IGB International School Newsletter, Issue 5, June/July 2014

IGB International School Newsletter - June/July 2014

Inside this month’s Newsletter Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles, Head of School

News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod, Elementary School Principal

News from Secondary School Secondary Matters Mr. Lennox Meldrum, Secondary School Principal

Upcoming Events 4th - 15th August, 2014 Uniform Shop Will be open from 4th August - 15th August, Monday - Friday, 10.00am - 12.00noon and 1.00pm - 3.00pm

15th August, 2014 Student Orientation Day will only be on Friday 15th August, from 9.00am - 11.30am

18th August, 2014 Start of School For more information please contact Admissions at +60 3 6145 4688

Building Updates Mr. Peter Syme,

Director of Academic and Support Services

Updates from Admissions Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn,

IGBIS olympic-size swimming pool to be utilized for swimming lessons, sport events and cocurricular activities.

Admissions Director

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

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Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School Dear Parents and Community Members, I hope that you have been enjoying a summer break and spending some quality time with your families.

It has been wonderful to see IGBIS come alive with teachers and children over the last three weeks for our summer school. Five classes took place ranging from Elementary School Media Arts to IB Diploma Biology. The classes were taken by eleven of our teachers who worked in rotation to provide the wide range of activities. Apart from learning more about a whole array of subject areas in each class, students and teachers enjoyed getting to know each other before the school year gets underway. It was particularly useful for the IB Diploma Programme students to have an introduction into each of the eight subject groups.

All of our teachers have now arrived in Kuala Lumpur and are settling in to their accommodation. Their orientation programme begins this week. This programme will be followed by two weeks of set up for school.

Curriculum preparation has taken place during the preceding months, so it is now time to begin work with new colleagues and teams and to gain an understanding of the individual needs of each of our incoming students.

A number of families have visited school to try on uniforms and place orders. The uniforms will be on sale and ready for pick up from Monday August 4. We encourage you to come into school and purchase uniforms from that day on.

Orientation Day for students and parents will take place on August 15th.

More details of this will be sent directly to families in the coming week.

We look forward to seeing you here at IGBIS in the weeks to come.

News from Elementary School Starting School at IGBIS Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal

packing their bag. Let them know that when they are at school they will need to carry their own school bag.

The students starting at IGBIS on August 18 will have a mixture of school experiences, ranging from those with some school experiences in small or large schools to students in Early Years 1 and 2 who may be about to experience school for the first time. For all students this will be their first experience in our school and therefore some may have some apprehensions; I hope we can work together to allay these.

Before your child starts at IGBIS there are many things that you can do to help your child settle into their new environment. If children are more prepared for change then generally speaking they cope better with the change.

Some things you can do to help prepare for a smooth first week of school.

Positive conversations about new experiences for everyone in the family will benefit your child. Identifying successful new experiences and providing reassurances will help them see that this is the norm for everyone at many points in our lives.

Listen to your child’s comments and contributions to discussions in the lead up to the starting of school to look for concerns or signs of anxiety. It is perfectly normal for a child to feel anxious, scared, or irritable during times of transition. Let your child know that you understand that this may be difficult; listen to his or her concerns. If your child is young, or is particularly nervous, consider accompanying him or her to school for the first few days

When you have purchased the school uniform, let your children try it on; for those in the younger years they could practice putting their school uniform on.

During the week before school starts begin to develop the normal school week routines. Help your child with getting ready for bed, think about what they might need for the coming day such as back packs, hats, drink bottles and similar. Make time for stories and talk before lights out. Ensure your child has adequate sleep, which will possibly mean an earlier bedtime than during the holidays.

Ensure you provide plenty of time for children to wake up, enjoy a healthy breakfast and get ready for school before they leave home.

Rushing this process can mean grumpy children at the start of school; something that parents and teachers would prefer to avoid.

If possible plan your day to allow some time at the school when you drop off and pick up your child. This may be helpful in making a happy start. Make sure you say goodbye to your child and tell them you will see them later.

Our teachers are very aware of the different emotions and behaviors related to transition and will be ready and available to help if your child needs extra support. Activities during the first week will focus on getting to know each other, understanding class and school expectations, exploring the school and learning the location of the different play areas.

Ask your child to help select their own drink bottles and snack or lunch containers; this helps with ownership and easy identification.

Perhaps they could also help select their own school bag, which they can open, and close, and is large enough to carry their belongings to and from school. It is a good idea for your child to easily recognize their own bag as many may look similar.

The benefit of starting in August is that everyone will be new, so making friends and finding their way around the school will be easy when they are all doing it together for the first time.

Encourage your child to be more independent at home, give them simple tasks and responsibilities. Help them think about what they may need to take to school and perhaps have a few practice runs with

Until next time.

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Impacting Lives

Igniting Minds

There are exciting times ahead for your child and for the whole family, so please plan ahead so everyone can enjoy this wonderful experience.

News from Secondary School Secondary Matters Mr. Lennox R. Meldrum Secondary School Principal With only a few weeks until school opens – we can almost start counting in days! – the campus has been a hive of activity.

The most exciting event for me has been our Summer School programme which has welcomed incoming IGBIS students as well as other interested families. Students have participated in activities such as overviews for Diploma Programme and middle years subjects, the processes in performing arts, and the applications of technology through the use of MacBooks and robotics. Mr Evans, our Food Design teacher, led students through lessons that resulted in delicious breakfast, snack, and dinner meals, including an amazing roast chicken and focaccia combination I can personally vouch for. Mr Evans also led a group of students through the Design cycle as they inquired and developed ideas for a…. well, it is a surprise that I don’t want to spoil in this newsletter. More on this another time.

While the Design cycle is a feature of one subject in the middle years and Diploma Programme, it can be seen in different forms across multiple disciplines. Within the Sciences we use a form of the Design cycle when conducting experimental work. Most scientific progress has been made due to the cyclical nature of building on what has previously been studied and investigated.

Isaac Newton described this in his famous quote where he stated that “if I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants”.

Underneath the experimental cycle is one used for developing student projects in the middle years. Within this cycle are many characteristics very important to students and teachers in IB World Schools – Learner Profile attributes such as thinking and reflecting, Approaches to Learning skills such as self-management and social skills, and important academic developmental factors such as identifying prior learning, planning and recording, and evaluation of product quality. You will probably recognise that these are skills you use regularly, both in your occupation and in everyday activities. The use of variations of the Design cycle is an aspect that helps make an IB education more relevant and engaging to students while also providing them with skills that are useful in their life beyond school.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all again leading up to our first day of school on August 18. A reminder that our student orientation will start at 9.00am on Friday, August 15. Please also continue to check your emails as various sections of the school gather your input leading up to our opening.

See you soon!

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

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Building Updates Learning at IGBIS Mr Peter Syme Director of Academic and Support Services Classrooms The students participating in the Summer School have been using the classroom spaces available to them. In the Elementary School, the open design of the classrooms allows for the many collaborative experiences that the students will be a part of. With retractable walls, the classrooms can be closed off enabling the teachers to work as a whole class when needed. Each of these classrooms come equipped with specifically designed furniture to meet the learning needs of the students so that they can work individually, in pairs or in groups. Each pod of classrooms comes with toilets so that the students can easily and safely use the bathrooms within their own learning areas. Smartboards are located in every elementary classroom to enhance the learning experiences for each student.

In the Secondary School, the classrooms have been designed to cater for whole class groups as well as smaller tutorial-type rooms. Custommade lockers are provided for the students and again, toilets are at close proximity for students at each grade level. The classrooms come with data-projectors and idea-painted walls which cater for not only teacher directed lessons but group planning and collaboration.

Science Labs The Science labs have been specifically designed to encourage group work, collaborative planning and easy viewing of teacher demonstrations. The chemistry labs come with fume cupboards and every lab comes with chemical showers.

Data projectors will also be used in the labs. Lab preparation areas have been carefully designed to ensure safe storage of chemicals and the cleaning and storage of all equipment.

Libraries At IGBIS, two libraries will cater for the range of students at the school.

The Elementary Library comes with two smartboards, designated areas for reading and research and a variety of furnishings such as bean bags, bench seating and study tables that will complement the range of activities that a modern library has to offer.

The Secondary Library encourages the same variety in activities with reading, research and private study rooms.

This library is located adjacent to the IB Diploma Centre so that the senior students have easy access to print and electronic media and resources and to allow for discussions with their peers, teachers and coordinators.

Updates from Admissions Mrs. Bronwyn Thorburn Admissions Director It has been a wonderful first few weeks since I arrived at IGB International School in late June. What a pleasure it is to meet all the new families and students joining our School!

Summer School Summer School has been a great success, with everything from introductory classes for the Diploma Programme, to Food Design, Robotic building, Art and Music classes. In the last couple of weeks, we have had around 35 students on campus enjoying courses with our teachers who arrived early to teach these fun options.

Opening of School We have a busy few weeks coming up as we prepare for the opening of School. There is a lot of information we need to share with and receive from the families joining us. In the next week, I will be sending information on our Uniform Shop. The shop here on campus will be open for two weeks from August 4th, 10.00am to 12.00noon and 1.00pm to 3.00pm, Monday to Friday. There will be designated areas for the students and parents to select suitable sizes for each item.

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Igniting Minds

Laptop Purchase information has been sent to Secondary School students (Grades 6 - 11). This will also be uploaded to the Admissions section of our website in the next week. If you have not received this, please let us know and we will make sure we send it to you.

Those students and parents interested in a Bus Service for the start of school, will also be contacted in the next week asking for confirmation so we can start planning the Bus Service.

Orientation will be on Friday, August 15th from 9.00am to 11.30pm. We have chosen this date to allow families time to return from their holidays and join us. If you are going to miss this for any reason, please do contact us so we can plan for your arrival.

Finally, if you have moved recently, or have settled in to your new home in Kuala Lumpur, we do need to update our system. So that we have your current details, please either go on to Open Apply, or call in to the office with your new address and phone numbers (especially emergency contacts and mobiles) so that we have all the necessary information on file for the opening day of school.

Visits We are open every day, Monday to Friday. Please schedule an appointment with the Admissions team if you are interested in touring the new campus. Call Ms Bronwyn Thorburn or Ms Devi Shree in Admissions or e-mail admissions@igbis.edu.my for more details or if you have any questions.

Impacting Lives