IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 104, Week 4, February 2017
The Grade 4 Camp at the Selangor State Park. ~ 15 - 17 February 2017
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 5 Secondary School Principal
Grade 4 Camp. ~ Pg. 3
DP Visual Arts Exhibition: Feature
Grade 5 Camp. ~ Pg. 4
Artist, Yin Xzi Ho. ~ Pg. 9
MYP Research Visitors. ~ Pg. 5
PVO News. ~ Pg. 10
KLMUN at Garden International School.
From the Admissions Desk
~ Pg. 5
University News. ~ Pg. 6 IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy.
~ Pg. 7
Flying Phoenix. ~ Pg. 8
(Important Reminders). ~ Pg. 10 Friends of the Phoenix. ~ Pg. 11
Happening.
++ Monday, 27th February ~ Study in the US Presentation @ Level 6 Multi-purpose Room (3:00 pm – 3:50 pm) ++ Tuesday 28th February ~ G2 Field Trip to Little Gym (9:30 am – 12:00 pm) ~ U15 Girls Basketball Friendly @ Tenby (3:15 pm – 6:00 pm) ~ U15 Boys Basketball Friendly vs Tenby @ IGBIS (4:00 pm – 5:30 pm) ++ Wednesday 1st March ~ University Visit: Yamanashi Gakuin University, Japan @ L6 Learning Lounge (12:40 pm – 1:30 pm) ~ U11 Boys / Girls Football @ TBD (4:00 pm – 5:30 pm) ++ Thursday 2nd March ~ U13 Boys / Girls Basketball @ TBD (4:00 pm – 5:30 pm) ++ Friday 3rd March ~ Rustic Pathways: GAP year @ L6 Learning Lounge (12:40 pm – 1:30 pm)
Message from Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, Quite often when people from outside our school hear that we have 2, 3 and 4 year olds attending school, they remark, “Surely this is really like daycare and they just play.” That is certainly not the case at IGBIS. Even very young children are engaged in investigating and learning new concepts, developing their understanding, their language and their socialisation skills. This morning I attended the Elementary Assembly where Ms. Richards’ Early Years class were sharing their findings from their investigation into light. They had taken photos of lights around the school and talked about what they were used for, they had investigated how light can come in different forms and colours and they knew that it could be reflected as well. Congratulations Early Years! Parents, please remember we have an Elementary Assembly nearly every week and you are most welcome to attend regardless of whether your child’s class is presenting or not.
Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School
News from Elementary School The Grade 3 students have been finding out about the Design Thinking process and developed their own model to demonstrate this. To help them test this process they were given the task of building a bridge that would span a gap of 25 cm and be strong enough to hold 13 dictionaries.
models on Friday, with quite a few passing the test! School photos have been scheduled for the week of Monday 6th - Friday 10th March. Further information will be provided shortly. Until next time,
Their early trials to find what shapes provide strength included making spaghetti towers, then building block towers and finally a bridge. Their reflections have been interesting and valuable as they tried to understand what shapes provide strength. There was a lot of excitement as the students tested their
2
Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
Grade 4 Camp By Grade 4 Students ............................................................................................... The first day of camp we went to KidZania and learnt about how we need to work really hard to earn money to get what we want. Some of us were surgeons and some of us were magicians. We learned that there are a lot of things we need to do to get a driver’s license. That night, we slept at school and did a Breakout Box and played Minute to Win It games. When we went to Selangor State Park, we built our own campfires to cook our lunch. The food was yummy. After this, we went river walking which was a challenge as the water was moving quickly over the rocks. On the last day of G4 Camp, we went indoor rock-climbing and tenpin bowling. We needed to be brave risk-takers when indoor rock-climbing because we were a long way off the ground.
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
3
Grade 5 Camp Kathy McKenzie Grade 5 Teacher ............................................................................................... Grade 5 has returned to school life after a fabulous time at camp in the forest at Gopeng. Students returned tired, pleased with themselves and bursting with stories. Camp life was very different to the structure of school life, and students loved the increase in independence. They rose to the challenges of outdoor activities, and also of managing themselves in the very simple, no-frills camping environment. When asked for their favourite activities, there were no clear winners - mountain school, river adventures, and forest explorations each had their attractions. Teachers were thrilled to see students relating so supportively to each other, and responding positively to the risk-taking opportunities they were given.
4
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
News from Secondary School This week was very busy with a variety of events in Secondary School, many of which you will see in this week’s newsletter. I would like to highlight a few as well, starting with our Grade 10 Options Fair this past Wednesday. At the Fair, Grade 10 students had an opportunity to meet with Diploma teachers to do a final Q&A before they make their initial course selections. The Fair was full of thoughtful conversations as students began plotting their path of study for the next two years. It is a very exciting time for these students.
with parents the introduction of exams in Grade 10 this year. Mr Clark has written a letter to current Grade 10 parents with all the details of how the exams will work. Looking forward, next week we will continue to have sports fixtures on almost every day of the week. School photos will follow, and are scheduled for the week of Monday 6th - Friday 10th March. More information will follow in the coming week. Best regards,
On Monday, secondary parent representatives came in to provide some feedback as we move through the planning stages of our secondary camps programme for next year. As usual, parents had many helpful points for us to consider as well as some suggestions for the future. We also discussed
Michael Arcidiacono Secondary School Principal
MYP Research Visitors Phil Clark MYP Coordinator ............................................................................................... Next week we will welcome two visitors into school from the Claremont Evaluation Center in the USA. The IB has commissioned a team of researchers from Claremont Graduate University to conduct a large scale research project to examine the implementation and impact of the IB Middle Years Programme around the world. IGBIS has been selected to participate in that research.
in the Asia-Pacific region and will visit IGBIS on Monday and Tuesday next week. They will observe a Grade 6, Grade 7 and Grade 8 Individuals & Societies class, conduct focus group interviews with students from those classes, conduct interviews with the teachers of those classes and with the MYP Coordinator and Secondary School Principal. They will only meet with a few students and teachers from IGBIS during this visit. Parents have been emailed directly if their child has been selected to participate in this study. The research team will return to IGBIS for follow-up visits during the next two academic years.
The study is a multi-year project that will continue for three years before the findings are reported back to the IB. The purpose is to identify factors that support implementation of the MYP in schools and to further understand factors that support beneficial student outcomes.
The research will be anonymous, therefore we will not receive any feedback specifically about MYP implementation at IGBIS. However we are pleased to support the IB as they seek objective evidence that helps schools effectively deliver international education programmes of the highest quality.
The team of two researchers is currently visiting MYP schools
KLMUN at Garden International School General Assembly:
Mr. Hawkes & Miss Heys MUN Directors ...............................................................................................
Hamizah Sukiman - Most Improved Jacopo Della Rosa - Most Passionate
Human Rights Council: Ernest Ng - Most Passionate
On the 17th-19th March, fifteen IGBIS delegates headed to Garden International School to take on a role and a country and debate their stance on given issues and topics at the Kuala Lumpur Model United Nations (KLMUN). There were seven committees in session, with IGBIS having representatives in six of these. Our students represented the school with passion and pride and were recognised as standouts in all of their dealings with other delegates in and out of session. The delegates value the experience gained in this conference and learned some of the skills they may apply to benefit our society and make a positive impact on the world. We are so proud of our students! IGBIS students received the following awards:
Igniting Minds
Economic and Social Council: Rachel Lim - Most Passionate
Advisory Panel on the Question of the Middle East: Joshua Wihlborg - Most Improved Vincent Liew - Most Diplomatic
Disarmament and International Security Council: Adarsh Manoj - Most Passionate
Historical Security Council: Søren Thomsen - Most Diplomatic
Impacting Lives
Continue to page 7.
5
University News Pauline Davidson Grade 9-12 School Counsellor ............................................................................................... Canadian University Fair. Thanks to all the students, parents and teachers who came to talk with our visitors at the Canadian University Fair on Thursday morning. We hosted 16 universities and colleges and it was wonderful see IGBIS students asking the visitors some great questions about their courses and programmes. Even students in grades 9 and 10, for whom it might seem early, can start to gather a bank of information to help them consider options for their futures. Whether they choose to study in Canada or in other global locations, the evidence is firm that students who start to explore options in grades 9 and10 are able to make more informed choices regarding higher education when the time comes for them to apply.
Grade 11 Naviave Training. On Thursday afternoon, Grade 11 parents gathered in the library to learn more about Naviance - Family Connection, the self-exploration and college & career software platform we use here at IGBIS. Parents learnt about how to follow their child’s progress through personality tests, career inventories, and college planning, and left the meeting feeling more confident about how to use the university handbook embedded into
Upcoming Dates for Your Diary. ++ Monday February 27th: Study in the US talk 3pm,
This is the list of schools who visited: ++ University of Alberta ++ University of Guelph ++ Carleton University ++ Concordia University ++ Lakehead University ++ Memorial University ++ University of Manitoba ++ University of New Brunswick ++ University of Prince Edward Island ++ University of Waterloo ++ Alexander College ++ Columbia College ++ Georgian College ++ Humber College ++ SAIT – South Alberta Institute of Technology ++ St Lawrence College
Naviance. Thanks to all parents who attended the session. For any parents who wish to view the slides again, or who were not able to attend, please see the slide presentation which I have loaded onto the college and career counselling page, accessible via the Splash page, or follow this link: https:// sites.google.com/a/igbis.edu.my/counsellingigbis/home/ collegeandcareer
++ Friday March 3rd: Rustic Pathways - GAP year programs, Drop by table, 12.45, 6th floor student lounge
6th floor MPR.
++ Wednesday March 1st: Yamanashi Gaikuin University, Japan, Drop by table, 12.45, 6th floor student lounge.
6
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
Continued from page 5.
Student Name
Grade Level
Country
Committee
Jacopo Della Rosa
12
New Zealand
General Assembly
Hamizah Sukiman
12
USA
General Assembly
Soeren Thomsen
12
Cuba
Historical Security Council
Vincent Liew
12
United Kingdom
Advisory Panel on the Question of the Middle East
Ernest Ng
11
United Kingdom
Human Rights Council
Theevya Ragu
11
India
Economic and Social Council
Rachel Lim
11
China
Economic and Social Council
Ejahz Tunku
11
Iran
Disarmament and International Security Council
Adarsh Manoj
11
India
Disarmament and International Security Council
Tsiu Thien Lim
11
Singapore
General Assembly
Pei Xien Yeoh
10
Estonia
Economic and Social Council
Joshua Wihlborg
10
INTERPOL
Advisory Panel on the Question of the Middle East
Alex Cima Vivarelli
10
United Kingdom
General Assembly
Pietro Della Rosa
10
Italy
General Assembly
Kitty Lim
10
Syria
General Assembly
IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy Jon Suffolk IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy Program Coordinator ............................................................................................... Semester 2 is well under way and all the students are enthusiastically participating in their chosen instrumental study.
I would like to publicly thank him for his dedication while he was at the school. Our violin teacher for Semester 2 is Ms Iko Chia. Ms. Iko also teaches piano at IGBIS. Ms.Iko is a very experienced piano and violin tutor and with her husband, Mr Yew Chee, they have been teaching in their own private studio for many years. Ms. Iko is a highly dedicated music educator who has a caring and encouraging nature, especially with younger students.
Our former violin tutor, Mr Yew Chee, resigned at the end of Semester 1 to take up a full time position at another institution.
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
7
Flying Phoenix Tim Bartle Athletics & Activities Coordinator ............................................................................................... It was a very busy week in sport at IGBIS with Season 2 KLISS fixtures taking place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, the U13 Girls Basketball team played their preliminary games at IGBIS while the U13 Boys headed to BSKL to compete. Both teams finished in the bottom half after a tough opening competition so will progress through to the KLISS Plate Finals. Wednesday saw our U9 Girls Football team head to BSKL
8
where they managed an outstanding 3-0 win against Help International School, sending them to the KLISS Cup Final. The U9 Boys headed over to ISP where they battled it out and finished with three narrow losses. They’ll be competing for the KLISS Plate in a few short weeks. Thursday’s U15 Girls Basketball took place at IGBIS and the girls enjoyed the home-team support, while the boys travelled to Taylors International School. Both teams finished with one win and one loss which was enough to see them progress to the KLISS Cup Finals. Here are some snaps of our Phoenix Sports Stars and we wish them all the best in their upcoming fixtures!
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
DP Visual Arts Exhibition: Feature Artist, Yin Xzi Ho Sheena Kelly Visual Arts Teacher ............................................................................................... Yin Xzi Ho explains her art. She is one of 7 artists that will exhibit at this years DP Visual Arts Exhibition Opening on Thursday the 23rd of March at 6:30pm. All are encouraged to attend this event.
Artist Statement “see this? this point in this worn out book is where you currently are and this, this is the end that you have yet to discover but all of this in between? those are your stories, and the stories of the people around you.” ~ yin xzi ho There are parts of us - whether that be our hands or the letters we would like to send - that tell a story. Art in and of itself is a form of storytelling, where artists choose different mediums and styles to convey their message. Expression through poetry has been a strong influence and is often incorporated into this work. Each work shares the common thread of conveying a message about storytelling itself. I begin by telling the stories of other people through a series of letters. Letters dedicated to a variety of people and things. Each one letter captures a particular feeling or moment in time - a tiny glimpse of the story behind the sender and receiver. Certain artworks such as ‘[Im] permanent & [Im]perfect’ are stories waiting to be interpreted. By contrasting the reality of pressed and dried flowers against the imagined and saturated beauty of the painted flowers, a story is told about the way we tell stories - often times we exaggerate details. The event has passed but the story, the memory lives on in often a more than perfected state. The series ‘Scars and bruises’ - deal with universal stories of pain. While some scars have more dramatic stories than others, the abstracted depictions of the bruises allow for two different interpretations of the physical reminders. With individual titles such as “sakura flowers // a surgery”, the works are described both in terms of their beauty and the original story behind the mark itself. The colors have been beautified to prompt the viewer to think more about the concept of scars and bruises and how they shape us rather than a mark that we have to bear. Being able to interpret the stories presented in two different ways runs throughout the exhibition.
myself and my childhood. In ‘hope: a journey’ brush strokes transform and move to form my name and a stanza of a poem I wrote, becoming a visual realization of the journey. A journey of understanding and acceptance of my Chinese culture as a part of myself. As you walk through the exhibition you will be handed story after story. A few of them will set something spinning inside you, a few of them will be retold by you, while others will be treasured by you.
Artists such as Shirin Neshat and Sophie Calle have inspired me to tell stories through a combination of words and imagery. Neshat’s works tell a story about the role of women by superimposing text over images. Her work has influenced the imagery in the series ‘Offerings’, where the hands of family are covered with text that reveals something intimate about the pair of hands pictured. With each story that gets told, the artworks become increasingly personal, turning into personal reflections Pieces such as ‘ hope: a journey’ and ‘The Deconstruction of Me’ tell my story through imagery associated with specific aspects of
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
9
PVO News Julie Chen Arcidiacono Community Support & Services Coordinator ............................................................................................... International Day The PVO has had a busy few weeks preparing for International Day and there is still a lot of work ahead of us. We had a successful meeting on Thursday where parents worked together in small groups, learning about each other’s countries, and themselves. The Parade of Nations on the Sports Field will mark the beginning of International Day. Students will march in front of families, staff and other spectators under their preferred flag. Everyone will then be invited to follow the parade into the Sports Hall, where parent-run country booths and teacherorganised games will be held. There will also be scheduled performances and outdoor activities.
A Parade of Nations sign-up form will be shared with you via email in the coming days. Elementary parents will have the opportunity to sign up their children as participants in the parade. Secondary students will also receive the form via their student email accounts. They will also have the chance to complete the form during homeroom. The deadline for all submissions will be Wednesday 1st March. Everyone is welcome to wear traditional country outfits or colours, or whatever is symbolic of internationalism. There will be 16 parent-run country booths this year. Each booth will have a display highlighting information and cultural facts, with samples of food characteristic of the country also being offered. We encourage all parents to participate, as International Day offers the community a chance to get together to celebrate our diversity. If you would like to be involved, whether it is before or during the event, and whether your home country is being represented or not, please contact me or the parent leaders listed below.
Malaysia
Yong Huey
yonghuey.lim.parent@igbis.edu.my
China
Wei Ling
weiling.poon.parent@igbis.edu.my
India
Sheau Ming
sheauming.wang.parent@igbis.edu.my
Venezuela
Maritza Norono
noromary@hotmail.com
Japan
Aya Yamamoto
aya.yamamoto.parent@igbis.edu.my
Brazil
Julie Arcidiacono
julie.arcidiacono.parent@igbis.edu.my
Russia
Kathy Vinnik, Jacqueline Lee
ekaterina.vinnik.parent@igbis.edu.my hwaichuenjacqueline.lee.parent@igbis.edu.my
USA
Sheila Strollo
sheilamay.strollo.parent@igbis.edu.my
Singapore
Michelle Lee
bengtzen.lee.parent@igbis.edu.my
South Korea
Seo Young
seoyoung.park.parent@igbis.edu.my
The Philippines
Cathy Lacson
catherine.lacson.parent@igbis.edu.my
Denmark
Naja Andersen
najasteen.andersen.parent@igbis.edu.my
Italy
Felicier Suppiah
felicierdawn.suppiah.parent@igbis.edu.my
Australia
Clare Demnar
clare.demnar@igbis.edu.my
From the Admissions Desk (Important Reminders) Wayne Demnar Admissions and Marketing Director ............................................................................................... Notification of Withdrawal at the end of the Academic Year We ask for your assistance with regard to notifying us if you are leaving IGBIS at the end of the academic year. Our policy states that we must receive notification of your intention to withdraw your children by 14th May, 2017.
We would appreciate your cooperation in this regard.
Emergency Contact Numbers As the title would suggest, these are essential pieces of information for when emergencies arise. Staff have found that these details have often not been updated when family situations change. Please let us know in the Admissions Office if you have new contact details, or emergency contact details, as it is crucial to the wellbeing of your children.
A full refund of deposits paid is dependent on: ”A minimum of three months’ notice in writing from the parent/guardian is given to the Admissions Office informing the student’s intended withdrawal from IGBIS. Any other type of withdrawal notices, verbal or electronically communicated, will not be accepted. Leave Form and Clearance Form can be collected from the Admissions Office.”
10
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
Friends of the Phoenix Postcard from our alumnus
Didn’t realise snow was going to be so cold! @ Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Simran Ali Malik, Class of 2016
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
11
IGBIS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives