Community Newsletters IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 313

IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 313

From the ES Principal

Simon Millward

Sometimes the variety of the week keeps us on our toes. This week has been full of great learning from a variety of experiences.

On Tuesday our under-11 students (Grade 4 & Grade 5) had their first experience playing basketball against other schools. I am sure they learned a lot from playing and they achieved some success winning games. However, more importantly, they will have learned about themselves and the team and what their next steps are to develop their games play even more.

KG and Grade 3 embarked on two field trips on Thursday. KG headed to the Petrosains Museum in KLCC to learn all about space (their current unit of inquiry) and also to be inspired by the dinosaur exhibit, as they consider what interests them for their personal inquiries.

Grade 3 headed to the Botanical gardens for their ‘how we express ourselves’ unit of inquiry about nature. Mr Alex joined them as the children collected sounds for their soundscapes, Ms Elli engaged the students in some sketching and Mr Harvey had the students take photographs. I look forward to seeing what the students create in the next few weeks. 

Recording sound:

Sketching:

Taking photographs:

A friend joining IGBIS:

On Friday, we had our first house event, Crazy Day. Our House Captains put a lot of thought into the day they prepared a scavenger hunt, a jigsaw puzzle of the house logos, write a backstory for a house spirit animal, create dance moves for their house chant, a make/build activity involving their house colour, create/draw a spirit animal associated with their house and dance along to some house based music. The craziness was there for all to see. What a great start to building our house communities.

Two events coming up next week that you as parents can join in with are;

  • Monday 17th October: 2 pm – 4.10 pm – Our Day of Play afternoon will be taking place. You will have received a google form from your child’s homeroom teacher by now asking whether you will be accompanying your children to this event. It is sure to be a lot of fun and a great chance to play with your child(ren).
  • Wednesday 19th October: 8.15 am – 9.15 am in the PVO room on level 2, there will be another workshop that Ms Natasha will be facilitating on ‘Science and Social Studies through the lens of the UN Global Goals’. It is sure to be very informative.

Dates for Your Diaries

  • Monday 17th Oct: Day of Play – 2 pm – 4.10 pm (parents are encouraged to attend).
  • Wednesday 19th Oct: Workshop Wednesday Science and Social studies (units of inquiry)
  • Friday 21st Oct: WS Deepavali assembly – 2pm – 3pm (students only)
  • Monday 24th Oct – Monday 31st Oct: School holiday

From the SS Principal

Sandy van Nooten

This week in Secondary – It was another busy week in Secondary where we managed to squeeze more than 5 days’ worth of shenanigans into a 4-day week. 

MYP Certificate Ceremony – A few weeks ago, we (finally) received the official IB MYP Certificates for the class of 2024. On Tuesday, Lennan MacDonald (MYP Coordinator) and Jenny Wencl (Grade 11/12 GLC) ran a short and sweet ceremony before handing the certificates to all the hard-working and deserving students. Thanks to the parents who came along to support your (now) Grade 11 students. 

PSATs – Thanks to Ms Amanda Lopez who organised and administered the PSAT exams for our students on Wednesday. The testing schedule (which is set by CollegeBoard) is gruelling. Students were exhausted by the end. 

Volleyball – On Wednesday our ‘Over 15’ Volleyball team competed in a friendly tournament hosted by MKIS. Our boys narrowly lost their first game 23 – 25, won their second 25 – 23 and convincingly won their third game 25 – 11.

Service as Action – On Friday morning, Mr Wilson (our AD and CAS/SAA coordinator) ran a workshop for parents about Service as Action in the MYP. As we start to normalise after years of COVID, we are looking to forge relationships with a range of NGOs and community groups. If you know of, or are involved with a service group or project that you think would benefit our students, we would love to hear from you. Please either email me (sandy.vannooten@igbis.edu.my) or Mr Wilson (craig.wilson@igbis.edu.my).

First Aid Training – On Friday and Saturday, we have 25 teachers and support staff taking part in a 2-day First-Aid course. Over time, we hope to ensure that most of our teachers and support staff hold a current first-aid qualification.

Interdisciplinary Project – Innovation, creativity and the ability to transfer skills across disciplines, become more and more important and are skills that are sought after in this 21st-century economy.  Currently, the Grade 11 Chemistry and Visual art students are collaborating on a project during which the students teach each other and share their respective skill sets. The Chemistry students present to the Visual art students the scientific reasoning on how materials like paints and glazes are coloured and demonstrate how paints are made. Students learned that coloured pigments in paints have been used even in ancient Greece and that the sculptures that we often know as white, were actually all coloured in diverse skin tones. The Visual art students will soon demonstrate to the Chemistry students how paints and glazes are used to create art. Students will understand how paints may look different in a different light and why. They will ask themselves if knowing the chemistry behind paints and glazes changes the way that they are using those materials. Here are some photos from part 1 of this project. (From Mr Drechsler).

Week of Play – Next week is our ‘week of play’. For part of Tuesday, Grade 11s and 12s will be playing with clay and Grade 6 through 10 will be designing, building and flying paper aeroplanes to see whose goes the furthest (in distance) and stays aloft the longest (in time). 

Student Council in collaboration with the House Council has also planned a range of cerebral, physical and fun activities and games during lunchtime throughout the week.

Upcoming events in Secondary (between now and the end of the semester)

  • Day of Play – Tue 18th October
    • Grade 11/12 – during block 3 and part of lunch (regular day otherwise)
    • Grade 6 to 10 – during block 3 and 4 (regular day otherwise)
  • ISPP MUN – Trip to Phnom Penh for MUN conference departs Thu 20th October – Release at 2:45 pm. (Returns Sun 23rd October). 
  • Deepavali Assembly – Fri 21st October Collapsed assembly schedule.
  • HOLIDAY – Sat 22nd to Mon 31st October
  • EOSMUN – IGBIS MUN – Fri 4th & Sat 5th November
  • CIS/NEASC/IB – The reaccreditation visit runs from 12th November to Fri, 18th
  • 3-Day Weekend – Holiday on Mon 21st November
  • Group IV trip (Grade 12) – Wed 23rd & Thu 24th November
  • Aquathlon (Grade 6 to 11) – Fri 25th November during blocks 2 & 3 (regular day otherwise)
  • OPEN DAY – Sat 26th November (9:30 to 12:30). Will involve some teachers & some student ambassadors
  • Grade 11 Exams – Thu, 1st Dec to Mon 5th Dec
  • MYP Vis Arts Exhibition – Mon 5th Dec to Fri 16th Dec
  • Holiday Bazaar – Fri 9th Dec (12 to 7 pm)
  • 3-Day Weekend – Holiday on Mon 12th Dec
  • MB Closes – Tue 13th Dec (at 8:00 am)
  • S1 Reports Released – Thu 15th Dec (by 4 pm)
  • Christmas Assembly – Fri 16th Dec. We will follow the Collapsed (assembly) schedule.
  • HOLIDAY – Sat 17th Dec to Mon 9th Jan
  • Parent Session Overview (for the year) – Here’s a link to all the parent workshops in Secondary.
  • Sports Fixtures Overview – Here’s a link to all the sports fixtures for season 1. Some ‘friendly’ games might pop up from time to time. Mr. Wilson will keep us posted.
  • Useful links for parents
    • Student LaunchPad (this is the place to go to find out what’s happening in school on a day-to-day basis). It also has a ‘quick links’ section where you can find lots of important documents.
    • Secondary Assessment Procedures – a 4-page document outlining our assessment expectations and procedures. (Also available from Student LaunchPad & Splash)
    • A to Z Secondary Handbook – This gives an overview of all our policies, expectations and procedures. (Also available from Student LaunchPad & Splash)

Have a lovely weekend.

Regards

Sandy

The IGBIS Holiday Bazaar is Back!

Warren Chew, Marketing

This year’s Holiday Bazaar will be held on Friday, December 9, from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm, one week before the Christmas Assembly. It is open to the IGBIS community (students, parents, and staff) and the invited guests of the parents from the stated time, 12.00 pm to 7.00 pm. In addition, we would also like to extend the Holiday Bazaar to our neighbourhood communities from 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm.

If you are interested in being a vendor or if you have any favourite vendors that you would like to recommend, please contact me (warren.chew@igbis.edu.my) or click HERE to register.

If you have any Christmas decoration items that you would like to donate, please drop them off at the reception area at your earliest convenience. Many thanks for your kind support on behalf of the PVO Holiday Bazaar.

Committee members: Pauline Bourquenez, Chickie Dumalag, Hilda Lujan, Divya Kapoor, Kim Hee Kyung, Preeti Chhabra, Sally Watters, and Megan Ngatai.

New Website Will Be Up Soon!

Please take note that the splash button will remain on the top bar.

Current site

New site

October, Masks, and Authenticity, Part 2

The Counselling Team

In our month-long focus on Authenticity, we continue the journey to be our true, authentic selves by giving space for shame and recognizing how shame and fear often prevent us from being, owning, and loving our true selves. 

For this week’s message – a continuation from last week’s introduction to Brene Brown and The Power of Vulnerability – The second instalment: Listening to Shame. It is a long video and a bit slow at first, but around 4 minutes, and 35 seconds it starts getting real. 

As Brene shares, shame can only exist in secrecy, silence, and judgment – and that’s where our masks come in. 

Oftentimes we hear negative messages about “not being ourselves” …

BUT in many cases, we choose to “wear masks” because we fear the emotions of hurt, rejection, and abandonment – this idea that our biggest fears of not being worthy are actually true. Shame and fear can show up in many ways:

  • Acting like everything is fine and keeping our emotions small
  • Isolating ourselves and putting up walls
  • Being overly aggressive and asserting power over others

The point is to not judge, destroy or cut out these masks and never wear them again, the point is to understand their role, to get curious, and hold empathy for the parts of you that are afraid…and to know and understand that it is your choice to put on a mask or not – kinda like COVID these days. 

Knowing when you feel you need to wear a mask is a ???(red flag) that maybe you feel unsafe or perhaps something isn’t aligning with who you really are.

So as we move into the weekend, maybe venture to take off your masks for a bit, get curious, and give yourself some room for empathy rather than judgment. 

Below are some of the masks our students have been brave enough to share this week –

Please take care, and have the weekend that you need. 

The Counseling Team

Grade 6 AMP – Refocus on Inclusion

Leanne Harvey

Even though Inclusive Schools week has passed, it does not mean that we shift our focus away from the important concepts that sit around this topic. As a school, IGBIS is so committed to inclusion that it is one of our central Pillars. The philosophy of inclusion underpins all that we do. Talking to teachers across the school we sometimes discover that at times when students are new to our school, they need help and support to understand what it means to be inclusive. Like understanding any subject, students don’t learn by just doing the work, there needs to be carefully facilitated instruction. This facilitated instruction is the teaching. Learning how to be inclusive is something we need to continue to teach, just like teaching fractions, spelling and reading. This week during AMP the grade 6 students took time to teach each other about being inclusive, and what it is that we all need to do to be more inclusive. Mrs Germaine with the help of some very responsible grade 5 students led a drama activity that involved problem-solving scenarios. Ms Leanne, Mr Ian, Ms Hadewych and Ms Stacey then helped to facilitate discussion and elevate teaching points to help ensure that the students were actually learning how to be inclusive. Throughout the learning engagement, we saw students encouraging, prompting, modelling, inviting and positively affirming each other in a way that demonstrates precisely what inclusion really means in classrooms and across the school.

Future Planning Weekly Update

Amanda Lopez

Highlights for the Week:

MG x THE Uni Fair this weekend!

Congratulations to…

  • Our UCAS Early Appliers! Meeting an Oct 15th deadline is NOT easy – well done, and congratulations!
  • Our PSAT takers! This week we had 12 students in grades 10 and 11 participate in the PSAT. A 4 hour test is not usually the most fun way to spend a Wednesday – congratulations on participating in a process that can help you prepare for college/university applications!

Upcoming:

  • Wednesday, 19 October  – What’s Next? Series
    Session 2: Applying UK, Scotland, & Ireland
    • Parent Session: 8:15, PVO, register HERE
    • Student Session: 3:10, Secondary Library
    • Students, please register in Cialfo
  • Lunch Uni Visits
    • University of Bristol
    • Swiss Hotel Management School
    • St. George’s, University of London ***for anyone interested in healthcare careers
  • Thursday, 20 October – SCAD Career Program Presentations
    • Grades 8 – 10, 1:10 – 1:40
    • CP Student Career Pathways, 1:40 – 2:20
    • Parent Presentation, 3:00 – 4:00
  • Wednesday, 2 November – Ringling College of Art and Design
  • Monday, 7 November – University of British Columbia – Canada
    • 8:45 – 10:00, DP/CP Lounge:
    • 8:45 – 9:30 – RSVP Session only, sign up in CIALFO
    • 9:35 – 10:00 – Open session during break

Grade 12 College/University Applications:

Application due dates have been updated per your deadline calendar to help relieve your stress. 

NEW DATES: Friday, November 11 AND Friday, December 9

  • Take note of WHY: Friday, November 11
    • Friday, November 11 covers both early deadlines of November 15 – December 1 AND regular deadlines occuring after December. 
    • The November 11 deadline gets university applications off your plate BEFORE many of your IAs and other assessments occurring from November 16 – November 25. 
    • It also sits after the Maths IAs and Econ IA scheduled Nov 1 – Nov 6. 
  • Take note of WHY: Friday, December 9
    • Sits after the IAs and other assessments scheduled from December 1 – December 7th. 
    • Sits before Science IAs scheduled for Friday, 16 December, which is the LAST DAY of school before the winter break. 

Students applying to UCAS, I MUST have your application no later than Wednesday, January 18 by 7:30am so that I can process your applications and get them submitted before January 20 as we are on holiday from January 22 – 25.

Students applying to other countries that are NOT UCAS, please keep in mind that I do NOT have access to your application, thus if you want me to look over your application, you need to make an appointment with me between now and December 16th, as we will be out on holiday from December 17 – January 10 and again January 21 – January 25

HERE is the UPDATED Future Planning Timeline, so please use this as you are working through your IB dates and deadlines.

Letters of Recommendation Info:

  • Request them now if you have not done so – Procedures are HERE
  • Brag sheet template is HERE

Suggestions for writings (essays, intent, supplements, etc.):

  1. 1st Rough draft review of essays/writings – Friday, 14 Oct
  2. 2nd draft review – Friday, 21 Oct
  3. 3rd draft review – Friday, 4 November
  4. Finalization – Friday, 11 November

Uni App Help Lunches (Tuesdays & Thursdays)

On the following days, I will be available DURING LUNCH to help you with applications. No appointments are necessary, just pop in to the Lounge and I’ll be there to help.

  • Tuesdays & Thursdays in October: 11, 13, 18, 20
  • Tuesdays & Thursdays in November: 1, 3, 8, 10

Uni App Help Days

On the following days, I will be available ALL DAY to help you with applications. No appointments are necessary, just pop in and I’m there to help – I will also circulate through the Lounge for your convenience.

  • Tuesday, 11 October
  • Tuesday, 18 October
  • Friday, 4 November
  • Friday, 11 November

University of the Week: Winona State University

(from our first Uni Fair!)

Winona State offers international students a scholarship that allows them to pay resident/in-state tuition.

Resources and Opportunities:

Offer from The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) – IGBIS has received a waiver code to temporarily waive the application fee (HK$300) for admission to the 2023 full-time undergraduate programmes. 

To submit an application, access the online application system HERE and enter the code on the payment page by the application deadline on 31 May 2023. See Ms. Amanda for the code and more information. 

Please find the following links for more information on UG admissions:

About EdUHK

The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) is one of the eight government-funded universities in Hong Kong dedicated to the advancement of teaching and learning. We offer undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Education, Social Sciences, Humanities, Creative Arts and etc. EdUHK is ranked 3rd in Asia and 17th in the World in Education according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022. Entrance scholarships ranging from HK$70,000 (~US$9,000) to HK$185,000 (~US$23,700) (renewable) are provided for aspiring, committed and high-quality international students to join our undergraduate programmes. Learn more about UG admissions for international students at EdUHK: www.eduhk.hk/gao.

Invest In Law & Finance Summer Experiences

For the ultimate experience in Law & Finance-related careers, students should register for our Summer Experiences. Trade the stock market in a City skyscraper, argue a human rights case in the Supreme Court, value a FTSE 100 company and much much more.

More information HERE

From MABECS:

AEO US Virtual University Fair

Popular Resources and FAQs

Questions, Support, and Help

Amanda Lopez (Grades 9 – 12 Universities Counseling & Social/Personal Counseling)

To schedule an appointment

Parent Workshops (October 2022)

Elementary School

  • Wed, 12th Oct / 8.15 am – 9.15 am: Early Childhood
  • Wed, 19th Oct / 8.15 am – 9.15 am: Science and Social Studies through the lens of the UN Global Goals

Secondary School

  • Fri Oct 14th 2022 / 8:15 – 9:15am: MYP Service as Action (SAA): Philosophy Requirements & Expectations (SAA within curriculum + commitment & engagement beyond curriculum)
  • Wed 19 Oct  2022 / 8:15 – 10:30am: What’s Next? Wednesday Session: Applying to the UK, Scotland, and Ireland
  • Thu 20 Oct 2022 / 3:00 – 4:00pm: Introduction to Savannah College of Art and Design (USA Uni) by the Assistant Director of Admission from SCAD + overview of the IBCP pathway in G11-12 (Sign up)

Kukri’s Leggings Available at the Uniform Shop

We have Kukri’s leggings of various sizes in our Uniform Shop now. Parents/students can get them directly from our Uniform Shop instead of ordering them from Kukri’s website. Come visit our Uniform Shop if you want to be the proud owner of a pair of IGBIS/Kukri leggings ?.

Cafeteria Menu (October ‘22)