Newsletter
2nd March 2007
NEWS
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
International Week
Next week 5th to 9th
March, GIS will be celebrating International Week. This event has now become
a tradition at
The week
begins with ‘The Parade of
Nations’. This year,
students from Years 1 to 8 will be taking part in the Parade. All
together, over 60 countries are represented. This colourful
event in which children wear national costumes or clothes representing their
country, takes place at 8.00 am on Monday 5th March. All parents are
invited to watch the Parade. This year we are very fortunate to be joined
by students and teachers from our link schools in the Asia Europe Classroom
Project:
IT IS ‘Stanislao Cannizzaro’,
SMK Sr
The
event will be attended by a number of VIP guests including Ambassadors and
High Commissioners from represented countries, representatives from the
Malaysian Ministry of Education and generous sponsors who have made it
possible for the students from
The
Parade marks the start of a week of intensive activity in the school. I have
highlighted a few of the activities here: GIS students have organised and are
hosting the KL Model
United Nations Conference (KLMUN General Assembly), in which students from five
different schools are participating. Classical Indian
Dance Workshops, Humanities Quiz, Australian Bush Dancing and the AEC Cultural
Kaleidoscope. Parents are invited to join students for sessions of Batik
Painting and a further highlight to the week, The Cultural Show which
takes place on Wednesday 7th March at 7.30 pm in The Grand Hall. On
Friday 9th March, a Grand International Bazaar will be held in the
Grand Hall from 8.30am - 2.00pm. Please come along and join in the fun.
In
addition to these activities, all class lessons will be based around
international themes. In the Primary School, the following themes are being
followed:
EYD-
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Year 1-
Around the World
Year
2- Landscapes
Year 3-
The Amazing Race
Year
4- The World of Plants
Year
5- Wonders of the World
Year
6- Climate Zones
A
brochure highlighting all the events will be sent home today. Kindly look out for it. If you do not receive a copy it will
be available at the Main Reception Desk.
Satisfaction
Survey
Many thanks to those parents who have taken the time to complete our
on-line parent satisfaction survey. We have had an
excellent response from Primary parents and a good response from Secondary
parents. In order to have as wide a consultation as possible the deadline for
completion of the survey has been extended to Friday 9th March. In order to access the on-line survey form, please click on
the hyperlink attached to the e-mail already sent to you. Your opinions are
very valuable in helping us to improve our services. If you do not have a copy
of the e-mail, please contact e-survey at www.gardenschool.edu.my
Principal
NEWS
FROM SECONDARY
Secondary School
Discovery Week 2007
There has
been an extension of the deadline to sign up for these wonderful activities
till Friday 9th March! Places are filling up quickly.
Please ensure that your child is signed up for an activity before places run
out.
There are
still places for:
Sports Camp –
Brisbane
Discovering
Aerospace Activities
– Langkawi
East Coast Adventure
Tasek Bera Adventure
Borneo:
Public Speaking
Tennis – Club Med
Horse Riding in Bukit Tinggi
KL Karters
All
information is in the booklet. Spare booklets are available in the Secondary
Office!
Leonora Anne
Peers
International
Coordinator
WILL YOU EVER FORGET
A FACE?
“A picture
paints a thousand words” is not only a famous saying but for many people a true
statement that features highly in our daily learning.
Learning how
to learn can be argued as the success to improved learning, though considering
what we do when we learn is increasingly considered more important by many
specialist of Accelerated Learning. Knowing how the mind works and what is
going on inside our minds when we make connections to prior learning helps
shape our understanding of the information we process.
With this in
mind, there are techniques available to us that can help this process. I have
spoken about the Neuro-linguistic Programming of how
our mind filters information. This can be further supported by techniques of
Model Mapping that can help to increase our learning potential.
Mapping is
not a new phenomenon. Information has been passed on to future generations for
centuries as example of cave paintings, hieroglyphics of Ancient Egypt and the
work of the 3rd century thinker, Porphyry of Tyros, who
is claimed to have developed some of the earliest examples of mind maps.
During the
1960’s, work carried out and published by Dr Allan Collins, reveals further
developments of the more modern Mind Map. In the western world, people have consciously
programmed their minds to work in a linear model of reading and presenting
written information that follows the structure of left to right. However, it is
commonly known that we do not store information in a linear sequence but in a
holographic formation that links new information to old, creating randomly
structured pathways.
A more recent
model of mapping has developed from the work of Professor Novak who introduced
the ‘Concept Map’ in the 1960’s. This was taken further by Tony Buzan, British Psychology author, during the 1970’s and
originator of ‘Mind Maps’.
There are
several major differences between Concept Maps and Mind Maps. Concept Maps
highlight the spatial organization in a visual format to show the hierarchy of
concepts. Mind Mapping or more accurately Model Mapping is a diagram used to
represent words, tasks or items linked to and arranged with a radial focal
concept. Model Maps represent models of our thoughts and how we radically
process and connect information.
The
architecture of Model Maps and the use of visual stimulus is
of great importance following a key word or theme. Images, colours,
icons, symbols, pictures, links, groupings and text play an important role in
the structure and the ability to make visually concrete the learning and
thinking that has taken place.
Model Mapping
www.expandingparadigms.com/mindmaps/breath.gif
Concept
Mapping
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Conceptmap.gif
The bottom
line of Model Mapping is that it teaches key learning skills that create
interest, sustain concentration, organize information and shape memory. These
are skills that our students are developing in becoming more independent
learners with access to the bigger picture.
For more
information on ‘Mapping’, I can suggest reading MapWise,
Oliver Caviglioli and Ian Harris, Network Educational
Press Ltd, 2000.
Michelle
Taylor
Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator
NEWS FROM PRIMARY
Reminders for your diary :
|
All Parents |
Monday 5/3 – Friday 9/3 |
International Week |
|
All Parents |
Monday 5/3 – 08.00 |
Grand Parade Of Nations Details below |
Advance Warning for your diary :
|
KS2 Parents |
Tuesday 20/3 |
KS2 Swimming Gala Details soon |
|
All Parents |
Wednesday 21/3 and Thursday 22/3 |
Parent Teacher Conferences Details in March |
International Week – An Invitation To
Attend The Grand Parade Of Nations
As part of our International
Week celebrations to be held from 5th to 9th March 2007, we shall be
holding our traditional Grand Parade of Nations.
When: Monday
5th March 2007 from 8:00 am
Where: The
school field.
The parade
consists of students from the Primary School wearing national dress and
parading around the school field. If your child has dual nationality it has
been suggested that he/she dresses in the national costume of one of their
countries and carries a small flag from the other country. The Grand Parade of
Nations is a very colourful event. We would also like to invite parents to
dress in national costume.
The parade
culminates in the balloon release. These balloons have cards attached, that if
found should be returned to the school. The distance that the balloon has
travelled is recorded; the balloon travelling the greatest distance wins the
class that released the balloon and the person returning the card a prize.
John Kirby
Head of Key Stage Two
CO-CURRICULAR
ACTIVITIES
CHRISTIAN - NO. 1!
I'm delighted
to inform you that Christian Lee 10G is the newly crowned no.1 U16 boys
tennis player in Malaysia after his success at the Sportsexcel
Tennis Junior Age Group tournament which was held in Terrenganu
over the weekend! He won the U16 singles finals and was runner up in the
doubles finals. In the singles semi finals, he beat a player (who was
no.1 U12 and U14) whom he has not able to beat since he was 11 years old,
so it was a great achievement for him
Swimming
Claudine Low
& Su Ann Lee have been selected to represent
KL state for the upcoming MSSM swimming competition (Malaysia Schools National
Meet) on the 12th to 16th March in Alor Star -Kedah. Also Claudine
has just been notified that she will be representing Selangor
for the upcoming National Age group swimming competition (NAG) on 4th
to 6th May. We wish them both the best of luck!
Mr.
Wellington
Head of P.E
GIS Swimmers
Chosen for State Championship
Congratulations
to swimmers Lee Su Ann and Claudine Low who have both been selected to
represent
Both Su Ann
and Claudine were chosen to represent the state after strong performances in
the recent MSSMKL meet. Su Ann won the 18-girls cup after breaking a meet
record and winning six gold medals. Claudine won seven medals.
Primary Swim
Meet Against Alice Smith
Primary
school swimmers are encouraged to take part in a friendly swim meet against
The meet will be held at
If you are
interested in participating, please see Mr Ong in the PE staffroom for an entry
form. Entries will need to be sent to Mr Ong by Wednesday 7th March.
SESAC Team
Named
Garden has
named its 24-member swim squad that will travel to
The team
members are: Sean Lim, Daryl Leong Ee Vern, Joshua Yip, Scott Lim, Nicola Lim,
Hannah Jackson, Zahara Foysten,
Ji Yoon Frantzen, Gareth Wedlake,
Stefan Domanski, James Bradley, Stuart Smith, Ameera Gorman, Adela Tanaya, Petra Phang, Chong See
Min, Thomas Kim, Chakrit Asunee
Na, Jeon Seung Mih, Elana Tunku
Yaacob, Lee Su Ann, Chloe Ellis and Rachel Ward.
Mr Ong
Swimming Coach
U11 Report
The girls’
U11 Dragons had their first fixture playing as a team on Wednesday 7th February, against Alice Smith. From the
matches played, a single GIS goal settled the fixture to bring a well deserved
first victory for the team!!
The following
Saturday, we entered 2 teams for the U11 7-a-side football competition at
The highlight
was a storming 5-1 victory over
We also
showed solid defensive play with Courtney Withers and Yu So Hyun outstanding.
However, the top individual performance of the day, overcoming injuries, and
claiming team top scorer with an outstanding 4 goals, goes to Shirin Cantillon. Overall, it was
a top start for the team and we are all looking forward to some great football
matches this year.
Andrew Storey
Coach
PARENT, TEACHER & FRIENDS
Calendar Term 2
5th – 9th March – International
Week
9th March – International Bazaar
13th March – Mothers & Toddlers Group,
‘Teddy Bears Picnic’
14th March – PTF Coffee Morning
International
Bazaar (Friday, 5th
March)
It’s
still not too late to get a country stall together. If you wish to but unable
to recruit enough helpers, please contact one of the PTF members. It will be a
very colourful and interesting day with all the international costumes and all
the different types of food and wares for sale.
We urge
all parents to show your support by attending the event. All students will also
be given time out to attend the bazaar. So, please ensure they have enough
pocket money for the day. It will be in the Grand Hall between 8.30am to
2pm.
The PTF
as usual will be holding a cake and refreshment stall. We would be grateful for
any donations of goodies for us to sell to raise some funds to support the
various events during the year. You can bring your donation on the morning of
the day to the PTF stall or leave at the reception in the Arts Centre Foyer.
International
Bazaar —
Request for parents from the
Sarah
Attention
all Japanese ladies, Masumi will be holding the Japan Stall, anyone who
is interested please call her on 0192820966.
Anyone
with any queries for the day, please contact Jessie on 0163952507, Cheryl on
0176146118 or
On-Line
Forum
This is
to remind all parents to make use of this on-line forum to bring your views
forward be it negative or positive. It is very encouraging to see some letters
filtering through recently. All correspondence will be dealt with
confidentially and will be forwarded to the appropriate member of staff for
response. The email address is gisptf_forum@gardenschool.edu.my.
Tina
& Cheryl
Communications
Sub-Committee