From the Head of Secondary 30.11.2019

This week we again celebrate student success and in doing so we highlight our goal in developing well rounded global citizens. Academic success is highlighted with a report from Mr Davis about Amar in Year 12 receiving his award for being ‘Top in the World’ for IGCSE Mathematics. A very proud moment for Amar, his parents, Mr Davis and all of us who have watched Amar grow into an outstanding student. We see also the extra-curricular achievements of Cheryn and Timothy, both in Year 10. It is an achievement within itself to balance academic goals and extracurricular interests so very well done to these two students! Miss McNutt gives us an insight into Year 7 Geography. I often see students and teachers making the most of our school site to take learning out of the classroom and students always seem to be very excited to be doing so.

This week was Global Goals Action Day and it certainly had an impact in Secondary. Dr Milena Salgado Lynn gave an inspirational talk about how the Danau Girang Field Centre is committing to the Global Goals. Students were very amused when Milena showed us a photograph of a much younger Mr Kelly taken when he visited the centre 10 years ago!  Lesson 4 was dedicated to Global Goals Action Day and secondary students had the same lesson, which was designed by Mrs Anuar Ghani and Ms Yuen to engage students in the realization that we must all work together if progress is to be made. In addition, the Common Room was turned into a Global Goals Centre for the day.  One of the activities was conducted by an enthusiastic recycling and zero Waste advocate, Ms. Felicity Eku. Together with the Story Sack mums she turned our school’s old banners into tote carrier bags. In the afternoon Ms Service led the Terrific Trash Treasure Trawl. It would be fair to say that I have never seen such excitement over a lot of rubbish as Key Stage 3 students, working in House teams, competed to see how much they could pick and sort into the appropriate recycling bins in 30 minutes!

Global Goals Day was a real example of our community working together to create something special and a clear determination emerged that this is just for one day. The challenge for the school will be to ensure that the momentum is maintained.

The Global Goals are too important to be ignored.

Margaret Renshaw

Head of Secondary

Last week I had the privilege of attending the 2019 Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 550 people attended the ceremony, hosted by Mr Ng Kim Huat, the CIE Country Director for Malaysia and Brunei. Most of the people in attendance were proud parents and teachers, there to see some 192 students receive prestigious awards in recognising extraordinarily high achievement in the May/June CIE exams. 116 of those students were being honoured for actually getting top marks in the world, and one of those students was our very own Amar Abass Salih in Y12 – top in the world at IGCSE Mathematics. No-one in the audience was more proud than myself, or Amar’s mother and father who also attended the ceremony.

F J Davis

Head of Secondary Maths

Chapter 4

This week we hear from Ms Corbishley, our Business teacher:

Not just a pretty picture.

Wall displays are not just there for looking at. In year 12 Business I wanted students to create a market map for theme parks.  After much discussion and some research into prices, the class made the choices shown in the photograph below. Being able to move the pictures around as a result of debate enabled students to see that market mapping can be influenced by personal perceptions.

This week Miss McNutt reports on what 7K have been doing in Geography

Year 7 Geography classes are learning how to plan and conduct a fieldwork investigation.

This week 7K set out their fieldwork rules for being safe and worked out the timing for their data collection. After undertaking a pilot study of their methods they used either a random, stratified or systematic sampling method to select the locations to survey in the real data collection.

The pilot survey was done to check that each group of students understood the scoring system and so they could work out how long one site location on the school grounds would take to survey.  After this they could calculate if they would have time to survey 8-10-12 grid locations.

Our senior students were fortunate enough to enjoy a rare and thrilling experience which not many get the opportunity to experience.  Read all about it here!

Day 1 – Leilana [Y12]

On the first day, Friday morning, everyone arrived at 7:30 at Jesselton Point, excited and ready to board the bus for Kota Belud. Later on, we reached our stop at a pathway headed towards the jetty, where our boat was waiting to take us to the island. The boat ride was bracing and eventually we reached our final destination, Pulau Mantanani. After our journey, we approached our lodge and dropped off our bags straight away, getting ready to meet with Dr. Pilcher so we could begin our work with the turtles. In small groups, we travelled to Dr. Pilcher’s boat ‘Tortuga Madre’, where he explained to us the importance of catching and tagging the turtles.

During this experience, we learnt that this method of research allows scientists and conservationists to see the impact of climate change on the sex ratio in turtles. We learnt methods for accurately measuring, weighing, and tagging turtles. We used laparoscopy, a surgical procedure, to determine the gender of each turtle. Fortunately, we got to conduct these procedures and assist as nurses during the laproscopy, whilst being able to join Dr. Pilcher and his staff in observing how they catch the turtles.

At the end of the long day, we headed back to the island where we all got ready for the night, enjoying our dinner and reflecting back on the amazing experience we all partook in.

Day 2 – Jimin [Y12]

On Saturday, we awoke from a night of intense Uno games and headed to the restaurant for breakfast. Despite the heavy downpour on the previous night, the weather was perfect for another day of turtle expedition. We were granted more opportunities to observe the intense action of Dr. Pilcher’s staff as they caught turtles, as well as the meticulous process of measuring and recording them. After the results were in, we released the turtles back into the ocean, unable to wash away our longing for them to return.

Unfortunately, that afternoon we were unable to go snorkelling as the rain decided to pour again. As a compromise, Ms Service held a special Biology version of a scavenger hunt. A group of us sought around the island for unusual forms of life, later taking turns to share our discoveries: the beak of an octopus, a stingray’s tail, the skull of a dog, a shrimp’s shell, and a few that were left unidentified.

Later in the evening, after dinner, we built a bonfire by the beach. Roasting marshmallows and stargazing, it was a pleasant conclusion to our stay on the island.

Day 3 – Natalie and Cassidy [Y13]

On our third and final day, as promised, we snorkelled and observed the biodiversity of the coral reef and noted the human impact on the coral. Using clickers, we measured the different varieties of marine life species and compared it to the data we collected in the sandy ecosystems. After an unforgettable snorkelling trip, we took advantage of our limited hours left on the island and proceeded to conduct research and collect data on the beach based on our different independent hypotheses. The purpose of collecting data is to determine whether there is a significant difference between two samples by comparing the mean and standard deviation, using a type of inferential statistic called a t test, which is a part of our A2 syllabus.

After a day of hefty Biology, we proceeded to have lunch as we waited for our boat. Already nostalgic about this experience, we reminisced about our experiences over the past few days.

Overall it was a memorable trip in which we acquired a great deal of knowledge about the importance of conservation in marine Biology today, as well as the fulfilment of bonding with one another. This whole trip certainly wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of Ms. Service and Ms. Tooley, and of course Dr. Pilcher himself who graciously hosted us aboard the “Tortuga Madre” for a second time.