Volume 2 13/07/2020
Newsletter of International School Suva
Principal’s Report
Inside this issue:
Welcome, parents and students to the start of Term 3 at ISS! We are eager to re-open our classrooms and to see most of Reception Article our students face-to-face. The past few months of Covid pandemic have been a part of history we will all remember. I hope the coming months will be the time when we leave Covid far behind, but we will have to wait to see about that. We Year 2 Article do know that we will be doing all we can to make school a rich and beneficial experience no matter what challenges we Year 3 Viking Creations have.
The effect of spills on the
We are all aware that there is a global “new normal” and we are prepared to move into that new way of being at school. marine life Basically, we will be having school with more social distance, more sanitation, and with staying home when we should. Those are not easy when we are so fond of being with friends and playing hard. I think with time we will probably Online or Homeschool (Year 5) abandon hand shakes, hugs, and kisses on the cheek. We will all have to learn how to get used to feeling okay about the new way of doing things, and we will know we are better prepared for infectious diseases like Covid. Year 5 Article
Of course, we are fortunate that we are in Fiji instead of in some less-safe parts of the world. We do not think our risk is Pets Should be allowed at school ( Year 5 ) high, but that does not mean we can let down our guard. The truth is that our hand-washing, sanitizing, disinfecting, and keeping social distance will help protect us from numerous health issues such as the common cold and seasonal flu. Online Learning Maybe it is the perfect time to embrace these basic infection control measures for many good reasons!
Year 8s ODL
Model United Nations Conference
One thing we are very happy about is that our students have not lost a term of learning. We believe that all our students who participated fully in online learning will be entirely on track with our curriculum. In fact, it seems that the challenge MYP Corner of figuring out how to continue our education has taught us all some adaptability, resilience, and flexibility, all highly Middle School Humanities valued 20th century skills. As we begin our second semester, we will be focusing more than ever on our students and their learning. At the outset, at least, we will not have excursions, assemblies, or large events as per government guidelines. I think we will try to have Year 10 Personal Projects more classroom hands-on activities and celebrations to make up for that. Parents will also have less school access for the same government guidelines. However, we will encourage parents to make appointments to stop by for needed The Tide conversations and purposes. Please be patient as we comply with requirements to carefully document all visitors to the Living through a Pandemic school. Finally, I want to affirm that ISS is a student-centered institution; we only exist to help student succeed in life! That is our mission and purpose! And it is an honour to be entrusted with your children for the time they are at school. We will do our utmost to prepare them for the many opportunities and challenges life will bring to them. With that in mind, let us think of Covid as just one practice lesson in problem solving, collaborating with others, taking necessary strategic steps, and overcoming life’s obstacles! Best wishes!
Term Dates
Reception is learning to use “Describing Words” During our Term 2 distance learning program, Reception inquired into expressing their imagination and story-telling through the unit “How We Express Ourselves”. Reception students learnt about how to use describing words in their stories as a way to add details to their stories and illustrations and to make their stories sound more interesting. Students first learnt about “observations” and how to observe closely so we can describe the object or character better. Students were given the task to find items in the natural environment around them and illustrating the item using as many details as they can by using their observation skills. Students then added describing words as labels or wrote a sentence describing the item they found. This activity later helped the students naturally add “sparkle” to their stories and helped them improve the quality of their story-telling skills by adding more descriptive words.
For the last 10 weeks the Year 2 students have been learning about marine ecosystems as part of their “Sharing the Planet� Unit of Inquiry. They learned about how different marine ecosystems function and the negative impacts on them. In honour of World Ocean Day on Monday 8th June, the start of week 9 the students were challenged to
In week 8 they planned their action and in week 9 they took it! Their individual action ventures ranged from: Beach clean ups Writing letters to Presidents and councils Educating through videos and information boards and leaflets Bake sales & fun runs to raise money for ocean projects Building models for future recycling projects Challenge & competitions for family and friends ‌.. to name a few! The teachers of Year 2 are so proud and inspired with their ideas and efforts. Amazing!
3H have had lots of fun learning from home this term. During our Unit of Inquiry, Exploration and Discoveries, we have been learning about Vikings. In week 7 students had fun making Viking shields and Viking Longships. Here are some of their wonderful creations. :)
Isaac Davies 3H
Alexander Denzler 3H
Charlotte Rose 3H
Zara Ludher 3H Kabir Mirbahar 3H
Siyona Dasi 3H
Noah Simpson 3H
The effect of spills on the marine life
Do you ever wonder how oil is mined from under the sea and the dangers? Well today I’m going to tell you about those dangers and two major oil spills that have caused significant damage to our oceans. One of the most damaging oil spills was off the Gulf of Mexico where an oil rig exploded sending millions of gallons of oil over 1,000 miles of coastline. This caused health issues for both the shore residents and marine life, killing or harming at least 82,000 seabirds from 102 species and killing at least 6,165 sea turtles. At least they didn’t get away with it, they got punished and had to pay billions of dollars for harming the sea life and ruining the coastline. In 1979 two oil tankers collided in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Tobago which at the time was experiencing a tropical storm. When the accident happened the two supertankers cargo started to leak and the ships caught on fire and burned down. According to reports this turned into the biggest oil leak in the world spilling 88.3 million gallons into the sea, and if that isn’t tragic enough the accident took the lives of 26 crew members. I hope that those stories helped open your eyes to this problem and thank you for reading Where I got my information: https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/energy/
dirty_energy_development/oil_and_gas/gulf_oil_spill/a_deadly_toll.html
https://www.tripadvisor.com/FAQ_Answers-g34410-d284349-t155643-
Is_it_safe_to_swim_in_the_ocean_or_are_there.html
https://sciencing.com/effects-oil-drilling-ocean-16160.html https://www.marineinsight.com/environment/11-major-oil-spills-of-the-maritime-world/
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Do you want this to be everywhere?
By: Anahira Denzler
Is online or homeschool an effective way to learn? By: Indiana Jezewski Did you know that online learning is really bad for kids developing social skills? In my opinion homeschooling is not very good and is bad for kids' growth. Homeschooling is not very good because young kids from ECH to year 1 get so distracted. If they are in a Zoom call you cannot leave their side or they will just walk away. I have had this experience with my sister Zara who is in reception class. It also creates a screen addiction for the younger primary children. It’s just not natural to spend so much time on the Ipad. For me being in year 5, I find that I’m getting lots of headaches because I’m looking at my laptop for so long. I also get quite lonely as I don’t get to see any of my friends. Children who are homeschooled are home schooled by choice by their parents. They have a structured homeschooling program and it is done by choice. For me I prefer to attend a school to interact with other children and to have a help me.
teacher to
For me homeschooling is not an effective way to learn.
Why there should be no homework By Makakoloa Year 5H Have you ever seen your child freak out because their homework was due tomorrow and they were nowhere near finishing it? If you have seen them doing that it's probably because they were too busy hanging out with their family (brothers or sisters or cousins too) at home since they don’t have anything else to do unlike playing games and stuff you know. They could have been reading a very interesting book they found hidden somewhere in their room. Or they could’ve been doing some jobs or chores for their family which is why they don’t get to do a lot of homework much. Some kids do actually get their homework done on time but they are usually very tired and exhausted because they have tried so hard just to get it done. That's why a lot of children are really tired after finishing or doing their homework. It's usually really late when people finish all of their homework which is why they don’t get to spend much time with their family or their family members. Children also have not been getting much exercise because of homework since they have to work on it all day. That’s another reason why kids have been getting lazier over time. So when they become teenagers they become super lazy which is not a good thing. It could be bad for health and you can get sick more often than you usually would as a younger child since you had not as much homework as you have in middle school. Some teachers actually don’t like giving their students homework a lot since it's basically giving them extra work even after they worked so hard just to get the day done. So they feel kind a bad but they have to since that's what schools do these days to make sure students get educated in the best way possible. Even though it will mean taking away some of the students' free time since they have to do homework in that long period. Even if there is social distance learning we still get homework which is pretty sad for us too. In conclusion I think that there should be no homework since it puts a lot of stress on the students and takes away a lot of their free time and the time that they get to spend time with their family too. Some people might think otherwise but I personally think homework should be banned. If not it could be banned for like one week every month or something maybe even 2 weeks would be even better but that’s all I have to conclude for now.
Pets Should be Allowed at School By: Denisha Khatri Pets are fun animals and people have lots of nice and cool times with them. Bonding with pets is like meeting a long lost friend. Some pets are cute and fluffy like kittens and puppies. I wonder how pets feel when they are left alone at home and their owners go to work or school. I wish pets were allowed at school. In this writing, I would discuss why pets should be allowed at school. Firstly, pets stimulate learning and can provide a number of new learning opportunities in a classroom. Children can learn about what different animals eat, where they come from, how big they grow and what it takes to properly take care of them, providing lessons in science, geography and math. Secondly, pets give kids motivation to learn. When kids take their pets to school with them, they want to play with them so they get their work done quickly. This way the school work is done and pets are also taken care of. Furthermore, when pets are brought to school, they do not feel lonely and scared. They love being taken care of and having company of their owners. The pets are happy and when kids see their pets happy, they feel happy and then they want to be in school. Pets should also be allowed in schools because they can help students with anxiety, or other problems and makes the school environment feel more welcome. They help people with anxiety and stress. Having dogs around would make the school feel like a safer environment. Even kids with no exposure to animals or nature in their home environment can see, feel, touch and make connections to the wide world of animals. Kids learn that all living things need more than just food and water for survival. This can encourage those students without pets to adopt pets. A lot of people argue that pets should not be allowed to school but I think that if they are allowed then teaching and learning would be much more fun. Students would be motivated and do better at school. I strongly believe that pets should be allowed at school.
Online Learning in the Primary School: At the beginning of the term teachers were busy sharing and developing IT skills and online platforms to be able to collaborate with colleagues and schedule online conferencing with students. Now as we come to the end of another term I must congratulate not only our teachers, and students but also our parents for their enthusiasm and ability to adapt quickly to the new mode of learning. Student feedback has been very positive about the flexible schedule promoting student agency where students organise their own schedule and manage both their time and their learning. It is indeed a shift in mind-set for some of us and our students however, the learning that has come out of it for everyone far outweighs the initial challenges and has been very rewarding for both staff and students. Teachers mainly developed choice boards and open-ended tasks which allowed students to access all learning opportunities. While staff have been working both on and off campus, they continue to apply social distancing while monitoring and moderating student’s work online. I am so proud of our staff and both Ms. Becki and I couldn’t have asked for a better team of teachers to work with. The high level of commitment and collaboration by the teachers to ensure the quality of our online programme is commendable. WASC Accreditation Visit: Although the accreditation visit took place towards the end of Term 1 this is the first publication of Talanoa since the visit and I thought it was still worthwhile to provide feedback. We should be receiving the full report sometime in or after July. The WASC accreditation visit took place from March 3rd-5th the visiting team was led by Val Staley who was accompanied by Ashley Ault and Carmen Peters. This was a very positive experience for us as a school. Some of the visiting team’s observations about the school are included below: Commitment of staff to providing students with support in academic, social and emotional growth. A governance structure and board operation that recognizes and practices the differing responsibilities and roles of the board and administration. The exemplary implementation of Enhanced PYP that illustrates collaboration among teachers, utilization of researched based instructional strategies and assessment practices. The supportive culture of ISS that nurtures and mentors staff members as they expand their skills and talents is reflected in the strong sense of community observed in the student population. ISS students that demonstrate their achievement of the student outcomes through their academic progress and commitment to their service projects. The ISS Support Staff are tireless in their commitment to ensuring that the learning environment at ISS is effective, healthy, secure and inviting. The ISS parent community’s support and time commitment to championing the programs and activities provided for students. I wish everyone a well-deserved break and I hope that we will be able to see everyone back at school in Term 3! By Rosi Uluiviti PYP/WASC Coordinator
YEAR 8s ODL Sudden goodbyes, confusion, stressors, balancing time, gadgets, missing friends, peers, teachers, distance, assessments, frustrations, loneliness, WIFI issues…all the many descriptions and expressions or feelings just to name a few that we have all gone through. It is their last year in Middle School and for many, the experience of Online Distance Learning has been challenging. As much as there have been struggling times; times filled with stress and frustrations, for some, it has also been a time with family. But missing friends is always a big loss. GOOGLE MEET sessions and hangout has been a tool that has brought teachers and students together or kept us together and like a student said, ‘gave us some sanity’. “If it was not for MEET sessions during this distance learning, we would be lost and probably quite sad.” ADVISORY sessions has been one of the most looked-forward too sessions of the day – 3:45pm, time to check-in for sharing, laughs, latest news and updates from school and the community and what is happening with everyone! “It is a time where we can get to talk about everything and anything…if the teacher lets us!” We have had themed dress-up sessions from Disney characters/princesses to Pacific style, impromptu quizzes and out and about venues. Love is not lost even with distance online, because we can still joke, laugh and try to be serious with peers in other countries too. ODL is all about pacing oneself and managing time and chores around the house and most importantly having enough DATA to be able to keep in check with everyone else.
MYP Corner Dear ISS Community, I am very pleased to bring you the news that ISS has successfully completed the ‘Consultation Phase’ of the authorisation process. The consultation phase consisted of a year of MYP implementation under the guidance of an IB consultant culminating in a visit and the completion of an online application and myriad of supporting documentation.The final step in the process will be a full visit in the next 6 months.This would usually take the form of a 2 person visiting team from the IB. However, given the current travel restrictions, this may also take a virtual form. We should know more in the coming weeks. I have been extremely proud of the way students and teachers have adapted to the change to online teaching.There has been so much compassion, hard work,dedication and creativity involved in enabling students to find success in the MYP during these unusual circumstances. When I think of the IB Learner Profile, I can genuinely report that I see examples every day from both students and teachers.
I have also been hugely impressed with some of the excellent teaching and learning that has taken place over the past term. I wanted to share with you an example of some art work from Yue in Year 7. What isn’t shown but equally impressive was her written artistic response to the assignment. There have been similar successes across all the MYP subject groups.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents and the whole ISS community for the support shown during this past term. I wish you all a pleasant break and look forward to returning to face to face teaching very soon. Kind Regards, Luke Ramsdale
Middle School Humanities In Integrated Humanities this term we have been investigating the consequences of exploration and using the deep-sea as our case study. Students were asked to pretend that they worked for NOAA's National Ocean Service as an oceanographer specialising in the Pacific. They held an online discussion to debate the consequences of exploring the deep-sea. Kael Damlamian - an extract Did you know that we know more about the surface of Mars and the Moon than the Earth? More than 70 per cent of our planet is covered by oceans and over 80 per cent of that ocean floor remains undiscovered, uncharted, and unmapped. On the other hand, 100 per cent of the surface of Mars and the Moon has been mapped. Exploration of the ocean has led to significant scientific discoveries that have been proven to enhance medical research, maritime safety, as well as disaster preparedness and response. For example, through deep-sea exploration, scientists have found prokaryotes (bacteria) that can potentially cure cancer. Ocean exploration has also led to the discovery of large amounts of resources such as minerals, oil, and gas which if harvested would represent a large economical value that could support sustainable development. However, with our contemporary state of knowledge, the current deep-sea mining operations have the potential to seriously affect the marine eco-systems. “Given the immense uncertainty, deep-sea mining in Pacific Island countries should be approached with the highest degree of caution and transparency,” said Tijen Arin, Senior Environmental Economist. As stated by Mr. Arin, our current scientific knowledge does not allow us to predict the impact deep-sea mining could have on our environment. Some Pacific Island countries such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu have already granted permits for deep-sea mining exploration. Papua New Guinea has even given a license to a company to undertake deep-sea mining operations. This is worrying because Pacific Island countries represent more than 20% of the ocean owned by countries. As such, Pacific island countries have a big responsibility in regard to preserving the ocean. LET’S SAVE THE OCEAN!!! Once assessments were complete students in Year 6 and Year 7 were given the opportunity to create their own time capsules. We are living through an unprecedented moment in history right now. This time will be captured in history books. Someday, we will share stories with our children and grandchildren about living through this time. Because these days are historical, it is critical that we not let these events pass without capturing how they affect us, our family and community. Students were given a choice board with different ways to capture how they are feeling and the overall effect that social distancing is having on their life as a Middle School student. Coronavirus ruined so many good things that were going to happen this year. Firstly, we had to do online learning for 11 weeks! at home. Honestly, I thought it was going to be awesome because we can eat whenever we want and sleep in, but no, it was not fun. By week 2, I was over it. I could rarely see my friends and when I could, it was over a screen and that just didn’t feel right. Secondly, basketball was cancelled! It sucks, by week 8 of term 1, we weren't allowed to play team sports, so no training, no games and no playing basketball at lunchtime. Spending 24 hours a day at home, times however many days, you would expect to get BORED! Just before Suva went into lockdown, we visited our family in Pacific Harbour, during the time we stayed there, my family and I were introduced to a NETFLIX show, by our cousins. The show was called Kim’s Convenience. I loved it because it was so funny and each character had their own personality that just made it so different to any other show. I think it is 13+, but I am not too sure. When my family returned home we had watched all 4 seasons of it in about 3 weeks! - Haleh
Continued…. I was really excited when we were going to be able to wear no shoes, have nail polish on and basically eat whenever. But now that we’ve spent almost 3 months not going outside other than family lunches or shopping, I feel heartbroken, or in other words like Rapunzel in a tower. The COVID-19 has really disrupted everything from taking place, but who I really feel sorry for are the kids who don’t get the ability to have online learning, or don’t even get sheets to work on. What I also feel sorry for are the adults that have been fired or turned down from their jobs. I was also looking forward to being able to go on holiday with my family to the Cook Islands or even just going to a beach and playing in the water, which I can do now, now that the COVID rate for Fiji has gone down. But even now, I barely get to see my friends faces on my screen, or get alone time with them. I miss them so much. - Emelia
This is a Google Meet session for Integrated Humanities Middle School Pastoral Program Each morning in Middle School students log into Seesaw and watch a video from Ms Fox and complete a daily activity. These activities aimed to support students to develop resilience and self-management, and support them to transition to online learning during this challenging time. As part of Wellness Wednesday, students watch a video called The Great Realisation: Hindsight 2020. Students were asked: What new habit, routine or tradition do you want to keep when you and your family are out of isolation? A tradition I'd like to keep for my family is exercise. Since the holidays till lockdown, my family have been jogging and exercising and keeping fit. I don't want our family to go downhill with this tradition 'cause it has helped us stay active, gain muscle and interact. My family has been doing alright with isolating itself, we still keep in touch with our extended family and always remember to to have a chat, I want my family to keep the tradition of exercise, and to stay active. - Emelia Year 6 The one thing I have done more of is cooking and baking which I want to keep doing regularly when this crisis is over. - Anonymous Year 6 Something I want to keep after isolation is that we do things together more. Like eating on the table together, talking to each other and helping each other with things like school or fixing broken stuff around the house - Anonymous Year 6 A routine that I want to keep is eating brunch every Sunday and having dinner together every day - Anonymous Year 6 One habit that I wish that my family would keep doing would be playing more board games and spending more time as a family - Cora Year 7 For me, I would say to go on daily walks in our community, we actually started doing that a lot more often then we used to - Anonymous Year 7 The habit of me cooking dinner for the family, this is because I like cooking dinner and it helps relieve some of the stress - Anonymous Year 7 Due to isolation, my family has been able to gather almost every Friday night to watch a movie together or go out for dinner. This is one thing I would like to keep after quarantine - Faith Year 8 I want to keep the growing and baking of our own foods - Anonymous Year 8 A new tradition that we have developed is that after every day we sit down to spend time together. We may talk, or play a board game or just do something together, and I really enjoy that, so I would like to keep doing that even after isolation - Milla Year 8 Since 2019, once a week during pastoral, students break into small groups and work with their advisory teacher. Every teacher in Middle School is an advisory teacher and assigned to support and connect with a small group of students and together develop the IB Approach to Learning needed to succeed at school. When ISS moved to a distance learning mode we used this model to support students navigating the online learning environment. Students met in small groups with their advisory teacher each afternoon and created a community which provides an additional layer of support for students. Advisory sessions were a place where students discussed issues they faced.
ISS MUN 2020 On Monday and Tuesday 16th and 17th March ISS held its annual Model United Nations- which now feels like years ago considering everything Covid- related that has happened in the world and Fiji over the last month. It is also very important to note that it was the first time in many years that MUN has proceeded without the excellent stewardship of Mrs Milika Waqainabete, and she was missed greatly. Nonetheless, our ISS MUN 2020 was an enormous success and all our participants, from ISS and other schools, thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We had 6 schools joining us this year; St Joseph's Secondary School, Adi Cakobau School, Yat Sen Secondary College, Marist Brothers High School, International School Nadi, and first timers Natabua High School from Lautoka. From ISS we had over 70 students participate, as leaders and delegates, part of the press team, or as council rapporteurs. Our MUN student leadership team this year was exemplary, with Talisa Cumberbatch (Secretary General) and Lahaiba Saud ( Deputy Secretary General) both providing excellent and experienced guidance, and who worked incredibly hard to ensure the success of our MUN. The ISS committee Chairs also contributed greatly to the success of the conference, led by Jade Cave ( General Assembly) Ashleigh Singh (ECOSOC) Kashish Daswaney ( Human Rights) and Shafneen Rahman (Security Council). The calibre of topics, research and debate from all the delegates was superb, and there is no doubt the MUN experience has helped to develop many skills in our participants, including those of collaboration, communication and research. As noted by the Guest Speaker Mr Ernest Gibson (ISS alumni 2015, and ex ISS MUN Secretary General), many of the MUN participants will no doubt be our leaders of the future. A huge thank you must also go to all those in the ISS community who worked hard to ensure the success of our ISS MUN 2020. These include the maintenance team, Dennis, Carlos and Tanya for the trophies, Tima and her housekeeping team, Vikashni and the Canteen staff, Shaheena for the marketing, the business office, and Doreez and Va in administration. Vinaka Vakalevu to all of you, and we look forward to working together next year to make the ISS MUN 2021 just as successful.
Year 10 Personal Project By Shafneen Rahman With contributions from Kashish Daswaney The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme, IB-MYP, encourages students to make connections between the skills learnt in their studies and success in the real world. It emphasises the importance of passion and drive- a concept perfectly showcased through the Personal Project. Through assessing the integral Approaches to Learning skills (ATLs) and learner profiles, the personal project prepares students in becoming mindful global citizens in their respective fields of interest. This term, the Year 10 students took to thoroughly working towards developing each unique product and inspired outcome of their personal projects; below are a few examples of projects that are underway demonstrating the diversity and creativity of students in ISS. In December of 2019, a novel coronavirus was identified in the Hubei Province of mainland China- said the virus was declared a pandemic by the UN World Health Organisation mid-March. The world, as we know it now, is a mess of forced adaptations and security measures, prompting complete isolation from the external world: friends and even family. Many of these personal projects comprise collaborative work in the taking action stages, and now have the added challenge of working around the COVID-19 crisis. Music albums tell the unique story of the musician or band at any specific moment of time. Whether it be the cover art or the lyrics of a song, the vulnerability and the genuine and raw feelings within an album is what makes them special. Dewan Mohan, a music student and part of the band in production, is hard at work writing, drawing and recording songs for his very own album, Nervous. This album includes 6 originals and 1 cover song following the theme of self-perseverance, strength and isolated experiences. As per Dewan, in the album a character experiences a fully personal event which causes them to act differently- experiencing hallucinations and dream-reality confusion - around others. The concern that others show is misinterpreted by the character thus making them anxious, depressed and nervous. Due to COVID restrictions, recording the songs have proven to be a challenge for Dewan as his plans of collaboration for the mixing of songs were to be done with Baylian Saberi. However, through exploring complex ideologies such as personality disorders, manic depression, societal acceptance, equanimity and fortitude, he has given himself complete artistic and creative freedom; also adding an indubitable depth of meaning and relatability aspect to his album.
Our world is unquestionably digital. New technologies continue to advance rapidly making the planet we live in nearly unrecognisable. Arguably, everything in businesses, the entertainment industry and many other sectors in the industry have gone digital as such have made it crucial to learn the fundamentals of the digital world. Fiona Laygo is working towards her goal of majoring in software engineering through creating and publishing her own 2D hypercasual mobile app for her personal project. She has designed her app store layout, worked through the content ratings and plans on earning $75 in revenue from in-app purchases and video ads. Finding appropriate and reliable resources such as tutorials to follow and proper algorithms has been one of the major challenges she has faced thus far. However, she has continued to work hard and dedicatedly to publish her first ever fully coded game. Greta Thunberg said, “Change is coming whether you like it or not”. Jade Cave’s personal project is actively making that change with ‘Ocean Location’, a youth empowering activism programme to make a lasting impact on the oceans and reduce climate change. From collaborative service opportunities in the form of hosted rallies and marches to informative resource banks and multimedia presence, Jade is using a website, blog and social media platform to spread awareness. Moving to South Africa towards the beginning of term 2 and having to organise schedules between the time zones for her distance learning curriculum, Jade’s journey to success was full of challenges. Though it’s been difficult to balance all factors of the COVID-19 impact, the motivation and focus on the passion behind the project remains strong and inspirational. Jade said that this personal project has helped her grow and develop as a learner and an activist. It has been an empowering experience which has helped her see the work done in school and in the community in a new light.
The Tide. A student-created publication for students. ISS Journalism Club 2020 What happens when seven driven students, from middle school to Year 12, lock themselves in the LS room for an hour every Thursday, add in plenty of late nights and hard work, and finish it all off with collaboration, creativity and determination? They do something amazing, that’s what happens. This is the story of The Tide, International School Suva’s first-ever student-led and produced publication. The Tide is a magazine newsletter that covers everything from politics to school news to movie reviews. The team behind it pride ourselves in interesting and engaging reporting, we pride ourselves in telling the kinds of stories that engage, inspire, empower and shine alight on the good in our school and community. Everything about The Tide is student-driven, at heart we are a ‘by students for students’ initiative, and so everything is done almost completely by students (with help and support from our editor and teacher mentor Mr Walker). From the story pitches yelled out at fast-paced meetings, to the final edits and proofreads late into the night, right down to obsessing over margin size and font style in our small but forceful layout team - The Tide is truly a labour of love. The Tide is for us, for students. For voices that we don’t get to hear anywhere else, stories that no one else is telling. Parents and teachers are welcome to read as well and gain some insight into some of the most exciting and interesting sides to our school community. Before anything else, our purpose is to give the students in ISS a voice, you’re welcome to listen. The Tide is released at the end of every semester, check your email for ISSUE 2, released in JUNE 2020
Living through a pandemic and reaching out to our community Year 11 & 12 Our term of Distance Learning threw us all off our feet and consequently led us to rethink what Community And Service (CAS) would look like from the confines of our homes. Stretching our virtual world into many different directions we soon found ourselves jumping into this space in our attempt to influence others and to reach out to our community. Using Social Media as the platform to create awareness on a range of issues affecting society, our Year 11 and 12 students have created Facebook and Instagram pages to reach as many people as possible. These students are working under the guidance of a teacher who monitors from a distance the work that our students are posting every week on their social Media pages. Feel free to visit and “like” these pages!
A group of students are helping create awareness on the work that Nature Fiji is doing in our country https://www.instagram.com/naturefiji/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/NatureFijiMareqetiViti/
Kai Waitui: These students are working to inform our community on issues that our oceans and marine life are facing here in Fiji. During this strange time it is of utmost importance that we don’t forget about the stress that the environment is facing. Lets work towards being good stewards of the sea. https://www.facebook.com/kaiwaituifiji/ https://instagram.com/kai_waitui?igshid=d37q3l1cn8i6
The Hope Library: Giving books to the community is the main aim of this group and was initially targeted for the Fiji School of the blind. Through social media these audio books are now accessible for all children to access. https://www.instagram.com/thehopelibrary.fj https://www.facebook.com/The-Hope-Library-Fiji-106578031045218
Duatani Mana Everyone is beautiful https://instagram.com/duatani_mana?igshid=g7b6c3k05sum
Creating awareness on Metal Health and Wellness: https://www.instagram.com/__mentalhealthwellness__/?hl=en
Food for thought: raising awareness on environmental issues. https://www.instagram.com/foodforthought_iss/
Colorfullives: Changing lives one painting at a time. Using all forms of creative art to make a difference to the community and to encourage younger kids to learn the Arts. https://www.instagram.com/colorfullives.fj/ https://www.facebook.com/Colorfullivesfj-102501761154597
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL SUVA World Class Citizens ~ Lifelong Learners
TERM DATES 2020 TERM 1 (10 weeks, 48 student days) New Teachers Start Monday, 13 January 2020 All Teachers Start Thursday, 16 January 2020 Students Start Wednesday, 22 January 2020 Term Ends Friday, 27 March 2020 TERM 2 (10 weeks, 47 student days) Teachers Start Tuesday, 14 April 2020 Students Start Wednesday, 15 April 2020 ISS Vacation Day Monday, 25 May 2020 Term Ends Friday, 19 June 2020 TERM 3 (9 weeks, 42 student days) Teachers Start Monday, 13 July 2020 Students Start Wednesday, 15 July 2020 Constitution day Monday, 7 September 2020 Term Ends Friday, 11 September 2020 TERM 4 (10 weeks, 45 student days) Teachers Start Monday, 28 September 2020 Students Start Tuesday, 29 September 2020 Fiji Day Holiday Monday, 12 October 2020 Prophet Mohammed’s birthday Monday, 2 November 2020 Diwali Holiday Monday, 16 November 2020 Term Ends for Students Thursday, 3 December 2020 Term Ends for Teachers Friday, 4 December 2020 Student Contact Days Term 1 48 days Term 2 47 days Term 3 42 days Term 4 45 days Total 182 days International School Suva, Lot 59, Siga Road, Laucala Beach, P.O. Box 10828, Suva, Fiji Telephone: (679) 339 3300; Fax: (679) 334 0017; Email: info@iss.school.fj URL: www.iss.school.fj