NewsletterNewsletterNewsletter Term 1, 5Term 1, 5Term 1, 5ththth Issue Issue Issue

Forever Forward, Always Ahead

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Message from the Principal ...……..1

Student Leaders’ Conference .….....1

Participation in PE Program .….....2

Graduation Ceremony ........ ………..2

Teacher Prof Development ………..3

Lion Dance & Garage Sale .………..4

Upcoming Events ............... ………..4

SPECIAL INFORMATIONS

Poster Competition

Immunization

Parent Education Session

Merit Awards - Cambridge Learn-

er Attributes

Secondary Career’s Excursion

School Events

Sri Utama Schools Johor BahruSri Utama Schools Johor BahruSri Utama Schools Johor Bahru

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Our Sports Day was held last Saturday and was the culmination of many weeks of preparation and planning. All our students participated with enthusiasm but maintained a good attitude including con-gratulating winners from other Houses. Please note that the runners on the day were selected after House trials at school. Every student was given the opportunity to trial for selection.

I would especially like to congratulate the two event organisers Pn Selvakumary Mohan, Pn

Marhamah A.Hamid and the committee members who spent many hours preparing this major event.

STUDENT LEADERS’ CONFERENCE

I would like to congratulate Ayan Joshi who has been nominated to make a presentation at the Johor International Student Leaders’ Conference at the end of April. The conference theme is 21st Century Global Leaders .

Congratulations

to Blue House

– the overall w

inners !

DIGITAL COPIES OF THIS NEWSLETTER Please be advised that digital copy of this newsletter is available through the Sri Utama website www.sriutama.edu.my. The website is for the KL school however there is a section for newsletters that includes the JB school.

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PARTICIPATION IN PE PROGRAM

Parents are advised that we currently have two specialist PE teachers work-ing at the school. As a result our PE program is well organised and present-ed. Please note that all students are expected to participate in the program. Only students with notes from parents will be granted leave from the class.

POSTER COMPETITION We have launched a competition to design banners that feature the school’s message for 2015. “Willingness to Improve” was adopted at the Schools’ Conference in Saigon earlier this year. We have combined this with the Cambridge Learner Attributes (Responsible, Innovative, Confi-dent, Engaged, and Reflective).

The competition is for Secondary students only. Special appreciation to Puan Zarina Roslin who has generously donated the prizes for the best three submissions. The winning banner design will be hung in the school courtyard and in classrooms.

GRADUATION CEREMONY

On Thursday of last week, fourteen of our Sri Utama teachers received Gradua-tion Certificates in recognition of their work with Professor Gina Morrison from Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, USA.

STUDENT CAREER’S EXCURSION Parents are advised that the Secondary Career’s Excursion has been post-poned to the month of April.

SECONDARY CAMPING TRIP The Secondary School Camping Trip is planned for the April holidays. By now parents of students attending would have received the background information. The agenda is very busy with lots of challenging activities programmed. Please be assured that all activities are under the supervi-sion of staff trained specifically in the activity.

The fourteen teachers had attended lectures and completed assignments as part of the course of study. I would like to congratulate the teachers on their commitment to furthering their profes-sional understanding.

IMMUNISATION A reminder to parents of students in KG2-3, P1, P6, F1 and F3 that the Im-munisation program organised by the Ministry of Health will be held at the school on Tuesday 24th March.

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2014 SPM RESULTS Earlier this March, the 2014 Sijil Pela-jaran Malaysia (SPM) results has been announced. Seven out of sixteen subjects studied had a 100% pass rate which is a very good result for the school. Subjects scored are Bahasa Inggeris, Pendidikan Islam, Pend. Seni Visual, Physics, Chemistry, Biology & Ta-sawwur Islam. Special mention must be made for the following students who have scored with outstanding results in their ex-ams: 1. Vanessa Yap Lee Chi (7As) 2. Laila Zeroual Raneses (5As) 3. Muhammad Ammar (5As) 4. Lim Zhi Xuan (5As) Thank you and well done to all teachers who have been committed to this excel-lent achievements.

PARENT EDUCATION SESSION In Term 2 we are planning to hold Parent Education sessions after school to provide parents with information to support their child’s education from home. The sessions will include the above Numeracy and Literacy strategies. More information will be provided early in Term 2.

TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This week we began the process of observing each teacher’s classroom practice. This is done through a set Observation format. The format indi-cates the kind of things that should be present in good classroom teach-ing. The person observing the class indicates on the format if the prac-tice occurred. After the lesson the Observer and teacher debrief on the lesson. The teacher provides a Self-Evaluation of the lesson in the de-brief. Students are also asked to provide feedback about the lesson which is in turn passed onto the teacher.

I would emphasize to parents that this is not a “one off” event. These ob-servations of what teachers are actually doing in the classroom will con-tinue throughout the year. International research has shown conclusive-ly that it is the single most effective way to improve student learning. For the first two terms I will conduct the observations and in later terms will involve the senior teachers in the process.

Also over the course of this term the teachers have been involved in a variety of professional development activities designed to develop their teaching practice. Most of this work has been generalised however last week we began working in specific syllabus areas. This commenced with our Maths teachers looking at Mental Math strategies. This was followed by a session that looked at Reading Comprehension Strategies for our Language teachers. Teachers will begin to include these strategies in their daily lesson plans. An overview of the strategies is provided below.

Numeracy—Mental Maths Strategies

Mental Maths strategies are strategies that students can use to quickly work out answers to mathematical operations “in their head”. These strategies are combined with specific knowledge and develop in maturity as the student progresses. For example the knowledge that 7 plus 7 = 14 is part of the doubling strategy that would then recognise that 700 plus 700 = 1400. The Cambridge Maths syllabus specifically requires that these strategies be taught.

Literacy - Reading Comprehension Strategies

One common mistake is that what is known as “phonics” is reading. This is a mis-conception. Phonics is an important sub-skill of reading. It is the ability to recognise the sound that symbols make. Reading, however, is getting meaning from a text and requires more than phonics. Some other strategies include self-correcting, predicting, using background knowledge and inferencing. A good reader can co-ordinate all these sub-skills to comprehend the meaning of a text.

SCHOOL CONCERT

School concert auditions and rehearsal are still going on. Please refer to Puan Norah Hajah and Mr Nick Barno for further info on the auditions.

Edited by Paul BH, Umi MJ, Amirah Zabid,

Photos by Nizam MJ

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Sri Utama Schools Johor Bahru

No. 16, Jalan Beringin,

Melodies Garden,

80250 Johor Bahru,

Johor Darul Ta’zim.

Phone: +607-3347714 / 15

Fax: +607-3347807

E-mail: info@sriutama.edu.my

Website : www.sriutama.edu.my

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sultan’s Coronation Holiday Monday 23rd March

Immunisation Tuesday 24th March

Examination Week Monday 30th March

End of Term 1 Friday 10th April

Term 1 Holidays Sat 11th - Mon 27th April

Term 2 Commences Tuesday 28th April

MERIT AWARDS - CAMBRIDGE LEARNER ATTRIBUTES As most parents would be aware, Utama International School has adopt-ed the Cambridge International Curriculum. The Cambridge system op-erates in thousands of school across the world. The qualification that students received at the end of Form 5 can provide entrance to universi-ties in many countries.

An important aspect of the Cambridge system is the development of the student as a life-long learner. This is a goal shared by many school sys-tems. The life-long learner is based on a set of attributes that includes Responsibility, Confidence, Engagement, Reflection and Innovation. For the Cambridge organisation the development of these attributes is as im-portant as examination results. The organisation argues that students with well-developed learner attributes will most likely achieve high ex-amination results.

To assist students to understand and develop the Learner Attributes we will introduce a system of School Merit Awards in Term 2. Class teachers will present Class Awards to students who consistently demonstrate the attributes. Students who are awarded five Class Awards will be eligible for a Principal’s Award. A Principal’s Award will be acknowledged in this newsletter, will be presented at the school assembly, parents will be in-formed directly by the principal and encouraged to attend the presenta-tion.

At the end of each term teachers will provide an evaluation of each stu-dents’ progress with the Attributes. This will be provided to parents as part of the end of term reporting.

LION DANCE

At the end of Week 9 the students were treated to a great performance of the Lion Dance. The performance recognised Chinese New Year. I would like to acknowledge Puan Zarina’s work in organising this event.

GARAGE SALE The school held a Garage Sale after the Lion Dance to raise funds to assist the costs for the Secondary Camping Trip. I would like to thank all the par-ents and staff who donated items for sale. Over RM1000 was raised from the sales.

I would particularly like to thank Puan Norah Binte Hajah for initiat-ing and running the garage sale. Also Puan Norah incorporated the organisation into her Business Studies course to provide the students with real life experience of business operation.