Panaga School Weekly Issue 121

Issue 121, 24th June 2022

Panaga School Biweekly, Issue One Hundred and Twenty One, 24th June 2022

https://bit.ly/PANAGASPELLINGBEE2022

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Panaga School Biweekly, Issue One Hundred and Twenty One, 24th June 2022

Messages from Panaga School Senior Leadership Team Dear Panaga School Community,

Panaga School

IFM/4, BSP Company Sdn Bhd, Seria, KB 3534, Negara Brunei Darussalam Phone: +673 3372139 Teraja Office +673 3372694 Rampayoh Office

Principal: Cindy Bin Tahal

+673 8777028 Cindy-Rose.BinTahal@ bsp-shell.bn

Mendaram/Rampayoh Deputy Principal: Donna Bonham donnabonham@ panagaschool.net

Parent Opinion Survey Results Thank you to everybody who provided feedback in this year’s Parent Opinion Survey. More than 80% of families were represented in responses. A summary of this report was emailed to all parents this week and is available again herein this edition of Panaga School Biweekly.

98% of respondents agree that Panaga School is a good school, with 94% of people satisfied with school communication. It is a challenge to meet everybody’s preferences of communication channels, which was further evidenced through competing opinions offered in the commentary. While responses from this year’s Parent Opinion Survey have been predominantly positive, it is our commitment to continuously improve our learning community to benefit all. Please know that we practise an open door policy, with parents welcome to meet with a member of the Senior Leadership Team if you would like to discuss whole school operations and strategic developments. Classroom teachers are your first focal point for discussing your child’s individual learning needs.

Mendaram/Rampayoh Deputy Principal: Claire Richmond

Congratulations to everyone in our school community, as this year’s Parent Opinion Survey results belong to us all. We truly are: Together, improving learning.

Teraja Deputy Principal: Perminder Sanghera

2022/2023 Remote Whole School Parent Information Sessions Panaga School’s Senior Leadership Team will deliver information sessions to parents on Tuesday 5th July at 4pm and Thursday 7th July at 10am.

clairerichmond@ panagaschool.net

permindersanghera@ panagaschool.net

Melilas Deputy Principal: Robert Unsworth robertunsworth@ panagaschool.net

Business Service Lead: Cyla Ahmad cylaahmad@ panagaschool.net

Panaga School Biweekly Editor: Damian Brady damianbrady@ panagaschool.net

Both sessions will be conducted online via Google Meets, with links emailed and WhatsApped to parents before each session.

These sessions will provide whole school academic and curriculum information, staffing updates and student number forecasts for the new school year. The timing of these sessions aim to coincide with approval to announce and introduce parents to our new teacher recruits.

Wishing everybody a wonderful weekend.

Panaga School Biweekly, Issue One Hundred and Twenty One, 24th June 2022

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kills

&

nderstanding

@

Panaga School Biweekly, Issue One Hundred and Twenty One, 24th June 2022

nowledge,

kills

&

nderstanding

@

Panaga School Biweekly, Issue One Hundred and Twenty One, 24th June 2022

Once Upon A Time in P1

Our fun with the IEYC unit of learning, ‘Once Upon a Time’, has continued over recent weeks. First, we invented a new ‘Monster’ for under the bridge in ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. Our imagination and artistic skills were put to good use when we designed and created our very own monsters.

Next, we had some exciting post from Jimmy the Giant. He delivered some magic beans. Our Enquiry skills were put to the test as we solved the rhyming clues to find all 5 of the magic beans.

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Panaga School Biweekly, Issue One Hundred and Twenty One, 24th June 2022

What would the beans grow into? It was important to make a special wish before planting the beans. We wished for many different things; from marshmallows to money trees, to unicorns and racing cars.

Now, we are enjoying getting busy with our ‘green fingers’ by exploring seeds, investigating where they will grow best and caring for our new plants. We have been able to reflect on our knowledge to ensure the seeds have what they need to grow; demonstrating lots of Cooperation along the way!

By the P1 Team

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Panaga School Biweekly, Issue One Hundred and Twenty One, 24th June 2022

Dyslexia workshop What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that affects 7-15% of the world’s population.

Just like with many things, there is a spectrum of dyslexia and the difficulties experienced can vary in severity and type. However, the basic difficulties experienced are with phonological awareness (recognising sounds in words) and decoding (embedding and applying phonic knowledge). This causes problems with spelling and reading fluently. In addition, it can cause slow processing speeds and a weak working memory.

As you would expect, the Panaga community contains typical numbers of dyslexic children, parents and even teachers! To help children better understand their dyslexia, we held a workshop. They learnt the following: Why are people dyslexic?

In evolutionary terms, humans are successful because they communicate and collaborate in groups. They achieved this millions of years ago by evolving different types of brains so that when they were problem solving they had people who could look at things from different angles. Neuro imaging shows that dyslexic brains are wired differently. Dyslexia only became a difficulty when reading, writing and schools were invented!

Proud to be dyslexic!

Some of the children who joined the workshop to

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teachers can help them.

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Panaga School Biweekly, Issue One Hundred and Twenty One, 24th June 2022

Not a disability!

The dyslexic advantage Dyslexia has no impact on IQ. The neurological differences in a dyslexic brain which make reading and spelling difficult are the same differences which

produce strengths in creativity, problem solving and out of the box thinking.

Creativity The following famous people are just some examples of the creative dyslexic: Art - Leonardo da Vinci & Picasso; Music - Beethoven & John Lennon; Acting Tom Holland, Tom Cruise & Johnny Depp; Athletes - Muhammad Ali & Jackie Stewart; Writers - Roald Dahl and F. Scott Fitzgerald. There are so many more, just Google: ‘famous dyslexics’.

Problem solving and out of the box thinking The dyslexic brain is perfect for creating new, innovative ideas. 10% of the population is dyslexic, 40% of millionaires are and up to 50% of entrepreneurs e.g. Einstein (his schoolmaster wrote in his school report, "He

will never amount to anything"), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), Louis Pasteur (penicillin), Steven Hawkins, The Wright brothers (aeroplanes), Henry Ford (cars), Isaac Newton (gravity - laws of physics). Entrepreneurs - Richard Branson (Virgin), Steve Jobs (Apple), Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA), Walt Disney, Bill Gates (Microsoft), Elon Musk, Anita Roddick (Body Shop) and Jamie Oliver - are all dyslexic.

If you think that you or your child may have dyslexia and would like to talk, - Miss Mia

please contact me: miafrance@panagaschool.net. nowledge,

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Panaga School Biweekly, Issue One Hundred and Twenty One, 24th June 2022

M2 Graduation We were delighted to hold our M2 Graduation Ceremony last Thursday evening.

This was an opportunity to mark an important transition in our departing Melilas students’ lives. Most of our M2 students have been at Panaga School for a number of years. For many of them, this will signify an end to their time here in Panaga before they leave Brunei; for others, it is a move to new schools in-country and a new chapter in their lives.

I would like to thank our MD, Agnete Johnsgaard-Lewis, for joining us at the event and for the warm words offered in her opening speech, for the support of our M2 parents, to the staff who attended and of course to the M2 students who contributed a wonderful drama piece reflecting their time at Panaga School.

Special thanks to our M2 parent reps, Sherri and Suzan, for their tremendous input and organisational skills and to Mr Simon and Miss Peta who helped pull together the students' wonderful presentation.

It was a splendid celebration of our M2s time at Panaga and the strength of our Panaga School Community. Thank you everyone. Best of luck M2s. - Robert Unsworth, Head of Middle Years, Deputy Principal

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