Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Principal’s Message| School Development | School Council |
| Message from the Head of Primary | Chinese New Year Celebration |
Book Week | Primary CPD & Academics | Primary Spotlights|
Message from the Head of Secondary | Math Day| Twilight Concert |
Secondary CPD & Academics | Secondary Spotlights | International Award |
Secondary Celebrating Excellence | Upcoming Events
SPRING NEWSLETTER
Spring 2016Vol: 07
PDF Compressor Pro
Welcome to this term’s newsletter. It certainly has been a busy term. It is also the last time we
shall publish a newsletter from our current site, as we eagerly look forward to the move to our
new campus at number 2, Lilitan Sungai Tiram. Teachers are feverishly packing their materials,
arrangements have been made for removal, and the final finishing touches are being put in
place ready for the Summer term at the new site. This signifies a very important new phase in
the school’s young life. We have grown quickly since 2012, and we expect that we’ll increase
even more rapidly once we have a new campus that we deserve. We already anticipate the
number of students to push towards the 400 mark during the next academic year.
However, most importantly, it’s vital that the quality of education, and the school’s community
feel, continues to flourish. I believe it has. Whilst the school can always improve, I have
witnessed the huge amount of work that students and staff are putting in to raise achievement
and be the best people we can be. This I cannot fault, and it’s something of which I am very
proud. So thank you to all.
So, please enjoy the newsletter. It’s jam packed not only of things that the children have done,
but also of what the staff have been doing. As such, you can get a very good feel of what it
means to be part of the community. Enjoy your holidays, and I look forward to seeing you soon
in the new campus.
Regards,
Mr. Charles Grayhurst
Principal
Straits International School
PDF Compressor Pro
School Development
SIS New Building
We are eagerly anticipating the move into our new
building over the term break. Our permanent campus
will feature a large multi-purpose hall with a stage,
dedicated music rooms, an outdoor swimming pool
and futsal pitch, a larger library, two ICT suites, a
covered play area, purpose-built classrooms and
plenty of parking!
At the time of writing, the finishing internal touches are
being carried out and we will be furnishing the
classrooms by the end of the week. We will be ready
to proudly welcome the school community to the new
site by the time we go back to school in Term 3.
Looking forward to seeing you all there!
PDF Compressor Pro
School Development
A pool with a view! Chairs and tables ready to move
into the classrooms
Multi-storey car park One of two purpose-built ICT suites
Railings on the stairs
have been installed
The spacious library The swimming pool and
futsal pitch side by side
PDF Compressor Pro
Student Council
The Straits School Council is a group of elected
students from Year 3 to Year 10 who work hard
to improve the school for everybody and to give
the students a voice. Our first task as a team
this term was to find a way to improve the
school canteen.
The council members devised a survey and
used its results to come up with clever solutions
to problems brought up by the students of SIS.
Many pupils have recognised a significant
difference.
Encouraged by the success of making the can-
teen better, the council has decided to take on
another project – a fundraising event.
Plans for a cookie sale are being made and
the profit will contribute to the Straits
International School Charity Fund; money
from this fund will be distributed between
various local charities. Not only will this be a
good experience for the council members –
most of which are new to such positions –
but it is also a service to the community and
a good way to get the representatives to be
service-minded.
The council is looking forward to helping
students resolve whatever issues might
come up in the future and organising more
events: anti-bullying campaigns and
awareness about recycling.
By: Hannah Lee
Council Secretary
PDF Compressor Pro
Message from
Head of Primary
I am still overwhelmed with our friendly, conscientious and well behaved children that are often described
by staff as ‘hungry to learn’; the staff that are willing to go above and beyond to ensure that our children
receive the best possible care and education; and the parents who seem endlessly committed to
supporting their children and Straits as a school.
The most exciting part of the history of Straits is about to occur when we move to our new purpose-built
school campus after the Easter break. Our school is developing a strong reputation and is continuing to
grow in numbers. We are altering our timetables in Key Stage Two to ensure that we have specialists
teaching in all subjects, with a continued focus on reading, writing and literacy across the curriculum areas
to ensure that our students reach their potential.
I have especially enjoyed watching the Primary and Secondary children coming together at house events
and celebrations this term, working together to create something spectacular. We have enjoyed
Collaboration week, Maths day and Book week this term, all providing a rich source of learning and
entertainment.
I am looking forward to our move to the new school and seeing what the rest of the year brings!
By: Ms. Karlie Walsh
As we draw to the end of Term 2 at Straits, I cannot help but find myself reflecting on the year so far with a
smile on my face.
PDF Compressor Pro
CNY Celebration
On the 5th of February 2016,
Straits International School
celebrated Chinese New Year with
their exceptional annual “Lunar
New Year Assembly”. There was a
whole school assembly to which
parents were invited, where every-
one was dressed in red clothing
from bubbly toddlers to attentive
adolescents. The assembly began
with a heart warming speech from
Principal of the school, Mr Charlie,
who shared some of his personal
New Year experiences before the
assembly began.
Following the speech, MCs
Andrew Lee and Yi Rene Yong,
occupied the stage, inviting
students from the school’s Year
6 Mandarin Class to perform
their self-produced play about
how Lunar New Year traditions
began.
Following the play, Year 5
students took to the stage to
perform their choreographed
dance to the Chinese New Year
song, “Gong Xi Gong Xi”.
Following Year 5’s dance
performance, Andrew Lee stole
the show with an unanticipated
and exhilarating solo dance
sequence, sending crowds into
laughter and applause.
The assembly displayed its grand
finale as lion dancers were invited
to perform for the audience. Lion
dancers distributed Mandarin
oranges to the children and enter-
tained the audience with their
animated movements and spirit-
ed music. The assembly then
closed as the lion dancers and
crew members exited the hall,
concluding a great and unforget-
table assembly.
By: Soon Saw Imm
Mandarin Teacher
PDF Compressor Pro
Primary Event
Book Week
Darrence Tan
Mrittika Vijayanand
Mahadevan Jayasugunthan
Eeo Min Eeo
Victor Chin
Misha Moodliar
Simone Punai
Peing Zhi Hong
The week of February 29th was a very exciting week indeed….we had a whole week
dedicated to the celebration of books! We started the celebrations with an assembly on Friday
26th February and the first thing that we realised was how much we read on a daily basis!
We discovered that reading is not just about novels or books, but it is a skill that we need
throughout our lives. We have to read our planners to plan our homework, the canteen menu
to know what we are going to be eating for lunch, and even the whiteboard so that we can
remember what day it is!
The pupils were also asked to dress up as their favourite character from the world of
Literature and there were some excellent examples of creativity. Class teachers
nominated the following pupils as particularly good examples:
Pupils were also given a ‘word of the day’ in the school’s main languages: English, Mandarin,
French and Bahasa Malaysia. As part of the competition, pupils had to use the word of the day
in the best way possible. Their language teacher then nominated those pupils who used
the words of the day most effectively. These included: Khanh-An Tran Vu and Jarrell
Khoo in year 1, Yi Lingg Tan in Year 3, Joey Luo in year 5 and Jonathan Tan in year 6.
By: Miss Emily Cosnett
Head of Languages/ English
PDF Compressor Pro
Professional Development
Questioning Strategies
At Straits we strive to make our professional development training sessions for teachers as practical and
as relevant as possible, so the strategies can be used in the classroom immediately. This term began with
our sessions focusing on exploring a variety of questioning strategies.
We have developed a four week model for professional development which begins with an introductory
session sharing some suggested strategies, similar to a taster session. Staff, in their professional
development groups, spend the following two weeks exploring a variety of strategies in their lessons and
inviting their colleagues to observe and give feedback, in a ‘critical friend’ capacity. The final week is an
exciting session where all groups share their strategies so teachers from other professional development
groups can learn even more!
We saw these groups explore strategies such as ‘would you rather’ questions where children are given
four options and they must decide which option they would choose and share why to justify their opinions;
‘if this is the answer, what is the question?’ where children are given a word and using problem solving
skills work out what the question could be; and ‘jigsaw questioning’ where children are shown an image
with jigsaw pieces covering it and use their skills of questioning, inference and deduction to decipher what
the image is portraying.
Stay tuned to see our next issue of ‘Straits Talking’ which will share our findings from these sessions in
more depth!
By: Ms Karlie Walsh
Head of Primary
PDF Compressor Pro
Straits Dragons-Primary
In their first fixture of term two, the Dragons visited SCIPS for three competitive five a-side games
and earned well deserved victories in all games, winning 4-1, 2-0 and 4-0. The Dragons have
always enjoyed competing against SCIPS and are looking forward to their next trip in term three.
In football, the U10 team finished 1st in their group after wins against Uplands B (2-0), Tenby (2-0)
and SCIPS B (3-0), with Ioan scoring 6 goals in 3 games and Kevin scoring 1. They were
unbeaten and did not concede a goal.
On Saturday 20th February, Straits was invited by SCIPS to attend their annual sports weekend
being held at Uplands International School. The Dragons were represented by an U10 tee ball
team (for the very first time) and football teams for U10 and U11. The tee ball team performed
admirably for their very first outing and demonstrated great team spirit in both of their games.
They lost 15-10 to SCIPS B and then beat Dalat 8-5 in their final game.
The U11 team performed well and finished in 2nd place after drawing 2 games with Uplands
B (0-0) and Tenby (2-2) and beating SCIPS B (3-1). Sato scored 4 goals and Victor had the
other.
The primary football teams have been developing well throughout the year but they will not have
many competitive fixtures in term three. Hopefully, the newly formed tee ball team will be able to
compete in friendly training matches against SCIPS, who are very experienced in the
game having played in FOBISIA many times.
By: Mr. Kam Yin Boey
PE & Sports / co-curricular Activities co-ordinator
Primary Football and Tee ball Coach
PDF Compressor Pro
Primary Class Spotlight
Year Four
There have been significant improvements in the
students’ standards across all subjects, in the Year
four classroom. Amongst those improvements has
been the class’ ability to work collaboratively. As
pointed out by a school parent, the skill of working
collaboratively is a skill that translates directly from
the students’ academic career into their adult working
life.
Collaboration can be a difficult task for students aged
eight to ten as psychological developments in this
age bracket are represented at different levels during
the academic year. Therefore, the students may not
always see eye to eye on all decisions that need to be
made during the creative process of any collaborative
task.
Since the beginning of the year, the year 4 class have
been working on accepting each others’ differences
as individuals, electing a group leader for each task,
and managing their time effectively during group
work.
There have been improvements in their ability to
handle conflict amicably and work towards a shared
goal.
By: Mr Richard Power
Year 4 teacher
The final Humanities assessment of this term is
looming and already the students are excited and
beginning to strategise. Moreover, they quickly
elected group leaders to help them reach decisions
should differences of opinion threaten to interrupt
the flow of work during their assignment.
Some other examples of collaboration throughout
the year have been creating end of term projects
for Humanities lessons on a range of topics,
including Prehistoric Times and Early Humans,
Ancient Egyptians, and the Victorian Era. Our class
has also completed class posters, they also
delivered a whole class presentation to their
parents on a classroom book of their creation,
about dental health for the school’s project based
learning curriculum.
As always, it is a wonderfully gratifying feeling to
witness the minds of Year 4 students flourish and
be part of the positive development of students
reaching rationalised conclusions collaboratively.
PDF Compressor Pro
Primary Subject Spotlight
Phonics
In Early Years and Key Stage One, a structured
and systematic approach to teaching phonics is
used with the aim of creating fluent readers and
competent spellers by the end of Year two.
Children from Early Years up to Year 2 follow a
synthetic phonics program. This means that
sounds or phonemes are taught in isolation and
then blended together to form a word or
segmented to read a word. Each week several
new sounds are introduced, along with words
containing these sounds, and focused on in
Literacy lessons.
As children move through the program more
complex sounds are introduced as well as
spelling rules.
By: Ms Emily Lans
Key stage one co-ordinator
All phonics lessons follow a similar structure to
ensure that the children learn and remember the
sounds as well as begin to use them in their
independent work. Songs, games, speaking,
writing and dictation tasks are used to add
excitement and fun to these lessons.
This approach helps children to be more con-
scious of the spelling rules and structure of
words and this can be seen in their writing in all
their lessons. Throughout Key Stage One you
will see children sounding out words they are
reading or spelling or excitedly sharing a new
word they have found with that week’s sound in
it with their class.
PDF Compressor Pro
Celebrating Excellence
Primary
At Straits, we feel that it is important to celebrate excellence from our students! In EYFS this term
the students focused on working alongside each other in and out of the classroom environment.
Apart from the core curriculum areas, students explored learning through hands on activities to
further enhance their understanding. Students are particularly showing progress in reading during
their Phonics lessons and are more focused for extended periods of time during lessons. It has
been a challenging and enriching term for all students as they have endeavoured to develop
holistically.
In Year One have worked very hard to ensure links between subjects are securely made by
students. This term they linked their Art lessons to Humanities where they were learning about
different types of homes. The children made their own woodland fairy huts to enhance their
learning. The work produced by Year 1 poets has been very impressive. The children really
enjoyed writing in poetic styles. They have had fun investigating their senses and the children
used lots of ‘wow words’ to compose their own poems. They also used musical instruments to
learn about rhythm in poetry. It is great to be able to see how much the children have developed
both academically and emotionally over the course of the term.
This term Year Two have been exploring and furthering their knowledge in their recent Human-
ities topic ‘Florence Nightingale.’ The students have been enthusiastic during every lesson where
they have learnt about who she was, what she did and why she is important today. They have
ordered the events in her life by creating a timeline, compared some of the differences between
the ways of life then and now and have taken part in role plays and discussions to understand
what she did to help others. Year Two are extremely proud of their understanding of a famous
woman from the past and have thoroughly enjoyed these lessons this term.
By: Ms. Karlie Walsh
and the primary class teachers
PDF Compressor Pro
Celebrating Excellence
Primary
Year Three students were very proud to win the lantern contest this term – it was a real team effort and
great to see so much competitive spirit. The students have working relentlessly on their creative writing
paying particular attention to spelling rules and the use of phonics in all curriculum areas. The
development of both mental and written calculations has been impressive in Mathematics. Students that
have made excellent progress in school this term include Alyssa and Fredrich. Alyssa’s writing is getting
stronger every day and she wrote a particularly brilliant action story during Book Week. Fredrich is grow-
ing in confidence and participating a lot more in lessons this term. Outside of school Chauthi, Ruey
Xuan, Sheng Yang and Alex achieved new belts in Tae Kwon Do. Jude got awarded her grade two in
Ballet and also studied hard and passed her Arabic exam. In addition to this, Ram and Yi Lingg passed
new grades in piano and Mohamad got his grade 3 in violin.
Year Four have showed they are a close group of supportive friends who have demonstrated their
mutual enthusiasm and excitement towards learning by enjoying their time in class together, working on
a variety of topics this academic term. The students have learned how to form better written pieces,
mastered writing styles and forms of poetry, as well as learning academic words to support their
understanding of Literacy. It has been wonderful seeing the students develop their skills in all subjects,
arriving quickly at a level where then can now learn at an accelerated rate.
Year Five have worked very hard in all areas of the curriculum this term. They have worked particularly
well together in Houses during Collaborative week to produce a range of 3D structures. Great teamwork
has been demonstrated in Touch Rugby during Physical Education and the class competition during
Book week resulted in creating a front and back cover along with some excellent instructions for their
book, 'Year 5 Class Instructions: How to have fun!'
The main focus in Year Six recently has been on preparing for checkpoint exams occurring in the week
beginning Monday 18th April. Year 6 have been working very hard, both in class time and in their
checkpoint activity sessions. They have also been making movies in ICT, illusion drawings in art and
practising their High 5 netball skills. Year 6 are particularly proud of Kah Weai for his black belt in Karate,
Deborah for winning a 100m freestyle swimming competition in the Permata pool and Kassandra who
got her green tip belt in Taekwondo.
All students are to be commended for their efforts; they have made all their teachers very proud!
PDF Compressor Pro
Ms. Ong Hui YenScience Teacher
What inspired you to become a
teacher?During my time working for and NGO organi-
sation called Teach for Malaysia, I spent two
years in a rural school and I realised that I
enjoy teaching.
Would you rather teach verbally or
visually?Visually, because I like art and pictures: they
help you to understand and remember better
but it’s different for everybody.
What message would you want to
pass on to the students?It’s important to find our own strength and
work on it. “If there is a will, there is a way.”
Do you enjoy teaching? Why?Yes, I enjoy interacting with students, they
can be silly sometimes but it’s about creating
human connections.
What is the positive difference in
S.I.S and your former school?SIS has great facilities, a clear structure of
curriculum and an emphasis on small class-
es.
What do you expect from your
students? Effort, hard work and kindness; being under-
standing amongst friends.
remarks:
Student
Teacher
By: School Council
PDF Compressor Pro
Ms. Karen Willoughby
What inspired you to become a
teacher?I always liked working with children and
every day is a different experience.
What school did you teach in
before?At the International School of Bucharest
Would you rather teach verbally or
visually?Visually, because children will be able to see
things more easily. It has more impact, is
direct and works better for small children.
What message would you want to
pass on to the students?Do your best
Do you enjoy teaching? Why?Yes I love teaching because every day makes
a difference in the lives of children; children
inspire me.
What do you enjoy teaching the
most? Why?Maths, because children can learn the skill
quickly and can use lots of games to help
them learn.
What do you expect from your
students? For them to do their best.
remarks:
Student
Teacher
By: School Council
PDF Compressor Pro
Message from
Head of Secondary
This has been another exhilarating term with a multitude of invigorating moments and uplifting events. Stu-
dents have fully immersed themselves in a diverse range of school-enrichment activities. The excellent
Twilight Concert in February was an absorbing occasion where students demonstrated their musical
abilities. Also, in February Mr Mike, accompanied by Ms Ellie and Mr Joe, led an exhausting but deeply
fulfilling trekking expedition as part of the International Award. On the sports field, the Under 13s Football
team has grown into a strong and well-disciplined squad with wins in three out of four games in the PSAC
league: victories against the Uplands B team and the Uplands C team (5-2; 6-1), and against POWIIS. Two
of our Year 7 students, Xuan and Jayne, formerly of POWIIS, revisited their old school in January with the
Senior Leadership and delivered a warm, engaging address to POWIIS parents about life at SIS. They did
a wonderful job of representing the school.
As ever, we have experienced hugely enjoyable whole-school events that have celebrated aspects of
learning: Book Week contained a myriad of reading-related activities; our Collaborative Week promoted
skills of leadership and co-operation in diverse and creative ways; Pi Day stretched students’ thinking skills
and provided active learning opportunities for students of all ages.
Inevitably, alongside the activities that enliven and enhance the usual action of the curriculum, a priority for
us is to enable academic challenge and provide a carefully structured, purposeful route towards formal
examination tasks. In April, students in Year 9 will sit their Checkpoint examinations; IGCSE assessment
has already started in subjects – for example, oral assessments have been conducted in Bahasa. I have
been impressed by the professional and committed approach by teaching staff and by the mature,
assiduous attitude of students.
By:Mr Andrew Crompton
PDF Compressor Pro
Message from
Head of Secondary
The culture of effort that we are developing at Straits should help us to achieve strong academic perfor-
mance of which we can all be proud. To support our preparations for Checkpoint and IGCSE
examinations, in January we held briefing sessions for parents to provide information about the content
of examinations; in the sessions we delivered key messages about how students should prepare and
suggested ways in which parents might support their students in revision. At strategic intervals, key
assessments have been scheduled to focus students upon essential areas of understanding and to
provide opportunities for formative feedback: mock examinations have taken place for Checkpoint sub-
jects and for all IGCSE subjects; the mid-year exams that have just taken place tested students’ skills
and understanding in all subjects at all levels. Throughout the journey towards the examination season,
focused CPD has helped the teaching team to devise and refine strategies that will respond with
confidence to the demands of the examinations.
It is clear to me that our commitment to developing teaching expertise is one of the strengths of our
school, one of the attractive features that makes our school unique. Recently, Emily Cosnett and I each
delivered workshop sessions at the inaugural Association of International Malaysian Schools conference
in Kuala Lumpur, attended by over 200 delegates from across Malaysia. The sessions, focusing upon
effective assessment practices and revisiting learning within a mastery curriculum, shared practical
strategies and routines we use at Straits; they were very well received. Next term, as we move to a brand
new and fresh campus we will continue to enrich our provision in every way that we can. We are very
much looking forward to new challenges and opportunities.
Have a happy and relaxing break
Andrew Crompton
PDF Compressor Pro
Maths Day
What is Pi day?
Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14)
around the world. Pi - Greek letter “π”- is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a
constant — the ratio of the circumference of a
circle to its diameter — which is approximate-
ly 3.14159.
History of Pi
From ancient China to Babylonia, mathematicians
have been puzzling over pi for thousands of
years. Since pi goes on forever, even the most
powerful supercomputers will never know all of
pi’s digits. But that doesn’t stop people from
trying! In 2002, a team of mathematicians at the
University of Tokyo broke the record, using com-
puters to calculate pi to 1,241,100,000,000 deci-
mal places.Fun with Pi
Pi gives ample opportunity for creative mathe-
matical fun. As a whole school, we had an
assembly to celebrate Albert Einstein’s birthday.
Using a time machine, we tried to bring back
Albert Einstein (not the real one!). It was a lively
assembly, rounded up to 32 minutes! In addi-
tion, we had fun maths-related activities across
all the key stages, such as fast and furious
angle-measuring, beating the clock, memoris-
ing and reciting pi numbers, making pi necklac-
es, creating a human pi and pi number circles.
Students competed in their Houses and points
were awarded. The great part of this year Pi day
was that all the activity was run by student help-
ers from year 9 to year 11; they did an excellent
job.
The day provided a wonderful celebration of
maths; we are already looking forward to next
year’s event.
Happy rounded Pi Day!By Ms. Yogeswari Boghan
Head of Maths and Technology
PDF Compressor Pro
Twilight Concert
The Twilight Concert for this term focused on piano performances by the students. Performers from
Primary and Secondary played solos, duets and even trios. The IGCSE pupils have been practically
exploring Romantic music which is part of Section A of their final exam.
As part of their ensemble performances they rehearsed a six-hands piece (that is 3 people at one piano). In
lower school we are excited that we have entered our first pupils into ABRSM exams for the summer sitting.
We hope this will give them further determination to do well. We are also particularly impressed with the
sense of ownership and responsibility that the students have demonstrated in the performance. There are a
few students who insist to coming to school although they are ill so that they can perform in the concert after
school hours.
This is what students pick up apart from learning music when taking instrumental lessons. The self-discipline
that the students develop will benefit them in later life. Once again, we are all proud of the ongoing work
these young people put into their music. We hope that they continue to inspire not only each other but their
friends in school too.
By: Ellie Saunders and Woon Sze Ting
Performing Arts Department
PDF Compressor Pro
Secondary CPD and
Academics
Following the highly productive whole-school focus upon questioning strategies at the start of this
term, we have explored related features of pedagogy: effective assessment practices and
assessment literacy. At Secondary level, we have devoted our time to IGCSE assessment. In
each subject, we have considered carefully the Assessment Objectives which define performance
in each element of the course. We have used these criteria to adjust aspects of planning,
ensuring clear links between classroom activities and formally assessed tasks. This process has
also required some refinement of long-term planning frameworks so that there is a carefully
articulated narrative that allows regular feedback and progressive challenge. Appropriately, our
thinking and our discussions have revived aspects of pedagogy we explored earlier in the year:
the most effective ways to revisit and deepen prior learning.
A crucial aspect of our discussion and planning has been a pragmatic focus upon the precise
demands of examination papers, how we can advise students to avoid pitfalls, how we support
them in dealing with the literacy demands of examination papers, how we guide them to
demonstrate their understanding explicitly.
We have devised routines that will enable students to learn, develop and use vocabulary to
express their understanding – for example, the regular scheduling of brisk vocabulary quizzes.
We have shared strategies that will help students to extend explanations – such as the use of
connectives and the use of frameworks to develop analysis (PEAL – point, evidence, analysis,
link). We have considered strategies that students can use to access exam questions and
respond quickly – for example, by underlining or highlighting key words in questions. We have
formulated the key messages to convey to students that are relevant across all subjects. We hope
that through our collaborative approach, we will achieve a consistency or purpose, a commonality
of emphasis, that will encourage our students to perform astutely and with confidence in the
important months ahead.
By: Mr. Andrew Crompton
Head of Secondary
PDF Compressor Pro
Straits Dragons-Secondary
The Dragons have faced some very tough
opposition in this year’s PSAC league in football
and netball. The U14 and U16 girls Netball teams
have been waiting patiently to replay fixtures that
had to be rescheduled against POWIIS and
Uplands C. They continued to train after school and
are working hard to improve their basic skills in
order to compete with the other teams.
The U13 boys Football team have played four
games in the PSAC league, winning three of them
against Uplands C, Uplands B and POWIIS. Their
only defeat, to date, was against a very good
Uplands A team. Only two games remain this
season and Straits are looking forward to get back
to their previous winning form.
By: Mr. Kam Yin Boey
PE & Sports / Co-curricular Activities co-ordinator
U13 girls and U15 boys Football Coach
The U15 boys Football team have had it much
tougher and have lost three games to Uplands B,
POWIIS and, most recently, Uplands A. Though
they are working hard all around the field, the
Dragons lack a potent goal scoring threat having no
out and out striker on the team. Two games remain
in this year’s league against Dalat and Tenby.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of players, the U13 girls
Football team had to be pulled out of the PSAC
league just before it commenced. A small group
were keen and trained well but we were unable to
get a big enough squad together to play competi-
tively. Hopefully, we will try again next academic
year.
PDF Compressor Pro
Bahasa Malaysia
Bahasa Malaysia is taught at Straits Interna-
tional School to all local students. Though we
are an international school, we still follow the
syllabus designed by the Ministry of Education
of Malaysia. Students at SIS are given the
chance to explore Bahasa Malaysia step by
step and they are encouraged to converse in
Bahasa Malaysia during lessons which helps
them to have hands-on experience in learning
the language..
The students develop their skills in all four
areas; listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Students explore different styles of writing in
Bahasa such as expository writing, compari-
son and contrast, argumentative responses
and informal essays.
Group work and cooperation with others are
effective ways of learning, and the aim is to
encourage all students to participate in the
learning process. The students obtain useful
information from each other to extend their
knowledge and abilities through collaboration.
Also this method can be helped by transferring
implicit knowledge into explicit knowledge, and
gain some satisfaction by self improvement
and competence through the process of shar-
ing.
Group work is, therefore, an effective way to motivate
students, encourage active learning, and develop key
critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making skills.
Students will continue to work in groups as well as
independently and will have the opportunity to expand their
grammatical knowledge in order to further manipulate the
language.
By: Rabiahtul Bazariah
Secondary Bahasa Malaysia Teacher
PDF Compressor Pro
Celebrating Excellence
Secondary
Art
“Oliver, in Year 11 always displays an excellent attitude and always works with enthusiasm.
He has made strong progress in Art. He sets a good example to other students. With his
commitment and his selfless attitude, he deserves a successful future.”
Mr Hasfis
Bahasa Malaysia
“Two students in Year 7, Zhi Yun and Karen, have both impressed me. They exhibit a keen
interest in the subject; they seek additional information independently about classroom
topics that pique their interest; they unfailingly display self-discipline during lessons. In
addition, they always produce neat, careful work.”
Ms Rabiahtul Bazariah
Business Studies
“I would like to commend Jin Min from Year 10 for his hard work this term. He had some
setbacks in Term 1 which have not stopped him from improving and challenging himself to
move forward in his learning. Thanks to his persistence he has made admirable progress
which he should be very proud of.”
Ms Elena Kathiraven
Economics
“Zhan Wei from Year 10 has consistently produced good quality work in and out of the
classroom. His curiosity about stock markets and shares is noticeable as he goes beyond the
necessary knowledge to find out information about businesses and stocks around the
world.”
Ms Elena Kathiraven
What the teachers said about our students:
PDF Compressor Pro
Celebrating Excellence
Secondary
English
“Amanda (Year 8) has demonstrated an excellent attitude to learning in English this term. Her classwork
is accurate and detailed and she always ensures that she applies herself in homework tasks, often
moving beyond what is expected. This was particularly true of a group presentation on news broadcast-
ing, where she produced a coherent and clear script for her group.”
Miss Emily Cosnett
French
“Sarah in Year 9 has started to show real promise in her writing and speaking skills. Sarah has only
started learning French since she arrived earlier this year and yet she has managed to catch up with the
other students and manipulate the language. If she can continue to motivate herself to tackle the subject
with enthusiasm, she will go far in French. I am really proud of the progress that she has made this
year.”
Miss Harriet Glover
Geography
“Andrew in Year 9 has shown excellent commitment; I have been impressed by his endeavour and
willingness to apply himself.”
Mr Charlie Grayhurst
Global Perspectives
“Liyang in Year 10 has made significant progress in the last few months. He is consistently purposeful
and focused in his approach to all activities. He has produced some highly engaging work about the
effects of climate change. Liyang makes thoughtful, intelligent contributions to discussion.”
Mr Andy Crompton
What the teachers said about our students:
PDF Compressor Pro
Celebrating Excellence
Secondary
History
“In History, Shoburn in Year 10 has made impressive progress since the start of the IGCSE course,
gained through unrelenting hard work and a determination to always achieving his best. His
enthusiasm for the subject and positive attitude to learning are evident in every lesson.”
Ms Jan Crompton
Humanities
“Fariheen in Year 9 continues to make excellent progress and demonstrate superb application and
effort in her studies.”
Mr Charlie Grayhurst
ICT
Bernice in Year 7 has done remarkably well on the Spreadsheet unit this term and has shown great
improvement in her ICT grade this term. She's also very active in class, collaborative and always
very attentive. She produces excellent quality work in class.
Ms Shafinaz Deen
Mandarin
“Chloe in Year 10 is a diligent learner; she produced a carefully balanced narrative essay with an
exciting end. In her descriptive writing, there are many well defined, well developed ideas and
images with a range of details.”
Miss Pang Sook Yee
What the teachers said about our students:
PDF Compressor Pro
Celebrating Excellence
Secondary
Mathematics
“Daniel in Year 11 is easily the most talented pupil I have taught at IGCSE Level; his work ethic, attention
to details and determination to succeed are second to none. Watch this space as I firmly believe that we
will be hearing a lot more about Daniel in years to come.”
Miss Yogeswari Boghan
PE
“My nomination for Sport is Ayumi (Year 9). She consistently performs at a higher level than her class-
mates and shows great determination and commitment to every lesson. I have also seen great sports-
manship during this term's units.”
Mr Kam Yin Boey
Performing Arts
“This term's Secondary Performing Arts achievement has to focus on Year 11, who have worked incredi-
bly hard on their coursework. Over the last few months, the Year 11 IGCSE Music class have deter-
minedly created, edited and developed their two compositions. Their hard work has meant that they
have produced impressive pieces which will not only serve them well in their course but inspire the Year
10s also. Well done Year 11.”
Ms. Ellie Saunders
PSHE
“Tina, in Year 7, consistently exhibits a thoughtful approach to topics explored. She also has a wonder-
fully positive attitude to the contributions of her peers: she reflects upon and comments favourably on
the ideas of other students. I have been very impressed by her maturity, sensitivity and kindness.”
Mr Andy Crompton
Science
“In Science, Kon Nie from Year 7 proactively asks questions to develop her understanding and to ensure
that her work is complete. I am delighted to see her showing commitment and putting in extra effort to
make progress.”
Ms Hui Yen Ong
What the teachers said about our students:
PDF Compressor Pro
Mr. Anthony BingerHead of Science
What inspired you to become a
teacher?I was inspired by my own teachers when I
was at school.
Where did you teach before you
came to SIS?At lots of different schools in Shanghai,
Korea and Africa.
What message would you want to
pass on to the students?Work hard and enjoy your schooling time,
they are the best days of your life.
Do you enjoy teaching? Why?Yes, because it helps make a difference to
peoples’ lives.
What is the positive difference in
S.I.S compared with your former
school?Everybody is friendly. Students and staff work
together nicely.
What aspect of teaching do you
most enjoy? Teaching subjects in which students can
enjoy learning and have fun.
What do you expect from your stu-
dents? Work hard in studies and be self-motivated,
determined to succeed.
remarks:
Student
Teacher
By: School Council
PDF Compressor Pro
Ms. Sha�naz
ICT Teacher
What inspired you to become a
teacher?I come from a family of educators. My dad
inspired me to become a teacher. He has
been teaching for the last 40 years and is
definitely the best teacher I’ve known. His
passion, patience and commitment to see
his students succeed inspired me to become
a teacher, just like him.
What school did you teach in
before?I’ve taught in various schools and higher
institutions before, in Penang and KL.
Would you rather teach verbally or
visually?Some learners learn visually, some learn
verbally. I love a mix of both- to make
lessons more engaging and interesting.
If you weren’t a teacher, what would
you be?I’d be a lawyer! :)
What message would you like to
pass on to the students?You get out of life exactly what you put into it.
No more. No less.
Do you enjoy teaching? Why?I do love teaching. I enjoy being able to
interact with students and helping students to
try to do what’s expected of them. I enjoy
sharing enthusiasm for my subject matter, I
get satisfaction knowing my students learn
and benefit from what I’ve taught them.
What do you expect from your stu-
dents? I expect excellence and nothing but
excellence, both as a whole individual and
academically.
remarks:
Student
Teacher
By: School Council
PDF Compressor Pro
International Award
Duke of Edinburgh
What an amazing few months it has been for the
students. They have successfully trained and completed
their first expedition. Working in teams, they planned,
packed for and undertook a two day/one night expedition
through Penang’s beautiful National Park. They explored
the flora and fauna and trekked for 6 hours each day.
Arriving at camp, they pitched their tents and cooked their
own meals.
“The experience we had throughout the entire journey
was just priceless. As we know the world today, technolo-
gy has overtaken nature. The main thing I loved most
throughout the entire journey was that it was all about us
and Mother Nature.” Liyang, Year 10.
“Through this amazing adventurous journey, I have expe-
rienced the spirit of teamwork. As the leader of my team,
I think that my team members did a great job by helping
each other. Bonds between my friends and I were
strengthened through this journey.” Sze Sze, Year 10.
By Michael Hayes
(Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Coordinator)
Straits students are now working on completing
their other three sections of Physical Recreation,
Skills and Service in order to complete their
award. They are all working very hard and I am
proud of their independent attitudes to
completing the award; a superb cohort.
Finally, a big congratulations to: Daniel, Yee,
Coco, Myra in Year 11; Agilesh, Nelson, Thievya,
Jasper, Mikhail and Carmen in Year 10, as they
have now completed their Bronze Award. This
takes perseverance and a lot of hard work.
PDF Compressor Pro
Upcoming EventsSUMMER TERM 2016
Rehearsals are underway for our annual school production,
Ocean Commotion, featuring a principal cast from the upper
Primary and Secondary school. The story presents all sorts of
singing sea creatures including Porpoises, Barnacles,
Herrings, Tuna Fish, a Great White shark, a Hammerhead
shark, a killer whale, a Blue Whale and their lives and
adventures – until Bottlenose the dolphin gets captured by
humans and placed in a dolphinarium… Stay tuned for Ocean
Commotion on July 2nd!
This year’s long-awaited International Open Day will take place
on Saturday 16th July! We are looking forward to an even
bigger and better celebration in our permanent campus and
can’t wait to see the activities, costumes and food from all over
the world! All are welcome to join this once-a-year international
extravaganza!
All proceeds from this exciting and fun day will be donated to a
good cause. If you would like to volunteer or recommend any
contacts to provide food on the day, please do not hesitate to
contact the marketing department.
See you on Tuesday, 5th March for the start of Term 3!
PDF Compressor Pro
www.sisgroup.edu.myNon Mihi, Non Tibi, Sed Nobis
PDF Compressor Pro
