TERM 3, ISSUE 2 26 FEBRUARY 2014
A BEAUTIFUL GIFT Reading is a beautiful gift that you can give to your child. Reading opens the door to the world. It provides a way for children to travel, to explore, to develop and to learn. We want to encourage you to take the time and enjoy a book with your child today, in any language, and no matter their age. Here are a few ways that you can give this gift: 1. Read a book to your child in an environment that enables you and your child to enjoy just being together. 2. Choose a book that you know your child will enjoy and talk to them about why you chose the book and discuss the front page and title or even the pictures before you begin reading. 3. Take turns reading the book your child brought home. They can read a sentence, paragraph or page and then you can do the same. 4. Enjoy reading with different voices depending on the character or read the whole book in a whisper, silly voice or in whale talk as Dori does in the movie ‘Finding Nemo’. 5. Read the same book as many times as your child wants, just for the fun of reading together. 6. Have your child read to you. 7. Ask questions about different events happening in the book, about how the story makes your child feel, about why your child thinks something might have happened or even stop the book early and have your child think about how they think the book will end. Remember this gift is given not as something that has to be done, but instead the gift is given for the pleasure and enjoyment it brings. This gift will last for your child’s entire life. Now that is a gift worth giving. Laura Beth Webster Primary Principal
TERM 3 Verse: “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yoursleves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive owthers. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” ~ Colossians 3:12-14
TERM 3 important dates FEBRUARY
27 Thur - 4 Tue Midterm Break
MARCH
4 Tues Staff Dev Day 12 Wed Y10/12 Options Evening 15 Mon Scholarship applications due 17 Mon Staff Meeting & Staff Social 28 Fri Primary Picnic 29 Sat Zuala Cup
APRIL
2 Wed Secondary Parent/Teacher Interviews 4 Fri Easter Assembly & End of term 21 Mon Term 4 begins
EQUIP Schedule
April 15-23 - LAMJUNG PHASE I April 17-27 - PALPA PHASE I
SMC School management committee
KISC Faith Statement As a project of HDCS we fall under their faith statement, which is The Apostle’s Creed. The Apostle’s Creed is widely accepted in the Nepali Church and used by many organisations. The SMC would like to notify the parents that there will likely be an increase in tuition and the capital levy fee for the 2014/15 academic year due to increase in operating costs. The raise increase will be no more than 5%. We continue to encourage families to plan for an annual increase. We will however do our best to keep fees as low as possible. The final decision on an increase will be in May when the budget is approved.
THE APOSTLE’S CREED •
•
• • •
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Please be in prayer for the SMC as we look at replacing several positions on the board this coming year. God has given the current board great unity and a vision for the future. We are seeking godly men and women who have a business, finance or education background. They also need to be very comfortable working in the Nepali context and have a good understanding of Nepali culture. Nepali language skills are not necessary, but very beneficial. Positions needing replaced are: Member - Parent Representative, Chairperson and Treasurer. The process and when the position is vacant is listed below.
SCHOOL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEMBERS All SMC positions are required as per our Constitution with the Ministry of Education. The SMC meets approximately 6 times a year. All positions are voluntary. Below are the members of the SMC and how they are appointed. Please pray for the SMC as they lead and guide KISC. 1. SMC Chairperson - appointed by HDCS - Marcy Knoble, replacement needed June 2014 2. Member - Ministry of Education Representative - recently transferred, awaiting appointment 3. Member - HDCS Representative - Tirtha Thapa 4. Member Secretary - KISC CEO - Judith Ellis 5. Member - Parent Representative - PTA Chairperson , approved by SMC - Mirjam Thiessen 6. Member - Parent Rep. - chosen by PTA, approved by SMC - Astrid Smith (replacement needed) 7. Member - Teachers Representative - chosen by teachers, approved by SMC - Phillipa Munday 8. Member - Admin Representative - Director of Admin and EQUIP - Khim Kandel 9. Treasurer - recommended by SMC, approved by HDCS - Ian Chadwell (Term ends Nov. 2014)
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PRESIDENT ELECTIONS
Congratulations to Rebbecca
Vuite
(left) for winning Student Council Elections and becoming the new Student Council President. Emily
Smith (right) is Vice-
president.
LIBRARY’S AMAZING RACE During Term 3, Year 7 and 8 students participated in an Amazing Race in the Library. Students, working in their house teams, moved quickly around the library, looking for facts and figures on the shelves, in encyclopedias, and on the internet. The overall winner was Dhaulagiri! They will be awarded 5 points as part of the secondary house competition. Congratulations! “I found it a fun way to learn and different from what I have done for the last 7 years.” - Mim “My experience was really, really fun. The Amazing Race is awesome and so is the library amazing race. I feel so thrilled doing activities like this because it makes me very happy.” - Jane “It really tested our abilities to work together and work in the library, and use the facilities. It was a fun way of doing Library skills.” Kavindi “It was really fun. We should do this more often.” - Reeda
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SPORTS @ KISC
MARDI GRAS
KISC basketball team is doing well in the NISSA tournament. Although we lost a close game against Little Angels School 48-51, we won against Mordern Indian School 46-32, Rato Bangala School 40-29 and Lincoln School 47-42. We played a game against The British School on 27th Thursday at 4pm at Rato Bangala School.
The semifinals and finals is on 8th of March at Lincoln School starting at 9am. Please come and support us!
Shrove Tuesday is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Shrove Tuesday is determined by Easter; its date changes annually. In French it is called Mardi Gras. On this occassion, the French Department is organizing a traditional Christian festival @ KISC on Wednesday 5th March from 9:15 to 12:25 on the basketball court. The students will be split into teams and participate in various workshops, each representing a different French-speaking country. The activities they will be taking part in are: face painting, waffle making, creating masks, hats and decorations and sack racing. The purpose of this festival is to give the students opportunity to learn more about French culture around the world and to celebrate Mardi Gras. If you have spare whisks and large bowls we would be very thankful if we could borrow a few. Feel free to bring extra food and drinks. We would love to have parents and staff join in. If you would like to help, please contact me at: emulepati@kisc.edu.np
DON’T FORGET TO “LIKE” KISC ON FACEBOOK...
https://www.facebook.com/KISC1987
Emmanuelle MULEPATI Head of the French Department
Term 3 value:
k|]d
사랑 Amor
... and keep up with all the school happenings!
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love
KISC EQUIP PROMOTES SCIENCE EDUCATION IN PALPA On February 6th and 7th, KISC EQUIP organized a two-day science exhibition in Tansen, Palpa in collaboration with its ten partner schools in the district. OBJECTIVES were to: •Establish educational networking among the schools in and around Tansen •Encourage the participating schools to share their best practices •Promote cooperative learning among students •Enable hands on experience and fun learning for children •Create a meaningful relationship between teaching and learning science HOST OF THE EVENT: St. Capitanio, one of KISC EQUIP’s partner schools. The guest of honour was Chief District Officer, MR. Shiva Raj Joshi. Other honorable guests were a Representative from the Ministry of Education, an Under Secretary, a School Inspector, an Education Instructor, a Training Coordinator and Resource Person from District Education Office, School Principals, PABSON members and Teachers. “I can’t imagine the excitement I have right now. I never had such a unique opportunity before. I learnt many new things. All the experiments are related to the curriculum which we never got a chance to experiment.” – Bishnu Ghimire, Palpa Awashiya.
“I never thought that I could be a part of such a good programme like this one. Demonstrating and explaining my experiments have boosted my confidence. I’m feeling special. Thanks to the organizer. I strongly recommend school leaders to organize such programme time and again. – Abhisek Shahi (VIII), Bethel “I got chance to see and do many experiments from my course book. I learnt many new things and would like to recommend this type of programme to happen at least once a year”- Yuvraj Rana, New Horizon.
“Being a student of a public school, I had never seen such a wonderful programme. Getting chance to meet so many friends from private and public schools is wonderful. I am very happy”. Amrit Gaha (VIII), Shree Ram Lower Secondary School.
l Over 100 experiments and displays l 300 students and 30 science teachers l 3100 student visitors
BLESS THE BLOCK
Year 11 students put their efforts together to clean up the neighborhood community park in the vicinity of KISC recently. Great way to bless the community, year 11!
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Year 5 & 9 trip to Asha Bal Bikas Sewa Last week year 5 and year 9 made separate trips to HDCS’s Asha Bal Bikas Sewa (ABBS). ABBS is a day care center that offers care services to physically and mentally challenged children. Our students had the opportunity to sing and play with the children as well as help teach them their colors. Many expressed they were afraid because the ABBS children were very different than they were used to. By the end of their visit their hearts had changed. Here are some comments and pictures from the trips:
“It was fun. I wish we will come back. The little kids were sweet and cute. I wish if we come back I can open my heart to show love and kindness. It was a happy day.” “When the year 5’s left I felt sad because it felt like they are a part of our community. The little ones were the most sweet. They all were really nice and I can’t wait to go there again.” “... I was amazed and excited to see God’s uniqueness in them. The little kids were cute and fun to play with. At the end I really enjoyed my time with them.” “The kids at ABBS were so nice they gave you hugs and they were just so sweet. I really want to go there more often than just once a week.” “... the big kids were very sweet and kind. I hope we can go to ABBS every day.”
parents tab on the KISC website: www.kisc.edu.np/parents Here you will find useful information and downloadable forms. If there is something not on the website that you as a parent would find useful, please send an email to: communications@kisc.edu.np. Thank you!!!
we want to save you money!!! In order to receive your Refundable
NPR
€
£
$
Deposit back if you are leaving KISC, you must fill out the Withdrawal Request in Reception one full academic year in advance. Deadline date for 2014-15 is Wednesday June 25, 2014. To qualify for the Reduced Retainer Fee of 15% for the upcoming academic year, you must fill out the Extended Absence Form in Reception by the end of the of the previous academic year. So, if you plan to be away next year for an extended period of time, we need to know by the end of this academic year. Otherwise the Retainer Fee is 50% of normal fees. Even if you THINK you are going to be away, let us know.
CHECK OUT the link above to download these documents. For good financial and recruitment planning we need to know who is going to be away or leaving. Thank you.
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PARENTS
NOTE DATE CHANGE!!!
Scholarships: application deadline March 15th. Forms are available in Reception.
kisc on pinterest
One of the excellent suggestions that came from the MSA survey process was to instigate a method of sharing educational websites and resources, particularly for use with primary students. For that purpose, and with parents in mind, KISC has created a Pinterest account: http://www.pinterest.com/kiscschool/. If you have any comments, feedback or suggestions of pins for the KISC Community board, please email pinterest@kisc.edu.np Thanks and God Bless, Mr Simon Hall
Please take note of the date change on the school diary. Kathmandu Chorale Concert will be held on 10th May 2014.
FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR CHILDREN (& ADULTS) please
make sure you and/or your driver do
not:
1. Park in the lane leading up to the school 2. Park in front of the lane and block it 3. Use the lane to turn around 4. Drive up the lane to drop off a child
THANK YOU! CAN YOU SHOCK US WITH YOUR ELECTRICAL SKILLS? Dear KISC Community, We need someone knowledgeable about electricity and electronics to help us identify our power consumption needs. We want someone who can help us develop a comprehensive power consumption document and identify the kinds of equipment we need, in order to mitigate power issues we are facing. We want to achieve a minimum 24 hours power backup plan for all our networked infrastructure to cover the next 5 years. Anyone who has been in Nepal long enough will understand how good power supply is. We have previously asked 2 well-known companies to help with this. Understandably, rather than helping us, both of them tried to push a ‘suitable’ product. We are ICT people, we do not understand wattage, kVAs and other assorted terminologies. Please help us! Your help will be greatly appreciated. You can email me at: arpan@kisc.edu.np. Thank you! ArpanYonzon ICT Systems Manager
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Welcome
news from the library
Laura Bleakley will be joining KISC in August to work part-time as Admissions Officer. She is currently being trained up for the position.
The usual borrowing period for students is two weeks. The borrowing limits are: Year 1-3: 2 books at a time Year 4: 3 books at a time Year 5-6: 4 books at a time Year 7-9: 6 books at a time Year 10-13: 8 books at a time Community: 4 books at a time with sign-up
FAREWELLS Ian and Denise Mitchell will be leaving us soon after giving 7 weeks of their time in finance and admin. Thank you for blessing us!
From your friendly KISC LIBRARIAN
Rae Goss is leaving for a one month home assignment before returning to continue working on the EQUIP Kitchen Garden Project.
BOOKING FACILITIES REMINDER: To book KISC facilities outside school hours, please contact Reception, admin@kisc.edu.np. They are booking facilities now. Thank you!
PTA
Emma Morley, ESL, is returning to the UK to raise support. Her plan is to return in Aug. ‘14.
parent Teacher association
Total raised so far this academic year: NPR 3,35,574/-
PRESCHOOL AT KISC???
Dear Parents, I would like to encourage us as a community to continue praying for the school we have entrusted our children to.
PTA did a survey in November about the need for a preschool at KISC. The survey did not show a need at this time and more importantly KISC does not have the classroom space for a preschool at this time. In the future, as we look towards having our own site, we will revisit this possibility.
Blessings from the PTA through Mirjam Thiessen PTA Chairperson
Join pta for prayer Every Monday morning from 8-9am we meet in the
Prayer Room (behind the toilet block) to pray for KISC, the staff, students and each other. Any specific prayer requests can be sent to: mirjamthiessen@gmail.com
pARENT Open Forum WITH THE BOARD PTA is inviting all parents to an Open Forum, Thursday, March 20th at 6.30pm. Snacks and childcare will be provided. Any questions you may have for the SMC can be sent in by March 16th to: mirjamthiessen@gmail.com. Mirjam will keep the names of those sending in questions anonymous and try to group the questions together into topics. We pray this will be an evening to answer any questions you as parents have regarding academics, our faith statement, finances, legal status, etc. Our goal is that God would be glorified in all of this and we could truly strive as a community to be living witnesses of Christ’s love through excellent education.
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Update on the sports field THANK YOU for your prayers for the Sports Field. KISC has always operated on rented facilities. Up
until now the Lord has blessed us with great facilities despite this limitation. We are so thankful to have been able to operate in Nepal for 27 years. God has always provided and we are trusting Him with our future. The rental of the Sports Field was a calculated risk based on the financial and other information we as an SMC had. Operating a school in Nepal is a risk, but God has proved Himself faithful, even through the many years of instability and unrest during the civil war. With these behind us we are praying for a permanent site for KISC. We have been praying whether it is our current site or somewhere else. We have weighed the options, but still lack the funds to purchase the site we need. Right before receiving notice from the landlord we had just paid the second installment on the construction of the fustal pitch. Having paid the majority of the cost we decided to move forward, in faith to be able to use and enjoy the field as much as possible. This was based on much prayer, financial and other information we as a board have at this time. We have recently received a US$1000 to help us complete what we have started. Thank you Lord! • • •
Please continue to pray with us that we will be able to use the sports field as long as possible. Pray for the landlord that they would see the benefit of a sports facility to the entire community. Currently the astro turf is stuck at the China/Nepal border. Please pray that it would be released soon. (A number of years ago the KISC generator was stuck at the border and we prayed it through. God can do it again!)
PRAYER POINTS • • •
Continue to pray for Khim Kandel & Sher Gurung as they work with the various ministries to ensure we are doing all we need to do to maintain our positive relationship with the government of Nepal as we work as guests in Nepal. Pray for the workers making the futsal court; for safety as they work and good results. Pray for a full recovery and strength for Brandon Arneson and for the family.
Even teachers need a break sometimes...
Luckily the mid-term break is here!
FUN “TO BE LIVING WITNESSES OF CHRIST’S LOVE THROUGH EXCELLENT EDUCATION”
CONTACT US!
Kathmandu
International
PO Box 2714
Dhobighat Kathmandu Nepal
WE ARE ALWAYS HAPPY TO HEAR FROM YOU, OR IF YOU ARE IN NEPAL, PLEASE COME VISIT!
+977 (1) 553 8720
Centre
www.facebook.com/kisc1987
admin@kisc.edu.np Project of HDCS
Study
www.kisc.edu.np
Human Development & Community Services
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