From the Head of Secondary 26.02.2022
This week we have seen increasing numbers of students in physical school and we are regaining that sense of normality. Over the coming week we hope to see this trend continue. The normal business of school moves along at a pace.
Year 12 / 13 Mocks
The Year 12 / 13 mock examinations will be taking place from Wednesday next week to Friday 11th March. Mr Colbeck is putting the final touches to the schedule and teachers have been busy creating the papers. There are kept under lock and key [as are the actual papers once they arrive via courier at KIS] until 10 minutes prior to the start of the exam, when they are taken over to the exam room by the invigilator. Those students in Year 11 who missed previous exams will be taking them alongside the Sixth Form students. After the mocks are completed, the papers will be scanned, following the Cambridge Examination Board guidelines, and then marked and returned to the students with feedback. Students then have time to act on that feedback before and during study leave for the actual exams, which start on April 26th. Information about study leave will be sent out to students and parents in due course.
Re-Emergence of the ‘Old Normal’
There are currently signs that we are re-emerging into the ‘old normal’. Extra-curricular activities commence next week on Monday, and on the same day the end of school time for all Secondary students will revert to 3pm. Also, Ms McNutt is planning a one-day field trip for her Year 11 Geography students on the 10th March. The IGCSE students will experience pilot studies, undertaking varying fieldwork tasks at a small stream in Penampang, at Tanjung Aru beach, and in the central business district around Gaya Street area as well as observational revision and reviewing on a transect drive across KK city. Appropriate SOPs will be observed at all times. In future weeks I am sure we can look forward to more such activities both in and outside of school.
Read on to find out what’s been happening in Year 8 Geography!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs M Renshaw
Head of Secondary / Deputy Principal
What have students in 8S been doing in Geography?
In Geography, 8S played a game where each student represented a country with water, energy and food resources. The countries could be HIC (high income, like Japan), MIC (medium income, like Malaysia) and LIC (low income, like Afghanistan). Each participant spun a wheel and had to follow the instruction when the wheel stopped spinning. The instructions mimicked real-life scenarios and an example was:
- Your country uses 75% of its water in industry, e.g. producing cakes and cars. Your country has water to spare, so give one water to the country with the least.
So the participants could either give away or gain resources from the other players in the game and the aim was to understand varying levels of development in the world. Afterwards, the students completed a 4-question reflection which 8S would like to share with you. I’m sure, like me, you are impressed with the maturity of their thoughts and the connections made to real-life.
Mrs Davis
8S’ Reflections
How did the game make you feel? Why?
Riyad – It made me feel for some reason powerful because I had the ability to keep or give other peoples’ countries some resources.
Arayyan – It made me feel annoyed. This is because my country kept on having to sacrifice water.
Overall, which type of country do you think you might have been? A LIC, HIC or a NIC (example: China, India)? What is your evidence?
Iman: A NIC because I got high electricity, less food and enough water.
Rain: NIC, this is because even though I have enough food and water, my country doesn’t have so much energy so it is counted as a middle income country.
Prashaant: I would have probably been a high income country because I have the most amount of energy and energy for industries and everything which is provided.
Are our world’s resources evenly distributed? Use examples from the game to support your answer.
Vivian: No, some people were overflowing with food/energy/water and some people were in need of food/energy/water.
Dasha: No, it’s not really fair and evenly distributed.
How might demand for, and access to, resources change in the future?
Ayman – I think demand and access to resources will change a lot in the future because climate change is going on currently and so countries in the hotter regions would probably need more resources and especially water to survive in the heat. And also since humans are evolving we could also find a way to find or create more resources so that we don’t have to trade with each other.
Eiliyah: I’ll make deals and help the countries to gain resources for myself.
Sharan: Everyone will be equal???
Seb: Maybe the more the demand, the greedier and more selfish people get?
Wesley: I think it might lead to war because, for example, oil is becoming less and less and a country has access to it while another wants it so the country that wants the oil will maybe try to talk peace about it and try get some of it with return of money but if they don’t want the money they will probably start war and many people will lose their lives.
