IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 240
Message from the Head of School
Mrs Anne Fowles, Head of School
When I wrote the newsletter a week ago I didn’t for a moment think that school would be closed a few days later. Fortunately, we have all been in the CMCO before, so we know more what to expect. Nevertheless, it is a real shame to not have students in school taking part in Pinktober, the Week of Play and other activities. Fingers crossed that we can resume face to face classes after the October break.
The MYP Certificate Ceremony planned for October 21 will be postponed until students are back in school. A couple of parents have asked if we can bring forward the October break into next week and have school open the last week in October. We didn’t consider this as an option, firstly because some people have made plans based on the published calendar and secondly because we have seen articles from the health sector expecting that the CMCO is likely to be at least 3 weeks long.
Open Day: Reimagined (FB Live)
Join our LIVE session this Saturday, 17 October 2020 at 10 AM! Tune in to https://fb.me/e/4IywADZVQ
Our PYP Coordinator, Ms Aga Chojnacka will bring you on a tour session around the school & talk about our fascinating programmes offered. Interact LIVE with us!
Click below to join us live!
Pinktober
Although school is not in session for our students, the staff are still at work. We made it a point to still dress up to help raise awareness on the fight against breast cancer. Here are some photos of those who took the effort to make it happen.
Stay safe and let’s continue to fight this fight together!
Virtual Week of Play
This week marked a 4th Annual Week of Play that IGBIS celebrates as the first and so far only official Imagination Foundation Chapter in Asia Pacific. It was a week with a not so playful twist as we had to move to Distance Learning on Wednesday but it did not stop our learner from Playing. Children were eager to engage in online cardboard and lego design challenges, designed and build their own arcade games and explored various virtual resources put together by our Imagination Chapter Foundation Leaders (Ms Aga and Mr Harvey). The week’s culmination was a Play Assembly, which you can watch here!
As for next week, we’ve had so much positive feedback from the learner’s themselves we have decided to continue with the fun and we designed a collection of “Read Aloud-Think Aloud” books, that inspire creativity, imagination and design/maker spirit. You will be able to find this collection in your child’s distance learning and choice grid, here.
4th Week of Play: Daily Read Alouds
If all of these options weren’t exciting enough, we have another incredible opportunity for our your designers and makers starting on Monday. It’s our 4th Edition of Inventor’s Challenge (also by Imagination Foundation). Children will get a chance to engage in a design process and over the next 8 weeks go through all the steps of developing and testing a prototype that will enter the International Inventor’s Challenge competition.
Your Playfully,
Imagination Foundation Chapter Leaders
Rhythm & Action
Jamie Cant, Drama Teacher
Grade 12 DP Theatre students – Solo Theatre Piece Performances
Students Hritvik and Harin were asked to consider how to make a piece of theatre based on theory and to find the most appropriate theatre form and performance material required to contain these theoretical considerations. Through this exploration Harin and Hritvik were expected to realise the relationship between theatre theory and practice and the ways in which theatre theory informs and influences the creation and presentation of theatre. The performances were attended by the performer’s parents, staff and Secondary students who took part in a lively Q&A directly after the performances. This was an enriching and enlightening experience for everyone as we considered how the arts disturbs the comfortable, and comforts the disturbed and teaches many transferable skills to our students.
In order to gain firsthand knowledge and a mini experience in directing a play using Robert Wilson’s theory of experimental theatre workshops were conducted during theatre lessons and by the use of the main theatre/auditorium I was able to envision how I would implement the relevant techniques at the appropriate times. Throughout the experience of doing my Solo Theatre Project, I have acquired an incredible amount of knowledge and experience. I have learnt how to use my facial expressions in a way that allows for deeper meaning and that allows for a message to be conveyed more clearly. I have learnt how to incorporate utilisation of my full body rather than just my top half. I was able to refine my ability to deliver a message by performing a non-verbal piece and broaden my horizon and my understanding and knowledge of lighting.
Hritvik Chigurupati
Realising that though introduced in the early 20th century, Bertolt Brecht’s work is still present today, impacting many works, theorists and practitioners, I was captivated by how Brecht’s theories and conventions of the theories allow strong, influential stories to be told without directly involving the audiences’ emotions. I was also drawn by the fact that stories with such strong messages, either social, political or moral can be effectively communicated or presented in a non-verbal manner. The idea of awakening the audience by leaving them to form personal opinions appealed to me as my piece will be addressing a deeply personal, historical, political issue that tackles moral values.
Harin Sung
To InfinITy & Beyond
Adam Morris, ICT Coordinator
The changing landscape of the world in general, and the world of IT, are intermingled. With the state of the pandemic, we have found ourselves in a new era of inquiring and communicating. To meet this evolving challenge, the ICT Department at IGB International School has invested in a niche solution known as GSuite Enterprise for Education.
This represents a significant change to our IT infrastructure, both in terms of teachers who have to learn and adapt themselves, and also in terms of providing our community with premium technology.
This solution enriches the students’ learning experiences in the following ways:
- Break-out Rooms. Teachers can assign meeting areas to the side of the main conference room, letting them engage in small-group discussions quickly and easily.
- Q&A. This allows teachers to post questions to all of the students, providing scaffolding
- Recording. Teachers can record and share the recording with the class, which lets students repeat the content at their own pace.
- Attendance Reporting. At the end of every meet session, teachers get an automatic email that shows them which students were logged in, and for how long. This ensures that we have a track record of the activity happening at home, and helps teachers connect with your children.
The above is only the tip of the iceberg. There are other features that have become available to us, such as Cloud Search, that makes it easier and faster for us to dig up information that may be buried, and we forget if it’s an email, a chat, or a document. There are also additional cybersecurity features that help protect both the domain and individual accounts, and additional reporting features as well.
The one niggle is that we had to review our policies that were in place prior to launching it. One of the policies had to be changed in order to work well with Break-out rooms, and that feature was students’ ability to create Google meets. As indicated in a previous communication, this feature was turned off.
With the addition of Enterprise, IGBIS is prioritizing children learning in a well-organized manner, even from home, even in the face of uncertainty.
Dear IGBIS Community,
It seems as though we have just got the year underway yet the first semester is coming to an end in December!
In the meantime, if there is information that needs updating (e.g. address, passport number, phone numbers, medical information etc.), please email us at admissions@igbis.edu.my so that our Admissions Department can follow up with you. It is very important that we have all of your latest information in case we send out notifications by email or SMS – the communications about school closing for the CMCO is a good example of this. A reminder also that if your family is moving on in January, please email us the withdrawal form before 30th of October 2020, so that we can help you with the necessary.
We look forward to seeing you and your family again when the CMCO is over!
IGBIS Admissions Team
