From the Head of Primary 15.10.2022

What a fabulous International Day!

From start to finish the day was a huge success. It was so wonderful to see the whole community together again. For those that missed it, the day began with a parade of nations, followed by international themed activities in class. At lunch time, the students were able to visit the hall to sample foods from all around the world. A huge thank you to parents for the amazing array that was on offer. The afternoon was filled with fun and laughter as the children were able to visit the games and activities organised by the student council. Thank you to the student council and to Mrs Clifford and Grace Lee for overseeing the organisation.

International was the theme for the week in Early Years. To celebrate our internationalism, parents were invited into school to share food and traditions for their own culture. A huge thank you to those parents who gave up their time to support this.

Y2 have been very busy this week…. 

On Wednesday they were lucky enough to visit Cocoa Kingdom to witness first-hand how chocolatiers make the beautiful chocolates that we can buy in shops. We were able to enjoy the educational displays that explained the different types of cacao pods that grow in Malaysia and the process the cacao beans go through to get from bean to bar. The Year 2s also made their own chocolate lollipops and were offered tasters of the chocolates Cocoa Kingdom make. Some favourites were the strawberry yoghurt chocolates and the delectable chocolate truffles! A wonderful, chocolate-filled day was had by all, what a fantastic way to wrap up our Chocolate topic! 

Sarah Adams

Then on Thursday they held their Showcase of Learning. It was wonderful to see how excited the students were to share all they have achieved over the half term. Thank you to the parents who came along to support this and thank you to the Y2 team for organising a great Showcase. 

In other news, I was pleased to receive a report from Serene and Devon in Year 6 who have been working with a local film studio and UNICEF on an environmental video project since last year! Well done both and I hope to see your videos soon! Read their article for a report on this experience.

It has been a super half term of learning and I look forward to all that the next half term brings. We start back on Wednesday 26th October. Coming up in this first week back is Pink Day. This will be on 28th October to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. Students may come dressed all in Pink on that day and make a donation to the charity.

Also, the following Monday 31st October, will be a Scary School Day, organised by the student council. On this day, students may come dressed in their scariest costumes.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Wishing you all a safe and happy half term. 

Take care.

Ms Karen Hitchen

Head of Primary

Devon and Serene from Year 6 have been involved as actors in an educational video programme since 2020 produced by Siung Films in collaboration with UNICEF, Environment Protection Department, and the Education Department. They played ‘Trish and Trash’ who are ‘environmental agents’, discussing various environmental issues and their solutions. The videos are one of the contents that Siung Films produced for the Agents4Change series. It’s an online educational platform that teaches children global citizenship and about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The site and app will empower and enable our children, and by extension their families and communities, to get out and become Agents4Change.

The program is being piloted in Malaysian schools and is a collaboration with UNICEF, the Malaysian Ministry of Education, and Institut Pendidikan Guru Sabah.

On 30th September, Serene and Devon were invited to attend the launch ceremony and had a chance to speak to the audience.

Serene’s Report

7:30 – 8:00: Devon and I arrived at Sabah Arts Gallery and changed into our ‘Agents4Change’ costume. We spent a few minutes practicing our speech. For a while we sat down listening to the interesting AQUAMS project, which was about monitoring air quality in some schools across Malaysia. They collaborated with the Kinabalu coders, so that they could teach the children how to make an air quality monitor and how to use it.

8:00 – 9:00: There were a couple of presentations from the Environmental Protection Department, Siung Films and Kinabalu Coders who shared the various programmes under the AQUAMS project. Most interesting was the launch of ‘Captain EEKLIM’ online game! Then, Devon and I got up to say our speeches. It was so scary! With all those important people looking at us, I was very nervous and did NOT want to mess up. Our speeches went well despite me having a little cough that day. 

9:00 – 10:00: The representative from UNICEF delivered a speech and talked about how air quality is important for children especially as they are the most vulnerable to impacts of pollution and air-borne illnesses. Lastly there was a launch speech by a representative for the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah followed by photo shoot

After the launch, we visited Kinabalu Coders booth showing the air monitor unit on it. It was really interesting to see the air quality just in that building! After that, we sang the national anthem along with a few other songs, and then we watched 2 videos, one on global warming and another on trash that pollutes rivers.

I am so happy to have been a part of Agents for Change and AQUAMS! I’ve learnt so much about the actions we can take to protect the environment and enjoyed the experience from acting with Siung Films!

Devon’s Report

On the 30th of September, Serene and I were invited to the launching event of AQUAMS. Students and teachers from 5 different schools around Sabah were present along with UNICEF Malaysia, Siung Films, Kinabalu Coders and other guests of honor.

Both of us starred in the Agents4change series as Trish and Trash. This project is a collaboration with UNICEF, Siung Films, Environment Protection Department, and Department of Education to create environmental awareness for students. We were asked to give a short speech at the event and we delivered it quite well. And here is my speech. 

Hi my name is Devon I play Trash in the agent for change series. 

The world is facing an environmental impact, this is due to human activities such as deforestation, water pollution, air pollution and many others. Flora and fauna are suffering and losing their habitat. They are important for us too because we depend on them in our daily lives like oxygen, vegetation and livestock.

If this situation continues, we will all suffer and at the end there will not be a world for us to live in. Many efforts have been made to save our environment and this has to continue, and I believe that as the future generation, we need to play our part too. 

Therefore, I decided to become an Agent4Change to take action and create awareness on this problem we are facing now. It also gives me a chance to communicate to others who don’t know much about nature yet what they can do to save the environment. I believe if we can all work together, we can overcome these challenges and make our world a better place to live.

Thank you and please join our efforts, we all are Agents4change.