• Secondary School Student Council Fall Festival - October 14 th 2016 IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 90, Week 2 , October 2016 Inside This Week’s Newsletter Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School ............................................................................................... News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal ............................................................................................... What Skills Do We Teach in the PYP? Simon Millward PYP Coordinator ............................................................................................... News from Secondary School Mr. Michael Arcidiacono Secondary School Principal ............................................................................................... Assessment in the IB Middle Years Programme Phil Clark MYP Coordinator Secondary Student Council Fall Festival Tien Xzi Secondary School Student Council Secretary ............................................................................................... 3rd Annual SENIM Conference at IGBIS Gail Hall and Lizzie Hudson Learning Support Coordinators ............................................................................................... An [Art]icle Yin Xzi Ho, Zoe Teh, Afifah Nur Azmi, Anna Opanasenko Secondary School Students ............................................................................................... Great Job Mr Derry! Mr. Wayne Demnar Admissions and Marketing Director 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 6
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• Secondary School Student Council Fall Festival - October 14th 2016
IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 90, Week 2 , October 2016
Inside This Week’s Newsletter
Message from Head of SchoolMrs. Anne FowlesHead of School...............................................................................................News from Elementary SchoolMrs. Claire McLeodElementary School Principal...............................................................................................What Skills Do We Teach in the PYP?Simon MillwardPYP Coordinator...............................................................................................News from Secondary SchoolMr. Michael ArcidiaconoSecondary School Principal...............................................................................................Assessment in the IB Middle Years ProgrammePhil ClarkMYP Coordinator
Secondary Student Council Fall FestivalTien XziSecondary School Student Council Secretary...............................................................................................3rd Annual SENIM Conference at IGBISGail Hall and Lizzie HudsonLearning Support Coordinators...............................................................................................An [Art]icleYin Xzi Ho, Zoe Teh,Afifah Nur Azmi, Anna OpanasenkoSecondary School Students...............................................................................................Great Job Mr Derry!Mr. Wayne DemnarAdmissions and Marketing Director
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2 Igniting Minds Impacting Lives
Message from Head of School
Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members,
It was great to see that nearly all of our parents attended the
parent-teachers’ conference during the week. I appreciated
hearing many positive comments from parents as they talked
about their children’s education at IGBIS and the wonderful
learning environment provided by our teachers. Likewise
our teachers commented very positively about the parents
that they met and how supportive they were. It is particularly
pleasing to hear about new students who have settled in
to IGBIS and have quickly made very good progress. Most
importantly, students are enjoying their school experience at
IGBIS.
On Tuesday October 25 we will hold our school-wide Deepavali
Assembly which is bound to be a colourful event. Please come
along and join the assembly at 2pm.
November will be a busy month for us with a preparatory
visit from the Council of International Schools (CIS) and New
England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) for
accreditation purposes during November 1-4; IGBIS Sports
Day on November 9; hosting the Special Education Network
in Malaysia (SENIM) on November 12; the 24 Hour Run to
Prevent Modern Day Slavery on November 19-20; and in-
school Open Days on November 24-25. We hope to see
members of our community coming into school to support
these events.
Mrs. Anne FowlesHead of School
News from Elementary School
DeepavaliThe year is flying by and we are already in October and
about to celebrate Deepavali. The whole school assembly is
on Tuesday 25th October at 2pm in the Theatre and parents
are welcome to attend. Students and staff are asked to wear
something that reflects the Indian culture; students do not
have to wear their school uniform on that day.
School ClosedPlease note that there will be no school on Monday 31st
October, Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 2nd November.
School Clinic GuidelinesFrom the start of the school year there have been a number of
students who have arrived at school unwell or become unwell
during the day. Please see the Clinic Guidelines outlined
below; an expanded version of this has been added to the
Elementary School class websites for easy access.
School Clinic
The School Clinic is staffed by Nurse Azilah. The clinic is
located on Level 2 near the main pool and the extension
number is 4653. If your child becomes ill at school, Nurse
Azilah will, if necessary, contact parents and arrange for the
child to be taken home.
The following medical problems are indications for sending a
student home:
Early Years to Grade 12 StudentsStudents should remain at home for 24hrs without medication
if they have:
• A fever above 37.7°C;
• A sore throat with fever or spots;
• Excessive signs of cold or sneezing, accompanied by
nasal secretion that is yellow or green, and/or a fever;
• Discharge from eyes or ears.
Persistent Nausea, Vomiting and Diarrhea• Students with nausea and vomiting should remain at home
until 24 hours after the last episode without any medication;
• Diarrhea occurs twice, vomiting (after 2 incidents) or an
upset stomach. The students should stay at home for 24
hours after the last episode and has returned to a normal
diet.
Early Years Students• Unusual lethargy and inability to participate in regular
activities;
• Irritability or persistent crying;
• Unusual or unexplained loss of appetite, fatigue, lethargic
behaviour, irritability or headache.
If your child is ill, or if you are not sure about their condition in
the morning, please keep him/her at home to help reduce the
risk spreading the illness to the whole class. If your child is ill
with a contagious disease, please telephone the school nurse
to report it.
Further information is available on each Elementary School
class website.
Mrs. Claire McLeodElementary School Principal
Igniting Minds Impacting Lives 3
What Skills Do We Teach in the PYP?
Simon MillwardIB PYP Coordinator...............................................................................................
In the PYP there are five essential elements of the curriculum:
Knowledge, Skills, Concepts, Attitudes and Action. These have
been introduced during PYP workshops and will be revisited in
more detail as the year progresses. In this piece I would like to
highlight the skills that are taught within the PYP.
Two types of skills are taught within the PYP curriculum:
1. Subject specific skills - for example, in Language there
are specific reading and writing skills that are taught, the
same can be said of Mathematics, Science, Music, Visual
Arts and PE.
2. Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills - these are the
skills that the IBO identified as transcending subject
boundaries. These skills are contained within all of the
subjects and as such are taught within all of them. These
could be termed 21st century skills and have been
identified in research, such as UK Employer Skills Survey
Summary Report, as desirable skills according to
employers.
There are five ‘ATL skill’ categories: Thinking skills, Social
skills, Communication skills, Self Management skills and
Research skills. During units of inquiry teachers select the
most appropriate skills within each category to develop further.
For example in Grade 3’s first unit ‘Communication Connects
People’ their focus was on social skills and communication
skills. Within those categories, ‘respecting others’ and
‘resolving conflict’ drove the social skills category and ‘writing’,
‘listening and speaking’, and ‘non verbal communication’
drove the communication skills category. Not only were these
inquired into in the grade level setting, but also the PE classes.
In Grade 3 students explored ‘Kelso’s choice’ to help them
resolve conflict and find out what it meant to be an effective
communicator. The students wrote and asked questions in
an interview, took notes and shared their understanding in a
visual presentation.
The approaches to learning skills are woven authentically into
units to provide students with opportunities to develop these
desirable skills. The importance of these skills in an IB context
is emphasised through the fact that in all of the IB programmes
(PYP, MYP and DP) the approaches to learning skills are
taught and built upon.
Work cited:UKCES. Employer Skills Survey 2015. Rep. no. UKC004. London: UK Commision For
Employment and Skills, 2015. Print.
News from Secondary School
It was a pleasure to see so many parents and students this
week at our PST Conferences, meeting with teachers to
discuss the academic progress that has been made thus far
and identify areas for improvement. Please continue to monitor
ManageBac regularly with your son/daughter to accompany
their progress until the end of the semester.
We would like to hear from parents about this week’s
Conferences. Please provide feedback through this link:
https://goo.gl/forms/WXElFsd8gVtdVJ543
Several field trips happened this week as well, please monitor
the Secondary Homeroom Notices website (found through
your Splash Page) as this site is regularly updated with
information, upcoming dates, photos from field trips, student
entries of their activities in homeroom, and so on. Parents can
also join the photos section to see pictures of trips or other
activities.
Next Tuesday we will hold our annual Deepavali assembly.
Everyone is encouraged to dress in traditional attire in honor
notes; laboratory reports; continuums; open-ended tasks; and
presentations.
As students progress through Grades 6-10, they complete
many units of study in each subject area. The length of units
varies from unit to unit and between subjects. Teachers plan a
variety of formative and summative assessment tasks and the
students receive individual feedback that guides them towards
improvement.
Students complete summative assessment tasks which are
evaluated against four criteria in each subject. The four criteria
are broadly similar across all subjects, although they vary
slightly according to the specific requirements of individual
subjects. In general terms, the criteria are used to assess the
following areas:
• Criterion A: a student’s knowledge, understanding and
ability to analyse ideas in a subject.
• Criterion B: a student’s ability to investigate, organise and
develop ideas in a subject.
• Criterion C: a student’s ability to effectively communicate
ideas in a subject.
• Criterion D: a student’s ability to use, apply, evaluate and
reflect upon ideas in a subject.
Each criterion is divided into eight achievement levels with clear
descriptions of what is required in order to achieve at each
level. The achievement levels and descriptions are presented
in a tabular format (or rubric) so that teachers and students
can easily match achievement on a task with the criterion level
descriptions. This process sounds complicated, but students
quickly become proficient at reading and understanding
assessment rubrics and use them before submitting an
assessment task. Students also use the assessment rubrics
to identify their areas of success and what they need to do in
order to improve.
IGBIS Secondary School teachers plan their units of
study using ManageBac, our online learning platform and
information management system. The unit planning details
exactly how and when the learning will be assessed, including
which criteria are to be assessed and the assessment
rubrics that are to be used. Students and parents can login to
ManageBac to access unit overviews and assessment details.
After student learning has been assessed, students and
parents can access personalised feedback from the teachers
on ManageBac, including levels of achievement.
Igniting Minds Impacting Lives 5
3rd Annual SENIM Conference at IGBIS
Gail Hall and Lizzie HudsonLearning Support Coordinators...............................................................................................
IGBIS is proud to host the 2016 Special Education Network In
Malaysia (SENIM) annual conference on 12 November 2016.
The conference will feature nine presentations from specialists
and other people who have direct experiences with helping all
children to reach their full potential. These presenters, both
from Malaysia and around the world, will discuss a variety of
topics including Technology in Music Therapy, Educational
Assessments, How To Respond To Challenging Behaviour,
and Partnerships For Success: A Parent’s View. If you would
like to register to attend this event, please visit http://malaysia.