IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 32, Week 4, March 2015
Discounts available until 30th April 2015 for new students applying for 2015-2016 Academic Year.
IGBIS Instrumental Music Ensemble Debut at Assembly.
Inside this week’s Newsletter
30th March 2015 After School Activities start Early Years 2 Parent Workshop on Reading, 1.45pm - 2.45pm, room opposite clinic
Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles, Head of School News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod, Elementary School Principal
31st March 2015 Elementary School Parenting Class, 8.15am - 10.15am, room opposite clinic
News from Secondary School Mr. Lennox Meldrum, Secondary School Principal Updates from Student Services Mr. Peter Fowles, Head of Student Services Updates from Academic and Support Services Mr. Peter Syme, Director of Academic and Support Services Updates from Admissions Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn, Admissions Director
Upcoming Events
Igniting Minds
1st April 2015 Parent Information Session for Grade 5 Parents on PYP Exhibition, 8.15am - 8.45am, room opposite clinic 11th - 19th April 2015 Mid Semester Holidays 22nd April 2015 Earth Day Assembly
Impacting Lives
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Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, We hope that our students enjoyed their extra holiday last Monday while teachers were engaged in a range of professional development activities and conducting forward planning and documentation for the year ahead. As mentioned last week, we plan to run summer school at the end of the school year over 22nd - 26th June and 20th - 31st July. Students may sign up for one, two or three weeks. The classes are taught by IGBIS teachers. The fees are similar to last year; RM1,800 for three weeks, RM1,400 for two weeks and RM700 for one week. An overview of the classes on offer to date: Programme A, Monday, 22nd June – Friday, 26th June 2015 Fun with Picture Books (KG – G2) PYP Ceramics (KG – G5) Learn to Swim (KG – G5) Genius Week (G3 – G5) Animated Video (G3 – G6)
Household Chemistry (G6 – G10) Robotics (G6 – G10) German (G6 – G11) IB Diploma Mathematics (G10 – G11) Theory of Knowledge (G10 – G11) Programme B Monday, 20th July – Friday, 24th July 2015 Crafty Science (KG – G5) Machines, Rockets and Planes (G6 – G10) Exploring Macs (G6 – G10) IB Diploma and MYP Design (G6 – G11) IB Diploma Economics (G10 – G11) Mandarin Ab. Initio (G10 – G11) *More choices to follow. Programme C Monday, 27th July – Friday, 31st July 2015 Cooking with Maths (KG – G5) Vocal Ensemble (G4 – G11) MYP Design and Makers Club (G6 – G10) IB Diploma Chemistry (G10 – G11) *More choices to follow. Have a good weekend!
News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal Assemblies in Elementary School are scheduled every Friday afternoon and all students and teachers from Early Years 1 to Grade 5 attend. Our Grade 5 students responsibly take turns to act as MC’s for each assembly, introducing the presentations, making comments and providing praise. Each week a different class presents at assembly. Assembly items can be in the form of a small play, song, dance or a movie/slideshow and are usually related to the current Unit of Inquiry. Music and PE have also contributed items for assemblies. This week: • • • • •
Our Grade 3’s presented information about “Matter” PE informed us about 4 square and how to use PE equipment responsibly We learnt a new song from Ms. Kath, Ms. Ostiguy and Grade 3 Grade 3 students helped us learn a new Brain Break Certificates of Learning were presented to students from EY’s 1-Gr 5.
Our assemblies are enjoyed by all who attend; often parents of students performing join us and their smiles and sometimes tears display immense pride. Until next time.
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Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
Bowl me over with Fruit and Vegetables and Fabulous Fauve Faces Grade 2 students have been plunging into colour and learning how it can be used to express moods. They have learnt that Fauve Artists were known as the ‘wild beasts.’ The word Fauve literally means that! It’s a colourful, vibrant style of painting that was alive and well in the early 20th century.
Using a range of hot and cold colour chalk pastels, and employing their blending skills they created fabulous Fauve faces. Grade 2 are about to launch into painting on a canvas to capture this ‘new way’ of seeing. So, watch this space!
Currently Kindergarten have been exploring and practising using the medium of pencil, using line and shading in a variety of ways, while developing their observational drawing skills, paying attention to pattern and detail. As well, they have been learning and practising the art of collage and further developing their painting techniques. The results are wonderful! Ms. Nan Parker, Art Teacher
Elementary School Music The Grade 5 have started their exciting exhibition unit with the concept of ‘Artists seeking to evoke an emotional response from their audience’ as the central idea. We’ve been looking at different styles of songs and their structure.
The Grade 1 are rehearsing and polishing their 4 part song ‘We are Siamese’. They are learning to play softly and with a good tone in order to create a balanced sound as a group.
Grade 4 are exploring music and media. The students are put in the position of a film soundtrack composer and are exploring the challenges and devices used in film soundtrack composition. Grade 2 are almost wrapping up their unit on the instruments of the symphonic orchestra and compared the embouchures of the trumpet and trombone last week. They discovered that it is actually easier to blow into a trombone. Sophie’ Your lips need to be relaxed and do a kind of brrrrrrrr movement. The trombone is huge and heavy to hold!’
Igniting Minds
Lower elementary looked at notation through music games. And all classes have been memorising our musical songs, guess what Kindergarten is singing?
Mrs. Hadewych Dujardin, Elementary School Music Teacher
Impacting Lives
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News from Secondary School Mr. Lennox Meldrum Secondary School Principal How do YOU learn? If you play a musical instrument and want to learn a new song, do you only read the musical score and then get someone to test your knowledge with a written paper without hearing you play it? If you want to change your aquarium from a fresh water to a salt water setup, do you just look at photos of other tanks and then purchase what you have seen? If your boss wants you to develop a new marketing strategy with an external company, do you study alone from only his/her notes and then have a pop quiz when you walk in the office on Monday? Of course we know that all of these strategies by themselves are not a good approach, but unfortunately some schooling systems still rely too heavily on a similar methodology. As an IB World School, at IGBIS we design classroom experiences that blend together the best approaches for delivering content while stimulating students through active learning. How do students in our Host Nation class know what traditional Malaysian foods are and what is needed to prepare them? They prepare their own dishes, make a short film of the process, and then share the tasty results with their peers. How do students in our Sciences class understand the engineering processes needed to build complex machines? They construct Rube Goldberg devices using scaled simple machines, test and re-test the process, then analyse the successful results. How do students
in our English Language and Literature class break down the meanings within Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”? They form Socratic seminar circles to present their ideas, question their peers, and develop a deeper understanding based on the contributions of the group. How do students in our Design class demonstrate the progress they have made in their planning and preparation, time management skills, and inclusion of their own imagination and personality? They repeat a formative task from earlier in the year based around preparing a dish from recipe to presentation. Sure Mr Meldrum, I hear you say, it is easy to find fun activities over the course of a few months to make it seem like IGBIS is always like this. Apart from the Host Nation classes (who having been cooking and presenting for the last couple of weeks), all of these other activities and photos were seen on a single walk around the school on Tuesday afternoon this week. Any time of any school day, I never need to go far to see amazing teaching, active learning, and inspiring educational experiences. It is lifelong learning at its best. Have a wonderful weekend.
IGBIS Instrumental Music Ensemble Debut at Assembly On Wednesday, the IGB Instrumental Music Ensemble had their debut performance at the Senior School Assembly. The Ensemble was formed as part of the Activities program and most of the student who performed were in the initial group. Their dedication and commitment to the group is to be highly commended. Mr. Jon Suffolk, Performing Arts Teacher
Grade 7 Performing Arts Grade 7 Performing Arts have been inquiring about the foundations of western theatre and Ancient Greek Theatre. Having explored dramatic techniques and devices used in Ancient Greek Theatre they have been working on devising an original group interpretation of a traditional Greek myth or Legend using the techniques and devices they have learned. Mr. Jon Suffolk, Performing Arts Teacher
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Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
Updates from Student Services Mr. Peter Fowles Head of Student Services The Activities and Athletics programme at IGBIS Frequently Asked Questions 1. What range of activities do you have? Which are free? In each session over 40 activities are offered at IGBIS; these include sports, arts and cultural programmes. These vary each session and are dependent on what academic staff and outside providers will offer. Activities offered by IGBIS academic staff are free of charge, outside providers charge a fee which is advertised when their activity is offered on the sign up document. Payment is made at the school finance office during working hours from 7.50am until 3.40pm. 2. When does the activity programme function? There are three sessions in each academic year, each session runs for approximately 9 weeks. Dates for 2015-2016 will be published on the school calendar, on the Activities webpage in the Newsletter and Homeroom updates. 3. What competitions do you currently hold with other schools in Malaysia or beyond? For the 2014-2015 Academic Year, IGBIS has provided opportunities for students to be involved in social and competitive matches with International School of Kuala Lumpur, ELC International School and Mont Kiara International School and these will continue until the end of the 2014-2015 Academic Year. The Model United Nations, Global Network and Duke of Edinburgh Award are all well established programmes that have excursions and scheduled events. 4. What are your plans for team sport development at the school and timing of introducing these? In the 2015-2016 Academic Year, IGBIS will be part of a more formalized competition with a group of similar sized Schools. Dependent upon student numbers it is hoped IGBIS will field age appropriate teams for both girls and boys in football, badminton, basketball, volleyball, swimming and touch rugby. The 3 activity sessions in the 2015-2016 Academic Year will follow the Kuala Lumpur schools sports seasons. Activities information, including what is presently on offer can be found at this link: http://bit.ly/igbis-activities. Contacts : Athletics and Activities Director: Mrs. Jasmine Brawn, jasmine.brawn@igbis.edu.my Head of Student Services: Mr. Peter Fowles, peter.fowles@igbis.edu.my
Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives
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Updates from Academic and Support Services Mr. Peter Syme Director of Academic and Support Services
Transport Safety Just a reminder to all those who use the van services for transport, that seat belts should be worn at all times. All passengers in vehicles should be wearing seat belts, including cars. It is actually a traffic offence not to wear seat belts. It is the passengers responsibility to make sure that seat belts are worn, not the drivers. Please encourage your children to wear their seat belts and model good safety behaviours. Lunch Payment Updates Over the past few weeks, many astute parents have noted that there is more money in the children’s accounts than they thought. This is absolutely correct. I am afraid it is not because we are giving your children free lunches though. Sorry about that. Let me explain. The card and bracelet system was supposed to have been activated on 5th January 2015, after the students returned to school from their 3-week break. The supplier of the cashless system however, was not able to fulfil the deadline and consequently, we all had to wait, including the school staff, for the activation to occur. This eventually occurred on 19th January 2015. Fortunately, we have both manual and electronic records of payments for January lunches which date back to December 2014. Any parent wishing to get clarity and view these records are welcome to make an appointment to see me or my Personal Assistant, Ms. Yuly. As a result of all of this, our catering company, who provided these snacks and lunches, have not been paid for these two weeks in January, which is quite a substantial amount. It is time for us all to settle these accounts and to do so I have proposed the following. In April, in addition to the normal payments, 50% of the amount owing will be deducted from your child’s account. For example, 10 lunches totalling RM100, we would deduct RM50 in April and a further RM50 in May so that the student catches up and that the caterer is paid their due. Whilst this may be an inconvenience, it is ethically the right thing to do. Nothing extra is being asked for, just what is owing to the caterer for fulfilling their obligations to provide lunches, breakfasts and snacks to the students and staff of IGBIS. Thank you for your understanding and your cooperation and as I said, it is the right thing to do. April Lunches Please use the following table to calculate how much money you should be topping up the cards and bracelets for April lunches. It is also important that you have read the the Lunch Payment Update article also appearing in the newsletter and understand that during April, there will be further deductions made to catch up on the late January payments. There are 17 school days in April, plus the additional 5 days of catch up for January. A further 5 days will be caught on during May. Early Years 1 & 2, KG
Grades 1-5
Grades 6-11
Lunch Only
176
220
220
Snack and Lunch
242
286
286
Breakfast and Lunch
NA
NA
330
Sandwich Only
176
220
220
Snack and Sandwich
242
286
286
Breakfast & Sandwich NA NB: All prices are in Malaysian Ringgit.
NA
330
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Igniting Minds
Impacting Lives