Weekly Newsletter 3 September 2021

NEWSWEEK

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03 September 2021

MEMORY WALL IBDP RECITAL TEACHERS OF THE WEEK! SUPER STUDENTS!

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A Letter From The Principal Dear Parents, Students, Staff and Friends of NLCS Jeju For every student who joins North London Collegiate School Jeju it is the start of a journey. A journey where they grow and develop into well rounded, confident, compassionate and globally minded young people with a clear sense of their responsibilities and the contributions they hope to make in the world in many walks of life. Along this journey there are stepping stones and markers which celebrate their successes and progress along the way. Today, we witnessed one such important stepping stone for our current Year 12 students.

The celebration ceremony this afternoon was especially poignant as we approach our tenth anniversary and because our students as Year 11 achieved the best ever IGCSE results at NLCS Jeju. This is testament to their efforts and resilience but also our wider school community who have taught, supported and nurtured these exceptional young people in difficult times. They are now embarking on their IB Diploma Programme but we expect them to play a key role in student leadership and through their wider co-curricular contributions to the school and in the wider community service they provide to act as role models to our younger students in the school.

This week has seen many of our faculty and support staff being called for their COVID -19 vaccinations and so I thank them for their cooperation and organisational skills which enabled the school to continue as normal despite the disruptions..This also occurred while the school had their mandatory TB screenings!

Yours sincerely, Lynne Oldfield Principal

MEMORY WALL As we approach the tenth anniversary of opening we have created a Memory Wall outside the main Auditorium entrance. Please share your lovely NLCS Jeju memories with your friends and Schoolmates. We hope this will be a lovely memento for years to come! Your tutors, class teachers, HoYs and BMs will talk to you about sharing your memories. Pictures, programmes and other visuals are also welcome. Let’s make this special!

North London Collegiate School Jeju

IGCSE CEREMONY It’s always lovely to see the return of our Year 11 students as Year 12 students embarking on the IBDP programme. It’s important to mark the end of the IGCSEs which involve intense study and hard work. Mr Simon Cox, Head of Sixth Form, hosted the ceremony today where students received a certificate of acknowledgement and walked across the stage as successful IGCSE recipients.Thank you to Principal, Ms Oldfield and other speakers. We also thank Mr Sean Blakeley of the British Chamber of Commerce Korea for a lovely message to the students (in Korean and English!!) and to Jessica Zheng for a fabulous performance of La Campanella by Franz Liszt.

A LETTER TO YEAR 12 The hard work for our Year 12 students has already started! Jason Sannegadu, Head of Year 12, sends a message to the parents of Year 12 students. It’s a really important year and our students have settled in amazingly. He says -

Dear Year 12 Parents, It has been a pleasure to meet our new Year 12 Halla Students, who are exceptionally talented and dedicated.The start to a new academic year is always challenging and Year 12 have certainly risen to this by showing not only their commitment to their chosen subjects, but also their resolve to succeed. I have been fortunate enough to speak to a large number of students since the beginning of term and have been encouraged by how many have said that they have settled into IB life well and are looking forward to continuing in their scholarly approach to learning.

I have the pleasure of teaching Global Politics to a group of Year 12 students and am greatly impressed by their knowledge of current events and ability to succinctly analyse these and apply them to political concepts. One of the reasons I became a teacher was to bring my subject to life and encourage students to critically assess everything that they know, determining for themselves where truth really lies. I’m very much looking forward to delving into political science and discussing the different theoretical approaches to the study of Global Politics.

It has been an incredibly busy week for the Halla Team as we have been interviewing a significant number of Year 12 Students for Prefect positions, with final interviews being conducted this week. Each student is assigned to a Project area along with a mentor and the Halla team and the mentors will be meeting together to finalise the Prefect choices shortly. I would very much like to thank all of the students for applying and taking part in the interview process, I hope it wasn’t too gruelling!

Finally, alongside academics, I hope that Year 12 will ensure, as IB students, that they achieve a sense of balance, spending time with friends and family, eating healthily and developing good sleeping habits. Find some time to read for pleasure; I am currently reading Box 88 by Charles Cumming and can’t put it down!

Jason Sannegadu Head of Year 12

SENIOR PREFECTS As we come to elect our new Senior Prefects - some of our previous Year 12s give their advice!

Janis Park - Year 13 “Personally, being a Prefect was a great opportunity for me to develop myself into a better leader. It enhanced my communication qualities and helped me to become a more responsible person. Also, voluntarily working with peers for the good of our school community was so worthwhile, which made me feel more included in the NLCS community. “ Sunny Choi - Year 13 ” I frequently tell my family and my friends that overworking is not healthy for their bodies, and it even decreases their efficiency. So, I would like to say to the new Year 12 students that to survive the workload of IB, it is crucial that they spare at least 2 hours per day to stay away from schoolwork and computers, and do something they enjoy, like playing sports, reading, baking, or even watching Netflix. “ Cindy Ku - Year 13 “I have enjoyed being involved in the interview process for New Prefects as it has allowed me to meet potential team members in advance and it was great to feel the great passion and interest that Year 12 have shown. Also, the involvement with the interview process helped me to feel more included as I could share my opinions on applicants with teachers. “ Ben Ko - Year 13 “It was a pleasant surprise to see so many students putting themselves forward, in order to help the NLCS Jeju community flourish. It was great to see new students to the School volunteer for these leadership positions, too.

Lyndsey Cho - Year 13 “The Prefect position provides students with opportunities to take action to make changes in the school. Through this opportunity, I gained more confidence in myself and indeed, learned how to be a true leader. “ Alison Song - Year 13 “The opportunity to get involved as a prefect provided me with a chance to participate in a variety of different school-related activities that I would normally not know of. These experiences taught me how to interact with diverse year groups and further developed my leadership skills. “ Stella Yeom - Year 13 “Be open minded to new opportunities and consistently reflect on your accomplishments and mistakes to grow as a person. Take time for self-care and look out for others as well.”

Kate Roh - Year 13 “I have enjoyed being involved in the interview process for the Prefects as I was able to see their passion for the Prefect system and their unique vision for the school. “

HOUSE SPIRIT! Senior School looked so colourful on Monday as House spirit shone through all day long.

Taking a leaf out of the Junior School’s book all students wore their House colours all day.

Lessons,Tutor Time, Lunch and the House Competition all in House shirts! Which of our five Senior Houses will triumph? Noro, Sarah, Geomun, Jeoji or Mulchat?!

THE ARTISTS ENTERPRISE Take a look at this great video - An Introduction to the Arts at NLCS Jeju. This was created last term by Jay (Jaesung) Lee and Andrew (Jihoon) Kim and their team. Both boys are now in Year 12 but joined Artists’ Enterprise in their Senior years. For IGCSE Jay pursued Music and Andrew Visual Arts. As they are not continuing these subjects into IBDP they want to stay passionate about and involved in the arts via extra curricular activities. They explain “The focus of our group is video productions which showcase the arts at NLCS Jeju. We want it to be known that we are a successful and elite school for studying all arts subjects. “ Anyone who is interested in joining can contact Jay and Andrew. “ Join us if you want to learn more about video production. If you love the arts and want to help others love and appreciate them then this is for you! Each student will have their own responsibilities on each project. “ The video gives a wonderful flavour of the different elements of the arts offering at NLCS Jeju with a focus on Arts Festival 2021.

BLENDED LEARNING We were on reduced capacity in some areas of the School last week due to the government’s strict guidelines on numbers in all schools and educational establishments. We have ensured that students do not miss out on any areas of learning with our excellent online learning experiences.We love that practical subjects like Art are all addressed beautifully - an example shown here is Michelle Walker’s Year 2 class . They took inspiration from the work of Paul Klee, created covers on their Art Journals and then shared their designs with the whole class.

We are delighted to be fully back in School but we’d like to acknowledge and congratulate all our teachers for continuing to be so committed to blended learning. Lailai Luo Mandarin teacher and Year 6 Tutor in the Junior School shared these pictures of her Year 6 class interviewing some Year 12 students about success in Mandarin. What a wonderful idea!

Ms Luo explains “Last week our Year 6 Mandarin first language class students had an online interview to our Year 12 IB Chinese A students, to listen to our elder students introducing their Chinese learning experience and pathways, ask them questions and gain a general idea about the Chinese pathways from Year 6 to KS3, to IGCSE, to IB. They asked the following questions in an engaging and lively discussion conducted entirely online.

How do you learn Mandarin as a first language in an international school outside of China?

Without a Chinese speaking environment, how do you cultivate interest and passion in Mandarin as a mother tongue? What difficulties have you encountered in Mandarin first language learning? Have you ever thought about giving up learning Mandarin as a first language? What is the purpose of learning Chinese? Is your Chinese learning forced or voluntary? Is learning Chinese a pleasure? How many hours have you spent on doing your Chinese homework? What do you do in your Chinese first language lesson?

Thank you to all the Year 12s for sharing. One of their key points is to have a passion for reading, and extend your reading scope.They mentioned how they fell in love with Chinese language and literature through extended reading. In addition, the Year 12s also emphasized their love for Chinese language and literature, and how they gain wisdom in life by reading Chinese classics. It is worthy of notice that our current IB Chinese A students all started their learning journey from NLCS Jeju Junior school. After a long journey, now they can study Language A. That gives them a lot of confidence and shows a good example to our current Year 6 Mandarin first language learners.

Due to Covid, we can’t meet in person to have our interview but online was also a lot of fun. “

CLASS FOCUS Thank you to 4MEJ for posing for our Class picture of the week. Send us your class/tutor group pictures - next week could be you!

CCAs and BRYANTS Lots of new CCAs and Bryants are starting this week and next. We also have lots of revitalised groups with different student leaders or link teachers. The Marketing CCA is just one of these with an incredible 35 students signing up to help tell the story of NLCS Jeju!

They will be learning all about the real marketing world, answering briefs, creating films and visuals and learning to write content. Thank you to Mr James Tuffs who runs this CCA and to Rosie Reynolds who will assist the students!

IBDP RECITAL The first Music performances of the year have started with a wonderful IBDP Music Recital. Thank you to the three amazing performers and to their teachers who helped and supported them towards this, the first of many!

Jessica Yuxuan Zheng - Maurice Ravel, Jeux d’eau Eunsoo Lee - Oskar Rieding, Concertino King Kang San Hyun - Intervals, Impulsively Responsible “The Class of 2023 hit it off with a bang as in the first week of their course, the new IBDP Musicians performed live in front of an enthusiastic audience. Part of their Music course is all about how we present, what we take away from live performances, and to think deeply about the effects audiences have on our musicianship. It’s a privilege that in these challenging times, the NLCS Jeju community is able to benefit from live performances showcasing the best of our musically gifted students. Year 13s have their recital at 18.15 on September 8, and from here we can only go from strength to strength! “ Mr Harry Thorrington

IBDP RECITAL

FIRST SCHOOL - FAIRY TALE FUN! Year 2 has been learning from fairy tales. Mr James Lilleywhite told us about an exciting class last week!

“Today in Year 2 we discovered that a beanstalk had appeared in the playground and left behind some strange objects for us to look at. We noticed a golden egg, large boots and magic beans all over the floor. We headed straight back to the classroom to draw what might be at the top of the beanstalk to warn Ms Oldfield about the dangers of what we discovered.

Here is a picture of it with Red Ted, our class mascot.”

TEACHERS OF THE WEEK! This week we introduce two of our new Graduate Assistants and both are from the Music department! Both are extremely experienced and bring a wealth of knowledge and skills to the team. Mr Neil Tamlyn, Head of Arts says - “They are already contributing to academic enrichment in the department. They have been working with our IB students on supporting them with their IB course, drawing on their professional experiences around the world.”

We are so lucky to benefit from an extensive Gap and Grad programme and our students get to learn from these fabulous young people who have followed paths that they may soon tread themselves.

Kenneth Cormack Kenneth studied classical guitar at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Since graduating he has performed across the UK as both a solo guitarist and with ensembles including the Buchanan Duo and Narnain. He has a passion for all things fretted and has been working as a peripatetic guitar tutor in schools across Scotland for the past five years.

North London Collegiate School Jeju

Aleksandra (Ola) Henszel Originally from Poland, she has spent the last 11 years in the UK living, studying and working as a performing musician and instrumental teacher. She studied Flute at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and Royal College of Music in London, where she also taught Flute at the Junior Department. She has worked with many orchestras in Europe such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Opera and Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. She was also a Cohort Member of the Global Leaders Program in 2020 through which I organised a Flute Festival in Santiago, Chile.

TEACHERS’ OLYMPICS We love that our teachers are always active. Inspired by this Summer in Tokyo, Mark Eyton Jones - Class 4 teacher in our Junior School - has set up a mini Olympics for teachers. This week they tried their hand at some of the Throwing games. Can you spot your favourite teachers? We had no idea they were SO competitive!!

HEALTH AND SAFETY We are always keeping our community safe and well. Please be assured that it’s not just COVID-19 guidelines which are at the front of our minds. This week the Korean National Tuberculosis Association carried out screenings for all our Senior School students. Thank you all for your cooperation.

SUPER STUDENTS!

North London Collegiate School Jeju

This week we have more news from our very accomplished students. Firstly, we heard from Bella Kim in Year 8. Bella won the first prize in the Middle and High School section at the 2021 International Youth Cyber Environment Forum hosted by Jeju Island this summer.

41 teams from 8 countries, including South Korea, Singapore and Australia, submitted proposals and held online discussions on the theme of solving the climate crisis.

The 2021 International Youth Cyber Environment Forum is a national debate hosted by Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and organized by Mother Nature, providing opportunities for exchange and communication among teenagers around the world to become the main players in solving the climate crisis every year. As an international youth journalist, Bella is working with the community to promote the seriousness of climate problems and to solve them. She is passionate about this cause and will continue to pursue these opportunities as the year goes on. You can read more HERE

Bella Kim

North London Collegiate School Jeju

Joy Siwon Hwang in Year 7 also shared some great news with us. She participated in the Korea Herald English Speech Contest and won the second prize in the international school division (Grade 4 - 6). She gave an in-depth speech about environmental issues in 3 minutes.

Congratulations on these achievements, girls!

Joy Siwon Hwang

TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY In 10 years, the school has grown and developed in many ways. One of the small changes is the junior school uniform. The mother of Soul Park, who joined NLCS Jeju in Reception and is now in Year 8, shared these lovely pictures of her and her school friends in school uniform that you can’t see any longer. What are some other changes so far? Please share your special memories with us!

MUSIC CORNER The new Music department lesson timetable started this week. Please see the link HERE if you have any queries. It’s Music Enrichment Week w/c September 13. We’ll be previewing it next week. Ask your Music teachers what’s going on!

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North London Collegiate School Jeju