Updates from the Principal’s Desk Dear Panaga School Community,
Issue Forty-Eight 10th January 2020
Panaga School IFM/4, BSP Company Sdn Bhd, Seria, KB 3534, Negara Brunei Darussalam (+673) 3375728/3372139 (Teraja/Melilas), (+673) 3372694 (Mendaram/Rampayoh) Principal: Cindy Bin Tahal (+673) 3372355/8777028
Welcome back to Term 2. I wish everybody a sensational New Year and hope that across the school break, joyful moments were experienced by all. With the return to school, we have welcomed a number of new families, with 10 student enrolments this week. More new joiners are expected in the coming weeks. Our school vision - Together, Improving Learning - is enacted daily and it seems that this is evident from the day of arrival into the Panaga School Community. As I have had the opportunity to check in with new families, I am pleased to report that feedback about the welcoming, connected community of Panaga continues to be experienced. Staffing Updates This week, we welcomed Miss Rachel McKay back from maternity leave to teach Nursery. We have also welcomed to our teaching team 8 new Learning Support Assistants: Miss Magdeline, Miss Hidayat, Miss Dorothy, Miss Aliah, Miss Ayu, Miss Jillian, Miss Mina and Miss Ahsha. These ladies will add value to teaching and learning in a range of locations across the school and will be introduced to students at assembly this week. Education Consultation Visit - Janice Ireland
cindybintahal@panagaschool.com Next week, Shell Schools Education Consultant, Janice Ireland,
Head Teacher: Mark Walters markwalters@panagaschool.net
(+673) 3373972/8988224 Panaga School Senior Administration Officer: Jalinah Bte Ali (+673) 3375728 jalinah.ali@shell.com Admin Support, Rampayoh/Mendaram: Zurimah Bte Jumat z.jumat@shell.com Admin Support, Teraja: Hasmah Bte Hj Salleh hasmah.salleh@shell.com
will be visiting Panaga School. Janice’s visit has been planned for some time to provide teacher training in the newly introduced International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) in Pre-Nursery, Nursery and P1, as well as ‘Looking for Learning’ training for all teachers. In short, ‘Looking for Learning’ is a framework that helps teachers reflect on learning taking place, as determined by conversations with students. Additional Learning Needs and Inclusion In September 2019, International Educational Psychologist, Dr Angie Wigford, visited Panaga School to conduct observations and held engagements with staff and parents to determine the current provision and the potential for development of additional learning needs. This independent review followed questions to the company in relation to the capabilities of Panaga School to support children and their education needs, for employees making decisions about assignments in Brunei. At the last School Board Meeting, it was agreed that a working party should be established to review and consider recommendations for this important strategic developmental area at Panaga School. The school leadership and additional needs teams have nominated a diverse group of five parents, who have agreed to form this working party. They will meet for the first time next week, with Janice Ireland, Jackie Campling (Additional Needs Team Leader) and myself in attendance. Janice is familiar with all Shell Schools and has worked both as a special needs teacher and in supporting whole school communities to build their capabilities in relation to special educational needs provisions. If you would like to discuss any of this information further, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Panaga School Weekly editor: PTA Meeting Damian Brady
damianbrady@panagaschool.com A reminder that the next PTA meeting will take place in the Teraja Staffroom at 7pm
on Thursday 16th January. All are welcome to attend to discuss and plan for fundraising events in support of our children's learning and play. Kind regards, Cindy
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
Updates from the Head Teacher’s Desk Back to school Welcome back to another exciting term at Panaga School. Holidays are a wonderful opportunity to refresh ourselves and to have new adventures together. The children have all returned to school full of wonderful tales of adventure and new experiences they have had during the break. They have all really enjoyed sharing tales of visits to grandparents, time with cousins and also the enjoyment of a quiet Panaga (Apparently the food at the club during the break was amazing!) As the children get back into the routine of school life, I would encourage you to continue to share in their learning journey. Take time to find out all of the new things your children will be learning in the coming weeks and help reinforce them at home. The more we can work together, the more our children will develop.
Entry Points Since joining Panaga School, I have been impressed by the unique and exciting ways teachers capture the curiosity of the children. Across the school, a number of Entry Points have take place to launch new topics and excite the children. I was really pleased to be able to visit the P1 and P2 Entry Points.
Safety focus of the week As the new term starts, I would like to remind all parents and the Panaga community of the need to travel around Panaga carefully. This week, one of our younger children narrowly missed being hit by a speeding vehicle within Panaga. Incidents like this are easily avoidable and I would remind people that being a few minutes late for morning drop off or to the office is less important that our continued safety. - Mark
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
Facilities Update from Panaga School’s Business Service Lead, Cyla Ahmad RIGHT: A new recycling point to promote recycling across the school for staff and children has been installed.
LEFT: A sunshade sail in Pre-Nursery is under construction and is due to be completed this half term.
LEFT: New signs and fresh coats of paint have brightened up the carpark areas around Mendaram and Rampayoh to increase visibility and safety.
RIGHT: New fencing around the Rampayoh football field and along the staff car park has been installed.
The climbing walls originally from Melilas have been transferred to the Teraja building. Here, there is more space for the children in an easy to monitor location.
ABOVE: Some P3 children requested a mini-stage to be created as part of the play area. With thanks to the PTA, it has been successfully built using wooden pallets covered with anti-slip mats to avoid injury.
ABOVE: Again, thanks to PTA, we now have a restored sunshade to cover part of the 70th Anniversary garden in the Melilas area.
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
13-Jan
14-Jan
15-Jan
16-Jan
17-Jan
PTA Meeting Teraja Staffroom 7.00-8.00pm
Whole School Mendaram (PN-N) Rampayoh (P1-P3) Teraja (P4-P7)
P4-P7 Sports Day
Melilas (M1-M2) 20-Jan
21-Jan
22-Jan
23-Jan
24-Jan
Whole School 8.00am: International Dough Disco Day – Rampayoh Hall (P1) 8.00am: International Dough Disco Day – Rampayoh Hall
Mendaram (PN-N) Rampayoh (P1-P3)
Teraja (P4-P7)
7.00am: P4 Trip To Brunei Army, Tutong
7.30am: P3 Trip to Schlumberger
2.45pm: Calculation Policy - Parent presentation
Melilas (M1-M2) Event information above is correct at the time of printing. To keep up-to-date with all school events, please go to: www.panagaschool.com/calendar.
Panaga Student Pupil Portal Pre-Nursery to P5
Please click here to access Weekly Learning Objectives and Home Learning for your child.
Please click here for the next Sports Training Schedule
Melilas ASAs
Activities at Melilas run at various times and days throughout the week. Students can choose multiple ASAs but only one per day. Most Melilas ASAs start week beginning 20th January. Please click here to view the list of activities available for Melilas students. Please click here to sign up to a Melilas ASA.
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
Miss Ahsha
Miss Mina
Miss Ayu
Miss Aliah
Miss Dorothy
Miss Jillian
Miss Hidayat
Miss Mag
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
Panaga Football Tournament - sign up and volunteer! We will be running our annual Panaga Football Tournament on Sunday 9th February 2020. This is a great sporting event with an opportunity for our students to compete and have fun with students from other schools.
Please click here to register your child’s interest in participating in the tournament. The success of this event relies greatly on the support received from volunteers within our school community. They play an integral part in the day by taking on key roles which assist in ensuring games run smoothly. Please indicate if you are able to support this event by filling in the second part of the above form indicating if you would be able to referee. Unfortunately, without enough referees, we will not be able to go ahead with the tournament.
- Nathan Edwards
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
Ocean Treasures Entry Point: Mendaram It was marvellous to have all of the Mendaram children playing together at our ‘Beach Day’. The children made waves in the water, explored pebbles and different textures of sand as well as playing beach games and making sandcastles. Later, the Nursery enjoyed a picnic snack. We are looking forward to learning more about ‘Ocean Treasures’.
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
By the Mendaram Team
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
P1 children experienced many different weather types during a fun ‘Splash’ morning on Tuesday. From sizzling in the sun to freezing in the frost, they found lots of ways to enjoy the weather. As this new learning journey about weather evolves, we will share and capture moments to celebrate the children’s developing knowledge, skills and understanding.
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
To view all photos from Splash Day, please click here. By the P1 Team
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
The original Wildlife Warriors reunite! P2’s Our World Entry Point The original Wildlife Warriors reunited this week to kick off P2’s IPC unit, Our World! The P2 children who attended Nursery at Panaga School were part of the first Wildlife Warriors, dedicated to conservation on the island of Borneo. Through their mural efforts, they raised substantial amounts of money to contribute to the Sun Bear Conservation group in Sepilok, Sabah. This week, they were able to learn more about the flora and fauna of Borneo and Brunei. Miss Steph, Miss Donna and Mr Alex were special guests, leading the activities aided by our classroom and specialist teachers. The children learnt about wildlife habitats, animal sounds, scientific classifications and why taking care of our environment is so important. A huge thank you to our surprise guests, Raffie and Simpor, who gave the children certificates for participating in our learning adventure. The children will share this term’s learning with their parents at the P2 Exit Point at the end of the term.
Where do the animals live in the rainforest ?
Which animal’s footprint is it?
Raffie and Simpor arrive!
Is it a reptile, amphibian, or mammal?
Snakes and Ladders jungle style!
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
Listening to the animal sounds!
Which animals live in Brunei?
One of the conservation projects the Wildlife Warriors are supporting in Sepilok, Sabah.
Classifying the flora and fauna of Borneo
What did you learn? “We learned about the wildlife in Brunei.” “I learnt that the last rhino in Borneo just died.” “We need to take care of our environment.” “Orangutans sound different than I thought!” “ Animals live in different places: the jungle floor, trees and in the bushes.” “We have to save animals because they are killed by hunters.” By the P2 Team
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
Sharing our learning across Panaga School On a very exciting trip to Teraja, P2 and P5 demonstrated the Personal Qualities of Reflection and Communication by sharing their Term 2 learning in Design and Technology and DE. P5 taught P2 how to build a circuit to light a bulb, and how to create music using the programming app, Scratch. P5 also showed vehicles and ovens powered by renewable energy sources. P2 showed their puppet designs, puppets and shared their evaluations from the Magic Toy Maker IPC unit. In some cases, siblings were able to share their learning too! The children have enjoyed working together and hopefully we will visit each other again later in the year. By the P2 and P5 Teaching Teams
Siblings sharing their learning. Using Scratch and circuits to play music.
Alternatively powered boats and a solar oven.
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
At the end of November, we held an In-House Spelling Bee Competition to select 6 children from each year group. As all children prepared so well, it was really hard to select just 6 children each group. We had special T-shirts made for the competition. Both schools, Panaga and JIS, wore the same T-shirts, but with their own school logo. Suffice to say, the children were really excited to wear their T-shirts. Mr. Mark welcoming the JIS students —>
Panaga students
JIS students
On the day, 18 children from JIS came to our school. The competition consisted of 3 rounds. In Round 1, the judge said a word in English and the children had to write the word in French on a whiteboard. This round was judged by the Language Leaders.
P5
P6
Our lovely M1 and M2 judges
P7
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
In Round 2, one of the judges would say a word in French and one child at a the time would spell the word using the French alphabet. In order to make it fair, we had two teachers from JIS and two from Panaga. We were very fortunate to have Miss Khedidja Alem Uddin help with the judging.
It was really hard to choose the finalists for our school, especially for P6 and P7. In P6, 5 out of 6 students achieved 100% in the first two rounds. In P7, every student achieved 100%. In the end, the finalists were decided by playing ‘rock, paper and scissors’. In this round only two students of each year group competed. The judge would say a word in English, than one student at a time had to say the word in French and then spell it in French. In the end it was a draw. All students did really well and we are extremely proud of them. It is a frightening experience to sit in front of an audience and spell words, now imagine doing it in a language you have only just started to learn. There will definitely be rematch and next time we will be going to JIS. The Spelling Bee contestants and the Language Leaders Our P5 finalists
Our P7 finalists
Our P6 finalists
By Mr Mark, Miss Louise C and Miss Steph
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
By Maura Murphy
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
Huge Congratulations to Sara and Mahi as their Knowledge Quiz has been taken on board and will be used by UK schools!
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
M1 and M2 Language Leaders from left to right: Raymond, Soubhik, Rodion, Henry, Pepijn, Finlay, Evan, Gabriel, Sophie, Sarah, Jessica, Aliza, Lucy, Elisa and Lena. (Ananya (M1S) is missing from this picture as she was absent, a real shame as she puts in lots of hours with the P7 children.)
In September, we started the Language Leaders course. Together with 5 students from last year, 11 new students joined the course. In order to participate, they had to fill out an application form stating why they would want to take part in the course. They were straight away thrown in the ‘deep end’ as their first task was to prepare P5, P6 and P7 students for the French Spelling Bee against Jerudong International School (JIS). This was a hard task as P5 do not study French at school, and P6 and P7 only started classes this academic year.
P5
P6
P7
Language Leaders planning for activities/strategies for the Spelling Bee. They put themselves in year groups before the students were selected.
Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Eight, 10th January 2020
P5 preparations
P6 preparations
P7 preparations The three of us are extremely proud of the Language Leaders as they truly excelled themselves in the first term. Every Thursday lunchtime, for 6 weeks, they prepared a group of students for the French Spelling Bee. They had to teach them the French alphabet, as well as the spellings and definitions of 30 French words. They truly did an amazing job with the younger children and gave up a lot of their time. In the last few weeks, some of the Language Leaders ran 2-3 lunchtime sessions to help the children prepare. On the actual day, they helped with the organisation and judged the first round. They were exemplary role models to the younger children and to our school. They welcomed the visitors, supported the younger children throughout and represented themselves and the school magnificently. We could truly not ask for better Language Leaders. We cannot wait to see how they will cope with their next challenge, next term. We will keep you updated on their progress. By Miss Louise C, Mr Mark and Miss Steph (Language Leaders Team)