From the Head of Secondary 03.10.2020

As I write this, our Year 13 students are busy working in the library. Today and tomorrow are our University Applications Days. The day kicked off with a Zoom meeting with Mr Hallas, who talked about the schedule and the aims of the two days, and this was followed with a presentation from Miss McNutt who emphasised that the personal statement [4000 characters max] is the individual’s one opportunity to have a real impact on the admissions tutors of chosen universities around the world. There are thousands upon thousands of top grade students in competition for places at popular universities on popular courses; the admissions tutors and Heads of Faculty use the personal statements to make sure they get the students they want onto their courses. Year 13 plan to have their applications completed by the end of this term.

In the absence of assemblies we have a new way of communicating…..through this newsletter! This week is the first in a series of articles coming from individual tutor groups as they tell us something about themselves and what they are up to. This week it’s the turn of 7S.

Read on to hear about a new initiative from our Charity Committee. It does depend upon the generosity of our community, so many thanks in advance for contributing to this!

We are finally able to announce our Prefects and Head Prefects. The students have been through a very thorough recruitment process and we are confident that these young people will continue to grow and develop the school during their tenure. Congratulations to all of them!

Mrs Margaret Renshaw

Head of Secondary / Deputy Principal

The Charity Committee is proud to announce that we will be teaming up with Girl Up, a UN initiative that is organised in school by Celeste Chung, President of the Charity Committee. We believe every woman has the right to have access to basic health products and our plan is to create hampers containing essential products which will be donated to women in KK and surrounding areas.

If you feel this is something you would like to be a part of, when you are out shopping please could you pick up items such as a hamper basket [or perhaps you already have one at home that you could donate], sanitary products, shampoo, conditioner, soap, bodywash, and other toiletries. Students from the Charity Committee will be downstairs in the mornings from 7:15-7:30AM to collect donations. Alternatively, you could send your donation to school with your child and they can bring it to me. If you attach your name we will keep a record of this and your donation.

The Charity Committee’s aim this year is to volunteer their time and to make a difference in their local community. This endeavour is the first of many that we will be embarking on and I think it is an amazing project to start with.

Thank you very much in advance for your donations.

More information on Girl Up can be found here https://girlup.org/

Miss Bater

Charity Committee Mentor

During the last week, KIS students have been competing against 42 schools in the FOBISIA Science competition and have performed brilliantly. Not only did KIS come 1^st in Malaysia, 1^st in schools in the 101 – 250 students category but 1^st globally and so are the overall winners!

In fact, it wasn’t even close in the end and the final scoreboard looked like this;

We also had 7 students who were in the top 20 globally and 24 in the top 100. In addition, 65 students across secondary achieved personal awards, from credit level (1,000 points) to elite level (8,000 points). All of these students will be receiving certificates from FOBISIA in the near future. A huge thank you and congratulations from the Science Department for the efforts of all of our competing students, and we look forward to defending our trophy next year!

Mr Colbeck

Head of Science

7S have made a great start to Year 7. They are very enthusiastic and they are getting involved with so many leadership opportunities throughout the school community. It is a joy for me to see them every morning, and I have already seen some wonderful qualities in all of them. I have asked some of them to share their experiences so far. I hope you enjoy reading this! Miss Bater.

Eliyah was new to 7S and joined a few days into the term. She says: ‘My first day at KIS was exciting although I was a bit nervous. When I first came in class, I was really nervous it was like my heart just skipped a beat. Then Sophie and Kiera helped me out. I was so worried about making new friends because I was so shy. Now I’m starting to get along and learn new things. I am really happy to get along with everyone. People here are kind and nice. I haven’t made a lot of friends but I think over these years I’ll get along better. ‘

Katie was new to KIS in Year 6 and she says: ‘My first day wasn’t really good because I was sick and I went home early. But now I’m having fun and I like it a lot! I really like the school and I also like my friends. I enjoy talking to my friends and playing with them. I was actually very nervous at first to come to KIS and I thought I couldn’t make friends but I made some friends who are Keira and Sophie and they are really nice. Since I came to KIS my mum said that she can feel that my English is improving which I’m happy with. I am sure that I will make more friends and learn a lot in Year 7.’

Thilal bravely stood up in front of the form room and gave a speech stating why he should be our Student Council representative. Thilal says: ‘I was voted in by my class to become a representative for the Student Council. I had to give a speech explaining why I would be good for the job. I enjoy having a leadership role because it feels like that I’m actually part of the school. I have loads of experience being a leader but somehow it is still nerve wracking for me to give a speech to the whole class. The meetings have been really fun especially looking up to the older kids. We are focusing on student voice and student well-being. Thank you for reading.’

Sebastian is our form representative for Sulug House Captain. Sebastian says:  I became a Sulug House Captain because I really always wanted to become a House Captain. I am excited to run events and to be a leader at sports day. I am really excited about the opportunities I have been given this year and I will try my best to make sure that Sulug are the winning house again!’

Eimhin is a keen and loyal member of the Eco Warriors. Eimhin says: ‘I joined the Eco Warriors because I am extremely passionate about caring for the environment. I was part of the Eco Warriors club last year and I am hoping to be able to really continue to make a difference now that I have joined Secondary school. I am enjoying the Eco Warriors because we are a small group with big aims. We are aiming to make sure the school uses less plastic and that we recycle more. We are also thinking of some exciting fundraising events.’

Arayyan has joined the Charity Committee. He is one of the few Year 7’s to join and some amazing leadership opportunities await him this year. Arayyan says:  The reason why I joined the charity committee is because of many reasons. One being that I wanted to try out something new. I tried out for student council and well let’s just say it didn’t work out but it’s not about a name it’s about how brave you are at giving it a chance. Another reason is I wanted to be a part of a community. I think it’s great for me to be confident talking to people I never met and it’s actually getting me to make new friends.’

Sophie and Keira came up with the brilliant idea to create a student-led newspaper, they have been working tirelessly to get other students and teachers on board and really have something amazing in the works. Sophie and Keira say: ‘I have always loved writing and reading, so this is a great opportunity for me and all the other writers in KIS. The first person I told was Keira and now I am having so much fun working with her. The second person I told was Miss Bater and she liked it too. Then we went to Mrs Renshaw and KIS TODAY was born!’

‘I am very happy to be doing the student newspaper. It is something that makes me happy and working with Sophie on this is really fun. It’s a great opportunity to be in a newspaper and run it with your best friend. I actually didn’t come up with the idea, Sophie did and I really liked it so we told Miss Bater and she liked the idea too, so we went to Mrs Renshaw and talked it out and she agreed!’

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know some of 7S a little bit more!

Miss Bater

7S Form Tutor

At KIS our Prefects play a pivotal role in leading on whole school initiatives and supporting students across the school. Given the prominence of the position the selection process comprised of both a written application and formal interview.

The quality of the field was simply outstanding, and every candidate exhibited genuine enthusiasm and an innate desire for making a positive contribution to the school and the wider community.

Following a healthy discussion and plenty of deliberation it gives me great pleasure to announce our Prefect team for the 2020-21 academic year. Well done to each and every one of them.

Head Prefects

Bobby Wong, Zachary Robinson, Leilana Pilcher and Alex Woo

Prefects

Ai Yung Shim, Chanel Lo, Iffa Razak, James Garrick, Jasmine Leong, Tazkhiya Suharto, Joseph Cheng, Wilber Wong, Pascal U, Suraj Kanpoori, Delia Dumpangol, Connor Mansul, Peter Woo, Laverne Khoo, Koenraad Dols, Josephine Ng, Jobin Dan and Jimin Hwang

Next week, I will be meeting with the Head Prefects to finalise the four areas that they will focus on. As soon as the themes have been decided, time will then be set aside to meet with all of the Prefects to establish the main priorities and goals for the year. With this group of students at the wheel exciting times lie ahead!

The House Presidents and Vice-presidents have selected their teams of House Captains. The Presidents will meet on a three week schedule with their teams. The House Captain’s role will be to rally their houses in events and help their houses to the top of the standings at the end of the year. Good luck Sulug, Gaya and Sapi!

 The House Captains are: 

Sulug:  

Y13: Peter, Pascal 

Y12: Vadim 

Y11: Shawn 

Y10: Alexis 

Y9: Zack and Kon Han 

Y8: Aaron, Julia, Miky 

Y7: Pik Ern, Caleb Wong, Sebastian James 

Sapi  

Yr 7:Thilal Suharto, Arayyan Anwar, Se young Jung (Tony), Pui San Kan

Yr 8: Adam Jefri Rudy, Natalia Wehrendt 

Yr 9: Toby Garrick, Pui Mun Kan, 

Yr 10: Victor Chang, Johanna Kim 

Yr 11: Yin Ling Chua

Yr 12: Delia Dumpangol

Gaya: 

Year 7: Leroy Yapp , Keira Gross, Sophie Gervasi

Year 8: Juah Son, Anny Ling 

Year 9 Logan Forsyth, Nicholas Gervasi 

Year 10: Marc and Keith Wong 

Year 11 Janush Espey, Haziq Danny

Year 13 Koenraad Dols

Year 8 science classes have been studying the Earth’s structure. The classes compared the structure of current chocolates and sweets to the structure of the Earth.

Their homework was to design a new chocolate, sweet or cake that represents all the layers of the Earth.                                                                                                                                                                                               A few students took their homework to another level and decided to create a new Earth along with their poster.

Juah, Natalia, Isabella Luping-Cowan and Tiggi created some delicious looking Earths.

Tiggi’s marzipan inner core and buttercream outer core Earth.

Juah Son’s chocolate and marshmallow mantle Earth.

Natalia and Bella’s carmel outer core and cake mantle Earth.

Well done to the students (are parents help) for showing dedication and a keen interest in their studies at home.

Mr Baxter

Science Teacher