Panaga School Newsletter Issue 38, January 2013 Panaga School Brunei Darussalam Jalan Utara, Seria, KB3534, Brunei Phone: +673 3372139 Fax: +6733373028 Web: www.panagaschool.com
Liza
Chris White (author and illustrator) and Ian Billings (author, poet and children’s stand-up comic) put on a wonderful show of literature and fun for all ages. More on pages 2 & 3.
Message from the Principal into our children’s learning across all areas. If you believe you could give our students a ‘realIt has been yet another very busy half term with life’ learning experience, please contact Commany learning highlights and activities across munity Leader for Learning, Mr Tim Walsh, or both (expanding) school sites. Who could be- see your child’s class teacher. lieve we are already halfway through this acaFrom the UK, we welcomed two talented writers demic year? Our thoughts and prayers are and poets, Chris White and Ian Billings, to with Nora, Ward and Romy. Whilst walking around the school and into class- Panaga School last week. Both authors conrooms, I constantly witness children engaged a ducted class workshops and performed hilarious Inside this issue: wide variety of exciting lessons. Some of the assembly performances – all with the aim of Page 2 and 3 : great learning going on this month has included expressing how writing can be descriptive, en- - Visiting authors from the UK, Chris P3 jet-setting across the world to Indonesia, gaging and fun. From the reactions of the chil- White and Ian Billings, put on a wonMexico, Africa and Australia! As a part of their dren (see pages 2 and 3) it is clearly evident derful show of literature IPC ‘Holidays’ unit, they not only shared in the their visit was an overwhelming success. Many cultures and games of each destination, they thanks to Literacy Leader for Learning, Miss Page 4: had to pass though Customs and Immigration to Teresa Lenihan, for preparing and organising - PTA News the activities schedule of these authors. be allowed entry! (See article on page 5.) Dear Parents,
Page 5: Also on Rampayoh, P1 have had a lot of fun ‘getting their hands dirty’ with activities related to their IPC unit, ‘Sand and Water’. To enhance their learning, they had the privilege of listening to expert diving and sailing instructors who spoke of what they enjoy about their jobs, what difficulties they face and most importantly, how to keep safe. Thank you to Mr Mark and Mr Andy W for sharing your expertise. (See article on page 8.) Talking of expert speakers, P8 welcomed BSP production geologist, Usman Chaudry, to instigate learning about the rock cycle, introducing some of the vocabulary used to describe and classify rocks. As a part of their current Science learning on ‘Energy’, P8 were fortunate to have Usman’s insights into the role geologists play and of some of the daily tasks he himself undertakes in the oil and gas industry. Thank you, Usman. (See article on page 6.)
Finally, over the half term break, Panaga School - P3 all went on a round-the-world plays host to the International Leadership and holiday! Management Program (ILMP). ILMP is a course for current and future international school leadPage 6: ers designed to encourage confidence and ex- - P8 are posed a ‘Rocky Challenge’ pertise in leadership and professional relation- - Technology ASA kids are all eyeships between students, staff, senior leaders ing the future and board members; among other teaching/ learning management aspects. The training will Page 7: be led by Pam Harper, Director of Professional - Ellie the Elephant meets her Development, Fieldwork Education.
maker!
I wish all children, parents and staff a happy and Page 8: safe half term break and please remember at - Primary One mix well with sand holiday times to continue wearing your helmet, and water whether you are cycling around Panaga or elsewhere abroad. I am delighted to see all students Page 9: now wearing their helmets to school and even - Sport with Mr Tim W more children and adults cycling on ‘Car Free Fridays’. I would like to leave you with a quote from Neighbours actor, Daniel MacPherson, that Quote for the month: he made after being involved in a cycling accident in 2006, at the height of his career: “When “Study without desire spoils the you look at my crumpled helmet, it`s amazing memory, and it retains nothing there`s not one cut or bruise on my head.” Not that it takes in.” so amazing, Daniel, it is just safe, common - Leonardo da Vinci sense.
In such topic areas and many others, we are well-positioned in the Panaga School community to have not only a staff of dedicated teachers and Learning Support Assistants who possess many specialised talents of their own, but among us are a plethora of gifted parents who have an abundance of knowledge, skills and Best wishes, understanding that could provide unique insights Tim Robinson
Newsletter designed and edited by Damian Brady
Panaga School Newsletter Acclaimed Authors, Ian Billings and Chris White visit Panaga School were proud to host two of the UK’s respected and talented children’s authors, Chris White and Ian Billings, last Wednesday to Friday. Ian Billings, a UK-based kids’ stand-up comic, author and poet workshopped and performed alongside Chris White, fellow “Author Abroad”, fulltime writer and illustrator extraordinaire, to share their insight, talents and hilarity with our students, across both sites. Among many of the activities with the students, Ian Billings worked in classes with children developing story setting and building their storytelling imaginations. Chris encouraged children (step by step) to draw a fictitious creature and then to write rhyming couplets to describe the creature. Both authors also performed hilarious and engaging assembly performances; sharing their own writing and illustrations.
Panaga School Newsletter Panaga School to inspire minds; young and old Many thanks to both Chris and Ian for inspiring Panaga School minds; both young and old. Here are some fruits of their labour (written by P3 children): Bony is a very scaring pet who likes sleeping in a net Bog is a very funny pet, He likes watching a beautiful sunset. Biggy is a very cute pet Yesterday was the first time we met
More information about the authors can be found at: www.ianbillings.com, http://veggievampire.com/ page3.htm and http:// www.authorsabroad.com.
Their books are available through Amazon.com.
By Miss Teresa, Literacy Leader for Learning, and Damian Brady
Panaga School Newsletter PTA News Too good to use for drying dishes! Many thanks to all children (and your class teachers) from PreNursery to P8 – your handprints and self-portraits created the fabulous artwork for the Panaga School tea towels.
of Manon de Monchy who masterminded the quirky advertising campaign.
So far, over 850 tea towels have been bought, raising $5,000 for the school. There are still a few availChristina Fenlon and Christine able – if you are interested, please Marnoch coordinated this PTA contact Elizabeth Moras on 866 fund-raising initiative with the help 0234 or dizzymoras@gmail.com.
P4 and P5 proudly displaying the tea towel
A warm welcome to all new parents Around 20 parents took up the School principal, Mr Tim Robinson, invitation to attend a ‘Welcome was there to meet parents, along Coffee & Chat’ at the Panaga with several PTA reps. Club on Monday, 28 January. All parents whose children joined the school since the academic year started in September were invited. The informal event allowed the new parents to meet, mingle, and make new contacts. An information sheet on the If you missed the event and would school’s extra-curricula activities like an information sheet, please and the PTA was handed out. email: panagaschoolpta@gmail.com
PTA funds put into action Further to a request by teaching staff, some PTA funds have been spent on buying playtime equipment for Teraja. $1,500 has been allocated to buy parachutes, bean bags, a range of balls, cones, board games and craft materials to use in four activity zones - the Sports Zone, Get Fit Zone, Multi-Game Zone and Chill-Out Zone.
A similar amount of PTA-raised funds has been set aside to provide age-appropriate equipment for Rampoyah. If you have any suggestions as to how PTA funds could be spent within the school, please drop a note in the PTA suggestion boxes or email panagaschoolpta@gmail.com.
Get your dancing shoes on... What: School Disco When: Wednesday, 27 February Where: Teraja School Hall There will be three time slots: P1, P2, P3: 4.304.30-5.30pm P4, P5: 5.455.45-6.45pm P6, P7, P8: 7.007.00-8.00pm
Tickets cost $5 each and include a drink, snack and surprise disco accessory. We will send out all the details in early February. Numbers are limited so, to avoid disappointment, make sure you reply quickly!
Panaga School Newsletter P3 all went on a round the world holiday On Tuesday 8th January, we celebrated our “Holidays” IPC Entry Point. Excitedly, we came to school carrying a suitcase, packed to go on an airplane. When we arrived, we were surprised to see the play area turned into a check-in lounge and aeroplane. First, we had to queue to get our bags weighed and passports and tickets examined. We were disappointed we were in economy class, so we had to wait a long time. Next, Miss Salbiah searched our bags and after that Miss Rosie stamped our passports at Immigration. Finally, we were on a very dilapidated aeroplane which we had to pedal to take off. After snack, we participated in activities in different countries. We went to Indonesia, Mexico and Africa. In Mexico, we learned to dance the Hat Dance, but spinning around made us feel very dizzy. In Indonesia, we learned to play music. This was enjoyable because we could thump the large circular drum. Finally in Australia, we decorated traditional boomerangs. Many of us enjoyed this art task the most, even though the dotty patterns were very tricky to make neat. We really enjoyed the day and learnt many facts about the countries and cultures we visited. Alaa (IP3T) – “It was fun because when I went on the plane I ate a lovely biscuit.” Osama (IP3T) – “I went on a aeroplane because I don’t want to stay in just one country forever.” By Team P3
Panaga School Newsletter Technology ASA students already eyeing the future Term two’s Technology ASA got off to a flying start on Thursday, 10th January 2013. Fifteen budding futurists, construction enthusiasts, car and airplane designers, civil and mechanical engineers got stuck into 12 boxes of kit of all different kinds… and appeared to have fun in the process! BSP and BLNG job applications to follow (in about eight or ten years)… By Mr Dermot
A rocky challenge to classify a collection of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, recording their findings in their IPC books. With Usman’s help, they also used a fluorescence scope to identify hydrocar- Oil and Gas Discovery the class to give a brief bons in different rocks and Centre for their loan of a introduction to the ‘Rock- materials. variety of rock and fossil cycle’ and introduce the samples and a fluorochildren to some of the The session ended with scope. By Mr Andy Ryan correct vocabulary used to the children challenging describe and classify Usman to identify and At Panaga School, we believe it is important to make learning rocks. The session also classify rocks that they relevant and to work in partnercrossed over to support had brought in as part of a ship with the people in our comtheir science learning, home learning activity. munity. Your expertise is a welwhich is currently focusing The session was an ex- come addition to our curricuon energy, to explain the cellent opportunity for the lum. role geologists have in the school to draw on the Please contact Mr Tim Walsh, oil industry. wider BSP community to (timbalina79@gmail.com) if st On Monday 21 January, enhance the children’s you are able to volunteer your time and skills to give our stuUsman Chaudry, a pro- The children used the in- learning activities. Our dents a ‘real life’ learning exduction geologist, visited formation Usman shared thanks also goes to the perience. As part of their current IPC topic, Space Explorers, IP8 have been learning about how the rocks in our own earth were formed and how we can classify them. Realising that just down the road from the school we have a building full of worldclass geologists, the teachers invited one of them in to help.
Panaga School Newsletter Ellie the Elephant Update
Ella Salt bumped into the original creator of Ellie, Thalita De Assis, in Panaga! Thalita has recently moved to Brunei from Gabon. What a wonderful coincidence! Since the new year, Ellie the Elephant (our visitor from Gabon) has been having a wonderful time with P2 in Miss Sam's class. In fact, she has been having so much fun that they asked to keep her for an extra week. As you can see from the pictures here on the Mascot website, Ellie had a load of great adventures too with the kids of P2. She even met an old friend from Gabon in Panaga. Ella Salt was standing in the street with Ellie, taking some pictures when a woman walked past and introduced herself as Thalita. She in fact was the person who created Ellie many years ago in Gabon and has now moved to Brunei! What an amazing meeting! Ellie is now with P1 and will soon be on her way over to meet the older children in Teraja. We will all miss her on Rampayoh. By Mr Neil, ICT Specialist
Panaga School Newsletter Step one: mix Primary 1 with sand and water…. They now know all of the dive signals and what to do if they see a shark!
Our IPC learning unit Everyone had lots of fun this half term has been and got very wet…...and glittery! very messy! Our Entry Point for sand and water involved lots of fun outside. We explored muddy, glittery, smelly, coloured, and soapy water and sand. As part of our learning, we invited two visitors into the classroom to speak with the children about some of their activities/ jobs they do involving water.
Mr Andy spoke to the children about diving and showed them his special diving equipment.
We even dipped our toes on frozen ice… but not for long.
There were lots of equipment to share, we investigated how to make more bubbles and how to make water travel along different sized tubes.
Mark spoke to the children about his job as a sailing instructor and brought along waterproof clothes, bags and socks, Children enjoyed asking as well as other sea questions to develop their personal goal, “Enquiry”. equipment. With Mark, they found out about water safety, various boats and the equipment required. Mr Andy made the children feel like they were real divers by showing a video clip of the underwater world.
By Primary 1 Teachers
Panaga School Newsletter From the Sports Desk with Tim Walsh, PE Specialist
Panaga Pride Inter-house Sports It is a busy and exciting time for sport and physical activity at Panaga School. Tuesday lunchtimes now see students in P4 and P5 compete in an inter-house football competition. The competition is open to both girls and boys and has been tremendously well attended. Twenty-two students hit the pitch to represent their houses last week! The enthusiasm for inter-house sport is not limited to our youngest Teraja students. Wednesday lunchtime hosts the P6 to P8 inter-house basketball competition; which has also been extremely well attended and passionately contested. I look forward to seeing many more hard fought battles on the pitch and court in the coming weeks.
JIS Invitational Swimming Gala On Sunday, 27th January, Panaga School entered a team in the JIS Invitational Swimming Gala at the National Swimming Pool in Berakas. Every Panaga competitor who hit the pool showed determination and skill. It was a privilege to see our students in action as the Panaga team gave it their all from
the first event of the day to the very last. In the process, the team won a healthy swag of medals. Thank you to the families who came along to support our Panaga swimmers. BJSL Athletics Carnival On Thursday, 31st of January, Panaga returned to Bandar to contest in the BJSL Athletics Carnival. On the track and in the field the competitors held their heads high. Everywhere I looked, students from Panaga School were fighting hard to achieve the best individual result they could to help the Panaga team. At the conclusion of the event, Panaga School finished in second place to JIS by less than 20 points. A great result, but also a good source of motivation to keep training for next year. Thank you to all of the parents who supported this event.
BJSL T-ball and Football As I write, the BJSL T-ball and football teams are completing their preparations for the upcoming round of T-ball and football fixtures. These committed students know that practice makes perfect. Ever-increasing numbers of Tballers are arriving at school early on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings to improve their fielding and batting skills, while our footballers hit the Padang after school on Tuesday afternoons. These practice sessions have enabled our students to understand the relationship between hard work on the training field and positive results in matches.