IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 285

Message from the Head of School

By Jason McBride, Head of School

Hello IGBIS Community and welcome to 2022!

It has been great to have students and staff back in the building after what I hope was a restful break for everyone. After returning face-to-face a few months ago, we are hopeful that the COVID situation in Malaysia continues to trend in the right direction and that our school can begin to function a little more normally with events that welcome people to campus, after school activities restart and our sense of community is reinvigorated. With an eye on being able to bring our wider community closer together, we would love to find a group of 3-5 parents who are interested in combining with a handful of staff to start planning this year’s International Day currently planned for March 19. We are hoping to use International Day as a way to pull people closer together because although the one-word survey we ran previously indicated that community was a real strength for IGBIS, there were more than a few parent entries that described the community as “disparate” or “fractured”; understandable adjectives after nearly two years of online learning, closures, social distancing and separation. If you are at all keen to help start the process of pulling the wider community back together, please let us know by filling out this FORM and we will put a team together in the next week.

While looking ahead is fun, looking backwards is also important and this week we celebrated a belated ceremony recognizing our staff who have been a part of IGBIS for five years. Along with plaques that celebrate this milestone, we also handed out newly designed black lanyards to identify the 41 staff who have been with our school for five or more years. If you see someone walking around with a black lanyard, let them know that you appreciate their commitment to IGBIS whether they are a teacher or associate teacher, work in finance, security or HR! Congrats to them all and thank you for being a part of the continuity and consistency that our school has thrived on.

Be well,

Jason

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From the Elementary Principal

By Simon Millward, Elementary School Principal

Welcome back to semester 2. It has been great to see all the smiling faces of our students as they have returned refreshed after their holiday. We have also been fortunate to welcome some new families to IGBIS, as I have been checking in on the new students. They seem to be making friends and adapting to the new environment very smoothly.

Thank you for organising the antigen tests for your children. It was very much appreciated as we try to keep everyone safe at IGBIS.

You should have by now received an email about the upcoming ‘invited’ conferences that will take place on Friday 21st January. This will be a regular school day for Elementary students. Teachers will arrange meetings with parents they wish to speak to during the school day in their planning time or after school. The meetings will be online via google meet and they will be arranged directly with you and the teacher who would like to meet with you. Although the secondary students have a slightly different schedule next week, please note that next Friday is a regular face-to-face day for elementary students.

Just a little snippet of my holiday and interactions with wildlife, some of them unexpected (the python).

Dates for your diaries

• Tuesday 18^th January: Thaipusam holiday: No school
• Friday 21^st January: Invited conferences
• Friday 28^th January: Lunar New Year: WS assembly
• Monday 31^st Jan- 4^th Feb: Lunar New Year holiday: No school

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From the Secondary Principal

By Sandy van Nooten, Secondary School Principal

Happy New Year and Welcome Back.

We’ve had a smooth start to the semester and it is lovely to have most of our students back face-to-face. We’re still waiting on a few to clear quarantine, but it won’t be long before we will start to phase out online classes.

We’re happy to welcome 6 new students to secondary (3 in Gr.6, 2 in Gr.8 and 1 in Gr.10). They are going to be a great addition to our school. Thanks to everyone who has helped to make them feel welcome. 

3-Way Conferences – By Invitation

Next Friday (21^st Jan), we will be running 3-way conferences by invitation. 

• If any of your teachers have concerns about your progress, they will invite you to a parent-teacher-student-conference. Each individual conference will run for approximately 15 minutes. 
• If 4 or more teachers have concerns about the same student, you will be invited to a 30 minute conference. These longer conferences will be run by two people from our leadership team and/or the student services team.

The schedule for Friday, 21^st Jan is:

• ONLINE day for Secondary students (until lunch time).
• We will follow the regular face-to-face schedule (until lunch time).
• Interviews will be scheduled to run between 1:30 and 4:30pm
  
• Individual teachers will send email invitations as early as possible (any time from now).
• I will send email invitations to families where there are 4 or more concerns (I will send these invitations tomorrow morning).
• If you receive an invitation please (pretty please) rsvp. 
• If you can’t make that time, please suggest a few times that will work (even if you need to meet on another day).

The purpose of these conferences is to help students have a fresh, productive and successful start to this new semester. 

NOTE: Cezars has been informed and will cancel Friday lunch orders for secondary students.

Remember next week is a 4 day week. Tuesday is a holiday 🙂

Have a fantastic weekend 

Sandy

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Pre-Order Meal Menu

17th – 21st January 2022

Guide to CHECK AND TOP-UP your Child’s Card:

1. Click on this LINK or go to https://cashless.igbis.edu.my/
2. Login in with your CHILD’s SCHOOL EMAIL address
   Your child’s name and card balance will be displayed.
   Please ensure that there is a minimum RM100 balance on the card.
3. To Top-up your E-purse, look for this icon:  and follow the instructions.

Guide to MEAL SELECTION:

1. Click on this MEAL PLAN ORDER
2. Ensure that you are Logged in via your SCHOOL EMAIL account
3. Enter all your child’s details, select the Weekly Order date and click NEXT
4. Choose your Set Meals for the various days
5. Click SUBMIT.

NOTE:

• Deadline to submit orders: 14 January 2022, FRIDAY.
• No Cancellation is allowed once the meal plan has been placed.
• If your child is absent from school, parents must inform Cezars via email igbis@cezarskitchen.com and afiq@cezarskitchen.com, BEFORE 7:00 am on the day of the absenteeism.

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