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
  
  
   

Tuesday 25th of November -

Year 9 Subject Options Information Sessions 

For your information, during the last part of this term the Year 9 pupils will be learning about the option choices that they will get to make for Year 10 subjects. Ms Sharma, the school's KS3-4 careers adviser, is running 2 sessions with each tutor group in which they will learn how to become more self aware of their academic interests, strengths, weaknesses, possible mid/long term goals etc. 

All pupils have been given access to all of the careers material in an iTunesU course. Ms Sharma encourages all parents to take some time with the Year 9 pupils to sit down and look through the material. No decisions are made until term 2, but obviously it is important to start thinking about choices now. The code to access the iTunesU course is: EB6-ERT-HKB. If you have any questions at this time, please feel free to contact myself or Ms Sharma directly:

Dr. Browning: browning.m@gardenschool.edu.my

Ms Sharma: sharma.v@gardenschool.edu.my

Monday 10th - Friday 14th November 2014

Science is a hugely popular and successful subject at GIS with numbers for triple Science at IGCSE and at A-level increasing dramatically over the past few years. This year the top performing IGCSE Chemistry pupil in Malaysia, a delight to have personally taught, Sarah Saram, graduated from Garden! It is clear that the Science faculty has gone from from strength to strength and Mr Fernandes, Mr Grierson and Mr Netcher deserve real praise for orchestrating such enjoyable schemes of learning for Year 9. In the next few weeks the Year 9 pupils will be having their IGCSE options session with Ms Sharma and I imagine just as many of this cohort will be looking to choose triple Science next year. 

This year, Mr L'Hostis joined GIS in the Physics department and has already shown me some great examples of work from his lessons with Year 9. Please check the links below for some wonderful examples of how the pupils are using iPads effectively for collaborative learning:

http://padlet.com/lhostis_f/9Gsc2Resistance

http://padlet.com/lhostis_f/9KSc1Resistance

http://padlet.com/lhostis_f/9GSc4Resistance

http://padlet.com/lhostis_f/9Ksc2Resistance

http://padlet.com/lhostis_f/9Gsc3Resistance

Rewards and Recognition:

This week the 2014 Year 9 Camp Champions, 9P, had a celebratory pizza party with their tutor Mr Cartwright. Now attention is turning towards the closely contested termly prize for form with most merits and best attendance. The merits totals are still being led by 9G, although 9S have had a great week and really caught up, 9P are currently in 3rd. For me, pupil attendance is one of the most important requisites for success at school and 9I are currently leading this competition. 9P are in second for attendance and 9M in 3rd place. Keep up the good work Year 9's, you make me very proud!  Have a great weekend, Dr. Browning

Monday 3rd - Friday 7th November 2014

What's been happening this week in Year 9?

This week at school a number of teachers have approached me and enthusiastically described their lessons with Year 9 pupils. Ms Newton in English has just started a new topic - Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. To help the pupils understand the context of the novel they were given areas to research and then each group had to feedback to the class about the following areas:

• Great depression & Wall Street Crash
• Life of a migrant worker
• Women in 1930s
• Race in 1930s
• Effects of long term loneliness.

By the end of the lesson students had comprehensive notes about the context ready to start the novel. Here are some pictures of the pupils reporting back on their research.

Mr Lawrence from drama also sent a couple of choice pictures to me and described how the Year 9's had been acting out scenes from Romeo and Juliet. Here is a touching picture of when Romeo (Zidan 9K) meets Juliet (Melly 9K).

...and an equally emotive final seen featuring Russell and Shanker as the star crossed lovers!

 

This week we also had a Year 9 assembly, and I finally had a chance to reward some of the tremendous effort and attitude that we witnessed on the Year 9 camp last half term. 9P were victorious as 2014 Year 9 Camp Champions thanks to some fantastic reflective comments on their form's padlet reflection wall. Individual success was rewarded with commendations from the Head of Secondary, Dr. Mason. The commendations went to the following individuals for various demonstrations of having a growth mindset:

 Urvi 9M 

Erin 9K

Ebby, Tasnim, Danish and Alex 9W

Jan 9W

Sabrina 9S

Chun Yang 9G

It was also great to be able to acknowledge the following people who scored in the top 10% of the entire year group for both their organisation for learning and attitude to learning last half term. This really is a remarkable achievement so well done!

Vanessa 9P

Leila, Rachel and Molly 9M

Ila 9G

Jack 9P

Sang Gon 9W

Robin 9K

I encourage everyone in the Year group to really embrace the challenges that are faced on a day to day basis and know that the more effort that you put in the more success you will have! Have a nice weekend, Dr. Browning

Monday 27th - Friday 31st of October 2014

 

It has been a very busy week to start the half-term this week at GIS. We have had our annual book week and many pupils have been getting involved with activities going on at lunchtimes and there is an after school silent disco planned in the Library for Year 7-9 on Friday! The school grounds have been even more busy than normal this week with GIS proudly hosting the SEASAC football tournament for Under 18 boys. Impressively, Salomé Das in 9K and Claudia Lim in 9L have both been selected to take part in the Under 18 girls SEASAC football tournament being held in Singapore - a remarkable achievement for Year 9 pupils!

We have also had another positive education session this week, with a focus on developing empathy. The pupils took part in various activities to help them try and understand why people have different perspectives and how other people might feel in different situations and scenarios. I managed to visit some of the groups and saw some very engaging activities.

9M engrossed in a lively discussion.

9K trying to determine emotions shown by facial expressions.

Russell looks proud of his art work!

9P sharing ideas about how people might feel in different scenarios.

9G enjoying the scrunch activity to share ideas and generally attack each other!

The aim of the positive education sessions this year are really to help our pupils think about their personal well being as well as the well being of others. If we can cultivate a more positive environment/atmosphere for our pupils and help them realize the benefits of adopting a more proactive and positive attitude, we can ensure healthy, happy and thriving individuals!

Thank you so much to all of the pupils who have spent time completing their camp reflections on the Padlet walls. Myself and tutors have been very impressed with the level of detail and insight offered by some individuals. Following on from this, I will be announcing which form are Year 9 Camp Champions in next week's Year 9 assembly. Regards, Dr. Browning

Friday 17th of October - Camp Update and Reflection!

Firstly, let me say how proud I am of the majority of the Year 9 pupils for their tremendous effort on camp! All of the accompanying staff and our facilitators at Nur Laman Bestari have spoken very highly of you - so very well done and thank you! We have certainly had a challenging camp this year and I know that when the pupils reflect on their experience they will be able to feel a real sense of achievement.

As I mentioned today before we left the camp, over the half term holiday I would like all of the pupils to complete an individual reflection using the padlet walls that I have set up for the respective forms (see the links below). I would like you to spend some time to think about what you have personally gained from the experience this year and then note it on your form's padlet wall. I will look at these at the end of the first week back at school and also the comments about you made by the attending teachers to choose a form to be camp champions! Teachers will be uploading their pictures into the shared google folder (see link below) that you can use to remind yourselves of the activities and feel free to use any relevant photos in your post on the reflection wall.

Photos of Year 9 Camp 2014:

https://drive.google.com/a/gardenschool.edu.my/#folders/0B1I5bAMjrTiEYzNYeWpLWVMyUVk

Padlet Wall for each form:

9G - http://padlet.com/browning_m/9GReflection

9I - http://padlet.com/browning_m/9IRelection

9S - http://padlet.com/browning_m/9SReflection

9W - http://padlet.com/browning_m/9wReflection

9K - http://padlet.com/browning_m/9KReflection

9L - http://padlet.com/browning_m/9LReflection

9M - http://padlet.com/browning_m/9mReflection

9P -http://padlet.com/browning_m/9PReflection

If you have any questions, please email me at browning.m@gardenschool.edu.my

Have a great holiday week and some well earned rest! Dr. Browning