English (Ms Jemma Stephens)

This term we will be focusing on writing skills with a ‘Writer’s Boot Camp’. Over the course of the term we will be exploring how to write a wide range of texts from Newspaper reports, to short stories, to persuasive essays. We will be looking at the specific genre features of each text type as well as working on improving general writing skills such as spelling and vocabulary variation, punctuation usage, and grammar. We will also be reading texts from each of these genres. This unit is designed to thoroughly prepare students for their English checkpoint papers. We will continue our reading focus in library lessons and continue to revise the analytical skills studied last term that will also be tested in the checkpoint examinations.

Mathematics (Miss Anita Sundralingam and Mr Shahrul Afzanizam)

This term we will be doing the following topics. The first will be Chapter 14 which is about Sequence, functions and graphs. A few formulae have to be remembered namely the formula to find the gradient and midpoint. The second chapter will be Chapter 15, Transformations. Four components will be learned including translations, reflections, enlargements, rotations and the concept of similarities. We will also cover Chapter 12 involving Statistics. The main priority now is to complete the syllabus by end of February 2021 so that the students will have ample time for comprehensive revision sessions.

Science (Mr. Marc Edmonds)

This term students will complete the final topics of Y9 checkpoint science - looking at energy changes in chemical reactions and generating electricity. This will take them until mid January. Once these are completed, students focus will then turn to preparing for the Checkpoint examinations. In preparation for this they will review the topics they have covered in years 7 to 9.

Business Studies (Ms Sitra Govindarajoo)

This term students will investigate the Economy and how this impacts on the country. Students will investigate the 3 different types of economy (Fixed, Market and Mixed). They will research what public services the Government provides to their country and where they get funding (taxation) from in order to provide the services. Students will then act as the Government and design their own country, making decisions such as legislation, taxes, housing, transportation and public services.

Geography (Mr Chris Rodrigues)

In the first part of the Spring Term students will be studying the topic of ‘Earning a Living’ - where they will begin to look at the different employment sectors and how they relate to the economy of a country. Students will look at the employment structure of countries and will focus on the UK and Malaysia - producing case studies on each and then will compare the similarities and differences. Students will be encouraged to explore how employment changes over time and how it is different in every country and how globalisation has affected the employment sectors in every country. Students will also produce an independent project on a good/service of their choice and what it takes to produce it and where.

In the second part of the Spring Term students will be studying the topic of ‘Population’ — where students will understand why the population of our planet is growing and what causes it. Where everyone is and why? What factors influence the distribution of population and why? What are the differences in population and what causes them by focusing on the UK and other parts of the world? Students will be encouraged to look at the similarities and differences and if so, how do we explain these. Students will also complete an independent research project into the impacts of the growing population on the planet and what the issues and concerns are that we should worry about and what does the future hold for our planet?

History (Ms Kasturi Kuranathan)

This term - students will be looking at one of the most interesting and tumultuous periods of English history that of ‘The Tudors’ In the first part of the term students will look at who the Tudors were, focusing on Henry VIII, what England was like at the beginning of the 15th century and how and why England changed forever during Henry’s reign. Topics covered in this part of the term will be: Who was Henry VIII and what was he like as a young man, what was the big problem that he had and why did he have so many wives, how did he change the religion of England and what problems did this cause. Who was his successor and how did this also affect England? In the course of this unit of study, students will engage in a decision-making exercise to determine ‘’Who Sank the Mary Rose’ - Henry VIII’s flagship. In the second part of the term, students will engage in lessons where they discover another great Tudor monarch, Elizabeth 1st, and what life was like for people living in Tudor Times during her reign. Topics covered in this unit will range from and include, the life and times of the young Queen Elizabeth, the middle way that she proposed and why she had her cousin killed. Students will then move onto how the ordinary person lived during Elizabethan times where they will look at Education, Entertainment, Fashion, Food, Crime and Torture. Students will be assessed by mini assessments, tasks and finally an end of unit examination.

Computing (Mrs. Haniza Hussin)

This term, students will be introduced to web pages design including the process of creating a web page’s appearance, the choice of a right colour scheme, page layout, fonts and more. Following from this, students will develop their knowledge in Data Representation. This includes looking at number systems such as Hexadecimal, Binary and Denary. Students will learn the importance of these number systems in Computing and be able to convert numbers between them. Finally, students will develop their knowledge in Logic Gates and Truth Tables and understand how these principles enable computers to work.

Moral Studies (Form Tutor)

This term, students will learn the topic of Live together peacefully and being cooperative and helping each to be peaceful and harmonious. They should learn to respect one another and live together peacefully despite religious differences, sustainable development in the region. Being cooperative is the process of groups working or acting together for common or mutual benefit, without expecting anything from anyone.

Sejarah (Ms. Pattmagowri Muniandy)

The topic of focus for this term will be ‘The Formation of Malaysia’. Year 9 students will be learning about the factors that contributed to the formation and analyse the problems towards the formation. They also will be learning about the issue of the separation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia. Activities for this term will focus on discussion, group work, project and presentations which will help the students to develop their interpersonal skills. The values of ‘Straits STAR’ will be taught to them during the teaching learning process.

Bahasa Malaysia (Mrs. Rabiahtul Bazariah & Mrs. Pattmagowri Muniandy)

The themes for this term include “Keselamatan Jalan Raya, Kemajuan Malaysia and Nilai Murni”. The main objective is for students to acquire balanced proficiency in reading, writing, listening and speaking. New vocabulary will be introduced from time to time to enhance their foundation in grammar, reading comprehension, conversation and essay writing. In addition, they will also learn the language by reading newspapers, educational articles and academic papers. During lessons, students will be exposed to three major components throughout the semester, Essay writing (Penulisan), Reading comprehension (Pemahaman) and Grammar (Tatabahasa). In addition to this, such lessons will also help students improve their presentation skills through essay writing and oral presentations.

Advanced Mandarin (Mrs. Pang Sook Yee)

Students will learn Mandarin by exploring the topic of ‘Food progress’ and ‘Lifestyle’. We will mainly focus on improving their Chinese vocabulary, Chinese proverbs, their spelling skills, as well as their debating skills. For writing, they will learn critical writing techniques and sentence structure. Throughout this term, they will familiarize themselves with the writing format of IGCSE Paper two, Part One. At the end of the term, students shall be able to write a critical essay with 400-600 words.

Intermediate Mandarin (Ms. Soon Saw Imm)

During this term, students will learn about ‘food’, ‘drinks’ and ‘housing environment’. Our main foci will be on the writing and speaking components. Reading will be used as a means of complementing the development of writing and speaking skills. The students will also be exposed to a range of texts which require them to elicit implied meaning as well as making deductions of the writer’s purpose. Vocabulary in context will also be introduced as a means of developing students’ writing skills on subject specific topics. Other than writing skills, the students will be expected to complete oral tasks in pairs or in group discussions on a given topic. Students will practise their listening using the Chinese Made Easy CD. The students will be expected to write 60- 80 words using appropriate vocabulary and sentence structures.

EAL (Ms. Nurin Najmina)

This term, we will be focusing on how to read for gist and main points, differentiate between main ideas and supporting details and answer some comprehension questions about the island of Borneo. The students are going to learn how to use suitable phrasal verbs in writing, make suggestions and reply politely to recommendations, write a letter about an important city and interview one another. Through role-plays, games and presentations, students will brush up their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Weekly spelling tests will also be carried out so that the students can practise new vocabularies and use them in writing sentences and also speaking.

Physical Education (Mr Dennis Lee, Ms Emily Tan, Mr.Vinod Khanna, Ms.Reena Singh)

During this term, students will complete the Invasion Games/Fitness. Teams score when they move and implement into the opposing team’s zone and successfully attack that team’s goal or target area. Tactical problems related to invasion games include maintaining possession, attacking and/or defending a goal,winning the ball, etc.The focus will be on Basketball games and skills. The other half of the term will be Fitness units where they will be learning the concept of fitness and different types of multistage fitness test and workout. (COVID S.O.P) Unfortunately due to the Covid SOP we will have to do the modified range activities inside the classroom with proper distance and a safe environment.

Music (Mr Izwary Johari)

Music for year 9 this term is a performance course on popular music using both whole class arrangements of pieces and small group ensembles. The pupils will need to identify the parts required to create a cover version and explore how they could recreate the music themselves. This will eventually lead on to a song writing project requiring the pupils to write chords, lyrics, melodies and instrumental parts.

Drama (Ms Sharmila Kanagalingam)

Students focus on complex production and delivery of dramatic messages. They will be exposed to a variety of stage and film productions, and will learn to craft flow and nuanced messaging in scripts and storytelling, including the development of multidimensional characters. They will produce original pieces of individually recorded work to culminate in the Summer term. They will participate in debates, role plays and thematic monologues to develop their presentation and performance skills.

Art (Mr Mohd Shahrul Hasfis bin Mohd Zainuddin)

This term, students will learn about IGCSE paper 2 Design Based assignment. They will learn the proper design techniques and use a mix of media and materials to finish their work. They will further work on their drawing, painting, pattern arrangement, and rendering skills. This will require them to use their coordination, sketch, composition and product display techniques. Students will be assessed with their pattern drawing and painting.

Islamic Studies {for Islamic Students only} (Mrs. Murni Binti Abdul Halim)

For this term, students will be guided for Quran reading with basic tajwid. Students will be explained with the tafsir( translation of the surah) they read. Example, Surah Yasin. In this opportunity they will learn the advantages of reading Al- Quran in their daily life. Such as, best cure for issues like stress and anxiety. Other than Quran reading, students will be learning on AL- Hadith with the explanation as well.

Upcoming Events

1st January 2021 New Year Day

6th January 2021 Start of Term 2

7th January 2021 Parents Rep Coffee Mornings, Year 7 & 9

11th January 2021 Parents Rep Coffee Mornings, EYFS, Year 1 & Year 2

13th January 2021 Parents Rep Coffee Mornings, Year 3 to Year 5

15th January 2021 Parents Rep Coffee Mornings,Year 8, Year 10 and Year 11

18th January - 5th February 2021 Year 11 Mock Exam

27th January - 31st January 2021 Thaipusam Mini Break

1st February - 19th February 2021 Assessment period

10th February - 15th February 2021

Chinese New Year Mini Break

17th March 2021 Parents Evenings

19th March 2021 End of Term

20th March - 4th April 2021 Spring Break

5th April 2021 Start of Term 3