The ISL Headlines, December 2015

s e n i l d a e H The ISL From the Head of School : Mr. Martin Gough “Striving for Excellence” Important Dates Battle of the 11th Dec bands 2015 Last day of school

11 Dec 2015

School reopens

11 Jan 2016

IGCSE/IB Trial Exams start

18th Jan 2016

Contents Head of School

1

Primary principal

2

Early years

3

Upper Primary

4

PYP

5

December 2015

We are coming to the end of a long term. Students and teachers are all looking forward to a break after 4 months of school.

There is a great deal of pressure at the end of term to get assignments finished, complete assessments, put on the end of term events and produce the important Semester One Reports and by the last few days stress levels amongst teachers are high and they and the students are often exhausted too. This year, for the first time, parents will access the reports on our new academic portal, ManageBac. The reports can then read on screen or the pdf can be downloaded and printed. As this is the first time through with the full Semester Reports on this system we are hoping for perfection but know that there may be some glitches that we have to deal with.

You will have noticed that the dreadful, rutted Lukasu Road behind school is now a new smooth highway. To celebrate this big improvement to the school‟s rear access, we have tarmacked the MPC entrance drive and the area in front of the building. When we come back in January, some parents may wish to consider dropping or picking up children from this area in order to avoid congestion in the other carparks. Do remember though, it will mean walking across the sportsfield (which we hope will be very wet with rain!) to class.

I hope you were able to come along and enjoy the Primary Production on Thursday 3rd December and also the new Swim Fun Day on Saturday 5th December. Thank you to all the Primary and other staff who helped with the production – lots and lots of rehearsals were involved – and also to Todd Meyer, Athletics Director, and Karen Hedstrom, Early Years Coordinator, who, with some help from others, yet again have introduced a new fun, fund-raising event to support the Swim Team and swimming in general at the school.

Thank you to parents for helping us to improve security on campus by displaying your Car ID Cards – please do continue to do so. If you still need a card, please email or send a hard copy of the completed form (sent home by email on 30/10 and 9/11) to Ivy Chipasha on ichipasha@islzambia.org or the Primary or Secondary Secretaries so that a new one can be made for you.

The faculty, staff and I wish you an enjoyable and relaxing break from school and the school run. If you are travelling, go well, and we look forward to seeing you back at the usual time on Monday 11th January 2016.

Martin Gough Head of school

IB/IGCSE

6

IT

7

CAS

8

PS: Please assist us by ensuring that school fees are cleared and in the school accounts before school starts. The official deadline is Monday 4th January. We realise that Christmas and New Year Holidays and the fact that many people are travelling may cause hold-ups, but do feel free to pay early! The school offices will be open 0800-1400 hrs from 14-18th December and 4-8th January during the holiday for payments by cheque.

Primary

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Message from the Primary Principal: Mrs Sunita Nair

End of semester already! This is too soon. A lot has transpired between August and December. We have many reasons to celebrate. Here are a few-CIS and NEASC Accreditation Team have given us the green signal for the selfstudy and you have completed the Endicott survey for us. The staff and students (Year 5- IBDP 2) have also completed this survey. We should receive the analysis of data collected soon and this will help us as we embark on the self- study in January Swim Fun Day (on December 5th) was initially planned to raise funds for starting blocks for the swimming pool. However, we have had 2 generous patrons -Mr. Jannie Armstrong (our school parent) and Ms. Tonia Weltin (who coaches Kapenta swimmers at school) sponsor them. Mr. Armstrong has sponsored four of the starting blocks and Ms. Tonia Weltin has done the other two. Our heartfelt thanks to them, for their kind and whole hearted gesture.

Another feather in our cap is (drum roll….) we now have two qualified swim coaches at school- Ms. Karen Hedstrom and Mr. Todd Meyer. They successfully attended a workshop organized by FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) from 25th-28th November and came out with flying colours. This organization is recognized by the Olympics Committee in Aquatics. Well done to our teachers All our Primary teachers have received their certificates for completing the workshop on Assessment in September this year. Congratulations to all.

Musical evening, Inter house Sports relay, our first PYP Parent workshop, field trips, superb assemblies, PTA meet ings with Class Parent Representatives, successful integration with Managebac----- the list of reasons to celebrate is endless!!

Teachers and students have all worked hard this semester and earned their break. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all as parents for your continued support and willingness to work with us to help make our school one of the best in the country. Wishing you a safe and happy holiday!! See you back on 11 th January.

Ciao

GO GREEN …..

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Get your daily fix of news and updates online If you do buy newspapers, recycle them at the end of the week, or shred them for compost.

Remember you can recycle paper at ISL! Simply bring it to us and we will do the needful. Every class teacher will tell you what we do.

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From the Early Years Coordinator: Mrs Karen Hedstrom Itâ€&#x;s hard to believe it is already the end of the year. Pre School have been learning about how 'Transport systems are created to fulfil our needs.'

This has been an exciting unit as the children have shared their knowledge on the various form of transport. They have learnt about road systems and taken a 'driving' test to get their license.

We then discussed air systems and they had to get a 'passport and ticket' and headed off to the airport. A massive thank you to Royal Air Charters who took us on board as we set off on our flight.

I would like to thank all parents for their support and wish you a wonderful festive season. Be safe in whatever you may be doing over the holiday. We look forward to seeing you all refreshed and ready for the next half of the year.

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From the Upper Primary Coordinator: Mr Tasneem Mohmed On Thursday, 5th November, we had a Bicycle Day. During our PYP Unit of Inquiry on How The World Works, the students looked at design and functions of simple machines. The students brought their own bicycles to school .

Among many other things, they measured radius and diameters of bicycle parts. For many students, the most exciting time was when they started to ride their bicycles on the sports field. Mr Kowa helped with repairing of bicycles that had broken down. Mrs McNulty and Mr Nyirenda provided professional support. It was probably one of the most memorable day in the school year.

On Thursday evening, the 3rd of December, the covered area turned into a musical kingdom! The walls were decorated with silhouettes of various musical instruments and the stage sparkled with coloured lights! Upper Primary were all there and ready to perform and show off their musical talents. Crystal and Tahira from Year 5 were our MC‟s for the night and what a fantastic job they did explaining the musical items on offer and entertaining us with their clever comments. First up were the South African miners of 4.1, singing “Shosholoza”. They aptly wore miners‟ helmets and danced as they sang. Next, were the violin class, performing “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”. These children were a variety of ages and did such a good job that the audience began singing along towards the end of the song. 4.2 took us back to the 80‟s, dressed in flares and bell-bottoms, singing “Thank you for the Music”. Lushomo then played a piano solo and after that, the Year 5‟s „stole the show‟ with their choral piece, “Carol of the Bells” – complete with harmonies and percussion. After that, Mumo bravely stood on stage all alone and performed a flawless romantic violin piece – not an easy thing to do at all! Year 6.1 mixed it up when they sang “True Colours”, accompanied by their very own 3 class rappers (Gabrielle, Dion and Mushili), who seemed to have breadth that went on and on and on! Kabelo and Dion played a guitar duet, combining strumming on the classical guitar, with plucking on an electrified guitar. They were followed by Year 3.1 singing “Bell Samba” – super cute, with dramatic pauses in all the right places. The Kings and Queens of the Jungle (the Guitar ensemble) entertained us with a variation on the “Lion King”. Pink and red evening gowns, bow ties and smart jackets were the order of the day as 3.2 sang and performed some rather impressive dance moves to “O Sole Mio” and then we all floated off on “The Titanic” as Chisanga and Jua played a recorder duet, with a flautist and pianist accompanying them. Year 6.2 sang a traditional English folksong – “Green Sleeves” and we were all delighted to hear the percussion quartet medley by Kiriaki, Rudo, Nangamika and Niza. The musical celebration ended with all the children in Upper Primary joining hands and with one voice, singing, “We are ONE”. A huge thank you to everyone who took part, but especially to the children and to Mr.Nkolola, who, together masterminded this lovely, musical evening.

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Message from the IBPYP Coordinator: Mrs Grace Kambeu It is incredible that we have come to the end of the first semester and that we are preparing for 2016.

A lot of hard work has gone into our curriculum through planning and collaboration. The teachers never cease to amaze me with their dedication and expertise. They work so tirelessly making it happen in their classroom. A big thank you to all the teachers for making our learning engaging, challenging, relevant and significant.

I had the privilege of visiting classes and working with your children who are ever excited and enthusiastic about their learning. It is amazing to see them inquiring on given tasks, working individually or collaborating as a group. In some instances students were given the opportunity to cook, bake, build things, investigate and experiment using scientific process. The list is endless!

Being part of your childâ€&#x;s learning is a wonderful experience for me and I would urge you, our parents, to get involved.

A few highlights from the classes: Analysing a text about the Romans

Group discussion on ancient civilisation

Learning how to use a saw in their simple machine unit.

Interpreting data about distance travelled by a car

Teaching Assistant Workshop We had a successful teaching assistant workshop on Literacy in November led by Mrs Rachel Bentley. Our teaching assistants worked in groups discovering, sharing and reflecting on how they could use the strategies learnt to support primary students. Thank you Mrs Bentley for your presentation.

We plan to have a Parent workshop in February on Assessment and would encourage our parents to come along and participate. More details will be provided as we draw closer to the date of the workshop.

May I also take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful holiday.

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Secondary IB Corner! From Nathalie Vignard With the end of semester fast approaching, the IB2 students need to think carefully about planning the next four weeks, dividing their time wisely between strict revision for the mock examinations taking place in January and, of course, for some rest.

A letter will be sent home to the parents of the students who are behind with some of their assignments or with their university applications, since the deadline for applying to university in the UK or in the USA is the 15th January 2016.

On this note, some of our IB2 students have already received offers from universities in the UK and in the USA, including some scholarships from American universities. This is fantastic news, congratulations to them!

There are also a few social events taking place during the last week of the semester. I am looking forward to see the IB students involved in the InterHouse Swimming Gala and in the Battle of the Bands.

Parents of IB students or prospective IB students are able to contact me at ibdpcoordinator@islzambia.org if they would like to arrange an appointment to discuss the programme

From the IGCSE coordinator: Mr R Van de Velde

The year 10 had their delayed camping trip to Wildtracks in early November.

Both students and teachers seemed to have enjoyed the variety of team building activities organised by the campsite.

On Wednesday 9th December we have our second Student-Parent-Teacher Consultation in the MPC from 14.00 till 18.00. It would be good to have some feedback about your child before the long holiday. Time can be allocated in that 4 week period to address possible concerns.

For the year 11â€&#x;s, this holiday should be a 3 or 4 week study period to fully prepare for the Mock exams.

These exams start after the holiday as indicated in the letter that went out to all Y11 parents recently. Remember that the Mock grade is often used as the predicted grade for the final CIE exams or for college applications. Proper planning is the start to success.

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I.T Reflection on VBA by Maximilian Buchholz During I.T we learnt about VBA (Visual Basic for Application). VBA is a coding system used in Microsoft presentations so you can use option buttons and give multiple choices. It really seemed hard at first but we got used to using VBA on a regular basis. I think everyone enjoyed VBA. What I found quite challenging was writing the codes. I had some problems with the code but I figured out what went wrong. You can use VBA to make your presentation an interactive one. I enjoyed trying out other peoples VBA projects.

When we did our projects we used a slide planner to see what we wanted to include in terms of content. For example, some people did counting, others did spelling and I did revision quizzes.

The most interesting thing we did was writing the codes because I thought it was interesting to see how the computer used the codes to perform actions.

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CAS NEWS IB students have now completed their first term of regular service in our community schools. With a focus on art, craft and sports, areas which are not usually part of the community schools‟ curriculum, they have come up with some exciting projects which the children have thoroughly enjoyed.

Project “Christmas Tree” at New Horizon School took 5 weeks to complete and used recycled plastic bottles to create a unique and colourful Christmas tree for the school. Congratulations to the students and Ms Martin, their supervisor, for overcoming the logistical and design difficulties involved to make this project a success.

CONTACT US

http://www.cois.org/

http://www.ibo.org/

The International School of Lusaka 6945 Nangwenya Road Lusaka, Zambia Phone: +260 211 252291 Fax: +260 211 252865 E-mail: info@islzambia.org www.islzambia.org

http://www.pamojaeducation.com/

http://www.cie.org.uk/

http://www.neasc.org/