From the Head of Secondary 07.09.2019
The Secondary school is in full swing and the holidays already seem to belong to the dim and distant past!
I am pleased to see that the vast majority of students are getting to school by 7.40 and are in their tutor rooms for registration on time at 7.50am. Unfortunately we still have a few who are arriving late, with various reasons given from “traffic” to “forgot my book and had to go back home to get it” to “dad was tired”. It would be fair to say that these are mostly avoidable problems. We encourage all students to pack their bags the night before so that it is a simple matter to just pick it up quickly in the morning knowing that they are well organized and have everything they need. Traffic in KK can be problematical but if you have lived here for a while you soon learn the best time to leave home so that you don’t encounter the worst of it. Occasionally there is a traffic accident that causes a build-up. We know when that happens because it invariably affects large numbers of our families and it isn’t their fault. In the ‘lates’ we have had so far the ‘traffic’ problem has not been caused by an accident but perhaps by the car leaving home rather later than it could! We have set up a new system this year in the interests of health and safety and that is that students who arrive after 7.50am must sign in at the gate before proceeding to the Secondary Office to sign in there. This makes it easier for us to track whether students are actually in school and it is working well.
This week I have been dropping into Year 12 lessons to see how they are setting into their AS Level studies. In spite of all the warnings that we give students that A Level is not the same as IGCSE and are more challenging, it is apparent that these wise words have not hit home in every case. Smaller teaching groups can be difficult to adjust to. There is no hiding at the back of the room. There is lots of discussion….lessons are interactive….and everybody is expected to contribute. Of course there has been lots of practice for this in Years 10 and 11 but the reality can be somewhat difficult. Nevertheless what I have seen so far in the classrooms has been encouraging. Year 12 students are quietly adapting to the pace and are working well to understand the content.
Student leaders are gradually moving into position in Secondary and there will be more news about these roles in future newsletters. This year we will have a Secondary Student Council, mentored by Ms Tooley, Charity Committee, mentored by Ms Bater, House Captains, mentored by our Heads of House [Sapi: Mr Baxter, Gaya: Mrs Colbeck and Sulug: Ms Colley] assisted by Ms Watt, Head of PE. We will also have Library Cadets, organized by Mrs Colbeck, and Eco-Warriors, led by Mrs Davies, and Prefects, soon to be organized by Mr Barker. All of these are wonderful opportunities for our students to develop their teamwork and leadership skills.
Margaret Renshaw
Head of Secondary
Congratulations to Evan Teo of Year 11 who participated in the 26th Annual Kota Kinabalu Music and Dance Festival which was held at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru from the 31st August to the 1st September. Evan was awarded a gold medal for his performance on the guitar [Billy Jean by Michael Jackson]. The judge said “We enjoyed your steady groove and you are playing an important role there. Keep up the good work!”
Well done Evan!
