Community News 02.12.2023
A Year of Being a Green Flag School
On November 23rd 2022, KIS was awarded the prestigious Green Flag Award as an outstanding example of an Eco School. Eco Schools is an international programme of environmental and sustainable developmental education being run in over 60 countries worldwide. We were immensely proud of our students’ endeavors that led to this achievement, but we knew there was so much more we could do and we wanted to take this opportunity to share with you what has been happening since achieving our award.
Last Sunday (26th November), we had a hugely successful beach clean at Likas Bay with more than 85 children, parents and teachers coming together! For those new to the community, KIS beach cleans are regularly held throughout the year as we know that marine plastic is a significant environmental issue in Malaysia. This year, in a bid to have as much impact as possible, we are partnering with Trash Hero KK. As a local branch of an international NGO, Trash Hero organise weekly clean ups, collaborating with corporate partners to raise awareness among the general population. On Sunday last week alongside the Trash Hero team, we collected 589kg of trash that would otherwise have stayed on the beach our in our ocean. A sincere thank you to everyone who came down, and again to those who attended out angrove Clean Up in September.
Our focus in school has been on reducing waste, and educating our young global citizens about the impacts our waste disposal system has on the climate. A passionate group of students set out to measure the food waste at lunchtime and are now developing strategies to tackle this issue. In addition, we have introduced the Bring Your Own Container policy in the canteen and no longer supply any single use takeaway packaging for food bought on site, which has reduced our waste output significantly. We have also considered how to become more sustainable by growing our own food which started with tomato plant growing last year, and we have addressed the environmental issue of fast fashion by holding Swap Shops to rehome pre-loved clothing.
This month we received delivery of the solar panels which are soon to be installed on the KIS roof. Powering our school with a renewable energy source was a project started a number of years ago by a dedicated group of students and it really will be an exciting moment to see them in action. This change aligns with global trends and national goals as by 2025, Malaysia aims to increase renewable energy by 31%. By 2050, Malaysia’s goal is to become carbon neutral.
If you have any suggestions for other ways we can become a more sustainable school, please do pass on suggestions to our PTA, who have a spokesman on the Eco Schools Committee. Thank you for your continued support.
Ms McPherson
KISmas Fair
We hope you have had your calendars marked for the KISmas Fair!
Date: 9th December 2023
Time: 10AM to 2PM
As tis’ the season for giving, this will be a fundraising event. All proceeds will be used to fund our KISMAS Fair and donated to Persatuan Sindrom Down Kota Kinabalu (PSDKK) Learning Centre.
Persatuan Sindrom Down Kota Kinabalu (also known as Down Syndrome Association Kota Kinabalu) is a registered not-for-profit organisation in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. Their organisation is dedicated to serve the needs of families with children and adults with Down syndrome.
As this will be a very KISMASSY event, what’s KISMAS without your support! We have many different activities planned for the day and the main attraction would be the KISMAS Raffle Draw. To make it a success, we are looking for sponsorships for our Raffle prizes! This can be anything from shopping vouchers to goodie bags, hampers etc. We also welcome gift sponsors for the games. Parents and guardians are also welcome to run their own Christmas booth on that day, in the hall for a minimal fee of RM50.
We would be delighted if you could hop onto our KISMAS Sleigh and together make this exciting event a success! If you have any questions or would like to support our KISMAS Fair in any way, please do not hesitate to drop me a line at jezreelm@kis.edu.my.
Thank you for your time and looking forward to hearing from you.
Until then,
Jezreel Edward Mangkiu
Community Liaison Officer
