IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 151. Week 3. April 2018.
IGBIS Duathlon (19 April 2018) Pg.6
Community Service in Spanish Class | Pg. 3 + YP Student Led Conferences | Pg. 4 Blood Drive | Pg. 4 + From the Admissions Office | Pg. 5 + PVO News | Pg. 5
Message from Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, Many international schools in Malaysia received a letter from the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRB) requesting that schools furnish school fees payment information including: the names and identification of the payer, students names, and total fees paid. IGBIS is one of the schools that recently received this letter. The school will contact families shortly regarding this IRB request. The inter-house Duathlon proved to be an exciting event with most students from across the school and a number of staff taking part. I was impressed with just how fit some of the participants were – including our teachers! As you drive past the school over the next two weeks, you may notice that construction is taking place around the perimeter of the sports field. Spotlights are being installed so that both
the track and the field may be used after dark. This work will be completed prior to IGBIS hosting the Special Olympics on 4 and 5 May. If you have time over the weekend and you are in the vicinity of Mid Valley, please do call by to see our senior secondary students’ art exhibition that is on display in the Gardens Mall. We hope to see many of our families at the PYP Exhibition on Thursday and Friday next week, and all families at the Studentled conferences on Saturday 28th April. Open Days are also taking place on 27-28 April so it will be a busy and exciting week ahead.
Anne Fowles Head of School
News from Elementary School This has been an exciting week with the Grade 4 students going to the Royal Selangor Visitors Centre to see how pewter products are made from the raw materials all the way through to the final products. The students were able to make connections to their unit of inquiry ‘How the World Works’. It was wonderful to hear about how successful the Duathlon was this week. Unfortunately I was away working in Singapore and was unable to attend but I heard that students really pushed and challenged themselves, setting their own personal goals. The students were proud of their achievements as they managed to fulfill their goals.
• Friday 27th April: IB PYP Exhibition: 8.30am - 12.00pm • Friday 27th April: Open Day for prospective new families • Saturday 28th April: Open Day for prospective new families • Saturday 28th April: Student-led conferences: 8.30am 1.00pm
Simon Millward
Elementary School Principal
This week also saw the Prudence Foundation visit the school. They are creating greater awareness in Malaysia about road safety and our Grade 4 team had a role to play in their visit. It is always pleasing to see students taking ownership over their learning and taking action. Our Grade 5 students are entering their final few days of the IB PYP Exhibition. It would be fantastic if we could see as many of you there as possible to find out what they have been learning about and support them. The event starts on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th April in the Theatre at 8.30am before moving into the PYP Exhibition Space on Level 3. The Grade 5 students have worked very hard on their PYP Exhibition projects and are keen to show their learning. Following on from the PYP Exhibition you all should have received an email by now to sign up for the Student-led conferences on Saturday 28th April. This is a great opportunity to listen to your own children as they celebrate their achievements taking you through their learning from the homeroom classroom to the single subject areas. This should be a positive and enjoyable family experience for all.
Dates for your diaries: • Monday 23rd April: Get Comfy and Read: Love of books activities run by ES student council • Thursday 26th April: IB PYP Exhibition: 8.30am - 12.00pm
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News from Secondary School Dear parents,
face the IB exams, which start on Friday, April 27.
Congratulations to all of our “two sport” athletes for fantastic participation in the Duathlon this week. It was inspiring to see so many students swimming and running at such a high level. The Ultrathon participants were amazing! Thank you to the PHE department for such a great job putting the event together.
Information on our SLCs has come out this week and I look forward to seeing all families on Saturday. Please make sure you stop by the Personal Project Exhibition as well.
Next week will be an extremely busy one as we say goodbye to our Grade 12 students on Tuesday and welcome families to our Student Led Conferences (SLCs) on Saturday. We will send out the Grade 12s in style at our Farewell Assembly and Grade 12 Breakfast on Tuesday morning, as they begin study leave and get ready to
Lastly, this Wednesday there will be a workshop for parents on supporting IT use at home, at 8:15 in the PVO room. I hope you can come.
Michael Arcidiacono Secondary School Principal
Community Service in Spanish Class Serene Salam Grade 9
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to pick up that colour won a point for their team. You can also see students performing the puppet show. We used Dora and Boots to better help the kids explain the colours. In the end we gave the students stickers and healthy lollipops.
In Spanish class, we just finished a unit called Yo Ayudo a mi Comunidad which means ‘I help my community’. During this unit, we learnt about volunteer work and ways to protect the environment in Spanish. For our assessment, we decided as a class to do a service activity with the kindergarten students to teach them the colours in Spanish. After interviewing the two Spanishspeaking students, we decided to teach their class a song, perform a puppet show and play a game. We tried to make it as fun as possible by teaching them in different ways. All in all it was an interesting and fun experience. We were happy to see that after the activity the students had learned something new and had enjoyed it. See for yourself and view the video made by Shanice! In the photos, you can see all of us helping out the kids with the games. The games worked by naming a colour and the first person
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MYP Student Led Conferences - Saturday 28 April (Reminder) Phil Clark
Level 6 to share examples of work from all MYP subject areas from their MYP portfolios.
Middle Years Programme Coordinator
.................................................................................................................... A reminder that on the morning of Saturday 28 April we will be hosting our annual IGBIS Student Led Conferences (SLCs). Please check your email for the time that your child’s conference has been scheduled. All grade 6-10 students are expected to attend school on that morning and we invite parents, guardians and other family members to join them. Please allow at least 1.5 hours so you can take full advantage of the SLC experience. The purpose of our Middle Years Programme (MYP) SLCs is for grades 6-10 students to lead a one-hour conference, where they sit together with their family and demonstrate their learning and the attributes of the IB Learner Profile throughout this school year. SLCs will begin with grades 6-9 students teaching their families something that they have learnt in one of their MYP subjects. Students will then take their family to the Multi-Purpose Room on
Last week Grade 10 students held their MYP Personal Project Exhibition in the Secondary School library. The students will again be showcasing their Personal Projects during SLCs on Saturday morning. We invite all families to visit the Personal Project Exhibition in the Secondary library, DP Lounge and Level 6 Learning Lounge. The Personal Project is an important culminating self-directed project which connects student personal interests with school learning in the MYP. The Personal Project is formally assessed and prepares students for the Extended Essay in the IB Diploma Programme. By the end of the SLCs families should have a clearer understanding about what MYP students have been learning this year, and how their own child has grown as a learner. Families should also gain a deeper understanding about how students are learning and being assessed in the MYP.
Blood Drive Andrea & Sebastian Grade 11
.................................................................................................................... On the 12th of April, we held the first ever IGBIS blood donation drive, in conjunction with the National Blood Centre. The blood donation drive started at 10am and it ran until 4pm. We had decided to hold a blood drive as many people do not realise the importance of blood. A constant supply of blood is needed by all hospitals - for blood transfusions for many people, from cancer patients to victims of car accidents. Donating even half a litre of your blood can save up to three lives!
able to donate!) and all the parents of IGBIS who signed up and took the time to come to school and donate. We really appreciate all the support and the time that donors took to come to the clinic, even though they may not have been able to donate. Thank you all so much for all the support and helping us to save lives!
We had been planning this project for several months now, heavily promoting it by plastering posters all over the school and sending perhaps one too many emails. As such, it was extremely satisfying to see it in action on the day itself. The people from the National Blood Centre came at about 9:45am and set up their equipment quickly before the donors who signed up started arriving. Donors who arrived had to go through multiple stations in order to ensure that they met all of the criteria that the National Blood Centre had - such as the length of time they had been in Malaysia for, if they had any medical conditions, their blood pressure, and more. The National Blood Centre was very stringent with their criteria, following it to a T, as they did not want to take the slightest risk of having blood that could possibly be infected or compromised. Unfortunately, this meant that many of the people who came were unable to donate due to being ineligible - which we immensely apologise for. However, there was still quite a few people who were able to donate successfully! Those who donated were all satisfied, which was good to hear. We would like to thank everyone who supported us in this project, from our CAS supervisor, Ms Chotard, all our teachers, our friends (some of whom signed up and were
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From the Admissions Office - Re-enrolment Survey Wayne Demnar Admissions Director
.................................................................................................................... Thank you for your patience with regard to the re-enrolment survey that we mentioned in the email that was sent to all parents school email accounts. In that email we also shared the new fee structure for next year.
Unfortunately only around 50% of parents received or have responded to the survey. In some cases the survey went to your spam/junk mail and in other cases we are yet to establish what has happened. Thank you to those of you that have contacted me directly and let me know if your children are returning in 2018-2019 and we will contact families individually if we have not heard back from you.
PVO News Julie Arcidiacono Community & Events Coordinator
.................................................................................................................... Thank you to all who attended our final PVO meeting of the year, and thank you Aishath Shiuna for the delicious red velvet treats! As per usual, the presentation and minutes have been uploaded onto the PVO website, which can be found online by clicking on the PVO icon on your parent Splash Page. As discussed in our PVO meeting, the time of the year when parents get to show their appreciation to the teachers and staff at IGBIS is approaching. STAFF APPRECIATION LUNCH is coming up on Tuesday, 15 May 2018 and traditionally, a potluck meal
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is organised for the teachers & staff of IGBIS by the parents. This is day that many staff members look forward to all year. More information will be sent to you by email with instructions regarding drop-off times and location, but in the meantime, here are some helpful guidelines for your planning: • •
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Contributions can be food (savoury, vegetarian, dessert) or beverages (hot or cold). Aim to serve at least 6-8 people. A good rule of thumb is to bring something that would be enough to serve your family (we have approximately 150 staff members total, including cleaning, security and kitchen staff ). School will provide plates, cutlery, cups, mugs. Please make sure foods are nut- and pork-free. Label beef/ chicken/lamb accordingly.
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IGBIS Duathlon (19 April 2018)
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