Download - Festival of Lights at Tenby Schools Ipoh
Newsletter No. 59 - October 2014
Festival of Lights at
Tenby Schools Ipoh
Tenby Schools Ipoh celebrated the Festival
of Lights this year on Tuesday, 21 October
2014 before the Deepavali break. The
Deepavali Assembly was held at the school
multi-purpose hall with the gathering of
more than 1000 students and staff from
both Tenby International School and
Sekolah Tenby. The assembly started off
with the lighting of lamps by Mr Howard
Bullock, Mr Lee Harvey, Mr Neil Page,
Mdm Soot and Mrs Puvanes and the event
committee members. It was then followed
with Deepavali themed dance performanc-
es and a sketch by students from both
schools. The assembly ended around
9.30am with a fashion parade by the stu-
dents adorned in their colourful traditional
Indian costumes.
More pictures inside >>>
One of the Deepavali
themed activities:
Students of Sekolah
Tenby with Ms Yulaga,
drawing a ‘kolam’ by
using white and
coloured rice powder.
The masterpiece by students and teacher.
Deepavali Assembly 2014
From the Campus Principal
I would like to begin this week’s newsletter with details of our newly
appointed SENCO (coordinator for Special Needs). After an extensive
search and a very rigorous interview procedure, we have appointed Ms
Deborah Jones to this key role. Deborah is currently SENCO at a large
school in South Wales and in fact currently works in the same town that
brought us Mr. Harvey and Mr. Page! Her role will cover the entire campus
including IISEYC and she brings with her over twenty years’ experience as
a SENCO. Deborah is very excited about her move to Ipoh and is already
booking her ticket to fly here. We look forward to welcoming her to our school at the begin-
ning of next term.
In our last letter I wrote about the next meeting of the committee of the Parents’ Association.
I am pleased to announce that this will take place on Wednesday 12th November. Please do
feel free to forward any items for our agenda either through a committee member or by email
to [email protected] . The minutes of the meeting will be available to parents after-
wards and I will also write a summary of our discussions in the newsletter following the meet-
ing.
This week saw the termly meeting of the School Board of Tenby Schools, Ipoh. The meeting
was chaired by Mr Alister Bartholomew, CEO of Tenby Educare, and representatives of our
corporate team as well as our two parent representatives were in attendance. A lot of very
useful ground was covered, not least in terms of our short and medium term development.
Year 5 have had a busy week with a trip to Kuala Lumpur to visit the Planetarium as well as
preparing for their class assembly which takes place today. Meanwhile our Early Years
students have been very excited in getting ready for their special assembly in line with the
theme of different culture which they have been covering in their class studies.
The Meru Campus came together on Tuesday 21st October for our celebration of Deepavali.
There were a number of exciting performances from all sections of the school and I thank
Ms. Mangales and her team for all of the hard work that went into preparing for the day.
IISEYC also held a very exciting Deepavali assembly with an excellent drama performed by
their teachers. Preparations are now underway for our Christmas assemblies.
With best wishes for a pleasant weekend.
Howard Bullock.
Message from the Head of International Secondary
I hope that all members of our community enjoyed their 3 days off school
last week, taking the time to rest and have some down time. For all those
people who participated in Deepavali celebrations, I similarly hope that it
was a blessed time.
At TIS Secondary, we ae proud of the innovations we are implementing to
positively promote a greater degree of school – home communication. The
daily online access by Parents to being able to review their children’s progress and attain-
ment is now possible through Class Dojo. This was a scheme piloted and driven by Miss
Nikki Sullivan, and is something due to its success, we are wheeling out right across Years
7 – 11. Letters have gone home in this regard, and there is additional guidance on access
via this newsletter. Many thanks to Miss Nikki for this new facility, and I hope that the
response from parents is suitably positive.
In response to last year’s perceived criticisms of our limits on the frequency of off-site trips,
I am proud to report that on top of our Tioman Island ‘KS3 Humanities Trip’, we also have
on offer a London ‘Arts Trip’, and a Camps International Trip to Laos. Trips can only run
with positive levels of participation, and by the willingness of teachers to give up their time
to organise and run such opportunities.
With just a little over 5 weeks of school remaining until the end of Term 1 Christmas vaca-
tion, I am keen to see students striving to achieve their respective academic goals right
across the curriculum. It will be only a short while after we return when reports will be sent
out and Parent-teacher conferences will be undertaken.
Neil Page
Message from the Head of International Primary
International Primary IPC Update
We would like to inform you that the school has created our own IPC website.
You can access it by going to http://ipcattis.wix.com/ipcattis, or by going to the
Tenby Schools, Ipoh website and clicking on the tab “IPC’. The website will
give you information on the philosophy, structure and outcomes of the IPC. It
also gives you information on the IPC units your child/ward is learning from,
and what they will be studying in each unit. Circulars and documents on the
IPC will be included in the ‘download’ section of our school IPC website.
Following the IPC presentation that was held on the 1st October, feedback from parents/
guardians was that they would like to get more involved in their child/ward’s learning. To help
you do this, we have created ‘IPC Home Learning’ folders.
A home learning circular was sent to all parents/guardians of year 1 to 6 students on the 13th
October. The circular explained how the KWHL grids work, how parents/guardians would
have questions to guide learning conversations with their child/ward, and how often you
should have these learning conversations. If the circular has been misplaced, you can find it
in the ‘downloads’ section on our school’s IPC website (http://ipcattis.wix.com/ipcattis#!
downloads/c1jjo) .
These folders are an important way of supporting the learning of your child/ward, so I would
greatly appreciate it if you can get involved. The folders will be looked at by class teachers,
during Knowledge Harvests and Exit Points, to check the learning of your child/ward, and to
adjust planning to ensure IPC lessons are covering the needs of each learner.
You can also insert into the folders any research tasks that you have done at home with your
child/ward to help them further their knowledge, skills and understanding of the topic.
If you have any further questions about the ‘IPC Home Learning’ folders, please send an e-
mail to Mr Andrew Hamilton at [email protected].
Lee Harvey
Message from the Head of Sekolah Tenby
Next week, Sekolah Tenby students, both primary and secondary, will
be sitting the End of Year Examination. On Monday, 3 November, the
SPM starts for SM 5 students. The teachers and I would like to wish
our students all the best in this coming exam and pray that they enter
the exam hall with clarity of mind and the ability to recall all that they
have learned over the years and to apply the skills that they have
been taught to give the best answers they can for every subject they
are sitting.
SR6 and SM 3 teachers are organizing some “happening” activities for these stu-
dents who have recently completed their UPSR and PT3 respectively. There will be
group activities and I am sure great things will happen when students team up and
work together towards a common goal. These activities are great opportunities for
our students to pick up leadership and organisation skills as they get involved in the
planning and executing their plans. The highlight for SR 6 will be the Graduation
Night on 21 November. This is the first time we have organized this event and we
are working very hard to make it a night to remember for our 12 year-olds before they
move up to secondary school next year. Entitled “Shine like a Star”, our SR 6 are
all ready to dazzle us with their creativity and talent!
Have a blessed weekend, everyone!
Madam Soot MC
Message from the Head of IIS Early Years Centre
We may have had only 2 days of schooling last week but the staff and
children had a great time ending the days with Deepavali Celebration and
classroom activities.
Deepavali Celebration – 20th
October 2014
The staff and children were all dressed in the Indian traditional costume and
the teachers acted out the story “Ravana” and “Krishna” of why Deepavali is
celebrating. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness,
knowledge over ignorance, good over evil and hope over despair.
Security Pass
As you are aware of security pass has been issued to every parent/guardian end of last term
to ensure the safety of our students in the school. However, we notice parents have not been
wearing their passes when they are in the school ground. We would appreciate if you could
adhere to the rules and regulations set by the school.
“All Hallows Eve Competition”
This Friday, 31st
October 2014 we will get to see our little ones parading themselves for a
‘Costume’ competition in conjunction with “All Hallows Eve Competition”. The winner will be
featured in next week’s issue of our Newsletter.
Lighting of lamps by the
Campus Principal and the
Heads of Schools.
Children dressing up in traditional
Indian costumes.
Ms Mah is ‘Lord Krishna’
and Ms Janel is ‘Ravana’
in the sketch.
Deepavali celebration at IISEYC.
At IISEYC
Avryl Doh
Huntur Reiff Chan Tan Yin Xuan
Joleisa Chan
Yasmine Soe
Yong Cody Zoe Chor
Certificates were awarded to these children during the assembly. Well done!
Have a good week.
Puvanes Mahendran
We are in The EXPAT magazine!
Do look out for our article featured in
the October 2014 issue of The Expat
magazine (under the School Snaps
section).
Deepavali Assembly 2014 at Meru Raya Campus
Dance performance by the A Levels
The assembly started off with the lighting of lamps.
TIS Secondary
Dance: Light by KBSR
TIS Primary Sketch: Gumantung by A Levels
Modern Indian Dance by KBSM
Fashion Parade
Fashion Parade
2014
The
Results
1st Megan Abeileigh Hannah Fishwick 23m44s
2nd Bronte Leah Fishwick 26m26s
3rd Tan Shing Yee 27m35s
4th Thang Kitt Fay 27m40s
5th Christina Wong Khai Wen 27m59s
6th Julia Elisa Haglsperger 28m04s
7th Lara Alina Zaman 28m06s
8th Shruti Kamal 29m02s
9th Yap Shen Hwei, Nicole 29m11s
10th Deborah Caitin Howell 29m40s
Top 10 Lower Secondary - Boys
1st Rikitada Araki 19m12s
2nd Tan Choong Yen 20m18s
3rd Chen LiJie 20m57s
4th Matthew Siew Yang Wang 21m29s
5th Irwin Lam Khai Ze 21m34s
6th Thevinthiran a/l Manivail 21m43s
7th Zul Irwan bin Zul Ikran Chai 22m04s
8th Danaraj Pillai a/l Balakrish-nan
22m57s
9th Loo Zi Kang, Vincent 23m24s
10th Charles Tan 23m51s
Top 10 Lower Secondary - Girls
Megan
Bronte
Rikitada
Choong Yen
2014
The
Results
1st Ishagit Kaur a/p Dalgit Singh 24m42s
2nd Warunya Lawpattanagoon 25m58s
3rd Emily Ho 26m07s
4th Lisa Elizabeth Finney 26m25s
5th Melinda Teh Hui Yu 26m40s
6th Yap LiYing 27m23s
7th Chantelle Alanis Wyllie 27m45s
8th Celine Yong Sze Ching 28m35s
9th Margaret Lim Jo Ee 29m02s
10th Melanie Teh Hui Jia 29m58s
Top 10 Upper Secondary - Girls
1st Jonathan Ng 20m
2nd Tan Zen-Ferng 20m50s
3rd Derrick Yuen Wen Di 20m57s
4th Vikneshwaren Balasundaram 21m16s
5th Iman bin Roziman 21m40s
6th James Ng Jia Cheng 21m53s
7th Caelan Caesar 22m04s
8th Tan Qi Kian, Jacky 22m18s
9th Rohan Nachiappan 22m35s
10th Jonathan William Abernethy 22m38s
Top 10 Upper Secondary - Boys
Overall House Points:
Lower Secondary
Girls
Lower Secondary
Boys
Upper Secondary
Girls
Upper Secondary
Boys
1st 89 83 76 95
2nd 66 78 53 72
3rd 58 73 45 58
4th 51 70 36 51
Ishagit
Warunya
Jonathan
Zen-Ferng
District Governor’s Official Visit
Service Above Self
Tenby Schools Ipoh was fortunate to have
the District Governor Ms. Kirenjit Kaur visit
our campus on Monday, 22nd
September
2014. This was in lieu with the Rotary
Club’s Annual District Governor’s intention
to ensure relevance in a changing society
and meet our Interactors to plan and over-
see projects that have been undertaken
during the current Board’s term.
Her troop was welcomed by the Board
and Teacher Advisors. At the auditorium,
each Board Members projected their duties
and completed projects in graphics and
their future plans as well. Ms. Kirenjit Kaur
was impressed with the presentation made
by the board members and commended
our stalwarts for being the only ones so far
compared to other schools, to be able to
clarify and project their initiations.
Her speech was followed by Mr Choola
Adris, Assistant District Governor, who
talked about working as a team in ensuring
understanding and service in society. Our
Campus Principal, Mr. Howard Bullock
joined us in welcoming the Rotarians and
thanked them for their support and
guidance towards the Interact Club’s
endeavours.
Group work ensued among Interactors
on a given topic “Wishes for your Interact
Club” by fellow Rotarians. Tea and cakes
were served for the Rotarians before their
departure to their next meeting.
By Annisa Afandi (KBSM 3A)
Ms Kirenjit Kaur and the Rotarians with Mr Howard
and Teacher Advisors: Mrs Bernie & Pn Siti.
Students doing their project in groups.
Educational Visit to Our Historical Heritage Malacca
On 20th October 2014, students of KBSM3
visited the historical City of Malacca. There
were 22 students accompanied by teachers
Puan Siti Mariam, Mrs Bernie Victor and Mr
Teoh Wah Kin. The objectives of the trip
were to view historical places in Malacca
and at the same time explore historical facts
relating to lessons learnt in class. It also
served as leisure and a sight-seeing trip.
We departed from the School by bus at
6.50a.m. and after taking our breakfast at
an R & R, we arrived in Malacca at 2.00
p.m. On the first day, we visited various
historical sites and places of interest, most
notably the ‘A FAMOSA’, the Menara
Taming Sari and enjoyed the Melaka
River Cruise.
‘A FAMOSA’, the famed historic fort
was built by the Portuguese in 1511. We
were amazed to see remnants of the centu-
ries-old fort and the cannons used at that
time. In the vicinity, we were able to relate
the various heritage buildings there such as
churches and administrative centre with
architectural designs of the Portuguese,
Dutch and British colonial powers.
It was fun-time as all of us took the
opportunity to experience rides on the
colourfully decorated trishaw or locally
known as ‘beca’. We imagined ourselves as
the modern days’ ‘babas’ and ‘nyonyas’ of
Malacca and excitedly snapped photo-
graphs of each other on the vehicles.
The Menara Taming Sari, a 110 metres
viewing tower was designed based on the
legendary Taming Sari Keris. It is a fully
revolving structure with a clear and pano-
ramic ‘360 degrees’ view of Malacca from
80 metres up at the revolving section. The
view was fantastic.
The Melaka River Cruise, a 45-minute
cruise was accompanied by an entertaining
and informative historical commentary while
we saw parts of historical Malacca. Later,
with the approaching sunset, the sight was
enthralling as the sky slowly got darker and
the gleam of the sun’s rays fell upon the
river.
At the famous “A Famosa’.
Melaka River Cruise
The next day was just as exciting as
we visited Kampung Cantik. There, we
watched various demonstrations such as
‘silat’, ‘top’ or ‘gasing’ spinning and most excit-
ingly, rubber-tapping. Also, we learned how to
make ‘ketupat’ casings and play ‘congkak’.
After a late lunch served at the village, it was
time to say goodbye. We departed Malacca
and reached Ipoh at 7.00 p.m.
It was indeed an educational trip as we
had the opportunity to explore the historical
aspects of Malacca and also learnt about its
various traditions and cultures. We truly en-
joyed ourselves and would like to thank our
three teachers for organizing the trip and
guiding us all the way.
A group photo with Kampung Cantik facilitators.
By Neoh Lean Wern (KBSM 3A)
Class Dojo – Improving Communication between Home and School
By Ms Nikki Sullivan
Tenby International Secondary School
As discussed in recent circulars, Tenby International
Secondary School, Ipoh is now using the Class Dojo
system for the recording and monitoring of students’
attitude to learning / behaviour. This system records
attendance (not for home room), positive incidents
(what we would call stamps or house points) and
negative incidents (what we would call negative com-
ments). Class Dojo aims to “help build student’s
learning habits and boost classroom engagement” –
which is why it was identified as a useful system to
merge with our existing PDfL practices.
The Class Dojo system not only informs
parents / guardians of their child’s / ward’s attend-
ance and attitude to learning / behaviour in school in
‘real time’ when they log in, but also automatically
produces a “behaviour and skills report” each Friday
which is sent to parents’ / guardians’ email address.
We felt it only prudent at this time to answer
some of the common queries that may help create a
smooth transition over to the Class Dojo system:
How do I sign up?
All students were given a letter with their sign up
code and also a sign up code for their parents /
guardians. This code when entered into the Class
Dojo website (www.classdojo.com) will link you to all
of your child’s / ward’s classes. Details of how to
sign up if you do not have an account, or how to add
this new code if you already have an account are
detailed in a PowerPoint presentation available in the
downloads section of the school website: http://
www.tenby.edu.my/ipoh/downloads The document is
called “How to set up your class dojo account”.
What data is / is not available?
Class Dojo reports the number of stamps (house
points) that a student has been awarded in their
classes. It also reports the number of negative com-
ments that a student has received in their classes. It
will also give a brief summary of the reasons for this
reward / sanction, e.g. effort or no homework. The
system does not report attainment / progress data.
This will be reported in the usual formal way when
written reports are sent out. For your information, for
Year 11 these progress reports will be issued before
the Christmas holidays. For Years 7-10 these reports
will be issued in January. If you would like information
on your child’s / ward’s progress in between formal
reporting periods then the best place to look is their
exercise books!
Will students still be using their planners? If so,
what for?
Students will still be using their planners for the record-
ing of homework and for the collation of other important
document, e.g. their ‘My Learning, My Target’ sheets.
Please continue to sign your child’s / ward’s planner on
a weekly basis. Teachers may indeed still use this
method of communication to write notes home so it is
important that these are still checked regularly.
What should I use the instant messaging service
for?
We do want to improve communication between home
and school and the instant messaging feature will help
with this. However, please bear in mind that if a mem-
ber of staff has a concern regarding a student’s pro-
gress or behaviour they will contact you. Staff teach
anywhere between 100 and 200 students and will not
be able to reply to instant messages from all parents /
guardians who would like to check up to see how their
child / ward is progressing. The Class Dojo system
itself will tell parents / guardians all of the rewards or
sanctions that have been issued and school reports will
communicate attainment data. Please use the instant
messaging system wisely – if it is something that you
would usually ring the school to ask then by all means
use this system.
If I have any other questions who should I contact?
Miss Nikki is answering queries related to class dojo.
The easiest way to contact her is either via email at
[email protected] or through direct message
on the class dojo system. You can of course ring the
school and she will return your call as soon as possi-
ble.
We will continue to update parents / guardians with any
other frequently asked questions which may arise. I am
sure you understand that as with all new systems there
may be a few ‘teething problems’ and it will take a short
time for things to be fully up and running but we hope
that you find these steps forward positive.
Perak Mental Health Convention
On Saturday 10th October 2014, Rotary Club of Greentown organized an awareness
programme entitled “Perak Mental Health Convention” held at Meru Casuarina Ho-
tel ballroom. An information booth was set up by the above club and manned by a
few of our Interactors who worked on 2 shifts on that day.
The aim of this convention was to ensure health awareness of every individual who
in today’s world, suffer some kind of mental illness due from stigma and discrimina-
tion in society. Many people who have mental health conditions consider their signs
and symptoms a normal part of life or avoid treatment out of shame or fear. A na-
tionwide survey on mental health in Malaysia in 2009 (NHMSIII) among people 18
years and above revealed that 11.2% of the adult population suffers from mental
disorders. It was also evident that people tend to visit bomohs (mediums) rather
than doctors. It was also a coincidence that the convention fell on World Mental
Health Day which was on October 10.
It was indeed a fruitful and an eye-opening adventure for our students.
By Nuraizah Chai (KBSM 3A)
Tenby Student Shines on the Dance Floor
Congratulations to our Year
9 student, Rikitada Araki, for
emerging as the winner in
the category of Latin Novice
A (Cha Cha Cha & Jive) at
the 3rd Ipoh International
Dancesport Championships
2014. The competition was
held on 11th October, 2014
at the Grand Valley Ball-
room, Kinta Riverfront
Hotel, Ipoh. There were 22
couples on the floor and
Rikitada was partnered with
Loh Li Ying. Way to go, Riki!
Source: Mr Jeremy Teh (Tenby PA)
Primary Student Council Tuck Shop
The Primary Student Council opened a
tuck shop selling snacks and stationary
on Friday, 17 October 2014 during
break time. This helps to develop the
students’ skills in organisation and
enterprise as well as giving a sense of
responsibility. The student council will
be operating the tuck shop approxi-
mately every two weeks and it can only
be used by students who have met cer-
tain criteria as a reward. (Notice will be
given to inform students and parents
when the tuck shop will be open) Any
funds raised will be used for future stu-
dent council activities.
Mrs Lisa Harvey
Teacher Advisor of Primary Student Council Wow! The business is brisk!
Contact Us
Tenby Schools Ipoh
16 Persiaran Meru Utama
Bandar Meru Raya
30020 Ipoh, Perak
T: 05 - 525 2628
F: 05 - 525 2881
Visit us on the web at
www.tenby.edu.my/ipoh
Upcoming Events/Announcements
3 November 2014
‘Road Safety’ campaign - Distribution of ‘Buckle-Up’ stickers
(please refer to the circular attached)
21 November 2014
Christmas Assembly
30 January - 1 February 2015
Inaugural Tenby Schools National Music Festival
21 April - 23 April 2015
Year 6 and Year 9 Checkpoints
Sekolah Tenby
3 November - 3 December 2014
SPM examination
25 November 2014
Parents’ Evening
A Levels
12 October - 28 November 2014
A Level Cohort 8 and Cohort 9 - CIE Examinations (as timetable attached).
Revision classes are available for students as arranged with respective
subject teachers.
9 November 2014
Charity Drive for the Orang Asli village in Kampung Sinju, Simpang Pulai
(for further details, please refer to the flyer attached)
24 November - 28 November 2014
A Level Cohort 10 - Assessment II.
Please be reminded to use only the designated notes (i.e: RM10, RM50 & RM100) when topping up your card at the KIOSK to avoid malfunction to the machine.
SMARTKIOSK
Sponsorship Appeal
There is a sponsorship collection in school for Doctors Without Borders. The collection box is placed at the front desk of the Admin Office. (please refer to the flyer attached for further details)
ORANG ASLI CHARITY DRIVE
We are organizing a charity drive for the
Orang Asli village in Kampung Sinju, Simpang
Pulai.
The village consists of 36 families (250
individuals) with 50 plus children who are in
need of assistance.
These kids live in poverty and some of the
children don’t have the opportunity to be in
school due to their financial burden, social
issues and other unforeseen circumstances.
We are seeking out help from the local
community to contribute to this event with
some basic needs and necessities e.g.
clothes, books, socks, shoes, slippers, toys for
the kids and any kind of simple healthy treats
like, rice, buns, biscuits, etc. for these
underprivileged families.
VOLUNTEERS ARE WELCOME!!! COME AND EXPERIENCE THIS KIND ACT OF VOLUNTEERISM AND
GENEROSITY OF YOURS!
Event Details: DATE: 9 November, Sunday, 2014 Time: 9.30 am Meeting Point: Starbucks, Tambun, Ipoh
Organized by: The Sprouter The Sprouter is a social enterprise that is devoted towards positivity, innovation, service and entrepreneurship. We are focused on empowering
socially conscious change makers from all around the world. The Sprouter is a global community that welcomes people from every discipline and culture who aspire to make this world a better place through moral and innovative leadership. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: HARRY @ 016.3912518