From the Head of Secondary 02.05.2020

In this week’s newsletter you can read two accounts in our series ‘A Day in the Life of’. Ms McNutt and Ms Service’s contributions are indicative of how our staff have adapted to the current situation and are going all out to deliver excellent lessons online. Ms McNutt also reports on the Duke of Edinburgh International Award and we congratulate those students who have just passed all the requirements and have now been awarded their Bronze and Silver certifications. Hopefully in the not too distant future we will be able to congratulate them not just virtually, but in the real environment of the school hall in a celebration assembly. In the whole school section you can also read about an exciting new opportunity for our budding writers: the FOBISIA Creative Writing Competition ‘Covid19 Silver Linings’.

This week I wrote to Year 11 parents and students about new learning opportunities which start on the 2^nd June. In a nutshell, Year 11 students will be starting Year 12 AS studies. A significant number have already applied for Year 12 and chosen their A Level subjects. Using a timetable especially created by Mr Barker, they will spend four hours a week being taught in each subject.  In addition, they will be provided with links to resources for the wider reading element which is very important for advanced studies. Ms Watt will be giving ideas to students wishing to keep up with their physical fitness and Mr Barker will be hosting sessions on careers and university applications. Even if students have decided to leave KIS at the end of Year 11 they will still be able to register for these lessons and just need to contact me [margaretrenshaw@kis.edu.my] so that they can choose their subjects.

Meanwhile Year 12 students will be starting their Year 13 A2 courses on the 11^th May. This means that they can use the weeks leading up to the end of the academic year getting a head-start on their A Level learning. Normally in the coming weeks Year 12 would be out on work experience. In the current situation this will not happen, but we hope that, when things get back to normal, we can put it back onto the calendar.

Students in Years 7 to 10 are, on the whole, doing very well in their online learning and I am receiving some very positive comments about their progress. I have had to write to a few of them, and to parents, when they have not registered, logged in for lessons, or not completed work. I would encourage parents to let us know if their child is having difficulties with internet access, or if they are ill, or if there is any other good reason for poor attendance or lack of work.

Next week we will be having a virtual student council meeting, chaired by Ms Tooley, and I look forward to seeing the students and getting their feedback about how things are going for them and their peers. It would also be good to talk about their plans as a group for activities that they could organise next academic year.

Kind regards

Margaret Renshaw

Deputy Principal/Head of Secondary

Alarm goes off at 6.20am (positively late as normal alarm is set for 5.30am)

Get up, shower, dress , eat breakfast & I’m at my desk for 7.00am.

Switch on my school laptop and log in. Switch on my own personal laptop and get screens up, plus check power level on my iPad and phone with charging cables for then plugged in ready when needed.

Ok I’m good to start my day!

First I check my timetable – it’s sellotaped to my wall so I can see which classes I have for the day ahead. I check that the Google Classroom schedules are all set correctly with date and time for the assignments for these classes to be released live just before my students  arrive.

Tuesday I have a free period lesson 1 so I actually have time to continue finish marking the online assigned work which 9k turned in from their Tourism lesson yesterday. Having their lessons in consecutive days means I have little time to check their progress and gauge if my planned lesson (which I’d prepared over Easter) will now work or if I need to go back over the concepts and skills from Monday’s lesson.

I have an alarm set on my phone and it goes off at 8.58. This is my warning that I have 5-6 mins before the year10 class starts. Quick trip to bathroom (literally 5 steps from my kitchen desk.. I have a small apartment) and I’m ready!

Right on schedule the first ‘morning’ pings into my GC comments for this class which comes up on my phone and iPad. So as I see the students arrive I activate the Google meet link and join them for the start of our Geography lesson. Today I start feedback on the test they all completed online last week, checking they’d read my personal comments and advising some to review either content, skills or exam technique. No one has their cameras active so I’m just looking at screen icons and hearing their familiar voices as they reply. Some just type away.

Then we are ready for our first lesson on new topic in our Physical Geography module.

I start by asking for vocabulary to be typed into the chat and try to not repeat the same words. This is to encourage the students to dredge memories from yr8 or even Primary when they will have previously learnt about coasts. Once we have warmed up I now explain that the assignment is in Google slides and different to previous lessons were we have all worked collaboratively on one document where they each gave their own copy of the same task.

I remain live on the Google meet and each of my nine students from their home desk progresses through the tasks, asking for help by either typing into the chat or unmuting their mics and talking to me.

As it gets to 9.55/10.00 I ask / type that I want an emoji icon posting as to their confidence and understanding about the formation of the erosion landform they have been reviewing – if you’re interested it was wave cut notches into base of headlands. This way I can judge if I need to tweak tomorrow’s lesson or leave it as planned.

We all sign off and head to break at 10.00 and I walk two paces to my fridge (yes, tiny apartment) to grab a cold ice lemon tea. I sit on the sofa for 10 mins and scroll through any personal messages I have from friends and family. 10.20 quickly arrives and I’m straight back at my kitchen table – conversing now with my two year 13 students who are collecting  and reviewing evidence for their Geography exam grade. We agree what they will do for me and I sign off – knowing that they will email me when that work is scanned and in their Google drive folders.

That gives me some time I wouldn’t normally have if in school to look through school emails and reply to those.

11.25am is my next class -9k again – and at 11.20 some are keen and eager and already logging into comments with a ‘morning miss’ or a ‘hello’. Their lesson assignment today is on map work skills and once more arrive we meet via Google and this time I share my screen to remind them about mapwork skills which we have done lots of times in yr7 and 8 but not yet in yr9. I remind the students how to read and look for geographical information from an ordnance survey map. Then they answer the questions I’ve set from the scanned map. (I don’t have the original copy here at home and have to hope that the map photo I had in my drive would work for the class to complete the task). I remain on the Google meet call so students can again ask me to help and explain where to look for the map answers which are all linked to the tourist activities in the Lake district area of England.

Very quickly it is 12.20pm and we call the lesson to a halt. Answers were turned in by most of 9k and now it’s lunchtime. I live opposite a shop, so I have 40mins now and to get in some steps I walk down the seven flights of stairs in my condo and over to the shop, wearing my face mask and queuing 2m apart at the till with my bag of grapes and can of Coke Zero.

On Tuesday afternoon I have a double lesson with yr12. We had, during the first two weeks of lockdown, been finishing that final topic and last week have been scanning evidence and reviewing this topic so this period was when my students was going to sign his honesty pledge and answer a section A  and B question on this final topic.

While the test was being answered I could got ready for my ECA.  You might be thinking – but there aren’t any.. we are in MCO! That is true, but I coordinate the International award  at KIS and term 3 is when we begin the Bronze Award with our yr9 students. Today is only their 2nd session so I will be going over how to set a smart goal and type it into their ORB either using the  participant’s app or on the main website platform. So I screenshot what I need, write some examples of activities for each of three 3 sections they complete independently-which they can still do while under MCO and wait for 3.05pm when 15 students join me in my extra Google meeting. That finishes at approximately 3.45pm and I then lie on the sofa for a rest. I check emails again on my phone and see any messages I need to reply to.

Still wiring through my mind is the job list I have for tomorrow – marking yr8 work before their lesson tomorrow and checking the emails for those test answers /evidence from Yr12 and 13 which I’ll need to mark, scan  and upload to the exam evidence folder.

My work day continues until 5.30pm, marking the yr8 work, when I stop and eat some leftovers from the lasagne I made on Sunday.

That was a day in the life online teaching!

A Day in the Life of ….. Ms Service

One of the few advantages of online learning is that I can get up later than I would normally and I don’t need to fight the traffic to get to school, so I arise from my nest at 7am. I still shower and get breakfast, as well as an enormous cup of coffee; this is no different from normal life. I just reorganised my front room and I now have a desk with a fabulous view. It took nearly 4 weeks to think of this!

The first order of business is to check that all KS4 have registered and the form tutors have entered the data into Engage. Then, I get into lesson 1 which is ICT with Year 7. They have spent weeks filming and editing videos individually, so today we have the mammoth task of loading them all up and onto Google Drive so that I can mark them. There is also going to be a peer assessment element but I’m going to do that next lesson. I start the lesson with a Video Chat. Most of the students are there most of the time; this does mean that anything I say must also be written down in the instructions. It is exceedingly difficult communicating online with so many people at the same time, and I get them to type their questions so that they are spread out and I can answer them more easily. I let them go as soon as they have completed the task. Some stay and help others, I video chat and share screens with those that are struggling. With 10 minutes of the lesson remaining, all but two students have completed the task and I have left them able to finish it in their own time.

Period 2 starts at 9.05am. I am glad that the students and I have a short break between the lessons. In school would have a quick walk between classrooms and I often get up to do some stretches at home. The Year 11 all sign in punctually; they are scanning and submitting their work as evidence for their exams. None of us have done this before and we all want the fairest and most accurate grades for the students. I am spending my time in one-2-one chats with each student over the next two weeks. This will allow me to check that they have found the evidence that we need and that they have organised it correctly for us to analyse. The chat also allows them to ask questions and means that I can offer my pastoral support and encouragement.

During period 3, I set new work for Year 10, who are continuing their studies in preparation for next year. Our current topic is Disease and Immunity, so it is exceptionally relevant and interesting to the students. I will also be using it as an opportunity to discuss the internet as a source of information and the pitfalls of believing everything that you read.

In the afternoon, I have a lesson with Year 13. these students have submitted massive files of evidence and now I need to go through it and filter out the pieces that will be of most use. I also chat to each of them, mainly to offer them emotional support as they have concerns about their university choices and whether they will be able to travel by September.

Finally, at 3pm, I heave a deep sigh of relief and send a quick email to Mrs Renshaw to summarise the day and then sign out.

It’s Friday so I think that I will treat myself to Pizza, I can cook but I don’t enjoy it much and I am delighted that Grab food is still delivering. I hope that I am offering some support to local businesses by buying from them. I’m fostering a cat for a friend and have decided to teach her to sit, I spend about 20 minutes waving ‘fish’ in the air before she gets bored and wanders away. I had to give up with the jigsaw because she kept stealing the pieces.

Some of the other teachers are running a quiz night so I log into Zoom. Although I do well in the Riddles round, the Sports and the Current affairs are my downfall and I end somewhere in the middle of the pack. Still much better than another evening binge watching the horrifying state of Tiger Rescue Centres in the south-east American states. I do like a David Attenborough documentary or I read Science Fiction, such as Robin Hobb, to relax.

I have found that I miss the many social interactions that are a part of everyday life. I miss greeting people in school as you walk past them and I even miss being on duty and having the opportunity to chat to the students face to face. So much of human communication is non-verbal and these are the facets that are lacking when you communicate online. Fortunately, the quiz, the many digital meetings with friends and family, and the cat have kept me entertained and busy. One of the outcomes of this isolation should be an increased value for each interaction we have with people. I genuinely can’t wait to see you all soon.

                                                                                                                                                            Choosing our best side.

In these strange times that we find ourselves in, it is important to focus on the positive lessons we are learning from this experience. With that in mind, FOBISIA have launched their second creative writing competition of 2020: COVID-19 Silver Linings.

Given the myriad of emotions we have all undoubtedly experienced since the announcement of the MCO in March, having a creative outlet for the students to express their own thoughts and feelings about this period will undoubtedly be of great benefit to them, both academically and emotionally. It will also help any of our students who are struggling with the current situation to try and adopt a more optimistic perspective on the situation and contemplate the subtle benefits it may bring us as a society as we slowly find our way back to normality.

The competition is open to all KIS students from Year 3 up to Year 9 and the deadline for submission will be May 22^nd.  Entries should be passed to either their class teacher in Primary or their English teacher for Secondary students.  Unlike, their annual Short Story competition, FOBISIA has said that all entries are welcome and, as a school, we won’t be limited to one entry per category. This means that all of our students stand a chance of becoming one of the overall winners and receiving a prestigious FOBISIA prize or certificate.

Although there is a word limit of 500 words for Years 3 to 6, and 800 words for Years 7 to 9, entries may take the form of creative writing, drawings or even a comic strip. The most important point to note is that FOBISIA is looking for entries that focus on the positive aspects of the current situation, which is something we should all be doing during this difficult time.

I hope that you will join me in encouraging our students to express their current thoughts and feelings as creatively as possible and I am very much looking forward to reading the students’ accounts of their experiences during this historic era of individualism and unity.

Over the last 5 weeks, as the DoE Coordinator at KIS I have been emailing participants in years 9 to 13 to remind them that they can still be logging their activities and suggesting how they can be creative in still meeting their goals.

For his voluntary service one Year 10 Bronze participant has been going into an F2 class during his lunchtimes twice a week to help as a learning assistant. With a hour left to complete it he videoed himself reading a story to the class and sent it to Mrs White to share with them.

Voluntary service is the most challenging aspect to complete while under MCO. One student who had been volunteering at an animal shelter is now creating digital adverts and creating an online presence about the shelter. Others are changing their service – I have suggested that they find ways to raise funds to support local community organizations who require assistance at this time. A few are doing online tutoring of younger KIS students via Zoom or Google Meet.

Others have been devising their own gym workouts with tins or water bottles as weights, following online yoga or aerobic workouts in order to maintain the fitness needed for their main sport which they have assigned as their physical activity. This means that they are still working towards their main goal and can complete their award on schedule. In the skills section some students have been home baking, continuing their music practice or independently learning a language and logging those hours.

Since going into this period of MCO I have signed off and submitted to the DoE headquarters in London 6 Bronze and 3 Silver Awards for approval and verification and all have passed with flying colours

Certificates and badges can hopefully be presented in person when we are back in school to:

Silver 

Jolin (yr11)

Iffa (yr12)

Desmond (yr12)

Bronze: 

Afiq (yr13)

Justin (yr11)

Qawiemah (yr11)

Moksha (yr10)

Josephine (yr10)

Jayden (yr10)

Congratulations!

I am hoping that this will inspire the new cohort of 15 students in Year 9 who I have recently signed up to start their Bronze Award.

If anyone reading this has a child at home who is enrolled in the Award please ask them what they are doing and support them in continuing the effort to achieve their goals.

Ms McNutt

KIS DoE Coordinator