IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 16, Week 1, November 2014
Grade 6 making Pizza Faces in class.
Inside this week’s Newsletter
Upcoming Events November
Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles, Head of School
Monday, 17th November 2014
News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod, Elementary School Principal
Staff Professional Development Day (no school for students)
Saturday, 22nd November 2014 Open Day, 10.00am and 1.00pm
IT Integration
Wednesday, 26th November 2014
Mr. Geoff Derry, Technology Integrator
Parent Coffee Afternoon, 2.00pm
December
Patterned Cats and Pablo Picasso Ms. Nan Parker, Elementary Art Teacher
Wednesday, 10th December 2014
Whole School Christmas Assembly, 2.00pm Last day of School
Updates from Academic and Support Services
Mr. Peter Syme, Director of Academic and Support Services
Thursday, 11th December 2014
Public Holiday - Sultan Selangor’s Birthday
11th December - 2nd January 2014
Updates from Admissions
December School Holiday
Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn, Admissions Director
IGBIS Instrumental Music Program Mr. Jon Suffolk, Performing Arts Teacher
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
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Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, You may have heard that various embassies have sent travel alerts to their nationals regarding raised security concerns across a range of countries including Malaysia. IGBIS already has a robust security system in place, however we think it is timely to begin using the turnstiles for access into the school building. These will be activated on 17 November, the teacher Professional Development Day, at which time there will be no students in school. The turnstiles will be activated for students and parents from the afternoon of 18 November. All of our parents have been issued their ID card which will give them access through the turnstiles, please remember to bring these access cards with you. Secondary students will be given their ID cards next week. Elementary students will be given access wristbands at a later time. Security personnel and school staff will be on hand to assist parents and students to gain entry into the school while we all become familiar with using the turnstiles.
Teacher Workshops in Beijing Mr Fowles and Mr Meldrum are both leading teacher workshops in Beijing this weekend at the invitation of the IB. We are fortunate to have such experienced and skilled IB practitioners on our team at IGBIS. Private & International School Fair If you happen to be visiting Mid Valley over the weekend, please drop by and see our booth at the Private and International Schools Fair. Our team have done a great job of show casing our school and a cross section of admin staff and teachers have offered to help at various times over Saturday and Sunday. Some of our senior students will be there to talk about learning at our school. They would love to see a familiar face call in to say hello! Have a good weekend.
News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal Professional Development Over the weekend I attended the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS) Leadership Conference in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Over one thousand administrators, Admissions Directors, Principals, Heads of Schools and Board members attended this well organised conference, with speakers from around the world. Workshops and job alike sessions provided our IGBIS team the opportunity to hear the latest research on student achievement, listen and consider how we can support students in need, both academically and socially/emotionally and many more interesting topics. Continuous Professional Development is important for our teachers to ensure they remain current and aware of the new strategies and approaches to teaching, including IB training. As a school that has a strong technology base, it is essential that our teachers are skilled and knowledgeable about the different ways technology can be seamlessly embedded in the curriculum. This weekend we have five teachers attending the Google Apps for Education Conference at ISKL and recently two of our teachers attended the Learning2 Conference in Bangkok. Last weekend, three of our Elementary teachers attended two different workshops in Bangkok, one focusing on Inquiry in Maths and the other was on Documentation of Learning in the Early Years. This weekend we have a number of teachers
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Igniting Minds
in Beijing for IB training and two of our teachers will lead IB workshops. Upon return to school all teachers are required to share their learning with colleagues and where possible implement strategies learned. Student Reports In many schools written reports would be distributed at the end of Semester 1, which in an August to June school year would be in December. At IGBIS we have extended our Semester 1 to the end of January to provide a more even distribution of teaching weeks. Semester 1 will finish on the 30th January 2015 and student reports will be distributed on 11th February. What’s coming up? • Monday, 17 November: Professional Development Day for teachers; no school for students. • Wednesday, 10 December: Whole School Christmas Assembly at 2.00pm. • Wednesday, 10 December: Last day of school before holidays • Monday, 5 January: School resumes after the holidays Until next time.
Impacting Lives
IT Integration The first question I get asked when I tell people that I teach at an International School is “What do you teach?” I let them know I am the Technology Coach or Technology Integrator. Usually they ask “What is that?” That is when I take a deep breath and think to myself, ‘hmmmm how do I explain this?’
“I work with teachers to look at new and exciting ways to improve their teaching, the way they communicate with parents and most importantly how their students learn. Sometimes we use computers and iPads to do this”
When answering adults (parents, other teachers etc) I have a few elevator pitch responses. They usually go something like this.
My favourite answer is the one I give to the kids “I have the toughest job in the school, I have to teach the teachers how to use computers.”
“I work with the teachers to look at the curriculum (what they are supposed to teach) and look at the technology we have available and see how they can work together”
I then tell them I also have the best job in the school, because I get to work with all the staff and usually all the students and that I get to play with technology and bring the classroom to life.
or
Mr. Geoff Derry, Technology Integrator
“I work in a system that hasn’t changed for hundreds of years (school) and try and use constantly changing technology in that system” or
Patterned Cats and Pablo Picasso Grade One and Two are learning how to create texture with lines and patterns using their lioncats as a structure to fill with intricate designs. While developing their own patterns, they were asked to search each other’s work to discover what they thought were new ideas. Check out the photos! While Grade Three are discovering that exercise and nutrition have an effect on how the body works, art is making a connection to this classroom unit by looking at the physical features of the body through the eyes of Pablo Picasso. I was so impressed with the student’s initial thoughts and wonderings that they deserve to be shared: Things I Know and Wonder About
“I wonder if he has a son.”- Janice “I wonder why he only uses squares instead of other shapes.” - Gabriel “I wonder how he is so creative and wondrous with shapes.”– Ella “His pictures are wonderful and full of ideas.” - Alicia “I wonder if life would be easy for him.” – Yaish “I wonder if he has a lot of passion for art.” – Yaish
“Pablo Picasso drew the side and the front of the face, but mixed them. He invented cubism.” – Nadia
“His pictures are awesome and full of ideas.” – Ella
“He is a Spanish painter that draws with squares and makes sculptures with junk.”
“I wonder how pictures.” - Alicia
he
draws
the
“He is creative, funny and loves art.” – Ella
“I wonder how he does his lovely work.” – Neve
“I wonder who taught him how to do art.” – Ray
“I love his passion and creativity using real life into a world of his mind.” - Gabriel.
“I wonder where he got his wonderful ideas from.” – Nadia
“He’s creative!”- Neve
“Are your fingers big that’s why you can draw well?” – Calvin
Ms. Nan Parker, Elementary Art Teacher
“Did your mother give you the passion?” – Calvin “Is it hard to be an artist?” - Calvin
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
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Updates from Academic and Support Services Mr. Peter Syme Director of Academic and Support Services Lunches Today was the last day for payment of November lunches. For future reference, the menu is on the website under the Admissions heading and in the drop-down heading called Student Services. If you are unable to print off the menu or to see it, please let the school know. There are some students indicating that the newsletter and other emails for that mattter, are still not reaching home. Remember to check your Spam or junk mail as sometimes information can end up there. Swimming Pool Use From next Monday, 10 November 2014 and each Monday and Wednesday morning, Coach Danny and our lifesaver, Mr Hazle will be at the pool from 6:45am onwards if any student would like to take the opportunity to swim laps before school. Students who do attend must be independent swimmers and use the opportunity to develop their fitness and endurance levels. As more students use the pool, we hope to see the development of our first school swimming team.
There will be a warm-up at 6:50am followed by swimming time from 7:00am – 7:40am. No buses will be available to bring students to school. If your children do want to take this opportunity for regular swimming, they can be dropped off at the normal drop-off zone in the morning. Learn to swim classes and swimming confidence is developed by Mrs Brawn and Mr Millward during school PE lessons. There has also been an interest for after school or weekend learn-toswim classes and we are currently negotiating a programme for this to occur in addition to the school lessons. The students have been asked to let Coach Danny know that they will be in attendance next Monday so that we know who is here.
Updates from Admissions Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn Admissions Director Coffee Afternoon, Wednesday, 26 November 2014 at 2.00pm Please come to a ‘Coffee Afternoon’ for parents to meet each other and some of the senior staff of IGBIS. For those interested, at the event we would also like to discuss the establishment of the IGBIS Parent Volunteer Organisation. We hope that this organisation can help the school community in various ways, such as setting up Class Representatives, Country Representatives, acting as welcoming buddy families for new students, and arranging social events for the community. Come along to find out more!
IGBIS Instrumental Music Program Parents are again reminded that all payments for tutoring for Semester 1 should now have been paid. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our Instrumental Music Tutors for Semester 1: Mr. Jerry Italia (Woodwind and Brass instruments), Ms Wong Pui Sim (Piano), Ms Chen Kein Wooi (Violin and Viola) and Mr. Adil Rahim (Guitars and Bass Guitar). There are many ways you can assist your child to develop their musical skills. Encouraging them to practice regularly and being part of that practice routine, particularly with students in the Elementary years, is strongly encouraged. Mr. Jon Suffolk, Performing Arts Teacher
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Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives