Newsletter May 2014

Achieving

May 2014

Achieving Your Potential Dear Parents and Friends of the ISSH The focus of the last two editions of the ISSH newsletter was on “Being Unique” and “Taking Responsibility”. To complete the cycle of highlighting the ISSH Core Values in our newsletters, this edition is on “Achieving Your Potential”. What did the ISSH team have in mind when choosing “Achieve your potential” as one of the ISSH Core Values?

At a staff professional development event the team interpretations below illustrate what this core value entails  Do your best  Believe in yourself and your talents  Set yourself goals  Pursue your goals with tenacity and perseverance  Set high expectations for yourself and others  Reflect on your personal strengths and weaknesses At the recent SGIS (Swiss Group of International School) professional development workshop in Basel I came across “EFFORT” or “grit” as one of the keys to “Achieving your Potential”.

The formula presented by Steve Berkley was As educators and parents we can make a big difference for our students or children in the EFFORT factor. Pushing yourself and getting the best out of you is often easier, if somebody else (teacher or parent or peers) are involved. They can help you go the extra mile. The example that brought it home to me was when Steve Berkley said, “It’s like in the gym hall on the stepper: You say to yourself ‘I think I’ve done enough’….but as the coach or your friend comes up to you, you miraculously can keep going and give that extra effort that you wouldn’t have given had you been on your own. You pushed yourself this extra bit harder”.

The other factor in the success equation is ABILITY. The most important thing in relation to ability is to understand that ability is not a given, static and unchangeable quantity, but that ability grows with practice and exposure. In her research work Dr Carol Dweck has been able to show the dramatic difference in achievement between students who believe that their intelligence is fixed - a given ability (fixed mind-set) versus students who believe that intelligence and ability is something you can develop through application and practice (growth mind-set).

The link below will take you to a series of short videos around this concept: http://www.mindsetworks.com/webnav/ videogallery.aspx . As parents and educators we can play a

Adventure Park Neuhausen Sunday, 11 May, 14:00-17:00 For Middle School Students only.

Grade 4 excursion to Kunsthaus Zürich Tuesday, 13 May

Orienteering, Breite Wednesday, 14 May 2014

ISSH Open Day Friday, 16 May 2014, see page 2.

Grade 3 residential trip to Haut-Lac Centre, Les Sciernes Wednesday-Friday, 21-23 May 2014

Guided Schaffhausen Night Tour for ISSH parents Thursday, 22 May 2014, 20:00

DP Graduation Ceremony Friday, 23 May 2014, 14:30

IB DP University Recognition – Information Event for parents Tuesday, 27 May

MY Sports Day Friday, 6 June 2014

Primary Language Day Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Grade 10 trip to New York 14-21 June 2014

Primary Sports Day Tuesday, 24 June 2014

Last Day of School Wednesday, 25 June 2014

First Day back for New Students Wednesday, 20 August 2014, 14:00

First Day back for returning students Thursday, 21 August 2014, 8:30

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major part in causing students to develop and stick to a fixed mind-set or a growth mind-set. The good news is that we can also help students to change from a fixed mind-set to a growth mind-set.

I hope you will find some time to look at these video clips and get some inspiration on how you can support the ISSH core value “Achieve your Potential”.

The articles in this newsletter show a lot of examples of ISSH students who with effort, determination and ability achieve their potential in many ways.

Gundula Kohlhaas Head of School

ISSH Open Day

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Years Logierhaus Years International School of Schaffhausen Years ISSH at the Logierhaus

The International School of Schaffhausen cordially invites parents, friends and the community of Schaffhausen to celebrate our Open Day on

Friday, 16 May Programme 13:30-17:00

Exhibition of Logierhaus History

13:30-15:30

Open Classroom Visits Extra Exhibits Grade 2 Learning Showcase on Migration Grade 5 Exhibition Grade 10 Personal Project Presentation Guided Tours of the School

14:00-17:00

Old-Style Café

14:30-16:30

Childcare Centre ISCC You are welcome to peep in and visit our youngest ones

16:00-17:00

Art and more Art Music, singing, drama and dance showcase performed by ISSH students Art exhibition of ISSH community classes

15:45-17:00

Games Galore A variety of games from yesteryear Pick-up games of badminton

17:00-

Garden Party—Let‘s celebrate!

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Sporting Potential At ISSH we have many talented athletes. Over the last few months they have had a number of opportunities to really demonstrate their potential. Here are some of their stories.

Grade 3 – Football Team On Tuesday 11th February the ISSH 3rd grade football team took part in a large tournament held at the International School of Zug and Luzern. After a long day of playing lots of football and enjoying a lot of success, winning our group, then quarter and semi-finals, we faced a tough challenge in the final against the first team from Luzern. The students battled hard in a challenging and physical game and came very close to winning in the final. Sadly, a late goal from Luzern sealed the win ensuring a 2-1 victory for the home team.

We are very proud of the team who all played very well as a team and eventually came second overall out of 12 teams!

Fun at the football tournament

Running Club If you were in Eglisau on one sunny spring Sunday morning, you may have seen a group of exhausted, but happy ISSH primary students who had just completed a 2km race.

The running club has been preparing for this race over the previous few weeks, demonstrating strong commitment and perseverance during training. The race was specifically chosen so that we could participate in a local community event.

Noticeable on race day was the great sense of team spirit from the ISSH students and display of true sportsmanship. We were extremely proud of all the runners for their superb effort and determination. Congratulations to everyone for finishing the race and a special applause for our two third place medal winners.

We were up against some serious competition and year groups were classified together, which meant our students were often competing against others a year older than them. However, as Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic Games quoted, 'The important thing is not to win, but to take part.' The students were great ambassadors for ISSH and we were very proud to win the 'Group Prize'! The ISSH core values were certainly upheld: Be Unique – each runner brought his or her style and mental approach to training and racing. Take Responsibility – students showed responsibility in turning up regularly for training each week. Achieve Potential – every student gave his or her best effort to both training and racing. Well done, everyone!

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Some quotes from the students: “I liked the race because it was challenging and long distance. I liked to run so fast.”

“I liked running club because it helped me get better and the race was fun.”

“The race was fun and I pushed myself a lot and had a great experience.”

Karate Champion I have been going to karate lessons twice a week for 3 years now. Last month my club was in a tournament competing against clubs from all over Switzerland and we came first.

I was so nervous before the fight, but once I got onto the platform I just kept thinking `concentrate on doing your best`, so I did and I won! Everyone was cheering and I was so proud of myself. I was proud because I had won, but also because all the hard work had been worth it. I find it difficult to get my arms and hands in the perfect position so I had been practicing every single day, even using a metre stick to check the height of my arm position. I had also been practicing the same moves over and over again to become faster and faster. Now I am one step closer to my goal of being a professional Karate Teacher. I really want to do that because Karate is not about fighting, it`s about controlling your aggression and being able to defend yourself. Also it`s very good for your muscles, because we practice Tai Chi to stretch and train our mind to concentrate for longer periods of time. Even if I don`t become a professional Karate Teacher, I will always have the medals and trophies, so I can look back when I am old and remember my dream and how hard I worked to get it. And it can be useful in defending yourself against your little brothers.

Cameron Isliker, gr..4

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Achieve Potential—Grade 5 Exhibition „You have six weeks to inquire into a topic of your choice (linked to one of the six transdisciplinary themes), take action based on your findings and present your learning to the school and local community both orally and in writing. As you undertake your inquiry you will need to consult a range of primary and secondary sources, take notes, conduct surveys, carry out interviews and write a report for each of your lines of inquiry. Furthermore, you will need to complete a weekly reflection, attend mentor meetings and present some of your learning in at least one language other than English.”

counter; as in adult life, achieving potential is rarely plain sailing! As they work through this demanding process, students continue to develop attitudes such as commitment, patience and open-mindedness.

The end result is worth the effort. Students routinely comment on the immense sense of pride they experience in what they have achieved.

Our 5th grade students are currently in the midst of the exhibition process. This year the transdisciplinary theme the project comes under is “How We Express Ourselves” and the overarching idea is “Beauty”.

Inquiries as diverse as the link between aerodynamThis is the challenge set before 5th grade students at ics and beauty, how people have been inspired by ISSH. In the Primary School, nothing allows stunature to express themselves and how reducing poldents to truly show and achieve their full potential lution can help keep the world beautiful are all underlike undertaking the Exhibition. This rigorous and way. intense process requires students to draw on and Sara Goacher apply all the skills and understandings they have PYP Coordinator attained throughout their primary education. Being responsible for their learning is vital, as students th plan and set deadlines for completing different stag- To see how our current 5 Graders have es of the process. In order to achieve fully, students achieved their potential come and visit the need to research efficiently, communicate effectively Exhibition presentations during the ISSH and have a clear goal in mind. th When actively inquiring into an area of personal interest student engagement levels are extremely high, helping them to overcome the hurdles they en-

Open Day on Friday 16 May, 13:00 – 15:30. We look forward to welcoming you!

Achieve your Potential in the Diploma Programme When we think about achieving one’s potential, we usually mean academic ability, which is quite easy to define and measure. Thoughtfully designed, the IB Diploma Programme invites students to achieve their academic potential. They need to take six subjects representing five to six different curricular areas. As a result, they are challenged in such different fields as languages and mathematics or experimental sciences and arts. The DP is indeed renowned for its academic rigour but we need to remember that it is designed to develop the whole person.

On top of the academic subjects, DP students are required to complete the Creativity-Action-Service (CAS) Programme. In order to be eligible for the IB diploma, all students need to pass CAS by achieving a set of learning outcomes. The outcomes include increasing students’ awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth. It is expected that they are able to see themselves as individuals with various skills and abilities, some more developed than others, and understand that they can make choices about how they wish to move forward. Another two outcomes are undertaking new challenges and developing new skills. A new challenge may be an unfamiliar activity, or an extension to an existing one. As with new challenges, new skills may be

shown in activities that the student has not previously undertaken, or in increased expertise in an established area.

Learning outcomes are differentiated from assessment objectives because they are not rated on a scale. They are less tangible than academic progress and it is up to individual student how he/she achieves their potential through CAS. It is here that another ISSH core value comes to play – taking responsibility.

Our students at ISSH are rising to these challenges admirably and our success rate in the Diploma Program currently stands at 100%, as all four graduates successfully passed the course last year.

We wish Kimi and Jonathan the best of luck with their final exams this year.

Adam Armanski DP Coordinator

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2014 ISSH Grade 10 Personal Project As part of the final year in MYP, the Grade 10 students need to prepare a Personal Project. It is an important part of the MYP as it allows the students to show what they have learned during their years in the programme. It must reflect a topic of real interest to them and be a unique area of study which they will want to investigate over six months. It is very similar to the Grade 5 Exhibition; however, the students must complete it as an additional individual assignment in their own time. It is their responsibility to self-manage their time and organization.

On this date, the students had a chance to explain why they chose their area of study, answer questions from the community on what they learned from planning and completing a six-month project and also explain and reflect on whether they achieved their full potential.

Please find below a list of the students and their topics. Thank you to everyone in the community who came on April 10th to show interest and support for the Grade 10 students’ efforts. They will also present their projects at the Open House on May 16 th if There are three main facets to the Personal Project: you would like to come by and support them.

(1) the process journal which shows the student’s development and progress of the project; (2) a 3,500 Allison Greer word essay and (3) a final product which they dis- MYP Coordinator played and explained at a Personal Project Presentation on Thursday, April 10th, 2014.

Student Name

Research Question

Valeria Cescato

How can I create a website introducing and explaining the Indian religion of Jainism?

Viktor Dorph

How can I achieve a free dive of 20 meters vertically, and in the process create a video along with making a manual on how to train and prepare you for a safe dive?

Basil Hahn

How can I use my passion for Aviation to help others?

Valerie Klesen

How can I write a song in order to raise awareness and money for people in need?

Daniel Marino

What is the best design for a remote control aircraft that a student can build and fly?

Simon Neidhart

How can I create a brochure that promotes the European Superkart series?

Alesia Rieser

How can I create a book based on philosophy?

Elia Steinkeller

How can I improve my underwater navigation skills and assist the local diving community in improving their skills?

The grade 10 team at their presentation

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More than a Linguist ‘Brilliant’, ‘absolutely amazing’, ‘a super-star’

What makes Emma even more precious to our school community is her warm personality. She is Emma Cornero, currently a Grade 7 student, is indeed a striking example of someone that has been modest and humble and I have never heard her boasting about her truly impressive achievements. striving to achieve her full potential. In terms of linAlthough a ‘super-star’ indeed, she understands that guistic development, she has achieved so much within such a short period of time that people tend to academics is only one aspect of life. With exemplary forget she came to join our school at the beginning manners, kind words to offer, and a big smile on her of Grade 6 with virtually no English! I still remember face, Emma develops meaningful relationships with her peers and adults alike. her completely lost among all these English words she did not know. Emma quickly understood that There is much more to Emma than just being a giftshe had to put in effort. She revealed the qualities, ed linguist – a huge potential to explore and which make the task of learning three new lanachieve! guages (English, German and French) achievable; she quickly proved herself to be apt at developing language learning skills, passionate and diligent – a By Agata Wieczorek perfect combination for a language student, but also gr 6 homeroom teacher for anyone who wants to achieve their potential.

Now, Emma’s command of English is by all means commendable, and yet, she never stops searching for new ways of expressing her ideas. She wants to ‘feel’ the difference between words, and use the language as effectively as possible. She contemplates the differences and similarities between all the languages she has been learning and always links new concepts to her impressive general knowledge. Yes, she has excellent memory. And yes, she finds learning easy. But she never takes success for granted. She works hard to achieve the best possible results, proudly celebrates her victories, and learns from mistakes.

My Plans for the Future When it comes to my future, my plans have changed over the years – when I was around seven, I really wanted to have a profession related to singing. This probably came from my love for music, and I thought I would have a lot of fun.

At the moment, I’m fourteen, and I’m interested in the sciences. In 2012, I went to space camp, along with other girls in my class. I found the experience fun and educational at the same time – the trip was very exciting.

I went to see wax models of astronauts at the age of Out of the topics we completed this year, Biology eleven. has to be my favourite. I have enjoyed Biology for a When I was twelve, I came to ISSH and was imme- long time now and I find the parts of science that it diately excited with the prospect of having weekly covers rather interesting. I aspire to have a profesdrama lessons – we went through plays like Romeo sion related to this branch of science as I can appreand Juliet and I was thrilled with the idea of being ciate how we work, and more. able to play the role of another person and being in I would like to focus on medicine and paediatrics. their shoes for a little while.

Paediatrics is a branch of medicine that deals with

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infants and children up to the age of eighteen years old, and I find it fascinating.

My plans for the future might change tomorrow, or the day after that. However, I'm sure that it will always be something that I enjoy. I know I can fulfil my dreams and have a job that I like.

Smriti Nagarajan, Grade 9

Did you know that Albert Einstein spent a year in Schaffhausen before moving to Bern to crack the theory of relativity?

Jacob Lundström—Slalom Skier Jacob comes from Sweden and is currently in grade 6, and as well as studying hard at school and learning many new languages, he follows his dream of becoming a professional skier and skiing in the olympics. Jacob has been on skis since the age of four and started training when he was six years old in a ski club in Stockholm. Since then he has spent two evenings plus every weekend and holiday from November until April on skis somewhere in the Swedish mountains. Here in Switzerland he is a member of a ski club called RG Alpenarena and trains in the slopes of Laax and racing around the Graubünden area, Obersaxen, Davos, Savognin and Arosa.

He is either racing (in all disciplines), in a fun park jumping and trying different tricks or skiing off piste.

He really enjoys the different elements of skiing.

Jacob wants to be a professional skier when he grows up. Jacob and his sister Sarah were calculating on their fingers a couple of days ago, if they could be on the same Olympics and came to the conclusion that this would be in 2026!

Good luck, Jacob.

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On my Way up into the Sky I still remember the very first time I entered a cockpit.

My family and I were on holiday and the airplane made a stopover. I did not know that my life would change by the time the stewardess came to me and asked me if I wanted to have a look in the cockpit. I was seven years old and a shy boy who did not know how to respond, so my parents kind of pushed me into it and sent me into the cockpit. In the cockpit I just stared at all the buttons and screens and was so interested in everything from the first moment.

The first officer then introduced himself to me, while I was still screening the cockpit. The captain of the flight was outside walking around the aircraft and the left seat was free, so the first officer let me sit down and adjusted the seat for me. As soon as I hopped onto that seat I wanted to become an airline pilot.

Up until last Autumn I was dreaming my life away.

However, this began to change as I got the chance to fly on a glider in Schaffhausen on the air show.

Right after the flight I asked my parents if I could take my license for flying gliders and they gave me this chance. The weekend right after the air show I then began my training in Schaffhausen. I spent the following month at the airport just because I could not get enough, it was so beautiful flying on top of the world and I myself was in control of the aircraft.

Then there came the winter break and I needed to wait until March for more gliding. Sadly, the weather did not want to let me go up in the air again until April 6th. I finally got the chance to fly again with an instructor onboard. Due to the fact that, we had such beautiful weather we were able to stay up in the air for over an hour. We flew up until the north of the Kanton Schaffhausen and then back to the city of Schaffhausen. I circled with the plane 1500m above the Munot and landed the glider with a smooth landing on the airport, it was one of the best flights in my life so far.

My training will not get any easier, I am facing some major challenges which I need to pass in order to live my dream. After the IB diploma I intend to either stay here in Switzerland or go to Dubai. In either country I plan to go into the pre-selection course for future airline pilots. If the aviation training school selects me, a two year training is waiting for me in which I get trained to fly the modern airline aircrafts, not only under normal conditions, also under emergency conditions. If everything works out well, I hope to welcome you once on board of one of my flights.

Basil Hahn, grade 10

With the glider over Schaffhausen

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A future Tennis Star?

Ramith started playing Tennis at the age of 10 in Sri Lanka. Prior to that, he played cricket and he is still an avid cricket fan. He moved to Switzerland when he was 11.

Since coming to Switzerland, Ramith has engaged in different sports, making good use of the excellent infrastructure and the well organized sports clubs in the region.

They are: the Table Tennis club in Neuhausen (TTCN), Swimming club/SH, Track & Field club/SH and the Canoe Club/SH. In 2011, he won the third place in the Doubles at the East Switzerland Table Tennis Championships (with partner Nick Rütter, TTC Horn). In 2012, he was a member of the TTCN team that was placed 7th at the Swiss National TT Championships. Having come to Switzerland, Ramithhas also learned to Ski and to Ice-skate.

Ramith joined ISSH this year and is clearly striving to achieve his potential in school and on the tennis field. His ambition is to enter a US university and play tennis for a Division I college team. College Tennis offers a high level of competitive tennis platform. At the same time it supports the student athlete pursue an academic career.

Ramith is aware that an achievement of Swiss Tennis rating level of R2 is enough to get into a US College Div II team, with an academic scholarship. A level of N3/N2 rating will allow to get into a Div I team. Swiss Tennis rating goes from R9 – R1 (regional rating; lower the number better the rating) and N4- N1 (National level rating). Rating is different from ranking in that per each category there are multiple number of players.

What are Ramith`s chances of succeeding? Ramith has a rating R6 and has just been assessed at R4. According to the new rating received today (May 6th), by SMS, he is R4. With this, Ramith has jumped up another 700 ranking positions (altogether 2700 positions up since October last year).

If Ramith continues to train the number of hours he trains now, for the next 4 years till he ends school, he believes it may be enough to reach a rating of R1, a level that will allow him to get into a Div II team. Ramith plays about 4 hours Tennis and about 5 hours of other sports per week.

Present Training Presently Ramith is trained by Mr. Robert Plischke at the former Swiss Fed Cup trainer Mr. Eric van Hapern's Tennis School in Tiengen, Germany and with Mr. Stephan Bienz in Längenberg, Schaffhausen (Mr. Bienz was former World Junior Nr. 19 and ATP 390) – Ramith's coach since age 11.

Ramith plays interclub for TC Büsingen. In 2014 Ramith will also play for TC Rot-Weiss Tiengen, Germany. Recently, Ramith won the Hoch-Rhein Cup U16 Tournament in Tiengen and another U16 tournament in Frenkendorf, Basel.

Apart from Tennis, Ramith plays Basketball for KTV Schaffhausen U16 team.

I am sure we all wish Ramith every success in achieving his goal.

Chris Taylor Secondary Principal

Challenges Outside the regular training, it is very difficult to find sparring partners to play with.

New enrollments since January 2014 Early Years 1, Feline Kakeebeke, Antonio Azzará, Jesper van Balkom Grade 8, Laura-Lou Hubli Grade 9, Chantal Erzberger

We wish you a warm WELCOME and a great start at ISSH!

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Staff Portraits In January 2014 Marcus Cajacob was elected a new member of the ISSH Foundation Board.

Marcus Cajacob, 1953, has a diploma in Chemistry. He has more than 30 years experience in international marketing of life science products and has worked in various globally operating companies.

Since 2000 he has been working at Generis AG. Generis is a consulting firm commissioned by the government to lead the economic development of Canton Schaffhausen. Marcus holds the position of Head Corporate Business with his main focus on liaison and support for international company settlement and corporate mandates.

Marcus Cajacob is married and has three adult children.

Silvia Baumann is a German trained teacher. She has been teaching English to Germans for the last three years. Her two children are students of the ISSH, so she has been connected to the school for almost six years.

Silvia is teaching several groups of PY German.

My name is Brigitta Cescato and I’m Swiss. My husband and I have 3 children in 10th, 7th and 5th Grade. We spent the last five years in Belgium and we still miss it a lot. I have just started teaching German to elementary school children at ISSH and I’m really enjoying working with them in this international environment. I worked as a kindergarten teacher in different areas around Zürich for several years. In addition, I taught German and sports. I was also an active member of the Zürich Kindergarten-Union-Board, where we organized meetings and training for members. Through my previous work at the Zürich emigration office my interest for questions like: how to help people adapt in an other environment, language and culture, was awakened. In my scarce leisure time I enjoy indulging in my favorite hobbies like reading, skiing, tennis, agility with my border collie, cooking and baking and I’m really into arts and museums.