Dili International School Newsletter - Timor Leste

DIS Newsletter, Term 2, Week 10, 11 June 2010 - Page 1

Principal: Alison [email protected]

Ph: 742 8402Manager: Carmel [email protected]

website: www.distimor.comDili International School11 June 2010

Term 2, Week 10Issue Ten, 2010

as

Graduation night!DIS held a graduation ceremony dinner for three Year 12 students last week - Jess Symons, Pragati Bajracharya and Valeria Sandino. Jess graduated in December last year and is already in Melbourne at RMIT University studying a Bachelor of International Business Studies.

Valeria has just graduated while Pragati doesn’t complete her Nebraska program until September - however has been consistently achieving Honours results. Pragati wants to study to be a water sanitation engineer, possibly in the US or Canada.

Valeria is soon off to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, studying

accounting and business administration.

Pragati is pictured left with sister Noor and parents Shrijana and Dinesh.

Val is below with parents Daphne and Shane. At bottom left is Jess with Val late last year.

Congratulations to three fi ne students, DIS is as proud of you as your parents - well almost.

And DIS is also proud that its fi rst three graduates are winning a place in universities

around the world.


From the Principal . . .Assessment and ReportingReports are being issued this week.If you have any questions, or would like to discuss your child’s report further, please contact your child’s class teacher to make an interview time.

End of Term AssemblyThank-you to all parents who joined us on Tuesday for our end of term assembly. Term DatesTerm 2: Wednesday 7th April- Friday 11th JuneTerm 3: Tuesday 20th July- Friday 24th SeptemberTerm 4: Tuesday 5th October- Friday 10th DecemberStaff return to school on Monday the 19th of July for a planning and preparation day. The Administration Offi ce will be open on that day, and for part of the holidays.Students return on Tuesday 20th of July.

Extra-Curricular FormsExtra-Curricular forms went home this week,

please return them to either your child’s teacher, or the Administration Offi ce, as soon as possible. The fi nal day to return these forms will be the Friday of week one.

Staffi ng for Term 3The following are our teaching staff for the beginning of Term Three.Preschool: Ms. Alison BaileyTransition: Ms. Candeice LappinTransition/One: Ms. Leila RileyGrade Two: Ms. Yvonne AbeyMiddle Primary: Mr. Gus ZieranUpper Primary: Ms. Jen Lobb Ms.Gulnara AkbarovaJunior Secondary: Mr. Charles RoseMiddle Secondary: Ms. Kirsty HilsonDistance Education: Ms. Linda GlassonPE and Health: Ms. Gaye McPhersonIf you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact me via email or message, or call me after 1 pm weekdays.

Have a safe and happy holiday break.Alison Bailey, Principal

Goodbye and good luck to great teachersThe time has come to farewell Ms Julia, Ms Sam, Ms Lucy and Mr Chris as they all head off to Europe for some exciting travel and career experiences (Pirates need not apply!)Thank you for the wonderful contributions you have made to our school. We wish you well.

See you back on July 20! Be safe!


SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAMDIS will again be conducting a school Holiday Program combining playgroup, Junior Preschool and Preschool children. Please remember that this program does not function with the same level of activity as our usual in term Playgroup program. Dates are from June 14 to July 9, alternating weeks with Ms Yen, Ms Glaucia and Ms Arey and teachers assistants.

Please contact Donia in the offi ce for bookings, or on 7316065. Cost is $10.00 per session.

Capital fund levy in Term 3

Holiday week 1 Holiday week 2 Holiday week 3 Holiday week 4

( 14 Jun 18 Jun ) ( 21 Jun 25 Jun ) (28 Jun 02 Jul ) (05 Jul 9 Jul )

Ms A Rey Ms Yen Ms Glaucia Ms A Rey

Dear Parents,The following letter has been sent home today and will be emailed to you.This is to advise you of changes to our fee structure to become effective as of Term 3.DIS works hard to achieve high standards in the delivery of an international standard of education for your children. This involves the provision of well-qualifi ed specialist teaching staff, programs and facilities to provide best value for your investment in your children’s education. Expansion of our site to alleviate over-crowding is essential and we aim to move to alleviate this immediately and in order to do so increased funds are required. We are cognizant that DIS families are, in almost all cases, directly funding the school fees, and we have taken great caution to have this refl ected in the absolute minimal increases in fees that will allow DIS to continue to offer a competitive international standard education. Thank you once again for your continued support of the School, and please feel free to contact school management if you have any questions and or suggestions.CHANGES TO SCHOOL FEES TO APPLY FROM TERM THREEA capital fund levy will be introduced as of term three to enable DIS to expand and improve buildings and grounds in order to benefi t students across all areas of the school. This levy will apply to existing families and then to all new families upon enrolment as a once-off charge.The Levy will be $280 per student for students from Transition up. For Preschoolers, the levy will be $160 and Junior Preschool $80. There will be a 20 per cent discount for the 2nd or 3rd child in a family.

Fees for Playgroup will increase from $10 to $12 per day.TARGETED USE OF CAPITAL LEVY Management has long been aware of overcrowding across the school and we remain hopeful of acquiring the additional four buildings on the Upper Campus site which we have leased from the Government 18 months ago but have so far been unable to take possession of. Our negotiations continue with government and we believe a resolution is not far off. Failure to acquire this site will result in a further expansion plan.BUILDING EXPANSION PLANS INCLUDE• A music room • A theatrette • An art and craft room • An IT room with new PCs• Toilets• Landscaping, making larger play areas.• At least one class moving from Lower Campus to the Upper thereby creating more space for the remaining early childhood students. • An UC admin offi ce and Teachers room.If we were able to procure the UC in the next few weeks, much of the above could be established by mid-term three and some of it sooner.PLANNED FEE INCREASE FOR 2011DIS also advises of a 10 per cent increase in fees to occur in 2011. In the event the Upper Campus is not obtained DIS will look at a new property and a new specifi c-purpose-built school at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars to be paid for from fees and the levy. If any parents have ideas on how the Upper Campus can be procured please contact management.


Mr Joaquin’s music students recently entertained parents at a Sunday afternoon music recital. We thank the following students for delivering wonderful performances and also parents for attending. Individual Piano: Fitun Vitor, Carlos Rees, Mizuo Nagayama Individual Violin: Andris Kakuk. School Choir: from right, Aditia Hasib, Derinha Loreda Macedo , Tiffani Liemdjaja, Noor BajracharyaGuitar Group: Tiffani Liemdjaja, Eugenia Camnahas.

DIS Music Recital


This term in TechnologTT y class, secondary students were introduced to the computer programming

software called Scratchrr . Scratch rr gives students a chance to master some basic programming

language in a short amount of time, and then their imagination becomes the limit to the

interactive projects they wish to create. Some students, like Yasmina and Liam, decided to create aYY

short animation that followed a plot. Others, such as Mizuo and Vanessa, created an interactiVV ve

game with multiple lemm vels of difficulty. Students wyy ere taught the basic features of the progf ram

before experimenting with different combinations of instrf uctions and timing. There was some

frustration shown at times when a set of instrf uctions, or script as it is called in Scratch, rr did not

carry out the desired actions. This led students to use a carefully reasoned approach that wll as

systematic, yet creative. Below are some screen shots of student projectsf , and you can actually l

watch them and interact with them on the website. Scratch rr was developed by a group of software

engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Tf echnologTT y in the United States. It is free to download

from http://scratch.mit.edu/

Mr Chris

Are’s dance show

Secondary School

Mizuo and Vanessa’s ghost game

Heath created characters talking in a park

Ratti and Tony’s Star Wars spoof


MOVIE CLUB THINKERS

Kids can build analytical skills and develop their personal opinions by watching movies and answering questions like: Who is the main character? Describe the plot. What was the setting and main idea? What was the conflict and how was it resolved? Asking these types of questions as you co-view with your children will help them learn to think, problem solve, and predict, making movie viewing a more active experience. More important than just memorizing facts, developing thinking skills will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Kids can be more prepared for this type of literary thinking by discussing movies and cartoons.

Here are some reviews on the movies and cartoons that have been viewed this term in Movie Club:

Name: Kay Olok Movie: “Home Alone 2” Grade:2

This is a story about a boy named Kevin that gets lost in New York city. Kevin was happy to have a holiday byhimself. He was sad because he was missing his family. His mum was scared so she told the police and the policefound him in New York City. His parents flew to New York and found Kevin there at a big tree.

I liked the movie because Kevin tricked the bandits.

Name: Jordan Movie: “The Trumpet ofthe Swan” Grade: 2

The movie is about a swan that couldn’ttalk, so his dad got him a trumpet and hewas good at playing it. He found fame butcouldn’t find his way home, so squirrelshelped him and got home. He married aswan he loved and they had little swans atthe end.

I liked it, because the movie is musical.

Name: Bruno Movie: “HomeAlone 2”, Grade: 2

Kevin and his family went to theairport, where he went on the wrongflight. That flight took him to New YorkCity where he goes to lots of differentplaces and meets two bad guys andcatches the bad guys. Then he finds hismum.

I liked it because it is very funny.

MOVIE CLUB THINKERS by Ms. Julia

A message from Ms Julia ...With the deepest regeret i am heading back home. I would like to say thank you to my colleagues, students and their parents and to everybody at school for giving me the great opportinity of working in the friendly multiicultural environment! I have enjoyed the time immensely and I look forward hearing about DIS progress in the future.


This week the Year 7-10 students were treated to a day of splashing, ping pong and a sausage sizzle, as Semester One draws to a close. Ms. Kirsty invited all the students to the Australian Embassy compound, which has a fantastic swimming pool and entertainment area.Unfortunately Yasmina began her holiday early and was unable to take part in the activities. However, Heath, Are and Mason showed off their dance moves, and Tony and Liam proved themselves as table tennis champions. Vanessa, Mayer and Ratti battled with the infl atable whale and foam noodles in the pool, and Shijun, Khadija and Benicia relaxed on the lilos. Mizuo, Jessica and Natalia got hold of the supa-soakers and drenched anyone within 5m, and everyone gobbled down the sausages for lunch. It was a great day to cap off a great

semester, and we would like to congratulate all the secondary students on their positive attitudes and respectful behaviour throughout. We say farewell to Are and wish him all the best with his studies and new life in Norway.

Ms. Kirsty & Mr. Chris

Secondary Students Semester One ends with a SPLASH!

Holiday Portuguese ClassesBeginner-Intermediate Portuguese classes will run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the holidays, from 3:00 - 5:00pm. Ms. Sandra will be teaching these classes at the Lower Campus. Each lesson will cost $10, paid directly to Ms. Sandra. If you are interested, please contact her directly, or see Ms. Donia in the offi ce. (Ms. Sandra, 730 5724, [email protected])


Parents and students who attended our end of term Assembly on Tuesday were treated to an array of song, dance, poetry, an art exhibition and review ... and a display of models erupting volcanoes!

A standard highlight of our assemblies is the presentation of awards to students who have been identifi ed by their teachers for outstanding achievements. While we are mindful and regularly congratulate the efforts of all students in attempting to achieve their personal best, it is also important that outstanding efforts and results be acknowledged.

As mentioned previously DIS students are encouraged to meet certain learner profi les all of which contain specifi c criteria. Students are constantly reminded by their teachers of the profi les and encouraged and assisted to meet them. Our honor awards are based on the learner profi les.

Below we again outline the profi les and also list the students who were nominated by their teachers for consistently having achieved them.

Class Name:Preschool Sofia NepomucenoPreschool Dylan Delany Aragao

JPJ Ginger Lily NinerJPJ Biko BanoJPS Yuji HayakawaJPS Marica XimenesJPY Kay Olok GusmaoJPY Sebastian O'Neill

Middle Primary Virna FavaroMiddle Primary Sawalai NettoUpper Primary Nazlee StenstromUpper Primary Dylan PrimeJunior Sec Are Gairdner TuftMiddle Sec Mizuo Nagayama

Distance Education Danira Da CostaHPE Preschool Kaiya Alkatiri Silveira

JPJ Daniel Sword GusmaoJPS Rossie LayJPY Micaela Bano

Middle Primary Noah Jean JaquesUpper Primary Nazlee StenstromSecondary Are Gairdner TuftSecondary Jade Waqaliva

Assembly awards

Award winners Salawai, Danira and Micaela (bottom)


DIS Calendar 2010The school year calendar is a hybrid that caters for Australian and Northern Hemisphere families as well as those from Timor Leste.

There are four x ten week terms. Students have a fi ve week holiday at Christmas and fi ve weeks in the middle of the year, as well as a one week holiday in March also in September.

DIS has fi ve Pupil Free Days each year, set aside for the fi rst day back at the end of each holiday period. DIS closes for national public holidays as outlined in below. DIS provides 189 contact days for students and 194 contact days for staff.

Documents

Dili International School Newsletter - Timor Leste