ISH Primary Newsletter

NEWS#12

PRIMARY SCHOOL

Primary Newsletter | Issue 12| March 18 2011

The International School of The Hague

Wijndaelerduin 12554 BX The Hague www.ishthehague.nl

Primary SchoolTelephone +31 (0)70 338 4567Fax +31 (0)70 328 2049Email [email protected]

Secondary SchoolTelephone +31 (0)70 328 1450Fax +31 (0)70 328 2049Email [email protected]

In this issue

2 Dear ISH News Readers,

4}8 Primary News and Mother Tongue

7 Dates for your Diary & Events

9}11 Events

2

Dear Parents,

I mentioned in our last newsletter that I might have some interesting news about the school building, well here it is. During the summer break, we will begin work on the area currently occupied by Triodus nursery. This is the ground fl oor area adjacent to the primary staff car park. We have had plans drawn up and agreed, which will provide more classroom space, a new primary offi ce and a larger staffroom. At the moment, we have over 60 primary staff and a staffroom the size of a classroom. The new primary offi ce will be located at the entrance to Triodus, so that if you need to pop in to collect or drop off a form or pass on a quick message, you can do so without entering via the main entrance and walking downstairs. Our current four year 1 classes will become four year 2 classes next year. These will all be housed in this wing, clustered together. All in all, we think this will provide us with excellent additional space. We are also looking into the possibility of fencing off the grassed area to the front of the school as another play area for the children.

It’s not long now until the Spring Fair. I know the PTA have been extremely busy planning for

this event. I’m sure you have this date in your diaries already but if not, please mark down Saturday 9th April. Thank you to all members of the PTA for their continued efforts. Before that, on Saturday 26th March our secondary school PA will host ‘International Day.’ Of course, this event is open to our whole school community, so all are welcome. We hope for good weather on both days.

It was good to see so many of you at the CPC run. We had 545 participants in total from our school community – a record I believe. Well done to you all. The atmosphere was very friendly, with a hint of competitiveness too which is never a bad thing either. Check out the photographs throughout the newsletter. Thanks to our whole school PE department for their excellent organisation.

I hope you have been enjoying our podcasts as much as we have. So far, we have four uploaded to our dedicated YouTube channel - PrimISHcasting. The children are complete naturals in front of a camera and the way they interact with each other suggests they have very well developed social skills. I know when I was that age, such an experience would have been

Dear ISH News Readers,

This Issue is made byVerona Schroder [email protected] Scott

3


Primary News

very diffi cult for me and may have resulted in sleepless nights; not so for our 21st century children! The podcasts will be shown in every classroom on Monday morning to help set the scene for another week at ISH. We recently had a fascinating ICT symposium, with some excellent, engaging speakers. We hope to make the content of each presentation accessible to you soon. Much lively discussion was generated which will help us move to the next level of planning a digital future for our school and our children.

Last Friday we had the presentation by JoAnn Deak, expert in neuroscience. All Primary Staff and some Parents attended and the presentation certainly lived up to what was promised and surpassed its reputation of “Mind Blowing”. Those who were there were provoked, challenged and amazed by some of JoAnn’s fi ndings and the implications for our children.

Kind regards,

Graeme Scott

Next Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 a collection will be held by the Primary School Gates (or Glasshouse in the event of bad weather) to aid Japan.

If you are unavailable on the day, but wish to make a contribution please send your donation in a closed envelop to the Primary office. We will have a donation box prepared for the week

All monies will go to the Red

Cross in Japan. This Effort is the

intitiave of a few of our Japanese

Parents.

4

Mother Tongue Work in the Classroom

5


Primary News Dance Crew rehearsal on the 26th of March is cancelled - A new date will be scheduled - more news to follow

Primary Performance - all three show evenings will be starting at 17:00

World Book Day

Celebrations at the ISH

Every year, on 23rd April, UNESCO celebrates World Book Day. One of the

aims of commemorating this symbolic date, (on this day in 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died), is to pay tribute to books and authors, and to encourage everyone everywhere to discover and enjoy the pleasures of reading. For this reason, it is an important date in the calendar of many schools across the globe.Here at the ISH, we will be celebrating books and reading in the lead up to World Book Day from Monday 11th April through to Thursday 21st April. Among other events, we will be hosting our ‘Love to Read’ incentive, making hats and parading as our favourite book characters. There will also be

a competition to fi nd the ‘Craziest Place To Read’, a charity book collection, and a special surprise assembly!UK children’s author Denis Bond will also visit us, and share with the children the process of book

making from inspiration and original idea through to publication. In addition, Years 5 and 6 will attend a workshop with him about

the books of various children’s authors, and the art and skill of story writing. A former teacher, Denis has written numerous books for children of all ages as well as various TV series for pre-schoolers. He has also acted on stage and in television. Please look out for our whole-school displays over the coming weeks and continue to support your children to develop a love of books by encouraging them to read as much as possible at home.

6

Dates for your Diary

Open Day from 8:30 - 10:30

ORANGE DAY. Wear orange and bring a

Euro to school for Charity - Relief for

Japan

International Day - Secondary Parents

Association Event

Spring Fair

May Holiday, School starts again on

09 May

Konininnedag Queen’s Day

Year 4 Camp, returning 11 May

Ms. Sutton

ms. Gerritzen

Mr. Curiston (PM)

Ms. Sutton

Mr. Beren

Ms. Curiston

Ms. Oakley

Ms. Oakley

Ms. Oakley

Mr. Beren

Ms. Hoenselaar

Ms. Doamekpor

Mr. McCarthy

March CT DAYSCT DAYS

26

21 Mar24

Please check our website for a complete calendar

22 Mar

25 Mar

28 Mar

29 Mar

09

April

22

01 Apr

30

25

23 Mar

May

10

7


Primary News

NEWS FROM THE PE

DEPARTMENT

We would like to thank all children, parents, teachers and staff members that participated during the CPC last Sunday. It was a great day and the ISH has once again received the prize for the school with the most participants! This year we had 545 participants representing our school! Well done!Apart from the CPC medals that every child received when they fi nished the race, we also held a little competition between children of years 2 to 6, the fi rst ones from each year group to arrive and give their names to the teachers waiting with the ISH fl ag received a special medal from their PE teachers in last Friday’s Assembly.

This week we had a very exciting fi nal for the dodgeball tournament between the Apes and the Metal Penguins. Both teams played really well, but at the end the Metal Penguins became the champions for this year’s tournament! Great sportsmanship and team work! Well done to all players! Medals for the winners were also given during our Assembly, a special prize went to the Chicken Nuggets for being so resilient and not giving up! We hope to repeat this successful tournament next year!PE Department.

Primary Students need to be collected

promptly at the end of the school day.

Please note that this is clearly stated

in the Home School Agreement, that

was signed by Parents and Guardians

at the beginning of the school year.

If you are late please make other

arrangements for your children to be

collected.

8

Events

Spring Fair

Spring Fair 11-3pm Saturday 9th April, 2011The ISH Primary Spring Fair is just weeks away now and a lot of work has already gone into making it a great day out for the kids and their families. We have lots of games and activities as well as music and entertainment plus lots of delicious food.

The annual Spring Fair is the most important fundraising event for the ISH Primary PTA. Last year’s Spring Fair raised the money for the new playground equipment that was installed during the mid-term break. This year we are still focused on improving the children’s playing area. To achieve this we need students and parents to get involved with, and most importantly, come along to the Spring Fair on Saturday April 9th!To volunteer please contact [email protected]

9


Events

1st The Hague British Scout

Group

CubsAre you aged between 8 and 10.5? Do you enjoy making new friends, playing games, lighting fi res, being outdoors and camping?

Places are available now in our Tuesday evening Cub Pack!Please contact Barbara Humphries, [email protected], 0715622007, for details.

ScoutsAre you aged between 10.5 and 14?Are you prepared for adventure? Can you work in a team? Are you ready to learn new skills and make life-long friends?

Places are available now in our Monday evening Scout Troop!

Please contact Barbara Humphries, [email protected], 0715622007, for details.

Girls and boys are equally welcome in Scouting.

10

Events

CHESS

Although chessplay has resumed, the attendance is unfortunately lower than last year. In spite of this, a group of 6-8 come every Wednesday afternoon from 16.30 hours for a battle on the 64 squares.Every year it has been shown that talent for chess is shown in all age groups. For example, at the end of 2010 Ilya Nyzhnyk of Ukraine became the youngest Grandmaster in the world at the age of 14 years, 3 months and 2 days. He obtained this result in a tournament in Groningen. The title of the youngest Grandmaster of all time is still held by Karjakin (12 years and 7 months fl at).Chessplay has been proven to be good for the development of children. It also gives them something they can play all over the world against opponents of all ages.My advice? Introduce your children to the world of chess, and see for yourself. Boy Frank

Chess adviser ISH

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