Message from the Head of School

Mrs Anne Fowles

I hope that you all enjoyed the Lunar New Year holiday. Some of us enjoyed the food and treats a little too much. Well at least we can go outside and exercise a lot more that was possible during the last MCO.

Talking of the MCO, I expect that you have all heard the news that the MCO has been extended for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur until March 4 but the SOPs have relaxed somewhat, so we can now have more people travelling together in a car and some sports are allowed.  We have also heard that schools in Putrajaya have opened up again for all students so let’s hope that this will apply to IGBIS as well before too long. New announcements are being made as I write this which would seem to indicate that additional classes will reopen in early March and international schools should be able to fully reopen from March 8. Once we have received clarification, we will in turn advise IGBIS parents of next steps.

IB Schools around the world received notification last Friday about the May examinations. At this point, schools in Malaysia have been advised that the DP and MYP examinations will proceed unless there is a significant change in our ability to have students on site for the examinations. There will be a meeting with Grade 12 parents on Monday morning to discuss the mock and final examinations. If you haven’t received the meeting link, please contact Ms Van Nooten.

Apart from the grade 12 mock exams, International Day is the next major event on the school calendar. By now you should have already received various communications about how you might contribute to the programme for International Day. It is a relatively short event this year, but there will be lots of fun activities from our community members, so please do mark this on your own calendar – March 13, from 10 am to 11:45 am

Have a lovely weekend ahead and remember to do some exercise as well as observing the SOP to keep yourselves and those around you safe.

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From the Elementary School Principal

Simon Millward

Even though our week has been 3 days, our learning never stops and it is always great to bring some of the examples to the forefront of your minds.

This week I would like to highlight the collaboration between Grade 1 and Design. This transdisciplinary unit had the students inquiring into simple machines like incline planes, wedges, levers, pulleys, screws, wheels and axles. The Grade 1 students have spent the last four weeks learning all about these simple machines. Their task last week was to bring together all of their learning and to create a Rube Goldberg machine. They had to explain what simple machines they had included in their Rube Goldberg machines. Along the way Mr. Harvey has guided the students and offered them inspiring videos to help in their creativity from simple cardboard solutions…

to more elaborate Lego solutions.

to an even more elaborate version with pipes, windmills and dominoes.

A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption which contains a series of chain reactions that is overly engineered to perform a simple task.

Here is a sneak preview of some of the G1 machines. The videos of these and others will be shared very soon at the Elementary assembly.

Whilst not all of the machines worked completely the students showed great resilience to keep modifying and improving.

Dates for your diaries

13th March: International Day 10.00 – 11.45am

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From the Secondary School Principal

Sandy van Nooten

Week six of semester 2! It was another short but busy week and now we have five full weeks until our next school holiday. 

IB Exam News – Last Friday, we heard from the IBO that schools in Malaysia will be running IB exams in May. It is a huge relief to everyone involved with Grade 12 to (finally) have this concrete decision. We hope that more students will come in and learn face-to-face as teachers push through to complete all components of their courses in good time.

Grade 12 Mocks – Our Grade 12 students will be doing their mock exams (from Wednesday 24th February to Friday 5th March). Mr Drechsler has shared the detailed schedule with Grade 12 parents and students. All exams will be held in the large Performing Arts area. Students will be at least 2 meters apart throughout all exams. 

Individual Orals – All English Language and Literature orals will be held from Friday 12th to Tuesday 16th March. Orals for Language Acquisition will be a bit later. These orals are formal IB Internal Assessments that are recorded, graded and sent to the IB for moderation. Students will need to be at school to do all orals. Where possible, orals will be scheduled during the English (or Language) class, study halls or flex blocks. Occasionally a student will need to come out of another class to complete their oral. The schedule of the orals needs to be treated like an exam schedule. Once set, it is more-or-less etched in stone. 

Following on from the short videos on the benefits of sleep, I thought I’d share this one on the cognitive benefits of exercise. I hope you enjoy it (before you race out the door to get some exercise :).

Have a lovely weekend.

Stay safe.

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IGBIS Activities programme 22nd Feb – 26th March 2021  

Ruth Spracklan

For the next 5 weeks, we will be offering some after / before school activities. Primarily these are for secondary students, however elementary are welcome to join the cooking and walking clubs as long as they have adult supervision. If demand is high we will endeavour to add more clubs to the schedule!

The schedule is as below (same links to be used every week)

Monday 22nd Feb	Tuesday 23rd Feb	Wednesday 24th Feb	Thursday 25th Feb	Friday 26th Feb
Art Club		Football	Cooking Around the World	Morning walk 7am-7:45 am
Mr Pendlebury		Mr Parratt		Miss Spracklan
3:00 – 4:00 pm		3:15 – 4:15 pm	3:15 – 4:00 pm	7am – 7:45 am
Link		Link	Ingredients Google Link	Link

All information can be found on the splash page, please ensure to keep checking for more information and updates!

To participate we just need to know you wish to join, so please complete the google form.

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Grab a Book

Kerri Chan

Feeling blue? Missing school with nothing to do? How about reading a good book?  

Just a reminder that even if we are not physically in school, IGBIS has many available resources for members of our community.

Grab Books: Fill in the Grab Books Form  and we can supply you with physical books for you to take home. Just browse through Destiny and let us know the titles you want. All you need to do is pick up the books at reception.

Wheeler e-Platform: Can’t leave your home? No problem.  You can access ebooks and audiobooks through Wheelers.  Please have a look at the Getting Started with ePlatform tutorial here. 

After watching the Getting Started video, if you are interested in learning more about ePlatform please click on the Using ePlatform tutorial here. 

New books are available each month so check by often!

Just some of the new books for February 2021!

If you have any questions or need support using Grab Books or Wheelers, please contact me at kerri.chan@igbis.edu.my.  Happy Reading!

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Hello from the Secondary School Design Department!

Marcus Wetherell

Right now we’re all hoping for good news about the MCO, but students in design remain as busy as ever regardless of whether they are working from home or attending lessons in-person at school.

Our Grade 10 students continue to progress in their ePortfolio work – they are currently working on Criterion B: developing ideas, and will soon be moving into making their products and prototypes. Meanwhile Grade 12 students will have their mock examinations in Design Technology next week, as we move ever closer to the real deal! Students in other grades are also hard at work on a variety of projects including making board games, cardboard products and ePortfolio preparation.

For a bit of design-related fun, check out this LEGO gift wrapping factory – ingenious! Until next time…