The Tiger, 19th August, 2022
Head of School Message
Dear Stonehill Community,
Greetings!
School reopened and our students, faculty, and staff are enjoying being back together as a community once again.
Last week, we celebrated 75 years of Independent India. The School was decorated in tri-colour balloons and it was great to see everybody all dressed up!
As our lovely Stonehill community begins to reunite, I would like to reconnect our community to several pieces of information.
Firstly, I am honoured to announce the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) for the 2022-2-23 academic year. The President is Sasha Singh, Secretary, Hina Kumar, Treasurer, Gitanjali Nagarkatti, Events Manager, Lupita Aguayo, Sports Manager, Deepika Nagasamy, Charities Manager, Amogha Basappa and on the Welcome team is Vidhi Sheth. Our PTA is a non-profit organisation that exists to fulfil the following mission:
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Enhance the educational experience of all students at Stonehill
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Welcome new families
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Develop closer connections between the school and home via parent involvement in school or PTA events and activities
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Promote positive community spirit in the school environment
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Coordinate parent volunteers and support of PTA and school activities
We welcome our newly elected volunteers, who have started working on planning the PTA Back-to-School BBQ on Saturday, the 3rd of September. Our PTA's role is to continue to support, build, and engage our Stonehill community.
For those new to our school, as a reminder, if you have any concerns or queries regarding our School, please contact the concerned teacher first. If you still have further questions, please contact the respective Principals, after which you can contact the Head of School for any unresolved issues. For all your non-academic queries, please contact parent.support@stonehill.in. We look forward to working closely with our families and community throughout this year.
Best wishes,
Dr.Brian Brumsickle
Head of School
Whole School News
Save The Date!
The PTA warmly invites you all for the annual PTA Barbeque! Please see the invite below for all the details:
Sports Information for the 2022-23 School Year
Dear Stonehill Community,
Now that the school year is officially underway, we’d like to present the opportunities in sports. We are a founding member of the Bangalore Activities and Athletics School Conference (BAASC) which gives us the opportunity to compete in three "Seasons of Sport" for grades P5 to D2.
On the Primary level, the emphasis is on skill development - both physical and emotional. While the students are learning about their own motor skills, the programme across the league has a heavy focus on learning to keep an emotional balance on winning and losing. Therefore, Jamborees will be held at the end-of-season tournaments, where the schools will all play each other but none of the teams will be awarded prizes. The goal is to focus on the level of effort and play rather than the outcome of "having to win".
On the Middle School and High School levels, the competition outcomes are in place with a healthy focus on the process of improvement over the course of the season. There are league matches scheduled against all of the schools with an end-of-season championship tournament for Football and Basketball. The other sports are invitational and consist of an elimination tournament at the end of the season.
The seasons and sports offered are as follows:
Season 1: August 22 - November 13 - TRYOUTS BEGIN AUG 23!! SIGN UP ON SCHOOLSBUDDY (You can access SchoolsBuddy from ManageBac, here's how: "Accessing SchoolsBuddy once you are already logged in to Managebac"
Primary: P7/P8 Boys' 5 a-side Football & P7/P8 Girls' 5 a-side Football (Mid-Season Jamboree on Sept. 27 @ CIS; End-of-Season Jamboree on November 9th @ TRIO); P7/P8 Boys' and Girls' Tennis (Jamboree on November 3rd @ (SIS).
Middle School(M1-M3): Boys' Basketball & Girls' Basketball (Championship Tournament on Nov. 12 @ TBD); Boys' & Girls' Badminton (Tournament on November 4th @ TRIO).
High School(M4-D2): Boys' 7 a-side Football & Girls' 7 a-side Football (Championship Tournament on November 12th @ SIS(CSE).
Season 2 (November 15th - February 19th)
Primary: P5/P6 Co-ed Football (Jamboree on February 1st @ Legacy); P7/P8 Boys' Basketball & P7/P8 Girls' Basketball (Mid-Season Jamboree on Friday, December 2nd @ SIS (B/G) and the End-of-Season Jamboree on Tuesday, January 31st @ TRIO (Boys) / Tuesday, January 31st @ BIS (Girls); P7/P8 Boys' & Girls' Track and Field (January 28th @ TBD).
Middle School(M1-M3): Boys & Girls Swimming (Championships February 7th @ CIS); Boys' & Girls' Track and Field (January 28th @ TBD).
High School (M4-D2): Boys & Girls B sketball (Championship Tournament, February 18th @ SIS); Boys & Girls Swimming (Championships February 7th @ CIS); Boys' & Girls' Track and Field (January 28th @ TBD).
Season 3 (February 14 - April 23)
Primary: P5/P6/P7/P8 Boys & Girls Swimming (End-of-Season Jamboree on April 20th @ SIS); P7/P8 Boys & Girls Badminton (End-of-Season Jamboree on March 28th @ TRIO)
Middle School (M1-M3): Boys 7 a-side Football & Girls 7 a-side Football (Championship Tournament on April 18th @ CIS (Girls) @ TRIO (Boys)); Boys & Girls Tennis (End-of-Season Tournament on April 21st @ TBD)
High School M4-D2): Boys' Volleyball and Girls' Volleyball (End-of-Season Tournament on April 21st @ SIS)
I will be leaving Stonehill at the end of August due to a personal emergency and John Browne is currently in the process of transitioning into the Sports Coordinator position. John is also the Head of Dept. for Physical Education and will take this programme to the next level. Please direct all inquiries to john.browne@stonehill.in.
Thank you and Go Tigers!
John Bertken
Sports and Activities Coordinator
Congratulations to our Stonehill Students!
Alumni Visits Stonehill
Venkat, Class of 2020, visited the boarders
Embassy Pedal for the Planet 2022 is back – Register now!
7TH EDITION OF BANGALORE'S LARGEST CYCLING EVENT
DATE: 18TH SEPTEMBER, 2022
VENUE: EMBASSY MANYATA BUSINESS PARK
RACE CATEGORIES : PRO’S, AMATEURS, BEGINNERS & KIDS
ALL PROCEEDS TO CHARITY PARTNER : COLOURS OF LIFE
CERTIFIED BY THE KARNATAKA AMATEUR CYCLING ASSOCIATION
Primary School
The new school year has started quietly and smoothly - the best way to go!
Our little children are becoming more adjusted to leaving their parents and carers.
The older children are getting into new routines that may include new teachers and/or different environments.
Setting Up Environments
The P1/P2 students at their first Visual Arts lesson
The P3 students getting to know each other
The P4 students listening to a story about new shoes with funky music that allowed children to use the rhyme and rhythm of the story to read along.
The P7 team with Ms. Zita, our PYP Coordinator, looking at the IB Learner Profile attributes.
The P8 students at a Writers Workshop
A BIG thank you to everyone for your commitment to the new academic year.
All the best,
Karen Crooke
Primary School Principal
PYP Coordinator
The IB Learner Profile - The IB mission statement in action
The development and demonstration of the attributes of the IB Learner Profile are foundational to learners becoming internationally minded, active and caring community members who respect themselves, others and the world around them.
The P5 learners represented their understanding of the different attributes of the IB Learner Profile by creating posters for their learning spaces.
Knowledgeable
Learners develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across a range of disciplines. They engage with issues and ideas that have local and global significance.
How can parents help develop learners who are knowledgeable at home?
- Encourage your child to read books at home.
- Ask your child about what they are learning in school and engage them in conversations about it, “Why do you think this is an important thing to learn?”, “Can you think of anything happening in the world today that might be similar to the past?”
- Foster any area that your child expresses an interest in with books and experiences, but also encourage them to explore other areas.
- Encourage your child to become familiar with current events by reading newspapers and watching child-friendly news when appropriate.
Caring
Learners show empathy, compassion and respect. They have a commitment to service, and they act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the world around them.
How can parents help develop learners who are caring at home?
- Role model the caring behaviour you would like to see in your child all the time. Using kind words, helping people without being asked, being an active listener, holding a door for someone - all show your child that you care about people.
- Think about how your family can get involved with community organisations.
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle & Repurpose.
- After reading a book, spend some time considering how the people in the book acted. Was someone in the book caring, all of the time or just some of the time? Were all of the characters in the book caring or just some of them?
Thinkers
Learners use critical and creative thinking skills to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems. They exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions.
How can parents help develop learners who are thinkers at home?
- Encourage your child to try to think of solutions to problems independently.
- Pose different real-life problems and questions to your child: “I’m not sure how to arrange the glasses so they can all fit in the cupboard.”, “I wonder how much the groceries in the cart will cost… how can we make an estimate?”
- Ask your children questions when they are working on a problem: “Do you have any ideas about how we might begin? How would it be different if…? Why do you think that? How did you figure that out?"
Inquirers
Learners nurture their curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. They know how to learn independently and with others. They learn with enthusiasm and sustain their love of learning throughout life.
How can parents help develop learners who are inquirers at home?
- Encourage areas of your child’s interest by visiting libraries, museums, galleries and explore these topics.
- Develop an understanding of the Internet. Work with your child when the Internet is being used and try to instil the understanding that some Internet sites are not reputable.
- Model being an inquirer. Admit when you don’t know the answer to a problem, ask questions and seek out answers in front of your child.
Risk-takers
Learners approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; they work independently and cooperatively to explore new strategies. They are resilient in the face of challenges and change. How can parents help develop learners who are risk-takers at home?
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If your child is feeling uneasy about trying something, encourage them to attempt it and then reflect on both, whether they liked the activity and how it felt to try something new.
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Encourage your child to set some short-term goals. Consider activities that make them nervous. What are realistic goals for the week? Your child might set a goal to:
- Offer an opinion in class
- Spend one break time with someone they might not usually play with
- Order something different from the lunch menu
- Try an activity they haven’t tried before
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Be careful to explain to your child the difference between being a courageous risk-taker by trying new things rather than doing dangerous things.
Principled
Learners act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere.
They take responsibility for their actions and the consequences.
How can parents help develop learners who are principled at home?
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Involve your child in deciding on the rules for a game or activity and then ensure that they stick to the ones that have been decided upon.
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Encourage your child to play games that involve teams. Discuss with your child the qualities of a team player. What sort of person would they want on their team?
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When your child wins a game, insist on them becoming well-mannered winners.
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They might want to thank their opponents or shake hands with them if it’s appropriate.
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When playing a game, don’t change the rules or let your child win.
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Being a gracious loser is just as important as being a good winner.
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Communicators
Learners express themselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. They collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups. How can parents help develop learners who are communicators at home?
- Encourage your child to stay in touch with relatives and friends who live in other countries by writing letters, using the phone, sending emails and video calling.
- Encourage your child to explain their thinking about a mathematics problem to you orally or by drawing a picture.
- Ask your child thought provoking questions and encourage them to discuss them with you, “Is there anything you cannot buy with money?”
- Work with your child to improve their listening skills. Being a good listener is an important part of communicating with others.
Open-minded
Learners critically appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others.
They seek and evaluate a range of points of view, and they are willing to grow from the experience.
How can parents help develop learners who are open-minded at home?
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Encourage your child to try new things – new food, new games and new activities.
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Expose your child to different festivals, celebrations and traditions and be sure to present them in a non-judgmental way.
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Encourage your child to really listen to others when they speak.
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Introduce literature about many different cultures into your home library. “What did you learn about other countries or cultures that you didn’t know before?”
Reflective
Learners thoughtfully consider the world and their own ideas and experience. They work to understand their strengths and weaknesses in order to support their learning and personal development.
How can parents help develop learners who are reflective at home?
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Spend time looking at your child’s evidence of learning in their Toddle journal. Ask them to talk about what they have learned and how they could apply that knowledge to the real world. Do they see areas that could be improved? Do they have areas that they feel confident in?
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Consider the goals that your child set during their Hopes and Dreams. Make a list not only of the goals, but of specific actions that can be taken to achieve these goals. You might want to list action that your child will take independently as well as action parents will take to support them. For example, if one of the goals your child sets for themselves is to improve their writing, their action might be to keep a journal and write in it for 10 minutes every evening. As a parent, you might decide that the two of you will participate in shared writing for 30 minutes each week and produce a book together.
Balanced
Learners understand the importance of balancing different aspects of their lives - intellectual, physical, and emotional - to achieve well-being for themselves and others.
They recognise their interdependence with other people and with the world in which they live.
How can parents help develop learners who are balanced at home?
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Encourage your child to participate in a wide variety of activities.
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Be aware of the activities that your child is participating in. Too much time in front of the computer or television is obviously not desirable, all children need to do a variety of things.
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Generally active children should take time for quiet reading or reflection; learners who spend a lot of time drawing or reading, should be encouraged to also exercise.
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Discuss the food groups with your child. Spend a few minutes during a mealtime deciding if what your family is eating is balanced.
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Role model this attribute. Spend time as a parent or family doing many different things.
Zita Joyce
PYP Coordinator
PYP Counsellor
Helpful Hints for Setting Routines that Support Learning
We’ve successfully completed two weeks of school and we all know it isn’t easy to get back into the groove of school work, especially after a six week summer break. Are you struggling to create and maintain a routine for your child now that the new school year has commenced? Here are some tips that may help:
Establish important times
While you may not have followed a specific routine during the summer, it is important that you do now. Mealtimes and bedtime should be as non-negotiable and as consistent as possible, especially on school days. Children are creatures of habit. Their minds and bodies will adapt soon enough.
Prep your child
Make sure to talk with your child about why you are putting routines in place. They need to be able to view this as something that benefits them and not as something that curtails their freedom or independence. When children know what to expect, they will eventually be confident to take the initiative to do things independently. Confidence is built when expectations are known.
Co-create a schedule
Your child needs to have some say in the schedule they follow in order for them to see it through. Give them a few choices of activities to pick from to include in their routine. This sense of autonomy will help them develop self-management skills and be more responsible.
Allow some flexibility
There will be birthdays and anniversaries to attend. Be flexible as needed. Your child would appreciate that. However, getting back on track after is key to ensuring your child follows and enjoys the routine you have established together.
Model appropriately
It is important to have and follow your own routine that your kids can see and then emulate. Your children will be more willing to embrace and adjust to their own routine when they see you set a good example for them.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at neeti.sarkar@stonehill.in
Neeti Sarkar
PYP Counsellor
Primary News
The students began the academic year in the Library by first buddying up in pairs in order to share things that they know about the space. It was lovely to hear the insights that were shared by the returning students with the new students.
P4 - Fiction books are arranged as per categories
There was a lot of curious excitement when the students visited the Library, as they tried hard to guess the names of popular book characters.
Parents were quizzed about these Book characters when visiting the Library during the Hopes and Dreams Learner conferences.
P6 - Four books can be issued at a time unless you were awarded a coupon from last academic year which allows you one extra book
P4 - We have plenty of Home Language books
P7 - Fiction books are arranged as per Genres
P7 - Picture books with less words are in the Early Years collection area
P7 - If you can’t find a book that you are looking for, you first go to stonehill.follettdestiny.com and you can find it as per the call number. There is an app for this on the iPad
When reading aloud the book, The Piggy Book, we discussed the importance of team work as part of Library routines and agreements. We introduced Mr Raghu and Mr Srinivas and our roles as the Library team.
Library Subscription Update
We are excited to announce our primary subscriptions for PebbleGO and BrainPOP that can be accessed from school, home or on the go—anywhere where your student has an internet connection.
To access our school’s subscription for PebbleGO site, visit https://site.pebblego.com/login/ and BrainPOP site, visit https://www.brainpop.com/ and login with
Username: Sislib
Password: stonehill123
In case you are not able to access or you need further clarifications, please feel free to email us on primarylibrary@stonehill.in or lamiya.bharmal@stonehill.in
The Primary Library Team
Secondary School
Welcome Back and Some Tips on Communication
First of all, let me welcome you all (back) to the Secondary School for the 2022-2023 academic year. I hope everybody enjoyed a pleasant summer and that your children are ready to reach their potential this year. We have over 100 new students in Secondary this year, almost 390 students in total, and over 100 students in boarding this year, all of which are records for Stonehill. It’s a very busy place!
The students seem to have settled in well and have all sorted their timetables and classes out. Our ten new teachers have also made a strong start and are quickly getting accustomed to the Stonehill way of doing things. Over the next two weeks, we will get our BAASC sports team running followed by our Tuesday/Thursday After-School Activities programme. Hopefully, the students will be excited about the kinds of opportunities that we have missed so much over the past two years.
Communication Protocols in the Secondary School
It makes sense for me to summarise how we prefer to communicate at this point, particularly for our new parents.
ManageBac Parent Portal
As a parent, you should have log-in details to access your child’s academic records on ManageBac. ManageBac can seem confusing at first, but you will soon get used to it. I used to check my daughters’ ManageBac pages once every few weeks, just to make sure that they were submitting all of their work and doing as well as they could. You don’t need to check every day - just keep an eye on things every few weeks.
If you haven’t got log-in details, please get in touch with us so that we can resend the welcome email to you. It only takes a few minutes.
ManageBac Notifications
We also send out messages to students and parents through ManageBac. These will pop up in your inbox as ManageBac notifications. Please don’t ignore them. We try not to overload you with information, but there is a lot to share at the beginning of the year. These messages will only go to the relevant grade level students and parents.
WhatsApp Groups
The PTA grade level reps have shared links to grade level WhatsApp groups. These are great for socialising, chatting, etc.Please don’t use them to criticise teachers or expect PTA members to address individual concerns.
Communication with teachers
If you have a concern or question about a class or your child’s situation in a class, please contact the teacher directly. Teachers are expected to reply within 24 hours. If the situation cannot be resolved within one or two emails, please arrange a zoom call or meeting at school. If this still doesn’t resolve the situation, the Programme Coordinators or I will try to help out.
One of our main goals as a Secondary School team this year is to ensure our communication with students and parents is excellent. It is not easy with so much going on, but we do recognise the importance of effective communication at all times.
I hope to see you all on campus at various times throughout the year.
Joe Lumsden
Deputy Head of School & Secondary School Principal
Secondary Focus
Making Math Moments Memorable!
The M1 and M2 students started the year with visible thinking routines in the Math class. After the math concepts were shared with them, they used the compass points thinking strategy, Needs-Excitements-Worries-Suggestions/Steps (N-E-W-S).
They drew a compass rose, then discussed the Needs and concerns that they have on the concepts. They also discussed the Excitements or the upside of learning each of these concepts, the Worries or the downside that they may have and Suggestions/Steps to evaluate and undertake next.
Communication is an important skill to build interpersonal relationships. Communicating in the right way helps to convey one’s knowledge and understanding.
In MYP Mathematics, communication is one of the subject objectives and is key to convey understanding.
The M5 Grade Enrichment and M4 standard maths students were asked to experience this with the help of a learning engagement which needed one of the students to draw and describe a picture to his/partner using the language of mathematics. The students learnt the importance of communicating in mathematics in a fun way.
In the first week of returning to school, the D2 Applications and Interpretation (AI) Higher Level (HL) Mathematics students had the opportunity to discuss and connect with the IB Learner Profile traits after they had learnt Matrix Algebra and solved related problems. Below is a sample problem discussed.
The D1 students collaborated in pairs to find solutions to a real life problem involving large numbers using technology.
They discussed where they would use or observe large or tiny numbers around them. This led to the understanding for the need of a more efficient form of representing such numbers.
They learnt how to write any given number in a scientific notation and operations using a calculator.
A select group of twenty students from M2 and M3 made Math memorable by attempting the Gauss competition for the first time, creating history in Stonehill. The students participated in the online the contest using the platform provided by the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing on Thursday, May 19, 2022. The Gauss competition included twenty five multiple-choice questions to be answered within sixty minutes and the scoring was out of one hundred and fifty. Stonehill’s toppers include, Seoyeon Lee, Jimin Lee, Chanyoung Jung, Noel Pancras, Hyunwoo Kim, Evan Tan and Wakana Usami.
The Math team of teachers are attending a Texas Instruments in-house orientation workshop on the 22nd Aug to celebrate learning engagements in Math using technology. Ideas to set up a STEM workshop focussed on technology for STEM teachers in Bangalore and interested IBDP Stonehill students in mid September are in the pipeline. Stay tuned for more details.
Mathematics Department
English Language and Literature
Over the last two weeks, the English Language and Literature students have been engaging in various learning experiences focused on connecting with new classmates and previewing the school year ahead.
On the first day of class, the M2 students spent some time sharing ideas about themselves with their class community, considering how to engage in whole-group discussions. Afterwards, the class made a list of tips for effective communication.
After this, the students reviewed the IB Learner Profile attributes, and chose the attribute they felt most connected with. The students discussed the reasons for their choices, along with how these could be applied to the new school year, both in English class and elsewhere.
The M4 students played a game of “Human Bingo” in which they inquired into the interests and hobbies of their classmates. Clues on the score card included, “likes writing stories”, “has a favourite word” and “can speak fluently in at least three languages”. This activity required students to speak with each other, and they had fun engaging with and learning about their peers.
In the D1 English Language and Literature courses, the students considered the units of study in which they would engage over the two-year course, considering the text types, topics and Global Issues present in these.
In Ms. Jenni’s class, the students considered, in groups, the key question “Why and How do we study Language and Literature?” Some responses included the need to consider historical context and the importance of perspective, as well as the human need to share stories. This particular question allowed for many insightful and interesting responses!
In Mr. Kai’s class, the students spent time engaging with a sample of the texts the students will study in their course. The students were first asked to individually consider the theme of each text, provide ideas as to their interpretation and share ideas on what they enjoy (or not) about studying these particular genres.
After completing the task individually, the students shared their responses in groups, seeing where consensus amongst table groups could be found. After this, the students presented their ideas to the class community and they seemed to appreciate being able to share their ideas in groups, and getting to know their peers’ interests in this subject.
Revival of “Under the Stone”
The English Department is pleased to announce the revival of Stonehill’s student magazine, “Under the Stone”. Students who enjoy writing, photography or design are encouraged to join. There will also be leadership positions available.
We hope that students have had an enjoyable start to their English courses. Parents, if you have any questions about what your child will be learning this year, or would like any other information, please get in touch!
The English Department
Boarding News
Welcome to the 2022-23 academic year! Stonehill International School has come a long way since August 2014 when boarding first opened with eight students. Stonehill boarding has continued to grow. This year, the number of students has peaked at 101, with 90% being full time boarders, which is fantastic. We are delighted to welcome 52 new boarding students and their families to our Stonehill community and look forward to learning, exploring, and growing together.
On the 4th of August, it was exciting to see our campus vibrant and full of life again as our old students arrived after the summer vacation. Everyone looked relaxed, recharged and ready to start a new school year.
Most of our new boarding students have left behind pets at home. Gucci, the pet dog has played a major role in helping new students overcome their homesickness. It is such a joy to see younger and older students spend time with Gucci after school hours.
On Monday, 15th of August, the boarding students and staff celebrated India’s 75th Independence Day on campus. The celebrations started with the hoisting of the national flag and then singing the national anthem.
The exeat weekend from the 13th-15th of August was full of fun and excitement. The new students did a campus walk, spent time at the pool and played a variety of team games and had a meal at McDonalds. A big thank you to Elvis for organising the day programme for our boarders and our boarding staff for chaperoning the children.
Each year brings positive change, this includes a few additions to our boarding team. We have a dynamic and energetic boarding team this year with Jay, Edmund and Revathy joining us as Boarding Tutors. They will provide academic support on weekdays and organise exciting recreational activities on the weekends.
Stay connected: Follow us on Twitter: @BoardingSIS. We capture special moments from our boarding programme and share important information.
Have a lovely weekend!
Glen Johnson
Head of Boarding
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