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TERM 3, ISSUE 1 / 25 FEBRUARY 2015

Newsletter

FEBRUARY / MARCH / APRIL

25 (Wed) Athletics Day26-3 (Thur-Tue) MIDTERM BREAK5 (Thur) Holi - No School2 (Thur) Easter Assembly END OF TERM

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POSITIVELY IMPACT YOUR WORLD

This term we have been encouraging our students and staff to consider how they can Positively Impact their world. Have you considered what and who make up your world? Have you considered how you are positively impacting them?

In the story of Ruth in the Old Testament, Naomi had lost her husband and two sons, but her daughter-in-law Ruth stuck by her. Ruth could have left Naomi and returned to her own land to find her new husband, but she chose to positively impact Naomi. Despite her position in society (a widow) Ruth’s desire was to make a difference to Naomi through the few options that were available to her. So she worked hard “gleaning” the grain left at the edge of the field to gain enough for her and her mother in law to eat. The field she worked in is that of Boaz, who instructs his workers to take care of Ruth and to not treat her harshly. In the end they fall in love and marry, becoming the great grandparents of Israel’s most famous King – David.Two simple acts, by two humble people, that are recorded and read thousands of years later. What a way they impacted their world.

John 15:13 reminds of us the most simple, yet profound act of positively impacting your world:“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”As we move towards Easter and remember the sacrifice that Christ made for us we look to the event that celebrates this act of love. The cross is the greatest ever positive impact the world has ever seen. And while we aim to impact our often small world, Jesus impacted the whole world.Thursday 2 April we will celebrate and remember this event with the Easter Assembly. In the meantime let us each try to positively impact our own world.

The Directors

Term 3 ends Thursday 2 April as Friday 3 is Good Friday.The Easter Assembly will conclude the term.

TERM 3Feb-March 26-3 Th-Tue Midterm BreakApril 2 Thurs Last day of Term 3

TERM 4April 20 Mon Term 4 startsMay 22-25 Fri-Mon Midterm break - ProvisionalJune 10 Wed Primary half day 17 Wed Secondary day off 24 Wed Last day of school

2014/2015 ACADEMIC YEAR DATES

KISC Global Day or Prayer

THANK YOU for praying and celebrating with us!

More than 165 individuals/groups prayed for KISC on February 2, 2015.

IMPORTANT NOTE

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STUDENTSYear 10 and 11 Chemistry classes have been learning about crude oil and its uses. As part of the unit, we have looked at polymers and how they are made. The pictures show the models that the Year 10 class built of a molecule called styrene which is then polymerized into polystyrene, the material that white foam beads, cups and packaging is made out of. Interestingly, the same polymer is used to make the clear plastic cups that airlines serve cold drinks in.

On Tuesday, February 10, KISC Primary celebrated 100 days of school. The morning assembly featured a special performance by teachers dressed as 100-year olds, and many games of counting to 100. Celebrations continued in classrooms, too. Year K celebrated 100 days of school by counting to 100, making a 100 cup castle, and seeing what 100 things looked like.

On Wednesday, the students of Year 5 and 6 will be having their annual sleepover at the school. This is a time of unity and community building among the upper primary. They are looking forward to the fun team building activities that are planned for the night and hopefully we get some sleep that night in the hall.

CHEMISTRY UNRAVELED 10

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KISA 2015 -ART FROM JUNK! On Saturday, February 7, KISC hosted a new venture, KISA (Kathmandu Inter Schools Art) Day for over 120 students and 40 teachers from 12 different Kathmandu Schools. Twenty KISC students from years 6, 7 and 8 participated in the day.

KISA 2015 was a day of creative thinking and problem solving with students and teachers connecting with each other through a series of fun, interactive activities. The culmination of the day was the creation of a giant art installation made from several hundred pieces of colourful Kathmandu plastic junk on the futsal court.The sourcing the junk was an interesting venture in its own right. With many of the participating schools helping to collect items and a trip to and from one of Kathmandu’s junk yards to loan and then recycle all the plastic after the event.

The event was the result of partnership working between KISC, EQUIP, Rato Bangala School, Lincoln School, The British School and Nepal Children’s Art Museum (CAM).KISA 2015 was the start of something new and exciting for schools in Kathmandu. KISA 2016 is already being planned!

Anne Brown and Suzie Parr (event coordinators)

I N T H E C O M M U N I T Y

On February 6, Year 5 had another great day going out to ABBS (special needs school) where our students come up with activities to do with the ABBS students.

Abigail Knoble of year 13 was awarded the following by Cambridge International examinations:Top in Nepal for AS level Business Studies and AS level Biology for the June 2014 exam andHigh Achievement in AS level Art & Design for the June 2014 exam.

IMPACTING OUR WORLDThis term KISC is focusing on a certain part of our passion statement that states we will positively impact our world by being living witnesses of Christ’s sacrificial love. The primary students have been learning about “their” world and how exactly they can positively impact it. All of the primary students have written a “goal” on how they can positively impact their world. Some of the things they have written down as their goals include: selling their drawings and giving money to the poor, listening in class, being kind to others.

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Visit to ABBs

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SPORTS @ KISCSenior boys won the first Lalitpur basketball tournament held by Lalitpur basketball association. Even though we only had six players (Jordan, Tenzing, Yeoram, Peter, Saurav, Seung Won), we did really well through out the tournament. We met Rato Bangala School in the finals which we won comfortably 64-36. Jordan was adjudged MVP and Yeoram got the highest scorer award.

Our junior boys (Daniel Boehm, Danial Farid, Joseph Boehm, Joseph Im, Chany Jung, Yuddhavir Thapa, Nahum Pradhan, Sarbesh Maharjan) played Innovative basketball tournament in which we made it to the quarter finals. It was a tough match as we have a very young team. We fought hard but went down by just 4 points to Galaxy School in quarters.

3 weeks ago, our Primary Basketball boys played a game against the students of the British School and they won! It was very exciting and much fun.

Saturday, March 7, 3 KISC teams will participate in a Futsal Tournament at TBS. Supporters are welcome! Schools playing: KISC, Rato Bangla, Lincoln and TBS. We will play small rounds of robbins throughout the whole day.

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Girls team: Somang Cha, Selina Mahimit Rai, Miriam Galpin, Anna Naivaqamu, Tara Tamang, Selah Kramer, Corinne Fraley, Annakah Kramer, Zara Ismail, Emmalyse Kramer

Junior Boys Team (U14)Danial Farid, Chany Jung, Ole Johan Gullbra, Prateek Samson, Gaang Hyeon Yoo, Jedidiah Sebastian, Nathaniel Loper, Shinkook Cha, Aryen Shrestha, Hudson Reid

Senior Boys Team (U18)David Faivre, Peter Jung, Seungwon Cho, Yeoram Lee, Jordan Debortoli, Joshua Webster, Dorji Sherpa, Yelisey Nizyev, Sarbesh Maharjan, Pookar Chand

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On Wednesday, February 25, KISC organized a Whole School Athletics Event at the Army Training Centre in Lagankhel. The event comprised of track races, triple jums, shot put, high jumps and staff races. School records were broken during the event:

• High jump new record is 1:47m set by Ole Johan Gullbra in junior boys category. Previous record was 1:45m set by Tenzing Sherpa/ Alex Freemon/Augustine Tailey in 2002/2007.

• Shot put new record is 7.55 m set by Selah Kramer in senior girls category. Previous record was 7.20 m, set by Pema Choden in 2009.

• 1500m Yeoram Lee (Senior Boys)• 1500m Abby Knoble (Senior Girls)• 400m Annakah Krammer (Junior Girls)

JOIN THE KATHMANDU COMMUNITY AS WOMEN AND GIRLS WALK, RUN, JUMP, OR SKIP TO INSPIRE AND EMPOWER FEMALES IN NEPAL AND BEYOND. KISC is aiming to cover much of the 2-3 Kilometre with staff, students and parents. Please sign up in reception and commit to making a stand against harassment and supporting those runners by coming out early on the 8 March.

MARCH 8, 2015 WOMEN’S DAY 5K

FUN RUN / WALK

REGISTER: At Higher Ground, Women LEAD, or online

facebook.com/5ktmfunrun

COST: (pay at Higher Ground or Women LEAD) On or before 3/3/15—100 Rs/2 people! At the event—100 Rs/person

WHERE: Begin at Jawalakhel Football Ground

WHEN: Arrive 6:30am, begin at 7

WEAR: Whatever you want!

Celebrate

International Women’s Day

Sunday, March 8!

Join the Kathmandu community as

WOMEN and GIRLS walk, run, jump, or

skip to inspire and

empower females in Nepal

and beyond

MEN and BOYS are invited to support

and to cheer!

ORGANISED BY Higher Ground Nepal Women LEAD Nepal

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REGISTER:• At Higher Ground, Women LEAD, or

online facebook.com/5ktmfunrun

COST: • On or before 3/3/15—100 Rs/2 people!• At the event—100 Rs/person

WHERE: Begin at Jawalakhel Football GroundWHEN: Arrive 6:30am, begin at 7

ATHLETICS DAY

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• EQUIP’s existing programmes in all projects (Lamjung, Palpa, Lalitpur and Nuwakot) are undergoing as planned for this academic year. We have successfully completed the training for this academic year (2014-15). Our focus this year were grades 1 and 2. We will be focused on grades 3 and 4 next academic year.

• We had a preliminary visit in 2 EQUIP partner schools in Lamjung with the possibility of piloting a kitchen garden.

• EQUIP had a development day on 21st January. We are reviewing our existing programme. We have also begun a discussion on choosing new project locations; ratio of partnership with government and private schools.

EQUIP ScholarshipsThis Nepali Academic year, we have sponsored 88 Nepali students in our partner schools. Nine of our scholarship recipient students passed SLC last year. Two of them were girls. This year, 13 students will be taking SLC exam, out of them 6 are girls.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF EQUIP’S PALPA AND LAMJUNG PROJECTSLamjung and Palpa projects are funded by external donors. We have been informed by Social Welfare Council (SWC) that they will be doing the external evaluation possibly in March.We have also invited two under-secretaries and a Section Officer from the Ministry of Education to have a monitoring visit of EQUIP project in Tansen this week.Mr. Bouddhya Raj Niruala, Under Secretary of Basic Education Section (who is also a rep in KISC SMC on behalf of MoE), Mr. Devi Prasad Subedi, Under Secretary and Mr. Daya Ram Tiwari, Section Officer of International volunteer mobilization and Visa recommendation Section, visited Palpa from 11 -14 February 2015. During their trip, they visited EQUIP partner schools, met with the principals and teachers. They have given us a recommendation to have a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Centre for Education Development (NCED) so that the teachers who attend EQUIP’s trainings have more value. We will be exploring this opportunity.

KISC TEC UpdateKathmandu University informed us that they are not going to have new affiliations/partnerships for the time being. They do not know yet when they can again start the new affiliation/partnership. The TEC Sub Committee is working on developing strategy for TEC to evolve from EQUIP rather than launching next year.

P4C at the first Bal Sahitya Mahotsav in Nepal.As part of the ongoing partnership between EQUIP and Rato Bangala Foundation, EQUIP teacher trainer Annie Brown was invited to deliver sessions at the first Bal Sahitya Mahotsav (Children’s Literacy Festival) held at the Rato Bangala School on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 February.The exciting 2-day programme of workshops and activities included meet the author, celebrity read aloud, slam poetry performances and bookmaking. Two workshops facilitated by Annie used the Philosophy for Children (P4C) approach to learning. A reading from the Dairy of Anne Frank acted as a stimulus to help students aged 12-15 years to think creatively and critically in a ‘community of enquiry’ in which they looked to learn from one and other rather than the teacher. The workshops attracted great interest and a positive response from both the participating students and the many teachers, parents and other observers who attended.

LITERACY FESTIVAL

KISC EQUIP UPDATES

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NPTA has a weekly time of COMMUNITY PRAYER at 2.30 pm every Monday. You are more than welcome to join us and pray with us for students, teachers and the whole KISC Community!

FOR SALE:KISC HOUSE T-SHIRTS - get your Makalu, Dhaulagiri or Annapurna T-shirts in Communications. All sizes available.KISC VALUES T-SHIRTS - available in three colors: gray, teal and purple. All sizes available.2013-14 YEARBOOK - get yours today. Great way to learn and remember names, faces and year groups at KISC.

only

550/- each

K I S C I S H I R I N G ! KISC has Immediate Openings for the following positions:

• PT Student Support• PT Spanish Teacher• Music Teacher• English Teacher• Head of Communications• Primary Class Teacher• Chemistry Teacher• Psychology Teacher• Art Teacher• ESL Teacher• Special Needs Teacher• Head Librarian• ICT TeacherWe appreciate your assistance in helping us find amazing staff for the school.

SCHOLARSHIPSApplication deadline is March 15th 2015. Mark your calendars to make sure you apply on time. Forms are available in Reception.

I m p o r t a n t ! ! !

We are delighted to announce the renting of a new Operations Building close to KISC (see photo). It is unfortunate that it is necessary to separate the KISC staff from one another, but with the expansion of the school on the current site and the need for more teaching and office space it has become an urgent requirement. We explored the possibility of renting adjacent property but they were not available so we had to move little bit further than our current site. Finance, Communications, Fundraising, HR, EQUIP will be moving to the new site together with the EQUIP/TEC Director, Khim Kandel and Development Director, Angus Douglas.

KISC OPS STAFF IS MOVING

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CONTACT US! WE ARE ALWAYS HAPPY TO HEAR FROM YOU, OR IF YOU ARE IN NEPAL, PLEASE COME VISIT!

“TO BE LIVING WITNESSES OF CHRIST’S LOVE THROUGH EXCELLENT EDUCATION”

Kathmandu International Study Centre

PO Box 2714 Dhobighat Kathmandu Nepal

+977 (1) 553 8720 www.facebook.com/kisc1987

admin@kisc.edu.np www.kisc.edu.np

PROJECT OF HDCS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNITY SERVICES

PRAYER POINTS

• Please pray for KISC students as they finish up Term 3 and prepare for the last term of the year. Pray for their patience, wisdom, grace and hard work.

• Pray that God would supply needed personnel for the future, particularly for urgent openings.

• Pray for the new staff, that they settle successfully in their new roles and find support in the KISC community.

• Please pray that the Lord keeps guiding the Directors in making positive decisions for the school.

• Pray for the EQUIP Teacher Trainers as they make their travels across the country to improve education in Nepal. Pray for their safety and wisdom in delivering the Good News.

• Please pray for an easy transition into a new Operations building, that we experience no problems and obstacles and settle in our new office easily.

Liz and Paul Sheppard Liz worked in EQUIP for a year as an English Teacher Trainer. We appreciate her contribution to EQUIP and we will miss her tremendously. We pray for God’s blessing in their lives as they prepare to leave Nepal at end of this month and return to the UK.

Farewell

Rubisha Giri has joined KISC as a part time File Clerk.

Jason Gurung has been hired as the part time Library Assistant

welcome

Midterm break is here!Time to recharge