Garden International School

Newsletter

30th March 2007

 

Headlines For This Week

 

Message From The President

 

News From Secondary

-          Important Dates Term 3

-          Reports! Reports! Reports!

 

News From Primary

-          Year 6 Cambridge Test Revision

-          World Maths Day 2007

 

Co-curricular Activities

-          MSSM Swimming

-          GIS Little League Soccer

 

Parent, Teacher and Friends of GIS

-          Events for Term 3

-          New Parents Coffee Morning

 

 

MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT

 

Dear Parents,

It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of our new Principal, Mr. Simon Mann, who will be joining us in mid-August 2007. Having been born in Britain, his career has truly been International; spending the last four years as the High School Principal at the American International School in Hong Kong. Prior to that, he was the Assistant Principal of the Southern Cross Senior School in Auckland, New Zealand.

 

His beliefs on what the school should stand for, was very much aligned with the plans set for GIS in the years ahead. We are confident that Mr. Mann will lead the School to a higher level of holistic education.

 

We look forward to Mr. Mann joining us and it is our hope that you, as parents, will give Mr. Mann all the support he needs in his new role as Principal of GIS, the same support you have warmly accorded to Mr. Ray Davis in his years as Principal with GIS.

 

Thank you.

 

Yours sincerely,

B K Gan

President

School Division

Taylor’s Education Bhd

 

 

NEWS FROM SECONDARY

 

Dear Parents,

This last week of term has continued to be a busy time in the secondary school.

 

Mock A level and AS level examination have taken place; all students in Year 9 have been interviewed with regard to their courses for Year 10 and all Year 11 students who have applied for places in the Sixth Form have also been interviewed.

 

Decisions on offers of places in the Sixth Form will be made at the very start of next term and students and parents informed by the end of the first week.  Decisions on Sixth Form scholarships will be made soon after.

 

This week also saw yet another excellent production by the Drama Department. “Grimm’s Tales” was performed by the Year 12 Drama Class at the Actors’ Studio in Bangsar. With a minimalist set, it depended greatly on the quality of acting and energy of the performers. They all met this challenge with great success.

 

Today is the last day of the school term. I would like to remind all students taking IGCSE and A level examinations to use this time wisely over the holidays in preparation for their final examinations.

 

Term 3 begins on Monday 16th April.

 

Term 3 - Important Dates Term 3

EXAMINATIONS IN TERM  3

IMPORTANT DATES

Year 7 to 9

Year 9 Checkpoint tests 24th to 27th April

Year 7, 8 & 9 exams 29th May to 1st June

 

Year 10

Exams Week 1 21st May to 25th May

             Week 2 11th June to 15th June

The Year 10 exams have been divided into two separate weeks because of the U15 FOBISSEA games taking place during the intervening week

 

Year 11

All year 11 students to attend school following normal timetable from 16th April to 7th May.

IGCSE exams start on 8th May and continue until 7th June (Examination leave during this period.)

 

Year 12 and 13

Year 12 and 13 to attend school following normal timetable from 16th April to 18th May

Year 12 & 13 AS/A2 exams start on May 21st (examination leave from this date)

Year 12 return to normal A2 lessons on June 18th

 

Best wishes for a very good holiday!

 

Robert Lloyd

Head of Secondary School

 

REPORTS, REPORTS, REPORTS!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

You should by now have received a school report for your child. Yesterday – Thursday 29th March, all students from Years 7-10 and Year 12 were issued with reports.

 

Years 7 and 10 have received a full academic report and Years 8 & 9 have received short grade reports. Also included in the report envelope was a reply slip which should be returned to your child’s form tutor on Monday 16th April.

 

Year 8 and 9 students will have been given a short reply slip in which parents simply have to sign to indicate that they have received a report. For Years 7 and 10, however, the reply letter is longer and includes spaces for parents and pupils to make a comment on their report. These comments are important and may be used by form tutors to help formulate overall targets for pupils.

 

Parents of pupils in Years 8 and 9 may well wish to bring their reports to the Parent teachers Conferences which will take place soon after the Easter holiday.

 

The Year 8 Parent Teachers Conference will take place on Thursday, April 19th.

The Year 9 Parent Teachers Conference will take place on Tuesday, April 24th.

 

Stephen Butlin,

Deputy Head Curriculum

 

 

NEWS FROM THE HEAD OF PRIMARY

 

Reminders for your diary :

All Parents

Monday 16 April

Term 3 Commences

Year 4 Parents

Monday 16 April

18.00 – AVA Room (3rd Floor – Primary School)

Sex Education Meeting

Letter has already been sent out

 

 

Advance Warning for your diary :

Year 3 Parents

Friday 27 April

Year 3 Earth Day Assembly

Details next term

All Parents

Monday 30 April

School Closed

All Parents

Tuesday 1 May

Labour Day / Wesak Day School Closed

 

 

Year 6 Cambridge Test Revision

It may be holiday time but Year 6 pupils may wish to start revising ready for their Cambridge Achievement Test, which take place during the week of 28th May. That means there are only eight weeks to the tests. If you have a child in Year 6, please encourage your child to use the holiday time wisely.

 

A good strategy is to focus on the areas, which your child is least confident in, rather than trying to revise everything. Encourage them to make a list of the all the things they need to revise and then choose a topic area each day.

 

Two excellent websites to use are www.bbc.co.uk/revisewise and www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise These two sites provide  guidance on all the areas covered in Science, Mathematic and English tests along with fun activities and quizzes so that you child can see how they are performing in each area. The Skillwise site provides A, B, C level tests, which give instant feedback. If a question is answered incorrectly, it provides an explanation why the answer is incorrect and how to answer it correctly.

 

All pupils will be given a basic revision list that highlights key areas that they should know, understand and be able to do. This will be going home with pupils on Friday. The CGP English, Mathematics and Science study guide will also be arriving in the bookshop next week.

 

Veena Annies

AR&R Coordinator

 

World Maths Day 2007

On 14th March 2007, some of our Year 6 children took part in an online maths challenge to mark the inaugural World Maths Day. The mental arithmetic challenge was hosted by 3P Learning in partnership with Microsoft and Voyager Expanded Learning.

 

The main objective was, to bring together as many children as possible from around the world to answer a world record number of 10 million correctly answered questions. At the end of this day, about 38,904,275 correct answers were recorded and more than a quarter of a million students from 98 countries participated in this mammoth Maths Challenge.

 

The students from GIS who participated in this challenge enjoyed the experience of competing “live” with other children from another part of the world. We are proud to mention that Saaj Shah of Year 6K in our school is the 16 millionth Question Answer Winner. Congratulations, Saaj! And a big thank you to all the teachers who were involved in this maths challenge.

 

Ann Jones.

KS2 Maths Coordinator

 

 

CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

 

MSSM Swimming

Claudine Low recently represented KL state and achieved a bronze medal in the 50m breaststroke with a time of 38.88 second. She came 6th for 100m breaststroke. Claudine's KL team came 4th and 5th for 200m Freestyle relay and 200m Medley relay.

 

Mr. Wellington

Head of P.E

 

GIS Little League Soccer (Term 3)

Dear Parents of Year 1-4 students,

The GIS Little League Soccer training sessions for Term 3 will commence on Saturday 28 April.

Please sign up now at the Fee Collection Office if your child is interested to join.

 

 

PARENT, TEACHER & FRIENDS

 

The PTF would like to thank everyone who had helped and donated towards the cake sale during the friendly swim between GIS and Alice Smith which was held on 13th March. It was much appreciated.

 

Forth coming event for Term 3 – Family Fun Day / Walk for Life, 12th May, 2007.

Make a note in your diary now! Details to follow next term.    

 

New Parents Coffee Morning, Thursday 19th April

There will be a Coffee Morning for new parents on the Thursday of the first week back from holidays. All parents are welcome. It will be in the usual venue, Primary Hall from 8.30-10.00am. Breakfast will be provided for, compliments of the PTF.

 

The PTF would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and for those celebrating Easter, Happy Easter!

 

Tina and Cheryl

PTF Communications Sub-Committee

 

 

NOTICE

 

The school bookshop will be opened during the Term Break; however, the bookshop will be closed from 4th - 9th April 2007.

Operating Hours: 10.00am - 2.00pm