March 2015

The ISL Headlines

“Striving for

Excellence”

From the Head of School : Mr. Martin Gough

As usual this is a very full newsletter. It may also be one of the last pdf newsletters too. We are planning on launching the new ISL website before the end of this school year. Like most schools and many organisations, we will move our news to a rolling blog, rather than a pdf newsletter, which is often outdat-ed by the time it comes out. Related to news, I hope you have been keeping up with all the activities that are recorded on our ISL Facebook Page, found at https://www.facebook.com/islzambia.org/ The page has been generating a lot of interest and a recent post about the IB Diplo-

ma Programme at ISL reached over 24000 people. Earlier this week we put up some pictures of ISL buildings as they appeared way back in 1972; this post has reached over 6000 people in 3 days and generated a lot of comments from interest-ed alumni. This week has been Arts‟ Week in Secondary School – lots of photos on the Facebook page and some videos too, including one of our new Primary parents, Ms Hiroyama, treating the Secondary students to some very beautiful opera singing. Bookmark our Facebook Page and keep up with the news! The teachers and staff of ISL wish you and your family a relaxing and refreshing Easter holiday. We look forward to seeing students back at school on Monday 4th April at the usual time.

Important Dates

Head of School 1

Primary principal 2

Early years 3

Yr 2 4

Upper Primary 5

IBPYP 6

Secondary Princi-pal/IB

7

IT 8

Arts Week 9

CAS 10

AISL Triathlon 11

Contents

Easter break

25th

March to

1st April

School reo-pens

4th April

ISUZU-ISL

Colour run

9th

April

Last School day for Yr 11 and IB stu-dents

22nd

April

March has zipped by…….

We have had many exciting events at school in March with Book Week, Recycling assembly, a Symphonic tale rendition of Peter and the Wolf and the list simply goes on…..

The EY production “The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf” has taken a lot of preparation on the part of students, teachers and parents. Won-derful to see it all come together on the 23

rd. Heartfelt congratulations

to the entire EY team for putting it together so efficiently and also a big “thank you” to Mr. Somwe for the music, Ms. Bentley for the script and Mr. Daniel C. Jere for the sound.

The accreditation process is gaining momentum with Part 1 (School Profile) of the report and Sec-tion A (Mission, Vision and Objectives) nearing completion. Section B (Curriculum ) begins after Easter break. This is when all the teachers will revisit our curriculum documents and make changes that are required. The vertical alignment of the curriculum will be completed first followed by the hor-izontal alignment.

Our teachers have been working most Saturdays and 20 (both Primary and Secondary) of them successfully completed the First Aid workshop run by MARZ on March 5

th. We also had 3 teachers

from Primary school - visit South Africa (Johannesburg) for an Ipad summit this month. We eagerly await feedback on ways and means to improve lessons using Ipads as a resource in our teaching and learning.

Dates to note: Ultra Marathon- April 9th, Student led Conference- April 13

th

As someone wisely said- “Teaching is the one profession that creates all other professions!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Easter break!

ISL Headlines! Page 2

Message from the Primary Principal: Mrs Sunita Nair Primary

ONE HOB MEALS

Pressure cookers and stackable steamers let you cook several different foods on one hob.

GO GREEN …..

The last few weeks have seen the Early Years department buckled down in rehearsals for our production, The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf. What amazes me each time I watch one of these productions is what risk takers our children are. The cast consists of children from age 2 up to 7 and each and every child comes up on stage. It was an incredible show with beautiful singing, costumes and acting from our students. We are very proud of all the hard work they put into it and it definitely showed last night. Thank you to all the parents who helped with all the wonderful costumes.

On that note I would like to wish you all a super holiday. Looking forward to seeing you all back on

Monday 4th April.

Early Years Coordinator—Karen Hedstrom

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The Year two students have had a great time learning about local art. First, we went on a field trip

to AAWW (Art Academy Without Walls) located at the Show grounds. After that, two local artists,

Mapopa Hussein Manda and David Makala, came to our classes to create a masterpiece with the

pupils. Finally, we visited two local art galleries: Namwane Art Gallery and 37D Gallery. After the

Easter break the Year 2 students will organise an art exhibition to show their our own works of art.

Yr 2 Art field Trip to AAWW— By Mrs Anne-Marie Phiri

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World Book Day World Book day was celebrated on the 3rd of March this year. The primary school went with a Roald Dahl theme. Students had great fun reading the stories, making props from their favourite book and even acting as Mr and Mrs Twit playing awful pranks on each other. Children had shared reading and the little ones were so delighted to have an old-er friend read to them.

Now that the Easter holidays have begun, let us take a leaf out of one of Roald Dahl's books...“So, please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookcase on the wall.”

― Roald Dahl The Year Three classes have been learning about the features of urban and rural areas as part of their fourth Unit of Inquiry into the Earth's physical ge-ography. The students had very strong arguments for and against living in an urban or rural area. To follow up their arguments and see what life is like in a rural area, we went to a village called Abesu in Chongwe which is in the Eastern Province.

Abesu is a charitable organisation established to sustain livelihoods

through self-build housing. The children were able to meet the villagers, ask questions and see what life really is like in a rural area. The experience was a great eye opener for both students and teachers. Thank you to Abesu for the experience.

From the Upper Primary Coordinator: Mrs Tasneem Mohmad

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EXHIBITION UPDATE Year Six has now embarked on their Exhibition journey and this will be for the next six weeks. The exhibition represents a process where students are en-gaged in a collaborative and student led, in-depth inquiry facilitated by the teachers. As you already know, they decided to inquire into „Better Ways’ and the central idea is: Our actions may influence and inspire others to find solutions to world problems.

Every student chose a global issue for their independent inquiry for which they are researching into “better ways” of addressing the problem. They have come up with their own lines of inquiry which they are working on independently. The students have also signed up for clubs of their choice.

The following are the clubs formed and mentors:

• Music- Mrs Munro, Mr Kowa and Ms Maureen

• Art/craft- Mrs Mc Nulty, Mrs Banda, Mrs Chilambu, Ms Mally and Ms Atiya

• Dance- Mrs Lungu, Ms Hacaambwa and Ms Gloria

• Theatre- Ms Mapoma, Ms Helen

• Fund raising- Mrs Choudhuri, Mrs Zacks and Mr Nyirenda

• IT- Mr Miti, Mrs Mohamed, Mrs Kavitha and Mr Timms

The students are being assisted by their mentors who are teachers in the school. Mr Timms is a parent and Ms Atiya is a sibling and former student at ISL who have also graciously volunteered to offer their help. The mentor clubs have already started meeting and some have had outside trips to consolidate their research while others have fundraising activities already underway. Each child has been given a contract that outlines what is required of them and these have been signed by both the student and the classroom teacher.

We are asking the ISL community to come forward if you have any expertise or have any contacts with key people who can share their capability with a mentor group, please get in touch with the re-spective mentor or Gerald/Agnes/Anna so that the children can greatly benefit from the knowledge that will be imparted.

Thank you once again to all the volunteers who have given up their time to help our Year Six chil-

dren.

Fundraising Club in Action!

Mrs Nair, the Primary Principal sampling

a cupcake from the bake sale during the

launch of the Fundraising Club Action

Plan for the 2016 PYP Exhibition. The

club has organized a soccer tournament

and a bake sale to raise funds for the Ele-

phant Orphanage in Lilayi and the Kab-

wata Orphanage.

Message from the IBPYP Coordinator: Mrs Grace Kambeu

ISL Headlines! Page 6

From the Secondary Principal: Mr. Craig Patterson

Over the past few weeks, students and parents of Year 9 and 11 have had the opportunity to become more familiar with the curricula into which they will be entering in the coming academic year, 2016-2017. For the Year 9‟s it will be two years in the IGCSE programme, and for the Year 11‟s it will be two years in the International Baccalaureate‟s Diploma Programme. Arguably the most challenging combination of high school programmes in in-ternational education, students will be equipped with the knowledge , skills and understanding which will enable them to succeed in tertiary education and in life beyond. As you may know, ISL‟s IGCSE and IBDP results have consistently been above the world averages. Next year ISL will add a number of new and exciting courses to the current high school selection. Global Perspectives will become a mandatory course in the IGCSE, preparing students for the Ex-tended Essay and Theory of Knowledge in Year 12 and 13. In addition, students will have the op-tion to choose Economics in the IGCSE and both Economics or Computer Science in the IBDP. (N.B.: these subject offerings will be dependent on the number of students wishing to join). ISL will begin the implementation of the International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC) next aca-demic year. This will anchor the academic programme in the Middle School, providing a strong foundation for the IGCSE and the IBD programmes. With the introduction of new courses and a new curriculum in the Secondary school, ISL aims to provide parents and students with a challenging, but seamless educational experience from Year 7 to Year 13. If you wish to know more about these and other academic improvements in the Second-ary school, please do not hesitate to contact the Secondary office.

This is the last stretch for our DP2 students before the official IB examinations

start on the 2nd

May. The orals in both Modern Foreign Languages and English

have been completed and the last internal assessments will be handed in be-

fore the Easter break. Teachers will start focusing on revision in their various

subjects after the holiday.

The majority of the DP2 students have now received admission offers from uni-

versities and colleges in the USA, UK, and Europe. Over $150,000 of annual scholarship awards

has already been attributed to a number of our students from universities and colleges in the USA,

which is very impressive!

The DP1 students have recently attended a library session with Ms. Musanje, the Secondary School librarian, about Academy Honesty and citations in order to reference correctly in their Ex-tended Essay, which they are expected to continue working on during the Easter holiday.

Soon after the holiday, they will be doing their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award expedition in Ndubaluba. All DP1 students are expected to attend, as part of the CAS component for their Diplo-ma.

Secondary ISL Headlines! Page 7

IB Corner! From Nathalie Vignard

ISL Student Technicians We go to after-school sessions with our teacher, Mr. Miti. We help teachers, students and others when they are struggling to do something on the computer or need help with IT stuff. Mr Miti taught us so far about fixing the different things like connecting a projector and so on. We learnt how to connect a projector on the first day. It was pretty hard but I learnt from Mr. Miti who told us that we should face the D shape on the connector and at the projector it also has a D-shape, so that is where you connect a projector. We have done: - connecting a projector, - how to reset a Thin Client, - how to reconnect a desktop computer, - troubleshooting steps - confidentiality Thank you Siva, Wana, Mushili, Blessing, Vincenzo, Langiwe, Si-eun, Elisha, Paul, Kimi, Benjamin L, and Disha, .

ISL Headlines! Page 8

IT Department—from Mr Ezekiel Miti

SL Headlines! Page 9 Arts Week was a great success! It featured a wide variety of performances and demonstrated the talents of various students in the school. Performances ranged from bands to dances, and even to self-composed songs. We also had a professional opera singer from Japan perform for us, amazing us with her incredible talent. Overall, it was a great way to share and appreciate art within our school. A tremendous thank you to everyone who participated or came to support us in raising mon-ey for Chasdale School – you made this possible!

Ruella and Priyanka

ARTS WEEK

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A few IBDP students visit the Children’s Oncology Ward at the University Teaching Hospital as part of the ISL Community Service Programme. The chil-dren at the hospital did not have many books to read and had very few toys. Due to this, we conducted a “Book and Toy Drive" in school and would like to thank ISL families for their generous donations.

At the Oncology Ward, there are around 25 to 30 children, all below the age of 14. Four of us from IB1 visit them every Thursday between 14 00 and 16 00. I would like to share with you one of our experiences with these children. One day, we arrived with full bag of the donated toys. As we were walking in, we saw all the children standing with their parents in a line, waiting to be pricked

by a needle. They were crying their poor little hearts out. It was heartwarming, to see all their tears evaporating at the sight of us entering with a sack full of toys. They eagerly came running out to us, jumping all over and looking at the toys. Their excitement was overwhelming. We did many activities with them, we danced and had fun. At the end before leaving, Mrs. Brenda, the lady, in-charge, stopped us and told us, “Thank you so much, we really appreciate all this. The children are truly happy. May God bless you, we can’t thank you enough”. Even the parents came and thanked us. My friends, Tara, Gaurav, Mushfikur and myself are truly honored to go and help out and we are grateful to the ISL community for the donations of toys and book.

These young cancer patients spend months in the hospital, away from home. It is your donations that provide them some distraction. We are touched by the many generous donations that have come in.

None of this would have been possible without your support.

If you somehow missed donating during the toy and book drive and would still like to do so, please give items to your child’s teacher or hand in at Reception.

Thank you so much on behalf of the children at the Oncology Ward at UTH!

Uma M Murugappan IB1

ISL Headlines! Page 10

CAS NEWS—COMMUNITY SERVICE

CONTACT US The International School of Lusaka

6945 Nangwenya Road

Lusaka, Zambia

Phone: +260 211 252291

Fax: +260 211 252865

E-mail: info@islzambia.org

www.islzambia.org

http://www.cois.org/ http://www.cie.org.uk/

http://www.neasc.org/ http://www.ibo.org/ http://www.pamojaeducation.com/

ISL Headlines! Page 11