From the Head of Secondary 29.02.2020

Last Sunday morning I was able to say farewell to our U13 team as they headed off to Phuket in Thailand. There was great excitement in the Departure Hall amongst the students and the parents and we knew that they were going to have an amazing and successful time. The girls tried very hard to teach me how to make a viper by folding my fingers in a special way but I could not keep up with them and ultimately had to accept that it is one of those skills that I will probably never master.

News from Phuket indicates that the team have had a wonderful time and, most importantly, have been great ambassadors for the school. Ms Watt says “Most impressive is the number of comments we have received from other staff about how wonderful our kids are!” Parents should feel very proud.

More news about the U13 FOBISIA Games soon!

One of the nicest surprises that I had this week was a visit from Ignace in Year 1. He came to present me with an apple turnover that he had personally made!

He explained to me that his class had a café, and now they had started doing deliveries to a few [special] people. There was only one delivery each day, so I felt truly fortunate.

Ignace carefully explained what the ingredients were [there was cinnamon, which is quite a tricky word to pronounce!]  and he particularly wanted me to know that Mrs Garrick was the one who put the turnover in and out of the oven, because it was very hot and could be dangerous.

I told Ignace that now he knew where my office was he could come back any time for a chat. He was interested in the pictures on the walls and I explained to him that they had been created by KIS students.

It’s moments like these that really make KIS such a special place. Thank you so much Ignace….the turnover was absolutely delicious!

Margaret Renshaw

Deputy Principal and Head of Secondary

I arrive at school at 6:15 and I am greeted by Ms Suzanie for my temperature check. I start the day by filling up my water bottle and listening to the lovely sound of the leaf blower. I then go to the PE office and usually I give a little jump as the gecko suddenly scarpers as I enter. I then start to check my emails and daily to-do list.

I make my way to the Secondary building at about 7:35 to wait for and greet the lovely 8S. I then take the register, check homework diaries, and spend time talking to those who look half asleep and need waking up. We will then go through the daily bulletin for the day and remind those students involved in councils and committees of any meetings etc.

The bell goes and I send my form off to lessons. I go and collect some equipment from the store cupboard and then to set-up in the hall for the arrival of F2. Teaching F2 is a great way to start the day as they are always excited about coming to PE and always have interesting things to share about their weekends. The lesson consists of teaching gymnastics, friendship advice, opening water bottles and helping put shoes back on. Lesson two is spent with Year 1 where we are focussing on striking and fielding skills. It can be quite scary with 5 and 6 year olds holding an object ready to hit something!

After break Mr Bromley and I take the Year 10 students off to the lovely Sutera Harbour Resort for swimming during lessons three and four. During this lesson the IGCSE group are being taught lifesaving skills and the rest of the year group are focussing on their swimming technique with our hired coaches. Once the lessons are finished we put the equipment back onto the bus and return to school just before the bell for lunch. It is at this point I realise I have a sunburned nose and neck and have also forgotten my lunch [it’s in the fridge at home……]

After lunch I have a free hour so I usually spend this time reading over my lesson plan for AS-level PE, double-checking Year 8’s Sport Education weekly reviews, picking teams for my football club and another check of potential (guaranteed) morning emails. So I spend the last lesson of the day in the A-level building and we are currently learning about contemporary issues in sport. Specifically, we have a discussion about what the U.K. does in supporting athletes so that they can achieve excellence at the Olympics; we also talk about what the U.K. does to support mass participation at grass-roots level. We then spend the last five minutes discussing dates for their practical video recordings which are due very soon!

To finish the day I have my KS4/5 football club; about 20 boys are signed up. The club is designed as a little league and students are split into teams of four. After the pitch has been set up, the boys have usually finished putting their boots and shin pads on and are ready to start. I then spend the next hour refereeing football matches and topping up my sunburned nose and neck. The final bell of the day goes and it is time to pack away and also time for a student to go and collect the ball they have managed to clear the fence with while attempting a shot at goal.

Finally, I pack up my bags and head home [after signing out, of course].

Earlier this month our Year 10 and Y11 students sat the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge – a demanding (yet enjoyable) hour long multiple choice exam paper designed to test students’ deeper understanding of the curriculum material they routinely engage with.

To begin with questions are fairly straightforward, then they become more challenging and the later ones can, on the surface, appear almost brutal (yet still enjoyable, obviously).

Here are a couple of typical questions from this year’s paper:

Earlier this week we received feedback on the competition, and the results make for great reading. No fewer that 25 of our students achieved Award levels!

The following students received the Bronze Award:

Y10: Wi Xi Heng, Josephine Ng, Mani Venmathimaran, Estee Voon, Hong Junseo.

Y11: Jolin Ng, Justin Lam, Daniel Veldman, Han Jisoo, Jasmine James, Helen Hou.

The following students received the Silver Award:

Y10: Darrell Tsen, Romain Treguer, Zen Lim, Iris Chan, Jayden Tan, Gregoire Soubrier, Ryan Chen

Y11: Wilber Wong, Hitoshi Iguchi, Roshween Riar, Jung Seyun, Alex Woo,

The following students received the Gold Award:

Y10: Kim Myung Jun

Y11: Brandon Tay

All students who took part will receive a certificate of participation in the coming days and, if the certificates arrive in time from the UK, the Bronze, Silver and Gold Award winners will receive their recognition at the end of term assembly.

Frank J Davis

Head of Secondary Maths

This week in Year 11 PSHE we started to prepare the students for heading out into the real world by teaching them to prepare an omelette. Some of them were already very professional but Ms Service did not allow one group to use crisps as a filling but the usual cheese and tomato was a hit! It was great to see the students approaching the activity with a sensible attitude and the cordial atmosphere in the room was very enjoyable. As our Year 11s are getting closer to their exams, they have started to work much more diligently and their revision is becoming more focussed. They must remember that a good night’s sleep and the occasional break with their friends can help them to find balance in the lead-up to the exams.

Many congratulations to Evan Teo who won 3^rd place in the Open Laser 47 category in the 21^st KK City Day Open Regatta 2020 at Tanjung Aru!

The Secondary charity Committee raised RM504 for the Wuhan appeal  this week selling ice lollies and that they will be there next Thursday lunch time selling them again!

Well done to our students who prepared all the lollies themselves and kept them frozen in cool boxes [not an easy task!]…. and they were yummy!

Ms Bater

On behalf of the Charity Committee