IGBIS Weekly Newsletter. Issue 171. Week 3, November 2018

IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 171. Week 3. November 2018.

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Message from Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, There is a sense of anticipation as the school prepares for the 24 Hour Race to Raise Awareness of Human Trafficking. The 24 Hour Race is one of the largest student-led movements to abolish modern day slavery. It combines social entrepreneurship, fundraising, organisation, awareness and personal endurance as students engage in the organisation of the event itself and in teams that always have at least one member running over the 24 hours of the race.

A ‘24 Minute Race’ took place on Tuesday beginning in the theatre with an inspirational presentation by organising committee members. The whole school moved to the field where Elementary and Secondary school students from each house team were paired

and teams ran continuously for 24 minutes. This was an excellent means of raising awareness of the 24 Hour Race for our younger students as well as being yet another great IGBIS event that sees the family-like aspect of our school community.

It was good to see most of our parents in school for the ParentTeacher-Student conferences on Monday and Tuesday. Our teachers were impressed by the high level conversations that took place about student progress. Parents I spoke to were equally impressed and appreciated the opportunity to receive feedback about their children.

Anne Fowles Head of School

News from Secondary School Dear Parents & IGBIS Community Members, It was a tremendously busy week at IGBIS with our PST Conferences, the 24 Minute Race, and the preparations for the 24 Hour Race, not to mention the busyness of normal lessons! Grade 12 students crossed a significant milestone this week, turning in the Extended Essay. This piece of academic research is one of the reasons why the IB DP is such a rigorous programme. Students are to be congratulated for all their hard work!

A particular lesson I observed this week stands out for me as an excellent example of how students develop their Approaches to Learning skills, which are important not only for their future academic studies but also for life in general. In an MYP lesson related to the role of countries in the Cold War, students participated in a debate where they were challenged to substantiate their points, based on previously conducted research.

As well, in the debate process students also had the opportunity to ask clarifying questions, to seek for understanding of the

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position of the presenter, challenge any unfounded assumptions, and to form their alternative response. This type of exercise is a very purposeful and powerful academic experience, as our young adults master their ability to think rationally. Through examples like this, students develop into discerning, thoughtful individuals who will be ready to participate in Theory of Knowledge in the future and as contributing members of society.

Looking forward, the planning for the 24 Hour Race will finalise next week and we look forward to hosting close to 1000 runners and visitors next weekend. My sincere thanks to our organising team of students, Ms Julie and the incredible financial support from our PVO. Sincerely yours,

Michael Arcidiacono Secondary School Principal

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News from Elementary School This week I was able see the Early Years students messy play in action. They were having a great time with paint and water and it was all, well, messy. The question is why? Why incorporate messy play into our programme? Surely messy play can’t have an educational benefit? In two words: it does!

It gives children the freedom to explore lots of possibilities, particularly as the focus is not on producing something specific. It gives students the opportunity to be exposed to different sensory stimuli and develop a sense of control as there is no right or wrong way to create. These are just some of the benefits; there are many more and I am sure these will be uncovered throughout the year.

Monday and Tuesday also saw many of you come and hear from your children and teachers how they are learning and developing so far this year in the 3-way PT conferences. Thank you for listening, asking good questions and supporting the learning taking place at the school.

It was wonderful to see the students fully engaged, laughing and creating.

On Tuesday, in support of the Secondary students 24 hour run, which will take place on 24th & 25th November, the Grade 1 to Grade 8 students teamed together in their houses to complete a 24 minute run. Working in relays, the students ran 200m at a time throughout the 24 minutes. The enthusiasm of the first couple of runs eventually gave way to more paced runs, with some of the Elementary students leading their Secondary counterparts, it was a great team effort and the students were tired but proud of their 24 minutes work.

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Dates for your diaries • Tuesday 20th November: Public holiday—no school • Friday 23rd Nov: PYP Parent University

Simon Millward

Elementary School Principal

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Elementary Art News Ms Elli and Mr Pendlebury Learning Support Teacher

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“We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents” Bob Ross Semester 1 is rushing by and we are all very excited to announce the opening of the Semester 1 Art exhibition on the 12th of November, running until the 14th of December.

Every student from Kindergarten to Grade 5 has been represented and the exhibition this year also includes a range of artwork up to DP level.

given the same central idea and through research, media explorations and a lot of artist analysis, produced their own responses to the subject of ‘Flowers’. We encourage everyone to come along and see how well you think they understood and applied the central idea.

We are also now well under way with the next units, with students across the PYP exploring perspective in portraiture, and taking more interesting selfies. They are also wondering about artefacts and designing time capsules in Grade 3, whilst connecting Henri Rousseau’s imagination with their own jungle scenes in Grade 4.

Grade 5 students are studying accuracy and proportion in portraiture.

The Elementary focus was ‘Artists react and respond differently to the same subject’. All the students were

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Focus on Inclusion Lizzie Hudson Learning Support Teacher

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Being an International Baccalaureate World school, some might think that we can’t be inclusive of all students.

However, the IB states very clearly that “IB programmes aim to increase access to the curriculum and engagement in learning for all students and that learning communities become more inclusive as they identify and remove barriers to learning and participation”. (What is an IB education? 2013) Supported by the United Nations, the IB has embraced the idea of inclusive education as one that embraces diversity and differences. IGBIS considers inclusion to be about not just acknowledging, but celebrating the unique values, knowledge and experiences that our students bring. It encompasses race, nationality, gender, ability, religion. In short, it encompasses everyone.

For teachers, the IB have clearly defined documents that help us in developing our educational approach to be one that is framed in a culture of collaboration, mutual respect,

support and problem solving across the whole school. The IB identifies the barriers to learning that can exist within schools. These are: school organisation and resources, culture and policies, approaches to teaching and learning, buildings and physical obstacles, and relationships among the community.

At IGBIS we are very lucky to be well ahead in many of these aspects. We have clear policies, we have excellent teachers who are using inclusive practices in their classrooms, we have great resources and we have wonderful facilities.

We are also members of the Next Frontier Inclusion organisation who are helping guide our way in ensuring that we are using research-based information and best practices.

Having worked in other International Schools, I can clearly see that one of the core elements of IGBIS that make us so unique, is our caring and inclusive community. While we still have a lot to accomplish in our journey, we are well on our way to being a leader in Inclusive Education in the Asia Pacific Region.

24 Hour Race Julie Arcidiacono Community and Events Coordinator

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The 24 Hour Race Organising Committee, together with the PVO 24 Hour Race Event Committee, would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to the parents of IGBIS for their generosity with donations thus far.

The PVO will have a food stall on Saturday, 24 November offering supplemental food and beverages for sale to the runners with the ultimate goal of raising funds needed to cover the remainder of the race's operational costs. Should the target amount be reached, all exceeding proceeds will go towards the beneficiary, Exodus Road.

If you would like to donate food for the food stall, please indicate what you would like to contribute to your class reps or to me (julie. arcidiacono@igbis.edu.my). The food donations will be collected

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on Friday, 23 November during student drop-off at 7.30am and during student pick-up at 2.30-3.30pm at the Level 2 turnstiles area.

On the race days (24 and 25 November), parents and students who are not participating are strongly encouraged to be dropped off or carpool should they wish to come as spectators. Parking will be very limited as some levels of the school's carpark will be used for an alternative race track should there be rain or lightning. There will be no parking made available on the school grounds once the carpark has reached capacity.

Following the 24 Hour Race, parents will be invited to a special coffee and celebration meeting, to thank everyone for their support and generous donations. At this meeting, the 24 Hour Race organisers will share how the money raised by the PVO helped to fund such a large event. The date and time will be forthcoming.

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24 Minute Race In just over a week IGBIS will again be hosting the 24 hour race. This event raises awareness and challenges young people to lead global action against slavery through the 24 hour race movement. Around 1000 people from around Malaysia will descend on IGBIS to run in a relay from 9am on Saturday until 9am on Sunday.

Only students in the upper secondary school are involved in the 24 hour race so, to give younger students a taste of what they will be attempting next week, a 24 minute race was held on Tuesday morning. Students were split into house teams and were paired up with a buddy from a different grade. They then headed to the sports field where

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they ran in groups of two or four or more, from within teams and amongst teams, for 24 straight minutes.

Although students had a break every 200 metres, and although the total running time was just 24 minutes, this was not an easy challenge for many. But the school spirit prevailed and older students were there to urge on the younger ones with applause and shouts of encouragement. Everyone had a wonderful experience, with a greater appreciation for the bigger task that awaits the 24 hour race participants, and more awareness of the problem of human trafficking and slavery.

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