NLCS Jeju Newsletter 15 October 2021

NEWSWEEK

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15 OCTOBER 2021

ENGLISH ENRICHMENT WEEK POETRY FOR ALLl CAMPING ALUMNI STORIES

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A Letter From The Principal Dear Parents, Students, Staff and Friends of NLCS Jeju As you would expect from the British International School of the Year 2021, North London Collegiate School Jeju has been especially active this week. The societies are in full swing this week and as always, are engaged in preparing for subject Enrichment Weeks, liaising with virtual speakers and preparing to engage and stimulate the whole school community. A key priority of the School is developing international mindedness as well as understanding identity and so we look forward to a very important event in the School calendar - Diversity Week which begins on Monday 15 November and will run all week. Preparations involving many students have already begun.

This week all the community is actively involved in English Enrichment Week where language, literature and culture has been a key focus. Scholarly endeavour is a key feature of life at NLCS Jeju and this takes many forms with departments challenging students to develop their learning and take risks in it so that their curiosity , thinking and problem solving skills are developed. The importance of debate is key and I draw your attention to the NLCS Jeju Making of a scholar.

We are hopeful that over the next few weeks there will be some easing of the current restrictions in terms of COVID-19 precautionary measures. We will keep our community informed as this will positively affect our community and enable us to have more parents and visitors on our campus.

Yours sincerely, Lynne Oldfield Principal

North London Collegiate School Jeju

ENGLISH ENRICHMENT WEEK English Enrichment Week is always very popular. A love of English can change your life - and, very definitely, your appreciation of many aspects of school work and the school day.

Geoff Hall - Head of English - sums up the week -

Mr Geoff Hall

Enriching the Mind. Enriching the Tongue.

English enrichment is a terribly broad term. So broad, in fact, that it caused some consternation in its preparation.

What to do?

What to do?

The solution turned out to be the broad spectrum of English itself. It’s not only an academic field, or an intellectual pursuit. It’s also physical, psychological, and social. Dr Gissane’s lecture, An Introduction to Cultural Studies, reminds us that, in and of itself, a study of English is a cultural study. The very nature of the subject is enriching because it is a study of one’s self and one’s society.

We often neglect the all-encompassing nature of English because we reduce it to ‘a study of language and literature’. However, there are so many nuances in the production of meaning and language that we undertake constantly. This has been highlighted by the Language Ambassadors this week who have been enlightening students on the arts of articulatory phonetics.

Articulatory Phonetics

But what is an English Enrichment Week without literature? We don’t know because we would never let that happen.The Literature Society ensured students got their fill of poetry by trying to tell the difference between poem extracts and lines from classic rap songs. And if poetry is not your thing, the Literature Society had that covered too, by allowing students to partake in their own piece of literature. Literally dozens of students contributed to single stories on giant rolls of paper. These became known as the 10 Foot Stories.

What we have realized over the course of this week is: if you want genuine academic enrichment, it exists in everything that we do at NLCS Jeju.

A very special thank you to Dr Lesley Gissane, The Lit Soc and the Academic English Language Ambassadors for making this a very special week.

Articulatory Phonetics

Events The English Enrichment Week has involved many students across the whole School. English language and literature are a core part of our curriculum and of our everyday life and a series of events has entertained us, informed us and provoked thought, debate and creativity.

These have included • Lectures by Katrina Daniels Samasa and Lesley Gissane • Articulatory Phonetics • Poetry vs Rap • 10 Foot Story (SS) • Tongue Twister (SS)

Ms Lesley Gissane

10 Foot Story

10 Foot Story

North London Collegiate School Jeju

Lucida - What are Teachers Reading Last week our Lucida Book Club shared recommendations from the Biology Department.

This week - to support English Enrichment Week - they have been quizzing our English teachers. Thank you to Hyunsuh (Jamie) Koh and Yoonseo (Elin) Cha for their passion and commitment to sharing their love of reading. Who will they talk to next?

Click on this link to see the whole interview! https://hskoh23.wixsite.com/lucidaenterprisehome/post/english-enrichment-week-whatare-the-english-teachers-reading

What teachers are reading • Mr Geoff Hall - ‘Hitting Against the Spin: How Cricket Really Works’ by Nathan Leamon and Ben Jones • Mr Adam Lim - ‘Men Without Women’ by Haruki Murakami • Ms Louise Symonds - ‘Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman • Ms Marina Jeffery - ‘A Little Life’ by Hanya Yanagihara • Ms Thena Reddy - ‘Bewilderment’ by Richard Powers • Mr Sam Wilson - ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ by Anne Frank • Mr Garreth Bradshaw - ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J.R.R. Tolkien • Mr Michael Dillon - ‘The Honourable Schoolboy’ by John Le Carre • Dr Paul Ford - ‘Vanity Fair’ by W.M. Thackeray • Ms Alice Bate - ‘Daughter of the Deep’ by Rick Riordan

Recommendation to students • Mr Geoff Hall - ‘Mother Tongue’ by Bill Bryson • Mr Adam Lim - ‘The Hobbit’ by J.R.R. Tolkein ‘The Tale of Desperaux’ by Kate DiCamillo • Ms Louise Symonds - Other books by Haruki Murakami • Ms Marina Jeffery - ‘His Dark Materials’ series by Philip Pullman • Ms Thena Reddy - ‘The Love songs of W.E.B Du Bois’ by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers and Sankofa Chibundu Onuzo • Mr Sam Wilson - Read any books you find interesting!

• Mr Garreth Bradshaw: - ‘Pawn of Prophecy’ by David Eddings • Mr Michael Dillon - ‘The Devotion of Suspect X’ by Keigo Higashino • Dr Paul Ford - ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy • Ms Alice Bate - ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker Elin and Jamie tell us - “Following last week, it was such a pleasure to interview all of our great teachers about books! Once again, we hope that students will find the books they might want to read after reading this article. After all, it’s never a bad idea to start with recommendations from teachers when you’re looking for something great to read! “

Poetry For All This week members of our community have been sharing their favourite poems with students and colleagues.They hope to stimulate interest in their own passions - be it narrative poetry, modern verse and more.

The poems chosen this week include The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes (Chosen by Jane Forster - Director of Marketing, Communications and PR) A Child’s Sleep by Carol Ann Duffy (Chosen by Luke Godley - Bursar) Sergeant Brown’s Parrot by Kit Wright (Chosen by Nick Gillings - Head of Physics ) Macavity The Mystery Cat by TS Eliot (Chosen by Jeremy Freeman - VP - Head of Juniors) The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock by TS Eliot (Chosen by Chandler Ahn - Director of Poetry) Feedback was instant and positive. Student Chandler Ahn says of Monday’s poem “this poem is honestly one of the most amazing things I’ve ever read! Narrative poetry is all completely new for me, and The Highwayman was such a captivating introduction that I think I might never be able to return to the jejune world of blank verse.”

This sums up English Enrichment Week - learning to love something new. Opening our eyes and minds a little bit wider due to the power of words.

Poetry For All

Poetry For All

STAFF BABIES We are very happy to announce not one but two beautiful new staff babies!

Head of Languages, Ms Laetitia Choi and her husband are delighted to welcome baby Ian Kang who was born on 27 September weighing 3kg.

Maths Teacher, Joshua Wiggins Waterman, and his wife Hyein welcome Evageline (Eve) Kang who was born on Friday 17 September weighing 3.12kg

CAMPING Our Year 7 students enjoyed a wonderful Sleep Out on Friday. It was beautifully planned

by Head of Year - Padraig Hogan and Kate Sommerville - AVP - Pastoral and their teams.

The students worked as teams and pitched their tents in the School grounds. Many of them had never does this before and they learned a lot about themselves and their friends.

The evening was taken up with activities - lots of bonding, collaboration and wellbeing activities which fit in with the Wellbeing Journals that our students are completing as the year progresses.

Enjoy these visuals and the video created by Mike Kim from our Marketing Department.

North London Collegiate School Jeju

VISUAL ARTS Have you seen the Dot Art exhibition the First School put up on the school fence at the top of the Pathway of Learning. This is a collaborative exhibition with the other GEC schools. Each school is exhibiting on their fence closest to the pathway.There is also a lovely Dot Art display upstairs outside the First School art room.

The dots were created as part of international Dot Day. This is a day based on a picture book called The Dot, about a little girl who thinks she can’t do art.The message of the story teaches a growth mindset approach of taking a first step and believing in yourself.

What an amazing initiative. Thank you to Ms Krista Merrill and the First School team for all their hard work in making this happen

BOARDING FUN Thank you to Miri Kang who shared details of the Toy Story sand play based activity which she organised for some of the Year 7 and 8 boys last weekend.

“Boys were invited to create their own world on a tray (kitchen trays with kinetic sand!) with their choice of toys and figures, fbeing free and creative while having fun - just like in kindergarten. We saw some fabulous stories, metaphors, and narratives from each tray alongside some terrific titles such as “A hard-boiled dinosaur egg”! 😆 I hope the boys got to know each other better through this Sunday afternoon activity! “ Boarders - share any stories with us and we’ll publish the best!

BOARDING FUN Iho girls also had an exciting time last weekend. They went to Iho Beach and enjoyed the end of summer with perfect weather. How grateful that we can benefit from being close to wonderful nature at any time!

WHEN COLOURS SPEAK FUNDRAISING Eunju Seo of the Cultural Awareness Committee made us aware of further success of the groundbreaking production we all enjoyed last academic year. Eunice Lee (Year 13) shared details of the fundraising element of the production. “ ​​Last May, the original student-led musical production When Colo(u)rs Speak (produced

by Eunice Yewon Lee & Leo Keonsang Joh) held a collaboration fundraiser with the school’s Cultural Awareness Committee (CAC). Inspired by Broadway souvenir shops at the center of New York, students from the musical team designed their own sets of “merch” to sell phone straps, sticky notes, and laptop stickers, each with an eclectic collection of colors and schemes. Over lunch times of the three performance days, members of the musical and CAC were in business, selling items to students and teachers and explaining the purpose of the event.

The team was able to generate a revenue of 724,000 KRW over the three days. This was donated to the Jeju Multicultural Family Fund to support local immigrants, in alliance with the core message of When Colo(u)rs Speak to combat hatred and systemic racism in our community.

Promoting diversity and acceptance in our community is also one of the core values that the CAC upholds. We believe from multicultural families in the four international schools of this very town to refugees and migrant workers residing downtown and near the bay, Jeju Island is renowned for its uniquely diverse ethnic population despite being part of a homogeneous country. If our first step was to raise awareness through stories and in-school activities, we felt that it was natural for the next step to be seeking ways for actual support.”

CCAs AND BRYANTS We have many new CCAs and Bryants this block - and many great favourites. Our students are able to choose between a huge variety of arts and sports and service options. All our Art CCAs have returned and are as popular as ever. Activities include Collage, Photoshop, Flower Origami, Sticker Mosaic and many more. Sports now include the super popular Spin classes (our Sports teachers then teach our teachers in the evenings - they are very busy!!)

We now have a Yearbook CCA spearheaded by students Seobin Lee and Alyssa Back. We are looking forward to seeing the fruits of their labour!

Saturdays are very busy for our Senior School and Junior School with many Bryant activities including a new group of Duke of Edinburgh Award candidates. Others include several golf groups, badminton, and all the sports squads.

A new addition is School Beauty Bryant - where a group of students will be aiming to make our School a better, lovelier place. Watch out for lots of improvements! No more out of date posters and unkempt areas.

JUNIOR SWIM SQUAD We are very proud of all our activities and this week want to highlight our Junior Swim Squad. Mr Alistair Gainey tells us that there are almost 50 Year 5 and 6 students in the squad now and we know we have some potential superstars in there!

BRYANTS - OLLE TRAIL CLEAN UP We are very proud of all our activities and this week want to highlight our Junior Swim Squad. Mr Alistair Gainey tells us that there are almost 50 Year 5 and 6 students in the squad now and we know we have some potential superstars in there!

BRYANTS DEEP SEA FISHING Look at the size of the fishes caught by our intrepid deep sea fishing team in the Fishing Bryant. Thank you, Natasha Bull and Greg Cranwell for the pictures!

FORBES FEATURE We are delighted to be featured in Forbes Magazine. The feature highlights some of our students past and present - thank you, Nick, Alice and Helen. It also spotlights Ms Justine Oliver and Ms Izabella Slocynska and their work with all our sixth formers. It’s wonderful to have all our hard work and success recognised.

LINK HERE

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE YEAR Independent Schools of the Year Awards 2021 North London Collegiate School Jeju has won Best British International School at the Independent Schools of the Year Awards 2021.

The Awards attract 750+ entries from around the world in 24 categories. Other winning schools include some of the most impressive and prestigious in the world - such as Gordonstoun School, St Paul’s School For Girls, Godolphin and Latymer School. Our fellow shortlist for Best British International School included Dubai College and Alice Smith School, KL. “The Independent Schools of the Year awards 2021 celebrate all that students, staff and wider school communities have achieved during the 2020-21 academic year, both in terms of the battle against COVID and their core task of preparing their students for life in a challenging and demanding world.

Delivering and supporting student excellence lies at the heart of each award and we hope that they will give our schools the opportunity to tell us what they have achieved as a school community.”

David Moncrieff - Head of Judges, ISOTY 2021 NLCS Jeju is thrilled and very proud to be acknowledged for this honour in our tenth anniversary year.The credit goes to our amazing community - our 1500 students, 300 teachers and support staff and all our parents, friends, alumni, advisors and governors.

SERVICE A great new service initiative addresses the problem of abandoned dogs on Jeju. Well done to all the students involved and thank you to teachers Garreth Bradshaw, Paul Scott and Nick Gillings for support and for the pictures.

Hello! We are the SAD (Save Abandoned Dogs), the community service Bryant that supports and raises awareness for abandoned dogs. Founded by three Year 11 students Ellie Kim, Sally Kim, and Kelly Park - our group not only involves volunteering activities but also promotes adoption rather than purchasing pets. As a short term goal, we would like to improve the living conditions in the shelter where we visit every Bryant. Weekly activities include clearing dungs using a broom, cleaning the cages, washing the bowls, giving feed and water, and, most importantly, petting dogs with affection. Also, we support abandoned dogs by donating pet supplies and the money collected on Mufti day.

For future plans, we would raise awareness of the difficulties that abandoned dogs face.

By encouraging people to adopt dogs rather than purchase them, we want to achieve our ultimate goal of reducing the number of abandoned dogs in Jeju. Anyone interested in saving abandoned dogs, please make time to visit the shelter or donate money to support abandoned dogs. If you have any questions, contact us via our official Instagram account or email founding members. Thank you.

ALUMNI STORIES Jungju Oh / Class of 2015 As part of the undergraduate program at University of Warwick, I completed a Bachelor of Arts in sociology last summer. My main intention in selecting this course was to prepare myself as a future candidate for working at an international organization, which recruited specialists in social science. Indeed, studying sociology provided a strong base to understand society through different perspectives and theories.Throughout the course, I could also learn methods in performing social research and explore various subjects such as race, gender, science and many others.

Since this March, I have started my Master’s degree in medical law and ethics at Yonsei University. This may seem like an unusual transition but due sociology’s tendency to include many disciplines, I was able to fully engage with new topics offered by the curriculum. The decision was influenced by the outbreak of COVID-19 – the pandemic has raised importance in legal, ethical, epidemiological consideration of society.

As for most students, college life is enjoyable. My life at Warwick was pretty much the same.

Living on campus, I got to know my flat mates from different cultures who are studying different courses – this was a valuable experience. Also, because I was in the UK, this allowed me the chance to travel to many countries around Europe. This is quite a contrast to my life now as a Yonsei student. The pandemic has replaced many classes and seminars, using online sessions through platforms such as Zoom and WebEx. As a result, most of my time is spent in my room.

As a part-time researcher for Asian Institute for Bioethics and Health Law (AIBHL) at Yonsei – a WHO collaborating center, I am currently organizing events and activities between Yonsei and WHO. This opportunity will increase chances to work for international organizations, especially the WHO. Therefore, after graduation I plan to work as an intern at a regional office of the World Health Organization as part of the collaborating center program.

What is most obvious but at the same time the most enjoyable part of school life is sports.

Anyone who remembers me would have seen me in either front of Halla house or the gym playing basketball. I can guarantee that I have missed at least a third of my dinner and evening registration because I was busy playing on the court haha :) I still remember how the basketball team dramatically won a game at the KISAC tournament with a buzzer beater.

North London Collegiate School Jeju

Jungju Oh / Class of 2015

COMMUNICATIONS We have some changes to our communications coming up. We will now be publishing the full newsletter EVERY TWO WEEKS. There will be a Principal’s Letter, visuals and stories from the whole School and extended community.

Every other week we will send a reminder of upcoming events and links to the week’s communications and messages.

We are committed to regular updates on our social media channels. Follow our official School sites on the buttons below. Also, remember that many of our departments and Boarding Homes have their own social media accounts, too.

Twitter - English Department, Biology Department, Sports Department Instagram - Junior School, Art Department, Hyeopjae Boarding Home, Iho Boarding Home We invite your feedback at any time to our Director of Marketing, Communications and PR - jforster@nlcsjeju.kr. We hope to have regular meetings with groups of parents and with students to ensure that you are all getting the information you want in the way that you want it.

North London Collegiate School Jeju

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