From the Head of Secondary 07.10.2023
Many thanks to those parents who attended our first Safeguarding and Child Protection Drop-Off and Drop-In Coffee Morning for this academic year, which we held on Wednesday as part of Care Week.
The theme of the meeting was ‘Online Safety’, clearly a big concern for us in school, for parents at home, and for students. Ms Young, our Designated Safeguarding Lead, led us through a series of fictional case studies which were based on the kinds of issues which we see at school, and which parents see at home. Each scenario was accompanied by a list of questions which guided our discussions. We were able to clarify our understanding, and potential courses of action to support our students. It is crucial that school and home work together on this and on other important issues so that we can best support young people of any age.
We will be having more such coffee mornings moving forward and I hope to seeing familiar and new faces at those. Watch out for news about the next one!
Care Week is a relatively new event in our school calendar and many thanks to Ms Siti and the team of staff who organized different ways for us to focus on mental wellbeing this week. This is the first time we have had a Mindfulness Mile [or Wellbeing Walk as I mistakenly called it in last week’s newsletter!] and moving forward I know that this is going to be a permanent feature of the week. Enjoyed by both Secondary and Primary students and staff, it was a great opportunity to just drop everything and focus on putting one foot in front of the other in silence, chatting with friends, or listening to music. We also had videos and a silent disco in the library at lunchtimes etc, Wake Up and Shake up in the mornings [Secondary students slightly tentative about joining in, whilst Primary set the pace by powering through them].
Excitement is building up for next Tuesday’s celebration of the school’s 50th Anniversary and it promises to be a truly amazing event! There will be one huge birthday party with the compulsory cake [no party is complete unless there is cake]. This is a major school event and parents and staff have come together in many meetings over many months to ensure that it is a massive success! I am sure that in next week’s newsletter we will see the evidence of this.
As I write this our Duke of Edinburgh Award students are participating in their Silver AJ Assessment. Enjoy these few photos for now; I am sure we will have a full account of how it all went in next week’s newsletter!
View into a Geography Lesson
On Monday in Geography, as part of the Adventure Landscapes topic, 8S were learning how marine erosion processes (hydraulic action and abrasion) in conjunction with varying weather processes at coastal headland cliffs lead to two landforms called ‘wave cut notch’ and ‘wave cut platforms forming’.
After learning about the processes and their cliff base locations between high and low tide levels, 3D models were made from cake and photographed or filmed.
Groups of peers in 3s or 4s worked on this collaborative modelling sequencing.
Zero Waste Sabah… by Tiggi Mornington Sanford
Hopefully you read my article in last week’s newsletter about the great initiative that Zero Waste Sabah has started at the market in Tuaran. They want to encourage everyone who is purchasing anything from the market to use recyclable bags or buckets.
They are hoping that this is something that can be implemented throughout Sabah, especially since Malaysia has committed to banning plastic bags by 2025.
They have now created the following three videos to explain the project:
Let’s work together to eliminate single use plastic for a greener planet!
It’s been a wonderful week here at school, and I hope that you have an equally wonderful weekend!
Mrs Margaret Renshaw
Head of Secondary / Deputy Principal
