic dress. Everyone expressed delight in learning new facts about Chinese people and their cultures. The student presenters and performers confidently delivered their part of the assembly and the transitions were smooth and seamless. Thank you to our teachers and students who provided us with an excellent assembly. In the next few weeks we will welcome a number of new students and families to Elementary School. Our students are excited about their new peers and l know they will be caring and thoughtful in the way they support their transition to IGBIS.
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No matter how long or short your Chinese New Year holiday may be, I hope everyone has time to relax with their family and friends. School resumes on Monday 6th February. School will be closed for Thaipusam on Thursday 9th February. Until next time,
Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
PYP Workshop Simon Millward Primary Years Programme Coordinator ............................................................................................... Regardless of whether your child is enrolled in the PYP, MYP or DP, all parents are welcome to attend an upcoming PYP Workshop. PYP Workshop Tuesday 7th February, 8:15am - 9:15am PVO room, Level 2 Modelling and using the Learner profile at home and outside of school
understanding and international mindedness. The attributes that the IB have chosen were devised so that they can ‘help create a better, more peaceful world’. (Making the PYP Happen, IBO 2007) The session will involve a presentation, discussion and sharing ideas as to how these can be modelled at home. It is designed to be a practical guide that can be taken and used outside of school. Sign up for the learner profile workshop at URL below [ https://goo.gl/IPMqYK ]
This workshop will focus on the IB learner profile, what the attributes are and how they form the basis of cultural
News from Secondary School This has been an incredible week at IGBIS and there is ample evidence of the talents of our students and their development as learners in the pages of this newsletter. The celebration of Chinese New Year in our annual assembly as well as our Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences on Thursday were the culmination of a very busy semester. In addition to the various exhibitions, assemblies and cross-grade collaborations that you will find in this edition, I would like to remind our community of the hard work in lessons that is also occurring, particularly in Grade 12. Grade 12 is “coming down the home stretch” as they enter their final semester, and they have been extremely busy with meeting deadlines and taking care of their responsibilities,
in advance of the upcoming exams in May. As a community who values the Learner Profile attribute of “caring” so much that it is part of our mission statement, I encourage everyone to provide some extra care and encouragement to our young scholars as they face this challenging time. I hope Grade 12 students and all students enjoy a restful Chinese New Year holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone when we return on February 6th.
Michael Arcidiacono Secondary School Principal
Library News Amanda Clark Whole School Teacher Librarian ............................................................................................... For two years, the library space at IGBIS has been a shared one, with Elementary and Secondary resources housed in the 5th floor library space. This has been a fantastic opportunity to create our library community, with our older students engaging and interacting with our younger students during shared lunchtimes. As our school has grown significantly in resources and in student numbers over time, it has become clear that the time has come to separate the two libraries. The Secondary school library is now located on the 6th floor and our students have begun the process of exploring and enjoying the new space. The first event to be hosted in the Secondary library, was the Grade 8 MYP Community Project, which was held over 2 days on 25th and 26th January. Our Elementary library now has a far more open space available for our learners to take advantage of when visiting the library during library lessons or when using the resources with their teachers. Parents are welcome to drop by at any time in either library and enjoy the spaces and check out books.
Igniting Minds
• Before
• After
Impacting Lives
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Congratulations to Grade 8 Students Phil Clark Middle Years Programme Coordinator ...............................................................................................
Over the next couple of months, our Grade 10 students will complete their Personal Projects and we look forward to showcasing their learning at their Personal Project Exhibition.
This week was particularly busy for Grade 8 students as they came to the end of their six-month long Community Projects. Each student group gave a formal presentation to a small group of teachers on Monday and Tuesday. These presentations demonstrated all four stages of their Community Projects Investigating, Planning, Taking Action and Reflecting. The presentations were videoed and will be formally assessed by teachers after the Chinese New Year holiday. The students also spent a considerable amount of time and effort planning and preparing for the culminating event, the Community Project Exhibition that was held on Thursday morning. They created display boards, posters and video presentations, and rehearsed how to introduce their projects to an audience of students, parents and teachers. The exhibition was hosted in the new Secondary School library which proved to be an ideal venue for this event. Mrs Fowles formally opened the new library and the Community Project Exhibition, welcoming parents and other community members. It was wonderful to observe how well the students interacted with their respective audiences, presenting their projects and answering questions knowledgeably and with confidence. Through these projects they have learned so much about the wider community, about service and responsibility, and about themselves. Many of these Grade 8 students joined IGBIS in Grade 6 when we first opened our school, and it is lovely to see how much they have grown and developed over the past two and a half years. Thank you to everyone in our community who has helped and supported all of the Grade 8 students throughout their Community Projects: homeroom teachers; grade-level coordinator and teacher supervisors; parents who chaperoned their children on their service projects; the library, admin and catering teams; and everyone else who helped ensure student success.
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Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
G10 Individuals & Societies Energy Management Exhibition Michael Hawkes Secondary Teacher - Individuals & Societies/DP History ............................................................................................... This week, Grade 10 students, as part of their Service as Action component, held an exhibition for Grade 5 students to showcase their I&S energy management projects. Each Grade 10 student created a model of something that consumes a significant amount of fossil fuels. The examples of fossil fuel consumption ranged from the modeling industry, to McDonald’s, to the production of bicycles, or F1 racing. The Grade 10 students explained how their ideas consume coal, oil or natural gas, the processes involved to produce energy, the negative impacts of fossil fuel consumption, and finally some responsible and sustainable solutions. Grade 5 students were enthusiastic and circulated throughout the exhibition to learn about the variety of different models. They asked excellent questions and gave some meaningful feedback to the older
students. It was great to see the Grade 10 students cheerfully communicate their understanding of energy resources and offer ways to make more responsible choices. The Grade 5 students walked away with some more knowledge of our world and perhaps some ideas of how to go forward with planning their Grade 5 Exhibition in Semester Two.
College Counsellor News Pauline Davidson Grade 9-12 School Counsellor ...............................................................................................
required by tertiary institutions. Test Takers will be running a week-long SAT prep course at IGBIS during the week of 8-13 April.
We had a great turnout to the Information Evening for Grade 11 students on Tuesday 24th January, with about 60 students and parents coming along. We took the audience through the process of applying to universities, and explained how IGBIS offers support through that process. If you missed the Information Evening, the presentation will soon be available on the College Counselling website.
Please be aware of several university-related events that will be coming up in the next few weeks:
A representative from Test Takers Prep came along to discuss the possibilities of students taking external exams that are Date
Time
Event
Location
Tue. 7th Feb
12:30pm
Study Malaysia / Singapore
IGBIS
Sat, 11th Feb
2:00pm - 5:00pm
Study Canada (University of Ottawa)
Dorsett Grand Subang
Wed, 15th Feb
8:00am - 10:00am
Careers Exploration Morning (students only)
IGBIS
Sun, 19th Feb
2:00pm - 6:00pm
Study USA University Fair
Istana Hotel
Sat, 18th Mar - Sun, 19th Mar
1:00pm - 6:00pm
Study UK University Fair
KLCC Convention Centre
SAT Prep Course
IGBIS
Sat, 8th Apr - Thu, 13th Apr
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
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PVO News Julie Arcidiacono Community & Events Coordinator ............................................................................................... As many of you are aware, Phase One of the MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line from Sungai Buloh to Semantan began operations last month. IGBIS would like to explore the option of offering students a complimentary shuttle service to and from the MRT station at Sungai Buloh. If this option would be beneficial to your family, please send an email to julie.arcidiacono@igbis.edu.my.
Minutes from last week’s PVO meeting have been uploaded to the PVO website. Please visit the PVO website to view and to sign-up for event committees. Our next parent-related major event is International Day and an event committee meeting will be held during the week following the Chinese New Year break. The date and time will be confirmed by email to parents who have shown interest in volunteering as committee members via the online sign-up form. Wishing you all a happy Chinese New Year break.
Photos Gallery (CNY Assembly ~ 26th January 2017)
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Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
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IGBIS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives