Panaga School Weekly, Issue 42

Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Updates from the Principal’s Desk Dear Panaga School Community,

Issue Forty-Two 8th November 2019

Panaga School IFM/4, BSP Company Sdn Bhd, Seria, KB 3534, Negara Brunei Darussalam

Melilas High School Transition Programme Last week, Mr Nick Sheenan and Mrs Laura Thomas, Executive Principals from Jerudong International School (JIS) and International School Brunei (ISB) respectively, visited M2 students and parents. During this visit, both Mr Sheenan and Mrs Thomas provided presentations and a question and answer session to help promote the various local international high schools available in Brunei. Their visit begins the high school transition programme offered to students of M2, which includes school tours, entry assessment schedules and handover conversations between teachers.

(+673) 3375728/3372139 (Teraja/Melilas), (+673) 3372694 (Mendaram/Rampayoh) Principal: Cindy Bin Tahal (+673) 3372355/8777028

In a few weeks time, our M2 students will spend a day at both ISB and JIS, cindybintahal@panagaschool.com touring facilities and attending classes.

Head Teacher: Mark Walters markwalters@panagaschool.net

(+673) 3373972/8988224 Panaga School Senior Administration Officer: Jalinah Bte Ali (+673) 3375728 jalinah.ali@shell.com Admin Support, Rampayoh/Mendaram: Zurimah Bte Jumat z.jumat@shell.com Admin Support, Teraja: Hasmah Bte Hj Salleh hasmah.salleh@shell.com

Panaga School, JIS and ISB are collaborative schools. We share teacher professional development and come together for shared teaching and learning experiences in many different ways. We believe that the M2 high school transition programme benefits not only students moving to high school in Brunei, but also those transitioning to other schools. For students at either JIS or ISB, visiting the alternate campus helps build familiarity for combined school events and competitions that are provided in these schools. For students moving away from Brunei for secondary education, a visit to these high schools supports students to grow their understanding of how a larger high school operates.

We thank JIS and ISB for being such collegial members of the Brunei international school community.

Melilas Recognition Congratulations to our teachers in Melilas, who have worked together since August 2017 to create a successful Middle Years learning environment for our students, that has resulted in an independent review report stating: “The school can be proud of the Middle Years provision they have created for students, crucially allowing them two years extra to mature and prepare themselves for the more formal phase of their learning.”

Panaga School Weekly editor: A summary of the report is provided on the following page. Our Middle Years Damian Brady

damianbrady@panagaschool.com Learning Review has assisted to identify curriculum and timetabling considerations that will include parent consultation and input for existing P7 and M1 parents, later this year.

Regards, Cindy

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Updates from the Head Teacher’s Desk We have had another busy week in school, and once again, I have been amazed by the children’s eagerness and desire to learn more. They continue to question all that they do and their enquiry skills are growing daily.

I have enjoyed being in classes this week to watch children explore pictures using the concept of ‘See, Think, Wonder’. This is a simple but effective concept to help children develop their knowledge of the world. By asking the children to identity what they can see, what they think and what they wonder stimulates a variety of different neurons in their brains and helps them to develop. It is a simple concept that is worth exploring with children at any time.

- Mr Mark

The Great Outdoors It is sometime easy to forget how beautiful our host country is and to not take the time to fully enjoy the great outdoor space around us. The children across the whole school thoroughly enjoy spending time in our outdoor spaces and find new and exciting ways to play and learn.

Car park safety As you may have noticed, we have a team within the Rampayoh and Mendaram car park who are busy painting the lines and replacing the warning signs in the car park. They have replaced all of the static traffic cones and will continue this work over the coming weeks. Please can drivers be cautious when parking. We will continue to promote car park safety with the children and ask that you do the same on both sites of the school.

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Pre-Nursery to P1 Parent Teacher Conferences (PTCs) The Pre-Nursery to P1 Parent Teacher Conference booking forms are now live and can be accessed via the links below. Bookings will close on Wednesday 13th November.

PRE-NURSERY: Pre-Nursery Hornbills (Miss Louise C)

PRIMARY ONE: P1 Pangolins (Miss Amy)

Pre-Nursery Bumblebee (Miss Shelagh)

P1 Turtles (Miss Claire)

NURSERY: Nursery Orangutan (Miss Louise R) Nursery Sun Bears (Miss Kate) 11-Nov Whole School

School

Mendaram (PN-N)

Closed

12-Nov

Rampayoh (P1-P3)

In lieu of

Teraja (P4-P7)

Prophet Muhammad's

Melilas (M1-M2)

For assistance in signing up to a PN-P1 PTC, please click here.

13-Nov

14-Nov

09:50 – 11:30 P2 and P3 Maths Problem Solving Session 12:30 – 13:30 P6 guest speaker Benin

15-Nov

P5T Assembly

Birthday 18-Nov

19-Nov

Mendaram (PN-N)

Pre-Nursery and Nursery PTCs

Pre-Nursery and Nursery PTCs

Rampayoh (P1-P3)

P1 PTCs P1 Nativity ASA

P1 PTCs

Teraja (P4-P7)

P5 Trip to the Solar plant

20-Nov

21-Nov

22-Nov

Whole School

Melilas (M1-M2)

P5 - M2 Parent & Child Residential Information Session P5 - M2 Parent & Child Residential Information Session

BJSL Swimming @ ISB

Event information above is correct at the time of printing. To keep up-to-date with all school events, please go to: www.panagaschool.com/calendar.

Panaga Student Pupil Portal: Pre-Nursery to P5

Please click here to access Weekly Lear ning Objectives and Home Lear ning for your child.

Please click here for next week ’s Sports Training Schedule

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Thanks to our Podcasting and Zentangle ASA groups for a fantastic Beach Clean this week!

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

The Wild Warriors of Panaga raised a lot of money two years ago through various initiatives such as a disco and the two murals, which are at the Mendaram and Melilas entrances. The aim of the raised money was to donate it to worthy charities, charities that help with the conservation of flora and fauna in Borneo. Some of the money was donated to Jungle Dave for educational purposes. Since then, we have been looking at other charities to donate to.

In March 2019, I travelled to Sepilok where I visited the Sun Bear Sanctuary. I was truly impressed with the work that is in this sanctuary, in order to help these very underrated bears. I met up with the founder Dr Wong, who told me how he set up the sanctuary from scratch. The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) was established in 2008 to give captive bears a better future. The centre promotes Sun Bear conservation through rehabilitation and animal welfare, education and research.

Now it is home to 43 bears, 4 of which are ready to be released back into the wild very soon. In order for the Sun Bears to be released, they need to purchase satellite radio collars to track them in the wild.

We donated enough money to purchase a satellite radio collar so that one of the bears can be released back into the wild. He showed us on his computer how they track the bears via the collar. He also told us the location but unfortunately we cannot reveal this. They need to track the bears to ensure they are able to survive in the wild.

The satellite radio collar Panaga School purchased.

The Sun Bears: Montom, Loki, Sunbero and Wawa are ready to be released in the near future. This is one of the Sun Bears lucky to return to its natural habitat very soon.

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Sun Bears are the smallest bears in the world. They are found throughout South East Asia.

However, it is estimated that their population has declined by at least 30% over the past 30 years and it is continuing to decline at a rapid rate. Their survival is threatened by habitat loss, illegal hunting and through killing and capture for illegal pet trade. Sun Bears are classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Many of the bears at the sanctuary were held illegally in captivity, in cramped cages under stressful and filthy conditions, with no access to outdoor areas and no hope for the future.

The Sun Bears residing at the sanctuary are some of the lucky ones that have escaped.

However, many more still live in these conditions.

The Sun Bears at the sanctuary live in beautiful forest enclosures, where they can express their natural behaviours. Once they have adapted to the forest, they may be released to the wild. However, not all can be released as some are too old or arrived with injuries.

With the money left over, we adopted three bears through their Share Bear Program, one for Mendaram, one for Rampayoh and one for Teraja.

Romalina arrived at BSBCC in July 2018.

She was tiny and malnourished when she arrived. Now she is a very happy bear who happily explores the forest, climbing high up in the trees.

Joe was found alone in the forest when he was three months old. He is always very aware of his surroundings. He is a very curious bear and loves the enrichment given to him by the keepers.

If you like to find out more about this amazing sanctuary, please visit www.bsbcc.org.my. Even better, why not visit them. From November, you can fly to Sandakan direct from Bandar with Royal Brunei.

By Miss Steph

If you wish to help, you can adopt a Sun Bear, purchase gifts for the bears or volunteer.

Montom was kept in a chicken cage and fed food eaten by humans.

When he arrived at the centre, he did not know how to be a wild bear.

Since then, he has become a very playful and brave bear.

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Super Cello in Nursery

Nursery were very excited to have a visit from Supermum Michelle with her cello. We heard different superhero theme songs, as well as familiar nursery rhymes. We were also very lucky to be able to try playing the cello.

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Talk by the Dentist for Friends of Mendaram Dr Padma and her team joined the Friends of Mendaram Coffee Morning on 31st October to explain the importance of looking after teeth. 

A quick recap...

Clean your children’s teeth for them or supervise them brushing their teeth  pea sized amount of toothpaste  change your toothbrush every 3 months  soft head toothbrush is better  don’t share your toothbrush  help your children to floss between teeth  keep a healthy diet and avoid fizzy drinks

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Watch out, Watch out!

The Mighty Freeze is About!

The Nursery children met The Mighty Freeze last week during our Entry Point for our IEYC unit, ‘To the Rescue: Superheroes!’ A friendly superhero had left a mystery box of goodies but The Mighty Freeze froze everyone and stole the box. Fortunately, he was not that smart and left a trail of snowflakes for us to follow. We retrieved the box and we were left with lots of materials to make our very own superhero masks. Lots of us were transformed and the children used their Personal Qualities of resilience, enquiry, cooperation and communication as they made their masks. Later, some of the children left messages to tell the Mighty Freeze not to come back and they even built a trap to catch him.

We are all hoping that The Mighty Freeze doesn’t appear again but you know what these super villains are like...

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Our Friends of Early Years never cease to amaze us with their dedication to making learning fun and memorable. Our Indian community have come together to create a wonderful morning in P1, sharing knowledge about the festival of Diwali, developing skills with activities linked to Diwali and through this furthering children’s understanding of the Diwali celebration. In particular, we would like to thank the following parents for their time and effort both before and on the day, we are truly grateful.

Ranjana - choreography, Uma – Rangoli Artist, Shaline, Nandhini, Pooja, Susmitha, Ruchi, Rakhi and our coordinator Nadia.

Thank you all!

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

For more photos click here.

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

P6 CE 900 Learning Targets History Learning 3.04 To know about the characteristic features of the particular periods and societies.

3.06 To know about the ideas, beliefs, attitudes and experiences of people in the past.

3.07 To know about the social, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of the periods studied.

What were the Mayan books called ?

-Rowan

What do you call a glyph that represents a whole word?

-Folu

What is this Mayan number in English?

-Oscar

If you want to type your name in Mayan click on this link: https:// www.paleoaliens.com/ event/mayan_glyphs/ index.html -Nicole

DID YOU KNOW ?

Mayan Festivals were held every 20 days  The Mayan were a very religious people  The king was a priest  The Mayan people played a game called Pok-A-Tok which was used to decide who would own land or maybe who would be sacrificed.  There are Mayan tribes still alive today!  Modern Mayans still sacrifice, but only with chickens.  Mayans have many gods, there were probably even 1000s!  Mayans had 2 writing systems: logograms which represent full words and syllabograms which represent syllables.  The Mayans had a base 20 number system!  There were over 800 glyphs (logograms) and only priests and kings could understand the whole language.  With syllabograms, Mayans could write the same word in 100s of different ways.

-Evan



What’s the name of this in Mayan writing?

-Sara

By Maura Murphy

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

We recorded our learning by bringing all our ideas together and reenacting a Mayan festival. We used our knowledge of the Mayan to plan our festival.

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

On 4th November, M1 and M2 Spanish students celebrated El Día de los Muertos. Modern Foreign Languages is not just about the language learning, culture also plays a very important part in the lessons. We were very fortunate to have an expert, Monica Pardo, who came into school to share this special day with us.

El Día de los Muertos - ’The Day of the Dead’ - is an Aztec tradition which dates back thousands of years and is a celebration of life. It is a huge celebration in Mexico on 2nd November each year. People believe that on the Day of the Dead the souls of their loved ones return to visit. The living offer the dead some food and their favourite things.

Families visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried.

On the day, the people prepare a table on which you will find a picture of the deceased and various offerings such as food, as well as the four elements: air, fire, earth and water.

Miss Monica decorated a table

Air is represented by the so called papel picado. Papel picado is thin coloured paper that is folded four ways, then cut to make various shapes. Students had a chance to make these.

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

Fire is represented by candles and different colours have different meanings.

White: hope Pink: celebration Purple: pain Water is represented by a glass of water.

Earth is represented by flores de cempasúchil –Marigold flowers. The yellow Marigold flowers have a very strong smell and are believed to guide the visiting relatives to the ofrendas (offerings on the table).

The students had a chance to make paper Marigold flowers.

On the day, special loaves of bread are made called Pan de Muertos which are decorated with bones. Miss Monica baked some special for the students to try.

Of course, a Mexican celebration would not be a celebration without a Piñata.. It is not traditional to have a Piñata for this celebration, but it was great for the students to experience.

Miss Monica made one especially in the shape of a skull.

Miss Steph

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

The students had many goes hitting the PiĂąata.

Even Miss Josie and myself had a go.

In the end, we had to break it open by hand as we ran out of time.

The students were awarded by tons of sweets.

Panaga School Weekly, Issue Forty-Two, 8th November 2019

BREAKING NEWS! Last Friday morning, 6.30am, at Running Club, we had one of the highest attendance rates. 29 enthusiastic runners pounded the pavement and soft sands of Panaga beach. It was great to see so many new faces, especially from Middle Years. Keep up the great effort and remember: ‘If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you’.

For further information please contact Mr Nathan.