TENBY SCHOOLS IPOHNewsletter #86 - September 2015

In this issue of the newsletter:

Our IPC Journey in Year 6

Visit to Orphanage “Pertubuhan Badan Kebajikan Darusalam” for Hari Raya Celebration

Global Perspectives Debates II 2015

Sixth Form Bi-annual Leadership Camp

Announcing The Tempest by Cohort 12

Dear Parents and the School Community,

We trust that everyone has settled well into the routine of school. This week, I met more parents with two Meet & Greet sessions, one at Meru Raya campus and another at Tenby Early Years Centre Ipoh (TEYCI). The turnout for both sessions was promising and at TEYCI it was heartening to see nearly 50% attendance from parents. The purpose of the Meet & Greet session was to share Tenby’s vision which is “A United World At Peace – Through Education” and what the school aims to achieve by ensuring our students are equipped with different skills that will enable them to be lifelong learners.

During the Meet & Greet Session, we also reminded parents that any communication to the school should go through your son/daughter’s class/form/homeroom teacher in the first instance via the Student Planner. Class/Form/Homeroom Teachers will refer the matter to the relevant subject teacher (for primary school) or school leader if necessary. For secondary school, communication may be directly passed to the subject teacher. Alternatively, you may pass on your queries via e-mail to ipoh@tenby.edu.my or contact the school secretaries who will then forward their queries/comments to the teacher.

The school conducted a Fire Drill this morning and overall it was satisfactory. There were areas that we need to improve upon such as ensuring students are quiet and that they take any evacuation seriously. Health and safety is always a priority for us and this week we have introduced luminous yellow jackets for staff who are on duty so that students are able to know who to see if they need anything.

After nearly 6 weeks of operations, the new school Canteen has been running smoothly and we have seen healthier food options available for our students such as salads, fruits etc. This week the Canteen operator attended a feedback session with representatives from the PA and the School Leadership Team. The dialogue was constructive and we hope to see more improvements from the Canteen in terms of variety.

Tenby Schools, Ipoh offers a steadfast educational journey for young children. Our students have the great advantage of having a through education from Early Years through to pre-tertiary (A Levels) education within one institution. Indeed we expect all our students to complete their studies with A Level. As such we would like to remind parents (especially those with children in Year 11/Form 5) that a full term’s notice is required for withdrawal in order not to forfeit their deposit. This is because we expect all students to enter the Sixth Form for A Level.

As I write this article our students are preparing to leave for their Model United Nations Conference which will be held over 3 days in Fairview International School in Wangsa Maju, Selangor. 14 of our students are attending this Conference and they have been preparing for it for the past 3 weeks. We wish them all the best! On the homefront, our own Debate Club will be

organising the Global Perspective Debates from 18th to 20th September and you will read more about it further into this newsletter. Wishing everyone a great weekend ahead. Please remember that Wednesday is Malaysia Day (public holiday) next week.

From the Campus Principal Jane Kuok

Dear TISSI Community,

It has been a really great week in terms of parents embracing our open-door policy. I have over the first eight days of school, had the chance to meet a plethora of parents and guardians who have called in to discuss issues and clarify either policy or educational philosophy. There has been some robust discussion and it is clear that parents are becoming both more willing to enter into dialogue, and more proactive in the learning of their own child / ward. This is simply terrific. In months-past I have shared with the community our structure in terms of who best to make initial enquiries through. Pastoral issues or concerns are best addressed through the student’s form room tutor, or failing this through our Key Stage Leaders. When there are issues pertaining to specific subjects, in the first instance the initial port of call should either be the subject specialist teacher, or the Curriculum Area Leader. As a team of teachers, I know that my colleagues are only too happy to meet with parents and proffer their guidance and support. In keeping with enhancing greater dialogue between parents and teachers, it was great to see many TISSI parents take the opportunity on Wednesday to speak with form tutors or call in to classes to chat with subject teachers. I know that we will continue to strive for increasing the frequency and scope to promote discussion.

By the time this Newsletter is zipped across the net later this week, we will have held our first fire drill of this new academic year. As a young secondary student many years back, I recall one

of my teachers declaring to the class “practice makes permanent, and only perfect practice makes perfect”. It is with this in mind that we carry out such ‘drills’ in order to be in a state readiness should an actual fire occur. Health and safety continues to be a key issue right across the campus. As leader of the Health and Safety Committee on site, we strive to keep looking at the campus from all angles to ensure that we identifying any tangible risks posed to students, staff, parents and visitors. If in the course of your time on campus, something piques your attention, please do convey this to us, and we will seek to respond..

We have been working with Curriculum Area Leaders to identify slots for trips so that we can seek to better bring the curriculum to life. It is our goal to have trips across all year groups that bolster and reinforce learning, and where possible have a cross-curricular theme. If you are a parent who is involved in business, or is familiar with venues that may be regarded as a safe and valuable location to visit, then please do share this with us.

There are some contributions from colleagues within the school in this newsletter, and in our attempts to up the profile and vibrancy of this weekly to me, I am hoping that there will be more and more in the coming weeks.

Have a wonderful weekend, and have a brilliant Malaysia day next Wednesday.

From the Head of International Secondary Neil Page

This week I would like to pass on some views on:Learning with the International Primary Curriculum

We all recognise that it is a necessity for children to receive a great education. In the challenging global, interdependent world of the 21st century, it is more important than ever before. However, it is also more difficult than ever. In the same way that far fewer children play football because there are so many other competing things for them to do, so it’s far harder to help young children learn in school when other parts of their lives can seem so much more attractive, and when so many children are in homes – professional and non-professional – where time for parents to be attentive to their children is at a premium. This is the paradox we inherit. The need is great and, at the same time, the opposing forces are more powerful than they’ve ever been. Getting a primary curriculum right is more difficult today than it’s ever been because it has to meet multiple goals. Of all those goals, the most essential ones are:

Rigorous learning: This is paying attention to essential and transformational knowledge, to the development of key skills, and to the slow, steady progress towards deep understanding across a broad range of subjects.

High levels of children’s engagement: We need to ensure that rigorous learning can win the battle against superficially more exciting out-of-school activities so that children enjoy it, stick to it and come to like learning enough to want to continue throughout their lives. This must incorporate easy, accessible opportunities for parents to get involved in order to encourage and support their

kids.

International, global and intercultural awareness: So many of our problems at local and global level are caused by different groups not knowing or respecting each other. So many of the key problems we face today will only be solved through local and global cooperation. So many of the opportunities open to our current generation of children will be in countries and cultures different from the one in which they are growing up.The development of personal dispositions: Creating opportunities for children to develop qualities that will help them on their journey through life as individuals, citizens and partners. These qualities being adaptability, morality, respect, resilience, enquiry, cooperation, communication and thoughtfulness.

Supporting teachers: Providing teachers with everything they might need to make the curriculum work to its very best for every single child.Supporting schools: Providing all that a school requires to be confident in delivering good practice.

A curriculum that thoroughly meets each one of these priority areas is not an easy trick to pull off. Feedback from other schools, parents, teachers, children, inspectors and authorities across the globe, tells us that – the International Primary Curriculum – is well on the way to achieving these goals. This is why we incorporate the IPC into our school. The IPC will help parents as well as their children realise that learning can be meaningful, inspiring and fun.”

From the Acting Head of International Primary David Key

Brainpower? Game On! Competition

Sekolah Tenby organised the inauguaral ‘Brainpower? Game On! Competition’ for students from KBSR 6 to KBSM 5 and it is hope that this will be an annual event for our students. The main objectives of having this competition are:

To expose students to how the actual Mighty Minds competition is run so they may be able to take part with confidence.To encourage students to read more since the competition is general knowledge based.To encourage out-of-the-box thinking and creativity in building models based on scientific principles.To have students spend some time constructively after the exams.To build on student teamwork and cooperation.

Because the KBSR 6 students were going to sit for their trial exams at the time, it was decided that the competition be open to KSSR 5 instead this year. By deadline, a total of 14 teams had signed up – KSSR 5 (3 teams), KBSM 1 (3), KBSM 2 (3), KBSM 3 (1), KBSM 4 (2) and KBSM 5 (2).

The following dates were set for the various rounds of competition:

Round One (08.07.15)Multiple-choice questionsRound Two (09.07.15)Model construction and presentationRound Three (09.07.15)Buzzer quizRound Four/Final round (14.07.15)Model/prototype invention and presentation

At each round, points were counted and the lower-scoring teams knocked out. The top-scoring three teams made it to the Final round. The final presentation of the team prototypes was done during the Tuesday morning Sekolah Tenby assembly with four teachers roped in as judges. Each team had to build a model of an ecologically-sound invention that would help cool down homes and office buildings without utilizing unnecessary resources.

The three finalist teams were made up of one KBSM 5 and the two KBSM 4 teams. When the final scores were tallied, our KBSM 4 team comprising Lean Wern, Kaleswar and Sureinder was judged champions of the inaugural Brainpower? Game On! competition. The winning team was awarded a Challenge Trophy, and book vouchers. All three finalist teams received congratulatory certificates.

From the Head of Sekolah Tenby Choong Chee Kong

Dear Parents/Guardians,

It has been a busy second week at TEYCI and its lovely to have the buzz back in the school from having all the children now in. Our Nursery and Reception children have made a good start to school and are settling well. Parents are now dropping off their child with less hassle and stress watching them waving good bye without tears.The teachers and students have come up with special names for their respective classes. We are pleased to share:Toddlers FS1A (Little Dolphins) & FS1B (Little Nemos)Nursery FS2A (Little Tulips) & FS2B (Little Daffodils)Reception FS3A (Little Da Vinci’s) & FS3B (Little Einstein’s)

Curriculum:All classes have started their Entry Point to their respective topics in the IPC. They will be exploring the contents through books, project work, discussions, research and activities ensuring that all areas of the curriculum is covered. Letters informing parents on the areas of study will be sent out by this week. Nursery will begin with the theme “All About Me”. The Reception covers on the theme “Plants and Flowers” and Year 1’s “Brainwave”.

Rewards:Children are rewarded every week in various ways. Certificates are awarded every week to two children from each level during whole school assembly. This award is presented for a particularly good piece of work, exemplary attitude or general good behaviour. Star stickers are also presented by teachers in class for other various reasons/ accomplishment.

After School Enrichment Class:

School Times:An area for concern is school time. Now that children have settled in well, we would appreciate if they are in school as scheduled to enable the teachers to start their lessons/activities on time. Coming in early also gives your child the privilege to have a more one to one session with the teacher to work on areas of concern.

From the Tenby Early Years Centre, Ipoh (TEYCI) Puvanes Mahendran

Item Target Group Day Time

Foundations of Music Nursery, Reception

& Year 1

Monday 13:45hrs – 14:45hrs

Art and Craft Wednesday 13:45hrs – 14:45hrs Mandarin Tuesday & Thursday 13:45hrs – 14:45hrs

Day FS1 (Toddler) FS2 (Nursery) & FS3 (Reception) Year 1

Monday- Thursday 08:30hrs – 12:30hrs 08:00hrs – 13:00hrs 07:45hrs – 13:30hrs

Friday 08:30hrs – 12:00hrs 08:00hrs – 12:30hrs 07:45hrs – 12:30hrs

PH (Naional Day) Wednesday 16th September, 2015

PH (Hari Raya Haji)Thursday 24th September, 2015

Parents’ Meet and Greet:Many thanks to those parents/guardians who made themselves free and came along to our Meet and Greet sessions on Thursday 10th September. We do hope the session was insightful.Finally, thank you again for your continued support and please pop in or telephone if you have anything you would like to talk about.

Have a lovely weekend!!!!!

Sneak a Peek!

The First Markings and Activities of Nursery Children

Welcome to our world of colours! Look! That is me! Don’t I look pretty or handsome!

Role play – Pretending to be daddy and mummy!

Hello Parents/Guardians

The beginning of Term 1 marks a big change for children and parents alike, but both the Reception and Nursery classes are settling really well and enjoying exploring their new classroom environment. Here are some of the things we did this week!

Little Fish Nursery Class: Our IPC topic this half term is “All About Me” and this will span across the 7 areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage. Here are some of the activities they learned through.

Busy Bees and Dragonfly Reception Classes:The reception classes are learning about “Plants and Flowers” this half term. For our entry point we planted seeds in individually designed and painted pots.

We also started working on number recognition and made some lovely number worms for our garden.

We started Read, Write Inc this week and have learned for sounds for m, a, s, d and t. Here we are practicing!

Dates for your Diary:Parent Workshop: “Supporting Your Child’s Phonics and Reading” – coming soon!

Reminders:• Sun hats please! Without hats we cannot go to our gardening plot• Please return home/school communication books everyday.

Request:We would like to make “phonic pots” to support children’s phonics. We are looking for donations of small toys/items for this. We thank you in advance.

From the Head of Tenby Early Years Centre, Meru Samantha Leuty

By finding out more about how we learn, and how we can improve our learning, we will be better equipped for meeting the many challenges ahead of us.

Your body is like an engine that never stops working. By knowing how the body works we can learn to look after it better and stay healthy. Do you know how to look after your teeth, heart, bones and muscles? Let’s find out.

What holds an empire together? Perhaps it is faith. Perhaps it is dependency. Or perhaps it is leadership. These bonds help to make empires strong. But the bigger they become, the more difficult they are to hold together…

These days we have lots of science knowledge at our fingertips. The science knowledge in books and websites is what other scientists have discovered in the past. To discover new things ourselves we need to be able to ‘do’ science not just ‘know’ about it.

Every single living species is uniquely adapted to its life on Earth, and that includes us, humans. Living things exist in an amazing variety of forms. Why is there so much variety and how do scientists sort, identify and classify the 1.7 million species living today?

One day, you should have the right to vote – to decide who will lead your country. What will you do with your vote? Which party or leader would you choose? What issues would get your attention? Politics is about taking an active role and interest in the future, to improve our lives and those of others.

Is this neighbourhood a good place to live – what do you think? Have you ever wondered why people in the past chose to live here? Together, we are going to find out about the places where people live. We’ll be looking at different countries as well as different times in history and different societies.

OUR IPC JOURNEY IN YEAR 6

Year 6 will be undertaking seven exciting International Primary Curriculum (IPC) topics within the academic year. The following is a summary of what our students will be learning.

News from…… TENBY SCHOOLS IPOH INTERACT CLUB

SERVICE ABOVE SELF

VISIT TO ORPHANAGE “PERTUBUHAN BADAN KEBAJIKAN DARUSALAM” FOR HARI RAYA CELEBRATION

The Interact Club of Tenby Schools Ipoh had the opportunity to visit some 35 orphans at the above premise on Wednesday 15.07.15 which was the last day of the term. To raise funds for this charity, members of the club organised games, which were paid for by students, during break times, sold doughnuts, bookmarks, button badges and contributions from teachers and parents. The total sum collected was RM1,654.00. On Monday 13.07.15, the Board and Teacher Advisors were off to Mydin Mall to purchase essentials for children of the home.

On that Wednesday, some 20 members of the club travelled in our school bus and our Teachers’ cars to our destination. Reaching there, we were welcomed by the caretakers of the home headed by Encik Mohd Basri. Interactors mingled with the children and being conservative, the girls and boys stayed with their respective gender. The children of the home were considerably shy and needed prompting to mix with us. However, they got over it after some time and played games in their groups organised by fellow Interactors.

The Head caretaker of the home, explained to us the timeline since the home was established and how the children got absorbed in. We then handed the rice bags, cooking oil, biscuits, beverages and some cooking utensils for the home which were well received. The children were then requested to queue up to receive their Hari Raya monetary gift of RM10.00 each. Parents of Nuraizah Chai, our fellow Interactor, also shared out some monetary gift packets with the children as well. Indeed the beaming smile on the children’s faces was a sight to behold. We left the home circa 17:00 hrs knowing we touched the hearts of these children as they celebrate a new year of Syawal on a positive note. Nevertheless a feeling of thankfulness for having a home to go to and parents to greet us left a worthy smile on our faces and a reminder to always count our blessings and never take life for granted.

Reported by,Deborah (KBSM 2A), Secretary

Mohd Iqbal (KBSM 4), Sargeant-at-Arms

WHAT’S GOING ON AT SIXTH FORMGLOBAL PERSPECTIVES DEBATES II/2015

On 18.09.15 and 19.09.15 and Tenby Schools Ipoh will serve once again as the crucible where Perak’s best school debaters in English will experience the fine art of debating in the British Parliamentary tradition. More than ten schools have entered their teams to participate in this fiesta of words and which has become Tenby Ipoh’s biannual tradition.

Global Perspectives II/2015 is organised by the Tenby Sixth Form Council under the patronage of Tenby Schools Ipoh. It is held with the following objectives in mind:(a) To promote a greater awareness of global issues of wide concern to humanity.(b) To encourage reading and discussion of issues of global concern to mankind.(c) To encourage a spirit of voluntarism and civic action for the creation of a better world.(d) To foster a personal commitment towards collaborative action for the creation of a better world.(e) To foster the growth of ideas for better global governance and global citizenship amongst our students.

Among the schools which have confirmed their participation are:

Also attending as observers are students and teachers from Wesley Methodist School, Ipoh.Day 1 of the debates will be from 15:00hrs on Friday 18th September till 18:00hrs. Day 2 will commence at 08:00hrs and is expected to end by 17:30hrs on Saturday 19th September. The debates will be held in the Tenby Schools’ Auditorium and in the Sixth Form classrooms.

The topics to be debated are the following: 1. “The pen is mightier than the sword” 2. “There should be quotas for women in every sector.” 3. “People today have less regard for decency.” 4. “Social media networks should be more tightly regulated.” 5. “Artists should have maximum freedom in society.”

Parents, students and teachers of the Tenby fraternity are cordially invited to attend the debates. The debates are also open to all interested members of the public.The Global Perspectives Debates are organised twice a year by the Sixth Form Council under the auspices of Tenby Schools Ipoh.

1. Tenby International School, Ipoh 2. SM Tenby, Ipoh3. SMK Ave Maria Convent, Ipoh 4. The Malay College, Kuala Kangsar 5. SMK Sam Tet, Ipoh

6. SMK Gunung Rapat,Ipoh 7. Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Ipoh 8. Poi Lam Private School, Ipoh 9. SMK Seri Keledang, Ipoh

Day 1 (28th August 2015)

Do you remember the last time you gave back to society?

On 28th August 2015, the Cohort 12s visited Cameron Highlands to not only present charitable offerings to an orang asli village, but also to tighten the bonds between our friendships as well as with our teachers.

By 13:00 hrs., the Multi Purpose Hall (MPH) was crowded with eager students waiting for the arrival of the bus. The trip had hardly started and already the students had an emotional moment. Sadly, a fellow classmate, Tim, was unable to join us on the trip. It was supposed to be the last get together and the students wanted to make it memorable. At 14:00 hrs, we, the Cohort 12s, departed to Tanah Rata. We were accompanied by Ms. Mangales and Miss Kasturi on the bus.

The ride lasted for about an hour. When we arrived, we saw Mr. Alex waiting for us at the foot of the hill where Kampung Perghom is located. We carried the food that we had bought the day before uphill to Kg. Perghom. It was a tiring journey with rain pouring heavily midway but the students never gave in and reached the village. Our cohort president, Anna Varghese, presented the items on behalf of our cohort. The children were extremely timid and hesitant but after a couple of minutes of social interaction, they seemed to be less intimidated. Curious at the sight of the cameras, they surrounded and pounced onto our photographer. Along with the children, the students played a game of "Human Limbo" which involved the player having to bend backward in order to get pass a line of a certain height. The younger children were constantly encouraged and motivated as they started gaining confidence and interest. That was not all, the youngsters continued their fun time with other games such as musical chairs, ‘eagle and chicken’, and many more. At the end of the day, words could not express how fun and enjoyable the time had been.

Upon our arrival at the hostel, Barre IJ Centre, after a 2 hour trip, feeling exhausted the students dragged themselves into the rooms they shared amongst each other. At 19:00 hrs, rice was served with curry chicken and vegetables. Although the meal was simple, we still wolfed down every grain of rice.

Following the dinner was the Leadership training led by Mr. Louis revolving around the topic 'A United World At Peace'. Before beginning our session, we had to play a little game for team building activity. Some of the students came up with a game of charades wherein the participants have to guess what the person is acting. Mr Louis was the one giving names of significant people and we had to act them out. Some were relatively easy, such as Hitler, Bruce Lee, Buddha, etc., while others such as Obama and Bill Gates were quite challenging. After that, students spilt up into groups to discuss and brainstorm on the topics given by Mr Louis. By the end of the session, we had to do a presentation on mahjong paper. There were many insightful presentations regarding the different topics that were given.

After the session, we were given free time to walk around to the shops nearby our hostel that were about 10 minutes’ walking distance. Upon discovering Starbucks down the street, many students decided to chill and have a drink there. With drinks and companions, time flew by really fast and the clock soon struck 11, a signal for the students to head back. Dead tired from a long day of activities, we scurried into our beds and fell asleep right away. Awaiting them the next day was another set of activities.

Day 2 (29th August 2015)

It was six in the morning when our alarms began to sound. We were all glued to our beds with our blankets covered right up till our necks but eventually we had to get out of bed sooner or later. We headed down only to find the typical Malaysian breakfast sitting on the table. Nasi Lemak! We then took a stroll around the compound out in the chilly weather and we took lots of pictures as well before heading back inside for our first session of the day.

We started off our workshop with some simple icebreaking activities conducted by two students to get us to mix around with each other and strengthen our bond. We then proceeded with our workshop on “Satu Malaysia” where Mr Louis showed us a video on the speech in Oslo given by Ambiga Sreenevasan, an inspirational Malaysian lawyer on the “The Role of Civil Society in a Democracy”. We split up into groups and talked about how we could create a better world if we had the power to do so in the future. Each group

SIXTH FORM BI-ANNUAL LEADERSHIP CAMP, CAMERON HIGHLANDS

would have to then share their views. After doing so, we had a short 15 minute tea-break followed by a preparation session where we were given a choice to prepare several activities, such as sketches, on promoting peace or conflict. We also had to carry out presentations on the Apostles of Peace, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, who brought the people together through peace instead of war.

Once we were done, lunch was served! It was about an hour after lunch when we left for the Sungei Pallas BOH Tea Plantation. When we arrived, we were all stunned by the amazing sight that we stood before. It was breathtaking and we couldn’t resist taking loads of pictures. We also learnt about how tea was made as we saw the process being carried out in the factory. After we were satisfied, we got back on the bus and headed to a Bee Farm. We spent about half an hour in the bee farm. Some of us bought souvenirs from the gift shop for friends, who were not able to attend, as well as for family members. When it was time to leave, we all got back on the bus, exhausted.

We reached Barre IJ Centre at 17:30 hrs and had our final session with Mr Louis on the UN Declaration on Human Rights. We began with a simple game of charades and yet something so simple could bring so much joy when you’re with others. We viewed a documentary entitled “The Hidden Genocide” about the Rohingyas in Myanmar. We were all shocked and horrified when we were aware that there were mass murders going on when we were probably sitting at home in our couches and lazing around.

We were then given about an hour to freshen up before heading out for our highlight of the night. We went to a halal Chinese restaurant for a steamboat dinner in Brinchang and then we had an hour to wander about in a local ‘pasar malam’ nearby followed by a stop by a ‘mamak’ restaurant that was about only 10 minutes of walking distance from Barre IJ Centre. We all felt that it was very important that we had at least some time to wander about and hang out because as one of the students said, “We are so divided into the arts and science stream that we barely see each other in school and this little time that we had has enabled to create a stronger bond between each and every one of us no matter how different we are,”. We finally reached back at about 23:45 hrs and rested till the sun came up.

Day 3 (30th August 2015)

It was our final day on this trip. We had our breakfast at 07:00 hrs before beginning our highlight of the day which was jungle trekking. It was the perfect weather for us to carry out our jungle trekking activity. Around eight in the morning, our trekking guides, Mr Ong and Mr Atan, gave us a short briefing before we began. They gave us a short introduction to themselves and asked if anyone of us had health issues or injuries. Mr Ong warned us of the possibilities of dangers that we had to look out for ourselves but along the whole way, Mr Ong prioritized our safety. It was a great experience for most of us have never been jungle trekking before. The jungle was well preserved and unpolluted (unlike our concrete jungle). The track was pretty challenging as it was pretty steep and we had to help one another. We took about two hours (only) for us to trek through the forest and we all made it out alive.

All of us had an amazing time and even though there were a couple of us took the wrong track and ended up being in a mess, we had an amazing time. We returned to the lodge to clean ourselves up before heading for our final meal before hitting the road. On the way back, we stopped by the Avant Garden to take a few pictures for last memories and sat down for some tea.

Finally, we arrived in Ipoh about half past five in the evening. All in all, I can say that we all had a great time and really go to know each other more. From this trip, we learnt how important it was that we, as a cohort, should get to know one another and act as a family and always being there for each other.

On the behalf of Cohort 12, I would like to thank Ms Mangales, Mr Louis, Miss Kasturi and Mr Alex Chuah for making this camp a HUGE success and also giving up their weekends to go on this trip with us. This camp was really eye opening to most of us and this camp has pulled off a great start to our next 18 months.

Written by: Phoebe Jane (Cohort 12)

We had to carry the food items we donated uphill to the orang asli village.

The children were playing a game of musical chairs.

We were socializing with the kids.

Announcing “The Tempest” by Cohort 12 Our newest Sixth Form class is cohort 12 with 24 students who are now in the throes of rehearsing Shakespeare’s last play “The Tempest”, a story of usurpation and betrayal ultimately redeemed by justice and forgiveness.

“It is also a reflection on how colonialism debases its victims,” remarks Sixth Former, Balasubramaniam, who as the director of the production, faces a huge challenge of making the play relevant to our Malaysian school audiences.

The class meets every Monday for its weekly rehearsals and hopes to get the production ready by early October.

“We hope to be able to stage the play for our own school in early October, and, thereafter, we hope to stage the play at various schools in Ipoh,” says Phoebe Jane, the co-director.

The Shakespearean drama tradition remains strong and vibrant in the Tenby Sixth Form in TISS Ipoh thanks to the ardent support of Principal Mr. Page and our teachers.

“Our previous plays are on show on YouTube,” declares co-director Shih Liz. “Among them is “As You Like It” which was staged in 2014 at Malay College, Kuala Kangsar, in conjunction with the National Schools Drama Festival (North Zone).”

The drama tradition is an indispensable medium through which a high degree of social bonding and class cohesion is achieved in our Tenby Sixth Form programme.

Balasubramaniam (center), our home grown director for Cohort 12’s “The Tempest”