The ISL Headlines, May 2014

s e n i l d a e H The ISL From the Head of School : Mr. Martin Gough

May 2014

“Striving for We are into the last leg of the school year. Final exams are under way for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Exams for Year 13 and IGCSE for Year 11. The IBDP examinations are particularly important for our students as the results may well determine their acceptance to university or college. School exams will follow in Secondary, whilst in Primary the Year 6 students have presented their Primary Years Programme Exhibition, which is the culmination of the Primary School programme. Year 6 are now looking forward to their transition to Secondary School in

Excellence” Important Dates ISUZU Ultra May Marathon 16th17th PTC—Yr 7-10 May 21st and IB 1 classes End of Semester ExGraduation

June 29th 6th

August.

June 14th

Contents Head of School

1

Board Chair

2

Early years

3

PYP/Primary

4

Upper Primary

5

Secondary

6

IGCSE / IB

7

Book Week

8

Music Week

9

Community News

10

We recently sent home documents relating to the Annual General Meeting of the ISL Association, which is open to all parents and faculty. These included the agenda, minutes of the previous AGM and also details of the process for election as a Board of Governors member. This year we have 4 Board members who have reached the end of their 3-year term or are resigning due to relocation. Board members can, if they wish, stand for a second term. If you are interested in working with the Board of Governors and the school administration and faculty to improve ISL, please do consider standing as a candidate in the upcoming elections. The Board is looking for members from all sections of the school community and would be particularly interested in candidates who have skills in architecture, construction, finance and law. However, the most important requirement is a genuine interest in moving the school forward. The voting for candidates will take place at the AGM. If you are not interested in standing as a Board member, I would still strongly encourage you to come along to the AGM to hear the reports regarding this school year, including details of the finances and future developments for next year and beyond.

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From The Board Chair — Elizabeth Jere Recently all members of the ISL Association received information via letter and email explaining a revision to the fees payment schedule, which will take effect in the coming school year in August.

The Board voted on this policy change after carefully monitoring the payment patterns at the school and through extensive debate and discussion. The change in board policy removed the 14-day grace period for payment at the start of each term. The Board had observed that once the 14 days were reached, a very large percentage of children still had outstanding term fees. Without timely fee payment, the school experiences negative consequences on the school. First, the school‟s cash flow is affected, impacting the ease of the school to make timely payments for salaries (70% of the budget) and other monthly obligations. Second, late payments impact the ability of the school to invest cash into short-term, higher interest-bearing accounts. Third, the time of ISL management and accounting staff is diverted to following up parents about the late payments, and meeting with parents who try to negotiate different payment terms outside of policy. The consequences also carry over to the children of fee defaulters, who are taken out of school midway through the term until fees are paid. This scenario can often be embarrassing and frustrating for the children and interrupts their learning. Upon payment, when the child returns to class, the teacher then has the added task of bringing the child up to speed with the learning that they missed. In cases where the fees are not paid and the child does not return to school, then ISL has lost the opportunity to replace this child‟s position with a child from the waiting list. The school, therefore, loses out on fees for one place in that class for the entire term.

By changing the policy and requiring payment by the first day of term, the school starts each term in a good cash position, and management and accounting staff can focus on their regular duties.

The school also has the opportunity to start children on the wait list earlier in the term when needed. We understand that this may require some financial re-prioritization and planning within households to prepare for payment by the first day of each term next year.

The Board is not considering other payment terms as policy options for the 2014-15 school year, but we will monitor the new policy in practice and, as always, welcome feedback from the association on this matter.

y

r Prima

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From the Early Years Coordinator: Mrs Rachel Bentley We would like to thank all the parents who came to support us with our “Night at the Circus� production at the end of April. It was a spectacular evening, which was added to by the talent of the Barefeet performers. Thank you for your help with the costumes, which looked vibrant and eye-catching on the stage. As teachers, we were very proud of our risk-taking small performers and we hope you enjoyed the night as much as we did.

As the weather is getting colder, please remember to send your child with a jumper each day. It would be very helpful if the jumpers could be named as it is very difficult to find lost items. Swimming has also finished for the year, so your child should come dressed in their P.E. kits on both the days that they have P.E.

Yr 2 Visit to Mundawanga

We had a fantastic day learning all about the different animals. We saw 37 species including porcupines, camels, lions, wild dogs and baboons.

We learnt a lot about endangered animals and how we can help protect them. As well as observing the animals eating, drinking, playing and sleeping we also got to swim and play in the playground.

Message from the PYP Coordinator: Mrs Sunita Nair

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Stimulating and breathtaking events take place at our school even as we approach the end of the academic year!! The Early years Production, the PYP Exhibition, the field trips of the Year Four and Five students are simply just naming a few. These events clearly depict the excitement and growth that our students experience at school each day. Never having had this system of education myself, I wonder what it would be like to learn in such an environment – to have learning related to our daily life. Our teachers put in a lot of thought and efforts into facilitating thinking, encouraging student input and applying their ideas to further their learning . School is an exciting place to be in!!

The PYP Exhibition this year was an experience one cannot forget. Our students did a lot of investigations on “The impact of drugs in local and global community is loud yet ignored” . Clear, confident and knowledgeable, in their final presentations, on the evening of their Exhibition, the students excelled in representing themselves as strong and well- intended individuals. Congratulations to all our Year 6 students, mentors , teachers and of course our dear parents! It‟s all a matter of being part of the team!

Since “It‟s all a matter of being part of the team!”, I use this newsletter to convey information of our last Parent workshop for this academic year. It will be held on May 21st in the PYP Conference Room from 7:30- 8:30am. It is called “Is Learning Exclusive to your child? ” This workshop is being led by our very experienced faculty and we urge you to attend and join hands with us in the education of your child. The workshop will be preceded by Coffee morning.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Modern Foreign Language Department We realize that for some children, French and Spanish can be challenging as second, third or fourth languages. We also realize that this challenge can sometimes extend to parents. Do no worry, do not panic. You are not alone in this.

In fact, there are several ways to help improvement.

1.

Get your son/daughter a good language dictionary (Collins, Oxford or Robert are always good picks). It’s a oneoff purchase and they will keep it for life.

2.

Encourage your son/daughter to switch their DVDs to French/Spanish once in a while.

3.

At home, join your children in reading packaging labels (they are often in English, Spanish, French, German, etc, but subconsciously, your child will associate the product to the word) 4.

The MFL department will be offering French support during after school activities. This will include games, online and interactive activities as well as speaking and vocabulary boosters. Enroll your child and see Ms. Evy for details on age groups, days and times.

5.

Even if you do not speak a foreign language, join in the fun of learning one with your child (-ren). The websites below are a good start and you would be surprised at how much you can help and have fun at once.

-

French and Spanish:http://www.languageguide.org French and Spanish: http://www.freerice.com French: http://www.realfrench.net French and Spanish:http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages Spanish: http://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/mimundo/mimundo/default.html

Thank you, Evy Yaguibou and Dennis Simbaya

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UPPER PRIMARY: Mrs. Grace Kambeu Year 6 PYP Exhibition Gala Night Wednesday 7th May turned out to be a great evening as the Year Six children performed in front of a wonderful audience to show case their six weeks of hard work. The children finally celebrated six weeks of hard work on the Exhibition. The children chose the topic „Drugs‟ and created a positive central idea “The Impact of Drugs in our Local and Global Community is Loud yet Ignored.”

This is a crucial issue worldwide and the children felt obliged to inquire into why drug abuse is becoming an ever increasing vice. They did their investigations over five weeks and were assisted by teachers and parents who sacrificed their time and effort to become mentors. Guest speakers were invited in by the students so that they could gain indepth information on this matter. They also empowered the rest of the children in the primary school by sharing their information through various activities. This resulted in a gala presentation on Wednesday night which was composed of selected children‟s projects such as skits, raps, poems, monologue, narrations, dance and songs. The children later shared their research with the wider audience which left a lot of parents impressed with the work displayed and the knowledge gained by the children.

The Year Six team would like to thank management, teachers, students and especially the parents for all the support that was rendered to the year group. As a result of this, the Exhibition 2014 was a great success!

Secondary From the Secondary Principal: Mr. Mwanza

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The academic year is fast coming to a close. We have less than six weeks to the end of the second semester. The IB2 and Y11 students are now well underway with their external examinations. On behalf of all the staff I offer my best wishes and hope for the results which are a befitting reward for their labours.

The Faculty is currently working on the arrangements for the graduation ceremony to be held on Saturday the 14th of June, 2014. From 08 00 to 11 00 hrs on the morning of 14 th June, ISL staff will set out and decorate the MPC and the surrounding areas. Any creative parents and friends of graduates who can help in advance with the design/production of decorations, would be most welcome. We would be delighted if you joined us and made it a team exercise. Please contact Mr. Chomba or Mr. Hopkins on 0211 252291 if you wish to help. Any donations of flowers, ribbons etc would be well received.

On Wednesday the 21st of May, we will have a Parent Teacher Conference for Y7 – Y10 and IB1students. Parents of these year groups are encouraged to come and meet teachers of their children before they take the end of year examinations. Be informed that the end of year exams are from 29th May to 2nd of June for Junior secondary students, 29th to 5th June for IB1 and 29th to 6th of June for Y10 students. During this period, Y7 – Y9 students will end their day at 12.30hrs and Y10 and IB students will only come into school if and when they have an examination, in other words, their teaching timetable is suspended during this time.

Finally, I am pleased to inform all our Y9 and Y11 parents that the school is accepting applications for one halfscholarship each for IGCSE Y10 and IB1 respectively. The closing date is Friday 23 rd of May 2014.

These scholarships are aimed at all-round students who make a significant contribution to many aspects of school life.

As a general rule, the expectation is that students receiving scholarships should display a strong record of high academic and creative accomplishment. Students must demonstrate originality and innovation in the arts and humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. Students will be at an advantage if they can demonstrate experience in leading groups and providing direction to others including organizing, managing and carrying out responsibility for a club, activity, group or organization.

From Junior Secondary School : Mrs.Dodd Year 8 Social Studies trip to Livingstone “The Livingstone trip was a once in a life time experience which I felt no one should miss”.

“Even though we go to Livingstone with my parents this trip was much better because we learnt so much!”.

“I wouldn't change anything to this trip, just to make it longer next time!”.

Our Year 8 students came back safe and sound last Wednesday from their Social Studies trip to Livingstone. They visited Mukuni village and learnt all about the traditional way of life of villagers.

They admired the power of the Zambezi with the falls and the boat cruise. Later on they visited the museum and learnt a lot about local customs and traditions. They were lucky to walk with white rhinos in Mosi O Tunya park and to learn about big cats behaviour at the Mukuni Big 5 center.

A big thank you to Mr Mwale, Mr Chizyuka and Mrs Martin for running the trip and making it such an educational experience!

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From the IGCSE coordinator: Mr R Van de Velde

The Year 11 students had a very cosy and delicious `last supper‟ on their last school day.

Most credit for that evening goes to Claire Scott (y11) for organising the event tirelessly, weeks in advance. Fun (and some serious) awards were exchanged between staff and students, a variety of great dishes were served (with thanks to all the parents who were involved !), videos were shown and it all ended with some dancing to the beat of what the students seem to call `music‟. Now they sit quietly in the MPC, writing their final IGCSE papers for four more weeks. I wish them all the best in their efforts.

The Year 10 students continue with their normal lessons until the end of year exams which start on Thursday 29th of May and finish on Friday the 6th of June.

I hope to meet most of the Year 10 parents during the last parent/teacher consultation of the school year, taking place on Wednesday 21st of May 2014.

IB Corner! From Mr. Hearsum As I write this the final IB examinations of the current session are taking place. The students have been fantastic throughout and I eagerly await their results in early July. I would like to thank their excellent teachers who have worked extremely hard to ensure that they are ready for the examinations.

IB1 students participated in the Ndubaluba camp from 8th to 11 May as part of their International Award. They have a very busy month ahead with their Group Four Project, trial examinations and Theory of Knowledge presentations alongside normal classes and Extended Essay research tasks.

Prospective IB students should contact me if you would like to make an appointment to discuss the programme. ibcoordinator@islzambia.org

IB CAS Project Book Collection for Lusaka Central Prison Library IB.1 Students Lenganji, Lusekelo, Chanda, Rhiannon, Natalie, Polyne and Sheena are organizing a book collection for the Lusaka Central Prison.

The women are put into prison with their children and have nothing to keep them busy or inspire them. Their children are forced to stay in prison with them as they have no where else to go. They are not provided with education, food or entertainment. We would appreciate children‟s picture books (as the children are unable to read), books in different languages like French, Nyanja, English and many more (as the women are from different countries), inspirational books, novels or books to help them gain better skills. We believe these books will provide them with mental stimulation as the women in the prison are depressed due to their current unfortunate situation.

We would appreciate if the books were handed in before the 12th June 2014, if anyone has books that they do not need or would be willing to donate. There will be boxes around school where the books can be placed or can be given directly to one of the IB.1 students mentioned above.

Thank you

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INTERNATIONAL BOOK DAY— BOOKS BRING ADVENTURE All United Nations member states, Zambia inclusive, celebrate World Book Day which is an annual event. This year, this event fell on 23rd April, 2014 and the world celebrated it for the 17th time. International School of Lusaka celebrated this event by dedicating three days to reading under the theme “Books Bring Adventure”. World Book Day is all about celebrating books and reading. ISL highly appreciates this annual event by ensuring that a Book Week Committee is in place each year to adequately prepare teachers and students for the annual event.

International School of Lusaka promoted reading this year by bringing together all children of various ages to celebrate reading through various activities. This included both primary and secondary students. World Book Day celebration played a great role in bringing children closer to the books, reading habits as well as creating interest in them to know about authors and various lessons being communicated.

Book Week activities for primary students Children were encouraged to explore the pleasures of books and reading. Books were selected by teachers and purchased for reading by early years and lower primary. This was done through paired reading where upper primary pupils read to the young ones in the lower grades. After Book Week, the books would be donated to children in need of reading materials outside the school. Another 15 minutes was observed to celebrate DEAR - “Drop Everything And Read” for the entire primary school. To sum it up, the children on the last day of the celebration dressed up in their favourite author‟s or character‟s attire.

Book week activities for Secondary students All secondary school and IB students were tasked to read any book or article, regardless of format and record on a Book Week Card the major lesson learnt from it. A total of 168 responses were received. Of these responses 89% were from fiction books and articles whilst the rest were non-fiction in nature. Almost 50% of the total responses were associated with Europe and Africa in terms of the setting of the book or origin of the author. ************************ “Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary. We must not permit anything to stand between us and the book that could change our lives” by Jim Rohn

Authored by ISL Libraries

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CREATIVE ARTS — MUSIC WEEK 31st MARCH TO 4th APRIL

“The hills are alive with music” or so sang the Von Trapp family as they waltzed and

harmonized their way around the Austrian Alps. Devoid of mountains we might be; however the ISL music family recently joined together under student matriarch, Melody Che, for a series of well-attended break time concerts in our amphitheatre. Held from Monday 31 March through until Friday 4 April, Melody coordinated a variety of performers to entertain students and staff from throughout the school as they worked their way down towards the end of a busy second term.

With sunshine blazing, sound radiated around the school as we were treated to the following performances: Monday 31st – Zambezi rock band: Mifaly-vocals, Vision-guitar/vocals, Nathan-bass, Melody-drums Tuesday 1st – Luangwa rock band: TJ-vocals, Funmi-vocals, Melody-guitar, Ruella-drums Wednesday 2nd – Y10‟s: Jin + Tong-piano duet; Shivani-vocals, Ruella-violin, Priyanka-piano, Gaurav-drums Thursday 3rd – Vocalists: Mifaly-vocals + Melody-guitar; Marije-vocals + Melody-piano; Raania-vocals Friday 4th – IB1: Mifaly-vocals, Mario-guitar, Vision-guitar/vocals, Nathan-bass, Melody-drums Many thanks to all the talented students who performed – you gave each day a rhythmic jolt and a syncopated slap to carry us through! Melody, of course, deserves huge congratulations for successfully organizing and rehearsing all of the great music and, no, your eyes don‟t deceive you, she really does play all of those instruments!

Mr Fraser Dodd

Head of Creative Arts

SAVE THE DATE Music Camp at AISL 2014, 4-8 August For those students wishing to participate in the advancement of their musical skills please keep note of this important date.

Further details will follow soon.

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INTERNATIONAL WOMENS’ CLUB – LUSAKA The Chairlady, Executive Committee & members of IWCL invite you to participate in………

WALK FOR GOOD

HEALTH

Date: Saturday 17th May 2014 Time: Registration @ 7.00 am Start : 7:30 am Location: PORTICO CLUB — POLO GROUNDS Combine being healthy and fundraising for the less fortunate of Lusaka Join us for a fun morning….

Prizes galore!

Participation fee: ZKM 50.00 per entry.

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/