IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 308

Two quite unrelated items at the end of a full week. The first is that this coming Tuesday, IGBIS will practice a Shelter-in-Place or “Lockdown” Drill with all students and staff from Kg to Grade 12 in order to prepare for situations that require us to safely stay where we are, rather than evacuate the building as you would with a fire. This is an announced drill and teachers are speaking with students in advance in a developmentally appropriate manner to prepare them for the 10-15 minute drill. We are not mimicking an active shooter situation or other potentially scary scenarios but will go through the process of taking shelter so that everyone knows what to do if extreme weather or an unwelcome intruder enters the school. We will debrief with the students afterwards, but you may wish to check in with your child at the end of the day on Tuesday to see how the drill went and if they have any questions.

The second item is to say goodbye to Ms Pat Yong. For anyone who joined us in the last year and a half, Pat would likely have been a point of contact as she was our Admissions Manager. Her last day was last week as she and two partners made the move to open their own preschool in the Klang Valley. We are grateful for her steady leadership of the admissions and marketing teams this past 18 months in a dual role and we wish her all the best in the adventure ahead. With the transition, we took the opportunity to split these departments again as admissions and marketing are both so vital in rebuilding enrollment as we exit the pandemic that we need two people where there used to be one.

After a lengthy search, we gladly welcomed Mr Chee Weng Wong as our new Marketing Manager. Chee Weng has worked in the educational space in Malaysia for more than two decades and brings a wealth of operational and marketing knowledge and experience to the role. We are in the final stages of hiring for the Admissions Manager position, but in the meantime, I’d like to thank the rest of the Admissions Team (Shree, Jonathan and Kaisya) for carrying the load in the interim.

Be well everyone, and to those mourning the loss of HM Queen Elizabeth II, our sincerest condolences.

Jason

Simon Millward

We had a wonderful start to this week as we held our Elementary assembly on Tuesday. It was hosted by our Grade 4 students and they shared an array of their learning with us. We heard from the students about what their personal inquiries were and how they are excited to embark on this individual study as it is tied to their passions.

They also shared some of their learning around the unit of inquiry theme ‘Who we Are’ as they delve deeper into ‘ People’s beliefs and values influence their actions’. Through this unit, the students have been engaged in many learning experiences. They identified Hero characters whose beliefs and values they act on like Doraemon, Luffy, Spiderman, Wonder woman, Mulan, Sailor Mars and Easter Mouse. The students also have been using similes and metaphors to express their core values through figurative languages, like ‘Family is like a warm meal’ and ‘My family is a just cooked pizza’.

The Grade 4’s also shared some of their mathematics learning as they have been investigating place value, multiplication facts (as they identified the patterns in the times tables) and their Ninja Challenge around learning their times tables. Shakira and Ariff rounded off the sharing with their success stories around ‘emotional management’ and ‘perseverance’. It was a fun and balanced assembly especially as the students asked volunteers to come to the stage for a ‘plank challenge’

Hot off the press is the Grade 5 House Captain selection. On Thursday 8th September, nineteen students from the four houses (Aer, Aqua, Ignis and Terra) gave speeches to their peers. These ranged from students who had been in school for many years, to students who are new this year. The students then had to vote for two Captains per house. I was very proud watching these presentations as it was very clear that the students had spent a significant amount of time preparing for these speeches. They were written thoughtfully and it was clear that they had practised a lot too. I am glad I didn’t have to choose as the confidence that the students showed, the risk-taking involved and the clear communication from each student made the selection extremely difficult. I was proud of all the students and it was wonderful to see so many students embark on this journey. It is unfortunate that only eight students will be selected, but I am sure no matter what the results are, the students will be supportive of those selected.

Congratulations to the House Captains for 2022/23 who are:

AER: Téa and Suhaan
AQUA: Tamaki and Yuko
IGNIS: Szu Zenn and Kyle
TERRA: Isla and Ryan

Finally, it has been wonderful to see our activities and athletics programme get underway this week. It brings a smile to my face as I see so many of our students taking the opportunity and getting involved in a variety of experiences.

Next week we will have our Malaysia day assembly on Thursday 15th September. Unfortunately, as the whole school will be in the Theater to view the assembly, we will not have enough room for parents as well. Rest assured that we will record the assembly and share it with you for your enjoyment afterwards.

Dates for Your Diaries

Thursday 15th Sept: WS Malaysia Day assembly (students only)
Friday 16th Sept: Public holiday
Friday 7th October: 3 Way/PT conferences
Monday 10th October: Public holiday

Sandy van Nooten

Student Council (StuCo)

Huge thanks to the outgoing StuCo execs who have been fantastic student leaders throughout the last year. They ran today’s brilliant assembly with the perfect tone, pace and humour … they are an amazing team. Thank you, Daniel, Eesha, Emmett and Brinda. You’ve set a high bar for the next StuCo.

Below are the 13 candidates who all gave live speeches in front of the entire Secondary School. Voting is happening now, with results announced on Monday.

Student Leadership

We have several branches of student leadership opportunities.

STUDENT COUNCIL

StuCo executives – 4 students (from Gr. 7 to 11) elected by Secondary students
Homeroom Representatives – 1 representative from each homeroom (elected by the homeroom students)
Extended StuCo = StuCo execs + homeroom representatives

HOUSE LEADERS

House Captains – 2 students per house (from Gr. 9 & 10) elected by all students from each house
MS House Reps – 2 representatives per house (from Gr. 6 to 8) elected by MS students from each house
Extended House = House Captains + MS House Reps

STUDENT AMBASSADORS

Ambassador Execs – 2 students (elected from, and by, the Student Ambassadors)
Student Ambassadors – ~2 students per grade apply to become ambassadors

Please note that the roles in red (above) are major leadership roles. No student can hold more than one major leadership role at the same time. (It is ok to have a red and a green, a red and two green, several greens, but no more than one red.)

Timeline for each branch of leadership:

StuCo execs (voting in progress, StuCo exec announced on Mon 12th Sept)
Homeroom representatives (call for candidates next week, speeches during an extended homeroom on 23rd Sept)
House Captains (call for candidates next wee, campaign following week, speeches at Secondary assembly on 30th Sept, followed by voting)
MS House Reps (call for middle school candidates during the first week of October).
Student Ambassadors (call for ambassador applications will happen over the next few weeks)
Ambassador execs will be elected from and by the student ambassador group

Your children are awesome, thank you for sharing them with us!

Have a great weekend,

Sandy

The Counseling Team

Thinking about Language

With a new month comes a new Monthly Mental Health topic and for September we are going to explore Inclusion. It’s Inclusion Month which will culminate in celebrating Inclusion Week the last week of September. Also, make sure to check out the Counseling Webpage as each week we will highlight some of the most inclusive universities around the world (based upon different categories of inclusion); perfect for those in the process of thinking about and researching colleges and universities!

The topic of inclusion may not seem connected to Mental Health, but the more we explore, the more you will find inclusion is interconnected with Mental Health in myriad ways. This week your counsellors have been thinking a lot about how we all use language. Language of support, the language of encouragement, the language of love and care, and so many other expressions of language. Sometimes this language is spoken, sung, written, drawn, acted out or expressed through movement or actions.

As we move into the weekend and the new school week ahead, we would like you to really think about how you use language to include and be inclusive of everyone. The language we use to talk and write about race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, socioeconomic status, religious affiliation, and other identities can marginalize people and groups or empower people so they feel like they belong. The American Psychological Association (APA) has created this helpful guide on inclusive language.

Please take time to stop and think about the words you use. Listen to the words that others use. Are you using words to be a “builder” or a “wrecke”r? Know that it is fantastic when we use positive language and say encouraging things to other people. It is even better when we listen and tell others how much we like or appreciate what someone has said to us or to others. The opposite of this is knowing that it is OK to let others know that we don’t like it when they use language that is not supportive or not inclusive.

Using inclusive language reflects an openness towards differences. It creates a safe, neutral space for everyone to feel welcome. AT IGBIS everyone is WELCOME. Let’s all use words that WELCOME!

Take care,

The Counseling Team

John Schuster (ES) john.schuster@igbis.edu.my
Leanne Harvey (MS) leanne.harvey@igbis.edu.my
Amanda Lopez (HS) amanda.lopez@igbis.edu.my

Steven Harvey

Good Habits Start Young

Parents and carers play an important role in helping children to develop digital intelligence; the social, emotional and practical skills needed to successfully navigate the digital world.

Even for preschool children, it is never too early to instil good habits, and as your child gets older, it is useful to keep reminding them of these basic digital intelligence principles: respect, empathy, critical thinking, responsible behaviour and resilience. These are also principles you can emphasize with your child when things go wrong.

How to Build Digital Intelligence

Promote Respectful Communication

Encourage your child to use the same positive manners and behaviour they would use offline, understanding that others may have different cultures, backgrounds or points of view. If it is not OK to say or do something face to face, it is not OK online.
Remind them to avoid responding to negative messages and to tell you or another trusted adult if they receive them. Tell them it is OK to report others who are not being nice.
Emphasise the positives. For example, ‘I know what a kind and respectful person you are, and it makes me so proud to see you acting the same way when you’re online. You are such a great friend — I can see how much everyone looks up to you at school.’

Encourage Empathy

Help your child to imagine being in someone else’s shoes, so they can relate to diverse opinions and understand what might make people behave in different ways.
For example, you might say something like: ‘I noticed that Sam seemed a bit sad when she came over yesterday. Have you noticed anything? What do you think is wrong? Would that make you sad? What can we do to help?’

Teach Them to Question

Encourage your child to think critically about what they see online. Teach them to ask questions so they can identify content or messages that may be misleading or exploitative.
Talk to them about ‘fake news’, or false information that is designed to look like a trustworthy news report, and how quickly it can spread on social media. Teach them to fact check news sources and do their own independent searches on issues, so they can see the variety of opinions on a particular issue and make up their own mind.
Remind them to be careful when making new friends online as people may not be who they say they are. We are increasingly seeing ‘Finstas’ (fake Instagram accounts) and other impersonation accounts. So it is important to question whether what they are seeing online from their friends is real or not. If it seems out of character, it could be from a fake account.
Alert your child to the dangers of meeting someone in person that they have been talking to online. Advise them to never arrange to meet an online friend unless a trusted adult is with them and it is during the day in a public space.

That’s three things to think about for this week. Next week we will consider some more ways to build digital intelligence.