IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 267.
Message From the Head of School
Anne Fowles, Head of School
I hope that your week is going well and that you are all keeping safe and healthy.
It’s hard to believe that we only have 3 more days of the school year until we wrap up 2020-21.
Unfortunately, with the announcement of the FMCO, we are not able to have teachers or students in school for final assemblies, awards and farewells. We are organising for these to take place online so please look out for dates and times for these. Messages should have also gone out explaining the process and times for returning school textbooks, library books and other resources. This is particularly important for families that are leaving.
I would like to mention teachers who are leaving us this year and to extend my thanks to them for the contributions they have made to IGBIS:
Mr Adam Morris has been with IGBIS since we opened in 2014 and had had a key role in the development of technology and IT systems in the school as well as teaching English and DP Computer Science, been a Grade Level Coordinator and Teacher support for the Student Council. Mr Morris has been recognised by Google, Apple and Managebac for his talents. He is moving to a full-time position with Managebac as their ‘Director of Schools Technology and Integrations’ and will remain based in Malaysia. Thankfully, his wife, Ms Yuri Kim will continue working in our secondary school.
Mr Marcus Wetherell has been with IGBIS since 2015. He has held a number of positions including teachers of design and Grade 9/10 Coordinator. Mr Wetheral is currently our Secondary School Design Coordinator and is moving to Singapore where he can work with his new wife.
Mr Marshall Hudson has been at IGBIS for 6 years teaching in Grade 3 and Grade 5 where did a lot to develop the PYPX and the famous time machine!. Mr Hudson, his wife Lizzie and two children are moving to Brazil where they will be working with Michael and Julie Arcidiacono
Jamie Cant (MYP Drama and DP Theatre) and his wife Ivy (Elementary School Chinese) and their two boys have been at IGBIS for three years. With Mr Cant’s guidance, our Rise youth theatre has blossomed as have our secondary school productions. While Ms Ivy has made her mark with PYP Chinese.
Marc Green (MYP Individual and Societies, DP Psychology and Grade 9/10 Coordinator) has been with IGBIS for three years. He is moving to a similar position in Cologne so that he can be closer to his family in Ireland.
Rachel Bandelin has taught in Kindergarten and Grade 3 for the past 3 years. Next year she will be supporting her husband in his startup headship with another school in Malaysia.
Jason Spivey has taught both DP Economics and Business for the past 2 years. He had planned to stay in Malaysia longer but was headhunted for a position in Dhaka, Bangladesh!
Ms Natasha Panthakeehas been teaching Grade 4 at IGBIS for the past 2 years. She is taking a one-year sabbatical in 2021-22 and hopes to return to full time teaching in 2022.
From the Elementary School Principal
Simon Millward, ES Principal
Thank you to everyone who attended the Toddle workshop last week hosted by Ms. Aga. We hope this was an informative session and you are as excited about exploring the platform as we are. We will be delving deeper into using it next year. This is our new system for accessing report cards and many other functions. If you have not already received the email from Ms Ruba, you should be receiving it soon in order for you to download the app so you can receive your child’s report card next week.
In some respects, I am always torn at this time of the year. We celebrate the highlights of our year, but we also have to say farewell to students and teachers. We are also saying farewell to Mrs Fowles the founding Head of School who has done so much for all of us to establish who we are today, the facilities, the teaching faculty, the name and the positive reputation of IGB International School on a world stage and so much more.
This year our leaving staff are:
Marshall Hudson: G5:
Marshall has been with us for 6 years and started off teaching in Grade 3 before moving to Grade 5. He has coached T-ball and football and apart from the Grade 5 PYP Exhibition he has been the creative inventor of the ‘IGBIS time machine’ as he has documented his journey’s to the past and the future in search of knowledge and greater understanding. Not willing to settle for mere time travel adventures, he is continuing his teaching journey with his family in Brazil.
Ivy Cant: Chinese
Ivy has been an integral part of the Chinese team, as she has brought her experience to IGBIS, continuing to build on the foundation of the Chinese programme that we had and making strides to make it better. She took on the leadership role for Lunar New Year assemblies and she also demonstrated her risk-taking abilities by turning her hand to badminton coaching. We wish her and her family all the best on their next adventure in China.
Rachel Bandelin: G3:
In the two years that Rachel has been with us, she has shown how versatile she is as a teacher by teaching two different grade levels, KG and this year Grade 3. Her plans are still in a state of flux but she will be travelling home to the US this summer with her family. We wish her the very best for the future.
Natasha Panthakee: G4:
Natasha is pregnant and she will be taking a sabbatical year next year to enjoy raising her baby.
We wish all these teachers bon voyage on their new and exciting lives. Thank you for all you have done to support student learning at IGBIS.
On Tuesday 8th June at 2.15 pm we will have our ES production which is a complete student written and performed production by our very talented Grade 3 and Grade 4 students. More details can be found later in the newsletter by Mr Alex and the live stream link will be sent out on Tuesday morning.
Dates for your diaries
- Monday 7th June: King’s Birthday: public holiday: No school
- Tuesday 8th June: ES Production 2.15 pm
- Thursday 10th June: Final ES assembly of the year. (Live stream link will be shared later)
- Thursday 10th June: ES reports are sent out (via the Toddle app)
- Thursday 10th June: Last Day of School
From the Secondary School Principal
Sandy van Nooten, SS Principal
Just two and a half school days remaining – I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend. Next week is set to be short and eventful. Tuesday is our last ‘regular’ school day. Wednesday is ‘Recap’ day, which is a student-led day of fun and frivolity. Students will spend the morning in mixed vertical teams playing some crazy online games, courtesy of the student ambassadors. In the afternoon, the whole student body will watch a student-led assembly that looks back on the trials and tribulations of this year. Teachers will be part of each team, and I’m sure their competitive streak will be on display :).
On the last day of school (Thursday 10th), we will have a half-day with everything winding down at about 12noon.
On Thursday from 10:30 to 12:00, we will hold our Secondary Awards assembly where we’ll celebrate student achievement in a range of areas. We’ll also say goodbye to departing students, teachers, as well as a special tribute and farewell to our fearless leader Mrs Anne Fowles. The whole community is welcome to view the event. The live stream link will be shared with students, parents and teachers early next week. I hope to see lots of you there. After 12 noon, students are free. They can start their well earned holiday. Secondary reports will be released by 4 pm on Thursday.
On Saturday 12th at 4 pm, we will hold an online graduation ceremony for our amazing class of 2021. We are doing our best to put together memorable graduation. Hopefully, once the F-MCO ends, we can celebrate in person at a Graduation Dinner. Huge thanks to Steve Harvey who has agreed to put together the ceremony for us. The students are providing all the inspiration, the words of wisdom and the beautiful video footage. We miss the Gr.12s and we are proud beyond words of their resilience and good humour.
Leaving Students – All students who are leaving at the end of this semester need to get all borrowed books, texts and other resources back to us by Thursday 10th. If you live close, you can probably drop your items off yourself. If you live further afield, LalaMove might be your best option. Ms Pat Yong has sent an email to all leaving families with more information.
Returning Students – All students who are returning next year need to return their resources between the 15th and the 30th of June. Depending on the MCO, you might also need to use LalaMove. I’ll send more information soon.
I hope you have a lovely looooong weekend.
Stay safe.
Sandy
The World Around Us
Alex Milescu, PYP Music
Dear IGB Community,
I have the great pleasure of informing you that this year’s Elementary School Production is ready! I really hope everyone is able to tune in on the 8th of June, at 14:15 to watch the students’ amazing performances.
Even though we started rehearsing in school and planned to perform on stage in the theatre, the students showed great commitment and perseverance and continued practising online. I am sure you will appreciate the talent and dedication they showed during our recording sessions. Everything you will witness on the 8th of June is student-driven, the stories, the characters and the music. It was great to see how creativity unfolded during our class discussions and how, just by using our imagination, we managed to build stories that share a wide range of emotions. We had a good look at the world around us and tried seeing it from a different angle, under different light and we ended up with five very different stories that I hope you will enjoy.
For these plays to reach their full potential we need you, the audience, to attend our show so please join us next Tuesday to appreciate a fragment of IGBIS imagination performed by grade 3 and 4 students.
Yours sincerely,
Alex
CAS Music Project with ZLC
Ben Koh, Grade 11
For my CAS project, I chose to do a music project working with students from Zo Learning Center to expose students to music. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, I planned to hold the music sessions online, which I initially thought would detract from the experience. However, once I got into the project and things were finally moving, I think that the students enjoyed it online just as much as they would have face to face.
I only managed to hold one session before the recent surge in cases, since students are now no longer attending the centre due to the MCO. However, the one session was still a great experience for me and hopefully the students as well.
There was one moment in particular that stood out to me, which was that as we wrapped up, I asked if the students wanted to hear a song played on the violin, and they requested a song titled “At My Worst”, which I found out all the students liked. I found the sheet music and played the song, and it was great to see them more engaged with brighter expressions on their faces by the end.
I believe that I have reached my goal, however, I do not intend to stop here, as I want to continue if the pandemic allows it.
Wellness
Ruth Spracklan, Athletics & Activities
The last lesson for wellness for the year saw our students take part in a variety of activities, ranging from baking a cake in a microwave to learning a Nova Scotian song! Students could also get active with some yoga or a HIIT workout. Thank you to the amazing teachers who have been so resilient throughout the online learning sessions, and well done to the students for trying out so many different activities!
