From the Head of Secondary 07.11.2020

In this week’s newsletter we have some really interesting articles about what our students have been up to. I dare anyone not to smile or even laugh out loud upon reading the hilarious piece from 8S ‘8S Unleashed!’ In a rather different tone we have news about an exciting event ‘Youths for the Future’, a virtual conference. This is being brought to us by Celeste Chung in Year 12, a truly inspirational member of our student body. Celeste is the founder and executive director of ‘A Better Tomorrow’ – a non-profit organization which is now supporting 200 stateless children in school and she is a member of the Women’s International Network Committee. Thank you to Mr Baxter for bringing us news of House Events. Staff are finding all kinds of ingenious ways to inject fun into school…..not just in actual lessons, but also in the kinds of activities that would be happening if we were in school, such as Scary School Day.  Mr Bryant is also planning an exciting opportunity for students to showcase their talents: practising/performing/sketching/painting etc, so watch out for more news about that!

In this edition, Mr Hallas brings us news of University Subject Webinars hosted by Unifrog. Whilst these may be of most use to our Year 12 students, they could also be really beneficial to those students in Year 13 who have not yet finally made up their minds as to what they would like to study at tertiary level.

The Council of International Schools Accreditation process for KIS is moving ahead at a steady pace. Teams have been meeting virtually with the aim of creating a good draft of our self-review by the end of November. We submitted Domain A ‘Purpose and Direction’ some weeks ago and have now had feedback from CIS. As well as being very positive and encouraging, the feedback gives us some aspirational ideas to consider moving forward. I would like to thank all staff, parents and students who are contributing to the reaccreditation of our school. It really is a team effort!

Finally, a big thank you again to parents, students and teachers for all your efforts this week.

Mrs Renshaw

Deputy Principal/Head of Secondary

Did you have an exciting adventure like 8S? We have adventurous students who travelled to the far lands of THE KITCHEN! Or went camping to the legendary LIVING ROOM. This is 8S UNLEASHED!

Quarantine has been hard, the internet cutting off and stuck at home, but throughout all the trouble there has been a shining light piercing through the darkness: each other.  We as a class have managed to keep a clear mind by supporting one another and maintaining the caring environment that we live in. A positive of lockdown is that we get more free time with our families and friends and NO HOMEWORK! We get to sleep in for longer because all we have to do is crawl to our desks!

Between all of this, 8S are still adapting to these new circumstances. We still have times where we forget about joining calls, don’t turn in the work properly, and have 3,245 emails in the inbox. We always wondered what it was like for those people in history, in times like this and now we know. We know how it feels being in a pandemic year, one that will go down in history.

However, there is always light at the end of the tunnel and we are settling back into online learning, even if it’s a challenge at times! We will persevere and get through this together!

By 8S

On the 12th-13th December Youths For The Future will be hosting its first virtual international summit “Voice For The Voiceless”. Get ready for a two day jam-packed summit with expert-led workshops, global activists and notable speakers alongside breakout discussions with Youth Leaders from 12+ countries!

Get a chance to listen to a few of our keynote speakers;

Anja Chong – a 4 times SEA games Gold medallist winner, also mentioned in Forbes 30 under 30 Asia.

Ezzaty Hasbullah – founder and CEO of 111 Initiative which pushes for increased women representation in the Dewan Rakyat. Ezzaty had just graduated from an ivy league school, UPenn, and is currently a 2020 Rhodes Scholar studying at Oxford University.

Ling Yah Wong – a Malaysian graduate from the London School of Economics. She is also the host and producer of the “So This is My Why” podcast with past guests including Hollywood actresses, Emmy award-winning filmmakers, Olympians, Michelin-starred chefs and more!

Tori Tsui – an intersectional climate activist and mental health advocate. She recently sailed across the Atlantic Ocean as part of a project called ‘Sail to the COP’. Fun fact – this is the same yacht Greta Thunberg used to get to the UN!

Audrey Pe – a current freshman at Stanford University, founder and executive director of WiTech– a nonprofit organization with 14+ chapters in 6+ countries focussing on breaking the gender and accessibility gaps in tech. She is also a 2020 Gen T. Leader of Tomorrow, a two-time TEDx, ASEAN and UN speaker. Additionally, she has been featured in international publications like Forbes, Esquire and Elite Daily.

Plus yours truly, Celeste Chung. Celeste is the founder and executive director of A Better Tomorrow – a non-profit organization which is now supporting 200 stateless kids to school. A member of the Women’s International Network Committee, which hosts the largest Women’s Day Event. Last year, we had over 1 million people viewing our event via livestream. Celeste had also recently just been picked Malaysian Youth Representative for the United Nations Youth SDG Conference and has also spoken in 50+ talks.

However, these are only a few of the many speakers you’ll meet!

We don’t want this to just be another weekend webinar. We want to mobilize the youth with resources, and empower them to take action. And most importantly, to give you a voice. Our summit will have 5 main topics – women empowerment, gender equality, mental health, women in STEM and climate change.

No age restrictions. No gender restrictions. Everyone is welcome to join us!

Tickets will be available very soon. Every ticket purchased will be sponsoring one stateless child in school in Sabah.

For further information, feel free to email Celeste (s002476@kis.edu.my / celestechungg04@gmail.com) or follow our newly created Instagram page @youth.ftf

In the meantime, mark your calendars everyone!

Despite not being able to be in school the Secondary House system is still going strong. Sapi won the English contest last month, which helped the school achieve overall 2nd place FOBISIA writing competition. This, and an increase in the number of merits has seen Sapi surpass Gaya for second place. However, Sulug has extended its lead over the other Houses by nearly 200 points.

Last week saw the deadline for the Scary School day themed competitions. One competition involved photo shopping a horror film poster. Suraj (Y13) won this contest for Sapi with his IT themed poster which showed great humour and skill.

Scary School Day also saw many students and staff dress up in spooky costumes. There were many great outfits. The winner of this contest was Isabella Luping-Cowan (8S). Her face paint was detailed and scary and she also carved out a pumpkin, earning Sulug extra points to increase their lead.

This week is the deadline for the Magic contest. Leroy Yapp (7K) has already sent in an incredible early entry that features a unicycle and a dove. I hope to see more fantastic entries this weekend; the deadline is now Sunday the 8th November.

Mr. Baxter

House Coordinator

During times of difficulty and challenge, such as those we are experiencing at the moment, great progress can often be made. This notion can be seen in the way universities and their associated organisations have adapted to ensure they can continue to reach out to a global audience. For the time being, gone are the days of university representatives doing the ‘grand tour’ of international school; and instead we are seeing a significant shift to virtual opens days, online taster sessions and the all-important webinar.

To ensure students continue to make an informed choice when selecting the course they wish to study at university, Unifrog, our online careers and university guidance platform, will be running a series of ‘subject discovery’ webinars. Academics and university admissions staff will explore what it is really like to study the subject at university level. They will also discuss potential career pathways and how to know whether a subject is a good fit for you. The webinars are specifically aimed at students in Year 12 but any student in Year 11 and Year 13 can register via their Unifrog account.

The webinars available are:

Liberal Arts and Sciences, Monday 23^rd November, 4-5pm

Law, Tuesday 24^th November, 4-5pm

Business and Management, Wednesday 25^th November, 4-5pm

Creative Arts and Design, Thursday 26^th November, 4-5pm

Hospitality, Friday 27^th November, 4-5pm

Computer Science, Monday 3th November, 4-5pm

Engineering, Tuesday 1^st December, 4-5pm

Medicine, Wednesday 2^nd December, 4-5pm

Psychology, Thursday 3^rd December 4-5pm

Remember, that all parents with a child in Years 11, 12 and 13 can sign up to Unifrog and create their own account. To do this please go to www.unifrog.org/code and the form code you need enter is KISMparents. If you wish, you can then join the ‘subject discovery’ webinars as well!

Mr Hallas

Deputy Head of Secondary