From the Head of Secondary 08.10.2022

This week we have seen some wonderful happenings in school during KIS Care Week. The morning ‘Wake Up Shake Up’ has been very popular, with students and staff [and parents] joining in and even those who did not participate joining in in spirit, with lots of laughter and smiles. The ‘Drop it and Relax’ sessions have provided a welcome 15 minute interlude of calm on busy days, and the lunchtime activities provided by staff and parents were joined enthusiastically by students. I dropped into the library on Wednesday to have a quick chat with Mrs Colbeck and almost didn’t recognise the space. There were 2 events running…..silent disco at one end, and a movie showing at the other end. The room was in darkness, apart from fairy lights draped around the silent disco area; students moved gracefully with eyes closed to music only heard by them through their headphones. It was actually rather magical. Also on Wednesday the Safeguarding Team hosted a Wellbeing Wednesday discussion forum for parents. We talked about a range of issues which impact the lives of young people that parents and schools deal with almost on a daily basis, and we were able to share experiences and possible ways through problems and situations. We are planning to have more such sessions in the future, and I would like to thanks those parents who turned up for this inaugural event.

Special thanks must go to Ms Siti, our counsellor, for the Care Week initiative!

Secondary teachers have been completing the Interim Reports this week. These are for all students who are new to Secondary this term, including our Year 7 cohort, and they will be sent home next Thursday. The aim of these reports is to give some insight into how students have settled into the school at this early stage, highlight what is going well, and perhaps note how a student can make some adjustments so that they get the most of their experiences in lessons.

Today our Charity Committee will be at the school selling refreshments at the inter-schools basketball tournament. This is their first fund-raising event of the year, and I wish them all the best. The Student Council have also been busy, working on developing some games which they will be organising and running on International Day next Friday.

KIS is a great supporter of continuing professional development [CPD] for staff. There is a process whereby individuals can complete a form giving the details of the event or course; this then goes to the leadership team for approval. Some courses are online, some have no cost attached to them apart from time, some involve getting on a plane and flying to a location within the region, some are hosted by FOBISIA, by CIS, GL Education, AIMS or by other providers. As I write this on Thursday, I am looking forward to participating in the online FOBISIA event ‘Wellbeing for International Schools’ tomorrow from 8.30 to 3pm. This is an opportunity to join webinars and workshops led by fellow professionals in FOBISIA schools.

Read on to find out about how Global Goals Day went [I can tell you that it was a fantastic success!]. Many congratulations to our guest speakers, Mrs Mornington Sanford and Tiggi Mornington Sanford who gave up their time to work with our students on these important issues, and of course huge thanks to Ms Colley. This event took many hours and days to organise, and it was not easy, but she succeeded not only in raising awareness of important issues, but in facilitating teamwork across the year groups.

Also in this newsletter, take a look at how our Duke of Edinburgh Award students got on in their challenges, and many thanks again to Ms McNutt and her team for their inspirational leadership in this area.

Have a wonderful [long] weekend!

Mrs Margaret Renshaw

Deputy Principal / Head of Secondary

On Tuesday, Key Stage 3 and Year 6 came together for a very special purpose: Global Goals Day! The students have been working for some time on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in their PSHE lessons, so this was our way of enabling the students to put their knowledge into action by coming up with practical solutions to some of the real life challenges we face here in Sabah.

In their house groups – which each comprised of a Year 9, Year 8, Year 7 and a Year 6 student -they were given a specific issue to solve and were tasked with coming up with a marketing pitch to convince one of our guest speakers why their idea was the best. Our panel of experts didn’t hold back when it came to the problems they presented but it was incredible to see how well the students rose to challenge, managing to come up with some truly innovative solutions which impressed not only their teachers but the judges themselves!

While it was fantastic to hear their ideas, for me, the best part of the day was watching how well KS3 and Year 6 worked together. This was Year 6s’ first experience of life in Secondary and it was lovely to see the older students being so inclusive and welcoming to the younger members of the school.

I would like to offer a huge thank you to Dr Benoit Goossens from Danau Girang Field Centre, Dr Nicholas Pilcher from The Marine Research Foundation, Cynthia Ong from LEAP, Simon Davis from SEADLING, Dr Dayang Siti Maryam Binti Mohd. Hanan from Sabah’s Environmental Protection Department, Shavez Cheema from 1StopBorneo Wildlife and Jason Flynn and Noel Owel from Scuba Junkie for giving up their time to come in and listen to the students’ ideas. They have certainly benefitted from your knowledge and experience and they very much enjoyed meeting you all. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Caroline and Tiggi Mornington Sanford – our resident environmental experts – for lending us their expertise for the day and aiding the students when it came to their understanding the issues they were tackling.

Lastly, I would like to thank all the staff and students who were involved. It was a fantastic and rewarding day and it was wonderful to see you all enjoying yourselves while harnessing the power of student voice.  I was also very pleased to receive so many comments that demonstrated our success when it came to expanding our awareness of the challenges facing our community and the need for us all to work together to resolve them. Well done everybody!

“I didn’t know how polluted rivers can be. It was scary to know how people needed to wear special masks to be near the Kiulu River.” Ting Xiang Liew, Year 9.

“We need to ensure that we are able to be heard and make sure that we all can take action.” Sean Yu, Year 9.

“Personally, I think that we need to work together and concentrate on the most important or severe things that we can see that we really need working towards. We should prioritize the most important parts first. It would be very useful to involve everyone in it and parts of the government, since they enforce most of the laws.” Fion Ho, Year 7.

“If we want to help out, we will always have to have a voice to speak out about this situation to the people to get an understanding. This would include persuasive texts and information about the situation. Most importantly, even though we share about this, we must not do the wrongs ourselves. That means we also have to help out in not polluting the ocean by throwing trash into recycle bins instead of the ocean, reusing things, and just in general helping out the people in need that need help to tackle this goal too.” Janice Lim, Year 7.

“I think that the most important thing is that people are well educated, as they wouldn’t notice all the wrong doings they caused, or how to stop it.” Mabel Yapp, Year 6.

“I learned not to pollute, protect and always find the best way to protect the environment. I also learned it doesn’t matter who you are with, it just matters on how you communicate and help your teammates.” Ashlyn Chong, Year 6.

“We need to spread awareness to the uneducated. This might make them change their mind on poaching and might actually compel some to help.” Jai Mountstephens, Year 8.

“I think the most important thing that Sabah needs to make progress on is plastic. They could try to recycle it by making it into toys!” Lucas Chan, Year 7.

Ms Emily Colley

Head of Key Stage 3

Two weeks ago, on Saturday 24th September, three Duke of Edinburgh Award groups successfully completed their final day Adventurous Journey expeditions. This was a 13km route into Ranau, an impressive feet of physical endurance, navigation and teamwork.

For the Gold group [called 4+1] this was the end of their practice exploration in preparation for their assessment journey in January 2023. The five students from Year 12 were accompanied and shadowed by Mr Watson who ensured that they gained the necessary training in navigation skills, knowledge and understanding of what the Adventurous Journey is all about. They had first aid sessions and reviews of camp craft, equipment packing and menu decisions. They are now ready to start planning and writing their route card for their Kiulu Exploration.

For the two Silver Award teams  in Year 11, who had named themselves the MSR’s and the Regrets, this was their Assessment. They were shadowed each day by their award leaders, Mr Williams and myself, while Mr Gant (their assessor) judged whether they showed the necessary navigation skills, understanding of the AJ requirements from menu planning to cooking as a team, and working together to ‘pass’ the Journey section.

I am pleased to say that both teams were successful in their endeavours while at the Sabah Tea Plantation over their 3 days of Exploration / Expedition and are now busy writing their AJ group report and putting together their Purpose Work presentation to submit to Mr Gant. Once this is completed they will be able to be signed off on this section, which makes up 25% of the Silver Award.