IGBIS Newsletter, Issue 319.

Message from the Head of School

By Jason McBride

Dear IGBIS Community, 

Late December to early January is a time of significance for many countries, cultures and religions as people celebrate holidays and special events around the world. Often full of big meals, fun parties and gift exchanges, this is the time of year when it might be the most challenging — yet important! — to continue striving to live in alignment with our values. Keeping service/action and sustainability in mind can help to both widen, and decrease our footprints. 

Projects such as our annual Zomi Education Center Drive help widen our community’s reach by coming together to positively enrich the lives of those who may not be as fortunate as most of us are. The relationship we have with Zomi, however, is not simply one directional as our students and staff have built relationships over the years that benefits everyone involved; reciprocal, rather than one way. Thank you to everyone who has put their hand up to provide a “shoe box” for a child at the Center, who has donated money or who plans to bring in any of the goods on the list further below in this newsletter. It’s not too late to get involved.

While projects such as Zomi help widen our footprint, we are also taking steps to decrease our carbon footprint by focusing next week’s Holiday Bazaar on sustainability-oriented businesses and activities as much as possible. If we can celebrate the holiday season with the Earth in mind, then the other 11 months a year should be a breeze! Thank you to everyone who is involved with preparations for the big event (details below), especially our students who will be running booths and fundraising for Zomi and other special causes. 

Looking forward to the week ahead already, see you next Friday!

Jason

From the ES Principal

By Simon Millward

Grade 4 kicked the week off in style on Wednesday as they showcased their learning from their “How the World works” – The natural world can be understood through observations and theories unit of inquiry in this week’s Elementary assembly. They started with their own rendition of the Muppets song “Mahna Mahna,” but replaced it with the theme of their assembly, Phenomena. I hope you will take the opportunity to listen to the YouTube clip but sing the Grade 4 words below!

They shared all about the scientists that they had been inquiring into and the kinds of mindsets that are common between them all.

Over the last two weeks, I have been having conversations with the grade 4 students as they have been engaged with science experiments. They have been soooo excited to not only share what they did but to explain why they were doing it. It has been fantastic. Once they returned from the National Science Centre they added to their stories. I love this kind of learning in action.

In maths, they have been trying to solve real-life maths problems all about area and perimeter and how to measure, how close lightning may be, etc. Getting outside and using measurement tools is fabulous.

Also on Wednesday, the Grade 5 team presented some information to the parents of their students about their upcoming adolescence unit. After the assembly, the grade 5 students explained to their parents what they had been focusing on during their health and well-being inquiry.

It’s wonderful to have so many opportunities for parents to learn all about their children’s learning journey in this way. Thank you for supporting your children. It is very much appreciated.

I hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. I hope to see you on Friday, 9 December at the Christmas/Holiday bazaar.

Dates for your diaries

• Tuesday 6 December: STEAM morning in ES
• Friday 9 December: Christmas/Holiday bazaar
• Friday 16 December: Christmas assembly
• Saturday 17 December – Monday 9 January: School holiday
• Tuesday 10 January: Start of Semester 2.

From the SS Principal

By Sandy van Nooten

This week in Secondary – It has been a very busy few weeks with lots of assessments in all grades, Grade 11 exams, Grade 12 university applications and a whole lot more. Students are also involved in many other things, including the Holiday Bazaar, the Xmas got talent assembly, corridor decorating, organising a Xmas movie, 2nd season ASAs, Grade 10 Personal Projects, Grade 8 Community Projects and lots more.

Aquathlon in Secondary – (by Claire in Grade 9). The IGBIS Aquathlon 2022 was held on Friday, 25 November, and hosted a menagerie of swimming and running challenges, including both team and individual events offering anywhere from a 50-metre swim and 300-metre run to the most daunting of them all – the individual long course, a swim of 200 metres and a run of a kilometre. All of the events were not easy feats and nearly every individual in this school took part. 

Each of the houses (Aqua, Aer, Terra, and Ignis) supported each other passionately in this event, showing great sportsmanship, compassion, perseverance, and union in an event that pushes young athletes to their greatest lengths to achieve their fullest potential. Not as an individual, a duo, or a house, but as a school altogether. 

This year’s event was a spectacular success, with hundreds of house points being earned, the total including both primary and secondary for each of the houses is listed below. But it is not just about the points. We made so many good memories, smiled so many smiles, and spent time with the people we are closest to. You could really sense the connection between everyone here, and it is something that I am sure we won’t be forgetting any time soon. 

Grand total for Elementary and Secondary combined:

• Terra – 304
• Aqua – 278
• Ignis – 185
• Aer – 147

Here’s a LINK to a fabulous video that was created by Khoi in Grade 10.

Mo-vember – A few of the male staff members took part in Movember this year by growing moustaches for a cause. Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide. The photo below shows the (slightly terrifying) result and includes a link to a charity donation page.

Zomi Update – (from Craig Wilson) Thank you for your support with our Zomi Education Center Drive. We already have 33 of the 44 shoeboxes claimed, and over RM 1,700 has been donated. This is a fantastic start!

For those that might have missed it, HERE is the letter sent last week. 

A few reminders

• All donations (food, necessities and shoeboxes) will be received outside reception from Tuesday 8th and Thursday 15th December. 
• Very soon, I will send an email to everyone who is filling a shoe box with the age, gender, and favourite colour.

Thank you again for your contributions. We look forward to making a huge difference in the lives of these kids and could not do it without the entire IGBIS community.

Ambassadors – We had a great turnout from our new student ambassadors last Saturday at our open day. They did a great job mingling with the prospective families, answering questions, making them feel welcome and supporting us on the school tour. Your kids are awesome!

Service Day – Sophie, a Grade 10 student, is spearheading the return of the IGBIS service day. Friday, 3 February will be our first post covid service day. This is a day when everyone in secondary (from Grades 6 to 11) will get involved in some service activity. We need your help! We are looking for a few more service partners for this day. If you know of any service group who might be interested in working with us, can you please (pretty please) send me their details (to sandy.vannoten@igbis.edu.my)? They need to be relatively close by, and able to harness the collective might of 20 students and teachers for a day. We’re open to all sorts of service experiences, including those with a focus on the environment, recycling, soup kitchens, animal shelters, orphanages, age care, etc.

Upcoming events in Secondary (between now and the end of the semester)

• Grade 11 Exams – Thursday 1 December to Monday 5 December
• MYP Vis Arts Exhibition – Monday 5 December to Friday 16 December
• Holiday Bazaar – Friday 9 December (12:00 to 7:00 pm)
• 3-day weekend – Holiday on Monday 12 December
• MB Closes – Tuesday 13 December (at 8:00 am)
• S1 Reports Released – Thursday 15 December (by 4:00 pm)
• Christmas Assembly – Friday 16 December. We will follow the Collapsed (assembly) schedule.
• HOLIDAY – Saturday 17 December to Monday 9 January
• Parent Session Overview (for the year) – Here’s a link to all the parent workshops in Secondary.
• Sports Fixtures Overview – Here’s a link to all the sports fixtures for season 1. Some “friendly” games might pop up from time to time. Mr. Wilson will keep us posted.
• Useful links for parents
  • Student LaunchPad (this is the place to go to find out what’s happening in school on a day-to-day basis). It also has a “quick links” section where you can find lots of important documents.
  • Secondary Assessment Procedures – a 4-page document outlining our assessment expectations and procedures. (Also available from Student LaunchPad & Splash)
  • A to Z Secondary Handbook – This gives an overview of all our policies, expectations and procedures. (Also available from Student LaunchPad & Splash)

Only 9 more school get-ups until the holiday. Have a lovely weekend. 

Regards

Sandy