The Weekly Bulletin of

Stonehill International School Volume 6, Issue 78

6 October 2017

FEATURED STORIES

P4 – P8 Inter-House Basketball Tournament

“Participation is more important than winning” – Pierre de Coubertin, Founder – International Olympic Committee

IMPORTANT DATES: OCTOBER

6th STONEHILL COMMUNITY DIWALI PARTY 9th – 12th P8 RESIDENTIAL FIELD TRIP 11th M1 – M3 GIRLS & BOYS SOCCER

13th PTA DIWALI MELA AT STONEHILL 16th - 20th SCHOOL CLOSED FOR DIWALI HOLIDAYS 23rd SCHOOL CLOSED FOR STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY

CONTENTS 01/ FEATURED STORIES 05/ MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF THE SCHOOL 05/ PRIMARY NEWS 10/ SECONDARY NEWS 15/ PTA NEWS 16/ OCTOBER MENU

HIGHLIGHTS P4 – P8 Inter House Basketball Tournament New Student Pizza Party News from the Mathematics Department PTA Diwali Mela

THE TIGER

We strongly believe in the importance of participation at Stonehill, which is why every student from P4 – P8 participated in the inter-house basketball tournament held on 14th September.

The tournament provided the opportunity for students to showcase what they've learnt in their most recent basketball unit during their P.E. lessons. The students had a large crowd of spectators, including many parents, who cheered them on very enthusiastically, creating an electric atmosphere.

Students demonstrated exemplary sportsmanship attitudes and their enthusiasm in participating made the tournament a great success. This inter-house basketball tournament was a great way to start the year off – we look forward to more inter-house competitions in the coming months. The final results:

1st Place Chawla

Students and teachers of Chawla House

2nd Place (Shared)

Nehru and Bachendri

Students and teachers of Nehru House

Students and teachers of Bachendri House

4th Place Gandhi

Students and teachers of Gandhi House

Students, teachers and parents.

Mr. Avinash Whole School PHE Teacher

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dear Friends, Diwali is just around the corner! I hope you are all planning to attend Stonehill’s Diwali party, Friday, October 6th, from 7:00pm onwards. We are planning a wonderful evening of entertainment and celebration. Please note that this event is for adults over 21 only—the Stonehill students will be having their own Diwali Mela on October 13th. I am pleased to introduce our new University Guidance Counsellor, Praseeja, who is now on campus and working with our students and families. Praseeja brings valuable experience and enthusiasm to Stonehill and will be working to develop a comprehensive university preparation programme. I was privileged to be able to attend the TAISI leadership conference recently, along with our Secondary Principal and our PYP Learning Leaders. There were sessions on a wide variety of leadership topics, including the role of bricks-and-mortar schools in an increasingly online environment, the impact school architecture and furnishings can have on student learning, school governance, and branding and marketing, as well as on various aspects of educational and curriculum leadership. It was a wonderful and edifying experience, and we are now sharing our learning with the rest of the school community. Wishing you a pleasant weekend. With best regards, Dr. Beverly Sortland Head of School

PRIMARY NEWS

Junk Food Free Zone!

At Stonehill we encourage healthy eating and discourage foods high in fats, sugars or artificial ingredients. Please note that chocolate bars, sweets or crisps are not allowed as snacks at school. Please also note that the school is a nut-free environment. Please do not send to school any food containing nuts.

Important Upcoming Primary Dates

• Monday 9th October - P8 Residential Field Trip • Friday 13th October - Mid-Semester Reports Published • Friday 13th October - Diwali Mela (Primary Presentation at 1.15 pm in the MPH) • Monday 16th - Friday 20th - Diwali Holiday • Monday 23rd October - Non-Student Day - Accreditation and Evaluation Self-Study Day • Wednesday 25th October - PYP Parent Workshop - Keeping Children Safe Online Best regards, Simon McCloskey Primary Principal

New Student Pizza Lunch

The transition programme in the PYP culminates in the much awaited pizza lunch for new students. This year we had almost fifty new students who turned up on 22nd September in in the Primary hall, to gorge on some pizza and get to know each other. The pizza lunch is organised once per semester to welcome the new students.

It is an opportunity for them to connect with other new students and provide feedback to each other about what helped them to settle in. This event is the result of the combined efforts of Ms. Ina (Primary EAL teacher), Ms. Shyamalika (Primary Counsellor), Ms. Maria and Ms. Nika (Primary Learning Support teachers), Ms. Nijika (Primary Secretary) and Mr. Arjun (Head Chef). Ms. Shyamalika Nagendra Primary Counsellor

How We Organise Ourselves

The beauty of the PYP is the empowerment of students during their learning journey and also as a result of it. P6 students started their academic year by inquiring into this central idea: ‘Physical and virtual public spaces provide people with opportunities to make connections and establish a sense of community.’ During the unit, students differentiated between physical and virtual spaces and identified the importance, need and purpose of different spaces. They looked at different public spaces in the school and brainstormed several ideas to re-design a space for the teaching and learning community. Some of the ideas included re-designing the PYP field, the break out space and the PYP library.

The students finally chose to re-design the PYP library and add a mother tongue section. The teachers and PYP coordinator ensured that students were off to a successful start in their journey. We involved experts in the field of architecture and design from our community and arranged visits to different libraries in the city.

Students visited the Atelier D'Arts & Architecture firm owned by a parent, to understand how the idea of a physical space develops from the concept of a virtual space. The architecture firm conducted a design workshop. Students came back enriched with knowledge and ideas for their library. They also learned about different 2D and 3D shapes and ways to measure them. Students continued to brainstorm more ideas, worked on a plan and created a second and third draft. Next, they visited the British Council Library and the Alliance Francaise to see how the libraries were organized and to get more ideas.

After their return, students reflected on the design, furniture and arrangement of books in the two libraries, compared them to their PYP library and incorporated a few more ideas into their plan. During the design process, students looked at their peers’ plans and gave each other feedback and suggestions for improvement. They were enthusiastic, cooperative and collaborative during the task and tried to convince each other in their groups why their idea should be included in the plan. Their final designs included a description of the space in the library they have chosen for a mother tongue section and detailed illustrations of furniture with measurements.

For the summative assessment, students presented their final designs, explained why their design was suitable for the PYP students and assessed the other groups using a rubric. Creativity was evident throughout the unit. Some of the ideas for the library included a tree book shelf, a cosy section with stuffed toys, bean bags and synthetic grass carpet, lower book shelves with different flag colours and a colourful caterpillar shelf for different mother tongue books. We have completed the first unit, but action extends beyond six weeks. Students are eager to see their virtual designs transform into reality. Each group now plans to present their designs to the PYP Principal and Coordinator for approval using techniques of persuasive writing, which the students have been learning in language lessons. Students will also write persuasive letters to their parents and family members asking them to donate mother tongue books to the library. It is great to see students enthusiastically take ownership of their learning. P6 Learning Team Ms Hafsa Quadri, Ms Deborah Tellis and Ms Chitty Potham

Mid-Autumn Festival

There are many traditional festivals in China. Mid-autumn festival, also called Moon festival, is definitely one of the important festivals which is celebrated worldwide in Chinese speaking areas. It is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month every year and it falls on 4th October, Wednesday this year. The moon on this day is the roundest and brightest in the year. “Round” always symbolises “Reunion” and “Completeness” to the Chinese. Our PYP students celebrated the festival and experienced a remarkable cultural contact in Chinese class on this day. They inquired in the legends, customs and activities of the festival by searching online and learnt the culture through provocations in class. A variety of cultural lessons were arranged to suit the needs of different grades. Moon cake making lessons were arranged for P5-P8 students. They experienced making ‘ice-skin’ mooncakes by themselves and tasted different flavours of mooncakes with fine Chinese tea – Oolong tea. P4 students sampled traditional moon cakes to appreciate the authentic food of this festival. They displayed great interest and excitement in sharing what they know about the customs with their peers.

Ms. Lisa Ng Chinese Language Teacher

SECONDARY NEWS

Parent Workshops

On 25th September from 8:00 to 10:00am two parent workshops were held. Mr. Jitendra Pandey (MYP Coordinator) did a presentation on Introduction to MYP, while Ms. Katherine Steen (Whole School Technology Coordinator) did one on Haiku and ManageBac. The presentation was very informative, with most doubts cleared for the twenty parents who attended the session.

Issues or Concerns Regarding Your Child/Children

If your son/daughter has any problems at school, please contact their Homeroom Teacher or the relevant Subject Teacher directly in the first instance, and then the Head of Department or appropriate Coordinator (MYP or DP) if required.

Vacations and Student Absences Parents are not encouraged to withdraw children during term-time for vacations. Parents are also asked not to ‘leave early’ or ‘return late’ in order to extend scheduled school holidays. In cases where students will miss routine classes because of voluntary absence, the school does not provide extra work for them to take on vacation. The school is sometimes asked to authorise absences during school time for family vacations or other trips. It is not the school’s policy to do so.

Attendance If a student’s attendance falls below 90% during the year (without extenuating circumstances), parents will be asked to attend a meeting with the Principal. The school reserves the right to request students to repeat the year if attendance is lower than 90% by the end of Semester Two, as stated on page 36 of the Parent-Student Handbook.

ISACI Our ten member boys’ basketball team is taking part in the ISACI Basketball tournament at the International School of Hyderabad. Thank you to Mr. Karan and Mr. Avinash for chaperoning our team. Our sixteen member girls’ soccer team is taking part in the ISACI soccer tournament at the British School, Delhi. Thank you to Mr. Antonio and Ms. Ranmali for chaperoning our team.

Big Bad Blue Swim Meet We also have a contingent of twenty-three Secondary Students travelling to Chennai to participate in the AISC swim meet on Friday and Saturday. Thank you to Ms. Kirsten for organising our team and Mr. Edmund and Mr. Raj for chaperoning our students.

PTA Diwali Mela On Friday, 13th October there will be Diwali celebrations starting at lunchtime at the school; students and staff are encouraged to wear traditional Indian clothes. There will be performances by the students, staff and parents.

Diwali Holiday Break The school will be closed for the Diwali holidays from Monday 16th to Friday 20th October. Please enjoy the Diwali festivities in this region of India.

Professional Development Day for Teachers – School Closed for Students On Monday 23rd October, there is a Professional Development day for teachers. Hence, the school will be closed on that day for the students. The school will re-open on Tuesday 24th October 2017 for all students. Warm regards, Narendra Mehrotra Secondary Principal narendra.mehrotra@stonehill.in

The Language of Maths

It is often said that Mathematics is a universal language – understood and used the world over. But before we can reach this common language mathematical problems need to be “translated” into maths and this can be particularly tricky for many students. Problem solving is a difficult skill to master so we have been working on providing students with some problem solving steps.

(Taken from How to Solve It by George Polya 2nd Edition, Princeton University Press 1957) Using these steps really helped students to be more likely to tackle and problem and not give up.

Here are some examples of student’s attempts at solving problems relating to linear equations and trigonometry:

Mr. Antonio Orlando HoD Mathematics

PTA NEWS

STONEHILL CAFETERIA MENU FOR OCTOBER

2 Oct (Monday)

3 Oct (Tuesday)

4 Oct (Wednesday)

5 Oct (Thursday)

6 Oct (Friday)

Gandhi Jayanti Holiday

Pasta Bolognese Tomato sauce Mushroom cream sauce Cheese sauce Garlic bread

Honey Chicken Tofu stir fried Roasted Potatoes Grilled Vegetables

Crispy Fry Chicken Vegetable Manchurian Hakka noodle Steamed French beans Rice

Pizza - assorted

9 Oct (Monday)

10 Oct (Tuesday)

11 Oct (Wednesday)

12 Oct (Thursday)

13 Oct (Friday)

Chicken Escalope Egg fried Rice Vegetarian Kebabs Steamed Vegetables Rice

Steak, Roasted Chicken Vegetarian Cannelloni, Grilled Vegetables, Rice & Soup

Fish Finger, Corn on the cob Stir fried Tofu Steamed mixed vegetables Rice & Soup

Chicken and Vegetables Chop suey Chicken wings in garlic sauce, Tofu stir fried Rice

Beef , chicken or Vegetable burgers French fries

23 Oct (Monday)

24 Oct (Tuesday)

25 Oct (Wednesday)

26 Oct (Thursday)

27 Oct (Friday)

PD Day Crispy fry Prawns Vegetables moussaka Stir fried Rice Grilled vegetables

Chicken & Vegetable Lasagna, Garlic Bread Butter Chicken, Steamed Vegetables

BBQ Chicken Vegetable kebab Sausage Rice Grilled vegetables Rice

Chicken or vegetable Hot Dogs. French fries Steamed mix-veggies

30 Oct (Monday)

31 Oct (Tuesday)

1 Nov ( Wednesday)

2 Nov (Thursday)

3 Nov (Friday)

Pasta Bolognese Tomato sauce Mushroom cream sauce Cheese sauce Garlic bread

Chicken and vegetables In sweet and sour sauce Hakka noodle Steamed French beans Rice

Karnataka day Holiday

Crispy fry Prawns Vegetable burritos Baked Pasta Grilled vegetables

Pizza - assorted

Do note, there is a salad bar, plain yoghurt, and fresh fruit available each day in addition to the above meals.

Stonehill International School

Tarahunise Post Jala Hobli Contacting the School: Bangalore North 562157 India Admissions Ms. Rishika Ganapathy T + 91 8043418300 Primary School Ms. Nijika Bhardwaj + 91 8043418318 Secondary School Ms. Saathi Vinay M + 91 9008307684 Transport Mr. Rahul. I E info@stonehill.in Head Nurse Ms Charlette Macdonald