newsletter12th June 2014

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Simon LeslieHeadmaster

Dear ISHCMC parents,

This is the final newsletter for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Many of you will recall the beginning of the year and the number of new staff and administrators who joined the school in July 2013. It was a rapid learning experience for us all. We have all thoroughly enjoyed the experience of challenging the School to take teaching and learning to another level. To ensure that this happens it is important that we have the support of the parent community. We are all very grateful for the practical support given to the School in so many ways by parents, and in particular by the Parent Teacher Association (PTO). It is good to be part of such an enthusiastic group of parents who have the same goals as the teaching community – to ensure that we can provide the best possible education to our children in Ho Chi Minh City.

These past few days have been filled with many forms of celebration. Our Grade 5 students have ‘graduated’ from Primary School and our MYP students have received their MYP Certificates during a ceremony on Tuesday evening. In addition there have been a variety of assemblies in both sections of the School celebrating their achievements during the year.

During the summer holiday there will be a great deal of renovation work undertaken at our school. In addition a new security entrance will be constructed providing greater control over visitors to our school and ensuring greater protection for our students. It now appears that we shall shortly sign a new one year contract for the use of the car park opposite Riverside. This will be helpful in ensuring the evening traffic flow can be managed.

I take this opportunity to wish all of our families and teaching staff a safe and enjoyable summer holiday period. I look forward to seeing returning students on Monday August 11th. I also wish our departing students every success in their new school in whichever land that may be. There are also 14 teaching staff departing our school. I thank them for their service, some for short periods of time and some for very long periods.

With kind regards.

Simon

Adrian WattsDirector of Academic StudiesDeputy Headmaster

Dear Parents,

Wow! My first year at ISHCMC has come to an end. Next week when things are quieter I will definitely take time to reflect upon everything that has happened. What I can say now is that it seems to have flown by incredibly quickly and been a very enjoyable experience. I have enjoyed settling in to a new community and in particular getting to know a lovely group of students. I believe that this year with the hard work of teachers and the open minded approach of students ISHCMC has built upon its 20 year foundation and is moving forward in a new direction. When you return after the vacation you will find that the words Energize, Engage and Empower will be central to the schools Mission, Vision and Values for the future. These will be launched for the start of the new academic year in August.

Linking perfectly with these words is my message for the vacation. Yesterday as part of their Group 4 Science project students in Grade 11 were given the opportunity to undertake some research that answered the question; How can ISHCMC sustainably improve its environment? In groups of 4 and 5 students created many ideas, some of which we will be further investigating to improve our carbon footprint, improve the efficiency of our systems, recycle more resources and reduce our use of precious non-renewable energy. Amongst the suggestions was one about exercise and this is one that I would like to share with you as I think it has an impact on how you and your family use the long vacation. Obviously long vacations raise concerns about lost learning and the secondary school has addressed these with summer learning packs. However, after yesterday I’d like to look at this from a different angle. That angle is exercise. There is an increasing amount of research that points to a clear correlation between exercise, performance in school and development/ plasticity of the brain. These two TED talks illustrate the correlation:

Run, Jump, Learn! How Exercise can Transform our Schools: John J. Ratey, MD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBSVZdTQmDs

Wendy Suzuki - Exercise and the Brain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdDnPYr6R0o

Hence the long vacation provides an opportunity to help the brain grow by ensuring that your sons and daughters get outside and take exercise every day. Not only are there long term health benefits from such activity but also it could provide the foundation for improved learning in the future by ensuring that students are energized through exercise and with this energy able to engage with their learning that in turn will empower them as 21st Century citizens.

If you haven’t had time to read the articles I post for you each week at http://4u2nomore.blogspot.com/ the summer might provide you with the opportunity to catch up on some of your learning about today’s educational issues.

Finally, I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all our families who are leaving ISHCMC good luck for your future adventures and thank you for your contribution to the school and its community. To those families returning I look forward to your continued support in growing ISHCMC and an even more exciting 2014-15 school year.

Wishing you an active, safe and relaxing vacation,

Yours

Adrian

grade 12 graduation

Around the World VIDEO - PHOTO COMPETITION

During the holidays take a photo or a 2 minute video ofYOURSELF / YOUR BROTHERS OR SISTERS / YOUR PARENTS

WEARING RHINO HUT GEAR (ANYTHING RHINO).

GREAT PRIZES TO BE WON!

All entries will be displayed in the canteen area August 25th-29th 2014.Competition is open to ISHCMC students only.

Entries must be received by August 20th via email to marketingmanager@ishcmc.edu.vnMake sure you include the destination where your photo or video was taken.

Video should be edited and be up to 2 minutes long.

CREATIVITY ISHCMC SPIRIT ORIGINALITY

Primary athletic awards

secondary athletic awards

Passion day

Tashi and the Dancing Shoes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl8NP7fNek8Squad Men http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl8NP7fNek8My Sister The Vampire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYDEciV3Zns

Primary Presentation day

grade 5 graduation

myP graduation

secondary Presentation day

4D have been looking at the street artist Banksy in their final Unit of Inquiry: How We Express Ourselves. With the help of Miss Thomson’s Grade 8 Art, they were given the opportunity to create portrait stencils and spray paint them onto canvas, which 4D then presented in their assembly.

Swim Galas A Big Success!Thank you to the PE, Swimming, and Primary teachers for organizing and running the wonderful Swim Galas this past week, with more to come next week. Congratulations to all participating students for their superb efforts and fantastic House Spirit!

GO RHINOS!

From The Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Memoirs of a Geisha: In visual arts our well-read grade 8 students have produced stylised sculptures inspired by their favourite book characters. A selection is on display in the library until the end of term.

The library has purchased a wide selection of exciting fiction and non-fiction titles. We now have many new titles for the whole school to enjoy when you return in August!

There are many non-fiction titles for the whole school to extend their knowledge. We also have a selection of graphic novel e-books that you can access remotely over the summer through Follett Destiny. We have titles from the Dance Class and Max Axiom series!To access Follett Shelf, click on the left tab to gain access. https://ishcmc.follettdestiny.com

Students’ usernames & passwords are:Username: firstname lastname (or try first initial last name)Password: ishcmcrhino

Have a wonderful summer everyone!

actiVities & athletics

from the library

Primary art

UNTIL NEXT TIME

WHY GIRLS CAN’T GO TO SCHOOL? OP-ED REPORT BY SEUNG HYUN AND HAPAN

12/06/2014

We want more girls to go to school and all girls treated the same as boys every-where. Out of the world‘s lower second-ary students, 1 in 5 girls is out of school. 31 million primary girls around the world don’t have the opportunity to go to school. There are many reasons girls do not get to go to school as often as boys. Some girls are required to marry when they are young. Some girls walk for far distances to get to school, and some don’t have good health care. Par-ents often promote that girls need to leave their study and go to work to sup-port the family. When girls go to school and can read and write, they will be healthier and so will their children. According to the United Nations: In Saudi Arabia literacy rates are 73% for men and 48% for women. In Nigeria 62% of men and 39% of women are literate. In Libya 75% men and 50% of women can read. In Oman the literacy rate is 52% for men and 34%f or women. In India and many places in Africa, rural poor parents think it is higher priority for sons to

learn, so they often do not send their daughters. In India, only 47.890 girls 15 age and over can read and write. Now that you know about this, tell everyone and volunteer to make a differ-

PUBLISHED BY ISHCMC STUDENTS

Oct 11 is International Day of the Girl : Here girls are going to school Photo from: http://www.ungei.org/news/index_2458.html

Information from: http://plan-international.org/girls/why-girls.php?lang=en http://www.educationforgirls.org/ http://www.ungei.org/

from the Pto

community

How quickly this year has gone! It’s hard to believe that we are at the end of the school year and we are saying farewell our current PTO committee and welcoming the new one. A huge thank you goes to Molly Spangler who served as the PTO president this year. It was a busy year and one with lots of changes. Molly did an incredible job bringing together the teachers, parents and administrators as well as organising the PTO events and adding valuable community initiatives. We sincerely appreciate your effort and dedication. Thanks for taking on the job! We will all miss you as president but I am delighted that you will take up a new role as a cultural representative next year.

Thanks also to the other members who will be leaving this year’s committee - Annemarie Hellemans, Lula Matus, Katya Gataullina and Ashley Moreno. You will all be missed and I wish you the very best as you take up new opportunities here and abroad.

I am very fortunate that a number of people are returning to our committee for next year – Trina Fryer (Secretary), Ginny Condra and Lynne McDonnell (Cultural Representatives) and Anjana Paul (Newcomers’ Representative) . Thank you all for your hard work this year and it will be great to work together again next year!

I am also thrilled to welcome Maya Raz (Vice-President), Mirjam Meidinger (Treasurer), Michelle Preston (Class Parent Representative), Line Busk Stehr (Rhino Hut) and Makiko and Etsuko (Cultural Representatives) to our next year’s committee and anticipate another busy and exciting year ahead!

I wish you all a safe and relaxing holiday and look forward to getting back together in August! Make sure you stop by for a welcome back coffee in the canteen area on those first few mornings of school.

Rebecca TaylorIncoming PTO President 2014-2015