From the Head of Secondary, 19.01.19

As I waved off our MUN students it struck me how fortunate our students are to have such wonderful opportunities. None of them could happen without the support of parents and staff and in this case thanks must go to Mr O’Kane and Ms De Sa for their organization and their care of the students over the five days of the trip. Over the years KIS students have attended a number of Model United Nations Conferences and they always come back with the added confidence that develops from taking risks and stepping outside their comfort zone. Yesterday Year 7 students toured HMS Argyll and we can all look forward to some exciting news about that in next week’s newsletter.

Next Wednesday the 23rd, at our regular ‘Drop-Off and Drop-in’ session, we will welcome Doctor Nionella Stephen from the Ministry of Health; she is coming into school to give a presentation about Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. This will start at 8am in the Multi-Purpose Room and we look forward to seeing many of you there. On the same day, at 2pm, also in the MPR, Mr Davis will be giving a talk about Additional Mathematics IGCSE for parents of Year 9 students and this will be followed by Parent Teacher Meetings for Year 9 parents and students in the Hall. Again, we look forward to seeing you all there.

Model United Nations Conference Shanghai – 16th to 21st January
On Wednesday morning a group of students from Year 9 to Year 12, together with Mr O’Kane and Ms De Sa, flew off to Shanghai to participate in the CISSMUN. Concordia International School Shanghai Model United Nations (CISSMUN) is a UN simulation conference run entirely by seasoned MUN students from across the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions. The student organisers are passionate about international relations, global citizenship and leadership.

After three days of intense debate, cooperation and hard work, each conference delegate will leave with increased confidence and leadership skills, an understanding of foreign relations, improved public speaking skills, a better mastery of English speech-making, the ability to find common ground among disparate views and an improved understanding of what it means to be a global citizen.

We wish the KIS delegates every success at this very worthwhile event!

Year 9 Experiential Theatre
This week our Year 9 students took part in an Experiential Theatre performance, mimicking some of the atmospheric conditions suffered by the Jewish prisoners being transported to Auschwitz Camp. The task is not only designed to have cross-curricular links with History but to also encourage empathy through participation and active thinking. Although the students were safe, the experience is designed to disorientate, shock and to overload the senses. Here are what some of our students had to say in their evaluations following the experience:“We were made to line up outside the classroom blindfolded – that made me anxious because I was unaware of my surroundings. The loss of vision made the other senses more focused”“I waited in silence whilst other people were being forced into the carriage, I could hear and feel other people around me and this made me feel like I didn’t have any personal space.”“Mr Bryant put on some train noises and people shouting to make the experience more realistic. During the experience Mr Bryant shouted to enforce his character’s aggressive personality and to show that he had authority”“The close proximity of people in the carriage, the noises and rain all gave us a small idea of what people on the real train would have experienced. At the end there was a few minutes of absolute silence, this made me quiver because I had the feeling something would suddenly happen”

Mrs Margaret Renshaw
Deputy Principal/Head of Secondary