IGBIS Weekly Newsletter. Issue 110, Week 1, April, 2017.

IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 110, Week 1, April 2017

The Elementary Art Club with their creatively painted tshirts.

Inside This Week Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles 2 2 Head of School ..............................................................

News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod 2 Elementary School Principal 2 ..............................................................

News from Secondary School Mr. Michael Arcidiacono 4 5 Secondary School Principal

Upper Elementary Art Club - Session 2.

~ Pg. 3 Grade 3 Sleepover. ~ Pg. 3 IB Global Conference - Yokohama, Japan.

~ Pg. 5

C’est la Francophonie!. ~ Pg. 6 Staff Versus Students Basketball. ~ Pg. 6 DIploma Programme. ~ Pg. 7 PVO News. ~ Pg. 8 From the Admissions Desk ~ Pg. 8 Friends of the Phoenix. ~ Pg. 9

IGBIS Arts @ Gardens Mall - Come and celebrate our students’ artwork at the

Gardens Mall from Wednesday 5th to Sunday 9th April

Happening. ++ Saturday, 8 April ~ SAT Prep Course @ IGBIS (All Day) ++ 8 - 16 April ~ School Holiday

Message from Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members,

International School will be closed on April 24.

Members of the IGBIS Academic Leadership Team attended the IB Asia Pacific Conference in Yokohama last week where they they were selected to conduct a presentation on the ‘Creating Inclusive Communities’ based on the successful model implemented at IGBIS.

The school board will be making an announcement on the 2017-18 school fees during April. At this stage, it has been decided that the published tuition fees for 2017-18 will not increase by more than 3% of the 2016-17 tuition fees.

The government announced that April 24, 2017 will be a national public holiday to celebrate the installation of Sultan Muhammad V as the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong. IGB

Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School

News from Elementary School The Grade 3 sleepover last Friday night was successful and although there were some very tired students on Saturday morning, they were very proud of themselves and had quite a lot to share with their parents. Thank you to Ms Lisa and Mr Hudson for organising the sleepover and for Mr Derry and Mr Wei Jun who joined the teachers and students for the sleepover. A highlight was the task to build a boat from recycled materials and test its ability to float by paddling it across the Learn to swim pool on Level 1.

Whilst our Grade 12 students are preparing for their final exams, our elementary students still have significant learning to take place before the end of the year. Most classes will be finishing their second last Unit of Inquiry and begin their final unit, end of semester assessments in all subject areas will take place and e-Portfolios will be finalised and shared at the student-led conferences on Saturday 13th May.

Over the last few weeks we have noticed that quite a few of our students are showing signs of tiredness. Sometimes it is after a busy weekend; however, it seems that this week’s holiday is timely. A good mental rest and time to sleep in and take things a little slower will benefit all students.

Until next time,

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There are quite a few important dates coming up, so please see the list below. ++ 17th April - School resumes ++ 19th April - Duathlon ++ 24th April - Public holiday ++ 26-28th April - PYP Exhibition ++ 1st May - Public holiday ++ 10th May - Wesak Day holiday ++ 13th May - Student-led conferences ++ 12th June - Nuzul Qur’an holiday ++ 13th June - Reports will be sent home ++ 15th June - Final assembly and last day of school for students

Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal

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Upper Elementary Art Club - Session 2 Ms. Jade and Ms. Leanne Upper Elementary Art Club Teachers ...............................................................................................

We have had a very creative and enthusiastic group of students in our last session of Elementary Art Club. Take a look at some of the t-shirts and paintings created recently. Well done everyone!

Grade 3 Sleepover Brinda Gunalan Grade 3M ...............................................................................................

My First Overnight Stay I packed my bag on the 30th March gladly. I could not sleep because I was so excited. In the early morning of the 31st March I rushed excitedly to school.

My Mum and I carried the heavy and large bag, it was so heavy we used the lift to get to the Multipurpose room on Level 6 just in the nick of time! I quickly placed my heavy bags in the cubby hole. I put on my insect repellent and sunscreen. We lined up in two straight, not wiggly, lines to walk to the bus.

My teachers and friends boarded the bus excitedly and nervously because most of us were scared of monkeys. We were going to Bukit Kiara. When we reached there I saw a big

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sign - it said BUKIT KIARA. As we entered, we talked about why were were there. We had an important job to do! Our job

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From previous page. was to take beautiful photos of gorgeous leaves, trees and nature. As we walked through the wet and muddy forest we took photos of green and wet leaves. We also took photos of high, tall and shady trees that we could possibly sleep under.

We also made a Pic Collage of descriptions about the forest.

One example of a description was ‘the trees are skinny like a fox’.

After our long walk we sat on the rusty and dirty staircase until… a humongous monkey came! Then another came! It stole Eun Jin’s tupperware. The monkey was very smart like Einstein! The monkey ate the food but returned the tupperware.

Once we got the tupperware we boarded the bus. We arrived back at school and walked up to the Multipurpose room.

could go to the pool.

We arrived at the pool with our boats. I was so curious to know whose boat would work. I thought my boat would not work but it did! We had some free play in the pool and then went to eat our dinner. We had scrumptious chicken, rice and a variety of vegetables.

In the Multipurpose room we did a hard Minute to Win It challenge called Cookie Face. After the challenge we began to build a shelter. It was hard. My friend and I had so many ideas.

Then we had to stop and eat our lunch. We had a picnic lunch in the Level 1 Playground. It was humid, sunny and hot. After eating we had playtime and had so much fun. After lunch we returned to the Multipurpose room for another challenge. Our challenge was to make boats out of cardboard, duct tape and foam. The boats looked fabulous!

After boat building we went to sing, dance and have fun with Ms Hadewych in the Music Room. We played musical games that were as fun as video games! After a while the teachers came to collect us and let us know that the lightning alarm was on so we couldn’t test our boats. We went to the Sports Hall and played fun games like Capture the Flag and Kickball.

Kickball is like Tee Ball but we kick it instead. It was fun. While we were playing the lightning alarm stopped which meant we

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After dinner we had a talent show in the Music Room. A lot of people showed off their fantastic talents. When the show was over we ate some delicious cookies then went to the bathrooms to shower and get ready for bed. When everyone was ready we went back to the Multipurpose Room and relaxed while we watched Fantastic Mr Fox. When the movie finished we slept zzzzzzzzz.

We woke up in the morning and celebrated Ghazi’s birthday!

We had a banana and muffins. Then we had to pack up and carry our heavy luggage to go home. Our parents were gladly waiting for us to come home. When I got in the car I told all of the wonderful stories that happened at the Grade 3 Overnight Experience.

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News from Secondary School As we move into the month of April there are some upcoming dates to share as we highlight the successes, contributions and achievements of our Grade 12 students. On Thursday 27th April we will hold a Farewell Assembly for Grade 12, as we send them off on their study leave for the IB examinations.

Grade 12 parents are invited to attend the assembly, which promises to be a fun and entertaining event. The assembly will then be followed by our “Graduates Breakfast”, where students, parents and teachers can eat and enjoy some conversation together.

On Wednesday 24th May we will host our graduation ceremony, which will be followed by a “Graduates Dinner” that evening.

Our Grade 12 parents have initiated what we hope will be a new tradition at IGBIS - by organising (with support and in partnership with the school) a fun evening to commemorate the official graduation of our students. Invitations to the graduation ceremony and the evening dinner will be sent to Grade 12 families in the next few weeks.

I wish our students and families a restful and enjoyable April break!

Michael Arcidiacono Secondary School Principal

IB Global Conference - Yokohama, Japan Phil Clark Middle Years Programme Coordinator ...............................................................................................

Last week I was fortunate to attend the IB Global Conference in Yokohama, Japan, with Mrs Fowles, Mr Milward (PYP Coordinator) and Ms Boyd (DP Coordinator). The conference attracted almost 1500 leaders, coordinators and educators from IB schools and universities, and policy makers from governments across the Asia-Pacific region. The conference theme, “Inspiring Communities”, provided a forum for keynote speakers and breakout session leaders to inspire, challenge and share best practices in education.

The keynote speakers all considered the challenges schools face in preparing students for an uncertain future, whether that be in terms of political and global stability or in terms of the impact of technology on future career opportunities.

The keynote speakers were inspiring and gave us plenty to consider during the breakout sessions that followed.

Senior staff from the IB led presentations and workshops on the implementation of the IB programmes and explained upcoming IB developments to school leaders and coordinators.

There were plenty of opportunities for us to meet with other

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leaders and coordinators from IB schools to discuss and share ideas about the things we are doing in our schools.

These sessions are always extremely valuable as we get to share successes and challenges and we all benefit from the experiences of other IB educators.

Mrs Fowles, Mr Millward, Ms Boyd and I led a breakout session on “Inclusive Education” where we described how IGB International School provides an inclusive education for families in Kuala Lumpur. We explained our school mission and vision, and the policies and procedures that guide, challenge and support all our students to achieve success in our school. Our session was well attended and well received, with an active question and answer session and much positive feedback about the session and about IGBIS. The IB conference always provides an opportunity for us to reflect and feel proud about the things we have achieved in a short time at IGB International School. It also inspires new ideas and helps us identify next steps as we continue to develop as an IB school and to realise our mission “to provide an inclusive learning community, embracing diversity by offering a challenging IB education which empowers its members to be caring, global citizens.”

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C’est la Francophonie!

Pietro, Maryam, Gilmer and Pei Xien MYP Grade 10 French Class ...............................................................................................

“I discovered the swiss dish, raclette, which many of my classmates have told me is outstanding and I am very curious and intrigued to try it.” - Gilmer “I discovered a very good song called Papaoutai, by a belgian artist called Stromae. I encourage everyone to check it out!” - Pietro “I learnt multiple facts about francophone countries that I didn’t know before such as that Conakry is the capital of Guinea, and realised that these countries can still share the same language despite how diverse they actually are from each other.” - Maryam

On Tuesday the 28th of March, we went to the Help College of Arts and Technology for the French Language Day. This yearly event was held by the 23 mission diplomatic members of the OIF (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie) in Malaysia.

“The movies were interesting and the dialogue helped me develop my vocabulary and language” - PX

We had a fantastic time learning more about francophone countries while developing our french vocabulary such as idioms used in different countries, various celebrities, francophone foods, geography and contemporary songs in French.

On that day, we were also awarded the second price in the video category which we were very proud of as there were many participants in the competition!

Prior to this event, we had taken part in the competition “Dixmoi 10 mots”. We had to design a product with 10 words aimed at showing how French adapts itself to technologies in constant change.

We took on the challenge with enthusiasm and collaborated to research the meaning of each word and create a commercial about cyber safety. Here is the video we made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYpS16969ds

Staff Versus Students Basketball Tim Bartle Athletics Director ...............................................................................................

Tuesday afternoon saw the Over 15 boys and girls basketball teams battle some of the IGBIS staff on the basketball court. It was nice to see so many staff get involved to help finish off the basketball season with a bit of fun.

A big thank you to Jonathon Woon for organising the event, and to our student referees, King Wong, Abdullah Salam and Hong Bin Lim, for giving up their time to do a tough job.

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Diploma Programme Mary Boyd DP Coordinator ...............................................................................................

Well done to all of our DP students for all they’ve achieved this side of the holidays. In Grade 11, as well as managing their six academic subjects, they’ve done sterling jobs on ToK, CAS and the start of their EEs. In Grade 12, they’ve seen the last of their IAs off, approached the end of their CAS portfolios

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and had the full experience of the IBDP exams in the mocks, just ended.

Looking forward, below is a summary of the days left for G12s after the holidays, with one full week and part of another, before the real DP exams begin on Friday 28 April.

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To follow after the holidays is the exam schedule for G11s, for

We wish everyone a very happy, productive and restful April

the third week of May, and the final format of Graduation Day

break!

on 24 May.

PVO News Julie Chen Arcidiacono Community Support & Services Coordinator ...............................................................................................

Our last PVO meeting for this academic year will be on Thursday, 20th of April in the Level 2 PVO room from 8:009:00am. The agenda will include: CIS/NEASC survey, new

dates for first aid-related courses, a short presentation from Peter Fowles on ‘Decisions and Pathways for Behaviour’, discussion of a possible PVO brunch followed by a Summer Bazaar on the proposed date of 25th of May, and a humble surprise to the parents in gratitude for all the contributions for International Day.

From the Admissions Desk Art Display at Gardens Mall We will be showcasing some of our Secondary School students’ artwork at Gardens Mall this weekend so if you are in the area please drop by to see the display. We will be situated on the ground floor near Tag Heuer. Work featured in the display has been created by:

Re-enrolment Survey We will soon be emailing parents a re-enrolment survey. This will give us an accurate picture of the number of students attending IGBIS next year and allow us to plan accordingly.

Please continue to check your school email accounts as we need a 100% response rate on this survey.

Gr 8 • Hong Bin • Nyneishia • Keat • Wei Wen • Jay • Joseph • Shaneese • Anushka • Gareth • Desmond • Kayi

Public Holiday Please remember that Monday 24th April has been declared a public holiday. The government has announced this national public holiday to celebrate the installation of Sultan Muhammad V as the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

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• Angela • Justin G9 • Reina • Jia Dong Gr 10 • Maryam • Ting Jie • Momone

Wayne Demnar

Director of Admissions and Marketing

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Postcard from our alumnus

Miki Mei Qi Wong (Class of 2016) Getting used to the seasons @ University of Washington

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IGBIS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

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