IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 303

Message from the Head of School

By Jason McBride

Well, that was certainly a party on Friday night! It was incredible to see so many people celebrating International Day, coming together to share food, singing, dancing, their cultures, games and more. In a world that often feels like all we see are the things that separate us, it is great to be reminded that we have so much in common. A massive thank you to everyone who participated, and an even bigger thank you to the parents and staff who made it all possible. From printing passports and organizing performances to cooking food and helping clean up after, it took a lot of hands to make it all work. In the new school year, we will be looking for committees to sign up for events throughout the year well ahead of time so that the responsibility for making special days like International Day a reality are shared by the wider community. Many hands make light work as the old saying goes!

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Monday and Tuesday for the Open Coffee Mornings with me from 8-9 am each day. Just as celebrating International Day was “better late than never”, these morning sessions give me a chance to get feedback on the End of Year update I recently sent out and hear about what is on everyone’s mind. We will host similar mornings in August in case you can’t make it next week.

Be well,

Jason

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From the Elementary Principal

By Simon Millward

Over the last two weeks, it has been all action in the Elementary School. Last week we kicked off the week with the Elementary School production. Considering the students had created all of the music, the scripts, and the backgrounds on stage and we even had some students in the sound booth, this was a fabulous example of inquiry and student agency (voice, choice and ownership) in action. Congratulations to all of our performers and my thanks to all of the teachers that made this happen.

I was also fortunate enough to travel to Gopeng for a day to attend the Grade 5 camp. I am not sure if the children or I had more fun on the water. These are great opportunities to take the students out of their comfort zone, get into nature, appreciate their friends and build community in a safe risk-taking environment.

Like any International School, we have a transient community and so at the end of the school year, we have to say farewell to students and some staff.

This year we wish our leaving staff all the very best on their new adventures and journeys, either back home, to a new country or school overseas. I would like to thank them for all of their hard work and contribution whilst they have been working at IGBIS and hopefully, our paths will cross again.

Mr and Mrs Rowe: Thailand

Mr Rowe has worked at IGBIS as not only a G4 homeroom teacher but his board games were a real hit and conversation point. He has also been an ESOL teacher, working across both Elementary and Secondary whilst Ms Jeanette has worked in Early Years, KG and this year in G2 where she has certainly made an impact using her experience to develop our teaching and learning practices here.

Ms Sarah: Canada

Ms Sarah has been a driving force behind our Young Activists this year who had their first conference in May. She has also done some amazing work updating our Science and Social Studies curriculum. The G2 team have built a great foundation to springboard from.

Mr Wei Jun: Mongolia

Mr Wei Jun has spanned across the whole of the Elementary school teaching PE. His enthusiasm and rapport with the children are his stand-out qualities. He is equally liked by his Fireflies and EY students to his G5 students and he has contributed enormously not only to the PE department but to whole school assembly performances too.

Ms Kari: Spain

Ms Kari has been at the school for a whopping 7 years where she has taught Grade 4, KG and Grade 5. She has certainly had a positive impact on the school and shown she is flexible and resilient as she has navigated new grade levels, new teams and new teaching and learning practices.

We also have some of our students leaving us and we wish you a bon voyage and all the very best on your new adventures.

Whilst there have been challenges to navigate and overcome this year, I am proud of everyone associated with the Elementary School, students, parents and teachers as learning has continued and we have survived! I hope you have an enjoyable last few days and a relaxing holiday.

See you at the assemblies and the ‘wave’ off on Wednesday 15th June.

Dates for your diaries

• Monday 13th June: G1 & G2 Parent assembly: 2.20 pm
• Tuesday 14th June: EY & KG Parent assembly: 2 pm
• Wednesday 15th June: Report cards go home, check the Toddle app
• Wednesday 15th June: Last day for students 12 pm dismissal

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From the Secondary Principal

By Sandy van Nooten

Celebration, Awards & Farewell Assembly – Next Wednesday, secondary parents are invited to join us for our final assembly of the year. The assembly is being run by our trusty student ambassadors and they have a lot to squeeze into a 90-minute assembly. Here is a link to a document that explains the criteria for each of the secondary awards. We hope to see you there. (Wed 14th June from 10 to 11:30 am in the Theatre).

Spirit Week – Thanks to StuCo for organising our final spirit week for the year. It was a lovely way to end the year. Here are some happy snaps from around campus this week.

Next Week – I can’t quite believe that we are at the end of the year. Here’s the schedule for next week.

• Mon 13th June – Normal day 
• Tue 14th June – Secondary day trips (some students at school)
  • Gr. 6&7 – Stand-up paddleboarding 
  • Gr. 8&9 – River tracing at Selangor State Park
  • Gr. 10&11 – Paintballing. 
• Wed 15th June – LAST DAY with students
  • 8 to 8:30 Extended HR (empty lockers, return library books etc.)
  • 8:30 to 9:30 class parties 
  • 9:30 to 10:00 Break
  • 10:00 to 11:30 Celebration Awards and Farewell assembly in the Theatre
  • 11:30 to 12:00 sign yearbooks
  • 12:00 Teachers line up to wave off students
  • Reports released via ManageBac by 4 pm

ManageBac for Parents – If you are struggling to navigate ManageBac, here is a clear MB guide to help you (lovingly prepared by Ms Flavia Godja). This will help you do just about anything on MB. Thanks to Flavia.

Hope you have a great weekend

Regards

Sandy

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Study Help Group (CAS project)

By Allison Parratt

Hello Everyone!

We are Song Qi, Katherine, Yihan & Eliza from Grade 11. This is a little write-up to share our CAS project with the school community. 

For our CAS project this year, we decided to do something meaningful by setting up a study help group for MYP students. We mainly focused on Grade 10 students as they were in the midst of completing their Personal Project reports simultaneously studying for MYP e-assessments. We thought about how we felt back in Grade 10 and what help we would’ve appreciated from the grades above. One thing in common was the overwhelming pressure of time-management. Towards the end of Grade 10, immense pressure does start to build up with Personal Project reports & MYP e-portfolios deadlines, MYP e-assessments coming up, end of year summative assessments, and DP/CP/HSD introductions. The purpose of this club was to provide MYP 10 students with an opportunity to consult DP students about their  PP, e-assessments, e-portfolios, innovation/long-term projects or DP/CP/HSD subject choices. The more support Grade 10 students have about the experiences they will have in Grade 11/12, it would be easier to adapt to planning long-term projects and working consistently. 

After discussing with the PP coordinator and gathering the thoughts of Grade 10 students,  we decided to have scheduled study help sessions during the first half of lunch time where we would give a short presentation, have a Q&A session and let the students ask for one to one assistance if needed. We covered multiple topics through these sessions. Through this club, we hope MYP students developed a better understanding of the important skills they’ll need to develop for long-term projects as they transition into the diploma program.

We would like to commend students who participated in the study sessions on their efforts and amazing attitude towards participating, learning and perseverance. We know it’s not easy to make time with such busy schedules. Thank you for making time and dedicating your Wednesdays to meet with us. We hope that it was helpful. 

We wish Grade 10s all the best as they transition to Grade 11 next academic year! 🙂

Some pictures we would like to share:

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E-Sport News

By Steven Harvey

The last few school cycles saw students in Grades 6, 7 & 8 competing for House Points at the Lunchtime eSports Competition. Students played for their House Team and competed against other students in their grade level in Mario Kart, Rocket League and Super Smash Bros. The final House Points were as follows:

• Aer: 73
• Aqua: 59
• Ignis: 58
• Terra:49

The student from each grade with the best score in each game went on to compete in the IGBIS Grade 5-8 eSports Championships 2022, which was held at lunchtime this week. Grade 5 representatives were selected in playoffs during After School Activities.

Tuesday saw a fast and furious Mario Kart Championship between Grace (G5), Landen (G6), Dan (G7) and Leo (G8). A huge crowd was in attendance to cheer on these four competitors as they battled it out in a best-of-four championship on the racetrack. The scores were very close coming into the second last race to see Landen move way up the leaderboard towards Grace who was in second place and Dan in first. The final exciting race saw the lead change on a number of occasions, but Dan eventually pipped Landen at the finishing post to come in first, and Landen nudge Grace into third place, with Leo in the fourth position.

The Rocket League School Championship on Wednesday involved David (G5), Marzan (G6), Dan (G7) and Kimaya (G8). Another noisy crowd was in attendance to see David from Grade 5 dominate in the best of three matches on the virtual vehicular football pitch. Dan put up a good fight to win the second match, but David’s win in the first match and blistering performance in the third shut down any question mark over his ability to play football in a car. Special mention to rookies Marzan and Kimaya who had never played Rocket League before the qualifying heats, but showed grit and determination to battle on in the finals. They certainly displayed the spirit of eSport champions: integrity, strength, inclusion and teamwork. Well done. The final placings for the IGBIS G5-8 Lunchtime eSport Rocket League Championship 2022 were:

• 1st – David
• 2nd – Dan
• 3rd – Marzan
• 4th – Kimaya.

The final game in the eSports championships was in Super Smash Bros with David (G5) vs Narisa (G6) vs Dan (G7) vs Becky (G8). Crowds were entertained by cartoon characters like Mario, Donkey Kong and Yoshi as they battled it out in a knock-em-down event like no other. Narisa, with her Mario avatar, started well with a win, and Becky playing Donkey Kong won the second round. The third round went to David using Link and Narisa had her second victory playing as Samus in Round 4. Going into the final round, David was in the lead with 9 points, Narisa and Dan shared 10 points and Becky on 11 (lowest points wins). The excitement of the final round saw Dan win and David come in second place which meant scores were tied up and we had to go into an all-important tiebreaker. With a huge and quite vocal Grade 5 support team behind him, David was able to take out the tiebreaker to claim victory as the IGBIS G5-8 Lunchtime eSport Super Smash Bros Champion for 2022. Dan came in second place with Narisa and Becky finishing in third and fourth places.

There was also a Just Dance competition for Grade 5 students at their After School Activities. Grace narrowly won this competition, finishing just in front of Alice, David and Marcus. Congratulations to Grace for taking out the IGBIS eSport Just Dance Championship for 2022.

Many thanks to the students and staff who supported this inaugural event, and it is hoped that the competition will continue bigger and better into next year.