Newsletter
27th April
2007
Headlines
For This Week
News
From Secondary
-
SEASAC
-
Staff Changes
-
Dates Of Examinations
-
The
-
Serious
-
MYMUN 2007
-
Walk The World
News
From Primary
-
End Of Key Stage One
Assessments (Year 2)
-
Year 2
-
Li’l Dragon Swimming
-
Year 5 Class Assemblies
-
Are We All MAAD?
Co-curricular
Activities
-
MSSM KL Tennis Tournament –
17th – 23rd April
-
Announcement – Technology
Workshop (Engineering)
Parent,
Teacher and Friends of GIS
-
PTF Coffee Morning –
“Building Meaningful Relationships With Our Children”
-
Family Fun Day / Walk The
World
NEWS
FROM SECONDARY
Dear Parents,
During secondary school assemblies at the
start of this term it has been a pleasure to congratulate students individually
and collectively over their achievements over recent weeks.
Details are
given in this newsletter of the successes of students in Years 9 to 11 in the
“UK Intermediate Mathematics Challenge”. Congratulations to all our students
who performed so well.
This week
younger students in Years 7 and 8 are taking part in the “Junior Mathematics
Challenge”; students in Years 7 to 10 are participating in the University of
New South Wales Science Competition and all students in Year 9 are taking the
Cambridge “Checkpoint” English and Science tests which are replacing the UK
National Curriculum Tests this year.
All these
tests help our students and teachers to gauge their standard and performance
against those of other students across the world who are following a curriculum
similar to our own. They also provide useful practice and experience of working
in examination conditions as preparation for IGCSE and A level examinations
later.
SEASAC
I would also like to congratulate those
students who have participated in the “SEASAC” sports tournaments this year.
Congratulations are due not for end results; GIS has, in almost every event,
ended up in the “lower half of the table”, but rather for the commitment,
determination and good sportsmanship they have shown.
SEASAC
represents the largest and most respected International Schools in South East
Asia – both
Staff Changes
As many of you will be aware Ms. Kirsten
Luterman, one of the secondary history teachers left the school unexpectedly
during the Easter holiday. It is very regrettable that this has happened, and I
know that no-one will have regretted it more than Kirsten herself.
Kirsten
Luterman has worked at
We have had
to make timetable changes to cover Ms. Luterman classes for the remainder of
this term. We have been able to arrange for all her classes to be taught by
experienced history teachers for the remainder of this term. I should like to
thank the teachers concerned for taking on these additional responsibilities.
Dates of
Examinations
Please note the following amendment to the
dates of internal examinations issued in the last week’s newsletter.
Year 7, 8 and
9 exams will start on 28th
May instead of 29th
May. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Head
of Secondary School
The
The United
Kingdom Mathematics Trust was founded in 1996 to advance the education of
children and young people in mathematics. Students at GIS from Years 9 – 11,
undertook the Intermediate Maths challenge in
February.
The top 40%
of pupils receive certificates: a Gold certificate is awarded to the top 6 - 7%
of all pupils; Silver goes to the next 12-13%; and Bronze certificates are
awarded to the next 20%. Each school receives a 'Best in School' certificate to
present to the highest
scorer.
Students who
perform exceptionally well in the Maths Challenges
are invited to take part in the follow-on rounds. These follow-on rounds are quite different to the
multiple choice challenge papers and full, written mathematical solutions are
required. Well done to all those who took part, 58 certificates were awarded in
total! The following students performed exceptionally well:
Year 11
Gregory Yap
(Best in School)
Thomas Chui
(Gold) Moon Hye Ra
(Gold)
Taek Min Lee (Gold)
Yang Tang
(Gold)
Year 10
Natalie Tan
(Gold)
Year 9
Khai Wern Lim (Follow on
round)
Hyun Joo Cho
(Gold) Cheng Wei
Lee (Gold)
Hahoon Hwang (Gold)
Nigel
Wildgust
Teacher
SERIOUS
Individual
IQ has always been a vastly important aspect of understanding how students
learn and has had a crucial role in education for decades.
There
is, however, a progressive challenge to the thinking of IQ and it’s sole importance to intelligence. This is ‘EQ’; a
relatively new philosophy(1995) that considers the
Emotional Intelligence of an individual and its personal effect on
learning.
The
acronym of SERIOUS stands for the 7 areas of EQ identified in Daniel Goleman's 1995 Book called 'Emotional Intelligence'
Self-motivation
Empathy
Reflection
Impulse control
Optimism
Understanding relationships
Self awareness
EQ adds
a further dimension to the limitations of IQ and is hugely important to the
development of children and young adults for their rounded educational
experience, enabling more students to understand their feelings towards
individuals and situations that influence their daily lives.
“Success
requires more than IQ (Intelligence Quotient), which has tended to be the
traditional measure of intelligence, ignoring essential behavioural and
character elements. We've all met people who are academically brilliant and yet
are socially and inter-personally inept. And we know that despite possessing a
high IQ rating, success does not automatically follow.” alan chapman 1995-2006, www.businessballs.com
Having
an increased knowledge of behavioural and characteristic traits of people can
facilitate learning and develop attitudes, interpersonal skills, leadership
qualities, diplomacy and a more controlled manner by which people can
communicate with one another.
These 7
areas are highlighted to students through tutor periods, PSHE, House
involvement, subject lessons and the charitable work carried out by so many
students and staff throughout the school.
These
are hugely important skills that we aim to maximise in order that we strive to
educate the youth of the world to take their productive place as leaders in the
global community.
Michelle
Taylor
Gifted
and Talented Curriculum Coordinator
MYMUN
2007
MYMUN IV
began on the 20th of April 2007. MYMUN stands for Malaysia
Model United Nations. MYMUN was 3 days of excellent and pure fun. On the first
day, every delegate was filled with excitement and joy, especially in the
opening ceremony.
The opening
ceremony was very good, they even had a full-fledged
symphonic band. Lobbying filled the rest of the day; lobbying is basically
talking and getting people to sign on to your resolution. The second day,
debate time; debate in MUN is quite different from the usual debate we know,
debate in MUN is basically asking questions defending and attacking
resolutions.
I was in the
Security Council representing
Joshua Yip
7K
The MYMUN IV
conference was held at
I was one of
the delegates from
I think that
this conference has helped to raise the delegates’ awareness of current
international issues, such as “The development of nuclear weapons in
This
conference was not just all debate and no fun, as many fun activities -
including dodgeball, a movie and a dance - were
included in the programme as well as a banquet on the
Saturday evening. In conclusion, I can say that my time spent over the weekend
to attend this conference was well utilised and I
look forward to attending many more such conferences in the future.
Andrew Ang
8W
Walk the World, Saturday 12th May,
10.00am – 5pm
This coming 12th
May will be a day filled with fun, laughter and plenty of excitement– and all
for a good cause.
Don’t miss out on it!
Walk the World - Fashion Sponsors Needed
We are
looking for a boutique to sponsor a range of casual /sports clothes for our
secondary students, both male and female for the Fashion Show which we
will be holding during this important fund raiser. If you know of any company,
please contact Ms Peers at 012-382 2060 as soon as possible. Any help or info
would be appreciated.
Leonora Anne Peers
International
Coordinator
NEWS FROM THE HEAD OF PRIMARY
Reminders for your
diary :
|
All Parents |
Monday 30 April |
School Closed |
|
All Parents |
Tuesday 1 May |
|
|
All Parents |
Wednesday 2 May |
|
|
All Parents |
Friday 4 May |
Primary School
Malaysian Animal Awareness Day |
Advance Warning
for your diary :
|
Year 4 Parents |
Thursday 3 May 18.00 in |
Meeting about
Year 4 Camp More details
next week |
End of Key Stage
One Assessments (Year 2)
As you may be
aware, due to a change in British Government policy,
The purpose of the
assessments is to provide additional evidence to support teachers when they
make a final judgement as to which Level you child is working at. Teachers will
also take into account the child’s classroom performance throughout the year
rather than just relying on the test scores. Pupils do not need to revise for
these assessments. Pupils will receive a statement of achievement
along with the end of year report.
If you have any
further questions regarding assessment, please feel free to contact me at annies.v@gardenschool.edu.my
Veena Annies
Assessment,
Recording and Reporting Coordinator
On Friday, the Y2
children enjoyed a ‘Malaysia Day,’ to launch their new topic on ‘
Janet Atkinson
Year 2 Coordinator
Li'l Dragon Swimming
Li'l Dragon Swimming got off to a successful start last
Sunday. This is a reminder to parents that due to the long weekend there is NO
swimming this Sunday. We look forward to seeing you all again on the 6th
May.
Kevin Hannah
Year 4
Coordinator
Year 5 Class
Assemblies
Many
thanks to parents for taking the time to attend these assemblies.
All the assemblies
were entertaining and educational and were a great showcase of the student’s
work and talents. Thanks also to the staff members involved in preparing
for these assemblies.
David Gorman
Deputy Head of
Primary
Are we all MAAD?
On
Friday 4th May, Animal Welfare CCA will be running a Malaysian
Animal Awareness Day. Throughout the day there will be activities
in class and at lunch time that help us to understand how our lifestyle impacts
on and endangers animals in
The
main focus of our day will be stalls set up in the new building foyer by local
organizations supporting different animals. KS2 classes will visit these on a
class timetable during the day and we would like to encourage parents to visit
after 2pm. Some of the organisations will have small
items or T shirts to sell to help raise funds but during the school day we will
be focusing on the educational message to classes so the best time to buy items
would be at the end of the school day.
Hazel McClure and Sharon Wellington
CO-CURRICULAR
ACTIVITIES
MSSM KL TENNIS
Tournament: 17 – 23 April 2007
For the
second year running, GIS once again took part in this tournament and performed
excellently in it. We participated in the
Under-12, 15 (girls and boys) and 18 (boys) categories. In the Under-12 boys’
singles, Joshua Liu (Yr 6) made it to the quarterfinals, whereas Rahul Menon and Fraser Barton
made it to the semifinal stage. Arjun Menon made it to the finals but lost in that match. In the
Under-12 girls’ doubles, we had a sole entry of Janice Quah
and Nicole Tan. They also made it to the finals, but unfortunately lost in that
match.
In the
Under-15 boys’ singles, GIS were represented by Christian Lee, Edwin Heng, Jason Lee and Marc Lee. Marc made it to the 2nd round, Jason to the quarterfinals, Edwin
lost in the semifinals, whereas Christian had a onvincing win in the finals. In the U-15 boys’ doubles
section, GIS had 2 pairs of Darshan Joshi/Pranay Sharma and Brian Ling/Khevan
Somasundram. Darshan & Pranay easily won their 1st match, but lost in the second, while Brian & Khevan made it to round 3.
In the
Under-15 girls’ singles category, we had 3 players of Asees
Bajaj, Jane Tan and Adelene
Lai. Asees easily won her first match 8-0, but took a
tumble in the 2nd round. Jane and Adelene
made it to the quarters, before bowing out to higher ranked opponents. In the
doubles section, GIS became champions. The pairing of Cindy Yunanda
& Tan Jean Li made it to the semis. However, the sister combination of
Julia and Nadja won in straight games until the final
stage, where they defeated the SM Bandaraya pair in a
thrilling 3 setter, 6-1, 6-7, 6-2.
In the
Under-18 boys’ singles, Lee Taek Min, Cho Min Gee, Gregory Das and Leon
Gan represented GIS.
Roll of Honour
Under-12
Girls’ Doubles:
Janice Quah & Nicole
Tan
Runner-Up
Under-12
Boys’ Singles:
Arjun Menon
Runner-Up
Fraser
Barton & Rahul Menon
Semifinalist
Joshua
Liu
Quarterfinalist
Under-15
Boys’ Singles:
Christian Lee
Champion
Edwin Heng
Semifinalist
Jason
Lee
Quarterfinalist
Marc
Lee
2nd round
Under-15
Boys’ Doubles:
Brian Ling
& Khevan Somasundram
3rd round
Darshan Joshi & Pranay Sharma
2nd round
Under-15
Girls’ Singles:
Adelene
Lai
Quarterfinalist
Jane
Tan
Quarterfinalist
Asees Bajaj
2nd round
Under-15
Girls’ Doubles:
Julia & Nadja V.D.
Drift
Champion
Cindy Yunanda & Tan Jean
Li
Semifinalist
Mr. A. Gui
Tennis
Coordinator
Announcement
If anyone is
still interested in Technology Workshop (Engineering), please see me (not Miss. Devi) as soon as possible as a place has become
available. Thank you.
Nicola Randy
CCA
Coordinator
PARENT, TEACHER & FRIENDS
Calendar Term 3
8th May – Mum and Tots Group
10th May – PTF Coffee Morning, “Building
Meaningful Relationships With Our Children”
12th May – Family Fun Day/Walk The World
PTF Coffee Morning –“Building Meaningful
Relationships With Our Children”, 8.30 - 10.00am
The title explains itself. Please do
come; it will be an interesting and useful talk for everyone!
Breakfast, as usual, will be provided
for.
Family Fun Day/Walk The World, Saturday, 12th May, 10am-5pm
A fun day for everyone, please look out
for posters for details.
Masumi will be organising
a Japanese stall for the day. Any Japanese ladies who are interested, please
contact her on 019 - 282 0966
Tina and Cheryl
PTF Communications
Sub-Committee