Newsletter
14th
March 2008
Headlines
For This Week
News
From Principal
-
10th
– 21st March, Parent Survey
-
Car Parking
-
Supercamp
News
From Secondary
-
World Maths Day
-
Higher Education
In The
-
The Chinese
Field Trip To Sin Chew Daily
News
From Primary
-
Year 1 Trip To
Community
Service
-
Change For
Change
Notice
-
Reminder From
Deputy Head Pastoral
-
A Level
Production – “Teechers”
-
Directed
Co-Curricular
Activities
-
SEASAC Swimming
Gala
-
Parent,
Teacher and Friends of GIS
-
Secondary
Library Helpers
-
Diary Dates
-
Parents’ Forum
-
Mum & Tots
Group
-
2nd
Hand Uniforms/Book Library
NEWS FROM PRINCIPAL
We have had a week
that demonstrates the importance and strength of the family/school relationship
at GIS. On Wednesday, we had great attendance at the Primary School Swimming
Gala and the Primary Parent Teacher Conferences which made both events a
wonderful success. On Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening, we had the second
round of the PTF World Café, where we discussed and received feedback on our
draft of the GIS aims. I would like to thank the parents who attended these
sessions for their insightful feedback. We will be aiming to have a meeting of
this type each term. If you have yet to become involved, please feel free to
join us in Term 3.
10th – 21st March,
Parent Survey
We request that as many families
complete the family survey as possible over these two weeks. The information we
collect during this period is used to guide and develop the school improvement
process and we appreciate your support.
If you have not received an e-mailed
invitation to participate in the Survey or encounter any difficulty while
attending to it, please contact parentsurvey@gardenschool.edu.my
Car
Parking
Please be warned
tickets are being issued by the police to cars parked on the street outside the
school.
Could I please
remind families that the car park is to provide the facility for parents and
families to park their cars when they need to escort students onto the school grounds. For
families that use drivers, could you please remind your drivers not to occupy
the parking spaces. They should only be entering the car park when your children
are ready to pick up and they should be circling the car park if and when you are
escorting your children to class. Between 12.00noon and 1.30pm, no drivers
should be occupying parking spaces.
Thank you for your
support.
SUPERCAMP – Free
Preview Sessions this weekend at Cititel
Mid Valley, KL (Matahari 2 Room, Level 5) and the schedule is as follows:
March 15 (Sat): 10.30am, 2pm and 4pm
March 16 (Sun): 11am, 2pm and 4pm
HELP
YOUR CHILD SCORE A+ IN LIFE!
To find out more about SuperCamp, please visit their website at www.supercamp.com.my
Simon Mann
Principal
NEWS FROM SECONDARY
World Maths Day
Last
week, students from Secondary were involved in World Maths
Day. There were a total of 182,455,169 correct answers; this was a new world
record. More than 1 million students were registered from 150 countries; 20,000
schools. This was the first time Secondary had been involved in this event and
3 students were ranked in the top 100 IN THE WORLD!
Congratulations to:
TK (whose identity remains a mystery as
this goes to press!)
Anushka and Shaneel in Year 8
In addition, two groups in Year 8 were
ranked 32nd and 33rd in the World Top
classes. Well done to them all.
Whatever level students were working at,
it was a terrific effort from everybody in what is a very busy term.
Lynn Wilson
Secondary Maths
Higher
Education In The
Upcoming Events:
Representatives from King’s College,
On the 22nd and 23rd of March,
representatives from around 70 universities will be at the KL Convention Centre
(1:00pm - 7:00pm, Hall 2) to discuss higher education opportunities in the
Both
these events provide useful opportunities to discuss the higher education plans
for your children. Make sure you let any of the universities that you may speak
to know that you are from
Steven Ellis
Head of Sixth Form
The
Chinese Field Trip to Sin Chew Daily
On the 22nd of February, the majority of the students
studying Chinese in Year 8 went to Sin Chew Daily, the most popular Chinese
newspaper in
Our tour guide
told us the fascinating story of the Aw brothers - otherwise famous for Tiger
Balm - realizing their dream of starting a Chinese newspaper and pulling
through hard times such as the Japanese occupation. Sin Chew Daily is now
Malaysian owned. As a result of the tour, we came to realise that the articles’
we read in the Sin Chew Daily can only be produced with a great deal of effort
from all those involved. We also learned a bit of Chinese and how the employees
converse in fluent Chinese. GIS students will have to work very hard to reach
the high standards of Mandarin spoken by the staff at Sin Chew Daily.
I personally think
that the trip to Sin Chew Daily was very beneficial and the Chinese department
here in GIS should organize such trips again.
Joshua Yip
8 K
NEWS FROM PRIMARY
Reminders for your diary :
|
All
Parents |
17th March 2008 |
Primary Book Week |
|
All Parents |
19th March 2008 |
End of Term 2 (School closes at normal time) |
Advance Warning for your diary :
|
Year 3 Parents |
10th April 2008 (8am – 9am) |
Art Information Morning |
Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends
Once again, we write to talk about a
busy week here at GIS. This week, we have enjoyed the Key Stage 2 Swimming
Gala, 2 World Cafés for parents, the Round Square Change for Change appeal,
Book sales and as you would expect, lots of wonderful learning going on in the
Primary School. The children have an amazing variety of events to look forward
to at the school and much of this is due to the hard work of the staff at the
school. Thank you to all of the staff for a job well done.
Last
Friday, we enjoyed the Year 3 Performance of ‘The Great Kapok Tree’. For those
who witnessed the show, we trust you found it as meaningful, fun and enjoyable
as the children did. They clearly love the opportunity to jump on stage and
show you their many talents! Well done to all of the Year 3 children, staff and
parents for a terrific show.
Please note that in a bid to improve our
office procedures, we are trialling
the use of electronic
registration of pupils every morning. This will allow greater data management
and allow us to monitor attendance in the Primary School. May we ask you
to bear in mind the following points:
·
Please phone the primary office if your child is absent
·
If no phone call is received, we will phone parents to
verify your child is absent (this will also alert you to any possible problems)
·
Please ensure you fill in the leave of absence form, if
your child is not attending school (forms can be collected from the office)
·
Pupils arriving later than 8.00am (KS 1 and KS 2) must go
to the Primary office to be registered before going to class.
Please be aware that research shows a
strong correlation between attendance and achievement. It is vital that your
child arrives at school on time, this will ensure they make the most of their
time at school.
The Great Kapok Tree ties nicely in with
our next message on Recycling. Mrs Wellington, Year 3 Coordinator, began the
wonderful initiative: The Environmental Rangers last year. In her absence, this
has been covered by Ms Saad (Year 1S teacher) and now by Mrs Goh (Year 3G cover
teacher). The Rangers help with our recycling drive in the Primary School,
which in turn we hope will help our children realise
the importance of being globally responsible citizens.
Please remind your children to bring
reusable materials such as old magazines, cards, newspapers and material scraps
to the class teacher as they can be used for a variety of class activities. The
school does have a number of recycling bins for paper, plastics and aluminum
cans which are located outside the secondary canteen. Can we remind parents to
wash and/or clean any items they bring to school.
We trust you will have an enjoyable
weekend and look forward to seeing your child enjoying next week’s Book Week.
Neil Smith
Head of Primary
Year 1
Trip To
This week Year, 1 took a bus to
Year 1 Team
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Change For Change
What
a fantastic turnout! The Change for Change appeal launched in a flurry of
activity only 2 weeks ago finally arrived on Wednesday and there was a stunning
amount of loose change donated from everybody in the school.
The
event began after registration and the coin laying finished just before primary
lunchtime. In that brief time, both the inner and outer circles didn’t contain
just a ring of coins but a river of coins. The only problem
then was to first lift and then sort this mountain of change! There were
enough coins to fill 4 large bins and the weight was incredible. By the end of
school on Wednesday, we had managed to sort around 1/3 to 1/2 of the coins and
these were swiftly despatched to Eon Bank and after
counting we had just under RM2000. The rest of the coins left today, so we should soon know how much was
raised in total.
I
would like to thank all the people who got involved in the event; the primary
and secondary teachers who marshalled their students
brilliantly, the 6th Form for helping on the field, the captive
primary parents who were approached several times and asked to part with their
money, Mrs Devi and her team for helping us to separate the coins and finally
my co-conspirator Ms Purser for being so organised.
This
was the opening of our push to raise as much money as we possibly can to help
to rebuild the community in Baan Laem Tong. If you
feel you would like to help us please don’t hesitate
to contact either me or Ms Purser and we will explain how you can help.
Once
again, thanks for all of your help and now we
have begun to change a community’s life.
Andrew Kendrick
Head of Business Education
NOTICE
Reminder From Deputy
Head Pastoral
We have concerns that some students are
not leaving the school premises promptly when they have no supervised
activities. Please remind your children that unless they are attending a
CCA or Study Support in the Library (Tuesday and Thursday, 2.30pm-3.30pm) they
should leave school and make their way home as soon as possible.
Thank you
Lesley Cook
Deputy Head Pastoral
A Level Production - “Teechers”
Fabulous
opportunity to see our next A level production for FREE!!
‘Teechers’ is being performed on Monday and Tuesday, 17th
and 18th of March in the Grand Hall at 7.30pm. If you would
like to come along, you can sign up on the sheet outside the Drama Office or
e-mail lewis.s@gardenschool.edu.my
Places
are first come first Served!!!
Sara Lewis
Head of Drama
Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends
Please come to a Directed Reading Activities workshop
and learn to develop your child’s reading skills and enjoyment. Now that they
can read the words, we will help them make the most of the meaning.
Date: Tuesday, 8th April
2008
Time: 2.30pm
- 3.15pm
Venue: Once we know numbers we will confirm
Let your child’s teacher know
through the
Green diary,
or e-mail Miss Emma at:
CO-CURRICULAR
ACTIVITIES
SEASAC
Swimming Gala
Last weekend saw a party of twenty two
students represent GIS in the SEASAC Swimming Gala held at the very pleasant
Many congratulations to the individual
winners and the relay teams especially the U15 team of James Bradley, Nikolai Doepel, Adam Lim and Jeon Seung Min coming second overall.
Finally, the extraordinary effort
levels, sportsmanship and mature behaviour displayed
by every GIS student – in & out of the pool - was quite outstanding. They
were a credit to the school.
Cat Haddon
PE Dept
Day : Wednesdays
Years: Years
3 to 6
Staff : K. Jethwani
Cost:
RM 100
Venue
: Room No. F3, Year 2S
Places
: 15 children
Description:
This
unique program gives students an insight into Malaysian history and culture
they can’t get from any textbooks as it makes them come alive. You will get the
opportunity to touch and utilize artifacts from the Muzium
Negara collection and do fun, educational activities. During this 10 week
workshop, we will be visiting Muzium Negara three
times, looking behind the scenes at the museum, meeting with the curators and
exploring the collections through a treasure hunt. Different
topics will be covered this term, such as Martaban
Jars, Malay house and Wayang kulit.
You can even become a junior guide for the Museums Volunteers at the Muzium Negara.
PARENT,
TEACHERS AND FRIENDS OF GIS
Secondary
Library Helpers
Thanks for the great response. The
secondary library now has enough helpers. Keep watching this space! If any more
help is needed at a later date, we'll let you know.
Diary Dates
Coffee Morning - Korean Culture
Tuesday, 18th March (Primary Hall)
The Korean parents will be hosting this
coffee morning. All parents are welcome to this truly Korean event. There will be Korean food available, a
Kimchi cooking lesson and even a traditional Korean
dance exhibition. This will be a very special coffee morning. So, please come
and join us.
Parents’ Forum
Email address is gisptf_forum@gardenschool.edu.my
Mum & Tots Group
This
group is for all mums with children under school going age. They meet every Wednesday from 9.40am -
10.55am in
the EYD hall. Call Marie on 012-610 3431 or 017-2763524 for any
queries or e-mail her at carolinalubienska.r@gardenschool.edu.my
2nd Hand Uniforms/Book Library
A new day this term!!!
Every
Thursday, 1.30pm-3pm in the Foyer of the Arts Block
Pre-loved
sports equipment-boots, uniforms etc. PTF will provide some tables for you
to come and sell any items your children have out grown.
Helen Wilson & Karen Ho
PTF communications
sub-committee
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