IGB International School Newsletter, Issue 15, Week 4, October 2014

IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 15, Week 4, October 2014

Grade 9 & 10 students had the opportunity to experience some of Lara’s Energy Rising classes.

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

Upcoming Events November Monday, 17th November 2014 Staff Professional Development Day (no school for students) Saturday, 22nd November 2014 Open Day

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

Updates from Student Services Mr. Peter Fowles, Head of Student Services

December Wednesday, 3rd December 2014 Whole School Christmas Assembly Wednesday, 10th December 2014 Last day of School

Updates from Academic and Support Services

Mr. Peter Syme, Director of Academic and Support Services

Igniting Minds

Thursday, 11th December 2014 Public Holiday - Sultan Selangor’s Birthday 11th December - 2nd January 2014 December School Holiday

Impacting Lives

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Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, All of our students and teachers came back to school refreshed after the holiday and eager to begin the second half of the semester.

I was impressed by the way that IGBIS parents supported their children on Wednesday afternoon by attending the Elementary School Parent-Teacher and Secondary School Parent-StudentTeacher conferences. The time from 2.00 pm to 7.00 pm was very busy with our teachers almost continuously meeting parents who were interested to hear more about their children’s progress.

The principals, Admissions Director and our Board Director, Mr Chua are joining me in Kota Kinabalu this weekend for the annual leadership conference of the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS). The conference is attended by over 1,000 delegates

representing school boards, heads, principals, admissions directors, business managers and others holding leadership positions in international schools in the region. For us to continue to be at the cutting edge of international education around the globe, it is important that we undertake professional development at all levels of the school. I sat in on some of the board governance training with Mr Chua and noted that nearly all of the prominent international schools in our region had representatives of their board engaged in the robust dialogue about effective international schools and the role of the board.

I have been invited to present at the conference with a panel of women in educational leadership at and will count it a privilege to do so. More next week!

Have a good weekend.

News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal Parent-Teacher Conference On Wednesday afternoon we hosted our first Parent-Teacher Conference and I am delighted to say it was very well attended.

Parents in Elementary School had twenty minutes with their child’s class teacher and ten minutes with their single subject teachers to share thoughts about their child’s transition to IGBIS and hear about the progress they have made. Whilst I did not meet all parents, the feedback I gained throughout the afternoon was extremely positive: “We are delighted with our child’s improved attitude to school and learning and we can see real growth.”

Throughout the year students are assessed in many ways so that teachers can build a picture of a student’s achievements, knowledge and understanding. A range of assessment tools and strategies are used which allow students with different learning styles to succeed.

Assessment across the curriculum will include the following at an age appropriate level: • Using representative examples of students’ work or

performance to provide information about student learning • Collecting evidence of students’ understanding and thinking • Documenting the learning processes of groups and individuals • Engaging students in reflecting on their learning • Students assessing work produced by themselves and others

“The amount of detail shared and the diversity of examples and assessments reassured us that the teachers really know our child and understand his needs and abilities.”

“You can feel the warmth and caring attitude when you discuss our child’s challenges with her teachers.”

This may include some or all of the following tools and strategies:

“The different approach to homework promotes deeper thinking and we are pleased that our children actually like doing their homework.”

Rubric

Observations

Anecdotal notes

Exemplars

Performance assessments

Continuums

Checklists

Process-focused assessments

Open-ended tasks

Upcoming dates Monday, 17th November is scheduled as a Professional Development day for teachers and therefore there will be no school for students.

I would be happy to hear impressions from those parents who I missed on Wednesday; you could email me claire.mcleod@ igbis.edu.my.

Wednesday, 10th December is the last day of school for this calendar year; the school will re-open on Monday, 5th January 2015.

Assessment For our teachers to gain a deep understanding of each child’s strengths and needs, they must continually assess their students by collecting information and samples of work and record observations.

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They then reflect on and evaluate the data, make instructional decisions, encourage student evaluation, celebrate growth and help make new goals.

Igniting Minds

Until next time.

Impacting Lives

Students Taking Action A very important part of our curriculum is seeing and hearing about students taking action as a result of their learning.

Action is voluntary in nature where students use their initiative and take responsibility. Actions arise from a genuine concern and commitment for others, this forms the basis of effective action.

Action can take many forms but the first two levels that I would like to stress is students taking personal action and group action.

Personal action – done as an individual, to have an impact on yourself or others close to you (family, friends) Group action – ideas that are shared with a group to work together on

Some examples of action that we have seen around school have been Grade 5 students playing and helping younger students in the playground. A Grade 3 student turning water off to apply soap in the shower to conserve water before turning the shower back on to rinse the soap off.

Other examples of action that you may have seen could be your child sleeping earlier at night as a result of learning about the importance of rest and sleep or independently brushing their teeth, as they have learned about health and hygiene or eating more healthy foods.

We would love to hear from you if you have noticed any action that your children have been taking as a result of their learning.

Simon Millward, Elementary Curriculum Coordinator

News from Secondary School Mr. Lennox Meldrum Secondary School Principal It was wonderful to walk into school on Monday morning and see how refreshed everyone was following our October break. Within minutes of classes starting, the learning experiences were already starting to happen and students and teachers were engaged by their topics. Both our staff and our students are really enjoying the educational journey they are on together.

Additional important members of that journey are our parents and guardians and our Parent-Student-Teacher conferences this week highlighting our focus of involving everyone in the process. Transparency in the education of your children is vital to ensure that we can all work together towards the common goal of providing the best opportunities for development and success. By having both students and parents attend our conferences we remove the possibility of misunderstanding in the information being communicated.

Our teachers work very hard every day with your children and are always happy to have the opportunity to discuss their progress.

While organized conferences like we had this week only occur a few times each year, you are always welcome to contact our staff via email to arrange a time to discuss your child’s continuing education. ManageBac is another important communication tool that we use daily to provide feedback on assessment items.

We will soon be sending out a questionnaire regarding your use of ManageBac, our first set of school reports, and the ParentStudent-Teacher conferences. I encourage you to take the time to provide feedback so we can continue to improve our practices and provide the best educational opportunities for you and your family.

Our students that are involved in some of our service and leadership activity groups have been working on organizing some events for our students and you will hear more about these next week. Please remember that Monday, November 17 is a pupil-free day where our teachers will be involved in whole school professional development activities. We promote lifelong learning for all members of our community.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

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Updates from Student Services Mr. Peter Fowles Head of Student Services Activities at IGB International School Mission statement Activities at IGB International School are an extension of the four IB programmes; facilitating opportunities for students to take action. Activities are sourced and designed to offer students a complete selection of opportunities to assist in their personal development; to encourage them to be involved outside the classroom, enjoying collaboration with each other and taking on challenges that will enhance their development.

Programmes There will be 3 activity sessions in an academic year. Our second session will commence on 12th January 2015 and run to 20th March 2015.

Within this session IGBIS staff will run activities on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, at present we are working with

outside providers to increase the variety of activities and to have these available on Mondays, Fridays and possibly Saturday mornings. Outside providers will charge for the activities they offer, the cost will be included in the information provided through home room letters, the ‘Activities page’ and direct e-mail contact.

Secondary students and parents of Elementary students will be able to select activities for the second session from Monday the 24th of November 2014 to Friday the 28th November 2014.

With students in Secondary school and parents of Elementary students being notified of their successful sign up before the December break.

For any inquiries please contact Mr. Peter Fowles, Head of Student Services and Activities Coordinator.

Energy Rising Classes with Lara The first week was a blast. Thank you all who attended the week of free classes. I think we have finally worked out the plan for future classes. Thank you all of you for your input. Just takes a bit of time to see what everyone is interested in. Please see below: TUESDAYS! WEDNESDAYS! THURSDAYS! (Wednesday class - starting 12 November) Doors will be open from 7.45am (for personal practice) but the Group movement class will be from 8.20am to 9.30am.

Tuesdays: YOGA with a tad bit of Qi Gong Wednesdays: Vinyasa Flow YOGA Thursday: Combo: Qi Gong/Yoga Dance/Journey Dance

Payment options: 5 classes: RM225 (valid 6 weeks) 10 classes: RM450 + 1 free class (valid 12 weeks) 20 classes: RM900 + 3 free classes (valid 18 weeks) (Please pay at the Finance Dept. by the main office) website: http://energyrising.zohosites. com/ or call 012 970 8664

Grade 9 & 10 Energy Rising Classes Grade 9 & 10 students had the opportunity to experience some of Lara’s classes. They were doing a unit about anaesthetics and the different types of energy that is created when doing different forms of exercise. We exercise for health... these ancient Healing modalities-Qi Gong, Yoga and Dance... are still here today in our modern world... and at IGBIS! Picture say a 1,000 words! Take a look.

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Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

Updates from Academic and Support Services Mr. Peter Syme Director of Academic and Support Services Football/Soccer Field We are very pleased and proud to announce that our artificially –turfed football field was awarded a FIFA 2 star quality rating, awarded from Zurich on 28 October 2014. Representatives from FIFA conducted a full day’s testing with the suppliers from SportsTechPro, who have obviously done a magnificent job in ensuring the quality and workmanship of the field. IGBIS congratulate them and are indeed very happy that our students will enjoy the field for many years to come. There are only 12 FIFA recommended pitches in Malaysia.

School Lunches Payment for school lunches should be paid by next Friday, 7th November. Ms. Yuly, my new assistant, will be at the payment counter every morning next week from 7:45am – 8:15 am to collect the money and issue receipts straight away. All money should be placed in an envelope, clearly stating the following: STUDENT NAME GRADE AMOUNT Students who have not paid their money by Friday 7th November will not be served or issued with coupons. If you do meet with any complications, please do contact me so that we can sort through them. Some students are still not sure if they have paid

or not and they do need to take more responsibility in knowing these things.

The issue of a receipt will be proof that the students have paid and class lists will be distributed to the grade level teachers for verification.

Monday, 17th November is a Professional Development Day for staff and the students will not be at school. Therefore the total number of days on November for school lunches is 19. Below is the payment guide; Lunch Only Early Years 1 and 2, Kindergarten

RM152.00

Snack and Lunch

RM209.00

B’fast and Lunch

NA

Grades 1-5

RM171.00

RM228.00

NA

Grades 6-11

RM171.00

RM228.00

RM275.50

Again, we thank you for your patience using this manual system and thank you in advance for your haste in payment for November.

Updates from Admissions Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn Admissions Director If you have any contacts that you know would be interested in visiting the school and attending the Open Days and Corporate Open Day, please do contact the Admissions Office on admissions@igbis.edu.my.

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

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