Princess Teacher – Ms. Hawwa

Best Smile – Ms. Fortune

Coolest Teacher – Mr. Johnson

Celebrity Teacher – Mr. Najeeb

Chic Fashions’ award – Mr.

Misbah

Most Greenest award – Mr.

Odon

Best Voice – Ms. Shimla

Afterwards, our Principal sang

a Hindi song (which was awe-

some). Overall, the teachers

day celebration was a huge

success and all the students

hope that they made their

beloved teachers feel special

on that day.

PARENTS, STUDENTS AND TEACHERS CELEBRATE A

VERY SPECIAL DAY IN THE ACADEMIC CALENDAR

Teachers are like guiding stars

that show us the right direction

and path. They play a huge role

in building the foundation of

our lives. So in order to appre-

ciate our dear teachers, every

year we celebrate “Teachers

Day”.

This year in Billabong High In-

ternational School, the stu-

dents, together with the par-

ents and management, cele-

brated Teachers Day 2013. We

celebrated it on the 8th of Octo-

ber. The students received

Teachers at the gate; they

walked along a red carpet like

celebrities as they were given

sashes which read “Best Teach-

er 2013”.

Afterwards, we had a shared

breakfast at the canteen along

with our dear Teachers. And

after breakfast it was time for

us to comment on our teach-

ers. All teachers had their own

S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3

http://bhisfocus.blogspot.com/

Teachers relax and have

fun in the weekend to

celebrate a day dedicated

to them

Two big boats - filled with teachers from all the Islanders Group schools - reached the beautiful isles of Maadhoo Finolhu in the morning. Teachers explored the island and then sat down to a traditional break-fast, after which the games began. Teams had a won-derful time participating in the games. A tasty Lunch and entertainment by the teachers was followed by most of the staff going for a dip into the beautiful sea. Evening tea was followed by the teachers return to Male’. All the photographs will say more than a thou-sand words as to the amount of fun that the teachers had on that day.

comments board with their name

on it. After commenting on our

teachers, we left to the hall for

our special Teachers Day assem-

bly. The assembly was organised

by the students’ council and the

hosts were Shadfa and Imaan.

Peter performed at the start with

his wonderful piano solo. And of

course the Impact Crew—the

most famous dancing group of

Billabong secondary—performed

along with our Italian teacher,

Ms. Maria. It was a lovely perfor-

mance. We must also not forget

our awesome choir and the video

created by the grade 9 students.

One of our favourite items was

the awards ceremony organised

by the students’ council, and the

awards were given away by our

School captains, Zuha and Mi-

zaan. We loved some of the

awards given since it really

matched our dear teachers. Here

are a few of the awards:

By Zaina and Aika (6B)

P A G E 2 S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

The first event was the parents’ drama. They

performed a story about Foolhudhigu Handi’s

birthday party and his lost foolhu.

The second event was the teachers’ drama.

Their drama was based on Snow White and

the Seven Dwarfs. Miss. Maria played Snow

White and Miss. Aisha was The Evil Queen.

The third event was the parents’ news

show. Their news was about Mr. Mat-

thew disappearing into the curtains,

only to become GODZILLA!

TEACHERS DAY 2013 By Aini Musthaq (4B)

The fourth event was the teachers’

news show. Their news was about

Tom Sir crying over spilt milk, and

Miss. Fazla winning a medal for

swimming to Sri Lanka and back.

Welcome to the Student Gallery! P A G E 3

S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

Grade 4 were assigned the task of

writing thank you notes for people

who are important in their lives. Many

students wrote thank you notes to

the workers of Billabong High. These

individuals work tirelessly to ensure

the School is clean, teaching materials

are ready, and the hall is prepared for

the many events which take place

throughout the year. Grade 4 would

like to thank you for your hard work

and dedication.

Azan (4A) created this

wonderfully surreal picture

as part of his art project.

I’m sure if Salvador Dali

could see this, he would be

most impressed.

“The best teacher is the one

who suggests rather than

dogmatizes, and inspires his

listener with the wish to

teach himself.”

- Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Student Gallery! P A G E 4

S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

A Day Out

By Looth (1C)

The sky was blue

When we went to the zoo.

It was a sunny day

When we went out to play.

We ate a chicken bun

And we had so much fun.

Then the rain came

And we had to stop the

game.

Then the rain went away

And it was a sunny day.

Silly Hat Day!

By Thaima 1C

In English Literature, we are reading

‘The Cat in the Hat.’ The Cat in the

Hat was a silly cat very different than

normal cats. Today we created our

very own cat masks. My mask has

spots on it and is just as silly as the

Cat in the Hat.

Random facts

There is no such thing as a Zebra.

They are just horses that have es-

caped from prison.

When Ms. Eda was a child, she be-

lieved the people she was watching

on television could see her too.

Student Gallery! P A G E 5 S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

Dr. Seuss was a wonderful author full of silly fun! Our grade 1's

followed in Dr. Seuss’s fun theme by celebrating with a Silly Hat

Day!

In conjunction with the literature book, The Cat in the Hat,

Grade 1 students made their very own silly hats and came to

school with their own creations. Grade 1 shared their hats

with their classmates and elaborated on how they made them.

It was a joyful day with lots of silly fun!

Student Gallery! P A G E 6

S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

Grade 1’s Adjective Booklets

Grade 1 has been learning about adjectives and the importance of describing

words and how they make the world a colourful place.

These are some examples of Grade 1’s wonderful and colourful adjectives.

Student Gallery! P A G E 7

S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

Student Gallery

P A G E 8 S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

Whilst reading James and the Giant Peach, Grade 3 students were encouraged to

find some interesting facts about sharks. The learners gathered plenty of infor-

mation on the misunderstood creatures. Did you know over 100 million sharks

are killed by humans each year! Sharks have actually been around for hundreds of

millions of years, and are even older than the dinosaurs!

Please continue reading and discover more interesting facts about these beautiful

animals.

Great white sharks off

the coast of Seal Island,

Africa are known to

jump 10 feet (3 meters)

in the air to catch un-

suspecting seals.

Despite having a fearsome repu-

tation, sharks are not as danger-

ous as many believe. In fact, you

are more likely to get killed by a

donkey than a shark.

The Whale Shark is the world’s

largest fish, growing to over 12.65

meters (40 ft) in length!

The Bravest Knight

By Rohan (3C)

Behind the highest mountains;

Inside the deepest woods;

There was a tiny kingdom

Ruled by a king so good.

But behind the castle

Lived the most furious dragon.

Who will save the kingdom?

Here comes the bravest knight

Riding the fastest horse,

Wearing the shiniest armour

As he goes to fight!

Here comes the scary beast,

Breathing the hottest of fires

But the knight picks up his sharpest sword

And cuts the dragon’s throat!

All the people in the kingdom

Cheer and shout with joy,

“Long live our bravest knight,

Who is not afraid of a fight!”

P A G E 1 0 S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

Grade 5 step into the big world of business as they

open up their shops in the School hall

By Aishath Lumaak Naseem (5A)

Our shop’s name

was Shopakabunga.

We brought a lot

of things to sell,

including cakes,

sweets and crisps.

Our shop items

sold really well,

especially the ice-cream. By the end of the day, we

had acquired a lot of money. We counted our

money carefully and gained a profit. We had to

keep track of our cost and the selling price of dif-

ferent items. Everyone knew exactly how much

money we spent. This made things easier when it

came to calculating our profit.

We realised in the end that what matters wasn’t

getting a good profit or a bad loss. What mattered

is that we enjoyed and experienced what it is like

to open a shop and to run a business.

Wow! BHIS has got talent! The

talent of our friends was awe-

some. Everyone loved the talent

show. The best performance was

“What is a Fairytale”. But in our

opinion, the best was our dance,

which was an Indian and Arabic

mix dance. The best part was

having our own class teacher,

Miss. Fortune, helping us to make

and practise our own dance

steps. We had loads of fun with

her. Our group name was

“DANCE AND BEATS”, and we

were awesome.

Everyone had a great time. Also,

we must mention that “The Im-

pact Crew” made a huge difference

to the show. They added colour to

the entire show. All the perfor-

mances were really good and we

loved each and every act. A special

thanks to all our dear teachers for

their support, and for organising

the event.

We look forward for an awesome

and great talent show next year.

SECONDARY STUDENTS DISPLAY TREMENDOUS TALENT

Students take a dive into the water… factory

By Aishath Lumaak Naseem (5A)

We visited the

Handy Water fac-

tory in Hulhu-

male’. We learned

how water was

desalinated and

how the bottles

were made. In the

factory itself were

hundreds, maybe

even thousands of bottles.

After we had visited the factory, the parents

treated us with a barbeque. We had lots of food

and ate marshmallows roasted on the fire.

We enjoyed playing football, climbing the sandy

mountain (I got to the top) and skipping around

the playground. We had a great time learning

about the way water was processed. All of

Grade 5 would like to say a huge thank you to

the Handy Water company for letting us visit

the factory, and for the wonderfully informative

tour.

By Raba and Suma (6B)

Follow us at:

http://www.facebook.com/BillabongHighInternationalSchool

https://twitter.com/Billabong_High

https://twitter.com/Billabong_High

If you would like to provide any feedback, please contact Mr.

Dinesh Bakshi at principal@billabonghigh.mv

P A G E 1 1 S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

Editor-in-Chief

Mr. Matthew

Secondary Editors

Ms. Fortune, Ms.

Sophia, Ms. Sharon, Ms. Ashleigh

Primary Editors

Ms. Mariyam,

Ms. Carol

“Live as if you were

to die tomorrow.

Learn as if you were

to live forever.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

THANK YOU! This is the last issue of the Focus Newsletter for

2013. However, before we sign off, we would just

like to say a huge thank you to all the students,

teachers and parents who have contributed

throughout the year. We are so proud of the

positive response from the students. Many have

worked hard to provide articles for the newslet-

ter, and have done so within the deadlines we

set. It has been an absolute pleasure to display

your skills and abilities to the rest of the world.

Billabong High takes on Table Tennis

For the first time, BHIS participated in the Inter School Table

Tennis Tournament. Our students have only practised with

our coach, Mueena, for 4 months - obviously not enough

time to create champions. However, our players did a good

job. Our U9 boys team won the silver medal in the team

event. The U13 Boys beat Iskandhar School in the quarter

finals, but lost in the semi finals against Jamaaluddin School.

Chaand (4A) managed to reach the semi finals in the U9 indi-

vidual tournament.

The table tennis tournament was the last tournament under Csaba Sir’s guidance. We would like to

thank Csaba for his excellent work and wish him luck with his new initiative: the KY Youth Sports

Academy.

The Final Random fact!

Mr. Matthew loves films, and

when he was young he used to

watch a lot of old black and

white movies. When watching

these films, Mr. Matthew be-

lieved the world used to be

without colour, and once even

asked his dad when the world

stopped being black and white.