From the Head of Secondary 14.05.2022
If we need any proof that we are now on the journey back to normality, read on in this newsletter to see how our Year 10 Geography students fared on their field trip, and how our Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award students coped during their [certainly demanding and strenuous] Practice Adventurous Journey. Many thanks to the staff team, led by Miss McNutt, as they battled through not exactly conducive weather conditions to achieve their goals. It’s a true test of lots of a range of skills, and also qualities such as determination and perseverance when things get tough. Well done to all those students!
Great excitement on Thursday when Mr Davis was able to announce the ‘breaking news’ that our students had achieved great success in the UKMT Junior Maths Challenge. Read on to find out more, and maybe test your own expertise by tackling the sample question…. I did, and I’m ashamed to admit I quickly gave up….. I think I’d better stick to English Literature! Many thanks to Mr Davis and the Maths department for building our students’ skill levels and enthusiasm in their Maths lessons, and for giving them the confidence to enter the UKMT series of Challenges, and do so well.
Plans are surging ahead for the wide range of activities and events that are taking place this term, including the Year 13 Graduation, the student-organised Prom, Year 12 Careers Days, Year 6 to 7 Transition, Science Day….the list goes on. The Year 7 to 10 exams are very much on the students’ minds and next week Ms Colley and Ms Service will meet with the students in an assembly to answer questions, explain the process, and hopefully calm any fears that they may have. This is the first time in three academic years that we have been able to hold formal exams in school so for many of the students it is a completely new experience, and therefore the anticipation can be a little unsettling.
Word reached me earlier this week that Year 7 students, under the guidance of their form tutor Ms Milligan, found a special way to advise and encourage our Year 11 students as they walked up the stairs to find their way to the examination room for their English Literature IGCSE exam.
With the Year 7 students standing one to each step, they held up special words for the Year 11 students to read “Good luck in the exam” “Try Your Best”. What a wonderful thing to do, and well done to you Year 7 and Ms Milligan!
Mrs Margaret Renshaw
Deputy Principal / Head of Secondary
The 2022 UKMT Junior Maths Challenge
On 29th April, Year 7 and 8 students sat the 2022 UKMT Junior Maths Challenge. This is now an online exam, one hour long, designed to test students’ deeper understanding of the curriculum material they routinely engage with. The underlying philosophy speaks to using familiar mathematics in unfamiliar situations.
Tests like these are demanding (the word “Challenge” in the title is there for a reason) and it’s fair to say that not all students profess to love them. But it’s equally true to say that most students are pleasantly surprised at just how much they enjoy doing them – it’s not unusual to see students really doing battle with a question and experiencing a palpable sense of triumph when the question falls.
The questions get progressively harder, and readers might like to tackle the final question in the Challenge, which I copy below:
We have just received the results, and they are very strong indeed.
The following students received the Bronze Award:
Y7: Eloise, Chanyoung, Ga Hee, Amanda
Y8: Daniyal, Arayyan, Caleb, Leroy
The following students received the Silver Award:
Y7: Ian Zi, Jason, Junyeong, Shreedevi and Ethan
Y8: Seyoung, Prashaant, Muhammad Riyad, Sean
The following students received the Gold Award:
Y8: Rain, Jayden
Well done to all the students who participated, congratulations to the Award winners, and a special commendation to Jayden who scored the highest mark of all the KIS students (as he did last year)!
All students who took part will receive a certificate of participation in the coming days, and the special award winners will receive their recognition at the end-of-year assembly.
F J Davis
Head of Secondary Maths
Getting Back to Normality for Year 10 Students!
Thursday 5th May saw our IGCSE Geography Year 10 students having the opportunity to undertake a fieldwork pilot study, allowing them to experience using and handling a range of specific geographical fieldwork equipment as well as improve their understanding of primary data collection methods including sampling. The students, working in two groups, learnt how to use an advanced flowmetre, weighted chain, clinometer and calipers in order to complete their pilot survey of a river site on a tributary of the Kiulu river near to Kampong Tombung.
In the afternoon we were in Metro Town KK, where the students, now working in 3 groups, undertook many different pilot survey methods for Human Geography fieldwork. This hour saw the students doing simultaneous pedestrian and traffic counts using clicker or tally techniques, surveying and classifying land use, conducting environmental quality site surveys, a questionnaire pilot on a willing shopper and comparative location bipolar surveys.
The weather held out for us until the final 20 minutes of our day’s fieldwork, but this did not prevent the students from successfully collecting data to gain a better understanding of those primary methods which they could be examined on next May 2023.
Then, for six of those Geographers, it was a day back in school and Saturday to prepare for their Silver Duke of Edinburgh International Award Adventurous Journey Practice. They were joined by 7 more of their Year 10 peer group to make 2 groups who set off from school on Sunday morning May 8th for the three-day planned practice. Each group had prepared their menus, and so were carrying three days’ worth of food, 3-4 litres of water, all their clothes, sleeping bags and mats. They completed between 5-7 hours of walking over the 3 days.
This was the first time in over two years that a group of International Award students from KIS had been able to traverse the many footbridges and walk the myriad of paths which connect the settlements in the Kiulu Valley. With the sun beating heavily down on Sunday morning, both teams of Silver Level students completed their 12km or 13.5km route to reach TAC where, luckily, they were able to get their tents pitched before the looming dark skies tipped a lot of water onto the site for the next few hours. After preparing and cooking their evening meal, washing up and getting ready for bed, the twelve students then crawled into their tents, onto roll mats on the ground, for what was reported the next morning to have been a sweaty, hot and uncomfortable night’s attempt to sleep.
This meant that they were happily up at sunrise sorting out their breakfast which for one group was fried bread and spread, while the other had oats with condensed milk and other snacks. After some team building and other activities on the TAC site, zipping across the river and climbing to ring the bell, both groups then followed a circular 11km route crisscrossing the Kiulu valley using 7 of the footbridges, meeting Mr Williams (our logistics and safety truck driver) for water refills at the end of their Leg 2 and lunch but neither group quite made it back to TAC and camp before, once again, the afternoon rains fell over Kiulu.
Swift showers, a change into dry clothes and a few down-time minutes throwing stones into the river before the teams were back at the RIver Deck for their evening meal, working as a team to prepare, cook, eat and then wash up all their pots, pans, bowls and utensils. Bed called by 9.00pm knowing that there was to be an earlier get-up in order to aim for a 7.30 / 7.45am departure on Tuesday morning.
The final day three morning was busy. While breakfast was prepared by two, the rest of the team diligently worked to take down their tents and get them packed away; impressively, both groups had departed TAC by 7.50am. This final day saw another 12km route navigated by the students on the trails and roads back towards Tamparuli, and although accompanied throughout by their supervising teachers (Miss McNutt and Miss Watt) they were in charge of all navigation and decision-making on rests and scheduling to ensure that they successfully reached their final destination.
To sum up, this was a very successful Practice AJ. The students from both AJ groups learnt lots, and on the return bus ride back to KK have already made mental / physical lists of what needed to be improved, changed and amended in order to be successful when they undertake their assessment 3-day Journey later in 2022 during the next academic year.
