IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 21, Week 2, December 2014
The Weekly Newsletter is our online school-wide form of communication to the Parent and Student community. It is sent electronically every week to the e-mail contact you have provided to Admissions. You can either access it through the link sent to your e-mail or through the website at www.igbis.edu.my. Please read the newsletter every week! News, events, school developments and highlights are shared and parents and students should make sure they read this every week.
Elementary School students singing three beautiful songs during the Christmas Assembly.
Inside this week’s Newsletter Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles, Head of School
Upcoming Events December 11th December - 2nd January 2015 December School Holidays
News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod, Elementary School Principal
January 2nd January 2015
New student orientation
Updates from Admissions Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn, Admissions Director
5th January 2015 School Resumes
9th - 11th January 2015 Model United Nations
15th January 2015 Corporate Open Day
Office Closing Days 24th - 26th December 2014 1st January 2015
Igniting Minds
Office Hours during School Holidays
Impacting Lives8.30am - 4.30pm
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Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, It’s hard to believe that our Christmas break is here already. The assembly on Wednesday involved a cross section of our whole school community. What a lot of talent we have! It was a pleasure to see the Elementary Student Council leading the assembly and so many of our families in the audience that the theatre was full.
9th - 11th January IGBIS is hosting a Model United Nations (MUN) event for over 150 secondary school students. 14th January IGBIS is hosting the Malaysian Network of IB Schools. Representatives of the IB Asia Pacific office will be presenting information to Heads of Schools, IB Coordinators, Principals and IB Educators (workshop leaders, school team visitors, field representatives, etc.) In the evening from 7.00pm - 9.00pm the IB staff will be providing an information session for parents of IB students – this is open to all parents from other schools as well. Please tell your friends and ask them to come along to hear more about the IB programmes. 15th January Corporate Open Day for HR staff, relocation companies, embassies and others associated with a business who may wish to enrol students at IGBIS. If any of our school families have representatives of their own companies, friends, or business associates who may be interested to attend, please contact our Admissions Office.
After the holidays there will be a number of events taking place during January:
Have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday with your family. Keep safe and we look forward to seeing you back in school on 5th January.
News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal Today it was such a lovely change to see our students and teachers in a variety of red and green for our Christmas Assembly. Our school had a wonderful, bubbly feel as everyone was thinking about their holidays and their plans to relax and enjoy time with family and friends.
Elementary students were proud of their Christmas Assembly, led by our confident and assured Elementary Student Council (SC). With expert leadership and guidance from Ms Hadewych our ES Music teacher and Ms Huei Yin, the whole Elementary School sang three beautiful songs and helped the audience join in with the final Christmas carol. Students enjoyed learning how Christmas is celebrated in different countries and they enjoyed the German and Spanish contributions from Secondary School students.
This was the first event arranged by our Student Council and although they were a little nervous at the start, their planning and rehearsals helped provide the confidence they needed. Thank you to SC teachers Mr. and Mrs. Harvey for their guidance and support and to Mr. Suffolk for technical and lighting support.
I have included a few photos that I hope you enjoy, representing the many different activities your students participate as well as todays Red and Green Day. I would like to thank our staff, students and parents for a very positive and rewarding 16 weeks at IGBIS. We have new students starting in January, and I know they will be warmly welcomed with our students already excited about their new friends. These holidays traditionally mean quite a lot of movement as people travel to visit friends and family. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday and l look forward to seeing you in the New Year.
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Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
Bahasa Melayu and Host Nation We’re almost at the end of our first semester, with our December break just around the corner. Elementary School students in their Bahasa Melayu class have been learnt a lot of topics to enhance the knowledge in Bahasa Melayu. In Early Years 1 and 2 students enjoyed learning about buah-buahan (fruits) such as durian, rambutan, mangga (mango), nenas (pineapple), manggis (mangosteen), betik (papaya), tembikai (water melon) and pisang (banana) by doing colouring and writing activities. By using Chatter Pix application on the iPad, the buah-buahan pictures were able to talk by pronouncing each name of buah-buahan using students voice in Bahasa Melayu. Grade 2 and 3 have learnt about Kata Arah (prepositions) and how to use an accurate directions in Bahasa Melayu. They enjoyed role playing and drawing a school map to practice all terms in Bahasa Melayu and using the Chatter Pix application on the iPad to recorded the activities. Grade 4 and 5 students have been learning about their classrooms, things in the classroom, subjects, and also rules in the classroom. We have spent the last week making a diorama of the Grade 5 classroom, with the students making and labelling all the furnitures and objects in Bahasa Melayu.
In Host Nation Studies, Early Years 1 and 2 have been learnt to recognise five local fruits. They enjoyed by tasted kelapa (coconut), pisang (banana), betik (papaya), nangka (jack fruit) and mangga (manggo). Kindergarten and Grade 1 have been learning about Rumah Kampung Melayu (Malay Kampung Houses). They enjoyed building their own “kampung” and colouring it similar to the real “kampung”. Grade 3 have learnt about Jenis-jenis Rumah di Malaysia (Houses at Malaysia) and how to describe their own house. Grade 4 and Grade 5 have learnt about Makanan Tradisional Malaysia (Malaysian Traditional Food). Learning has mainly taken place through interactive activities to enhance students skills and creativity.
Ms Dianti Ranofla, Elementary School Bahasa Melayu and Host Nation Teacher
Updates from Admissions Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn Admissions Director Dear Parents, Students and IGBIS Community, Throughout the school holidays the Reception, Admissions and Marketing Team will be available at school. There are a number of projects we are working on, which include: Parent Contact Details - deadline Friday, 19 December 2014 We will be creating contact lists for parents at each grade level to be shared with Class Representatives and parents in each grade level. If you do not wish to be included in this contact list, please contact Admissions at enquiries@igbis.edu.my by Friday, 19 December. New Student Orientation - Friday, 2 January, 2015 On January 2, 2015, from 10.00am to 12.00pm and 1.00pm to 3.00pm Admissions will be hosting a New Student Orientation for the new families joining the school in the new year. Looking forward to seeing you all then! Corporate Open Day - 15 January, 2015 from 10.30am to 2.00pm The School will have an open morning, with IB information presentation, tour and luncheon for relocation and education specialists in Malaysia. If parents know of a contact who would like to attend this event, please contact Admissions at enquiries@igbis.edu.my Online registration is also available through the link on our webpage at http://www.igbis.edu.my/index.php/news-and-events/ corporate-open-day-january-2015/ Parents Coffee Morning - Wednesday, 4 February, 2015 at 8.00am New students will be starting throughout January, so towards the end of January we are going to hold Grade Level Coffee Mornings for parents to meet each other. Watch this space for updates on the dates, times and agenda of these sessions. The IGBIS Reception, Marketing and Admissions Team wish you all Happy Holidays!
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
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ICT and Performing Arts Noteflight During the first two terms students in the MYP program have been using their laptops for a number of specialised functions in the Performing Arts. In Grades 6 - 9 students have all been given access to a music notation program called Noteflight. This program allows them to compose and arrange music and share their scores and compositions with their friends, classmates and teacher. It is a highly engaging software that all the students have enjoyed using. The Grade 8 class used the program to compose compose rhythmic compositions using elements of South American music. They then had to work in groups to perform these compositions.
This has been an excellent unit in which the students really had to overcome many technological challenges to complete their narrative films.
Filmmaking Grad 9 students have been using iMovie to edit films that they created in a unit on Narrative Filmmaking. They recorded the footage required using smart phones, loaded the footage to their Google Drives and then each individual had the opportunity to learn about and use iMovie during the post -production process.
Registration for Semester 2 will open on our return from holidays. I will be sending an email to current students and their parents to confirm their continuation in the Academy program for Semester 2. If continuing, they will receive a Term 2 invoice and will not be required to re-register.
IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy Last Friday a selected group of Violin students from the Academy were treated to an ensemble class with their tutor Ms. Chen. This initiative of Ms Chen’s will encourage the students to work together and learn and enjoy ensemble music making. It is also a great way for the students to remain motivated in learning their instrument.
I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Mr. Jon Suffolk, Performing Arts Teacher
News from the DP Coordinator The Christmas holiday is upon us and I hope the Grade 11 students take a well deserved break during the holiday period. However, its important that the Grade 11 students use their time productively during the holiday in order to prepare for future assessments and assignments. The Grade 11 Semester One exams, which are worth 25% of the Semester One grade, will take place from 19th - 23rd January. Its important that the Grade 11 students prepare for these important exams during the holiday and review the course content they have covered in their courses during Semester One.
to make a plan for meeting future EE deadlines. The next EE deadline is January 7 when the students should have the essay introduction completed and a list of possible research sources. The EE deadlines can be found in the EE course page on ManageBac.
The Grade 11 students had the first meeting with their Extended Essay (EE) Supervisor a couple of weeks ago. The purpose of the first meeting was to finalise the EE research question and
Mr. Matthew Marshall, Diploma Programme Coordinator
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Impacting Lives
Igniting Minds
I hope everyone in the IGBIS community has a safe and happy Christmas holiday and a great New Year. If there are any questions about the DP at IGBIS please email me at matthew. marshall@igbis.edu.my.