ISM Newsletter Upper Campus

UPPER CAMPUS

|

ISSUE 1 SCHOOL NEWSLETTER #03

The Inter national School of Moscow

NEWSLETTER A newsletter for parents, students and friends of our school

2015 - 2016

UPPER CAMPUS

2

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

Headmaster’s Message The Moscow Seven Dear Parents, Pupils and Staff, As we come towards the end of a very short but eventful term, it is incredible to think about how much we have achieved in such a short space of time since January. From Art Week to Year 1, 2 and 3 Productions to our huge successes at COBIS events and beyond, it has, as always, been an absolute pleasure to witness the enthusiasm, passion and determination to succeed that emanates from our students every day.

Last week, I spoke to students in assemblies about the recruitment process that we have already started in order to recruit and retain the very highest quality teachers at The International School of Moscow. With more and more British and international schools opening up around the world and fewer numbers of young people joining the teaching profession, it is becoming increasingly challenging to recruit high quality teaching staff.

A common question asked of me by potential new teachers at the end of interviews is: “What are you most proud of in your school?” Until this academic year, my answer has always been the same: “Our fantastic students, our dedicated staff and our supportive community.” This year, I have added a fourth element to my answer: “Our PGCE students.”

PGCE stands for ‘Postgraduate Certificate in Education’. It is a one-year course available to graduates who wish to become teachers.

In recent years, many of The International

School of Moscow’s best teachers (Mr Chapman, Miss Danby, Mr Davis and Mrs Samarin) have been nurtured following success firstly as Assistant Teachers in our school and then as Assistant Teachers working side by side, on a daily basis, with Teacher Mentors to finely hone their skills on the University of Buckingham’s PGCE course.

This academic year, we have an unprecedented seven Assistant Teachers completing their University of Buckingham PGCEs in our school. This week ‘The Moscow Seven’ have been assessed by their Tutor Mr Peter Kelly. Their progress over the course of this academic year has been staggering. In Mr Thompson, Miss Bantick, Miss Ngcobo, Miss Nugent, Mr Graham, Mr Powell and Miss Reid, we have seven excellent teachers who stand head and shoulders above the majority of teachers who I interview. ‘The Moscow Seven’ will fit seamlessly into our school next academic year. They enjoy working in our school, know our systems and are committed to The International School of Moscow for many years to come.

As we look to offer the PGCE programme to other highly able Assistant Teachers next academic year, one thing is for sure, our students’ futures are very bright in the care of ‘The Moscow Seven’.

Best regards, Paul Keach Headmaster

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

3

4

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

Head of Secondary

Sports And Music Success For ISM Rosinka!

It has been a short, but whirlwind half term here on Upper Campus. As I’m sure you know by now our COBIS Games team returned having achieved the fantastic result of third place overall in the COBIS Games.

This result, the highest ever achieved by a team from ISM, is due to the hard work and dedication of our students and, of course, Team PE. Mr. Downey, shortly after the event, expressed the view to me that alongside the obvious talent of our students, a key factor in their success was their team spirit and desire to succeed and compete in every event. Congratulations to them, I am immensely proud of them.

Last week I had the pleasure of watching ISM Rosinka and ISM Krylatskoe compete in the British Schools Foundation Muscia festival “Battle of the Bands” competition at our partner school in Nanjing, China. ISM Rosinka took first place and ISM Krylatskoe took third. It seems that not only can we run

faster, and jump higher than most but also that we can rock louder than most too.

I was struck by the idea, when considering these results, at just how fortunate our students are. They have talents of course but they also have opportunity. The opportunity to develop those talents under the leadership of talented and dedicated teachers, the opportunity to travel all over the world to share those talents and, of course, the rewards and successes such talents deserve.

I am enormously proud of what we do here on Upper Campus, the successes we have and the atmosphere we have created. Thank you to all of you for your continued support.

Have a great Easter and a safe, and happy holiday.

Dean Moore Head of Secondary School and Upper Campus

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year Five

World Maths Day This year, Upper Primary took part in a range of challenging, fun and exciting activities for World Maths Day. Students competed in competitions such as an estimating challenge (Can you guess the distance from the Upper Primary corridor to the canteen?

108m, of course!) and lots and lots of Mathletics! Both 5C and 6B made it into the top 50 classes in Europe on the Mathletics online leaderboards, while some students even got into the top 100 in Europe - a fantastic achievement.

“I loved Maths Day! I think the multiplication race was awesome even though we didn’t win.” Anna 5B

“World Maths Day was a great experience for me. It was a lot of fun and we learned new things. I really enjoyed the assembly, mostly the times table game. I can’t wait for next Maths Day!” Dennis 5C “On the World Maths Day, our class had a cream egg challenge. We were supposed to count how tall we are and how much we weigh in cream eggs! Year 8 also came and played a logic game with us.” Egor 6A.

5

6

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Year Six

Great Success For ISM Debating Society This term saw the birth of the ISM Upper Primary Debating Society, gathering the finest minds from across the phase (and Mr Mulhern) for an intellectual and witty exchange of ideas. Inspired by the success of our senior debaters at COBIS, students from Years Five and Six have taken to debating with gusto and have already debated topics as serious as the return of the Elgin Marbles and as frivolous as the implementation an ISM school hairstyle.

The club aims to encourage the development of critical thinking and analytical skills during preparation, plus the performance and public speaking skills required for the debate itself.

Given the enthusiasm of our members, this house believes that our society can only go from strength to strength!

7

8

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

English

Mexico Trip The Best Of Our Lives

By Mia Gurary, Year 12 For once, entirety of the debate team agree on something: that the trip to Mexico was one of the greatest school trips of our lives. The closeness of our team and the bonds that we established within just the first few hours were enough to render the rest of the trip incredible.

The day of the tournament was an experience we will never forget. Meeting people of such high intellect and wit, being able to debate against some of the best teams in the world, and winning all but two of our debates have taught us all a new style of communication, teamwork, and ultimately debate. This is our second year participating in the COBIS debate competition, and from our first time, we have progressed to an extent where we not only sounded smart, but (for once) felt smart.

The debates themselves were the highlight of our trip. They intricately bonded our team - from the last minute preparations and the loud repetition on the plane, to the day of the tournament. We also had some real high points after meeting the Russian ambassador, eating real Mexican tacos, and the incessant team jokes.

It is incredible in the sense that no matter where we were, our team was making jokes, laughing, and having the greatest time. Whether it was at a (rather quiet) dinner with ambassadors, on the (also awkwardly quiet) bus, our team’s enthusiasm, laughter, and clear enjoyment would (very loudly) resonate and spread throughout the tournament. Our team may have left with gloomy faces and a reluctance to say goodbye, but the friendships we’ve made, the skills we’ve learnt, and the experiences we’ve had are the continuation of a great debating team, and the start of a real debating society at ISM.

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

9

10

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

Science

COBIS Film Festival

By Arina Gerdyush, Year 12 It’s that time of year again! Students have until April 4 to submit their Science Fair Biology, Chemistry or Physics videos, which will be sent off to compete with projects from other students of all ages within schools at the COBIS Young Scientist Film Awards. ISM has a long legacy of success at these events, with numerous awards in catagories such as most creative, best in specific subject, best visuals, and soundtrack for Key Stage 1&2, Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4&5, as well as best overall in a Key Stage under our belts. So far, not a year has gone by without an award for ISM, however that is a legacy that has to be fought for. This year our students in both Primary and Secondary are sure to sweep in even more awards across the board.

Humanities

Model United Nations

UPPER CAMPUS

It is with great pleasure that ISM were able to compete in the inaugural COBIS Model United Nations (MUN) which was hosted by the International British School of Bucharest, in Romania. Eight students from years 10 to year 12 were selected to represent the school and take on the role of delegates from countries around the world. We were assigned the following committees and countries and the students spent a number of months before the trip preparing for the roles and real life debates that they were to undertake.

• Japan: Human Rights Committee – Paulina Acova • Japan: Economic and Social Council – Yaroslava Darkina • Japan: Refugees Committee – Alexander Tambiev • Nigeria: UN Security Council – Maria Tsarkova • Nigeria: Refugees Committee – Mark Sindyukov • Nigeria: Human Rights Committee – Arina Gurdyush • New Zealand: Refugees Committee – Milena Kalyuzhnaya • New Zealand: UN Security Council – Kirill Myagkov When we arrived we were greeted with the lovely Romanian sunshine and driven to our hotel and conference centre. The facilities were wonderful and the Headmaster of IBSB, the CEO of COBIS, the British Ambassador and also HRH Princess Marie of Romania welcomed us in an opening ceremony that set the tone for the event. The Princess said she was confident that the MUN will be a truly exciting and one of a kind event for all the diplomats involved. After which the delegates from ISM jumped straight into their roles and got to work debating, forming alliances and representing their assigned nations with gusto. The first day culminated in a black tie event with live Romanian dancing and singing which was a great time for the delegates to get to know each other and make new friends.

The second day was the first full day of action with hard work from the morning to the early

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

evening, with some committees asking for extended time due to the complexities of the debates that took place. The topics ranged from North Korea’s nuclear tests, the Syrian refugee crisis, the emergence of the Islamic State, contemporary slavery, the abolition of the death penalty, the Rohingya refugee crisis, increasing the use of renewable energy and finally dealing with the worldwide sovereign debt crisis that still lingers. Each committee had two topics in which they created draft resolutions and attempted to get other countries to support them in their proposals. This was a brilliant challenge that the ISM students thrived in. The first full day was finished with going to a local restaurant to taste local cuisine and then an early night as the group prepared for the final full day.

The ISM delegates awoke on Sunday with vigour, everyone determined to see their contributions come to fruition. After a long day, which involved the North Korean delegate feeling rather pressured by our students in the Security Council we enjoyed a Murder Mystery Ball to ease the global tensions and enjoy our last night in Romania. We awoke on the final day to do some sightseeing before we departed, visiting the famous People’s Palace in the centre. While we had to leave the conference before the closing speeches due to our flights but we still saw incredible success. Kirill Myagkov was awarded an honourable mention and given a gavel as a prize for his ability throughout. The rest of the students from ISM also were fabulous in their energy and dedication, I heard and saw nothing but passionate drive and enjoyment from all throughout. We arrived back in Moscow, tired but the students that came with us had most certainly had a trip they have yet to stop talking about and made some fantastic new friends.

Next year we hope to again take part in the next COBIS MUN and will hopefully see many more students from ISM take up the challenge of stepping into the shoes of the tough, but rewarding work of real life United Nations delegates.

11

12

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

MFL

Spelling Bee At ISM Everyone at ISM loves a house challenge – so why keep team spirit on the sports’ pitch? The MFL department have been working hard this term to organize competitive spelling bees for our children across all three languages. Split into houses, each class were given a list of words to learn by heart.

They were then put through their paces in an exciting competition in year groups from Year 5 to Year 9.

“Children were marked on their spelling, accent, and pronunciation,” said French teacher Rebecca O’Connell. “Everyone had worked really hard to prepare and we were all very proud of them. Who knew that a spelling bee could have the tense atmosphere of a basketball match? Everyone was on the edge of their seats. Some of the children were spelling so fast that the teachers could barely keep up.”

Points were added up across all languages, abilities, and year groups to crown Normans as the eventual winners.

“It was a good way for pupils to practice their spelling and it’ll be useful for them even when they’re in secondary school,” said head of MFL, Olivier Armand. “I’m sure they’ll remember these words even in Year 13!”

13

14

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

ICT

Making Our Own Apps How many times have you used an app today? Checking the news? Sending photos to a friend? Perhaps some online shopping?

As tech becomes more accessible, app development is not only a multi-million business, but also a hobby- and sometimes, a second income - for millions. In Computing, our Year 9 students have been embracing the trend and pioneering their digital creativity by producing apps of their very own.

We’re not only proud of their hard work, but also their creativity and original thinking. Keep your eyes on the app store and see if you can see an ISM coming to you soon!

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Creative Arts

BSN Music Trip

By Muna Musayeva Musically talented ISM students have enjoyed first and third place. a week in Nanjing at the British Schools Foundation Music Festival.

We also got to take a field trip to the Purple Mountain, where we walked around and took Our trip to China was both educational and many pictures of the beautiful panoramic fun. We had the amazing opportunity to stay view from the Pagoda. with host families and experience the culture of Nanjing. Our week mainly consisted of We also got to bond and make friends from rehearsals, where everyone from different other schools who came together that week. schools gathered together and sang, in order It was great being able to get to know people to get ready for the Opening Ceremony on more, people who were from different countries Friday. There was also a Battle of the Bands and from the same school foundation. competition, where ISM groups took both

15

16

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

PE

COBIS Games In Dubai The ISM Lions had a fantastic achievement at the Secondary COBIS Games in Dubai, finishing 3rd out of 20 schools. The pupils competed against some top schools from all over the world and did the school extremely proud.

The second competition was the athletics, held in NYU in Abu Dhabi. The Lions finished 4th overall with some fantastic individual performances, including Aleena Watkins, who won gold in the 400m, and Milana Popova, who won gold in the 800m.

The pupils got a good taste of Dubai by being able to explore one of its most famous sights.

We went to the top of the Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world - and spent the rest of the day exploring the Dubai mall.

Finally, we went to the impressive Dubai College to compete in the football. Both teams qualified through their groups to compete in the Tier 1 Quarter Finals. Both teams journeys came to an end in the quarter-finals against the British School of Al Khabairat.

The first competition was swimming, where we finished 7th overall. All our relay teams made it through to the finals, which meant The Lions had done enough though and were double points for our team. proudly announced as 3rd place finishers in a truly memorable closing ceremony in Dubai.

17

18

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

AAS Penguin Classic Boys This year, the boys made the step up from junior varsity and senior varsity. This was always going to be a challenge for them, but it was one that they responded to very well.

The boys began on the Friday with games against Hinkson and AAS: these proved to be very challenging games for the boys and ones that turned out to be steep learning curves.

On the second day of the tournament, the boys had their first victory after beating AAS St. Petersburg. They later had to reacquaint themselves with the same team in the 3/4 place playoff, which our boys won to finish 3rd in their first full senior varsity tournament.

Girls The girls went into the competition with high hopes after having worked extremely hard in training all year. They had a perfect first day, winning their games against Hinkson and AASP, and began the second day with a brilliant win over AAS to qualify them for the final. The girls were hampered with a few injuries for the final and eventually ran out of steam against DSM. They should still be extremely proud of their 2nd place finish.

19

20

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Interhouse/ NBA Basketball The ISM Lions left our sports hall in style before the start of the current building work by putting on a wonderful game of basketball.

After several rounds of interhouse basketball, which has been played at lunchtimes since September, it was the Romans and the Normans who emerged to the final after the Vikings beat the Saxons in the 3/4 place playoff.

It was a very close final with some excellent basketball played, but eventually the Romans won through.

Our senior pupils were also put into teams in September and have been playing together under the banner of a different NBA franchises. Ultimately, the Golden State Warriors emerged to play the Chicago Bulls, with teams drafting in players for the final. After a brilliant display of basketball, the Warriors emerged as champion.

21

22

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

Welcome to the Lions Den We at ISM love to welcome teams to play against us in our own home court. Hinkson Huskies have made the journey across Moscow on 2 occasions to play against our Lions. The ISM Lionesses had an excellent win over the Huskies JV team in the Den. The Hinkson Varsity team who were reigning AAS Penguin Classic Champions put on an incredible spectacle of Basketball to beat our boys.

What was especially impressive about hosting these games was that it gave our pupils an opportunity to practice as officials. Min Jun Bae refereed the girls game while Jack Andrews, Connor Andrews, Vilma Ylosjoki and Shiina Currie were all on scoreboard duty.

UPPER CAMPUS

|

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

23

24

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

|

UPPER CAMPUS

The International School of Moscow www.internationalschool.ru info@internationalschool.ru