From the Head of Secondary 30.01.2021

Communication remains a priority within Secondary and managing that as well as we can in the current situation does sometimes require a creative approach. I am pleased to say that the Parent/Teacher conferences which we have held over recent months have gone very well, and in fact we have found that more parents have attended these online meetings than previously, when we held them in the school hall. The convenience of instantly being able to speak face to face, albeit via the wonders of Google Meet, perhaps outweighs the relative difficulty of driving into school and then spending 2+ hrs there in the late afternoon/early evening.  It has also been very useful to have the children in these meetings, as in normal times they are frequently not able to attend as they have other activities planned for the same day/time. On Monday 8^th we have the Year 11 Parent/Teacher/Student meeting day and next week students will be making appointments with their teachers. We do encourage all parents to attend. The mock reports will be issued next week, and these, together with the upcoming May/June exams, will be vital topics for discussion.

As Mr Gross has previously mentioned, our CIS self-review report is now in the hands of the CIS head office, after being uploaded to their platform last Friday afternoon. Whilst we await feedback on that, we are turning our minds to preparation for the virtual visit, which will start on the 20^th March and finish on the 26^th. The first task will be to create two videos. We will film and create commentaries on various aspects of school, and these will be sent off to CIS by the 20^th February. In addition, we will be drafting the visit schedule; this will be a complicated piece or work. There will be six team members and they will each be taking responsibility for scrutinising different sections of the school, and of the report. In addition, there will be scheduled virtual meetings with different groups, for example the Board, the Student Councils and the Leadership teams. We will be sending out relevant updates to the community moving forward.

School continues to be very quiet, with our Year 11, 12 and 13 students going about their business in a very sensible way. We know of course that alongside this, in a virtual world, those in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 are working extremely well and in lots of exciting ways, with their teachers. Many thanks to our parents for all their support in this.

There is a definite eco-focus in the Secondary section of the newsletter this week. Read on to see what 7K thought about Global Goals Week. It is very encouraging to us all to see that the Global Goals mean such a lot to the students, our future leaders. We can have great confidence that the world will be a better place with them in charge, as they take these issues to heart. In addition, as you can see that the Eco Warriors are planning concrete action with their ideas about Eco Bricks, with ‘The Strongest Eco Brick Competition’ a challenge which is both fun and meaningful.  Read the article carefully to discover the rules and regulations, and participate!

Kind regards,

Mrs Margaret Renshaw

Deputy Principal

Head of Secondary

For our newsletter entry we have decided to write about Global Goals Week as we found this very educational and enjoyable. Below are some short reflections from members of 7K.

Seyoung Jung’s thoughts:

It was a great global goals week on the 23rd of November till the 29th of November we learned many things especially from the Year 13 and the videos that they made.

I am passionate about the fourth goal, Quality Education. I learned that education can make you follow and realise your dreams and I also learned that the reasons that they do not have education is that they are having a conflict or suffering from financial problems. In my opinion, I believe that education enables us to have a better job in the future or have a brighter future. Thus we are able to contribute or give back to the community that we are living in.

Pik Ern Tong’s thoughts:

I think one of the most important global goals for me is goal 17, Partnership for the goals.  I believe that all the goals are important, but without goal 17, it is almost quite impossible for someone to just accomplish all the goals. Partnership for the goals helps us create peace, harmony and friendship. With this bond, we will be able to accomplish the goals together as one with our partners. If goal 17 is ticked off, then so will the others. Create a bond, and accomplish everything together. That is why I think goal 17 is important.

Pui San Kan’s thoughts: 

Zero Hunger, the second out of seventeen global goals that were established in 2016. What is Zero Hunger, and why should we care? The global goal Zero Hunger strives to end all forms of malnutrition. We should care because current estimates show that nearly 690 million people have suffered from hunger, which is a 60 million increase since 2015 which is a very serious problem.

How are we as a community able to help the cause?

One way we as a community can help is by starting a food drive. Food drives are a great way to involve your friends and family in the fight to end hunger. You can host a traditional food drive to collect canned goods/ non-perishables or hold a virtual food drive to raise funds for your local food bank (a place where stocks of food, typically basic provisions and non-perishable items, are supplied free of charge to people in need) You can make a big difference!

A second way we as a community can contribute to the cause is to find and support local non-profit organizations/ charities and donate to the cause or participate in charity events. One way we as a school can take action is, for example the charity committee could organise a fundraising event for people in not so fortunate situations such as hunger/ malnourishment.

Finally, the third way we can help as a community is by reducing our food waste by not over buying food and not wasting the food that we buy for example you can try and check the use-by dates on fresh food when you buy it. These are the dates to take notice of, rather than the best-before dates. We can also plan ahead before you buy it in a grocery store because the food that we wasted could have been used for the people that are in need.

In conclusion, these are some ways we as a community can effectively and easily help Zero Hunger and take one step forward in helping achieve this goal.

Leroy Yapp’s thoughts:

Climate change is a direct threat to people, animals and the earth.  Effective responses to climate change are needed to protect the world’s children and fulfil their rights. The 13th goal will help save the planet’s ecosystem. It is the goal that I most want to achieve because it is ruining the planet and there is only one planet for all of us to share. If we don’t act now with this goal, all the goals will be worthless. In the global goals week, there was a presentation about climate change. Zachary’s team were excellent with the goals.

Jihyo Shin’s thoughts:

Watching the assembly about Global Goals there was one part that was very important. It was about the pollution happening on earth and when I heard the speaker presenting it felt like we had to change. By trying to change we should reduce the amount of plastic we are using and when bringing water bottles students should bring their own ones and not use plastic bottles. Also, to make this change we should lower the use of plastic and like paper bags from the canteen when ordering snacks, you can bring your own container.

Over the next ten years, the amount of marine plastic waste will double and if we do not act, in 2050 the oceans will contain more plastic waste than fish by weight. And today, many are trying to reverse that trend.

Eco Bricks prevent small debris and plastic waste from getting out into the ocean. They raise ecological consciousness as well. Eco Bricks address our short sightedness, as making Eco Bricks demands time and dedication which leads to questions about the use of plastic. When making Eco Bricks, while we save and segregate and pack plastic into bottles, we can make building blocks that can be reused over and over again.

They are commonly used in low income countries to build residential houses, or schools. Eco Bricks are one of the few ways to effectively sequester plastic. Fewer than one in two adults in the world can read and 15,000 classrooms are required to accommodate the number of children who currently have no place to learn. Why not use Eco Bricks to build classrooms, improve literacy and in doing so  help countries to develop?

The  Eco Warriors are hosting a competition based on Eco Bricks. In this competition, we want you to make a strong Eco Brick! Your task is extremely simple. You need to get a plastic bottle and fill it with plastic and make sure it can withstand weight because we are going to see if the bricks can support weights from 1 to 5 kg. The bottle that withstands the most weight will win 15 house points, 2nd will have 10 and third will receive 5 house points.

This competition will happen over the 2 week half term holiday in February.

The rules are:

Normal School

Bottle/EcoBrick must be stuffed solid with plastic

Plastic must be cleaned and not dirty

Brick must not break under pressure

Brick must have YOUR name, house and class on it

Brick must have a nametag on it with the brick’s name.

Give to Mrs Davis (Geography Room)

Online School

Bottle/EcoBrick must be stuffed solid with plastic

Plastic must be cleaned and not dirty

Brick must not break under pressure

Brick must have YOUR name, house and class on it

Brick must have a nametag on it with the brick’s name.

Handed in via email using photo

Must have a photo of the weight (you can use weighing scales)

Email images to Mrs Davis ( ldavis@kis.edu.my )

Bring in once we are all in normal school!

Good Luck!

Eco Warriors