IGBIS eNEWS: Week 1, August 2021
August 13, 2021
IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 269.
August 27, 2021
Head of School Headlines
Jason McBride, Head of School
Dear IGBIS Community,
With me being new to the school and us starting online, it’s making it a little more challenging to get to know everyone and so I wanted to do something to change that. Most of the time people ask me questions when I’m dropping into classes, hanging out in the cafeteria or greeting everyone at arrival, but while we are away from campus, those situations don’t happen. Here’s what we are going to do about it.
Over the next two weeks, we are going to publish a link to “Ask me anything” starting this week with students. You want to know if I have a pet? Just write it down. Want to know where “home” is? Ask away. Curious about why I love being a Head of School? Go for it!
I will do my best to answer as many questions as I can in a video format before we put out another link to parents to do the same thing next Friday. For this week, if you are age 19 and below, just click HERE to ask me anything!
Be well.
ES News
SImon Millward, Elementary School Principal
Our first rotational cycle has been focused on getting to know the children. Not only academically but socially as well. What their likes and dislikes are, how they prefer to learn and hearing from them as to recent highlights of their time away from school.
Classes have been establishing routines and trying to explore further what good work habits are. Tuning into learning is always an important part of a year initially as the students may have not been engaged in studying over the course of the summer break.
We hope that you have been able to establish these routines and habits at home so that your children are showered, dressed, had breakfast and are ready to learn for their first meeting at 9.00am. This year we have stressed the importance of taking time away from the computer screen so having a designated lunchtime for most grade levels at 12.00pm – 1.00pm. The children should be eating lunch and being engaged in none device time. This has also been my message to staff as well. For everyone’s well being this is a good habit to get into.
Communication is very important between home and school. If you are having some challenges then please contact your child’s classroom teacher in the first instance. We also have an Elementary School counsellor- Mr. John Schuster who can also be contacted to support you and your children.
In a slight change to the calendar we will be hosting our ‘Back to School’ curriculum presentations on Friday 3rd September. We have made this change so that the Secondary School can host theirs on Monday 31st August. This means if families do have children in both sections of the school there will not be a clash.
We will be making changes to how we run the ‘Back to School’ sessions this year. I will be sending out more details about this next week.
Dates for Your Diary
- Tuesday, 31st August: Public holiday no school
- Friday, 3rd September: Back to School afternoon
SS News
Sandy van Nooten, Secondary School Principal
Our first full cycle is done!
We’ve survived our first full week, and we’re already into our second run through the 7 day timetable.
While it is pretty amazing that we’ve opened the school online, it is a minor miracle that our new students & our Gr.6 students are still with us and still smiling. It is a big step (on a good day) to move schools or transition from Elementary to Secondary. These courageous students have had to sort out tech issues while using the tech, find classes without fully understanding the schedule, navigate ManageBac, GoogleClassrooms, Chat, Email, get to know 8 or 9 new teachers, all the while, trying to make friends with 2 x 3cm faces on GoogleMeets. Thanks to our returning students who have made our new ones feel welcome. Thanks to our teachers for facilitating lessons as well as friendships, and thanks to our new secondary parents for trusting us and giving invaluable support from home.
Virtual Back to School Afternoon (VBTSA) – All secondary parents are invited to our ‘Virtual Back to School Afternoon’ on Monday 30th Aug (from 1:30 to 4:30pm). We’ll run a short day with classes ending at lunchtime. VBTSA will start with a short meet for all secondary parents followed by a rotation through departments, where parents have the opportunity to meet all their child’s teachers. The main purpose of this event is to put a face to the name of your child’s teachers and to get some information about the courses. We’ll send more information next week.
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Stay safe.
Stay Healthy
John Schuster, Elementary School Counsellor
Easy to say, more difficult to do, especially during these difficult times of being locked up and stuck at home. Our health has really been tested with CoVid. When I look at health, I see two types, our physical health, and our mental health. Our physical health consists of exercise, eating, sleep and taking care of our bodies. We can get into a routine, knowing when we have our meals, when we go to bed, and when we are online for school. We just have to make sure we get our exercise and eat somewhat healthy. We need exercise and should include it in our home routine. Getting outside and doing a couple of walks a day around your neighbourhood can go a long way. Walk and notice things, listen carefully, take in the sights and sounds, see if you can find something new each day. Take a family walk or if you want to get away, go for a walk by yourself.
Our mental health consists of our emotional well-being. Mental health used to be a taboo area, but it is now being recognized by countries and individuals. Most of our emotional well being comes from interacting with our family, friends and colleagues, but now that is done online, increasing screen time. We have been unable to physically see family and friends. We don’t know what the world will be like, anything can happen at any time. Most of the news in the media is depressing, but we can control what we read. Sometimes we worry about things we can not control and this takes a toll on us. Look for the positives in your life. Be grateful, practise kindness and encourage everyone in your family to do the same.
If you need someone to talk with, the counsellors are here to help. You can contact any of us for support. Click here for a quick well-being check-in. How can we help?
Your counsellors at IGBIS are:
- John Schuster, Elementary School Counsellor ( john.schuster@igbis.edu.my )
- Leanne Harvey, Middle School Counsellor ( leanne.harvey@igbis.edu.my)
- Tim Howe, High School Counsellor ( tim.howe@igbis.edu.my )
Online Individual Music Classes With The IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy
Hadewych Dujardin, Music Academy Coordinator
The IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy provides the opportunity for students to have individual lessons with a professional tutor to foster the development of skills and a love for playing music. Students who participate in the program will be encouraged to use these skills as a member of an IGBIS Music Orchestra and become a lifetime participant in music making.
IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy is acting as an agent between the parents and tutors, providing the services of enrolling students, arranging schedules (when at school), invoicing and collection of payments.
Our tutors are all experienced musicians and teachers who work at other International Schools or other reputable Music Academies in Kuala Lumpur. This year the instruments available for learning online are Piano, Guitar (Electric, classical) Ukulele, Voice and Drums. The lessons will be online for the first semester.
All students must have their own instruments at home. Students from Grade 3 to G12 will be able to sign up for this semester. All schedules will be made once registration is finished.
Lessons will cost RM55 for an individual lesson online ( as opposed to RM70 f2f). There will be around 15 lessons in each semester, depending on holidays. Invoices will be emailed to Parent IGBIS email accounts. Registration will start from 20th of August. Please email: hadewych.dujardin@igbis.edu.my for more information or fill in this form.
