ISN NEWSLETTER 8 February, 2019

Dear Parents, Guardians & Friends

Student Leaders: This week saw elections for School Captains and Vice Captains and

for Primary School Captains. Candidates spoke at assemblies about their qualifications

and their thoughts about what they could do as leaders within the school. I think all of

those who spoke would have made fine captains and the choice was difficult. That was

evident in the voting too which was tight. Nevertheless, the school leaders for 2019

are:

Captains: Lily Neal and Niko Matulic

Vice Captains: Thomas Bell and Caray Viegas

Primary School Captains: Gracie Robinson and Apakuki Tuisue

Congratulations to all – we expect a lot of you but are confident you will do a great

job. SRC elections will be held shortly. Ms Hannah will be working with the Captains

and the SRC this year. An Induction Assembly will be held this Thursday. All welcome!

Fun Sports Day: Last Friday, students downed tools and spent the afternoon in some

fun activities, working together and building relationships while engaging in some

different sorts of “sports”. See the further on in the Newsletter for some photographic

evidence of a very pleasant though hot afternoon. I’m sure everyone looked forward

to the water events to cool down a bit. You’ll see from the last photo that Yellow

House was successful on the day!

Chinese New Year: A big thank you to our Chinese community for their involvement in

the wonderful events held through the week to celebrate the start of the Year of the

Pig. The PTA Lunch on Thursday was a great success and yesterday’s Lion Dance and

free dumplings marked the conclusion of a joyful week. Special thanks to Serina Zhou

(School Committee member) and Emily Chou (teacher) for their leadership throughout

the week.

Back to School Information Evening Feb 13: This event last year was a great success

and we encourage you to attend this year’s version on Wednesday. Come and learn

about why the IB is different, what a unit of Inquiry is, about our new draft Student

Welfare policy, how to access Managebac, what academic honesty means and how

you as a parent can encourage it. A series of 25 minute sessions will cover these topics

and more. Some will be repeated. You will also have an opportunity to meet your

children’s teachers (keeping in mind, of course, that it’s only Week 4!)

SCHOOL

CONTACT

INFORMATION:

Landline:

7762960

Email

info@isn.school.fj

Website

www.isn.school.fj

UPCOMING

EVENTS

February 13:

Back to School

Night (5 pm to 7

pm)

February 14:

School Leader

Induction

Assembly

February 15:

Valentine’s Socials

March 21:

International

Mother Tongue

Day

New School Landline: We finally have our new phone system but there has been a change in the landline

number as a result of this. The old number will continue to work for a short while but please change the

number you have in your phone. The main line to reach the Front Office is 7762960.

School Counsellor: We welcome Ms Fanny Fiteli, our new School Counsellor. Those who were here some years

ago will remember she worked at ISN in 2009 and 2010. She is based in Ms Kati’s office on Tuesdays and

Thursdays and is happy to meet with parents. As with all school counselling, what is discussed will be treated

with absolute confidentiality unless there is a danger of harm coming to someone or she is subpoenaed by a

Court of Law. Ms Fanny’s experience both in schools and more broadly in Fiji is a wonderful thing to be able to

tap into. She will also be working with staff to help them identify and support the needs of children

throughout the school.

Diploma Results: In our last Newsletter, I mentioned that one of the students was appealing the results the

student received, one of which was one mark below the result that was needed for the student to be granted

the IB Diploma. We are very happy to announce that the appeal was successful so 100% of last year’s DP

students attained the Diploma. That’s a first in my years in IB schools.

Best wishes

Erik Hoekstra

FUN SPORTS DAY IN PICTURES

PTA MINUTES

The PTA Meeting that took place last Wednesday saw almost 50 parents turn up. It was a great start to the

first PTA Meeting of the year. Please see the minutes of the meeting at the end of this newsletter.

SWIMMING CLASSES

Swimming will start next week. Primary students will wear their PE Uniforms on the day they have swimming

and Secondary students will come in uniform and change before their swimming class. Students will be asked

to bring their swimmers, Goggles and Swimming cap (optional), towel, sunscreen, plastic bag (for their wet

swimmers). Flip flops are only allowed to be worn at the pool not in school. Class teachers will be notifying

you which day your child/ children will have their swimming classes on.

BOOK DRIVE Two students from MYP 2 are organizing a Book Drive as part of their community service project. They will be

collecting books for ALL ages to donate to Radisson-Blu Adopt-A-School Programme. Please drop any

donations to the front office and support their efforts.

PICK UPS FROM SCHOOL Just a friendly reminder, if your child is a bus student and you are picking he/she up at the last minute please

inform the teachers on duty at the bure or call the office by 2pm to inform of the change. This is to avoid

holding the bus up for the other students. If you are also doing an early pick up, please sign them out at the

front office.

STUDENTS ABSENT FROM SCHOOL If your child/children will be away from school please inform their Class teacher or the front office

beforehand.

VALENTINE’S DAY SOCIAL The DP students are organizing a Valentine’s Day Social for the students on

Friday 15th February.

Consent letters went home to students yesterday. Please see poster at the end of the newsletter for more

details.

PREFECT INDUCTION CEREMONY Next Thursday (February 14th ) we are having the Prefect Induction Ceremony at 8am in the Assembly Area.

Parents are welcome to attend.

CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION – 2019

There was a real hum of excitement in the air this

afternoon as we celebrated Chinese New Year. The

students waited in anticipation for the Lion Dance to

begin, an event that has become quite a tradition here

at ISN amongst the students and teachers. The squeals

of delight as the lions pranced and leapt down the

corridor, over tables and round the posts were

probably audible in Beijing. This year we also thank

the Chinese Community for organizing Dumplings for

all the students and teachers as well Chinese tea. It

was great to see everyone enjoying themselves today.

PARENTS & TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

PTA Monthly Meeting February 2019

Facilitators: Katrin, Suzie, Kanchan, Sheryn

Notetaker: Sheryn

Timekeeper:Sheryn

TIME Date : 30th

January 2019 Prepared/Assisted by:

1:00 pm Katrin opened the Meeting

Finance Report :

Surplus of $36,968.85

Funds of $15k in holding fund going toward learning media project

Prepared by Arun

Principals Update :

236 students on roll, approx. 45 new students and 30-35 new families

24 new computers for IT lab has been signed off

All computers will be replaced every 4-5 years

Wi-Fi has been installed throughout school and students can now access. There are a few pockets not yet covered will should be rectified in the coming 2-3 weeks.

PYP 5 & 6 have new furniture

MYP next to receive new furniture, awaiting approval

PYP2, 3 & 4 tables are too big, need to source new tables

Mr Eroni left un-expectantly, application received for replacement, interviews underway

Joel Evans new class teacher for PYP 5, should be in class next week

Erik

Goals & Focus :

Water Coolers

Replacement of current playground- Eco friendly

Fridges – clean & all in working order

Community Spirit- events, family days, beach cleans etc.

Key Fundraisers – Bi Annual school Ball, tentative date 11 May, Fun day 10 August

Monthly events to top up fundraisers, gold coin donation, come in mufti

Next event Chinese New year

Erik advised that Emily Chou is organising a lunch time Lion dance

Katrin suggested to carry on for social lunch after with community

Katrin

Uniform committee update:

Sample Polo shown

Issues with current white shirt addressed- transparency, fading, washing, short life

Bula shirts to stay for PYP, blue bottoms to stay

Vicky to be added to uniform committee

Vicky raised concern on the sustainability from Biz

Concern that Agape has similar uniform

Sports uniforms for secondary to change, PYP to keep coloured t-shirts, secondary will accessorize on sports days

Vicky mentioned that uniform suppliers have heard we are changing uniform and may stop printing, Erik confirmed he had been notified of this

Uniform committee to take to board for approval, if approved we can start rolling out over the next 2 years

Requests :

Requested for sub- committees for Ball & Fun Day 2019 School Ball committee Sheryn Macquet, Suzie Kahl, Katrin Dressino, Kanchan Chadha, Beatrice Nast, Christy Phillips, Donna Tudehope Ina Lampert, Karin De Vries, Priya Maharaj, Roslyn Premont, Sarafina Pavia

Jules gave an update on ball – everything needs to be donated in order to reach 100K

Jaucinta advised any changes made to ball needs to be approved by the board

Ball committee to work closely with Board on ball

When contacting sponsors we need to tell them where money raised will be spent within school eg, new building for expanding school and new playground

2019 Fun Day committee Sheryn Macquet (White Elephant), Suzie Kahl, Katrin Dressino, Kanchan Chadha, Beatrice Nast, Bre Checketts Helen Truman, Kerrie Robinson, Lee Forrest (White Elephant Issues raised:

Vicky, Serena & Lee were representing the board and facilities committee. Vicky gave an update re playground.

Permission to have existing playground removed granted, looking for someone to take it away, concrete needs ti be removed, facilities committee to work with PTA

New playground to be an area for all students including play/learn and relax areas.

Master planners will be looking at the school to make a plan for the next 5-10 years.

Playground will be phased in, PTA has money aside for playground

Sheree & Maria have volunteered to assist with playground venture

Recycling bins system also discussed to make school more sanitary

Vicky requested a sub- committee for the playground

Suggested that senior school students (student council) can get involved in design of playground, ideas etc

)

Car park/Drop off zone

New area by basketball court made for teacher parking

Kiss and drop area still in process

Quotes obtained to seal road to school $38,000 too much, road is shared by trucks, we need a solution

Attendees: Katrin Dressino, Suzie Kahl, Kanchan Chadha, Sheryn Macquet (Committee), Erik Hoekstra (Principal), Helen Truman, Joel

Hunt, Luisa Nasoga, George Muscat, Karin De Vries, Sheree MacPherson, Christy Phillips, Lochmi Devi, Queene Zhang, Serina Zhou,

Dolly Love, Nicola Wakeman, Beatrice Nast, Kim Neil, Deborah Tuisue, Tui Cavalern, Nahni Narayan, Victoria Storck, Rusiate Lali,

Saamiya Wahab, Lee Forrest, Ina Lampert, Heidi Wilson, Priya Maharaj, Kati Waqainabete, Roslyn Premont, Niveditha G, Jauncinta

Khan, Donna Tudehope, Sarafina Pavia, Breauna Checketts, Kerrie Robinson

Apologies: Lala Sowane

Next Meeting Date: 28 February 2019

Meeting Closed at 2.05pm