Monday 26th January 2015

Year 9 Inter-house Update

Over the past couple of weeks the Year 9 Inter-house activities have started to gain momentum and it is great to see so many pupils taking the opportunity to take part in some healthy competition. As always the Inter-house dodge-ball saw a great turn out from all houses. After some hard fought battles it was Mr O'Neil's Queen house that came out triumphant. His passion and enthusiasm on the sidelines was reminiscent of the legendary Mrs Bisby!

More recently, the Year 9 house teams took part in the hugely anticipated soft-ball competition. After the preliminary games, I believe that the final will be between Crest and Queen this Friday. No doubt Mr Finch (Head of Crest) would like to reaffirm his grasp on the house trophy again, although the new Head of Queen, Mr O'Neil, is certainly making a big impact with his supremely competitive Year 9 team....it is sure to be an interesting game!

 

Friday 23rd January 2015

Important Dates

IGCSE Options forms have been given out this week at school and now that pupils have had their subject taster sessions, tutor time activities, career sessions and options assembly, I am confident that they have all of the information needed to make the right choices for themselves. There is one more major event before the options forms need to be returned and it is absolutely fine for pupils to hold onto these forms until after the Options PTC where each faculty will be on hand to answer questions about their subjects. Please note that it is an open PTC. This means that we do not schedule appointments but all of the Year 9 teachers and Heads of Faculty will be available for you to drop by and discuss IGCSE Option choices as well as progress in particular subjects at school. 

Tuesday 10th of February: Options PTC

Friday 13th of February: Deadline for Option forms to be handed in to form tutors.

Please do not hesitate in contacting me if you have any concerns or questions. Regards, Dr. Browning

Monday 12th of January 2015

IGCSE Options Information Booklet

Please use the link below to access the new Year 9 IGCSE subject options iBook. This should provide insight into the all of the courses available for next year and answer any questions that you might have about the process:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1I5bAMjrTiEakN6elNhVTFCTjA/view?usp=sharing

For any parents that were unable to attend the discussion evening on Thursday 8th of January the slides from the evening can be found using the following link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1I5bAMjrTiEci1DWGFZaGdmT2c/view?usp=sharing

Please contact me if you have any concerns or further questions. Regards, Dr. Browning

Friday 9th January 2015

HUMAN RIGHTS ENQUIRY

This week at school the Year 8 and 9 pupils were teamed up in house groups to research about different human rights. This is clearly a massively important topic for pupils to know about and is in line with the idea of developing empathy that is embedded in our positive education and school focus this year.

Pupils essentially had 2 days to prepare a concept and pitch to raise awareness of one particular human right. It was great to see all of the pupils really getting involved in these projects and the final products this year were very impressive. We have had professional photographers in school taking pictures this week and so plenty of great photos will become available soon. For now, here are a few from me from the free flow activity on Thursday in which pupils were learning about the right of privacy.

Tuesday 6th of January 2015

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone has had a great holiday and is well rested for a busy few weeks ahead. This week we have a Human Rights enquiry project going on. For this, Year 9 pupils will be teamed up with Year 8 pupils to choose a Huamn Right to focus on and find out about and then on Thursday and Friday the mixed Year group teams will have to present their right and ideas to advertise it to a panel of judges. More to follow on this..........

IMPORTANT GCSE Options Information:

We also have an important IGCSE options discussion evening FOR PARENTS ONLY this Thursday the 8th of January.  Mr Wellings and myself will be outlining the choices that pupils have to make and give some ideas about how parents can help their children in this process. The session will be held in the Grand Hall from 7.30-8.30pm

Activities to help pupils with their IGCSE subject options will begin next week. On Monday and Tuesday Year 9's will attend taster sessions for all of the different IGCSE subjects. Paper copies of the timetable for these taster sessions will be distributed during AM tutor time on Monday morning but you can see this now via the link below. Please note that pupils will be in tutor groups for the taster sessions and they will replace periods 3 and 4 on Monday and periods 1 and 2 on Tuesday.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16kR_U7vZO7Y2qHECt7V8i9lyxbOebK5bMjm3EKCM_aw/edit?usp=sharing

Following these sessions pupils will have an opportunity to look through the IGCSE options e-book during tutor times and they will be encouraged to think carefully about their choices by completing various activities. There will also be an options assembly for pupils in the week starting Monday 19th of January. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Kind Regards, Dr, Browning

Thursday 11th of December 2014

Reports 

For your information, the end of term reports should now be available on the school system. I have spent some time reading through the reports and it is clear that the teachers certainly offer a lot of very specific advice for how the pupils can improve in their attainment and approach at school. Moreover, the vast majority of Year 9 have very encouraging reports demonstrating that they have made a superb start to this important year. Looking through the pupil scores for their attitude to learning and also organisation for learning (two key indicators for success) it is remarkable to see the same names near the top of both lists. The following pupils scored in the top 5 out of the entire Year 9 cohort (over 150 pupils) for both of these categories. These pupils have been rated as exceptional in the majority of their subjects.

Narissa Jewa 9L

Kareena Kamdar 9W

Vanessa Lee 9P

If you have any immediate concerns and wish to discuss the contents of the reports please feel free to contact me browning.m@gardenschool.edu.my. Otherwise there will be a parent teacher conference in Term 2 on Tuesday 10th February 2015.

Year 9 into Year 10 Subject Option Information

The calendar for next term is now filling up with subject options events. All pupils have been given a copy of the schedule but you can see the information by following the link below. Please note that we will be holding an options information session for parents in the first week back 7.30-8.30pm on Thursday the 8th of January in the Grand Hall. Pupils will then have options taster sessions during the second week of term 2 in which they will be able to gain real insight about what it would be like to study the different subjects for IGCSE. We will be doing some options based activities during tutor times too to help the pupils really think about their choices. I would also encourage parents to start talking to pupils about what subject options might be most suitable. My best advice for this would be:

• Select as wide a range of subjects as possible – universities and employers look for this
• Choose subjects that you enjoy
• Choose subjects that you are good at

An overview of options available can be viewed on the school website:
https://sites.google.com/a/gardenschool.edu.my/secondary-curriculum/home/secondary-curriculum-overview

Options event schedule:
https://drive.google.com/a/gardenschool.edu.my/file/d/0B1I5bAMjrTiEaWEzSGhBX1MwR2M/view

Have a GREAT holiday!

It has been a very busy term, and also a very successful one for the vast majority of pupils. I am still hearing lots of great things about the Year group so thank you all. Sadly we are saying goodbye to a number of pupils this term and would like to wish the following pupils all of the very best for their futures. Do stay in touch with all of your friends here at GIS. The leavers this term are:

Louis Do 9I

Zhakri Azlan 9I

Hannah Do 9L

Dean Knight 9L

Justin Ang 9M

Emily Batrouney 9P

 Finally, I would just like to wish everyone a fantastic holiday and remind pupils to get some well earned rest. Stay safe if you are traveling this holiday and I look forward to seeing you next term! Best wishes, Dr. Browning

Friday 5th of December 2014

 Year 9 Options Information

As the final few tutor groups have their initial careers / options sessions with Ms Sharma we are now turning our attention to the subject option information events scheduled for the start of Term 2. Please follow the link below to see the order of events. A hard copy of this letter will be given to pupils at school.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1I5bAMjrTiEaWEzSGhBX1MwR2M/view?usp=sharing

iPad Use at School

Whilst the significant majority of pupils are using iPads responsibly and effectively to enhance learning at school there remains to be a significant minority of pupils causing concern with how they are choosing to use their iPads. In light of this, as a school we would like to remind pupils of the responsible use policy that they have all agreed to abide by:

Student iPad Responsible Use Policy:

• I will charge my iPad every night and bring it into school every day

• I will take good care of my iPad, protect it in a suitable case and will never leave it unattended or allow another student to use it
• I will ensure that my iPad is secured with a password and that ‘FindmyiPhone’ is activated
• I will set my iPad homescreen to show my name and tutor group and ensure that the ‘name’ of my iPad includes my own name
• I will use my iPad appropriately for learning purposes during the school day under the direction of my teachers
• I will only photograph or film people with their permission
• I will only use the camera or microphone with the knowledge and permission of my teacher
• I will not use my iPad to bully, tease, humiliate or upset other people
• I will not use my iPad to hack another person’s accounts or create false user profiles
• I will never share any images or movies of other people without their permission
• I will not access, create or download inappropriate, explicit, offensive or illegal material
• I will not attempt to gain unauthorised access to another persons’ iPad
• I understand that my iPad is subject to inspection at any time without notice
• I understand that failure to follow these guidelines for responsible use will result in sanctions for my behaviour
• I understand that if I use any apps inappropriately I may be asked to remove them from my iPad
  
  
  During next week and the first weeks back following the holiday I will be inspecting pupil iPads at random. I would like to thank parents in advance for their help and support in ensuring that all pupils are using the iPads in an appropriate and responsible way. If you have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate in contacting me. Many Thanks, Dr. Browning