Talanoa Volume 2 (2015)

Ta l a n o a Newsletter of International School Suva

Dear Parents and Guardians,

17 March, 2015

Principal’s Report

Congratulations to the Primary and Secondary Head Students who took up post this year. The secondary team of Litia Baleilevuka, Debanjan Dhar, Ernest Gibson, Tanya Patel, Minsoo Kim and Emily Drakeford has been joined by Theodore Strobel, Ashleigh Singh, Abbas Jiwanji and Jade Cave from the primary school. I commend them for taking the brave step of putting themselves forward for a leadership role in the school and look forward to working with them during 2015.

Thank you for the feedback which I have received from a number of you regarding the updates and bulletins coming from the school administration and faculty. We are all acutely aware of the need for accurate and relevant communication and continue to look for ways to improve communication between home and school. Whilst some of the improvements and initiatives will be through our electronic systems, the school administration is also exploring ways to increase our face-to-face communication.

Since the last issue of Talanoa the PTFA held its AGM and I am delighted in inform you that Nigel Dowdeswell, Patricia Evers and Lydia Sprankle remain on the PTFA executive and are joined by Amerika Grewal. I take this opportunity to thank the outgoing executive for all the work they undertook over the last twelve months on behalf of the school. They are undoubtedly a positive influence on the school and we are a better place for their assistance.

Finally, I invite you all to the 39th Annual General Meeting of the International Schools Association to be held from 6pm in the Multi-Purpose hall on 26th March 2015. I look forward to seeing many of you there. Please be informed that all materials for the AGM will be available on the school website one week in advance of the meeting.

Kind regards, Anna Marsden Principal

Volume 2

Inside this Issue  Careers in the High School  Primary update  Habitat for Humanity  Year 9 Reflections  Tuesday Activities  Tyre Playground  Year 11 CAS Reflections  CAS Learn-To-Swim Project  Shoe Project  Upcoming Events

Careers in the High School

The Careers Expo The ISS Careers Expo 2015 held on Thursday 5th March was definitely successful. This Where are our students now? was made possible with the support and attendance of generous individuals, Whilst some from our graduating class of 2014 are still waiting organizations and schools. Considering the response and comments of students, to hear of placements, we are delighted to hear that our parents, teachers and expo exhibitors, the event was a real learning experience for all students have been accepted into a number of courses those that attended. around the world. Of the two students who were jointly awarded Dux of the school, Anna Bythell will be reading The Expo featured 21 booths managed by enthusiastic personnel from the various Biomedical Sciences at Oxford University (entrance was organizations who had so generously come along to share their experience and based on her ATAR score) and Maraia Pickering is studying at the University of Sydney knowledge in their various career fields. ISS was also very happy to share this great doing a Bachelors of Science (Advanced). Other students are now placed at several opportunity with 14 other schools in the greater Suva area.

Australian universities including ANU, Monash University, Melbourne University, Canberra University, University of South Australia, University of Newcastle and Griffith We are indeed thankful to all those who have contributed to the success of this annual University. One student is awaiting confirmation from the Australian Navy. Other event. There is not a doubt that each student who passed through the expo went away students have gained entry to Auckland University of Technology, Canterbury University with some information that would facilitate better decision making for future career plans. and offers for Oxford Brookes, Reading and Aberystwyth University in the UK. Several To this end, we wish to acknowledge the contribution and presence of the following students have chosen to remain in Fiji and attend the University of the South Pacific and individuals and organizations, for without this special group the expo would not have one student is currently employed as a reporter with the Fiji Sun. A number of students been possible: are also having a gap year to consider their options or use this as an opportunity to build their service portfolio whilst waiting entrance into university in the Northern Hemisphere. Holiday Inn (Tourism & Hospitality), Erasito Consultants (Civil & Structural Engineering), Orton Architects (Architecture), Fiji Broadcasting Commission & 2Day The Career Seminars FM Team (Media & Journalism) Westpac Banking Corporation (Banking), Fiji Fashion Week ( Fashion & Design), University of the South Pacific, Fiji National University, Ministry of Industry & Trade, The Fiji Police, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions & Munro Leys (Law), Ernest & Young (Accounting), ), Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (International Relations), Ministry of Agriculture (Land Resource & Development, Animal Health & Production Service Division), Ministry of Fisheries & Forestry, and International School Suva (Laboratory Technology, Library, Teaching) The first Career Seminar was held on Wednesday. Mrs Juana Lovell (an Environmental Scientist) presented during lunchtime; the event was hosted by Ernest Gibson (Year 12).

Twenty six students came along and after a short presentation she was happy to answer the students’ questions. Her focus was on what her job entailed, what qualifications were necessary to get there, what potential subjects would assist if taken at school and which universities in this region had a good reputation for studies in her particular field. She also talked about the need for additional certification such as a commercial diving certification, zoo keeping certification, boat handling skills such as coxswain courses and the need for strong writing and communication skills which were all aspects that many students may not have thought would be essential in this profession. It was a terrific start to the program. As the students have many other career options in mind, we are seeking volunteer speakers! If you would like to be part of this program, please contact Amerika Grewel, Cristina Lavina, Megan Navunisaravi or Fenella David.

Action at the ISS Careers Expo 2015 Let us continue to support our students as we guide them through preparing for their future.

Fenella David School Counselor fdavid@international.school.fj Megan Navunisaravi Head of High School mnavunisaravi@international.school.fj

Primary Update

March 13, 2015

Developing an Effective Whole School Approach to Managing Behaviour and Other Important Stuff!

A reminder about canteen procedures will be making its way home to all parents in the near future. Please ensure that children utilise the plastic zip lock bag to order their lunches and it is placed in the class lunch crate before it makes its way to the canteen via our teacher assistants. Primary students are not able to access the canteen on their own (adult Consistently applied, a good school behaviour policy, agreed and communicated to all staff, supervision only). We also ask that parents do not call the canteen or have older siblings students, parents and caregivers, is integral to an effective approach of managing behaviour. order the lunches for them. We thank you for your cooperation with this as we wish to So how do we achieve this? eliminate lost lunches, misplaced orders and ultimately avoid children being upset.

Consulting the school community is the first step. We have already data from student and parent opinion surveys of which we are currently discussing to improve areas of need. Thus the beginning of our „Bullying‟ education with all children on weekly assemblies. We are also in the process of researching and adopting a whole school approach to provide students with the opportunity to deal with incidents of bullying. We would like your opinions on this also. A short survey link will soon be emailed home to parents to gather your ideas and share with us what you have seen work well in previous schools your children have attended. What fits with one school however, may not always fit here but we are open to ideas that will make things better for our students here at school. Mention has been made of „Stop, think, do‟ and other programs. Our school has up until now utilised the „Peer Mediation‟ program. We would also like your honest feedback regarding this.

Once the school has agreed upon a policy/program, what should happen next is to make sure it does happen, every time. Consistency is the key to any program or policy and if we are all consistent in our approach to managing behaviour, the majority of students will meet or exceed the behaviour expected of them which will significantly reduce the risk of disruption to teaching and learning. We look forward to hearing from you all. A whole school community approach will help to ensure success!

The week, we complete our PSPE swimming program for Reception to Year 5 in readiness for our primary swim carnival next Wednesday. Talking to all involved, this program has been a great success this year with the use of trained swim instructors, organized competently by our PSPE teacher, Mr Joe. Additionally, the teachers and assistants of each year level have done a fantastic job in helping out, either in the swimming pool or out. Well done everyone!

Our swim carnival promises to be a great one. Let‟s hope the inclement weather disappears before we board the buses next week.

The writing process has been a focus for classes whereby we have introduced writing folders specifically designed to help organise children‟s thinking and writing during this process. The folders guide students step-by-step through the writing process—with pockets to store everything from the initial story map and plan up until the final draft. All children will be „speaking the same language‟ when it comes to the writing process from Reception upward.

Additionally, Years 3—5 continue to be immersed in the „Seven Steps to Writing Success‟ program. As we begin to reach Step 3, Tightening Tension, we can already see that they have the strategies to help them hook in the reader by writing „Sizzling Starts‟ and planning not just a good story, but a sensational one! It has been super being back in the classroom working with the children and lucky for me, there are 7 steps so there is much more to come.

After my sessions with Year 3—5 classes, I look forward to working with the lower grades with the same program. Soon the whole school will be masters of the narrative writing genre!

We hope you enjoyed reading our first Primary Press for the year in the new format. It was encouraging to see so many people access the document. We even had viewers from Australia and Europe. Our next Primary Press is due to be published at the end of Week 10. (end of term) To conclude the primary update this week, we would like to introduce our new focus learner profile for the remainder of the term and week 1 of Term 2. We will be busy talking about being „thinkers‟! Please take the time to discuss this with your children. As thinkers, we are thoughtful, we try to solve problems and make good decisions. We do this by thinking about things and by learning from our mistakes. We are problem solvers! As Albert Einstein once said, “It‟s not that I‟m so smart. It‟s just that I stay with problems longer.”

Karen and the Primary Team

Reflections by the Year 9 Students of 2015 Here are some of the reflections shared by the Year 9 students about their transition to High School and what it means to them.

Habitat for Humanity Youth - Build Recently 7 year 12 and 3 year 11 students volunteered to build a home for a family with Habitat for Humanity Fiji (HFHF). HFH is a non-profit organization committed to building a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Habitat Youth BUILD (HYB) is a movement that engages young people to take action together to build homes and communities, advocate for decent shelter, and raise funds and awareness of the poor housing situation in the Asia-Pacific region - where one in eight live in slums, according to the United Nations. The students displayed fantastic leadership skills and worked extremely hard. They accomplished an enormous amount of work on day 1 of the build. They started with 6 stumps in the ground; by the end of day 1 the entire house structure was up. Day 2 saw the Covenant Brothers Rugby team finish the job by adding the roofing, walls, flooring and a coat of paint.

Transitioning from Middle School to High School has been a really hard transition for me personally. I feel that since we have IGCSE next year that everything is on a higher level where everything is very serious and demanding.

With the assignments and tasks that we are assigned, we have to make sure that we are giving 100% and make sure that we understand everything. It is also hard setting aside some leisure time for yourself so that you can relax. It is very stressful but I understand that all the hard work will be worth it in the end.

Bengi Rwabuhemba What it means to you to be a high school student now? I have been here in ISS since 2011 (Year 5); being a high school student is really challenging.

High school has new subjects like Business, History, Global Perspectives, Coordinated Science (Chemistry, Biology and Physics), different aspects of English and more. It is really challenging and harder than middle school. In Year 9, it is a new journey to IGCSE. I was really interested in the new high school subjects that were explained during the Yr8 to Yr9 Subject Information evening last year. In High School, you have to bring big books to almost every subject and I understand this will continue through Year 9 to Year 12.

Vinaka, France Eseo Being in Year 9 is very different from being in middle school. I’m still getting used to having 3 different teachers for science. It’s pretty hard learning science in different ways according to how the teachers teach us because in middle school we only had one teacher. Science isn’t the only difficulty in high school; for me it’s also the balancing of sports and academics. One very important thing I learnt in Middle and High school is time management. In year 9 you HAVE to know how to manage your time wisely not only because there is a lot of work to be done for the two year course but also because the IGCSE exam is happening the next year.

Raylin Mario I am a new student in ISS and what I think so far about being in high school is that it is great. I have a lot to learn; it’s been only 8 weeks and I have learnt a lot already. I also met new people and learnt different things. I used to hate school because I didn’t understand what was happening around me, but now I know more things than before because I just need to work hard and do my best. High school is a world to explore and you need to be brave to explore it. That’s all I have to say and I am looking forward to what ISS has planned for me.

James Fung Cheng Lee

Secondary Tuesday Afternoon Activities Tuesday afternoon activities run as part of our Community and Service program.

The activities enable the students to learn a new skill or master an existing skill, participate in regular physical fitness or provide a service for someone less fortunate than themselves.

Community is about getting involved. It is about working with other people in a sporting/ musical/cultural event. It is about helping out with assemblies, preparing displays for events, doing an activity whether it is within school or outside of school. The aim of this area is to provide a balance to the academic life of the school and to aid the social development of students.

Service is about helping those less fortunate.

Examples are assisting at a local organization, tutoring, fundraising (including Fun Day), or contributing to the environmental health of Fiji. Training to take part in these activities also counts as service.

We will never tyre of your generosity.

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outside where one can meet new people, get fit and have fun! Today, it’s all about what the next show on TV is or the next video game to play. The Year 12 CAS group want

Help the en-tyre Nasinu community

Service Club at the CWM Children’s ward .

Tuesday Club Activities for Semester 1, 2015.

Athletics Chess Quilting Model UN Touch Rugby Production Service Club Diving

Children these days no longer know the joys of playing

Mr Fesaitu Mario Mr. Ashniel Bijay Ms. Silina Bale Mrs. Milika Waqainabete Mr. H. Murphy & Mr. N. Dianimoto Mrs. Alex Karountzos Ms. Wakanisi Vaciloa Mr. Greg Buxton

Contact person: kstice@international.school.fj

to help by building a tyre playground made of recycled materials (not just tyres) for the children of the Nasinu community.

YOU CAN HELP TOO! Do you have tyres or any other recycled materials (such as paint, planks of wood, old rope, etc) you no longer use? Donate them to the Tyre Playground.

Help us help the community for this new and exciting project

Service Club at CWM Children’s Ward

We need your help?

We need washable plastic toys, gently used stuffed animals, books (for ages 3-12) and Every Tuesday afternoon, a group of secondary students visits the sick children at the magazines. Your donation will be distributed to the children at CWM, Suva and will Children’s ward at the CWM hospital. The Service club provides students the really make a difference for a sick child. You can drop off your donation at the library. opportunity to help the sick children and make their community a better place in which to live and be happy. The presence of our Service club members is a joy not only to the Thank you so much for wanting to help! sick children but also to their parents and the hard working staff of the Children’s ward.

Here are some of our members’ reflections: Wakanisi Vaciloa, CWM Service Club Supervisor.

“I am very happy that I joined the service club because whenever we go to the hospital, we always make children smile. We do stuff like reading and activities like coloring with the sick children. So far, the experience has been great and I am really glad to be making these children’s lives brighter.”

(Rishal Patel – 8) “Before entering the hospital, I’m usually nervous but when I meet the children and read to them, I feel happy because I am helping someone. The children are usually shy so we go to them and introduce ourselves before reading to them. After a while, they start to relax, enjoy the story and smile. This makes me very happy. I am honored to be able to help other children.”

(Pearl Mario – Year 6) “I chose service club because I love children. Every time we go to the hospital, I read to the children and give them get well cards. It makes me happy to see them smile and laugh. It’s honestly the best feeling anyone could ever feel. I enjoy going there and it gives me joy.”

(Disoro – 8) “Being part of the Service club has helped us to show that we care.”

(Grace Vaciloa & Hannah Neuendorf– Year 4R) The rest of the Service Club members echoed that it is indeed a privilege to be able to bring joy to the sick children. The satisfaction that comes with helping others is reward enough for our students and we look forward to more similar visits and hope that this experience will mould our students to be caring and compassionate adults.

Reflections on CAS by the Year 11 students

handling of the kids and keep them motivated to learn at all times. I am fortunate that I got to be with a child who is enthusiastic and optimistic. She accepts all tasks even if she cannot accomplish each of them. Which is why, I only see myself as accomplished if I can bring a smile to her face...for she brings a grin to my face every time she tries to do something I ask her to. It has not only been a learning experience for my child, but for me as well. I have never been so close to another disabled child before. And neither did I have the privilege of teaching a life saving skill to someone who requires it the most. Hence, this has been an experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Aurora Sami Year 11

Every Thursday many of the yr 12s, and the yr 11s have the opportunity to go to the aquatic centre and teach children with disabilities basic water safety, and if more advanced, how to swim. It has been quite a pleasant experience to see these children being very motivated and excited to swim. It is very heart warming also to see that the child I have been teaching is able to learn things and accomplish them one at a time. It surely does require a lot of patience and perseverance to teach the children but the hard work pays off and we leave the children with the understanding of importance of safety in the water and of course how to have fun.

Teaching children who needs special care have taught me to be responsible. My Rhea Dass Year 11 child – William - was scared of the water, and because of his young age; he often acted irrationally by resisting and ignoring me. I had the responsibility to take care of him, and Teaching these children how to swim has been a great experience.

I've been paired with 4 different kids so far, all of which have very little swimming more importantly; to understand and communicate with him. I befriended William, and experience, but seeing their faces light up, as they splash through the water, makes the tried to gain his trust. Even thought little progress was made, I am optimistic about the whole experience more than just worth it, it makes my day. Being fully enabled, future. associating and connecting with these disabled children allows you to understand being Chan Yuan Liu Year 11 grateful and cherishing life, from a whole new perspective.

Forster Evers Year 11 It's a very touching experience to help kids in need. It also makes you feel very grateful with what you have. You can tell even through their disabilities getting into the water really excites them. I am truly thankful that we are given this responsibility and opportunity to help and assist them. Thank you Malcolm Narayan Year 11 The few weeks of teaching children with special needs have been fun. Although there have been difficulties such as communication, it was an awesome experience. I was surprised to see that the children had as much energy as any of us, perhaps even more than us.

Hee Jun Jang Year 11 These past few weeks have been, if anything, most interesting. Working with my child was an eventful experience, and i was quite pleased and impressed as to how much he has learned from me, and knowing that he now, is capable to be on his own in the water. The children are very enthusiastic which is always good to see, and quite a positive for us teachers Damien Raju Year 11 Teaching children how to swim has really been life changing. Although I was apprehensive going into it, it was turned out really well and has been a great experience for both me and the child I am teaching.

Celeste Kado Year 11 My experience with this program has been a wonderful one so far. It is an eye opening challenge and a great responsibility. It is not only a challenge for the kids who are learning but also for us as their teachers. We have to be extremely careful with our

CAS Learn - To - Swim Project This started off about 7 years ago as a project with the children of the blind school. The 8 week program gave the children of the Blind School the only opportunity to have any swimming lessons at all. This has grown so that the school is now able to then open up the programme and offer it to the students of Hilton Special School and to the Early Intervention Centre as well as the Fiji School for the Blind.

The additional schools brought along additional disabilities and the challenge to ensure that these children had a positive experience. Watching our students work with these children is very special as many discover a confidence they did not previously have when they are given charge of their young swimmers. Progress can often mean simply getting that child into the water. The parents who accompany their children have initially been, understandably, a little apprehensive. Most of these fears are dispelled by the end of the first lesson due to the care and respect our students display when working with their children.

There is no set rule for teaching these children how to swim. First the instructor needs to look at what the children can do, and then use that to teach and develop water awareness, water safety and then swimming. It is extremely pleasing to note that some students have taken it upon themselves to learn sign language so that they are better able to communicate with their charges when working with them.

The first indication I had that the programme was working and making a difference, was to meet a blind delegate last year at a Fiji Sports Commission workshop for Disabled Persons who had started in the first year of our program. She was very proud of the fact that she could swim and explained that she had learnt at school from International School Students.

Kate Reimann CAS Coordinator

SHOE PROJECT!

Please note that we are still collecting good used runners/training shoes for secondary athletes from schools outside the Suva area who have qualified for the Annual Coke Games but cannot afford a pair. Donate a pair today and make one of these athletes extremely happy, but most importantly, keeping their feet protected. Collection is being made by the ISS Marketing Office in conjunction with Think Pacific Charity group and Mrs.Yasmin Drummond, the wife of Commissioner.

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Upcoming Events (Week 9 - Term 2 Week 1 - Week 4) Term 2 Week 9 Wednesday, March 18 Primary Swimming Carnival at the Aquatic Centre PTFA to provide healthy snacks for sale at the Swimming Carnival Friday, March 20 Primary Assembly - Year 4 (8.15 - 9.00) Saturday, March 21 MUN training Week 10 Monday, March 23 T1 Week 10

Week 1 Wednesday, April 8 5:00pm ISS PTFA Social Hour Week 2 Monday, April 13 AST Mock Exams Y11 &12 Tuesday, April 14 All students begin Wednesday, April 15 Year 12 Camp

MUN

Thursday, April 16 Year 12 Camp

8:00am ISS PTFA Bookclub: The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman

Friday, April 17 Primary Assembly (8.15 - 9.00)

Tuesday, March 24 MUN

Year 12 Camp

Wednesday, March 25 2:40pm ISS PTFA Monthly Meeting

Week 3 Monday, April 20 8:00am

Thursday, March 26 Zone 1 Athletics (12.30 - 1.30)

ISS PTFA Bookclub: Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford

6:00pm 39th Annual General Meeting of International Schools Association of International School Suva Friday, March 27 Primary Press

Thursday, April 23 Secondary Parent-Teacher interviews Friday, April 24 Primary Assembly (8.15 - 9.00) YC update

World Water Day Whole School Assembly - Year 3 & Year 9 YC update

Term 1 ends

Week 4 Wednesday, April 29 Year 4 Camp Year 7 camp return Friday 2:40pm ISS PTFA Monthly Meeting Thursday, April 30 Year 4 Camp Friday, May 1 Year 4 Camp Primary Assembly (8.15 - 9.00) Semester exam week (1.00 - 2.00) TALANOA