ACG School Jakarta February Newsletter

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

EVENT OF THE MONTH Literacy Week

In This Issue Literacy Week Page 1

Message from the Principal Upcoming Events Page 2

Message from the Vice PrincipalPrimary Page 3

Learning at ACG School Jakarta Page 4

Learner Profile of the Month Page 5

Community Group Update Page 12 We just hosted our Whole School Literacy Week! The purpose of this event is to promote a love of reading and writing. Throughout the week, students participated in a few challenges, such as a Door Decorating Contest, spelling bee and Read-a-thon. To close the week, students and teachers donned costumes to represent their favourite book characters and participated in a book character parade during our morning assembly. We would to thank our parent and teacher volunteers for conducting storytelling sessions for our Primary students.

February Newsletter

Events Page 13

Whole School Information Page 14

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Message from the Principal Dear Parents and Caregivers, It is important that we continue to provide opportunities for students to develop leadership skills in formal and informal settings in and outside of school. This year, our student leadership model across the school has enabled students to develop important foundation skills in leadership including communication skills, decision-making, organizing, action planning, and strategic thinking. One of the main goals of our work in developing strong student leaders is to provide opportunities where students build strong teams. In the Primary School, student leaders have developed team building skills through both student council and eco-warrior initiatives and activities. In the Secondary School, students have been introduced to new opportunities and new experiences that have enabled them to grow as young leaders. It is important that students have role models to look up to and have access to inspiring networks to further achieve their full potential.

Upcoming Events 6 March International Day (Cancelled) 7 - 8 March 7billion IDEAS conferences (Rescheduled to 13 - 14 June) 13 March Primary Assembly JASIS STEM Challenge (Cancelled)

Leadership in the Primary School has taken many forms this year including organizing and running a Halloween Dance Party, participating in Clean Up Jakarta Day and Hari Bersih Indonesia, and students taking on responsibilities as house captains and vice-captains. Student leadership in the Primary School has also been demonstrated through Student Ambassadors leading school tours at our two Open Days this year and most recently, young entrepreneurs have taken it upon themselves to initiate garden projects. One of the best examples of student leadership was the recent Year 2 Market Day where young, enterprising students developed products, understood their target markets, and sold their products and services to supportive customers.

We have seen many examples of great leadership in the Secondary School throughout the year. Some examples of this include events such as Halloween Movie Night, Secret Delivery, Spirit Week, Open Days, The Spelling Bee and the collection of donations for flood victims. Students have worked together to learn and develop new skills such as collaboration, organization and most importantly, leadership. This year, the Student Council also established the Student Council Instagram account, which has been a great example of an entirely student-led idea. As well as the Student Council, we have seen leadership in many areas of the school including sports, the arts and service. Secondary students have shown leadership through being House Captains or by taking on captain and vice-captain responsibilities for school sports teams. We have seen students take big steps towards promoting arts and music at our school as well, as seen through the lunch time performances in Café Society, ACG Unplugged, ACG Radio and the School Band performances at the recent Open Day. The Secondary Eco-Warriors have also taken actions towards making the school more sustainable and have held lunchtime meetings regularly to discuss plans for the environmental consciousness of the school.

I would like to inform our community that a number of events and activities have either been cancelled or postponed. Furthermore, some of our students WILL NOT be able to participate in some scheduled sporting events and activities because of the 14 day self-quarantine period.

13 - 14 March Secondary Student Lock-In (Rescheduled to 17 - 18 April) 14 March JASIS Poetry Slam (Cancelled) 16 - 19 March Years 12 - 13 Art Exhibition (Postponed) 16 -20 March Years 7 - 10 Parent Student Conferences 19 March End of Term Assembly 20 March Primary Student-Led Conferences (No Classes for Primary) (Regular Classes for Secondary) 23 - 27 March

Please be sure that your children get some ‘off screen’ time and make every effort to rest, eat well and look after your health. Please communicate directly with your son/daughter’s teacher if s/he experiences any challenges with Virtual Schooling and contact me if you have any flu-like symptoms.

Term Break 30 March Term 4 Begins

Shawn Hutchinson Principal 2 | ACG JKT

February Newsletter

Message from the Vice Principal - Primary Dear Parents and Caregivers, We hosted our Whole School Literacy Week last month to promote a love of reading and writing, which was, by all accounts, a huge success! Primary students were introduced to a variety of cultural stories including Japanese Kamishibai, performed by Hiroki (Y10) and Ms Dickinson, traditional Brazilian tales shared by Mrs Silva, and an Australian Aboriginal story read by Mr Hutchinson. A few of our Secondary students visited our younger students to read a story in English, where they exhibited confidence and pride. Tuesday was “Write Your Heart Out,” where students were given free choice and an extended period of time to write and create anything they desired. Students enthusiastically wrote books, created comic strips, crafted letters, and blogged their stories.

Wednesday was by far the Primary students’ favorite day! Students and teachers alike wore pajamas to school and got to read in their classroom for an extended, uninterrupted amount of time. The highlight of the day was the Indonesian Drama, performed by our Secondary Bahasa Indonesia students. The library was jam-packed with students who couldn’t stop laughing at the drama of how people react to floods. The comedic timing was on point!

Thursday was our Spelling Bee day, with the Year 3-6 Spelling Bee and Secondary Spelling Bee, which were both exciting and had everyone on the edge of their seat! Our first, second, and third place winners for Primary were Grace in Year 6, Aahana in Year 6 and Parth in Year 4. Our Secondary winners were Irfan (Year 11) and Alec (Year 7). Congratulations to our winners and all of our participants!

On our final morning, Primary students and teachers donned costumes to represent their favorite book characters and participated in a book character parade during our morning assembly. Creativity abounded as they proudly paraded around the gym! At the end of the day, students in Year 3 to 6 descended upon the library to compete in the final round of Battle of the Books, a trivia challenge all about literature. The room was abuzz as students competed to answer many questions about popular books. The game was played in two rounds and the top three students were crowned the champions.

Throughout the week, students also participated in a few challenges, such as a Door Decorating Contest, where Primary students collaborated to decorate their classroom door to represent their class’s favorite book. Doors were judged by the Literacy Week Committee, with awards given out at Friday morning’s assembly. One of the most popular events of the week was “Guess Who?”, a display of teachers holding up their favorite book in front of their face was featured in the lobby, where a crowd of students could be found nearly every hour of the day trying to guess who was who. All week long, House Teams competed to see who could read the most books.

ACG School Jakarta’s Literacy Week was a great success, and the students and teachers are already anticipating the fun that next year’s event will bring!

Jennifer Kesler Vice Principal - Primary

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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Kindergarten The joys of the cardboard box in Kindergarten! The Kindergarten students took great delight in exploring, creating, collaborating and transforming the simple cardboard box into so many wonderful things! From a “beautiful house… let’s have a party!” to a “cage for the pets” and “a secret cave”, the students were able to explore, create, assess, reassess and negotiate. With the addition of fabric and other student initiated ideas, the possibilities were endless…. If you come across a cardboard box at home…have fun with your child!

Year 2 Market Day Year 2 learned how marketplaces serve the needs and wants of the community. The students had the opportunity to be a salesperson and exercise their entrepreneurial skills. They also incorporated their learning from our Sharing the Planet unit by making sure their goods were supported sustainability. During Market Day, the students provided goods such as books, puzzles, cookies, and burgers; and services such as massages, nail art, and hairstyling. The ACG community supported the event, and the students had a fantastic experience. The funds that the Year 2 students raised were donated to the Year 5 students, to support their garden project.

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February Newsletter

Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 3 Terrarium For our transdisciplinary provocation into ‘Organisms respond to changes in the environment’, Year 3 made amazing indoor plant terrariums! After learning about the science behind a terrarium, which might not need watering for 20 years!, the students wrote a procedural text. We read the instructions as they went along, measuring precise quantities of the different kinds of soil and then carefully planting our small plants. We finished off with some lovely decorative elements. The completed terrariums have now been taken home and we will be monitoring their progress closely. Many thanks for the parental support we received with this activity.

Learner Profile of the Month Open Minded In the rapidly changing global society that we live in, our Learner Profile of the month, Open-minded, is increasingly important.

Being open-minded implies a willingness to consider other cultures, values and perspectives that are different from one’s own. It means seeking out and evaluating a range of points of view, both in academic study and in involvement in the local and wider communities.

At ACG School Jakarta, students can strive to be more open-minded by talking to and interacting with new people from different backgrounds, trying new things and by getting involved with experiences beyond their normal comfort level.

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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Year 4 Designing and Building Structures Year 4 has spent the past six weeks inquiring into different factors that are considered when designing and building structures. All students were engaged and motivated when designing, building and reflecting on their structures.

In addition to this, the students researched old and new structures found around the world. They then used this information to create a whole class website where each student made their own webpage with information, photos and maps of their chosen structures.

Please click on the following link to access their website. https://year4structures.weebly.com/

Year 6 Camp Our Year 6 students spent the first week of February in Bandung on camp, where they explored nature, took risks and strengthened their friendships through a wide variety of team-building activities. Our students developed their independence, social and communication skills and walked away with memories to last a lifetime!

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February Newsletter

Learning at ACG School Jakarta Years 7-9 Camp The much-anticipated Year 7-9 Camp to Legok Kondang finally arrived last week, with 67 students and supervising teachers making the bus journey to Ciwidey, with the last part of the journey being undertaken on foot, up the steep hill to the Legok Kondang campsite. Campers then went into their Camp Crews. Over the duration of the camp, Crews worked collaboratively and responsibly to complete a range of engaging and certainly challenging cognitive, physically and creative activities. In addition to games and activities, campers experienced the joys, and challenges, of outdoor living, such as trekking through the beautiful countryside, visiting a primate rehabilitation centre on the way, and embracing the conditions created by heavy rainfall. On the final day in Ciwidey we visited White Crater (Kawah Putih), an acid lake, which was truly spectacular. Overall the camp experience certainly helped students to connect with the (forces) of nature, while at the same time pushing personal limits of resilience and perseverance.

The Best Overall Camp Crew prize was awarded to Mr Winicki’s crew: Alec (Y7), Iskandar (Y7), Jodi (Y7), Francina (Y7), Leanna (Y7), Tsudoi (Y8), Heesu (Y8), Arief (Y8), Sarah M (Y8), Victoria (Y8), Nadeem (Y9) & Deandra (Y9).

Well done!

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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Design Technology Competition Roll up your sleeves and get involved! All are welcome to take part in our very first design competition held at ACG School Jakarta. What started as a T-shirt competition for Years 7 – 10 has expanded considerably, largely because the majority of students want to be able to demonstrate both their knowledge and skill as designers.

They’ve not only showcased what they have been learning in the classroom but made a real difference within the school environment whilst meeting a need for others in their community. Judges will select winners on three of the main areas of design; Interior, Branding and Merchandise. The competition will run for a total number of three weeks and students have the option of working in teams or as lone designers. The final deadline date is set for Monday, 16 March and final designs should be emailed to mark.ellison@acgedu.com. Additional information is posted on the school website, so get involved. You never know, the winner could be you!

Outstanding Cambridge Achivement Congratulations to our Year 12 student, Daniel Dickinson, who was presented with an Outstanding Cambridge Achievement Award last Tuesday. Daniel was awarded Top in Indonesia for IGCSE Global Perspectives. Daniel’s parents and Global Perspectives teacher, Mr Brendan McTiernan attended the award ceremony with Daniel.

Secondary Student Council The Secondary Student Council regret to inform you that the Secondary Lock-In event will be postponed to 1718 April. Due to the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks, we have decided to reschedule the event and ensure all members of the school community are safe.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We will hold onto payments that have already been made until the event. However, if you would like a refund, please submit a request through @acgjstuco on Instagram or email 200860019@acgjakarta.com. Tickets will continue to be sold again from 30 March.

Regards, The Secondary Student Council

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February Newsletter

Learning at ACG School Jakarta Student Council - Spirit Week Secondary’s very first ‘Spirit Week’ was held 10 - 14 February, which was organised by the Secondary Student Council.

‘Spirit Week’ is essentially an event that encourages school spirit and gives students the opportunity to have fun and interact with each other. Throughout the week students and staff were able to dress according to the theme of that day; Malas Monday, Twin Tuesday, It’s Wednesday My Dudes, Throwback Thursday and Fandom Friday.

During morning breaks, in the Gym, the Secondary Student Council arranged a variety of exciting games and activities for students in Years 7 to 13 to participate in. There was a small cost of involved, giving the opportunity to raise funds for their favourite charities.

It was a wonderful week and the chance for us all to laugh, a lot. The Secondary Student Council did a marvellous job, so know doubt this will be a yearly occurrence. To quote Henry Ford; “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”

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Learning at ACG School Jakarta Literacy Week - Secondary Focus From 17 February ACG School Jakarta held its annual Literacy Week. This year, there were a number of events involving the Secondary School students. Pupils from Year 7 to Year 10 read stories to their younger peers in the kindergarten and lower primary school. This was a fun and rewarding activity for everyone involved.

Another popular event was the Narrative Writing Competition. Students from Year 7 to 9 wrote a story based on a prompt devised by their English teachers. Both the number and quality of entries were very impressive. Every participant received house tokens, and after lots of deliberation, Lulu Giles (Year 8) was chosen as the winner.

The top three stories will be published in The ACG Times.

The most boisterous event of the week was undoubtedly the Spelling Bee. This was organised by our Year 12 prefects. Students from every year level battled it out in a House competition, before the winners from each year level competed individually for the title of Spelling Bee Champion for Upper and Lower Secondary. Irfan (Year 11) and Alec (Year 7) were the victors. Finally, the teachers faced off against one another with Mr. Sweales earning bragging rights over his colleagues!

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February Newsletter

Learning at ACG School Jakarta Secondary Art The IGCSE Art and Design students are nearly there!

They’ve been working towards completing Component 1 and starting on preparations for the exam has seen them working very hard exploring materials, compositions, techniques and processes.

Please wish them luck in the upcoming marathon 8 hour practical when you see them!

Sports The month of February has once again been a busy time for sport at ACG School Jakarta. The U10 and U12 Soccer teams had league and cup games in the JSFL and took part in two JAMISSA tournaments. The U12 team finished in fifth place in the JSFL “A” division and made it to the quarter finals in the Greenfields Cup. Congratulations to Coach Dillon and the players for their accomplishments in the toughest division in Jakarta youth soccer. Congratulations also to Coach Fadli and the U10 players who went 4-1 in the JAMISSA tournaments and secured the top spot for the U10 division. The U14 boys’ and girls’ basketball teams had JAMISSA league games on 8 February and 22 February. Well done to both teams who secured wins against Global Jaya on 22 February. The senior boys’ and girls’ basketball teams wrapped up their season with games at SPH KV on 10 February. Unfortunately, the ASAC Senior Basketball Tournament in Cambodia was cancelled this year due to concerns over the coronavirus, however players and coaches are very much looking forward to taking part next year. Season two of sports is now nearly over and season three will get underway soon. On offer are; Junior boys’ and girls’ badminton, junior softball, swim team (ongoing), U10 and U12 Soccer (ongoing) and the ACG sports development program for basketball and soccer. Please use the following link to register HERE and for more information on all the above codes.

Go Wolves!

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Community Group Update

Year Level Representatives Luciana Silva (K2 & K3) lusilva373@gmail.com Jooyoung Noh (K4) joo.leo08@gmail.com Merry Slusher (Year 1) merrydw77@gmail.com Simret Kaur (Year 2) simretdeep@hotmail.com Nancy Ludlow (Year 3) nancygrace1307@yahoo.com Sumit Sonia (Year 4) sumitsonia0329@gmail.com Nolita Duder (Year 5) nolita.duder@gmail.com Dewi Sumawijaya (Year 6) dewi.sumawijaya@gmail.com Maggy Good (Year 7) maggygood2012@gmail.com Arlini Evans (Year 8) arlinisyah@gmail.com Puntipa (Ning) Dumlaeid (Year 9) puntipa_dum@hotmail.com Shawn Hutchinson (Years 10-13) shawn.hutchinson@acgedu.com

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February Newsletter

Events

Parents Workshop

ENCOURAGING ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS FROM AN EARLY AGE Friday, 3 April 9.00 - 10.00am in the ACG Library

SPEAKER:

YURI ROMERO B, SC FOUNDER MANFORUM CO-FOUNDER SUSTAINABLE INDONESIA

Environment workshop, film screening, empathy games and Q&A session

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Whole School Updates Parent Volunteer Opportunities

Lost and Found

Many parents have indicated that they would like to volunteer and help out in the Primary classrooms. We have opportunities for parents to come and read with individual students or with a small group of students in the classrooms. If you would like to volunteer your time on a weekly basis to read with children, please send me an email at Jennifer.Kesler@acgedu.com to sign up. We look forward to seeing parents supporting our students!

We have collected a large number of lost and found items over the past 6 weeks and would like to return these items to their owners. A small group of parents have kindly volunteered to help return the items to students throughout the remainder of this week during morning and lunch breaks. A table of lost and found items was set up on Wednesday – Friday THIS week in the cafeteria. Items not claimed by Friday, 29 November will be donated to a charity. Please contact Ibu Dila (dilla_march83@yahoo.com or +62 8131475-3701) or Ibu Nolita (nolita.duder@gmail.com or 0811988233) for further details or questions.

Parent Information Portal Please visit https://jakarta.acgedu.com/schoolinformation/parent-essentials/ for updated information for parents and students.

Social Responsibility As a community of learners, we have the responsibility to model behaviours and actions that we want our students to display. We are committed to embracing the energy and events of our time to advance social change in the areas of environmental protection, animal welfare and disaster relief.

Parents as Learners Parents are encouraged to visit this section of our Information Portal to learn more about upcoming parent workshops and learning opportunities.

Student Responsibility It is the responsibility of the student to arrive at school fully prepared for the day’s activities. We need parents to support us in establishing expectations and encourage students to be independent, responsible students. Students who arrive to school without personal items (shoes, books, swim gear, library bag, homework, etc.) should not call home and request parents, drivers, or domestic helpers to deliver items during the day.

Lunch Menu Updates: Please check the lunch menu updates (every two weeks) in the Parent Information Portal.

Renewal of Car Registration: Parents should complete the online form in order to receive their new Car Pass for the 2019/2020 academic year.

ID Card Registration: For new domestic staff or other family members who haven’t received an ID card, please visit this section and complete the relevant form.

Transport: Parents are advised to communicate bus questions or issues to ahmad.ahmad@acgedu.com or mia.sari@ acgedu.com.

Uniforms: We now have an online uniform order system and would like to encourage parents to use this online service. Payment can be made easily by bank transfer, credit card or cash.

Vehicle Access Only registered vehicles with an ACG School Jakarta car pass are permitted to enter the school grounds.

Students / Parents arriving to school during drop off and pick up times in taxis or app-requested vehicles will be required to drop off / pick up outside of the main gate.

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Whole School Updates Term Dates 2020-2021 Please find below the approved term dates for the 2020/2021 academic year.

New Teacher Orientation

Tuesday 28 July - Thursday 30 July 2020

TAs and STAs Return

Tuesday 28 July 2020

Full Staff Orientation

Monday 3 - Friday 7 August 2020

First Day of School 2020

Monday 10 August 2020

Term 1

Monday 10 August - Friday 9 October 2020

Term Break

Monday 12 - Friday 16 October 2020

Staff Only Days (required attendance for all staff)

Monday 19 October 2020

Term 2

Tuesday 20 October - Friday 11 December 2020

Winter Break

Monday 14 December 2020 - Friday 1 January 2021

Term 3

Monday 4 January - Wednesday 31 March 2021

Staff Only Days (required attendance for all staff)

Monday 15 February 2021

Term Break

Friday 2 April - Friday 9 April 2021

Term 4

Monday 12 April - Friday 18 June 2021

Eid al Fitr Holidays

Wednesday 12 May - Tuesday 18 May 2021

Disclaimer: National holidays are yet to be confirmed by the Indonesian Government. The information within the ACG School Calendar is, as far as possible, accurate and up-to-date at the time of publishing. ACG School Jakarta, however, reserves the right to make changes to the calendar during the academic year.

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Information

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February Newsletter