tisa times 12 june 2015

Contents

Director 1-5 Primary Principal 5 Arts Competition Winners 6 Library News 6 Primary Show 7 TISA 5 Mural 8 Baku Sharks 8-9 A Retrospective 10-13 C&S Report 14-16 Athletics News 16 Sports Day 17-18 PTA 19 Triathlon 20 Board Report 21

Calendar August

14 New Students' Orientation

17 Term 1 Starts

www.tisa.az

[email protected]

12t h June 2015 2014-2015 I s sue 8

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One of the many aspects on which we have been working during the last few years is the development of a process with which we can evaluate the level of success achieved in implementing the TISA Mission and Aims.

TISA Mission Statement The TISA Mission is to prepare students to become life-long learners and positive contributors to their local and global communities. TISA will prepare its students for the next stage of their education through a high quality, well-balanced educational programme. TISA will deliver its programme according to the universally recognised educational principles, practices and beliefs of the International Baccalaureate. In order to fulfil our Mission we will:

• Develop in our students

the attributes of the IB Learner Profile.

• Foster a friendly and supportive learning atmosphere.

• Enable students to transition successfully to and from TISA.

• Prepare IB Diploma students to embark on higher education courses

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in suitably challenging universities.

• Promote positive relationships with other schools and organizations in Azerbaijan and abroad.

• Recruit and develop well-qualified and effective teaching staff.

• Provide appropriate forms of assessment and international benchmarking.

• Integrate technology into the curriculum in order to develop skills according to internationally recognised standards.

• Inform and educate parents about all aspects of their child’s education and encourage active parental participation.

• Continue to improve the school’s learning environment, facilities and resources.

The way we accomplished this was to identify the key elements of our objectives, to establish a set of pre-defined deliverables and to develop tests (with several different criteria for each of the components) with pre-established targets to show whether we are achieving them. This year, for the first time, we collected and analysed a variety of qualitative and quantitative indicators and supporting evidence including parent surveys, external

TISA Mission Statement Implementation Evaluation 2015

TISA 5 Mural. Finished trial. See page 8

TISA Mission Statement Implementation Evaluation 2015…continued

BTK News

TISA Times of 21 Director

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assessment results (ISA, IB), and information gathered from Principals, coordinators, the Business Manager and Human Resources Manager in order to assess whether we are achieving our aims. You can see from the table below

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that we are fully achieving our objectives in 7 out of the 11 overall categories and that 28 of the 33 individual criteria are being met:


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International Day I have been the International Day coordinator for the past 6 years. Sadly, this was my last year coordinating this huge event. I can honestly say that this was one of the most memorable. Thank you to the following committee members for their energy, enthusiasm and efforts to making this year's International Day a huge success: Elizabeth O'Neill, Brigette Henk Gulatowska, Scott Mathyk, Gina Hinds, Mark Stride, Matthew Franklin, Maria Hamblin, Daniel Bergthold, Jo Green, Greg Skehan, Ebby Adukkalil and Lucy Norton. Aylin and Gunel started the day off as our enthusiastic MCs for the International Day assembly. We had a variety of performances including the Tango and Cha Cha, creative dances from Turkey and India, a musical performance from Russia, a song about the 50 states from the U.S.A, learning languages from the M2 students, a musical and dance production performed by talented guest artists from Azerbaijan and 3 inspiring songs sung by the TISA primary students. It was an assembly to remember! The day didn't end there. Staff and students rotated to 5 different workshops that included puppetry, dancing, singing, playing national games, henna, art


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We can be very proud of the overwhelming agreement that TISA is proving to be a friendly and supportive learning atmosphere. Transitions are important in a school with such a transient student population as ours, and the evidence shows that we are doing a very good job in enabling students to transition successfully to and from TISA. Our IB Diploma students are heading for an array of top universities throughout the world next year, and this is further confirmation that they are being prepared to embark on higher education courses in suitably challenging universities. Our relationships with schools, charities and other organisations in Azerbaijan and abroad are providing great opportunities for our students to be engaged with the world around them both locally and globally. In addition, we continue to be supported by very committed parents, who show that they are interested in their children’s education and that they are willing to participate actively. We have continued to improve the school’s learning environment, facilities and resources, and while there is still more to be done before the campus is maintained to a high level, and the provision for the performing arts is well below world-class, we have improved the infrastructure significantly over the past few years, and the addition of TISA 5 has already had a really wonderful

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impact on school life. I have no doubt that TISA 5 will continue to be a busy hub of sporting and other activity for many years to come. We continue to be accredited by CIS and authorised by the IB, which together provide externally benchmarked confirmation that our programmes are high quality and well-balanced and that we are delivering the PYP, MYP and IB Diploma programme according to the principles, practices and beliefs of the International Baccalaureate. We are not fully achieving our goals in only 5 of the 33 individual criteria. Of these, two relate to technology: we are very pleased with the overall progress that we have made against our Technology and Learning Plan, but we have been fully 1:1 in the Secondary School for just a few months now, and clearly it will take longer for IT to be fully integrated into the Secondary curriculum. On assessment and with the Learner Profile, Secondary has been working hard on streamlining policies and practises in a number of contexts this year, and steps have already been taken to ensure that objectives for these areas will be met in the next school year. For various reasons, not all of our teachers have undertaken workshops or participated in online training over the past two years 2 years: this will be rectified in 2015-16.

Art Competition Winners. See page 6


From the Primary Principal

TISA Times of 21 Director & Primary Principal

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It has been very worthwhile to develop the Mission Statement Implementation Evaluation Process, and we can be delighted with the results in this first year of using this method to assess our progress. The results show, objectively, that we are doing very well. TISA has moved forwards purposefully over the last few years, and I believe that we have indeed now positioned the school to make that significant step from

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good to great. I am confident that I am leaving behind a school which is appreciably better in so many different ways compared to when I became Director in 2009: thank you to all those who have contributed to the many improvements which we have made and best wishes to the TISA community for continued future success.

John Gillespie Director

It has been a very busy run up to the end of the school year with open houses, final assemblies and the report writing season. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all those parents well who have been supportive to the TISA Primary School over the last five years. The students leaving P8 this year were in P4 when I arrived! As they now move to Middle School, we wish them all the best on their educational journey. And finally, thank you to all the teachers, teacher assistants and administrators who have worked tirelessly for your children’s education. I wish TISA well next year and beyond.

David Harrold Primary School Principal

Art Academy Competition Winners. See page 6

Art Academy Competition Winners

Last week Baku Art Academy held a citywide, student art competition. The categories included Sports, Azerbaijan through my eyes and Eco culture. As in previous years TISA Primary students entered some of their group artwork. This year we are very proud to announce that the P3 students won their category ‘Azerbaijan through my eyes,’ with a Kandinsky inspired carpet. They won a ceramic medal and a beautiful book about the art of Mikayil Abdullayev. In addition Koko, Salma, Eileen and Rhianna from P7 and Hagar, Dasha, Isabella and Bianca from M1 won small carpets and certificates for their imaginative creations of large sports people. Congratulations to our young artists.

Nicola Beale Primary Visual Arts Teacher

Library News

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Thanks to a generous donation from the Baku Khazar Rotary Kulubu, the Secondary library has received many classic novels in Russian. This is a wonderful addition to our growing Mother Tongue collection. These books will be on display for the next few weeks, so please stop by to have a look and to check out some books for summer reading! We have a fantastic collection in a range of languages, and parents are always welcome to borrow.

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Please help us to support Mother Tongue development at TISA by donating good-condition books in languages other than English. Unfortunately we cannot accept books in English, but we will gladly accept books in any other language, for any ages, to help us build our growing MT collection.

Emma Burns Library Coordinator

TISA Times of 21 Arts & Library

Do Fairies Have Tails?

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The Primary Drama students finished the year with a successful production of “Do Fairies Have Tails?” by the students and staff at TISA. For this group, this was a unique show in many ways. It was the longest drama production. It was almost 90 minutes. It was the largest cast. There were 78 performers. Forty actors came from P5 to P8, and they were joined by 38 members of the chorus from P3 to P4. It was also the youngest cast for a major production. Over half the actors were in P5! Many of the students wrote songs for this production! Lillian, Yuval, Lidiya, Michela, and Catherine wrote lyrics for “Fairies Live Forever”. Balazs, William, and Caroline wrote

TISA Times of 21 Primary School Production

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the music and lyrics for “Honeybee”. Gulara wrote the music and lyrics for two songs: “Fairies are Small” and “Being a Fairy”. Lillian wrote the music and lyrics for “Busy Bee”. Najwa wrote lyrics for “Dark and Peaceful.” Marco was our youngest songwriter. He wrote the music and lyrics for “Yellow and Black”. Tyler wrote the music and lyrics for “Butterfly, Grasshopper and Ant.” Isabella and Vanya wrote lyrics for the finale, “Hady-Hay”.

Jim Hammer P5 Teacher

TISA Times TISA Times

Page 12 of 13 Bingo Night Photos

Board Report

TISA Times of 21 TISA 5 Mural & Baku Sharks

TISA 5 Mural

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On the completion of TISA 5, the P.E. Department approached me to explore the possibility of creating a mural in the new building. P7 and M1 students worked on a design for the mural with the local artist Bahram Khalilov exploring colour, materials and techniques. Two of their designs recently won prizes at the Baku Art Academy student art competition. The design idea that was chosen was to create a mosaic-like artwork of sports people along the central wall. This week, Ms. Niki and Ms. Gunel

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have drawn the sports figure outlines on the TISA 5 wall and have organized the necessary resources. This week Primary School students focused on completing the mural. Please come to TISA 5 to see our progress. When the project has been finished photos and a video will be uploaded onto Ms. Niki’s website. http://www.spareroomdesigns.com/young-artists

Nicola Beale Primary Visual Art Teacher

Placing Geometric Shapes

Sketching Outline in TISA 5

Annual Baku Sharks Competition

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Over 250 people including coaches, competitors and parent and sibling supports descended on the Ramada Hotel on Thursday 28th May for the culminating swim competition for the Baku Sharks. 69 students aged from 7 16 competed in over 200 races with many athletes entering into 4 or 5 events. Swimmers have been training hard all year and their hard work paid off with an amazing 107 personal best times. This equates to 75% of seating times improved and is a major achievement for all swimmers. Some competitors shaved a whopping 13 seconds of a 50m event and this is an amazing feat. Special

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congratulations to the 22 competitors who competed for the very first time in the swim meet. Students train from 1 to 4 times per week after school depending on their skill and age. Most swim sessions are a minimum of 1 km and at times will be closer to 3 km. Some sessions are technique based while others are more endurance and fitness based. The day concluded with the presentation of ribbons and medals to all participants and a celebratory meal. A huge thank you to coaches Orxan, Lucy, Jo, Jodie, Louise,

TISA Times of 21 Baku Sharks

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Marieke, Ruben and Tony for their dedication to coaching the 170 swimmers, beginners through to squad training, throughout the year. An extra special thank you to Marieke and Ruben for their continued efforts in organising the Baku Sharks. For more information on the Baku Sharks please contact [email protected] or visit http://www.bakusharks.org/<http://www.bakusharks.org/Sharks/HOME.html>.

Jo Green P7 Teacher

Annual Baku Sharks Competition…continued

TISA Times of 21 Retrospective

Four Years in the Primary School: a Retrospective

By Alexander Gardner-McTaggart

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“Why have you been “stamp-clapping” in P3 and P4 now for 4 years?” “Why aren’t you teaching my five year old piano or violin?” “What is with the game ‘Stop go jump clap’? Why are you playing ‘Simon Says’?” “Raise the bar.” “That is not learning Mr Alex!” I beg to differ. Yes, I am a performing arts teacher at TISA Primary School. Not for very much longer. In 2015-16, I move into being the Secondary drama teacher at TISA. I will miss my P3 and P4 students; they have become an important part of my life these years past. Strange but true So when I came to TISA in 2011, I had a fresh view on things. Not a Primary music teacher (a drama teacher), and having spent nearly a decade in tertiary education and before in secondary, I looked at these wee P3s and P4s in my classroom, and then had a good long think about what challenges they faced in learning. About how I could best help them: artistically, creatively, with joy, and camaraderie. Before I joined TISA, I had been working a great deal as a teaching-academic: publishing, presenting and holding forth on English language, multisensory learning, and literacy difficulties. One particularly popular area had been learning language through drama (McTaggart, 2008). Hard to imagine, but I once ran a project with twelve 19 year old ladies in an Abu Dhabi college, who, swathed in black, devised a series of small shows based upon a 1960’s BBC society drama. These ladies were able to perform a sketch, perfectly depicting the overly plummy accents of British actors, to the point of bafflement. The amazing thing was that these girls were capable of perfect mimicry of accent and body language, and once they

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applied it to their language, they sounded like the dining room chatter at Downton Abbey. It was also a whole load of fun, and cultural boundaries began to dissipate as laughter rumbled around our classroom. Somewhere in the dune desert of the Empty Quarter, there is a woman in a Land Cruiser who is Al Mazourei clan, and a tiny bit Penelope Gordon-Smythe. That still makes me smile. It proved that identity and success in learning are essential. If you feel a goal you are striving for is ‘a part of you’, then everything associated with it is easy to take on board, there is no more ‘affective filter’. These girls identified with their characters; the accents and the body language became a part of what they were. They added this to their ‘personal wardrobe’ of expression, what Pierre Bourdieu calls Habitus and Hexis (Bourdieu, 1977). Being English became theirs. Theirs forever.

Being the best but always losing In a world of global dimensions, the ability to empathise in this way, build understandings and connections is the difference between strong and weak - rich and poor (Andreotti, 2011; United Nations Development Program, 2013), and the International Baccalaureate (IB) is first front in promoting this global mindedness to our children (Cambridge, 2014; Gardner-McTaggart, 2014). So there I was, in an IB World School, at TISA in P3 and P4. How could I help little children to see drama, music and dance as ‘part of themselves’, build social connections, and bridges? Many seemed to face challenges in physical coordination, attention-span, social skills. (Yes, I mean more than usual in five and six year olds). It seemed to me that the whole ‘screen and device’ thing had not been doing little children any favours since I had last

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Being good isn’t always easy – but trying does help So what does that mean? Well, let’s start with self-efficacy. Let me just cite him:

A strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways. People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided. Such an efficacious outlook fosters intrinsic interest and deep engrossment in activities. They set themselves challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them. They heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure. They quickly recover their sense of efficacy after failures or setbacks. They attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and skills, which are acquirable. They approach threatening situations with assurance that they can exercise control over them. Such an efficacious outlook produces personal accomplishments, reduces stress and lowers vulnerability to depression. (Bandura, 1994, p. 71) Ok, so I wanted my P3 and P4 kids to have that. I had seen so many meltdowns, tantrums, tears, at not being ‘The best’. It seemed such a shame to me how these little people could beat themselves up so much about so many things. I put self-efficacy in my shopping list, but how was I to achieve that with such little people? My riveting read of Reading and Writing Quarterly seemed to have the answer, and yes, it involved self-regulation: Self-regulation is a critical competency that underlies the mindful, intentional, and thoughtful behaviours of younger and older



By Alexander Gardner-McTaggart…continued

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taught them in 2001. Last time I taught this age group, there were none of these gizmos. I really had a very different view of the children now standing before me: the contrast was stark. Children were awash in culture of ‘not losing’, ‘not feeling disappointment’: never being told in a caring but firm voice that that is wrong and Reflect, move on and try again, try harder. As a result, I saw some children failing in all avenues to develop. Many seemed stuck. I wanted to ‘unstick’ them, help them to move forward. It seemed like they were always being told they were the best – they expected it. As a result, they didn’t try, and when they didn’t succeed – meltdown. I was reminded of my previous work on literacy development, (McTaggart & Beatty, 2009; Consolati, McTaggart, & Wheeler, 2008), and something known as ‘Self-regulation skills’. I went back to this literature, and low and behold, I seemed to have my answer, staring me in the face. (As with so many challenges that face us in life, someone has usually done the research, written it up, and given us the answer). In doing so I stumbled upon this article in a magazine with the mesmerizingly captivating title of Reading and Writing Quarterly, and so discovered a researcher in psychology named Bandura. Bandura has done much work in this area; he developed his own ‘Social Cognitive Theory’ (Bandura, 1986) and contributed an even more moving article on ‘Self Efficacy’ in the venerable ‘Annual Review of Psychology’ (Bandura, 1997). The amazing revelation to anyone who has, works or deals with children (or even was one themselves), is that ‘… self-efficacy and self-regulation are key processes that affect students’ learning and achievement.’ (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2007, p. 1). This is critical to understanding learning.

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of this, “nearly”, or “good job”, no…. every child in the circle knows the rhythm, and they are the judges. The children effectively teach each other, and the stamp clap becomes an exercise in group learning. It paves the way for the coming years of education, where they will collaborate, reflect, review, re-try, and keep working towards success. It means they begin to learn that failure is just a try. We try many times before we get things right. Every time our try gets better, we feel better about ourselves, and we want to try again. Our other games all serve a similar purpose. Stop-Go-Jump-Clap, Simon Says, Pippi, Squeak, Wilfred, and many more. They challenge children to recognize patterns (rules), and think before they move, perform – not on instinct or impulse, but on reflection. And yes, when you are out of the game, you are out. Yes, it is hard. Yes, it does get easier. And, even when you are out, it is still fun, because we learn from watching, encouraging, empathising. A vital skill indeed.

The rhythm of life Aristotle is known for believing that learning was the one constant thing that made people happy – each time we learn, it triggers joy. On success, well, Winston Churchill put it like this, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Being Churchill, he forgets to include the success at the end, which makes up for it. And as with Aristotle above, every failure involves learning, and learning makes us happy. But then, Churchill did also refer to depression as "My little black dog, faithful, always a few steps behind; sometimes closer, other times further away.” Performing arts and learning are both about joy. Performance art begins in our bodies. A rhythm is a heartbeat, a breath - a walk. Rhythm is indeed life.




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children alike. The term self-regulation (sometimes also called executive function) refers to the capacity to control one’s impulses, both to stop doing something, if needed (even if one wants to continue doing it) and to start doing something, if needed (even if one doesn’t want to do it). Self-regulation is not to be confused with obedience or compliance; when children are truly self-regulated they behave the same way whether or not an adult is watching. (Tools of the mind, 2015, p. 1) Logically, it now appeared that, ‘As students perform actions and note their learning progress their sense of self-efficacy is strengthened, which maintains their motivation for learning.’ (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2007, p. 3). This in turn consists of ‘… three phases forethought, performance control, and self-reflection.’ (p. 4).

Enter the stamp clap When a child learns a stamp-clap, it may be the first time the child has actually learned a rhythm. Not just any rhythm, but one that involves a complex use of legs and hands. It is something the child learns through observation of others (this is a very important skill for children to learn at this age), and it is something the child must plan, perform, and then reflect on: “How come that went wrong?” I know, it all sounds pretty simple, but the fact is, the stamp clap is pretty complex, and it is musical, and dramatic, and a sort of dance. It is everything we do in performing arts, and all confined to the child’s own body. It is theirs. And when they get it right, it was not the flute, or the drum, or the whistle – it was them! It is not Apple, Nintendo, Sony: it is them. The look of pride on a child’s face when they get it right for the first time is worth all the gizmos in the world. However, stamp claps are not that easy: and that is the important bit. The child has to get it exactly right. There is none




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The rhythms of the stamp-clap foster self-regulation in younger children. It is exactly that process of forethought, performance control, and self-reflection that requires action, not talk. The Stamp-clap is action. Words are not needed – unwanted in fact as children take turns in the circle, and honour each other’s performance of the stamp clap. Observation, listening, reflection, thinking, performance… these are the skills we want here. No, we can’t talk about it. It’s wrong because it’s wrong. Only you can learn it. There is no point asking me, I can’t tell you… but I can show you. And so can she. And if you stop and think. If you watch, If you listen, If you feel, And if you try, And if you try, And if you try, Then you will learn, And the world will be your oyster my child.

Alexander Gardner-McTaggart Performing Arts Teacher

Works Cited Andreotti, V. (2011). (Towards) decoloniality and diversality in global citizenship education . Globalisation, Societies and Education , 9 (3-4, ), 381-397 . Bandura, A. (1994). Encyclopedia of human behavior: Self-efficacy. (Vol. 4). (V. Ramachaudran, Ed.) New York: Academic Press. Bandura, A. (1997). Self - efficacy: The exercise of control Social cognitive

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theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology , 52, 1-26. Bandura, A. (1986). Socialfoundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Canbridge: CUP. Cambridge, J. (2014). Global Citizenship Education as pedagogic discourse,. In R. Bates, I. Silova, & D. Hobson (Eds.), Globalizing minds: Rhetoric and realities in international schools. (pp. 15-31). Information Age Publishing. Consolati, L., McTaggart, A., & Wheeler, G. (2008). Abu Dhabi Women’s College Reading Plan Initiative. Cultivating Real Readers. Al Ain.: HCT Press. Gardner-McTaggart, A. (2014). International elite or global citizens? Equity, distinction and power, the International Baccalaureate and the rise of the South. Globalisation, Societies and Education . McTaggart, A. (2008). Innovative usage of film media in language acquisition, Visual Learning in a Digital Age. International Council of Educational Media. Poitiers: ICEM. McTaggart, A., & Beatty, K. (2009). Hidden Dyslexia in Second Language Learners: A Case Study. Abu Dhabi: Marifa Press. Schunk, D., & Zimmerman, B. (2007). Influencing children’s self - efficacy and self - regulation of reading and writing through modeling. . Reading and Writing Quarterly , 2 (3), 7-25. Tools of the mind. (2015). Self Regulation. Retrieved June 4, 2015 from http://www.toolsofthemind.org/philosophy/self-regulation United Nations Development Program. (2013). Human development report 2013. (K. Malik, Ed.) Oxford, UK: Oxford University press.

TISA Times of 21 C&S Report

Secondary School Community and Service at TISA The C&S Journalism club have been busy writing end-of-year reports for some of our C&S groups. M1-M5 students have been collaborating on a variety of Service activities throughout the year, raising awareness about Global Issues, helping at TISA and within our local and global community. Our C&S groups have been very fortunate to work with amazing parent volunteers who have supported our students throughout the year. We have been incredibly lucky to work with parent volunteer, Ena Laliberte, who has been an absolute driving force behind many of our very successful activities. We are very grateful to Ena for the countless hours that she has spent helping teachers and students succeed with service. We wish Ena and her family all the best as they head off on a new adventure to Alsaka.

Dianne Caskie

Secondary English Teacher Caspian Compassion C&S group The Caspian Compassion Project has been doing a fantastic job this year. During two very efficient trips to the clinic they not only have supplied a hospital with contacts and useful stationery, but they also cleaned it! The group, lead by Eivind and Ali, raised 400 manat this year. They also organized multiple activities like the football games and the second hand sale, while also greatly contributing to the Winter Fair. The plans for next year would include more trips and advertisements around school. (Aysha Allahverdiyeve, M2)

Caspian Compassion groups members doing service activities around the TISA campus.

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts group has been working insanely hard this whole year! This group has raised over 350 manat and made six trips to the Homeless Shelter! With the fantastic leaders, Sofia and Holly who are only in M2, this group has provided wheelchairs and benches with the money they raised. All the support from Ms. Tshai has been greatly appreciated. The group would like to improve their result next year by visiting the homeless shelter more often. (Aysha Allahverdiyeva, M2) Book Lovers The Book Lovers is a group of passionate and collaborative M1s to M5s working to help UAFA, the disabled center for children and promoting the Secondary Library. They have had a successful year with organizing a field trip to the UAFA center, creating a movie night in library (to promote the area and the library books) and organizing a sale both at the Winter Fair and at the second hand sale. They conclude a successful year with raising well over 300 AZN. The only thing the Book Lovers group wishes to improvise, to have less brainstorming time, saving themselves more time for action. (Nastassja Gerlich, M2B)

TISA Times of 21 C&S Report

Secondary School Community and Service at TISA…continued Hands and Paws The Hands and Paws Group has been working extremely hard this past year and have made a great impact on the stray dog shelter they have been supporting, BARS. BARS is a shelter located in Baku supporting stray dogs in the city, sadly the centre faces the problem of over-population and their animals are getting sick. This is where Hands and Paws steps in; using the money earned from their Winter Fair games, the second hand sale and, with help from the PTA, they have been providing BARS with vaccinations for the animals. They have also promoted the issue around our school with adoption and information posters. With the help of the PTA they have collected over 1000 AZN and will be sending the money to BARS soon. (Nastassja Gerlich, M2B)

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Mobile Dental Health Clinic C&S group This is the Mobile Dental Health Clinic C&S group and their purpose is to help the organization that runs the clinic that provides urgent dental/oral healthcare to those who need it most. Their student leaders are John, Anita and Gil. Mr. Skehan and Mrs. Apoorvajoshi support them. Some of the group have made trips to the clinic to deliver supplies. The group organized a stall at the second hand sale and two games at the Winter Fair (one was the Magic Box) to raise money for buying new clinic equipment. In another school they put up posters to raise awareness about

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the clinic and how it helps people. The group would love to raise awareness about the clinic even higher and they also want to raise lots more money for equipment and supplies. (Struan Brannen Anderson M3)

M1 & M2 group members

The Russian C&S Club The Russian Club’s goal is to help the homeless and to support those with Downs Syndrome in Baku. Their student leaders are Sharon and Agil and their supporting adult is Ms. Mary. They have made trips to the Red Cross Centre and they raised enough money to take some of the disabled children to Park Bulvar. At the Winter Fair, they organized face painting and they let kids decorate their own t-shirts to raise awareness and money. This group has made many donations to multiple organizations and hope to raise a lot more awareness about their group in the future. (Struan Brannen Anderson M3)

TISA Times of 21 C&S Report & Athlitics

Secondary School Community and Service at TISA…continued

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Umid Yeri Sports Group The Umid Yeri Sports Group are trying to raise money for a woman in a desperate situation. This woman sadly didn’t have enough money to raise her child so the child was placed in an orphanage. The group leaders are Harrison Hay who is the secretary and Cory Bishop who is the president. Ms. Shavak is one of the parents/adults who has kindly decided to support the group. The group hasn’t yet visited Umid Yeri, however, the children from the

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Group came to TISA for a sports day. The Umid Yeri Group has had plenty of success when raising money with parties, movie nights and donut sales, raising more than 1300 manat. They want to spread awareness about the story of the woman so that more people can help raise money. The donut sales have been their biggest success this year. For next year, they would like to have more events to improve their C and S experience. (Aahan Tandan M2)

Athletics

Titans take the Wild Wind Track and Field tournament. The TITAN track athletes were excited to finally participate at the official track after having the event cancelled last year. The 38 strong TITAN squad did a fantastic job once again! They took home many medals and swept the podium with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes many times. They showed great resilience and determination throughout the event. The TITAN teams were awarded the division banners in 5 of the 6 divisions and were [not officially recognized but] great sportsmen and women through out the event. Thank you to coaches: Simon Norton, Maytham Al Rubaye, Sean Barry, Roelf Haverkamp, Ruslan Gafurov, Leeanne Galley and Eric Buczkowski. Great Job Athletes!

Eric Buczkowski PE Coordinator

Green Nakchivan

Blue Ganja

Red Lankaran

Yellow Guba

P3 & P4 1160 points 1040 points 1090 points 1170 points P5-P6-P7 1375 points 1280 points 1530 points 1415 points

Sports Day 2015

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Secondary Sports Day The annual sports days have come and gone and once again they kids had a fantastic day! With the added bonus of using TISA 5 as a venue, the event shape and feel changed for the better. For the Secondary event the teams worked their way through 7 different events (4 inside and 3 outside). Competing in different games and events with the volleyball and 4-way tug-o-war being the favorites for many if not all of the kids. This year’s final results were the closest seen in years! 3 points separated 3rd and 4th place while 2 points separated 1st and 2nd. BLUE house was able to keep their crown for the second year in a row! Thanks goes out to all the teachers and assistants who stepped up to help run the stations without them the event could not have gone as well. Great job and a well deserved rest for the whole PHE Department! Primary Sports Day The Primary sports days of June 2 (for P5-P6-P7) and June 4 (for P3-P4) were enjoyed by all students and spectators alike. Both competitions started with the Red Lankaran, Yellow Guba, Blue Ganja and Green Nakhchivan Houses parading into the TISA 5 gymnasium with their house cheers and chants. We were fortunate to have Mr. Piers Jones, Head of Sports of the Baku 1st European Games, addressing the audience with his insightful and inspiring opening remarks. Mr. Jones shared some interesting facts about the upcoming Baku Games and stressed that in all sporting competitions, it is important for all athletes to show sportsmanship, to

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respect oneself and others, to demonstrate positive team spirit, and to have fun while competing. Thank you Mr. Jones for taking the time from your busy schedule to come to our sports days, and for the Baku Games souvenir button! We then welcomed another special guest, Ms. Elnura, who took the stage and lead everyone in an action-packed Zumba session. All students showed their best zumba skills and were certainly ready for the sports day after this warm-up! The mood was festive and all students were eager to take part in the various sporting activities. Well done to all for doing their best and being part of their team’s success! A Big Thank you to the PTA for the fruits, ice cream and sports day t-shirts, to all parent volunteers and TISA staff for their help in making sure everything went smoothly – from scoring points to cheering on and encouraging our athletes. In the end, all students left TISA 5 sweaty and exhausted, but with big smiles on their faces and an ice cream cone in their hands! We would like to display some Sports Days photos on our notice board. If you have some great shots and want to share these, please upload a maximum of 2 or 3 great photos at: https://sendtomycloud.com/TISASportsDay2015Photos Roelf Haverkamp and Eric Buczkowski

Sports Day Coordinators

PRIMARY SPORTS DAY RESULTS

TISA Times of 21 Sports Day

TISA Times of 21 Sports Day

Sports Day 2015 Photos

TISA Times of 21 PTA

PTA Summary of 2014 – 2015

Thanks to the continuing support of the TISA community, the TISA PTA have raised over 23,000 AZN during the school year. A fantastic 87% of the money was raised at our main fundraiser event the very well attended Winter Fair. 50% of all money raised was donated to various local charities either through the school Community and Service Programme or directly by the PTA to a chosen charity. The other 50% goes to school enrichment projects. Our main investment project which was suggested by the parents and approved by the school leadership was to erect a large shade over the jungle gym. Unfortunately due to location of the jungle gym and the strong Baku winds the price to purchase and safely install a shade was too high. Therefore the TISA PTA committee decided to support and fund various smaller projects around the school as follows: Art Aprons New aprons for painting were made from plastic packaging collected by the Student Council and sponsored by the PTA in order to help a refugee family from Afghanistan who produce these aprons.

Weather Station A new weather station was purchased for the use of both the Primary and Secondary school to allow the students to investigate the properties of the weather and weather systems and assist their understanding of climate and weather phenomena. The new weather station provides minute by minute information on temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, wind speed and direction. It also has Wi-Fi capability which will allow access to the data from the classroom and stores past data for analysis. Video Mixer A professional video mixer was purchased with PTA funds to allow the Primary and Secondary Arts Department to mix multiple camera angles live from school productions and concerts. This will allow them to produce DVDs of students’ performances and broadcast live through the school website. Lost and Found Box A new lost and found cupboard and shelves were designed by a TISA parent and production sponsored by the PTA. Charity Cookbook The Flavours of the World TISA Cookbook 2015 was produced by the Poverty and Hunger C&S Group from the delicious recipes donated by the TISA Community. The book was sponsored by Halliburton and the PTA. All proceeds will be used to sponsor English and Swimming lessons for the children from the Refugee Centre during the summer holiday.

PTA

TISA Times of 21 Triathlon

Baku Junior Triathlon 2015

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On Sunday May 17th 2015, over 100 children from the TISA community participated in the annual Baku Junior Triathlon. This is a popular and fun event lead by parents and supported by both parents and TISA staff. Children were given the opportunity to swim, cycle and run different distances depending on their year group. Everyone who completed the triathlon was presented with a medal and a certificate. The top three in each category were given a trophy engraved with 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. At 8.45am over 100 excited children congregated at the Hyatt Hotel. Children registered for the race and each received a triathlon t-shirt, before they were briefed about the swim and the event started. All children tried hard to achieve their best. Some impressive swim times were achieved, as well as some personal victories. Back on Stonepay, the children met organisers in the afternoon to be briefed on the cycle and run sections of the race. There were three races: P5 & P6, P7 & P8, M1-M5. The children demonstrated great sportsmanship and competitive

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spirit with many children cheering for their friends and peers, and supporting each other during the tough parts of the race. Well done to all children who ‘dared to Tri’. Everyone did really well, as a triathlon is a challenging race of endurance and stamina. There is a list in the right hand column of the top three awarded in each year group. The Junior Triathlon Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents, teachers and helpers who volunteered their time to assist both during this event and in the run up to it. An event like this takes a lot of organization and could not be achieved without your support. We would also like to thank TISA for allowing us to use the school field and cycle racks, and all the maintenance and security staff who played their part in assisting us before and during the event. Junior Triathlon Committee 2015

Allison Hatfield, Maya Ladd, Tania Langlands, Marieke

Scholten, Karen Mean, Natasha Petersen

TISA Times of 21 Board Meeting Report

From the PTA…continued

TISA Board of Governors Meeting Report, Tuesday 5 May 2015 Present: Wilbert Long, Reynold Ajodhasingh, Oddvar Samuelsberg, Carol Hawkins, John Gillespie, David Harrold, Stephen Caskie, Alison Bainbridge 1. Welcome, Wilbert Long WL welcomed Board members. 2. Board Report

a. Whole School Matters, John Gillespie Pulse Survey of all TISA employees conducted 20-29 April; results next month. Mission Statement Evaluation being conducted; results next month. Board Evaluation Survey to be conducted 6-16 May; results next month.

b. Primary Principal’s Report, David Harrold Willy Wonka was a very successful musical and students really enjoyed taking part. Sincere thanks to all those teachers, assistants, parents and students who were involved! We welcomed parents and staff to the P8 Exhibition Evening on Thursday 30 April. A tremendous amount of work was put in by students, who were supported fully by teachers, mentors and parents. We are busy with end of year preparations: cumulative files, reports, entering information on the reading, writing and mathematics continuums, class placements for next year, appraisal documentations, preparation for the final PD day, and I. E. P. reviews.

c. Secondary Principal’s Report, Stephen Caskie IB Diploma exams began Monday 4 May.

3. Matters Arising from the Board Report Board Evaluation Survey will take place 6 to 16 May with results shared at the June meeting. April minutes approved.

4. Budget 2015-16, John Gillespie Postponed until June meeting to allow Finance Committee to review. 5. TISA/Director’s Goals 2014-15, John Gillespie

JG outlined achievements for the year. Of 11 whole school goals, 7 will be fully competed by the end of May. 73% of the TISA Strategic Plan for 2014-15 has been fully implemented, and 90% of the Technology and Learning Plan for 2014-15 completed or in progress. Two elements will be postponed until next year.

6. Feedback from Family Survey, John Gillespie

JG presented the results from the 2015 Family surveys. 38.3% of possible contributors responded (198/517 families), with 39.8% of Primary School and 35.8% of Secondary families completing the questionnaire. Overall 80% of respondents are pleased with the education being provided with no major reservations; 14 (2.7%) families are generally pleased with some significant reservations; 18 families (3.5% of the total) are not pleased. Positives: openness and innovation in learning, the safe, friendly, welcoming and nurturing learning environment, diversity of the student population, the sense of community, the calibre and enthusiasm of the teachers and teacher assistants, the open-mindedness and dynamism of the approach to learning, the small classes, the use of technology. Perceived areas for development: infrastructure (cafeteria refurbishment, performing arts facilities, swimming pool, enhanced playgrounds and more green spaces); more challenging Primary curriculum and a desire to increase academic standards; communications in general and specifically about students’ progress; expansion of the range of after-school activities in general and of Primary sport in particular; foreign language provision; transition to schools in other countries; training office and security staff to be more helpful and polite. Results summary will be shared with parents, staff and new Director and Primary Principal. Meet the Board sessions for parents and staff to be reinstated next year.

7. Code of Conduct for Parents, John Gillespie

JG presented the proposed Parent and Guardian Code of Conduct for implementation in 2015-16, developed in collaboration with the PTA. JG will finalise the summary for inclusion in next year’s Parent-Student Handbook.

8. Graduation Requirements 2015-16, Stephen Caskie

SC proposed changes for next year. The current credit system is not fully satisfactory: credit is awarded for activities not recognised by colleges that accept the HS Diploma; TISA transcripts do not always align well with receiving schools; failure in PE, DT and the Arts in any semester results in a student failing the TISA Diploma. Revised graduation requirements approved: 4 credits for First Language; 3 credits for Maths, Science, Humanities, Second Language; 1.5 credits for Arts, PE, DT; 1 credit for TOK; 2.5 credits for Electives; Completion required for DP Extended Essay/Extended Research Project, Community and Service, Creativity, Action and Service (CAS), Personal Project (M5) - total 24 credits minimum requirement from M4 to DP2.

9. Revised PTA Constitution

Will be presented next month. 10. Any Other Business

JG: Full membership of CEESA has been approved, which is excellent news for TISA sport and other activities. From the PTA…continued

From the PTA

tisa times 12 june 2015

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