IGBIS Weekly Newsletter. Issue 83, Week 3, August, 2016.

IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 83, Week 3, August 2016

The parents working on the activity at the PVO’s New Parents Coffee. ~ August 25, 2016.

Inside this week’s Newsletter Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles

Head of School

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From the ES & SS Principal

Mrs. Claire McLeod & Mr. Michael Arcidiacono

Elementary School & Secondary School Principal

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News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod

Community Corner Mr. Wayne Demnar

Admissions & Marketing Director

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Welcome to New Parents Coffee Mrs. Julie Arcidiacono

Community Support & Services Coordinator

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Upcoming Events

Primary School Principal

Meet the Teacher Evening

News from Secondary School

Admissions & Marketing Director

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Mr. Michael Arcidiacono

Secondary School Principal

September 1st 2016 - 6:30 pm

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MYP Projects - Community Project and Personal Project Mr. Phil Clark

Middle Years Programme Coordinator

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IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy Mr. Jon Suffolk

Performing Arts Teacher

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Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

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Message from Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, It was wonderful to see over 60 parents attend the Welcome Coffee on Thursday morning. It was a great opportunity for parents to meet some key people in the school but more importantly to reconnect with each other and meet new people as well. Mrs Julie Arcidiacono (Community Liaison and Alumni Coordinator) has the names of participating parents and the areas that they are keen to participate in. We realise that a number of parents were not able to attend due to work commitments and prior arrangements, so please do contact Julie if you are interested to hear more. There will be regular coffee mornings throughout the year for parents and members of the school administration.

Our next major event is the ‘Meet the Teacher

Evening’ beginning at 6:30 pm next Thursday September 1. Our principals have prepared a detailed schedule that they will share with you.

Students are excited to know that our after school activities programme will commence next week.

Our sincere thanks to our teachers for the range of activities on offer and Mr Scott Ngatai (Activities Coordinator) and Mr Tim Bartle (Athletics/Sports Coordinator) for getting the programme underway so quickly this year.

We look forward to meeting up with our parents again next week at the Meet the Teacher evening.

Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School

From the ES and SS Principals It was a pleasure to see so many parents at the Welcome to New Parents Coffee this past Thursday! We are very appreciative of your support and look forward to the many ways that parents can be involved in the school. The first opportunity is our ‘Kopitiam with the Principals’, on the first Friday of every month (that is a school day) we will be available in the PVO room to meet with parents.

There will be no agenda, just a chance to come and ask questions and talk about any topic of interest. The SS Principal Kopitiam will take place at 8 am, followed by the ES Principal Kopitiam Chat at 8:40 (after the regular ES Assembly). The dates for this first term are as follows: Sep. 2nd, Oct. 14th, Nov. 4th & Dec. 2nd A second way for parents to be involved is to attend Parent Workshops. Soon we will share the dates of these Workshops: they are a great opportunity to learn more about our curriculum, the central role of inquiry, and the nature of assessment in the IB, amongst other topics.

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Igniting Minds

We look forward to seeing you at Meet the Teacher next Thursday.

Mrs McLeod & Mr Arcidiacono

Impacting Lives

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

The Spirit Afternoon last Friday was an extremely uplifting event for the whole school. Secondary School classes were paired with an Elementary School class for one hour and during that hour students had a number of tasks: • interview each other • take a selfie photo • use technology to make a poster reflecting their time together (younger classes worked together on a creative task).

Time

Our Counselors, Chris Klesch and Pauline Davidson, organised this event and from the excitement, energy and good will it developed, we can be sure there will be more class buddy activities across the school.

As you wander through the school next Thursday night, please look for the displays that highlight this wonderful experience.

We are looking forward to meeting all our parents at Meet the Teacher Evening next Thursday night, 1st September, starting at 6:30pm. These sessions will be classroom based; however, there will be IT staff available to provide support for accessing parent IGBIS emails.

Presentation

Session 1: 6.30 – 7.00pm

EY’s – Gr 5 grade level presentations

7.00-7.15pm

Break and refreshments

Session 2: 7.15- 7.45pm

EY’s – Gr 5 grade level presentations

Venue EY’s: Level 1 KG – Gr 2: Level 3 Gr 3 – Gr 5: Level 5 EY’s : Level 1 KG – Gr 2: Level 3 Gr 3 – Gr 5: Level 5

Refreshments Don’t forget we have a public holiday next Wednesday to celebrate Merdeka Day.

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News from Secondary School Michael Arcidiacono Secondary School Principal .......................................................................................

One of the aims set for IB schools is to: inspire students to frame their own inquiries, pursue personal aspirations, set challenging goals and have the persistence to achieve them. At IGB International School, this occurs in both academic and non-academic settings. Therefore I am very pleased to see the large number of students who have signed up for our Athletics and Activities Programme this week.

We are very intentional in offering such a wide and diverse set of opportunities for our students, and we are fortunate to have the expertise of staff and outstanding facilities to turn this intention into reality. This is how we fulfill the aim set forth by

the IB in non-academic contexts; we provide ways and encourage students to develop themselves personally. This development has a positive knockon effect on their studies as well. So it is fantastic to see so many students signed up for the School Production, athletics teams, student leadership/ service clubs and so on. I am looking forward to seeing what they will produce!

Next week is our Meet the Teacher Evening. If you have not filled out the RSVP form, please do so here: https://goo.gl/forms/xpZDsGRhdd274K3u1 I am thankful to the parents for supporting their children in their participation in our Athletics and Activities Programme, and I look forward to seeing everyone at Meet the Teacher next week!

MYP Projects - Community Project and Personal Project Phil Clark Middle Years Programme Coordinator .......................................................................................

“MYP Projects help students to develop the attributes of the IB learner profile; provide students with an essential opportunity to demonstrate Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills developed through the MYP; and foster the development of independent, lifelong learners.” (“MYP Projects Guide”, IBO, 2014) Our current Grade 10 students were the first IGBIS cohort to trial the MYP Community Project a couple of years ago when they were in Grade 8.

This experience served as excellent preparation for them to embark on their MYP Personal Project this year. We began introducing the Grade 8 and Grade 10 students to the MYP Projects back in June and over the past couple of weeks have been helping them to identify their project goals. Students have

been assigned a supervising teacher who they should meet with on a regular basis over the coming months to discuss and demonstrate progress on their projects.

MYP Projects provide opportunities for students to identify areas of personal interest, to inquire more deeply into those areas, to learn more about them and to take some form of responsible action as a result of their inquiries. Students work on their MYP Projects in their own time and over an extended period of time. They are guided by teacher supervisors through a cycle of investigation, planning, taking action and reflecting. At the end of the MYP Projects, students present their projects to the community at an exhibition.

The Community Project and the Personal Project follow a similar process, have similar expectations and are assessed using similar criteria, however there are some distinguishing features:

GRADE 8 COMMUNITY PROJECT JUN

• • • • • • •

4

AUG

SEP

OCT - NOV

DEC - JAN

JAN

Introduction

Investigating

Planning

Taking Action

Reflecting

Exhibition

Brainstorm

Decide goal etc Start research

Finish research Start action

Finish action

Evaluate Make presentation

3 - Way Conferences

Focus of Community Project is on community service and action Students can work individually, with a partner, or in a group of 3 6 months duration - approximately 1-2 hrs each week of student’s own time Students engage in service as action Regularly document progress in a Process Journal Weekly check-in with a teacher supervisor to monitor progress Final presentation about the project is assessed

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Impacting Lives

GRADE 10 PERSONAL PROJECT

• • • • • • •

JUN

AUG

SEP

OCT - NOV

DEC - JAN

JAN

Introduction

Investigating

Planning

Taking Action

Reflecting

Exhibition

Brainstorm

Decide goal etc Start research

Finish research Start product

Finish action

Evaluate Finish report

SLCs

Focus of Personal Project can be almost anything that is of interest to the student Students must work individually 9 months duration - approx 1-2 hrs each week of student’s own time Students create a product or outcome Regularly document progress in a Process Journal Weekly check-in with a teacher supervisor to monitor progress Final report about the project is assessed

The Grade 8 and Grade 10 students are entering the “Investigating” stage and are finalising their project goals. I will keep you updated in the coming

months as the students begin taking action. We look forward to the students presenting their projects at their exhibitions later in the year.

IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy Jon Suffolk Performing Arts Teacher .......................................................................................

Registration for the Music Academy lessons continues until Friday 2nd September.

Semester 1 invoices are in the process of being sent to parent IGB email accounts. Please make payment to the finance office or by bank transfer. If making a bank transfer please email tiffany.chao@igbis.edu. my with a copy of your bank transfer receipt.

This year the Academy is offering lessons in violin, viola, piano, voice, guitar, bass guitar and drums.

All schedules for Semester 1 will be shared on the Music Academy Splash page next week.

Community Corner Wayne Demnar Admissions & Marketing Director .......................................................................................

IGB International School Information Booth at Gardens Mall IGBIS will have a display at Gardens Mall on the first floor near TGIFs from Friday 2nd September to Sunday 4th September. Feel free to drop by and have a look if you are in the Mall.

Welcome to New Parents Coffee The Welcome to New Parents Coffee was a great success and it was nice to see so many parents attending. The atmosphere was very positive and we can look forward to an exciting year ahead. Many of our staff took time out of their schedule to join in and Ms Diane Douglas deserves special mention for her exhilarating Zumba session which helped to counter the effect of the excellent Cezar’s Kitchen pastries. Thanks also to Mrs Julie Arcidiacono, our Community Support Services Coordinator, who did a wonderful job of organising the morning.

Nurse’s room) commencing at 8.15am, and it would be good to see as many parents as possible join us.

PVO Meeting dates for the year (these dates will also be on the website calendar) • September: Wednesday 14th (as the Thursday is Malaysia Day assembly) • October: Thursday 20th • November: Thursday 17th • December: No Meeting (December Bazaar) • January: Thursday 19th • February: Thursday 16th • March: Thursday 16th

Parent Volunteer Organisation The first Parent Volunteer Organisation (PVO) meeting will be held on Wednesday 14th September in the Parents Room on Level 2 (opposite the School

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Welcome to New Parents Coffee Julie Arcidiacono Community Support & Services Coordinator .......................................................................................

I. Foster communication and cooperation between IGBIS, students and parents;

How many words can you make from “Knowledgeable”? This was one of the challenges parents tackled at the Welcome to New Parents Coffee morning on Thursday (congratulations to the winning Grade 1 table, who came up with 82 words!). Once everyone’s brains needed a break, there was a quick Zumba class to get the blood pumping. The most important activity, however, was giving parents, both new and returning, a chance to meet each other, meet some of the staff, share morning tea, and find out what being part of the IGB school community was all about.

II. Build a sense of community for the benefit of the school, the students and the wider community by organising specific events;

The Parent Volunteer Organisation (PVO) is a great way to get involved in the school community and Mr Wayne Demnar, Admissions and Marketing Director, outlined the purpose of the PVO and encouraged anyone and everyone to join. The aims of the PVO are to:

We would love all parents to participate actively in our school community, whether as a Class Representative or as a member of the PVO. Further details on how parents can get involved will be forthcoming.

III. Serve as an umbrella organisation for parent support activities, working in close cooperation with the appropriate members of the school administration, faculty and staff; and IV. Welcome new parents to IGBIS and to build awareness of activities and opportunities for their involvement.

PVO New Parents Coffee August 25th 2016

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Impacting Lives

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Impacting Lives

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