NEWSLETTER

Celebrations of our newly refurbished school

Tel: 0121 566 6400 | Fax: 0121 566 6423 | E Mail: enquiry@internationalsch.org.uk | Web: www.isccbonline.net

SPRING TERMAPRIL 2012

2012

This is a very exciting time to be Head Teacher of the International School. Examination results have improved rapidly and the school is becoming increasingly popular.

OFSTED in their recent report identifi ed many good and outstanding features. In particular they noted the quality of teachers and support staff, who OFSTED said are ‘ambitious both for individual groups of students and for each one of its students. Actions to promote equality of opportunity are resulting in sustained improvement in attainment and in the participation of individual groups of students in the life of the school.’

Our school has been refurbished under the Building Schools for the Future programme and we moved back in February. The bold new entrance makes a strong statement welcoming students, staff and visitors into a bright winter garden atrium. This leads into the schools Heart Zone which is the setting for the Learning Resource Centre Internet Café and Restaurant,

including an outside eating area.

Every classroom is equipped with interactive whiteboards and wireless access to IT. We have two areas equipped for Drama and productions, two lecture theatres, new Sports Hall, IT suites in every subject area, much improved DT equipment and many areas where students can socialise at break and lunchtime.

We are immensely proud of our students’ achievements, and of our new school. There have been many visitors over the last few weeks and everyone has been impressed with what they have seen.

As part of our offi cial opening we will be offering the opportunity of a guided tour. These will be available on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 July from 1.30 pm. If you would like a place please contact Mrs Pat Porter on 0121 566 6400.

Mark Garside Head Teacher

Duke of Edinburgh Award GroupThe twenty eight Duke of Edinburgh participants have embarked upon two day walks over a peaceful Cannock Chase, where they put their navigation skills into practice for the fi rst time. The groups were required to walk 7km, some may have walked a little more due to slight lapses in concentration. However, all pupils completed the walk successfully.

Along the route the students were amazed by their unfamiliar surroundings. As we passed by Rugeley power station the students were all stunned to silence at the enormity of the three towers. However, as the pupils began to explore their surrounding and discover the variety of wildlife around, that ranged from rabbits, horses, deer and frogs, they could not hold back shrieking with excitement as they danced around the pond.

The pupils were a credit to The International School, with many members of the public commenting on the student’s behaviour and enthusiasm.

A day walk took place on Sunday 1st April where the pupils walked a greater distance of 10 km. They were let off the leach, so to speak, as they navigated the route with only watchful eyes from afar.

All the pupils completed the walk and are looking forward to the next challenge.

Miss Brazier

Calling all StudentsWe are looking for ex - pupils of the ISCCEB, Central, Byng Kenrick and Sir Wilfrid Martineau Schools to share their experiences with us of school ‘back in the day’. We would like to conduct short interviews with former students, in order to put together a video, which we will be showing in our exhibition during the school opening ceremony ( 11th, 12th and 13th July). This exhibition will document the journey and history of our school.

We are also looking for old photos, uniforms, memorabilia, school reports and anything else that is part of our history to display in this exhibition. If you are interested in getting involved or have any artifacts you could lend us, please contact Pat Porter ( 0121 566 6400) with your details.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Rondene Vassell 10RJBThe Exhibition Team -The School Opening Committee

Despite having moved into our new building back in February, we haven’t really had a moment to stop and celebrate this historical event. On the 11, 12 and 13th July we will fi nally have a moment to take the opportunity to open our doors to ex-students, prospective students, parents, members of our local community and VIP’s such as MP Liam Byrne. Plans for some grand celebrations are under way and we will be offering our guests tours of the new school, an opportunity to view our exhibition on the history of the school, as well as the chance to watch and even take part in a variety of sport, music and drama presentations.

The whole event has been driven by a group of students whom have formed the school opening committee. Since September this dedicated team has been meeting regularly before school and during their lunch breaks, in order to put together their

grand plans. They have produced inspirational presentations to students and staff, including leading an assembly in front of the whole school. They have now brought together a large team to help them put into action all their fantastic ideas.

You can follow our preparations on our dedicated Twitter site

www. twitter.com/#!/LaunchEvent2012

Please do join us for this historical event. Tours of the new school building on 11th and 12 July can be booked through Pat Porter( 0121 566 6400)

The Promotional Team – The School Opening Committee

Last Friday there was a buzz of excitement, as students and staff fi ltered out from the KS3 assembly, after hearing an update on activities from the ‘Student Voice’.

Miss James introduced the assembly, explaining that there were a number of student led initiatives taking place, all aimed at giving students the opportunity to shape the future of our school. The focus of the assembly was on the work of the student opening committee, who have been meeting for over 3 months, planning this major event.

Rondene, Chimwemwe , Salsabil, Babar and Nasim gave a PowerPoint presentation, on behalf of the committee, explaining about the offi cial International School opening ceremony. Each team leader explained a bit about what they have been doing so far and what they would like to achieve on the day. They also invited other students to get involved in the ceremony by signing up for one of the sub-teams of the committee. This includes the Main Hall team organising the offi cial opening ceremony, the exhibition team who are creating an exhibition detailing the schools’ history, the tours and catering team, the Music, PE and Drama team and the promotions team.

Head teacher, Mr Garside, was exceptionally proud of the students’ efforts leading this assembly. They presented clearly, professionally and had evidently put a lot of their own time into preparing to present. We look forward to having more student led assemblies, such as the Anti-Bullying Group who are preparing to launch their new Anti-Bullying Campaign in the summer term

Student Voice Assembly

School Standards

REMINDERAs I am sure you are aware, all students are expected to attend school every day fully equipped. We would like all students to have a pencil case, 2 pens, pencil, ruler, rubber and planner. Stationary is available at a very reasonable cost from Student Services and items can be bought before school, during break and at lunch.

Please may parents continue to support us in upholding these standards, so that we can ensure students do not have to waste important learning time borrowing and returning equipment.

CONTRIBUTE POSITIVELY

TO ALL LESSONS

BRING THE CORRECT EQUIPMENT TO SCHOOL

NOT SWEAR OR USE ABUSIVE

LANGUAGE ANYWHERE IN THE SCHOOL

Golden RulesIf you visit our school, it is not diffi cult to see the huge changes to our building and facilities. It is a school that we believe is designed to create a successful environment for our students. The changes you may not be immediately aware of are the introduction of a set of “Golden Rules” that we believe to be the foundations of our new school. The rules we have set down provide our students with a framework of values designed to guide them through school and prepare them for later life. This is a part of our life-long learning strategy; a strategy that looks to the long term success of our students and not just their short term goals. We have spent a considerable amount of time talking to our students in order to prepare them for the new systems and to their credit they have responded magnifi cently. We are very proud of the way our students have accepted and operated within the “Golden rules” and it is already having a very positive impact on their learning.

Parents – do you know what your child’s attendance fi gure is?

“316 students have over 96%.”Is your child one of these or are they not hitting their target?

Call 0121 566 6013/6014 to fi nd out!

Monday 16th April – Attendance Campaign Week always brings an improvement with school attendance. We need every student to attend every day to help our school achieve their target of 96%. No more than 6 days off school in a year (30 sessions missed).

How can parents help?• Send your child to school everyday• Wherever possible if they feel unwell – send them– school will send them home if too ill to be in school .• Absolutely NO HOLIDAYS in TERM TIME. There are 13 weeks for parents to go on family holidays.• Over 96% attendance = best chance for excel lent achievement.

Punctuality for ProgressCongratulations to the majority of students who arrive to school on time in line with the School’s Golden Rules.What does this mean? These students give themselves the best possible chance to succeed in their studies. However, there are a minority of students who are missing out on this chance of success due to regular and persistent lateness to school. From April 16th students who arrive late 3 times in a week will receive a 30 minute lunchtime detention to help them understand the impact this lateness has on their learning opportunities.

Please make sure your home phone and mobile numbers are correct in case we need to contact you in an emergency. (0121 566 6400)

Attendance Student Awards - Students going for Gold - Over 450 students achieved their bronze medal award during the Autumn term we are pleased to inform you that over 400 students will now receive their silver. Congratulations you are on your way to Gold!

High Attendance = High Achievement

Learning Resource Centre NewsStudents celebrate their new library

opening times 7.30am – 4.30pm• Early morning revision • Wii Fi• Break and Lunch time Clubs • Book Shop• After school studies• Olympics Competition• Sixth form Study Zone • Read-a-thon coming soon…• Students join the chess challenge!• Maths revision

Attendance and Punctuality Spring Term

Myself, Rutendo, Mr George and Mr Marshall all embarked on the second but last trip of the Comenius Project. The fi nal country people will be visiting is our own.

Whilst there we took part in many activities including going to the German capital Berlin. In Berlin we went to the Reichstag, the German parliament building. We had a tour around to see the workings of the German Government as well as the amazing architectural design of the place. Another experience we enjoyed was the visit to the Brandenburg gate which was a huge structure and was originally a gate to the city. While in the village we were stopping in, Bunde. We visited the local college which has also been newly developed, just like our own school, all the participants in the project took part in a presentation telling us about their own school, and the teaching which goes on. Furthermore we had a tour around the Jewish memorial site which explained the history of the country between the years of 1939 - 1945, although very emotional, the tour was interesting and all of the students and teachers gained valuable knowledge of the country we were visiting.

As well as many tours and exhibitions we had plenty of free time to explore the village of Bunde and the local towns and

Germany Trip 2 0 1 2

cities in the surrounding area, and also try some traditional German food!

Although extremely cold, minus 14 at times, the trip was very enjoyable and we all had a great experience and it has taught us many things about other countries, cultures, ways of life and the teaching that goes on there.

Germany Trip Comenius Project Update by Ryan Evans 10GNO

Sports Achievements

Year 10 FootballAfter the Winter break the Year 10’s have started as they fi nished, winning games! The fi rst game was a hard fought win against one of our rivals KESH, and we came out winners 4-0.

A special mention to Melekeem McKoy for scoring a hat trick, again! The lads were on fi re in front of goal this season! The win maintained our position at the top of league.

We have also played against Moseley School and come away with a hard fought draw, although this was only a friendly, it was still a satisfying result. We are hoping to clinch the title this year and will be hoping for a good result in the next game against Waverley School.

Keep up the good work lads, and lets fi nish Year 10 as Champions!!

Year 7 Football BRUNO BAGI, 7LPA

My time being captain with the Year 7’s has been amazing. It was hard, but we still all worked together. This season wasn’t as good as I expected and we lost every single match we played in. Obviously I was very upset with this, although some of our team mates never gave up even if we were winning or losing.

I always gave my best, even when I was close to giving up, as you should always try your best even if you are not successful.

We hope next season we get more students coming to training and learning more skills, which will make our team better and stronger.

SPORTS NEWSIn the year that London holds the Olympic Games and Birmingham plays host to both the American and Jamaican Athletics Team, the outlook of Sports within the International School Community is thriving and the whole school is playing an active role. We are developing our school sports policies and with the aid of external providers catering for all students’ needs.

Our facilities continue to develop and with the arrival of the new school came a new sports hall. The sports hall can cater for a variety of sports such as Volleyball, Netball and Badminton as well as the traditional sports that we have played at school in Basketball and Football. The hope is to introduce more diverse sports such as Handball, Futsal and Lacrosse to further develop the students in terms of team sport but also develop better friendships within the student body, boost communication and camaraderie as well as develop and raise student assessment and attainment. Eventually, our new facility will be made available for use by the local community in the hope that we can show you our great school and the direction that we are heading towards in the future.

The PE Department prides itself on it’s team ethic and has worked continuously hard to develop this within the students. We are aware that we do not reach all of the students within school and this is something we are working very hard at changing. We currently run girls only day (Tuesday), where girls can come and use the PE facilities to take part in fi tness (spinning, boxercise), dance, zumba, basketball, indoor

hockey and badminton at lunchtimes and after school. This is in order to boost the potential we have within the female half of the students and to show them that there are clubs for them to get involved in at school.

Now that the government has restricted the amount of funding that school sports have, we are looking at alternative ways to reach the potential audience at school. We have managed to gain the services of two local rugby coaches due to funding from the England Rugby Football Union. This has allowed students to take part in rugby in curriculum time as well as after school (Monday at the school fi elds). The hope is that we will develop a tri schools championship with some of the other schools locally as well as some of the students going on to play for the local rugby club (Exiles). We have also enlisted a local self defence/karate coach who is currently delivering taster sessions for students (Friday in the Sports Hall). The greater community links we can get with sport, the greater the development of our students and the more potential will be reached.

During the week, 19th – 23rd of March we raised money for Sports Relief by holding activities in PE based on the ITV game show ‘The Cube’. All students found it great fun as they realise that their participation has gone to a good cause.

Our GCSE groups have their practical moderation on the 25th April. This will involve them being graded by an external moderator in a variety of practical sports. They have worked really hard to raise their practical scores in light of this and we are looking at some really top grades this year. A gentle reminder for all students to wear PE kit for the whole day as it will involve them being in a form of practical sport for the majority of the day.

We are still aiming to gain free kit through collecting CD’s and DVD’s from students and we are very close to meeting our total. However, if you do have any spare CD’s or DVD’s that you no longer need, they can be brought to school and handed in at reception where we are still collecting them.We look forward to hearing any questions or feedback that you may have about sport and physical education at our school.

Mr Greaves

Communication with ParentsWould you like the Newsletter e mailed directly to you?

If so please let Lisa Hill know on 0121 566 6400 or e mail enquiry@internationalsch.org.uk and this can be arranged.

Please remember to let school know if any of your contact details change.

Thank you for your continued support.

Some great opportunities for students at lunchtime:Along with all the before and after school activities that the school offer, we have now created a timetable for students to access different activities as lunch time. There are up to 7 clubs run a day in a variety of curriculum areas giving students the chance to explore new activities.New clubs can always be added to the timetable over the next term and if students wish a certain club to run then please speak to Miss Smith or a member of staff who you believe will be happy to run the club.

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

READINGLibrary

READINGLibrary

READINGLibrary

READINGLibrary

READINGLibrary

DANCEDance Studio

DANCEDance Studio

DANCEDance Studio

SCIENCE CLUB MG05

DANCEDance Studio

LATIN KT13

ICT CLUBCF09

SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

KG04

KS3 ARTKG13

KS4 FITNESSFitness Suite

KS4 FITNESSFitness Suite

CHEERLEADINGDance Studio

EAL HOMEWORK AND LANGUAGE

KG07

TABLE TENNISKenrick Gym

CHESS CLUBLibrary

INDOOR HOCKEYSports Hall

FILM CLUBKG26

INDOOR CRICKETSports Hall

DRAMA CLUB KG26

EAL HOMEWORK AND LANGUAGE

KG07

EAL HOMEWORK AND LANGUAGE

KG07

EAL HOMEWORK AND LANGUAGE

KG07

BUSINESS CONSULTING

CG03

Lunchtime Clubs

TERM DATESSUMMER TERM

Monday 16th April 2012 - Friday 20th July 2012

HALF TERM

Monday 4th June 2012 - Friday 8th June 2012

AUTUMN TERM

Monday 3rd September 2012 - Friday 21st December 2012

HALF TERM

Monday 22nd October 2012 - Friday 26th October 2012

CONTACT INFO:The International School

Gressel LaneTile Cross

BirminghamB33 9UF

Tel: 0121 566 6400Fax: 0121 566 6423

E Mail: enquiry@internationalsch.org.uk Web: www.isccbonline.net

2012