From the Head of Secondary 24.04.2021
The week kicked off on Monday with a Zoom assembly for all Secondary students. We try to replicate the celebratory atmosphere of our assemblies in ‘normal’ times in the virtual format but miss the applause and laughter. Nevertheless, we were able to recognise student achievements, starting with those who entered the UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge last term. Mr Davis introduced this section, and thanks must go to him for organising the KIS entries to this event three times every year for the different categories. Winners this year were:
Bronze
Y10: Jackson Chin, Ivan Chin, Farah Idrena, Ian Kanesan, Lewis Lee, Alan Ling, David Mills, Ervin Tan, Jia Min Tay
Y11: Isla Forsyth, Angelina Hutchinson, Chanel Lo, Mani Venmathimaran, Xie Heng Wi
Silver
Y10: Clement Choo, Alexis Chu, Iden McElhone, Ricky Minette, Jed Ngu, Chanameth Sangmookda, Marc Wong
Y11: Junseo Hong
Gold
Y10: Yanjing Liu, Benedict Wong
Y11: Ryan Chen, Jayden Tan
Many students were awarded Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards in Term 2. Students have to gain 40 merits to be awarded a Bronze certificate, 80 for Silver and 120 for Gold, and they are given by the teachers for excellent achievement, effort and community spirit.
Certificates were awarded to:
Special mention must be made of Natalia Wehrendt 8S and Leya Sofea 10S. These students gained the prestigious Principal’s Award in Term 2, which means that they each accumulated 160+ merits! These awards are not given out very often and sometimes we go a couple of years with no winners. It is a truly remarkable achievement and well deserved by Natalia and Leya.
Global Citizenship Award
During the assembly I also announced that we were inviting nominations for the Global Citizenship Award 2021, and would like to extend that invitation to our parents. This award is a prestigious accolade that is awarded annually to the KIS student who fulfils the following expectations:
A global citizen understands that we are all connected, upholds the values of equality and actively contributes to the development of a better world.
Global Citizens
- have an awareness of the wider world and a sense of their own role within it
- respect and value diversity
- are committed to social justice, equality and sustainability
- participate in the community at a range of levels, from local to global
- take responsibility for their actions
Global Citizenship involves:
- Enquiring, discussing, thinking critically, reflecting and collaborating
- Exploring the complexity of global issues and engaging with multiple perspectives
- Applying learning to real-life issues and contexts
- All ages and all areas of the curriculum
- The whole school community
If you would like to nominate a student for this award (it is open to students from Year 7 to Year 13) please email me margaretrenshaw@kis.edu.my with the student’s name and the reasons why you think they deserve the award.
Secondary students were again called upon to demonstrate great resilience and understanding this week, as we reverted to online learning. This will stay in place until May 3rd. Our thoughts are particularly with our students in Years 11, 12 and 13 as they commence their IGCSE and A Level exams. We are working with the Cambridge Examination Board and the MoH so as to try to ensure as little disruption as possible to these important tests, and we will endeavour to communicate as efficiently as possible to parents and students moving forward.
Kind regards
Mrs Margaret Renshaw
Deputy Principal
Head of Secondary
KIS Book Week 2021 – Monday 3rd – Friday 7th May
‘Robots and Aliens- The Future!’
Book Week 2021 is just around the corner! We’ve adapted our events and activities to fit the current SOP, and we’ll be keeping everything simple and safe, but still exciting and engaging. As we did not get all the way through our Book Week 2020, we’ll be keeping last years’ theme of ‘Robots and Aliens- The Future!’, and many of the week’s events, challenges, and competitions will be based around this. Here are the key events happening during Book Week and the ways in which you can all get involved.
Monday 3rd May – Book Week 2021 Launch and The Big Read
The week will begin with a brief introduction from class teachers and form tutors to the events happening across the school throughout the week. This will lead into the Big Read, so it’s crucial to remember to bring a book or e-reader!
Thursday 6th May – PJs day
All students can come to school in their pajamas to celebrate the joys of bedtime reading! In Primary, we’ll spend time making our pillow forts and blanket dens in class, so we can get cosy after lunch and read our favourite stories
Friday 7th May- Character Parade and Primary Book Swap
Perhaps the highlight of Book Week! This is the day where staff, students – and maybe even parents! – come to school dressed up as their favourite book characters! This year, our parade will be virtual, and compiled from photos and videos in class to keep to our SOP, but there will still be prizes for the finest costumes- I am hoping for lots of aliens and robots to ‘invade’ the school!
We’ll also be doing an SOP-friendly Book Swap in Primary, so dig out your old treasures of books to donate for this! For a successful Book Swap event, we are relying on every student to bring in ONE book each, in good condition, to donate. Please can you ensure it is handed in to their class teacher by Monday 3rd May so we can have time to clean and quarantine them before Friday. Thank you very much.
Extreme Reading Photo Competition
All students are invited to enter anytime over the next 3 weeks. All they need to do is submit a photo (by emailing it to me francescolbeck@kis.edu.my) of them reading a book in an unusual or unexpected place- The more unusual, the better! Entries will be judged by SLT and prizes distributed on Friday 20th March.
Book Memes
Love memes? Then make one about your favourite book and win prizes for it! Email your meme creations to francescolbeck@kis.edu.my for a chance to be the KIS Meme Lord.
Our other events
We will also be engaging in scavenger hunts, book quizzes, and picture quizzes over the course of the week, as well as decorating our notice boards to represent our favourite books. Students will also get a chance to record their favourite stories, and animate them if they choose, for Book@Bedtime for other students to enjoy. The ‘Guess the teacher’ competition will be happening again too, with a range of literary prizes to be won, as well as Book Master, and Drop it and Read.
We will look forward to seeing you over the course of Book week! If you have any questions about Book Week, or would like to get involved, please speak to your child’s class or Form teacher or contact us directly.
Best wishes,
Ms Frances Colbeck
Teacher- Librarian
