From the Head of Secondary 18.09.2021
We are very pleased to announce that Mrs Colbeck is now Acting Head of Key Stage 5 [Years 12 and 13] due to Dr Dickinson’s departure. Mrs Colbeck, who is a teacher of Humanities and our librarian, is a very experienced Sixth Form tutor. She is now responsible for the academic and pastoral guidance of the students and one of her top priorities will be to continue the good work that has already been completed in preparing the Year 13 students for their university applications. We expect that the majority of these will be finalised by the end of December and expect that again this year we will have students wishing to go to top universities all around the world.
We have set aside Friday 1st October as Careers Day; the students will be off timetable and will be focussing on completing their personal statements, an integral part of all applications. Whilst some have very clear ideas about where they want to go, others are less certain, and Careers Day is an opportunity for them to do more research. We use an online platform called Unifrog, which is a wonderful resource. It contains information about thousands of universities and details of all the different courses that are available.
In addition, Mrs Colbeck, together with our Head Prefects Zack and Alex, will be interviewing potential prefects from Years 11 to 13 who have applied to join the team. Once selected, the Prefects will work in groups and each team will have its own focus, for example student wellbeing / mentoring / global citizenship. Over recent years the prefect role has developed hugely and is now much more concerned with student voice than ever before. All of those who have applied to be prefects this year have mentioned wanting to help the school to develop in a variety of ways and I have no doubt that they will do so.
I sent out a letter earlier this week to inform relevant parents and students about the recent changes in teachers for some classes and I would like to thank Mr Davies, Ms Service, Mr Gross, Mrs Knight and Mr Colbeck for taking on extra classes.
This week the teacher mentors of the student leadership teams have been forging ahead in getting students selected for the different groups: Student Council, Charity Committee, House Leaders, Library Cadets and the Student Newspaper. The Eco Warriors team is already established. Watch out for news in future newsletters about the plans and goals of each of these initiatives.
Next week we have two events involving staff and parents. I am looking forward to meeting our new parents next Thursday afternoon. This online meeting is being organised by the PTASC New Friends team. On Friday Ms Service will be leading the discussion in a Key Stage 4 Parent Coffee Morning and we hope to see many of you there to talk about all things Years 10 and 11.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Mrs Margaret Renshaw
Deputy Principal / Head of Secondary
What’s been Happening in Year 13 Biology?
On Friday last week Y13 Biologists did a range of experiments on the process of photosynthesis. They borrowed a small amount of equipment from school and followed their own protocols to investigate this very important process.
A – bicarbonate indicator experiment
In this experiment we investigated the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis. We wrapped 4 test tubes with aluminium foil or tissue to control the intensity of light passing through. It took nearly an hour to spot a change in the bicarbonate indicator as they were all similar but it did show a difference in the end. The waiting was the hardest part of the experiment, as the lesson was nearly ending yet not much difference in colour was spotted but it still worked out to a conclusion that higher light intensity speeds up photosynthesis. The test tube with the lowest light intensity turned yellow, as it had the lowest rate of photosynthesis, more CO2 would have been present which turns the bicarbonate indicator yellow. The other three were pretty much the same colour as orange, showing that the rate of photosynthesis and respiration were balanced.
Q – leaf discs
Despite the anticipation at the beginning of the experiment… it did not work. It was an interesting investigation where we were going to measure the rate of photosynthesis in leaf discs by measuring how long it took for the discs to float up to the surface of the bicarbonate solution (baking soda solution). The preparation for it was quite messy with much space for human error; when cutting up the leaf discs with straws the leaf discs became damaged. This meant that any air produced inside the leaf disc escaped from inbetween the cells so they could not become buoyant and float. The result? No discs actually floated to the top no matter how long I waited. I also created my own test tube rack but not for this experiment.
Ms Service & the Class of 2022 Biology Students
C – cabomba
The main part of this experiment was indeed counting bubbles. For this experiment, we had to set up a solution of sodium hydrocarbonate with the aid of a syringe. Ms Service had generously packed us several strands of cabomba in which she retrieved from her fish tank. Thank you fish tank. The independent variable for this was the distance from the light source. In order to fully exhaust the possibilities for this investigation, we had several distances from the light source which during this experiment was provided from my trusty study lamp. The piece of cabomba was cut about 5cm in length at the uppermost end, ensuring that it doesn’t get damaged. Upon many repetitions, I can firmly conclude the fact that when the tube was closer to a light source, there were more bubbles produced per set time.
Get Involved
The theme of this week’s KS3 assembly was ‘Get Involved!’ We know that a lot of our students are feeling bored and frustrated at the moment, so we would like to encourage as many members of Key Stage 3 as possible to take on extra-curricular roles, both to challenge themselves and to play their parts in the wider KIS community.
Mr Bromley came to fill us in on all the exciting nominations and events that are coming up within the house system, which you can find more details about further on in the newsletter. Afterwards, Ms Milligan spoke to the students to invite them to take part in the Charity Committee, where there are a number of positions of responsibilities still available. Ms Milligan already has a number of exciting and worthwhile causes in mind to help those within the wider Kota Kinabalu community, and elsewhere, who are struggling during these difficult times; this is something I am sure will appeal to the hearts and minds of many of our young philanthropists.
Ms Milligan is also running the KIS school newspaper – KIS Today – this year and so encouraged students with an interest in journalism, writing, art and design to get involved and put their creative skills to good use whilst publishing, exploring and debating issues that are important to the student body.
Lastly, Mrs Beresford spoke passionately about the work the student council will be doing this year, explaining that is a way for students to have a voice within school and to bring issues that matter to them to SLT and the PTA. She also talked about the benefits of the Student Council as a way to develop both leadership and team working skills that will aid them with public speaking and to gain confidence when addressing others. Last but not least, she reminded Key Stage 3 that becoming a member of Student Council looks fantastic on college and university applications and sets students up with skills for a variety of jobs in later life.
So, with all these exciting roles opening up, we hope to see our Year 7, 8 and 9 students taking the initiative and embracing new experiences and opportunities!
Ms Colley
Head of Key Stage 3
