• Secondary School Student Council Fall Festival - October 14th 2016

IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 90, Week 2 , October 2016

Inside This Week’s Newsletter

Message from Head of SchoolMrs. Anne FowlesHead of School...............................................................................................News from Elementary SchoolMrs. Claire McLeodElementary School Principal...............................................................................................What Skills Do We Teach in the PYP?Simon MillwardPYP Coordinator...............................................................................................News from Secondary SchoolMr. Michael ArcidiaconoSecondary School Principal...............................................................................................Assessment in the IB Middle Years ProgrammePhil ClarkMYP Coordinator

Secondary Student Council Fall FestivalTien XziSecondary School Student Council Secretary...............................................................................................3rd Annual SENIM Conference at IGBISGail Hall and Lizzie HudsonLearning Support Coordinators...............................................................................................An [Art]icleYin Xzi Ho, Zoe Teh,Afifah Nur Azmi, Anna OpanasenkoSecondary School Students...............................................................................................Great Job Mr Derry!Mr. Wayne DemnarAdmissions and Marketing Director

2

2

3

3

4

4

5

6

6

2 Igniting Minds Impacting Lives

Message from Head of School

Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members,

It was great to see that nearly all of our parents attended the

parent-teachers’ conference during the week. I appreciated

hearing many positive comments from parents as they talked

about their children’s education at IGBIS and the wonderful

learning environment provided by our teachers. Likewise

our teachers commented very positively about the parents

that they met and how supportive they were. It is particularly

pleasing to hear about new students who have settled in

to IGBIS and have quickly made very good progress. Most

importantly, students are enjoying their school experience at

IGBIS.

On Tuesday October 25 we will hold our school-wide Deepavali

Assembly which is bound to be a colourful event. Please come

along and join the assembly at 2pm.

November will be a busy month for us with a preparatory

visit from the Council of International Schools (CIS) and New

England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) for

accreditation purposes during November 1-4; IGBIS Sports

Day on November 9; hosting the Special Education Network

in Malaysia (SENIM) on November 12; the 24 Hour Run to

Prevent Modern Day Slavery on November 19-20; and in-

school Open Days on November 24-25. We hope to see

members of our community coming into school to support

these events.

Mrs. Anne FowlesHead of School

News from Elementary School

DeepavaliThe year is flying by and we are already in October and

about to celebrate Deepavali. The whole school assembly is

on Tuesday 25th October at 2pm in the Theatre and parents

are welcome to attend. Students and staff are asked to wear

something that reflects the Indian culture; students do not

have to wear their school uniform on that day.

School ClosedPlease note that there will be no school on Monday 31st

October, Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 2nd November.

School Clinic GuidelinesFrom the start of the school year there have been a number of

students who have arrived at school unwell or become unwell

during the day. Please see the Clinic Guidelines outlined

below; an expanded version of this has been added to the

Elementary School class websites for easy access.

School Clinic

The School Clinic is staffed by Nurse Azilah. The clinic is

located on Level 2 near the main pool and the extension

number is 4653. If your child becomes ill at school, Nurse

Azilah will, if necessary, contact parents and arrange for the

child to be taken home.

The following medical problems are indications for sending a

student home:

Early Years to Grade 12 StudentsStudents should remain at home for 24hrs without medication

if they have:

• A fever above 37.7°C;

• A sore throat with fever or spots;

• Excessive signs of cold or sneezing, accompanied by

nasal secretion that is yellow or green, and/or a fever;

• Discharge from eyes or ears.

Persistent Nausea, Vomiting and Diarrhea• Students with nausea and vomiting should remain at home

until 24 hours after the last episode without any medication;

• Diarrhea occurs twice, vomiting (after 2 incidents) or an

upset stomach. The students should stay at home for 24

hours after the last episode and has returned to a normal

diet.

Early Years Students• Unusual lethargy and inability to participate in regular

activities;

• Irritability or persistent crying;

• Unusual or unexplained loss of appetite, fatigue, lethargic

behaviour, irritability or headache.

If your child is ill, or if you are not sure about their condition in

the morning, please keep him/her at home to help reduce the

risk spreading the illness to the whole class. If your child is ill

with a contagious disease, please telephone the school nurse

to report it.

Further information is available on each Elementary School

class website.

Mrs. Claire McLeodElementary School Principal

Igniting Minds Impacting Lives 3

What Skills Do We Teach in the PYP?

Simon MillwardIB PYP Coordinator...............................................................................................

In the PYP there are five essential elements of the curriculum:

Knowledge, Skills, Concepts, Attitudes and Action. These have

been introduced during PYP workshops and will be revisited in

more detail as the year progresses. In this piece I would like to

highlight the skills that are taught within the PYP.

Two types of skills are taught within the PYP curriculum:

1. Subject specific skills - for example, in Language there

are specific reading and writing skills that are taught, the

same can be said of Mathematics, Science, Music, Visual

Arts and PE.

2. Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills - these are the

skills that the IBO identified as transcending subject

boundaries. These skills are contained within all of the

subjects and as such are taught within all of them. These

could be termed 21st century skills and have been

identified in research, such as UK Employer Skills Survey

Summary Report, as desirable skills according to

employers.

There are five ‘ATL skill’ categories: Thinking skills, Social

skills, Communication skills, Self Management skills and

Research skills. During units of inquiry teachers select the

most appropriate skills within each category to develop further.

For example in Grade 3’s first unit ‘Communication Connects

People’ their focus was on social skills and communication

skills. Within those categories, ‘respecting others’ and

‘resolving conflict’ drove the social skills category and ‘writing’,

‘listening and speaking’, and ‘non verbal communication’

drove the communication skills category. Not only were these

inquired into in the grade level setting, but also the PE classes.

In Grade 3 students explored ‘Kelso’s choice’ to help them

resolve conflict and find out what it meant to be an effective

communicator. The students wrote and asked questions in

an interview, took notes and shared their understanding in a

visual presentation.

The approaches to learning skills are woven authentically into

units to provide students with opportunities to develop these

desirable skills. The importance of these skills in an IB context

is emphasised through the fact that in all of the IB programmes

(PYP, MYP and DP) the approaches to learning skills are

taught and built upon.

Work cited:UKCES. Employer Skills Survey 2015. Rep. no. UKC004. London: UK Commision For

Employment and Skills, 2015. Print.

News from Secondary School

It was a pleasure to see so many parents and students this

week at our PST Conferences, meeting with teachers to

discuss the academic progress that has been made thus far

and identify areas for improvement. Please continue to monitor

ManageBac regularly with your son/daughter to accompany

their progress until the end of the semester.

We would like to hear from parents about this week’s

Conferences. Please provide feedback through this link:

https://goo.gl/forms/WXElFsd8gVtdVJ543

Several field trips happened this week as well, please monitor

the Secondary Homeroom Notices website (found through

your Splash Page) as this site is regularly updated with

information, upcoming dates, photos from field trips, student

entries of their activities in homeroom, and so on. Parents can

also join the photos section to see pictures of trips or other

activities.

Next Tuesday we will hold our annual Deepavali assembly.

Everyone is encouraged to dress in traditional attire in honor

of the event.

Sincerely yours,

Michael ArcidiaconoSecondary School Principal

4 Igniting Minds Impacting Lives

Secondary Student Council Fall Festival

Tien XziSecondary School Student Council Secretary

...............................................................................................

On Friday 14 October, the Secondary School Student Council

held its Fall Festival in the Sports Hall. The festival included a

range of carnival games, team games and a guest visit from

a balloon artist. Students ran around playing basketball and

Capture The Flag, and earned points on the carnival games

to win prizes. The air was full of the sweet smell of caramel

popcorn and candy floss and the less appealing smell of

sweat! Congratulations to prize winners: Gilmer for winning

first place, Winson, Chiew Hui and Reeti for winning joint

second place, and Troy for winning the third place prize.

Sadly, this was 2015-16 Student Council’s last event, but all

the attendees made this event memorable for us. The event

was even Snapchat-worthy!

We look forward to electing our new 2016-17 Student Council

soon, and to more happy memories ahead.

Assessment in the IB Middle Years Programme

Phil ClarkMYP Coordinator...............................................................................................

Assessment in the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) is

different from the type of assessment most of us experienced

when we attended school and may be unfamiliar to families

who recently joined IGBIS. In Grades 6-10 we do not measure

success in terms of percentages or A to F grades, we do not

talk about passing and failing grades and we do not compare

students with each other to decide who is top or bottom of the

class.

The MYP approach to assessment recognizes the importance

of assessing both the process and the products of learning.

Assessment is an important part of the teaching and learning

process. Teachers use regular, ongoing assessment to

build a picture of a student’s progress, achievements, skills,

knowledge and understanding.

Assessment supports and encourages effective teaching and

learning. Assessment includes:

• Pre-assessment: identify what students already know to

clarify the starting point for teaching and learning.

• Formative assessment: ongoing assessment to helps

the teacher plan for ongoing needs of students and plan the

next steps for teaching and learning.

• Summative assessment: find out how far students

have progressed during and at the end of a unit of study.

• Self and peer assessment: students make assessments

about their own progress and that of their peers.

Teachers may use some or all of the following assessment

strategies and tools: rubrics; observations; quizzes, tests or

examinations; performance assessments; investigations;

checklists; process-focused assessments; essays; anecdotal

notes; laboratory reports; continuums; open-ended tasks; and

presentations.

As students progress through Grades 6-10, they complete

many units of study in each subject area. The length of units

varies from unit to unit and between subjects. Teachers plan a

variety of formative and summative assessment tasks and the

students receive individual feedback that guides them towards

improvement.

Students complete summative assessment tasks which are

evaluated against four criteria in each subject. The four criteria

are broadly similar across all subjects, although they vary

slightly according to the specific requirements of individual

subjects. In general terms, the criteria are used to assess the

following areas:

• Criterion A: a student’s knowledge, understanding and

ability to analyse ideas in a subject.

• Criterion B: a student’s ability to investigate, organise and

develop ideas in a subject.

• Criterion C: a student’s ability to effectively communicate

ideas in a subject.

• Criterion D: a student’s ability to use, apply, evaluate and

reflect upon ideas in a subject.

Each criterion is divided into eight achievement levels with clear

descriptions of what is required in order to achieve at each

level. The achievement levels and descriptions are presented

in a tabular format (or rubric) so that teachers and students

can easily match achievement on a task with the criterion level

descriptions. This process sounds complicated, but students

quickly become proficient at reading and understanding

assessment rubrics and use them before submitting an

assessment task. Students also use the assessment rubrics

to identify their areas of success and what they need to do in

order to improve.

IGBIS Secondary School teachers plan their units of

study using ManageBac, our online learning platform and

information management system. The unit planning details

exactly how and when the learning will be assessed, including

which criteria are to be assessed and the assessment

rubrics that are to be used. Students and parents can login to

ManageBac to access unit overviews and assessment details.

After student learning has been assessed, students and

parents can access personalised feedback from the teachers

on ManageBac, including levels of achievement.

Igniting Minds Impacting Lives 5

3rd Annual SENIM Conference at IGBIS

Gail Hall and Lizzie HudsonLearning Support Coordinators...............................................................................................

IGBIS is proud to host the 2016 Special Education Network In

Malaysia (SENIM) annual conference on 12 November 2016.

The conference will feature nine presentations from specialists

and other people who have direct experiences with helping all

children to reach their full potential. These presenters, both

from Malaysia and around the world, will discuss a variety of

topics including Technology in Music Therapy, Educational

Assessments, How To Respond To Challenging Behaviour,

and Partnerships For Success: A Parent’s View. If you would

like to register to attend this event, please visit http://malaysia.

senia.asia/, or email senimkl@gmail.com, or join the Facebook

group Facebook.com/groups/senimkl to complete the online

registration form.

 

 

 

   

12th November 2016 Registration || 8:00AM

Conference || 8:30 - 1:00PM Registration Fee || RM60

Includes coffee break, lunch & materials

• Network, Collaborate, Share Expertise, & Experiences

• Participate in one workshop from each strand – Technology, Looking at Learning, & Social Emotional

3rd Annual SENIM Conference Keys to Unlocking Learning

Host: IGB International School Jalan Sierramas Utama, Sierramas, 47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor T: 60 3 6145 4688  

Easy ways to register! Visit: http://malaysia.senia.asia/

Email: senimkl@gmail.com Join: Facebook.com/groups/senimkl to complete the online registration form

6 Igniting Minds Impacting Lives

An Article

By

Yin Xzi Ho, Zoe Teh,Afifah Nur Azmi, Anna Opanasenko...............................................................................................

On October 21st, Sheena Kelly, Jade Saba, and Phil Clark

brought art students of grades 9 to 12 to the 10th edition of

the Art Expo Malaysia at the Matrade Centre. Once there, the

art enthusiasts spent hours perusing the wide variety of art.

They were in awe of the technique, detail, and effort that went

into the pieces. The amazing collection of art contained a well-

curated assortment of different genres, media, and themes. As

prompted by the art teachers, students spent time looking at

the artworks that inspired them most so they could incorporate

them into their next work.

“There were a series of calligraphy pieces that containednighttime cities within them - those pieces captured my

attention in the way that it seemed to come to life.”- Yin Xzi Ho, G12

“The exhibition was very diverse, opening me to new art styles.”- Yit Hao Tam, G10

Students started conversations with the present artists and

were exposed to the wider world of the art market, as many of

the artworks had predetermined selling prices up to 1 million

MYR. Even if only from a monetary point of view, the value

of art became that much more apparent to the students. The

pricing reminded the Grade 12s of the most recent Theory of

Knowledge presentations in which many of them questioned

the value of art.

“The difference in qualities of the art shown reminded me of how art has the capacity to encompass anything

and everything, and still be appreciated by an audience.” - Zoe Teh, G12

“I loved the variety of art, it was also my first exhibition experience.”

- Ee-Li Sik, G9

An interesting development from the exhibition is that Mr. Clark

may appear in Peter Liew’s upcoming work. Let’s all keep an

eye out for it. Mingling with art students from other schools as

well as art aficionados from all over broadened the students’

horizons.

• Suzu Ishii “Far Away” • Tan Vooi Yam “What’s Happen ?? !!” 2013 • Syaiful Rachman “Steve Jobs” 2016

Great Job Mr Derry!

Wayne DemnarAdmissions & Marketing Director...............................................................................................

At this week’s PVO meeting, Mr Derry shared some of the

tutorial materials he had created to assist parents:

• How to log on to your IGBIS parent account

• How to forward emails to another account

• Managing multiple Google accounts

• The right way to access school email on your phone

Have a look also at his latest video tutorials on:

• Managing Multiple Google Accounts

• Accessing School Email on a Phone

Click here to see the videos

We really appreciate the creative way that Mr Derry helps us

manage our technology - thank you!

Igniting Minds Impacting Lives 7

Happening @ IGBISOctober 14th, 2016*IGNITE Restaurant Launch*SS Fall Festival

IGBISINTERNATIONAL SCHOOL Igniting Minds Impacting Lives