2020 Talanoa Volume 6

Volume 6 11/12/2020

Newsletter of International School Suva

Principal’s Report

Inside this issue:

December 2020

 Some say the most important 21st Century Skills students need to learn are resilience, problem-solving, and tenacity or grit! If so, our students have learned those at high levels during this most unusual Covid year! We are grateful now as we see signs of the pandemic gradually subsiding  in coming months with prevention measures and vaccines soon to be released. I believe we will look back at this particular year, 2020, as one  that changed the world, and changed us.

This year has also been momentous for the school as we have continued to move forward toward our Strategic Plan goals even as we dealt with Covid-19. We successfully completed our MYP authorization process and implemented that curriculum fully in years 6-10. That curriculum change makes ISS an IB Continuum School allowing students to complete IB educational programs from Reception to Year 12. We have improved our technology capacity greatly this year with increased bandwidth, better equipment, and Covid-inspired use of online resources.

We added important new, and needed, facilities this year: first, new Middle School classroom and meeting space to allows three strands of students in each year level. Second, we have nearly finished our new building dedicated to “Creative Inquiry” which will have science labs, arts classrooms, and a new presentation auditorium. We look forward to opening that space in Term 1 of the new year.

This will hopefully become the year when the world learned that we must all work together to defeat global threats. I think we have recognized how important good science is for our very survival. And I think all our students will now be more ready to play key roles in solving future world problems. Most of all, I think we will appreciate lessons learned in 2020 that are far more important than the quadratic equation, the parts of speech, and the periodic table.

So welcome 2021 and brighter days! May all our ISS community have rich and fulfilling holiday times with family, and we will see everyone again in January 2021.

Best wishes!

Stephen Cathers, Head of School/Principal

Message from HOP MAP Growth Results



Year 5 Graduation

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The Big Day In

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IB Diploma Group 4 Project

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Student Stories

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Year 12 Final Assembly

I think all ISS students, parents, and staff should feel proud of the way they managed the uncertainty of this year without panic or complaint,  making sure all our students did not fall behind academically. That was not easy for anyone, but we all did it! To be specific with some thankyous, our students managed unbelievably well with the new rules for social distance and disinfecting. They also kept their learning focus  in spite of not having the usual camps, field trips, and social gatherings. Even their lunch orders were restricted with canteen lines closed. Thank you also to the amazing ISS parents who were greatly restricted from campus for about half of the year and who had to manage a term of home-bound online instruction. That was not easy! Parents also supported a food donation program to assist school staff who had reduced income for several months. Of course, the split schedule was hard on us all but allowed days without crowded buses, breaks, and lunch times.

Finally, all our staff rose to the challenge in ways I could not have anticipated with creative online activities, hard work, and long hours doing simple things digitally. We are truly fortunate to have an ISS community that is so full of good will and creativity.

Looking forward, I am optimistic about the coming year. We will start fresh in January after a needed vacation. I think all of us will know by then that the worst is behind us, but we will know how to be vigilant and how to seize opportunities in new ways. We hear that effective vaccines are coming, and even before they reach Fiji, I think the world will begin feeling less threatened. I imagine that at this time next year, we will look back with a sense of accomplishment at how Covid was managed, and we will be far more prepared for future similar challenges.

Someday, our students will tell their children and grandchildren about the Great Pandemic of 2020 when they were fortunate enough to be in Fiji at ISS.

STEM

Alumni Stories

Term Date 2021

Ocean Exploration STEM Challenge

Message from Head of Primary Rebecca Clentworth Wow! What a year! We started the year like any other year, goals were set, classes sorted, and teachers were ready to go. Over the Christmas break we were hearing about COVID-19 and its spread in China and never really understood what this year was about to unfold into.

Term 1 was a great start to the year, it’s always busy and we were enjoying having the children in their new classes, seeing them develop new friendships and getting into their school work.

One of our goals this year was to move to e-portfolios using the Seesaw platform. Little did we know that we would be moving to distance learning and we would be using Seesaw as our teaching platform. Term 2 provided the most innovative and learning experience the staff and students have ever seen. It was a challenge and luckily we had the resources and platforms on hand to delivery our program remotely without too many changes or additional digital platforms for the students to learn.

In Term 3 we all sighed of relief when we were able to return to campus, even with the new campus restrictions we were certainly grateful to be back and after a term of online teaching, running a dual program didn’t seem quite so daunting.

Term 4 saw the majority of families able to return to Fiji and life began to normalize a little further. Some of the restrictions were beginning to be lifted and some events were able to go ahead. It has certainly been a year like no other. Thank you to everyone who has supported us through these challenges, we hope you have a lovely break. To our families moving on next year, you will be missed by the ISS community.

MAP Growth Results Term 4, 2020 This year in Term 4, Year 3 to Year 10 students all sat the MAP Growth test for the second time forming our benchmark scores for ISS. Our first tests were considered a practice See results below:

Year 5 Graduation

By Faith Khelan and Sonia Karimli Wow! After so many years of learning in the PYP system, finally it’s time to Graduate. Yes, Year 5 is at the end of our primary journey.

We were nervous and excited at the same time when we walked into the hall. Our Graduation started with the students that started Headstart as 5 year olds in the Green Cottage, now the car park, shared some memories of their time at Primary School. Then we received our certificates. It was a special moment walking across the stage to get the certificate. After that we saw a movie about what we might do in the future and then we sang a song called “Keep this song of joy inside your heart”. Some people cried when we were singing. After we had shared morning tea with our parents.

Our Graduation party happened at the Australian High Commission. The graduation party was organized by our parents. The party began at 6 pm and finished at 9 pm.

There was lots of food and activities. The Year 5s just looked so smart and grown up with their beautiful dresses and the boys in their suits or bula wear. We danced and sang to the music. Ms. Rebecca and the Year 5 teachers joined us too. We danced with some of the teachers, that was pretty special. We got to choose songs that we liked and that was enjoyable. A big thank you to our parents !

To finish off the graduation celebrations in a fun way, back at school on the Friday there was a water fight organised by the parents, and the teachers were part of this. That was pretty cool and exciting.

Thank you for challenging year.

the

wonderful

learning

and

The Big Day In By: Anahira Denzler

Last week the teachers arranged a big day for us kids. It was so much fun and the activities were great.

In the morning the year four and fives went down to the upper field for the water activities. There was a huge tarp that the teachers were hosing down.

Everyone was very excited to have a slip and slide!

Everyone went in their groups to their activity.

After the water play everyone was soaked to the bone and covered in soap from the slip ‘n’ slide.

Next for the 5 and 4s was tabloid sports. Again everyone split into groups and went to different activities. My personal favorites were: basketball, bowling and gumboot throw. I was really tired after and I was glad that after there was a movie.

For the movie we watched Mary Poppins. I really loved all the adventures that the kids went on although we didn’t finish it. My favorite one was the chalk drawing! It was sad when the rain came and washed the drawing away.

Overall I thought that the big day was a big success!

IB Diploma Group 4 Project By: Malia Tuqa In Week 9 of this Term, Year 11 IB Diploma Science students took part in the Group 4 Project. This project requires students of different science disciplines to work together and understand the interconnectedness of the sciences. This year’s theme for the Group 4 Project was ‘Science and Empathy’. Students collaborated and produced some amazing work. One of the groups tried to solve the electricity and clean drinking water issues for rural villages by making a model of a possible hydro turbine and a cost effective water filter.

The other group modeled the cyclone proof house for rural farming villages which included irrigation system for efficient farming and converted human and animal waste into fertilizers.

Furthermore, the last group worked on providing sustainable energy and food source. They utilized the concept of aquaponics and plant microbial fuel cells. For this Group 4 Project, the school also collaborated virtually with International School Nadi.

Student Reflection The Group 4 Project was a great learning experience and great opportunity for my classmates and I to better interact and collaborate. I contributed a possible topic for our overall project and helped with research surrounding the plant microbial fuel cell. I also helped with the construction of the miniature aquaponics structure. During our planning phase, I helped draw out the structures and discussed the materials and equipment that we needed. There was also a PowerPoint presentation, for which I included a range of information and helped present to the rest of our class as well as to International School Nadi.

Overall this taught us that any big issue can be solved with collaboration with others.

Student Stories By:Rongze (Kent) Wu

One of our 2020 Year 12 leaders is Rongze Wu( also known as Kent). He came to Fiji from China and enrolled in ISS four years ago, with very little English. Since then he’s worked incredibly hard on both his English and his studies, and this year was voted into the Head student team by his peers. Rongze is a very popular student leader around the school, always ready with a smile, and at lunch and recess often seen playing basketball with students from all age groups. Here’s his story.

Hey, I’m Rongze( Kent) Wu. I have been to ISS for four years now. It’s not too long but also it’s not too short. I spend my most important high school days here. I have to thank all the people, teachers, and friends that helped me in the past years.

Many people ask me how did I survive in an English school without speaking good English. Now this iss how I made it, and I became a Head student of 2020. Let me tell you how I did this amazing journey. When I came into ISS I wasn’t speaking too well, and I have seen a lot of people that afraid to talk to other people because they think they couldn’t speak well in English, but I knew I came to school to study and to make friends, so I had to step out of my comfort zone to explore more. In the first year, I tried to make friends with my hobbies( including basketball), so I used basketball as my communication tool and I felt so confident communicating with people. Gradually I made a lot of friends from different year levels or outside of school. I always talk to different people, because I know it will help my English and also making friends. I always play in a basketball tournament or some other sports competitions.

In the second year, I started to have more confidence, and I started joining more outdoor activities and learning more skills. In year 11 and 12, I was more focused on my assignments and exams, but sometimes I also struggled with my assignments, so I always didn’t hesitate to ask my friends to help with my assignments.

Now I have almost finished my high school journey, and I very much appreciate my family and friends, and teachers. Yeah, that’s a little brief description of my high school life. 嗨，我是吴荣泽。 我到国际空间站已经四年了，不长也不短。我在这里度过了我最重要的高中时光。我要感谢所有这些年来帮助过我的 人、老师和朋友们。很多人问我，没有说一口流利的英语，我是如何在英语学校生存下来的。这就是我如何做到的， 我成为了2020年的学生会主席。让我来告诉你我是如何完成这个美妙的旅程的。当我来到空间站没有说太好,我见过 很多人,不敢跟别人说话,因为他们认为他们没有讲好英语,但我知道我来学校学习的朋友,所以我必须走出舒适区去探索 更多。在第一年，我尝试着和我的爱好(篮球)做朋友，所以我用篮球作为我的交流工具，我很自信的和人交流。渐渐 地，我认识了很多不同年级的朋友，也认识了很多校外的朋友。 我总是和不同的人交谈，因为我知道这将帮助我的英语和交朋友。我经常参加篮球锦标赛或其他体育比赛。在第二 年，我开始有了更多的自信，我开始参加更多的户外 活动，学习更多的技能。在11年级和12年级的时候， 我更加关注我的作业和考试，但是有时候我也会因为 我的作业而感到挣扎，所以我总是毫不犹豫的去找我 的朋友来帮助我完成作业。 现在我的高中之旅快结束了，我非常感谢我的家人、 朋友和老师。是的，这是我高中生活的一个简短介 绍。

Year 12 Final Assembly

Where Are They Now? Alumni Stories By: Ella Sinclair—Class of 2017 Since graduating from ISS in 2017, I moved to Australia to pursue tertiary education. I have just graduated from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Biology and minoring in Earth Science and Wildlife Ecology. I am planning on pursuing post-graduate study in Marine Science, commencing my honours in July 2021.

As of recently, I was very fortunate in obtaining a New Colombo Plan Scholarship to do my honours in New Caledonia. I am the first QUT student to travel to New Caledonia with this scholarship program, and one of the only students with the scholarship to undertake an honours degree, which I will begin in July 2021 for one year. Following this, I will do an internship with SPC in New Caledonia for 6 months from July 2022 to December 2022. This scholarship has given me the opportunity to get a head start in my career, building relationships between Australia and the Pacific, in my field of study, Marine Science/Biology. By being involved in this scholarship program, I am able to not only perfect and develop my level of French (which I did up until year 12 at ISS), but also have the opportunity to come back to the Pacific and be involved in assisting with the bond between Australia and the Pacific.

Since moving to Fiji when I was 7 and being at ISS from year 2 until year 12, I have had a strong passion for Marine Biology and the ocean environment we call home. With the New Colombo Plan Scholarship, I am able to build on my life lessons from Fiji, in New Caledonia, and assist in further connecting the Pacific as a wider community. My field of interest will be in Marine Biology, using science to combat climate change impacts on coastal environments and assist in coral reef restoration.

As a part of a summer internship program I have with QUT, I am a student on the Research Vessel Falkor, learning from Marine Technicians and Chief Scientists about multi-beam sonar mapping and understanding geological features and processes from thousands of years ago. This voyage goes for one month at sea and its aim is to map and explore the sea floor, uncovering past shorelines, rivers, deltas and reefs which existed during the Last Glacial Maximum (Ice Age).

Since the last Ice Age, these features have been drowned as the sea level raised up to 120m due to the melting of glaciers and ice-sheets. By mapping and uncovering these environments, we are provided with a better understanding of the environment of which occurred during this time in Australia and can predict how the current environment may respond to climate change, rising sea levels and ever-moving ocean currents. Working alongside Marine Technicians and scientists on and off the RV Falkor, I am constantly learning about the processes and skills required to do this type of research. My job on board involves assisting in the mapping process by ensuring we are getting accurate and reliable data with the multi-beam technology. I am involved in cleaning the data that we then send off to scientists on shore who carry out further study. I also assist in running sound velocity profiles which involve lowering an instrument into the water whilst the ship is stationary and measuring the speed of sound using sensors on regular intervals. This gives as an understanding of the depth of the environment and assists in recalibrating the multi-beam sensors. Participating in this gave me an understanding of the labour-intensive work that goes into ensuring the software and technology we use is as accurate as possible for the data we are collecting.

So far, this opportunity has been extremely beneficial as it has provided me with an understanding of not only how science is achieved and collected in the real world, but how all different disciplines work together in many different ways to collect this knowledge. Whilst we are collecting this data over the course of the next month, I need to keep reminding myself that I am one of the first people in the entire world to see what is at the bottom of the sea floor in this area. It’s one of the best experiences I will ever have, and I am enjoying every minute of it.