IGBIS eNEWS: Week 1, August 2021
Head of School Headlines
Hello IGBIS Community,
With a few days of the new school year now behind us, I am filled with a sense of gratitude not only towards all of the families who choose us as their partner in educating their children but also towards the wonderful group of educators and staff who make that happen. In our opening assembly (which you can view HERE if you missed out on our “roll call”!) I spoke about how a sense of belonging is the most important element of starting a new school year, and while that is important every year, it’s even more important when we are beginning online. The physical distance can make it difficult to feel connected, but I have seen our teachers work extra hard to make our students feel known and establish a sense of belonging as much as possible while we are working on our screens. Thank you to our students who are leaning into an imperfect situation to start the year, to our families who are making sure their children are getting enough rest to engage with their online learning, and to the teachers and staff who are working to create as much of a sense of community as possible.
With thanks,
Jason McBride
Head of School
ES News
Welcome back to IGB International School for another exciting academic year. Whilst no one wanted to start the year by distance, I have to say I have been extremely impressed with our community of learners- students, teachers and parents.
I am confident that Toddle will be a huge benefit to everyone. Already I am seeing incredible potential.
For example:
Parents are able to view announcements and family messaging in the language of their choice via their default language setting on their phones.
From my perspective, I have all of the meet links and learning engagements in one place, at my fingertips so I can drop into ‘live’ sessions and see what learning tasks the students have been working on. I have already been taking advantage of this opportunity.
As with every new system, there will be glitches and challenges that people face and that is no different from these early days working with Toddle. However, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for being open-minded, patient and resilient as we are troubleshooting and working through the challenges that we encounter.
The journey is long, but it will be worth it in the end.
I hope you have a relaxing weekend.
Simon Millward
Elementary School Principal
SS News
What a start to the new year!
I would like to thank EVERYONE, (students, teachers and parents) for all their work, flexibility and good humour as we start this new school year online. It is not easy (particularly for new families and faculty) to make sure everyone is connected to all the right people. There have been a few wrinkles, and we are working hard to smooth them out. If there are issues with student timetables, Grade11 & 12 students should contact Magnus Drechsler, Grade 6 to 10 contact Flavia Godja or me.
If there are other issues, please reach out to…
- Your child’s Homeroom Teacher and Grade Level Coordinator (for general & pastoral queries)
- Subject teachers (for questions about a particular subject)
- IB Program Coordinator (for MYP, DP or CP information)
- Counsellor – Leanne for Middle School, Tim for High School (for social &/or emotional support)
NOTE: All contact information can be found in the A to Z Handbook.
We’ve introduced a few documents to help students and families find information easily.
- A to Z Handbook – The A to Z Handbook is a very important document to help you find information, procedures, expectations etc. It is available from Splash, and I hope you will bookmark it for easy reference.
- Student Launch Pad – We will keep the Student Launch Pad up-to-date with links to all frequently accessed documents, announcements, and upcoming events. Parents are welcome to access this launchpad too.
- Introduction to ManageBac for Parents (Video and Slides)
- How to access Splash
- How to toggle between google accounts (so you can access shared IGBIS documents)
- Using ManageBac (attendance excusals, assessment calendar, how to see units, how to access assessment info and feedback… etc.)
This video is ideal for any parent who needs an introduction or an overview of MB.
These Intro to MB slides give you most of the information (without the explanations).
Both these links are added to A to Z (under ManageBac).
I hope you have a lovely weekend. Stay safe.
Sandy van Nooten
Secondary School Principal
Ministry of Education Survey
A REVIEW OF THE READINESS OF SCHOOLS, TEACHERS AND PARENTS/GUARDIANS FOR THE OPENING OF PHYSICAL SCHOOLS UNDER THE NATIONAL REHABILITATION PLAN
Deadline Saturday, 14 August 2021, 8:00 PM.
In view of the above, the Ministry of Education is conducting a survey to review plans to reopen school (for face to face teaching) under the National Rehabilitation Plan (PPN). All Teachers and Parents are invited to complete the questionnaire below (either in English or Bahasa Malaysia).
- English survey questionnaire – https://bit.ly/ENGVersion
- Bahasa Malaysia survey questionnaire – https://bit.ly/VersiBM
Zomi Education Centre Needs Your Help!
The refugee children and their families need your support in these difficult times.
Monetary donations can be made to
- Name: Detik Harapan Sdn. Bhd.
- Bank: CIMB Bank Berhad
- Account No: 8007 193 002
- Recipient Reference: ZEC Donation
*Donations are only accepted until 18 August 2021
