IBGIS Newsletter, Issue 276.

---

ES News

Simon Millward
Elementary School Principal

What a week it has been, so much fun, engagement, thinking and learning. I am not just talking about the ‘week of play’ that the students have been engaged in but other classes too.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Grade 2’s Sharing the Planet launch of their end of unit project, where they were using the knowledge they had gained over the course of the unit to create a book or poster that was linked to an area of their choice that they wanted to highlight. The students were being guided throughout the week completing small chunks of the task so it was less overwhelming. The Grade 2 students’ initial thinking stressed to me that we have a community of caring individuals who can see the harm that is being done to our planet and they wanted to take some form of action.

For Ian he was concerned about ‘trash’ and he was thinking that there must be a better way we can recycle what we are producing. Jack’s thoughts were with marine life. He was concerned that the pollution that finds its way into our water can harm the animals that live in that environment like fish and turtles. Emmanuelle was considering air pollution and the impact of factories and cars on the environment and he was wondering about alternative forms of transport and growing more trees rather than cutting them down. I can’t wait to see what they have created.

Being at school it was great to see the FF-KG students loving their week of play, the joy during ‘wet Wednesday’ was there for all to see for our students and our teachers!

Play isn’t just for our younger learners, play is for everyone. As I was looking through Toddle I thought I would have a sneak-peak at what our Grade 4 students had been engaged in during the week of play. Navigating to Thinking Thursday I found that students had been coding and building games. I have included examples from Shrriman, Jake and Jian.

The EY’s and KG’s were active throughout the week building amazing things out of cardboard boxes, including marble runs.

On Thinking Thursday in KG they were trying their hand at solving codes and problems.

If you haven’t already, ask your children what kind of play they have been engaged in this week. There have been so many activities and I can only add a selection here.

Remember: Play is Life, Play is Learning, Play is the work of childhood, Play rocks!

Go on, get out there and play. I am sure your children will love it!

I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable week next week during our school holiday. We look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday 25th October.

Dates for your diaries

• 16th – 22nd Oct: School holiday. 
• 29th October: House dress up day

---

SS News

Sandy van Nooten
Secondary School Principal

Wow… we made it. It has been a long challenging 10 weeks, and everyone totally needs and deserves the holiday next week.

Thank you to everyone who participated in three way conferences last Friday. There were several teachers who had 40 separate three way conferences (the maximum possible allowing for breaks). I’ve heard of some beautiful chats, and some tales of difficult but necessary conversations. I hope you know that your teachers care and that you finished the day with some concrete tips and suggestions for improvement, focus or development. 

As you know, we will have Gr.11 and 12 back in the building from Mon Oct 25th. We can’t wait!

• Everyone (Gr.6 to 12) will continue with the online schedule for now (until further notice)

Gr.11 and 12 students, I will contact you separately over the next few days to find out if you plan to join us face to face or remain online. We strongly recommend face to face for lots of reasons, not least for getting into the art rooms, science labs, drama studios etc. to complete required practical tasks. I’ll send lots of information in a few days, so that you are ready for your triumphant return.

A couple of important announcements for the first week back.

• StuCo and House Captains have joined forces to organise our first spirit week for the year. This will run throughout the first week back after holidays (from Mon 25th Oct through Fri 29th Oct). There will be
  • Games and activities throughout the week 
  • Full House Dress-up on Friday
  • Here’s a link to their plans. Please join in with as much gusto as you can muster. 
• We are running PSATs on Tue 26th Oct for ~20 Gr.10 and 11 students. Tim Howe (HS Counselor) has made all the arrangements and will communicate directly with the families involved.
• On Friday 29th Oct, we will be holding our first ever Phoenix Talks. Our Gr.12 students will be giving talks and workshops on their CAS/SL experiences or on their EE/RP projects. All TOK students will be involved in our first TOK exhibition… it will be a big day. All Gr.10s and 11s are invited.
  Gr.10, we will invite you all into f2f school for Friday. I’ll send more info to you soon. (Gr.11s, you’ll already be there).

We’re thrilled that all students age 12 and above have now had the opportunity to get vaccinated. Here’s to having this covid-online chapter behind us.

Have a fabulous safe holiday. More from me soon.

Sandy

---

---

---

---

---