IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 10, Week 3, September 2014
Inside this week’s Newsletter Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles, Head of School
News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod, Elementary School Principal
News from Secondary School Mr. Lennox Meldrum, Secondary School Principal
Updates from Student Services Mr. Peter Fowles, Head of Student Services
Upcoming Events October 7th - 10th October 2014 Secondary School Camp (Grades 6 - 11) Wednesday, 15th October 2014 Whole School Assembly - Deepavali Celebration 18th - 26th October 2014 School Holidays Wednesday, 22nd October 2014 Public Holiday - Deepavali Wednesday, 29th October 2014 Parent Teacher Interviews
Updates from Academic and Support Services
Mr. Peter Syme, Director of Academic and Support Services
Updates from Admissions Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn, Admissions Director
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Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, Whole School Assembly, Malaysia Day Throughout this newsletter you will find mention of the wonderful Malaysia Day assembly that took place on Wednesday afternoon. Considering we had only been in session for four weeks, the range of performances involving students from across the school was quite amazing. The Elementary School students in particular were very colourful in their national clothing. However I think the group that stole the show were the office and support staff in the finale singing ‘One Malaysia’. Thank you to all of our parents for coming to see their children perform, we do appreciate your support.
Evacuation Drill We conducted an Evacuation Drill this week to ensure that students are aware of the evacuation protocol and how to act in the event of an emergency evacuation. This went very smoothly. Should any parents or visitors be in the school when the alarm sounds, they should make their way with others to the assembly points for a roll check to take place. Note also that the school gates will be closed so cars will not be able to enter or leave at this time.
With more new students commencing the school year, the number of nationalities in the school has risen to thirty one including our staff. Have a relaxing weekend with your families.
School Counselling As we move through our varied lives we are faced with numerous challenges, many of which we can handle by ourselves. At other times we need the support of those around us to help: adjusting to a new school environment and country can be some of those more challenging times and I have been working closely with our students to assist them with these transitions. For parents, I have put together some resources to help you support your child, which can be found on my webpage: Counselling@IGBIS, http://bit.ly/igbiscounselling. Please take some time to look through the resources, and reach out to me if you feel you would like some guidance. Email me at pauline. davidson@igbis.edu.my.
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Rebecca Fong, from the Rhode Island College of Art & Design (RISD) will be visiting IGBIS on Monday, 22nd September at 8.45am. RISD stands out as one of the worlds leading colleges of Art & Design and we look forward to her meeting with some of our 10th & 11th grade students who are interested in pursuing higher education courses in art & design. Pauline Davidson, School Counsellor
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News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal Malaysia Day Watching our students and teachers arrive in colourful cultural dress on Wednesday was very interesting. They all seemed very pleased to be wearing their special clothes for Malaysia Day. Wednesday afternoon’s special assembly was a lovely mixture of student singing and dancing as well as staff contributions. Our Elementary students were very excited upon arrival but as soon as the music started they settled and enjoyed the change of tempo. We were all very proud of our Early Years 1 & 2 who sat through the 35 min assembly with very few wriggles and only one who fell asleep! Thank you to our parents who helped support this day.
Library Bags Parents are reminded that students require a library bag to borrow from the Library as the bag will provide protection for books on the way to and from home. Reading-decoding and comprehending Recently I was listening to two students read. The reading experiences were vastly different. The first student read purposefully, they kept their focus and did not stop until they had reached the end of the short story. I chose to let them finish as I was looking to assess their fluency, use of punctuation, decoding skills, (which is the ability to sound out words) and finally their comprehension. What I found interesting was that whilst the student could decode and read reasonably fluently,
they made no connections to the text and had very little understanding of what they had read. The student was able to answer some very basic form and function questions but when they were asked inferrential questions they could not answer. This student also could not seem to find a way to personally connect to the story, hence the story had no real impact on him. It was just a book to be ticked off the reading list. This book was clearly too advanced for this student and a book at a lower level was required. The second student started to read silently to herself. Sometimes she laughed quietly to herself for no apparent reason although it was evident she was exploring the story in her head and listening to the author tell the tale. When I asked her to read aloud, she read with expression, stopping often to point out how she knew what was happening and what she thought was going to happen next. This student took time to look closely at the images on the page and make connections to the text. When asked how did she know what was happening, or how did this make her feel, she could easily respond and the conversation we had was most enjoyable and rewarding. It was clear she had a deep understanding of the story and the level of book was appropriate. Teachers use different reading assessments to determine a student’s reading age and the most suitable level of books. These assessments are reviewed regularly so students are continually being challenged and progress can be documented. What can parents do to help with reading comprehension? At home it is easy to let children read to themselves as life is busy and there always seems an endless list of things to do at the end of the day. However, you will find your child’s understanding will grow as will their interest in reading if you can make time to sit and listen to your child read every few days, help them make connections to stories, ask questions that require thinking past the text. Eg. Why do you think the character behaved in a particular way? How can you tell the characters are friends? Until next week.
What has been happening in Physical Education? Students in the lower Elementary Physical Education classes have been in training camp. They have been learning how to listen, work with others, look after and use equipment safely. Ask them about ‘scrambled eggs’, ‘iceberg’ and ‘grounding’. The Early Years classes and the Kindergarten students have been working on a variety of gross motor movement stations that they inquire into. These range from hopping, jumping and foot patterns to aiming and throwing activities. The Kindergarten students have been thinkers as they have engaged in the movement stations and then have built upon these by modifying the stations to challenge each other. The Grade 1 and 2 students have been identifying how they can throw and stop balls with greater accuracy and success as they have embarked on a striking and fielding games unit. They have begun to develop their understanding of the rules associated
Igniting Minds
with a modified version of teeball/ softball. They are inquiring into the big idea that, ‘Interacting with others, using tactics, strategies and improving skills can help to increase fun and enjoyment in games.’ We would love it if you asked us questions about our learning and the Grade 1’s may share how to ‘walk the dog’. Simon Millward, Physical Education Teacher Early Years to Grade 2
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News from Secondary School school year.
Mr. Lennox R. Meldrum Secondary School Principal For our teaching staff who are new to Malaysia or to living in a tropical zone, this time of the school year is usually when the weather starts to get a bit cooler and the days start to get shorter. Luckily for us, we live in Malaysia where the climate is hot all year round! Our Malaysia Day assembly was one way we can show how appreciative we all are to live in such a wonderful country. It is common for schools that run an August to June school year for school camps to be conducted early in the first semester. While we aren’t restricted by the cold weather (but a bit by the wet season), there are many other reasons we like to have our camps during the first couple of months of the school year. A primary reason is the bonding opportunities that it offers for both students and teachers. While we offer a range of activities at IGBIS that allows students and teachers to mix in non-academic settings, the extended time away participating in a range of exciting adventures allows for everyone to get to know each other in new ways. Another advantage of our early camps is it allows our teaching staff an extended time to dive deeper into areas of our programmes away from the pressures of the classroom. These can include service as action, extended collaboration skills, mindfulness, perseverance, and reflection. Just like the planning for their lessons, our teachers are preparing camps for our students that are not only a time away from home and the classroom, but exciting learning adventures in a different form. For many students, these camps are one of the highlights of the
For some of our students, the upcoming camps may be the longest time they have been away from their families. This is another learning experience we plan for with our school camps and our Student Support Team along with our homeroom teachers will be using the next couple of weeks to prepare students for this time away. Today you will be receiving some information via email about the camps and how to provide payment. Next week you will receive further details and also a request to provide updated medical information. The information next week will come out in paper form and will require your signature. We ask that the paperwork is returned to your child’s homeroom teacher. If you do not receive anything from your child by Friday, please contact us. Have a wonderful weekend.
Introduction to ManageBac in Secondary School At our recent Secondary School Meet the Teacher parent information afternoon we organised a brief introductory session about ManageBac. Feedback from parents was very positive and we are pleased to announce that we will officially launch parent access to ManageBac on Wednesday, 1 October. ManageBac is hailed as the leading online learning platform and information management system for IB schools around the world. It enables efficient curriculum planning, assessment and reporting for teachers and enhances communication between teachers, students and parents. With the complexities of opening a new school and introducing a new online system, we are taking a phased-approach to ManageBac implementation at IGBIS. We began by trialing some of the key curriculum and assessment tools on ManageBac with our Secondary School teachers. Teachers added data about their first units of study and will continue adding data about subsequent units as we progress through this academic year. Our Secondary School teachers plan their units of study using ManageBac, recording concepts, contexts, statements of inquiry, inquiry questions and specific learning objectives. They plan their units in detail including exactly how and when the learning will be assessed. After student learning has been assessed, teachers record their feedback to students and their levels of achievement on ManageBac.
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Following a successful introduction with our teachers, we launched the second phase of our ManageBac implementation with our Secondary School students. Students now have their unique log-in accounts which enable them to see overviews of their current units of study, key assessment tasks and dates and personalised feedback from their teachers about their progress and achievement. On Wednesday, 1 October we will move to phase three of our ManageBac implementation by providing unique log-in accounts for our Secondary School parents. Parents will have similar levels of access to information as their children. Parents will be able to see overviews of their children’s current units of study, key assessment tasks and dates and personalised feedback from teachers to their children about progress and achievement. Parents will also be able to check attendance records and view semester report cards online. Over the next couple of weeks, Secondary School parents will receive further details about our parent launch of ManageBac. In the meantime, we encourage parents to ask their children to give them a guided tour of the student view of Managebac. We will continue introducing more features on ManageBac as we move through the year, helping parents remain informed about what their children are doing at school and keeping updated on their children’s progress and achievement. Phil Clark, Middle Years Curriculum Coordinator
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Updates from Student Services Mr. Peter Fowles Head of Student Services Dear Parents and IGBIS community, Welcome to the Student Services weekly article, this is a forum where information on student activities and their initiatives can be communicated to the school community. Staff involvement is essential for developing the range and variety of activities availiable to students. Without the energy and commitment of our programmes to extend student learning, experiences outside of the classroom would not be possible. Congratulations to Mr. Jon Suffolk for his work in establishing the IGBIS Music Academy. Students have also been active in initiating service experiences for their peers. Special mention must go to Seongjin Bien for his efforts towards establishing a connection with the Pandawas volunteer organization. His actions will see students visit their facility in the near future with the proposal of adopting a long- term whole school relationship.
IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy
The IGBIS Instrumental Academy will be launched very soon. This programmes offers students the opportunity to have individual and small group lessons on a range of musical instruments with specialist tutors. The classes are conducted on a weekly basis and students are withdrawn from class. Each week they will be withdrawn from different classes to avoid excessive interruption with their curriculum studies. Lessons in String, Woodwind, Brass, Piano, Guitar, Bass Guitar and Drums will be offered.
There will be an information session for parents in the coming weeks with registration for the lessons. The programmes will start immediately after the October School Vacation. If you require any more information or would like to discuss the programme please contact me at jon.suffolk@igbis.edu.my. Mr Jon Suffolk, Performing Arts Teacher
Updates from Academic and Support Services Mr. Peter Syme Director of Academic and Support Services Car Stickers Thank you all for the great response to picking up our car stickers during the week. From 17 families there are now only 3 families yet to collect these and I will be contacting them soon. A last gentle reminder for those who have their stickers but are still not displaying them, please do so over the weekend. Again, thank you for the great response. Ampang Bus I am in the final stages of negotiating with Peter Cheong to introduce the Ampang Bus Service. We hope to commence this on Monday, 29 September 2014. Details will be forwarded to those interested families by Tuesday afternoon. Thank you to the families who have been waiting and your patience has been appreciated.
Updates from Admissions Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn Admissions Director IMPORTANT: Student Medical Information The Admissions Office is in the process of checking the medical information held on file and on the online application system for each IGBIS student. As the medical data is critical for having information on medical conditions and permissions for emergency treatment in relation to your children, we must have it complete and signed for every student. We still have a number of incomplete forms and will be calling and emailing families in the next week to assist with the process of submitting them. A reminder that the uniform shop will continue to be open from Monday to Friday, 7:45am to 8:45am and 2:30pm to 3:30pm on the Lower Ground floor (Level 3) until further notice.
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Impacting Lives
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