IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 289

By Jason McBride, Head of School

Hello IGBIS Community,

Earlier this week, all members of our school—from families, alumni and support staff, to teachers, admin and board members—would have received an invitation via email to take part in the CIS Community Survey. (If you did not receive the email, please contact admissions@igbis.edu.my). The survey is a key part of the reaccreditation process that takes place every five years as we take time to ensure that we are still meeting or exceeding the CIS, IB and NEASC standards and practices; your feedback informs that self-reflection which is why we need to hear from all members of our community! Student voice is integral as well and so all students in Grade 4 to 12 will complete the survey in class during homeroom time next week. We will share a synopsis of the community feedback throughout the self-study and strategic planning processes in the months to come ahead of our visit by the reaccreditation team this coming November.

Thank you in advance for helping us to get as close to a 100% completion rate as possible!

Be well and stay healthy,

Jason McBride

By Simon Millward, ES Principal

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for your positive response to our new initiative of weekly antigen testing on a Sunday and for uploading all the details by 8 pm. You will have received my email by now that outlines a slight change to the google form where you will upload the photograph of your test this week. We really appreciate your open-mindedness and willingness to keep our community safe.

Despite the rising COVID-19 cases in Malaysia, we are committed to providing the best possible face to face experience we can for our students. We are following SOP’s and the students are responding positively. One decision that was made and communicated in the newsletter in January was trying to return to as much normality as we possibly could and this meant limiting our offerings for online learning, so our focus could be on face to face learning. The times that online learning is available are:

if a student is overseas and is unable to travel to Malaysia for a variety of reasons then we will provide online learning or
if a student has to home isolate due to a COVID-19 situation then we will also provide an online experience with asynchronous tasks and homeroom teacher check ins.

These are the only options for online learning that we currently have. Thank you for your understanding.

Although much of my week has been spent in meetings I have been lucky enough to drop into different classes this week. I have been intrigued about the work happening in Grade 5 as they have been creating interactive dioramas to show how humans can have an impact on ecosystems. I caught many of the dioramas in the process so I am interested in seeing the completed products.

Thank you to Ms Nikki for her Maths Wednesday workshop session this week. Next week will be the turn of Mr Alex who will be sharing a snapshot of the great learning that happens in our single subject classes. As a school, we believe in the holistic nature of our PYP programme and these subjects are equally as important as the homeroom classes as they give our students the opportunity to shine in a different setting.

Dates for your diaries

Monday 21^st Feb: After school activities start. More information will be sent by Mr. Ngatai.
Wednesday 23^rd Feb: Workshop Wednesday: Single subjects by Mr. Alex
Wednesday 2^nd March Literacy: Using learning continua within language teaching and learning: Part 1.
Wednesday 9^th March Literacy: Using learning continua within language teaching and learning: Part 2.

By Sandy van Nooten, SS Principal

Covid Updates

Thanks to secondary students for submitting their RTK photo last Sunday. I’m super impressed that everyone remembered. This is our new Sunday ritual, let’s see if we can have 100% upload this week too. As mentioned in my email, starting on Mon (21^st Feb), we will send students home if they don’t send their RTK photo to their HR chat before HR starts. Mean huh!
Almost all of our secondary students are very good at wearing their masks properly all day. We have a small number of naughty-maskers. These students (and their parents) have been notified. Thankfully, we’ve already seen a marked improvement with most of the naughty-maskers. Phew.
We still have some Grade 6 students isolating at home due to being a close-contact to a positive student. Depending on their vaccination status, the close contacts can return after 7 days (double vaxxed) or 10 days (if not vaxxed or incomplete vaccination).

There are rumours that another SOP may be released by the MoH soon. We will need to hold our current SOPs until we receive changed guidance from the MoE. We are currently basing our isolation times from this document (updated 8^th Feb).

Valentines Day by “StuCo”

The student council arranged a series of events to celebrate Valentine’s day this year.

Students were able to dress in red, pink or white
A photo booth was set up for students to use
Brownies were lovingly prepared by “StuCo” and sold to students (to give to other students)
This year, some students chose the ‘premium package’ which allowed them to have a teacher (dressed as cupid) deliver their brownie and their poem/song/note to the student(s) of their choice.

It is Course Selections time (for Grade 10)

Mr Drechsler has been very busy this week. On Thursday, he and all the IBDP teachers ran a course options fair for Grade 10 students. Grade 10s had the opportunity to discuss subject options with teachers of every subject as well as a team of Grade 11 students who were there to give advice.

Today (Friday), Grade 10s are visiting Grade 11 and 12 classes all day to get an idea of what the different subjects are really like.

Have a great weekend (don’t forget RTKs on Sunday)

Regards

Sandy

By Brinda, Kimaya and Suhani, Grade 8

We are Kimaya, Brinda and Suhani from Grade 8 and we are organizing a clothing swap (a little like thrifting) for our community project as we are promoting sustainable fashion. Having a clothing swap is beneficial because:

People can save money on the items that they swap
A lot of material is used to make t-shirts
Instead of throwing out the clothes (which are still in good condition) you can swap them.

This is how it would work:

Students/parents can bring in their clothing (must be clean and in good quality). When you do that, you will get a ticket. The actual swap will be held for 3 days; two days for secondary (MYP lounge lvl. 6) and one day for the teachers and parents (in front of the turnstiles).

There will be requirements for the clothes that are brought in:

These clothes should be in good condition (no tears or stains). If there is, we will not accept them.
To keep hygiene concerns in order, the clothes that you bring must be washed before being brought.

On top of that all of these clothes will be sanitized with a sanitisation gun before they are allowed to be exchanged. To keep hygiene and follow SOPS.

The dates for clothing collection and swap are:

February 21^st to 25th for the collection of clothes
March 1^st to 3rd for the actual swaps

For any of the clothing that will not be swapped, we will donate it to organizations to help people in need, thrift stores or will be made into bags by us.

We hope you will add new pieces to your wardrobe and to see you all there!!

Have a nice day!

Best Regards,

Brinda, Kimaya and Suhani

21st – 25th FEB 2022 – Pre-Order HERE