IGB International School Newsletter, Issue 30, Week 2, March 2015

IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 30, Week 2, March 2015

Discounts available until 30th April 2015 for new students applying for 2015-2016 Academic Year.

The International and Private Education Forum (IPSEF) delegates visit IGBIS.

Inside this week’s Newsletter

Upcoming Events 23th March 2015 Professional Development Day for teachers, no school

Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles, Head of School

28th March 2015 Open Day, 10.00am - 1.00pm

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

13th - 17th April 2015 Mid Semester Holidays

News from Secondary School Mr. Lennox Meldrum, Secondary School Principal

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, It sounds like the Grade 4 and 5 camp has been a wonderful success this week. It is an excellent opportunity for the students to have first hand experiences in authentic contexts and extend their learning in new and meaningful ways. In addition they have been able to get to know each other, find out each other’s strengths in a different setting and build teamwork.

I was out of school for a couple of days as I attended the IB Heads Council meeting at the IB Assessment Centre in Cardiff, Wales.

One of the days of the meeting was focussed on the upcoming review of the IB Diploma Programme. The IB wishes to ensure that the IB Diploma Programme remains at the cutting edge as the premier university entrance qualification as well as meeting the needs of Grade 11 and 12 students around the world.

We were pleased to host the International and Private Education Forum (IPSEF) delegates in our school today. They were very impressed by our facilities and the standard of education that we are providing at IGBIS. I was invited to present on the topic of ‘Opening IB Schools in Asia’ at the forum earlier in the week.

News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal Thirty-five parents joined us for our first PYP Parent Information meeting on Wednesday morning this week. We were delighted with this level of support, as we know families are always busy.

Connecting the PYP Programme Handbook with the work students are doing and the learning environment they are in every day was beneficial. We will be offering more parent information workshops in the future, with a Parenting Workshop next on the agenda. Details will be available soon.

Grade 4 and Grade 5 students first school camp at IGBIS was wonderfully successful this week. The camp was over three days, with two nights sleep over at school and three days of activities based on outdoor and indoor adventure to help develop their risk taking, cooperation and team building skills and promote the further development of independence and responsibility. Making their own breakfasts for two days and lunch and dinner another day was a first for a few students.

As we reflected on their first day of the camp after jumping and trying flips on trampolines, making, decorating and flying kites and making their own cubby to sleep in the students had a lot to share:

• I have never been able to do a complete front flip into the foam pit and air bag.

However to my surprise I accomplished these feats, yeah!!

• At first I thought the teachers would choose who we would sleep with in our cubby but I was pleased we had our own choice.

I was worried that if there was someone who did not work well in my group our cubby may not work out, but we had great teamwork and cooperated to design and build a super cubby.

• Tasting new food has been a challenge for me and I know I have been a risk taker. I tried banana on toast and muesli bars loved them both.

Until next week.

• I was worried about jumping into the foam pit from the trampoline as I heard it was really hard to climb out. But when I was there I found it was not too difficult and worth the effort.

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Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

Grades 3 to 5 Physical Education The Grades 3 to 5 Physical Education classes have just finished their unit of Gymnastics where each student partnered with another and built a routine from the ground up including their own ideas and demonstrations of supports, balances, landings, rotations and locomotions.

The routine was added to day by day as we learned each new concept and it grew into a complex organisation of skills that moved and flowed together to finally culminate in a presentation each group performed for their peers. Students developed their understanding of movement and worked on elements of communication, teamwork, creativity, and choreography. They got to create something uniquely their own.

And although the requirements of each group were the same the final performances were vastly different. They all did a great job.

Jasmine Brawn, Physical Education Teacher

From the Library Top Ten Reasons For EVERYONE To Read Schools, teachers and parents focus on reading A LOT. But why?

Why is reading so important? Here are the top ten reasons I can think of to encourage all of us to read often and read more.

• The more you read, the better at it you become, the more you enjoy it.

• Reading helps your brain to make new connections and work in different ways.

• Concentration is improved when you are focussed and sitting quietly- as you are when you are reading!

• We learn more about the world around us.

• Vocabulary improves as does grammar - models of sentence structure can be learned through reading.

• Imagination develops.

• Reading helps us to see perspectives other than our own.

• Being an able reader helps with learning in general, not just in school • Being calm and relaxed is a part of the reading experience.

• Reading is fun!

Amanda Clark, Teacher Librarian

News from Secondary School Mr. Lennox Meldrum Secondary School Principal A Rube Goldberg machine is one that is over-engineered so that it performs a simple function using a complicated number of steps. The idea was derived by the cartoonist of the same name who would draw examples in the early 20th century such as the one below.

Although of little scientific value, they are great challenges to potential engineering students due to the planning and scientific principles that are involved in making sure all the pieces fit together. Competitions are held in universities such as MIT and the University of California as students try to come up with ever more complex machines. They have also featured in various entertainment fields such as music video clips, advertising, and movies. My first exposure to a Rube Goldberg machine was from watching the “Tom and Jerry” cartoon as a young child! A quick search on YouTube will show you some amazing contraptions.

Our Grade 9 Sciences students have been devising Rube Goldberg devices as part of their current unit on simple machines.

As well as the fun involved with seeing their own plans and ideas come to life, the deeper understanding of levers, pulleys, ballistics, friction, and forces when combined with a hands-on project is at the highest level of scientific development. After the students finalise their devices over the next week and have successfully run them, they will have the opportunity to analyse the data the collect and reflect on the complete process. Perhaps, like the

Igniting Minds

“Tom and Jerry” cartoon for me, this will start some students on a long and happy life in the world of science.

From the outside, education can sometimes seem like a Rube Goldberg machine. People sometimes wonder why it can’t be just a simple machine where we pour the information into the sponge inside a student’s head and they emerge full of knowledge.

Why do students need to learn affective skills, take part in service activities, indulge themselves with artistic pursuits, work collaboratively when they could do a project independently, and do homework that seems more like playing on a computer than writing in a book? Well, as we are all aware, teenagers are far from simple machines. The “one size fits all” education model of yesterday has been studied endlessly and it is recognised that this approach is no longer valid for preparing students for world of today and tomorrow. The IB has been at the forefront of recognising the needs of the modern student for over 40 years and continues to improve and adjust the model as students and external influences change. Yes, it makes it a more complicated system from the inside and this is where the experience and training of our teachers is so vital to ensuring we provide the best opportunities for your children. Our teachers work tirelessly so the pathway through secondary schooling can be fun, exciting, and educational.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Impacting Lives

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Grade 6 Service as Action Service is highly valued by the IB with the goal of developing students who are caring and who contribute positively to the local and global community. One of the key components of the MYP is that students have regular opportunities to engage in “Service as Action�.

Last Friday afternoon, we were delighted to welcome students from MRCEC School to join with our Grade 6 students for an afternoon of fun sports activities at IGBIS. MRCEC School was founded 5 years ago to meet the needs of Myanmar refugee families who live in this area. The school is located in a couple of converted shop houses in Sungai Buloh and is staffed by a small team of teachers and UNHCR volunteers. There are currently 63 students from pre-school to middle school age who attend MRCEC School.

Our Grade 6 students hosted all 63 MRCEC School students when they joined us last week. Our students organised a rotation of sports activities that included swimming and water games in our school swimming pool and a series of team games in our gym. Our students organised and led all of the activities under the careful supervision of teachers and volunteers from IGBIS and MRCEC School.

All of the students, both from MRCEC and IGBIS, had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and we look forward to working together again.

Phil Clark, Middle Years Programme Coordinator

Under 11 Boys Basketball Our Under 11 Boys travelled to ELC this past weekend to compete in a basketball tournament held there. In round robin play the IGBIS boys came out with two wins, a tie and a loss. They had a great time in competition and look forward to more opportunities to play in the future. Season 3 Activities will feature a Rep Team option on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If your child is interested in participating in the competitive aspects of sport, there will be opportunities play through this activity from April until June. Please sign up when the new Activities options come out.

Jasmine Brawn, Physical Education Teacher

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Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives