ISH Newsletter, December 2017

Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

ISH NEWSLETTER

The latest news and updates from International School of Hellerup

PYP Festival of Lights

Welcome to the December edition of the ISH Newsletter, with the latest news, updates and stories from International School of Hellerup. There have been many events and happenings at school lately, and in this issue, you can read more about many of them. Don’t miss the photo highlights and video links from the PYP Festival of Lights on page 10, or the photos from the Spirit Week on page 14!

Also in this issue: Mr Asanovski brings up interesting facts about homework (page 2), Mr Gezen writes about an IB continuum and aligning the curriculum in PYP, MYP and DP (page 3), and Ms Keenoy expands on the importance of reading in your mother tongue and recommends a number of activity books (page 7).

This, and much more, in this month’s newsletter!

IN THIS ISSUE: News from the Head of School News from the Deputy Head ASCP News Message from the Student Support Services PTA News Library Corner Primary School News

Warm regards,

PYP Festival of Lights

Karolina MacAulay Newsletter Editor

Secondary School News Spirit Week

ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

News from the Head of School Mr Nedzat Asanovski Head of School

Homework Policy at ISH We are currently reviewing our homework policy and are therefore doing extensive research in this area. I have decided to share some of our findings here, and I will share the new policy once published.

The homework debate has gone in cycles (Cooper, Robinson, and Patall 2006) since the late 1800s when children in primary school rarely received homework and those in middle school typically received two to three hours’ worth of homework each night (Gill and Schlossman, 2004). Many parents have approached me with questions about the amount of homework assigned in our school. Some ask me why we are assigning so much homework and others ask me why we don’t assign more. This shows that a discussion is taking place in our school as well and that we are following the trend of debates.

Research in the area of homework is unfortunately very much controversial and suggests conflicting conclusions. According to Gill and Schlossman (1996) homework is an essential tool to raise educational standards and according to Alfie Kohn (2006) research has not come with a conclusive correlation between homework and achievement levels. Harris Cooper, psychology professor at Duke University, has done the most wide-ranging research with a 2006 meta-analysis. He has found evidence of a positive correlation between homework and achievement levels. This correlation is greater for older students (middle school and high school).

To back up this statement regarding the effectiveness of homework in the various year levels you can read the research done by Dufresne and Kobasigawa (1989) who studied homework time among students in grades one, three, five, and seven. The result of the study was that older students (the fifth- and seventh-graders) achieved better when homework was assigned. Cooper concludes in his meta-analysis that there was a

weaker relationship between homework and performance for younger students in primary school but recommends that a small amount of homework is beneficial for all students.

According to Cooper, homework improves study habits, time management, inquiry, problem-solving and student’s attitude towards learning. However, he also writes that homework can have an adverse effect if students are assigned too much of it. Negative effects can include emotional fatigue and a negative attitude towards learning: For primary students, too much homework may limit their leisure time to the extent that it becomes a challenge.

Cooper: “A good way to think about homework is the way you think about medications or dietary supplements,” he said. “If you take too little, they’ll have no effect. If you take too much, they can kill you. If you take the right amount, you’ll get better”. The question here is what the right amount is? A huge responsibility is placed on schools and teachers in regards to finding out what this amount is and I strongly encourage parents to contact teachers or our pedagogical leaders (IB Coordinators) if your child is struggling in this area so that you can have a dialogue and support your child better.

Does Homework Affect Student Learning?

Myth: Without excessive homework, students’ test scores will not be internationally competitive.

What researchers say: Information from international assessments shows little relationship between the amount of homework that students do and test scores.

Students in Japan and Finland, for example, are assigned less homework but get the best test results on tests (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development 2004). Other studies find a positive relationship in math, but not in reading (Fuchs et al. 2004).

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

News from the Deputy Head Mr Mustafa Gezen Deputy Head

ISH is an IB continuum school Throughout our lives we are challenged to make significant choices, such as marriage, having children, education for our children and country of residence. In educational institutions, you also make big decisions, such as what the vision, mission and values of the school should be and, more importantly, what should be taught and learned in the classrooms. For this purpose, there are education specialists in schools and in an IB World School such as ours, there are IB coordinators. At ISH we have three amazing IB coordinators, who are dedicated to continuously improving the teaching and learning at our school: Joanna Okolowicz, PYP coordinator, Anna Söderström, MYP coordinator and Evis Qeska, DP coordinator.

In order to make the teaching and learning at ISH aligned throughout all three IB programmes, the IB Coordinators, our Special Educational Needs Coordinator met to discuss and plan the process for this purpose. This meeting happened through a whole work day, where the team focused on how to further align all three programs in order to empower teaching and learning at ISH. Furthermore, we worked on a draft calendar plan towards 2020, which is when ISH is likely to have its evaluation visit by the IB organization.

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

ASCP Science Club

ASCP News Ms. Chiara Giani

ASCP Coordinator

ASCP days on December 21&22 The last day of school before the Winter Break is Wednesday, December 20th. Classes will end at 12:00 noon and the ASCP will be open until 5:00 pm, as usual. We offer ASCP free of charge (for our ASCP students only) on December 21st and 22nd from 8.30 am until 4.30 pm (there will be no Morning Club). Please fill in the following enrollment form if you wish to participate: https://goo.gl/forms/wgMziozh4uymOdy92.

Winter Break Care Program This year, ISH will offer a PYP care program during Winter Break from Tuesday, January 2nd until Friday, January 5th (8.30 am - 4.30 pm).

The cost of this care program is of 800 kr. Please sign up using this form: https://goo.gl/forms/ gN0GOByl5Qr2YdHN2.

ASCP Science Club Science club is now running every Wednesday with Mr Pune. Fun experiences are used to help the children explore the natural world and encourage them to start using some scientific vocabulary. So far, we have looked at chemical reactions in the making of slime and the production of gas in model volcanoes that the students constructed themselves. We have also investigated aerodynamics and what affects flight in paper airplanes.

Student Council Movie Club for ASCP A big thank you to the Student Council for organising the first activity for the ASCP Movie Club. Our little ones were excited to get to visit the DP lounge to talk about friendship and watch the movie Shrek. We are looking forward to more activities with our older ISH Students!

Change of ASCP staff After a few months of leave, Ms Bjørk has resigned from the position as ASCP Teacher. We will miss her very much and we wish her all the best in her future! Ms Gillian Almy will replace her. Congratulations to Ms Gillian!

The ASCP team wish you all a great winter break and a fantastic new year!

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

Message from the Student Support Services Ms Karoliina Bøg Hokka

Special Educational Needs Coordinator / SENCO

Voices of Learners

meeting the needs of the learner? Instead of labelling students with any issues they may have, we must start removing barriers and focusing on their potential and their strengths. As we learned in the PYP Assembly on the theme of “inclusion” last week, everyone has got talent.

According to research, the most significant factor influencing learning results is the time consumed within the topic or skill. It is the targeted practice that counts.

How can students excel in their learning outcomes? That is a question that we, as educators and as parents, sometimes weight. Educating our descendants is a collective action, and learning occurs in both formal and informal instances. Parents are concerned about their children’s success. We want our children to accomplish milestones, and we want them to reach high.

Similarly, every educator’s best intention is to help all students meet high expectations. Also, every educator tries to facilitate all students in a way that creates a sense of worth, potential and empowerment.

However, occasionally students’ potential and their performance do not match. A various number of reasons may hinder a student to activate his/her potential into success in learning.

It might be a lack of background knowledge, decreased motivation, learning environmental issues, emotional challenges or cognitive or biological reasons.

Fortunately, there are many ways to close the gap between students’ performance and their potential. From the educator’s point of view, the most important and influential component is the belief in students. From the student’s side, the most important factor is motivation. When belief and motivation are summed up, there is a good chance for learning to take place.

Nevertheless, there are times when learning outcomes stay at a minimum even though the learning circumstances are optimal. That is when we must start looking at the way we teach and make sure that we listen to our students and give them reasonable challenges.

As a response to the question of how to excel in learning, we should start with a question: “What is best for this learner?” – What are the needs of this learner? How is this teaching practice

Photos from the recent PYP Assembly with the theme “inclusion”.

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

PTA News Ms Karolina MacAulay PTA Coordinator

November PTA Meeting At the November meeting, Mr Fleet and Ms Druitt introduced the Festival of Lights, we talked about traffic safety around the school looked at the latest designs for the playground.

You can download the meeting minutes from our website here.

The next PTA Meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 12 from 16:00 in the PYP 1A classroom. This is the last PTA meeting this term. We will set goals for the spring term and look at ideas for PTA events for the rest of the school year.

If you would like to suggest a topic to add to the agenda for the next PTA meeting, please email pta@ish.dk. I hope to see you at the meeting!

PTA Meeting Times Survey We are scheduling the monthly PTA meetings for the spring term. In order to schedule meeting times that work for as many parents as possible, we ask that you fill in this short survey: https://goo.gl/forms/iavXhgWI8lfXTC6l2 The meeting time dates will be announced at the next PTA meeting on Tuesday, December 12th and will also be published on our website: http://ish.dk/parents/pta/. Thanks in advance for your help!

PYP Festival of Lights Parent Hygge A huge thank you to all parent helpers and CAS students for arranging and preparing the PTA’s contribution at the PYP Festival of Lights on December 6: a “hygge” for parents with traditional Danish seasonal treats: æbleskiver, gløgg and pebernødder after the concert. It was great to see so many parents stay to socialise for a while.

All proceeds from the food sale will go towards instruments and equipment for the ISH music department.

All above: photos from the PTA hygge after the PYP Festival of Lights Conert

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

Library Corner Ms Andrée Keenoy School Librarian

Just a reminder about our mother tongue sections. As I already mentioned in another newsletter, we want to encourage students to keep up reading in their mother tongue. The IB states that “learners in IB programmes have rich and complex multilingual backgrounds. This means a large number of learners must access the majority of an IB programme curriculum in a language other than their mother tongue…

Learners who read extensively both inside and outside an IB programme have far greater opportunities to extend their academic language and concepts than those whose reading is limited. “ So please do encourage your child(ren) not only to read in English but also to keep up reading in their mother tongue. To meet this need we are slowly expanding the number of languages we can offer in the library. We have recently expanded our collection for French readers, both for native speakers learning to read and for students learning French. Our next goal is Hindi, the most common mother tongue in our school after English.

And here are some activity books that you may want to share with your children.

Great Art Attack. We have many art books for children, but this one is special because it has excellent ideas for pop-up cards, cartoons, collages, jungle frames and all sorts of creative stuff. The projects are simple and require readily available material.

Weather Watcher, Nature Activities. We have received a series of books on nature activities, including bird-watching, collecting fossils, star gazing, nature rangers, etc. They are small and easy to take around when exploring nature.

The Weather Watcher, for example, has easy-todo activities, where you can see what happens when hot and cold weather systems clash, make a cloud, a rainbow, a giant snowflake… Sorry, no ideas on how to make better weather!

All About Physics. If you want to know why golf balls have dimples, or how you can lie on a bed of nails, this is the book for you! Why do bubbles change colour when you blow on them? This book really does “put the fizz back into physics”! For students from 10 years old upwards.

What on Earth? Water. Another great science series to explore, create and investigate, this one for younger children. It shows how to make a rain gauge, how to make an iceberg, make a water-powered sprinkler and many more fun activities.

The Rainy Day Book. This one is for activities with tots. Perfect for the next months… So start saving recycled material such as newspaper, boxes, and bits of wool to make cages for furry toys, scrap bags, doll houses, paper pots, and fancy hands.

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

Primary School News Mr Stef Fleet

Primary School Principal

Ms Joanna Okolowicz IB Coordinator for PYP

Pre-K International Thanksgiving On November 23rd, the Pre-K families joined together in the canteen to share food and company. The event was very popular and included dishes from many countries. The children loved the choice of food and having their family at school. It was truly international! Well done for the team effort between home and school!

There have been many special events lately. It has been wonderful to see students involved in so many activities, alongside their usual learning. You can read about some of them here: Inclusion Assembly On November 30th, the Learning Support team (Ms Karoliina Hokka, Ms Stella Strouvali, Mr Eugene Tsakos and Ms Elisavet Neroulidou) held a PYP assembly on inclusion for the PYP students.

It involved some in-class activities beforehand, some videos and discussion, hands-on activities and a blindfolded race with students. The message was that we all have different strengths and things to improve on, and with the right help we can achieve so much!

PYP3 Museum of Culture and Art On November 30th, PYP3 held a Grand Opening of the PYP 3 Museum of Culture and Art. The museum featured art and cultural information about Polynesia and Greenland. This was a product from their Discoveries unit of inquiry which involved exploration and navigation.

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

Mid-Year Report Cards Teachers are completing assessments and writing up report cards which gives you a clear picture of your child’s effort and achievement, and suggestions for further progress. Students have progressed in different areas of their learning in the last few months, so there are lots to celebrate. You will receive the report cards on or before the last day of school in December.

Homework in the PYP We are updating our homework policy, and and want to provide a homework experience for the students that is meaningful. Our general aim is to increase the emphasis on daily reading, ensure a variety of achievable activities, and improve the consistency throughout the PYP, to prepare the students well for MYP1.

Thank you to those that completed our PYP homework survey. We have fed this information back to teachers. About 50% of parents responded. You can find a snapshot of the r esponses in the table below.

The individual comments were all so different (sometimes opposite) that it’s very difficult to summarise them! However, some topics discussed were: • • • • •

The importance of homework How homework should be assigned (daily, weekly, twice weekly, etc.)

How much time should be given for completing homework (weekend, a week, etc.)

Online versus paper-based homework Preparation for MYP homework and study skills

We have drafted a new Homework Policy and the school board is reviewing it. In the new year, we will examine it with the teachers and start to implement the new policy. After this, we will send out a survey again.

Happy Holidays to you and your families and friends. Stay warm, dry and cosy!

Homework Survey Responses Grade

Most common time taken per week

How difficult/ easy?

How much choice?

How enjoyable is it?

Lower PYP (K & 1)

30-60 minutes

Just right

Some choice/ A lot of choice

It’s ok

Upper PYP (2-5)

1-2 hours

Just right

No choice/ Some choice

It’s ok

Upcoming PYP dates: Wednesday, 20th December:

Last school day in December (school closes 12:00)

Wednesday, 20th December (latest): PYP Mid-Year Reports distributed Monday 8th January, 2018:

First day of school in 2018 (regular day)

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

PYP Festival of Lights On December 6th, each grade from Pre-K through PYP 5 gave vocal, dance or poetry perfomances with the theme of “light”, “winter” and “celebration” to PYP parents at the PYP Festival of Lights. You can view videos of all performances on our YouTube channel and we have also posted some of the video on the ISH community facebook page.

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

Secondary School News Ms Monika Pedersen

Secondary School Principal

In the secondary school, there is always a diverse range of activities as the span of the age groups is wide and brings with it many challenges.

active Language department took our MYP 4 students to the city to practice their directions in French to a museum, the Glyptoteket, where they had a guided tour on French painters. In addition, MYP 3 have enjoyed a trip to a local French-speaking creperie and students had to order their crepes in French. Looking at the pictures, they must have done well as the crepes look delicious!

In the upper years, we are heading into another busy period in the Secondary School. The focus at this point is the IB DP2 mock exams for those in grade 12. These are very important as they are an indicator of how well a student is working and what possible grade they may achieve in the final exams in May. The DP 1 students are also sitting their first DP style exams and will be receiving an indicator as to how well they are coping with the rigour of the Diploma programme. Some of the MYP 5 students will also have a preparation session before the exam in May. This will all take place in the last couple of weeks of December, so students can have some respite, while teachers grade and prepare report cards!

However, there is also scope for fun and to bring the experience of the classroom into a real context. Field trips are a fantastic way to do this. The next extended trips are those in Core Week which will take place in April. They bring two subject areas together and then place them in a real-life context. The students in MYP 1 and 2 will be located in Copenhagen, which has a plethora of opportunities, while MYP 3 will head off to Amsterdam. MYP 4 do internships during this time, and MYP5 will head for Barcelona.

With regard to the topic of internships, we would be very grateful if there are members of our community who would be willing to support the internship week to come forward.

We have approximately 23 students needing a placement in April. Should you be willing to support this venture, please contact me as soon as you can at mpedersen@ish.dk.

More recently here in Copenhagen, our very

MYP 3 students practice their French at a local creperie.

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

Our busy Art department took DP and MYP 5 students to see Micheal Kvium at Arken. The exhibition proved a real hit and is highly recommended! Students were impacted, with some deep conversations taking place as well as a lot of inspiration.

At school, MYP 4 students are in the process of starting a new mural for the wall in the MYP4/5 lounge. It will take a few weeks, and with the helpful advice of Ms Moore, we will have another wonderful creation to complement the first mural. We are all very excited.

Work has started on a new mural in the MYP 4/5 Lounge

Our Student Council is active this year. They were involved in launching and supporting the Spirit Week, which was warmly received. They are now looking at fund raising activities to be able to cover the costs of their festive wish list that includes some more seating for MYP 4 and 5 students, a kettle, a microwave…..After this, they have plans for a flea market, and much more!

As you can read here, there is an adventure to be had by each student in secondary school!

And we sincerely hope this makes coming to school a lot of fun for everyone!

DP Visual Arts students at Arken museum

Spirit Week “Fancy Friday”

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

MYP News Ms Anna Söderström IB Coordinator for MYP

Dear parents of students in the MYP, First of all, I would like to wish your children and you a wonderful winter holiday. Travel safe and have lots of fun during these relaxing times.

The mid-year progress report cards will be issued on January 24. Please note the new date for them this school year. The reason for the change is that we wish to have the same date for the whole upper school, from MYP through DP. Please remember to download the report cards for the future. It has been confirmed with admissions that if your child is transitioning to another country and school this holiday, you will still receive the progress report.

Prior to the progress report cards being issued, I will hold an MYP assessment workshop for parents. This was very popular last year and parents said that they understood the assessment methods in the IB much better after the workshop. The workshop will be held in the morning on Tuesday, January 16th. The time of the workshop is still to be decided and will be announced closer to the date.

A small reminder especially to parent of students in MYP 1 that the temperature is dropping in Denmark and that the children need warm coats, hats and mittens for their break time. Most importantly they should wear them outside! I kindly ask for your support in this matter as many students are still running around in t-shirts outside.

The pedagogical leadership team has begun the countdown for our next MYP evaluation.

The backward planning process has started.

One of the items that the IBO will report on is fiction in our main mother tongues represented in the MYP. If you by any chance have any used fiction in Hindi, Arabic, Italian and Turkish for the ages 11 to 16 at home that you would like to donate to the school, please drop them off in my office on the second floor.

The preparations for e-assessment and Eportfolio for MYP 5 is beginning now in December/ January. Students taking the e-assessment in English will have several sessions in the beginning of the new year, starting by watching a video in class already now in December. The Eportfolio unit will begin after the winter holiday and run until mid-March. Separate information has gone out to all MYP 5 students and their parents regarding this. Please note, that if your child is in Ms Castillo’s class, the students will be required to come in and sit the exam in the morning on May 11. This is not a regular school day in our calendar.

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ISH Newsletter / Issue N° 29 / DECEMBER 2017

Spirit Week A big thank you to the Student Council for organising Spirit Week! It was great to see so many teachers and students dress up for the various theme days. You can find more photos from the week on our Facebook page.

“Miserable Monday”

“World Wednesday”

“Twin Tuesday”

“Throwdown Thursday”

“Fancy Friday”

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