The ISL Headlines - November 2014

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

November2014

“Striving for Excellence” Important Dates 19th November

PTA meeting

28th/29t Secondary h Novem- drama prober duction 10th December 12th December 12th December

It is difficult to believe that we are just over 3 weeks from the end of term, with the December vacation looming ahead. Between now and the end of term we have the Secondary Drama Production, ‘Arsenic & Old Lace’ on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th November and in the following week the Primary Production will take place. School will finish early on Friday 12th December, after the Battle of the Bands Concert in secondary school, and reopen on Monday 12th January.

Another date for your diary is the Board Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on th Primary Pro- the morning of Saturday 29 November 2014. The prime purpose of the EGM is to duction present the Audited Accounts for the school year 2013-14. Current parents are all members of the ISL Association and are invited to attend the EGM. Battle of the Bands

Last day of school

Contents Head of School

1

Primary Principal/Early years

2

PYP/Upper Primary

3

Primary News

4

Secondary

5

IGCSE/IB

6

Drama Production

7

IB News

8

The next PTA meeting is Wednesday 19th November at 15.30hrs. Please feel most welcome to come along. If you cannot make that meeting but would like to get involved, please email Jeannie Calavrias, PTA Chair, on jcalavrias@gmail.com and cc to Phil Bowen, Primary Principal, on primaryprincipal@islzambia.org In school, our IB Diploma Programme students in Years 12-13 have been completing and handing in their 4000 word extended essay, an independent research essay that is a great preparation for the type of task they will carry out at college and university. Over the next two months IBDP students will be sitting their final oral examinations in languages, completing all their internally and externally assessed coursework for various subjects and sitting their trial examinations. All of this is preparation for final IBDP examinations in May 2015. Although the school may close for 4 weeks, IBDP students will need to make good use of that time so that they can complete all their coursework to their best possible standard.

It is interesting to see how our IB2 students have developed in maturity over the last 15 months as they become absorbed by their IB Diploma Programme experience.

Many of them are now naturally taking on leadership roles in school through student council and in assemblies, for example. In the second semester these IB2 leaders will start to hand over the baton to the present IB1 students and we look forward to watching them grow not only academically but also in terms of leadership and service to the school and wider community.

ry

Prima

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Message from the Primary Principal: Mr. Bowen

Our PYP Co-ordinator, Mrs Nair, and teachers have been extremely busy over the past year, behind the teaching scene, in preparing documentation for our Five Year Primary Year Programme Review. Every five years, the International Baccalaureate (our authorizing body) sends a visiting team to look at our programme. Before they visit, we as a Primary School submit an in-depth self-study report on our performance. Everyone has input into this report including students, parents, governors and of course teachers and administration. Our report will be sent off to the IB on the first day of December, so as I write Mrs Nair is putting the finishing touches to a report that represents a comprehensive team effort. An excellent job done by everyone involved. Thank you.

A while ago, I attended a workshop about the importance of feedback to students. In fact the workshop leader, a lady called Bambi Betts, went on to say that feedback to students on their performance was the single most important action we can take as a teacher/ parent in order for effective learning to take place. Furthermore, for feedback to be effective it needs to be immediate. We have considered this several times in our staff development time but I still think we can do more. As we approach the first set of written reports for the year, I wonder how many of us as parents (and I include myself here!) sit down with our children and go through the report with them to try and understand how our children are meant to improve their performance. Maybe this is a role that the class teacher could take up. Perhaps the teacher could read through the report with your child and help him/her understand what it means and what are the teacher expectations. I would be very interested to hear parent and student views on this issue. As I say, I think we can do more.

Finally, the hot season plods on and the promise of rain to cool us down is still just that, a promise. The children have been incredibly tolerant and have just carried on regardless of the heat. Please continue to make sure that your child comes to school with plenty of water/juice and a sun hat.

From the Early Years Coordinator: Mrs Karen Hedstrom As usual we have been busy down our end of the school. On World Hand Washing Day we had a visit from Captain Dettol and Germy Jane, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. They were shown the correct way to wash their hands and were all given a bar of soap.

We had our UN Zambia day celebration and it was wonderful seeing all the children in their beautiful national dress.

We are always grateful for any parents who come in and share their knowledge with our students. In Year One they have been learning about unique features of different countries. They had a VIP representation of Zambian mums to share more information on Zambia. They learnt about the uses of chitenges and the children all got a chance to wear a chitenge. Thank you mums.

An important date to mark on your calendar is the 10th December for our Primary Production.

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Message from the PYP Coordinator: Mrs Sunita Nair A big thank you to all the parents who attended our very first workshop for this year on Visible Thinking Routines!!! I am sure parents who attended would agree that the turnout was impressive. Everyone went home with a thinking routine they could use with their children.

We used the 3,2,1,Bridge routine. Parents had to come up with 3 words related to thinking, 2 questions and I metaphor or simile on Thinking- Some words they came up with were“Daydreaming”, “Creativity”, “Solutions”, “Goal”, “Time”,” Concentration”, “Silence”, “Ideas”, “Memories”, “Reflecting”, “Planning”, “Reasoning”, “Focus” and so much more----.

Some questions raised were: How do your thoughts affect you? How do you think creatively?

What do you think about? To what extent do our past experiences affect our thinking? Does our diet affect our ability to think well?

Examples of similes and metaphors on Thinking form Parents- Thinking is living! Thinking is like making your mind exercise! Thinking is like profit margin/market research/sourcing! Thinking is the attitude of the person! Thinking is like building webs between what we already know! Thinking is evolutionary!!

In the SEE, THINK and WONDER routine they looked at a plate of food and discussed what they saw, what they thought about and what they wondered!!

Some wonderings on seeing a bowl of spaghetti with mince: “I wonder how long a string we could make if we laid out every strand of spaghetti in the bowl end to end”. “Could it wrap around the house?” “I wonder if we could make spaghetti in space?” “ I wonder if people would eat it if it was green in colour?‟‟ We also explored the CHALK TALK routine -where you can have open ended questions that children can respond to and discuss- eg - Where can we go for our next holiday? EXPLANA TION GAME routine -where you explain how you arrived at a solution and STEP IN routine - where they had to become a character in a story, were also shared at the workshop.

The PYP Five Year Review is now coming to a conclusion with the Primary staff having studied and questioned our PYP programme and considered solutions which can be worked on in the next five years. This will be submitted to the IBO before December 1st 2014 and we expect them at school in March 2015.

UPPER PRIMARY: Mrs. Grace Kambeu We hope you had a fantastic break and enjoyed the Independence festivities.

In Upper Primary, there have been a lot of activities and it is remarkable to see how children take action in their learning.

Year 6 at work!

Year 6 students invited Mrs Sharmaine Mwenda, to give a talk on plants. The students learnt a lot and couldn‟t wait to start their own garden as part of their inquiry on plant cycle. They measured the beds and were able to find the area and perimeter of the whole garden. They have planted the seeds and are now busy watering and observing the process of germination.

Year 4 in Motion

On Thursday, 30th October we had a bicycle day. We had to bring our bikes to school. When I arrived at school everybody in Year 4.1 and Year 4.2 had bicycles. Only a few of us didn‟t have them. We had to share. I didn‟t have one so my friend, Shaina allowed me to use her bike. Mrs McNulty and Mrs Tembo took us around the Sports field. My favourite activity was the Obstacle Course.

Rea Wikiera Year 4.1 Finally total house points: In third place Zambezi with 361 points, second place Luangwa with 380 and in first place Kafue with 381 points!!!!

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PRIMARY PRODUCTION: The Magic Story Book It is that time of the year again when our learners look forward to showing off their acting talents! On Wednesday 10 th December, Primary will present a great play based on celebrations around the world.

Synopsis It`s a dark stormy night as Grandpa (Ambuya) and Grandma are about to relax for the night when a frantic knock comes at the door.

They open it. Suddenly a couple of street children stream in.

Feeling sorry for them, the elderly couple decide to prepare a meal for them. As Grandma prepares the meal, the children ask for a story from Grandpa. Suddenly the children`s attention is directed towards a small Christmas tree. They also discover an old but magnificent book: The Magic Story Book.

Grandpa tells stories from The Magic Story Book in style. There is a story about Christmas, Eid ul-Fitr, Bhuddhism, Hanukkah and Diwali.

As Grandpa tells the various stories, they are enacted either by song, mime with narration or dance and narration.

Rehearsals are well underway and we are appealing for your support during this time as we expect all children to attend.

Tickets will soon be made available. We hope to see you all on the night!

EARLY YEARS CELEBRATE GRAND PARENTS DAY

THANK YOU NANNA AND NANNI AND WE LOVE YOU

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Secondary From the Secondary Principal: Mr. Mwanza The first semester has ended and we are older and wiser. Let me take this opportunity to thank and congratulate our students on a semester of endeavour and achievement both in and outside the classroom.

We are all looking forward to a refreshing December break.

For the Y11 and IB2 students, the forthcoming holiday should be taken up with planned revision programme in preparation for the Trial examinations from the 19th to 30th January, 2015. A consistent and methodical programme containing revision and relaxation is far better than last minute cramming. My admiration, respect and gratitude continue to be extended to the faculty at ISL who have worked tirelessly throughout this semester to make it such an enjoyable education experience for our students.

The semester one and any future reports will no longer be printed for you as a hard copy. You will now access school reports electronically through Edadmin Parent Portal. Programme Coordinators will be very pleased to help you should you experience any problems accessing your child‟s report.

As a reminder, do not miss the secondary school drama production on Friday 28 th and Saturday 29th November, 2014. This exciting play is titled: “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

Finally I offer everyone in the ISL family my sincere best wishes for an enjoyable and relaxing holiday wherever you will be in the world and wish you also a New Year filled with opportunity and prosperity. School reopens on Monday 12th of January, 2015.

From Junior Secondary School : Mrs.Dodd To use or not to use?

Last week a very concerned parent came to see me about how to limit her child‟s use of video/ computer games.

We live in a society where no one can avoid technology - It is part of our everyday lives so banishing it is not an option. Children today need to have a balanced amount of outdoors/interaction play and technological play. As well, let‟s not forget that the risk of inappropriate content requires that adults be involved in their children‟s consumption of media. I am certainly not an expert but as a parent and an educator these are a few tips I could advise:

Balance their play times.

All children need a balanced “Play Diet” that consists of Physical Play, Social Play, Creative Play, Unstructured Play, and Digital Play. Give strict times during which your child can be on the digital media according to their age and needs.

Use technology with your child.

If you spend time digitally playing with your child, you will bond and you will also be able to limit the risks of inappropriate content. This way your child will not only see you as the authority who limits technology use.

Prefer educational games/sites/apps.

If the content is clearly educational, and your child is learning, don‟t be overly concerned about screen time. Even a game ike Angry Birds has value, even if it isn‟t immediately evident. However there are some games to be very wary of such as: “The Last of Us” or „Gears of War”

To have more ideas about dangerous games you can read this article: http://www.kidspot.com.au/30-videogames-you-dont-want-your-kids-to-play/

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From the IGCSE coordinator: Mr R Van de Velde

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The month of October was packed with a great Y10 trip to Wildtracks near Lower Zambezi N.P., a very informative Y11 assembly, a well-attended Y11 Parent Teachers Consultation and a seemingly long and much needed Half-Term Holiday.

Trips are now over for the rest of the school year in this section.

For year 11, the first Trial practical exams are coming up, starting on 21 November for ESL, then Music and ICT the week after. Art will have 2 full days in early December.

Year 10 will have 2 weeks of tests from 10-21 November during normal class time instead of end of semester 1 exams.

I would like to remind all Y11/IB parents and students to attend the College/University Fair on Thursday 6 th November between 9.3011.30 in the MPC.

IB Corner! From Mr. Hearsum The IB2 Extended Essays are in the process of being handed in ready for sending off to examiners around the world. The IB1 students will begin their Extended Essay journey in the next few weeks. „The extended essay is an in-depth study of a focused topic chosen from the list of approved Diploma Programme subjects—normally one of the student‟s six chosen subjects for the IB diploma. It is intended to promote high-level research and writing skills, intellectual discovery and creativity. It provides students with an opportunity to engage in personal research in a topic of their own choice, under the guidance of a supervisor (a teacher in the school). This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing, in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject chosen.‟ Extract taken from the IB Extended Essay Guide 2013 The Extended Essay is one of many areas that distinguish the IB Diploma from A-levels. University administrators regularly cite the Extended Essay as being one of the reasons why the IB Diploma is the best pre-university qualification on offer. It familiarises students with the independent research and writing skills expected at university.

Parents of prospective IB students should contact me at ibcoordinator@islzambia.org if they would like to arrange an appointment to discuss the programme.

GOOGLE APPS TRAINING : By Mr. Ezekiel Miti On 7th and 8th November there was a two day workshop on Google Apps held at ISL in the Primary IT Lab. The purpose of this workshop was to train teachers and technicians in using Google Apps. The first day was for teachers and the second day was for technicians and network managers.

The workshops were for teachers and technical staff from schools who wanted to find out more about using Google Apps for Education but also for those who already use Google Apps and wanted to learn more about a particular Google feature, such as the new Google Classroom and Google Calendar.

Schools were allowed to send a maximum of two teachers and two technicians only.

A total of 20 schools registered and on Friday, 28 teachers attended the session while 6 technicians attended the Saturday session.

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Secondary Drama Production : Join students from Year 7 to Year 11, as they perform Joseph Kesselring’s COMEDY : Arsenic & Old Lace

Come into the home of Abby and Martha Brewster, two sweet, gentle old ladies who offer their guests homemade, delicious elderberry wine… with just a touch of poison in it!

Meet their nephews : Mortimer, a theatre critic who hates his job; Teddy, who believes he is the President of the United States; Jonathan, a gangster serial killer who needs to hide the body of his latest victim…

Witness the mayhem that occurs when there isn‟t enough room in the cellar for all the bodies!

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IB DUKE OF EDINBURGH EXPEDITION TO NDUBALUBA Last week Tuesday, the IB1s came back from the Ndubaluba Outdoor Center in Mkushi, after completing our Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Level Practice Expedition. The Duke of Edinburgh Award, also known as the International Youth Award, is an honor program hosted by over one hundred countries all over the world. There are four sections to the award, one of them being an expedition or adventurous journey in an unknown landscape.

Prior to the trip, there were many mixed feelings towards the hike, ranging from eager anticipation to gut wrenching anxiety. On Saturday the 8th of November, we hopped into the bus and after a six hour drive, we arrived at Ndubaluba Outdoor Center. We ate a light lunch and went to our two different training sessions: Route Planning and First Aid Training. Before we came to camp, we formed three teams of seven. Two members of each team volunteered to plan the routes that their team would follow. The rest of the members had to learn what to do in the event of a medical emergency. Following training, we ate supper and went to sleep in the comfort of the dormitories before our demanding hike.

The following day, we started off on our expedition with our rucksacks, tents, maps, and compasses. The walk to the campsite was long (roughly 13 kilometers) and not without its trials. Sore feet and bodies, hot weather, heavy rucksacks, getting lost‌ Once we had finished walking for a few hours, we set up camp on a hill overlooking the surrounding area. At dinner, there was a cooking competition between the teams and judged by the guides, which was won by the Custards (their team name.) Later, we tucked ourselves into our sleeping bags to rest up and prepare for another long day of walking.

The second day of hiking was easier or harder than the first day, depending on who you were. When the tents were taken down and the bags were all packed, we walked down the hill we had been camping on, only to walk up another hill, all the way down and back to Ndubaluba. All of the teams showed amazing strength of character and managed to stick together as groups. Another 13 kilometers of walking (and loud off key singing) and we were back at camp. Some of us played around outdoors while others crawled into their beds. Then we had supper and gave out awards to the teams.

Ndubaluba was a fun and thoughtful experience, which challenged each and every person to test their inner limits. Next year we have our actual hike on which we go without instructors.

Good luck to everyone!

By Towela Munthali, Mariam Dudhia and Kennie Onwuka, IB1

CONTACT US

http://www.cois.org/

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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/

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http://www.neasc.org/