4th November 2016

From the Principal Happy Deepavali!

I would like to wish the KIS community a belated happy Deepavali for last Saturday. I do hope that everyone enjoyed some special time with family and friends.

Early Years Open Morning – 1st November

Last Tuesday the school hosted an Open Morning for families interested in joining First Steps or the Early Years Foundation Stage. We were delighted to welcome 17 people to find out more about how our students in Early Years learn through playing and exploring. As well as enjoying tours of the school, our visitors attended several information sessions with the Primary Senior Management Team and had the opportunity to ask questions of our teaching and admissions staff. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those existing parents who came along to the morning to welcome our visitors and to answer any questions they had.

Secondary Sports Day

Last Friday’s Secondary School Sports Day was a great success. It was wonderful to observe students enthusiastically enjoying sport and working together to achieve the very best results for their individual Houses. The sportsmanship displayed by students and their willingness to participate in the different events was most impressive. At the end of the day the competition was won by Sulug with a very small margin over Gaya. Congratulations must go to Sulug House and to everyone for making the day such a great success. I want to thank all those parents who came along to cheer their children, the PTA for providing refreshments and my colleagues for helping to run the day. Lastly, I want to acknowledge the incredible efforts in organising the day. Well done everyone!

KIS Logo Update - Community Approval Required Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to complete the survey published last week. For those families who have not yet completed it, we ask you to complete the survey to indicate if you are happy for the amended shield logo (see right) to be adopted. The survey will be available until 8am on Monday 7th November and can be completed by clicking on the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KISLogoOct16 Thank you very much for your help and support. PTA AGM Thank you to all those parents and staff who attended the Wednesday morning PTA AGM. The new Steering Committee will be holding their first meeting this morning. Further information regarding the members of the new committee is available in the PTA section below. I look forward to working with the new committee during the coming year.

2017-18 Academic Calendar The academic calendar for 2017-18 is now available for parents via the school's website at: http://www.kis.edu.my/school-events-calendar/ or from the Dates for your Diary section below.

CIS 5 Year Review Visit On Monday 14th to Wednesday 16th November the school will be visited by two members of the Council of International Schools, who will be conducting their 5 Year Review Visit of the school. Over the past 12 months members of staff and the Board of Management have been preparing the school's 5 Year Report. The report was submitted to CIS at the end of September and the Visiting Team will spend 3 days in the school, looking at how we have grown and developed since their last visit in 2012 and reviewing the progress we have made in specific areas. During their time here they will be interested in speaking with staff, students and parents and we look forward to welcoming them to the school. Wishing you a pleasant weekend. Alan Connah Principal

Year 4 Assembly This morning will be a first for KIS and its year group assemblies. Year 4 are going to perform their assembly for their parents in the multi-purpose Room at 8am. Not only will it be the first time an assembly has been performed in that venue but also Ms Cole and Mr Shand have been working hard rehearsing with the students using black lighting. I was very lucky yesterday afternoon to get a sneak peek! The students performed very professionally in their costumes and hand-made fluorescent masks. I am sure all the Year 4 parents will be in for a great treat this morning.

Foundation 2 Visit Rasa Ria On Wednesday, F2 went on an excursion to Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort. The objective of this trip was to learn more about and explore a rainforest environment. Students were warmly greeted by staff and escorted to the resort’s Nature Interpretation Centre where they learnt about the successful orangutan rehabilitation programme that was previously run there. Students were then shown some traditional handmade Borneo traps. They learned how they were made and how they are used. At this point, the rain had stopped and they were lucky enough to go on a hike into the depths of the Sabah Rainforest. The trail was steep at times and students had to carefully balance across a wooden beam to avoid getting wet in a massive puddle. At the top of the trail, students steadied themselves and bravely walked across a tree top canopy walkway. They did wonderfully and thankfully everyone made it back down safely! After the hike, students were invited to help plant langsat and guava trees. At first, they were cautious and wanted to keep clean but soon decided to get their hands dirty! Hiking and tree planting proved very hungry work and we were not disappointed to find a delicious buffet waiting for us in one of the resort restaurants. They devoured pasta, pizza, sausage buns, sandwiches and rice, followed by cakes and fruit. The excursion was a great success and good fun was had by all! Nicky Russell Acting Head of Primary

Download the 2016/17 Academic Calendar Download the 2017/18 Academic Calendar

For more dates see the KIS Google Calendar

Friday 4th November: Year 4 Class Assembly

Friday 4th - Sat 5th Nov: DOE Bronze Training

Thursday 10th November: Year 2 Trip

Thursday 10th November: Year 3 Trip

Friday 11th - Sun 13th Nov: U15 FOBISIA Games, Nepal

Monday 14th - Weds 16th Nov: CIS 5 Year Review Visit

Year 8 Visit to the Music Department at UMS Year 8 visited the Music Department of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) on Monday 24th October. Some students would like to share what they thought about the trip: ‘The two places that I liked best were the hall and the audio room. I like the hall be-cause when we arrived there was a choir performance, which was excellent! I liked the audio room too because I really love music and I have never seen one before. I would not have thought that it was so expensive to set up an audio room, 1.5 million ringgit, and that was a great experience!’ Hippolyte One of the places I really liked was the recording studio. It consists of the drum kit and a grand piano. The function of this room was for people who play instruments or sing to make their recordings. I was really interested in how the walls were padded with acoustic panels for sound absorption, the use of wooden floor boards, and the wall behind the instruments which had wooden panels. Another place I liked was the audio room. The audio room consists of a huge sound recording mixing board. The function of this room is to listen to the process of the recordings. What caught my attention was the sound-proofed glass view looking into the recording studio. Chittudevi Mr. Kenneth taught us about the four-part harmony – soprano, alto, tenor and bass. He also showed us the different types of wind instru-ments and what these instruments play in the four-part harmony. He conducted the wind ensemble where there were flutes, clarinets, trum-pets, trombone, and saxophones. They performed two songs, one a Christmas Carol another one called Chester, which we sang along with. Hanifia During the Bamboo Ensemble performance, I saw some instruments which I have never seen before, like the ‘suling’. Their performance went very well. They performed ‘Kampung Boy’ and ‘Gunung Kinabalu’. I loved it very much. I enjoyed it because all the instruments, made from bamboo, made a very peaceful and joyful sound. Jasmine L.

Secondary Humanities Mrs Kelly reports on the work that goes on in the Secondary Humanities Department The Humanities Department includes History, Geography and Business Studies; these subjects may not seem to have much in common but in fact they do. All three subjects focus on the importance of cause and consequence which supports the development of the important aca-demic skills of reasoning, deduction and logic. History is a vast and entertaining topic populated by many interesting characters, some heroic but not many! Mrs Colbeck’s Year 9 History class have produced not one but two gory displays focusing on the Black Death i.e. the Bubonic Plague in 14th Century Europe. Currently, students on their way to class are treated to a fascinating exhibition of death, pestilence and disease. The story of the Black Death is told in a graphic and humourous way through fleas, well fed rats and dancing cadavers but its message about the cause, transmission and conse-quence of disease is still relevant today. The Zika Virus may not have the potential to kill millions like the Bubonic Plague but it reminds us that we must not become complacent about hygiene and cleanliness in our environment. In Year 9 Geography, teaching and learning is also closely linked with tangible examples from the natural world. The students have recently completed the module ‘Investigating Natural Hazards’ which includes the study of volcanoes, earthquakes and tropical storms. Coincidentally, the study of this fascinating topic was accompanied by earthquakes in Italy and Typhoons Karen and Lawin in the Philippines. Topical issues also feature heavily in Year 10. The students are studying the “Population” module as part of their IGCSE Geogra-phy course. Combining the factual content of the module with real examples from current events can help students develop their under-standing of cause and consequence. It also encourages them to become more mature in their critical thinking rather than just passive con-sumers of news events in the media. This trend of encouraging students to become more critical in their thinking is actively promoted in IGCSE Business Studies. It is accompanied by the development of practical skills through copying a business model in setting personal learning objectives and then evaluating them at a later date. Just as in IGCSE Geography, students in Year 10 are also encouraged to view themselves as more than just passive consumers in their education. By analysing the various roles within their recently completed “Business Activity” module, they are encouraged to identify themselves as active stakeholders within the KIS community. The primary purpose of teaching and learning in the Humanities Department is to achieve the KIS Mission Statement by supporting students to achieve their potential and take their place in the world as global citizens. To that end, the academic content of their course work is merged with the challenging reality of the world around them. The benefits of this approach are two-fold; firstly, it adds relevance to their course content through the use of tangible examples and secondly it gives students the confidence to face those challenges.

Secondary Sports Day Last Friday was the Secondary Sports Day which included all students from Year 7 – 13 participating in athletic events for their Houses. It was a fantastic day and I was so proud of the students for their hard work and team spirit on the day. I want to say a big thank you to all Secondary staff for their help on the day and to the PTA for providing much needed 100 Plus and ice creams. I also need to say a special thank you to our Secondary House Captains for organising their teams and leading by example on the day; and also to the Primary House Captains for assisting the teachers during the events. The event culminated with the all-important results and it was a pleasure to announce Sulug as the Sports Day Champions 2016. Well done!

U15 FOBISIA Games Next week will see our U15 FOBISIA team travel to Kathmandu, Nepal, for the U15 Games. We have a team of 20 boys and girls from Years 8, 9 and 10 attending to compete in Athletics, Football, Basketball and Rounders, which is a new sport for us. The team have been training hard and so I am sure they will represent KIS excellently at the Games. Natasha Hale Head of PE

Board of Management AGM - 22nd November, 8am The school's AGM will be held at 8am on Tuesday 22nd November in the School Hall and as a parent-run, not for profit school, it is essential that all parents demonstrate their support by attending this important meeting. The purpose of this meeting is two fold: to hear from serving Board Members as they report upon the past year's achievements and activi-ties, and to elect new Board Members for the coming year. The Board of Management has positions vacant for the term 2016/17. We re-quire passionate individuals with business, financial and strategic acumen to strengthen the skills at Board level. The process of applying to join the Board is as follows:

As per Article IX Clause 9 (a) and (b) of the Constitution please complete a " Nomination Form " to indicate your willingness to stand for elec-tion to serve for a 2-year period.

Provide a biography with a passport and family photo to Elis Ho (Office Manager) at officemanger@kis.edu.my

At the AGM all the candidates will have the opportunity to address the parent body with a short introduction outlining what they can

offer that makes them a preferred candidate to vote for. The vote will then take place.

After the AGM, the elected Board Members will elect the Office Bearers.

There are a few formalities that have to be completed with Ministry of Education and our financial institution, Maybank, depending on

your position on the Board. These are managed by the Office Manager on your behalf.

Once all the formalities are completed there is a Board Training Pack and induction period to familiarise new Board Members with their

role.

This is your opportunity to contribute to the future direction of the school. We hope to see you at the AGM and look forward to unprece-

dented parent participation this year!

KIS Board of Management

Annual General Meeting The PTA AGM was held on Wednesday, 2 November 2016. Thank you to all the parents and teachers who attended the meeting. A copy of the Steering Committee Report (including the Treasure's report ) is available here for your perusal. We are very pleased to share that your Steering Committee for 2016-2017 is: Florence Deschamps Mani Kadali Pauline Ma Swarna Kanpoori Yee Ting Tan The first PTA meeting for 2016-2017 will be held this Friday at 8am Thank you, PTASC 2015-2016