The Tiger, April 19th 2024
Head of School Message
The Community Feeling
I’m not known for being an emotional person, but recently there have been a number of events on campus that have been very touching and that have re-emphasised the importance of our community to so many people.
On the 5th of April, the school hosted the Annual Boarding Dinner, an event set up to say goodbye to our D2 Boarding students as they head off for study leave before the DP exams.
A number of our younger Boarding students performed heartfelt songs and made speeches for the leavers. The D2 students then shared memories of their time in the boarding programme at Stonehill with a mixture of humour and poignancy.
Our events team had created a magical atmosphere with fairy lights on the trees near the cafeteria, jazz music played throughout the evening, and Arjun and his team had put on a veritable feast for everyone involved.
We were delighted to see our Founder, Jitu Virwani and his family, and a number of our Governing Council members at the event as well. All in all, it was a memorable occasion and a fitting send-off for the D2 students who have contributed so much to our community over the past years.
The previous evening, all of our D2 students had gone to Club Cabana for their farewell party. This was a lovely event and was well attended by our faculty members.
Ms. Jenni set up a fun competition between the teachers and the students, which, as is usually the case, the students managed to win. One of our students, a well-known DJ, then turned the music on to begin the loud part of the evening, which was my signal to leave and allow the younger members of the staff to supervise the rest of the night.
This week, on Monday, 15th April, I had the honour of giving out long-service awards to our Support Staff. It takes a village to raise a child, and sometimes we don’t quite realise just how much work goes into setting up the learning environment so that the teachers can do their jobs most effectively.
Our ‘Support Staff’ include drivers, cafeteria workers, office assistants, maintenance staff, housekeeping staff, and library, IT and arts support staff. All of these people do a great deal of valuable work and very often go unseen in the hustle and bustle of the busy days on campus. It was important to recognise the contributions of these employees and I hope that our teachers and admin staff can now put names to faces of these colleagues and interact more frequently.
PTA News
PTA Charity Gala
We are excited to invite you to the PTA Charity Gala featuring Art for a Cause, showcasing the work of Stonehill International School students.
This is your opportunity to own a masterpiece and win fantastic gift hampers!
Join us for an inspiring evening as we support our talented young artists.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.
We look forward to seeing you!
Last chance to buy your tickets, so be sure to grab yours TODAY!
Please sign up HERE.
Primary School
Nurturing Balance: Limiting Screen Time for Our Children
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Are you always trying to balance your digital engagement through screens with real-world activities? My family and I find this challenging at times, particularly at the moment, with the heat we’re experiencing.
I know from personal experience that when you have just moved to a country, your child(ren) may not have friends to play with and this makes a screen appealing to both your child(ren) and yourselves.Your child(ren) can be occupied while you work to get all employment and family matters in order.
That said, excessive screen time can detrimentally impact your child's physical health, mental well-being, and overall development. Research suggests prolonged exposure to screens correlates with issues like obesity, sleep disturbances, and impaired social skills. Thus, establishing boundaries around screen time is paramount.
Here is a short article from the National Geographic Kids website. It highlights some pros and cons of screen time, whilst accepting the reality of many families' lives. Of course, to access the website, you will need to use a screen.
PYP Coordinator
LitFest April 2024
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We are excited to announce our upcoming Literacy Festival (Lit Fest), between the 22nd and 26th of April 2024.
The main idea of this special event is connected to our 'How we Express Ourselves' Unit of Inquiry and inspired by the philosophy of some African tribes UBUNTU, the essence of being human. "I am because we are". The IB Learner Profile attributes will help us unpack this definition of humanity.
Our Lit Fest is an integral part of our commitment to promoting a love for reading and writing among our learners. The festival will feature a variety of learning experiences like multilingual Mystery Reading, an exciting Lit Fest Rally, a Book Cafe, a Harry Potter Zone, a Script-Camera-Action Room, Extreme Reading, and much more.
We invite you to join our Stonehill community for the Book Character Parade, Community Reading and Book Fair on Thursday, 25 April 2024, between 7:50 am and 8:45 am. Your support, encouragement and participation play a crucial role in fostering a love for literature in our learners.
Please refer to the video below for a sneak peek.
Primary News
P1/P2: The power of reading aloud
In our P1/P2 class, we have established a regular circle time to engage our young learners in the beautiful world of storytelling. This age-old practice has proven remarkably beneficial for their social, emotional, and cognitive development during their formative years. Through reading stories, we help our learners develop crucial language acquisition and communication skills, enhancing their social and literacy abilities.
As we read to our young learners, we stimulate the part of their brain responsible for understanding language and help them build essential language, literacy, and social skills. Reading aloud is an incredibly effective way to improve concentration and focus in young children. Initially, toddlers may squirm, wiggle, or get distracted during story time, but they learn to remain attentive throughout the book.
P3: Emergent Writers
Our P3, English as Additional Language (EAL) learners focus on enhancing their writing abilities. The aim is to help these learners express themselves confidently and effectively in writing and orally. The learners have already mastered the art of writing capital letters at the beginning of sentences and for names, along with adding a punctuation mark at the end of each sentence, but there is still much to learn.
To create a sentence, they follow a systematic approach, which includes the following steps:
- Firstly, they begin by verbalising what they want to write about. This verbalisation helps them organise their thoughts and ideas so they can be expressed more clearly.
- Secondly, they compose a sentence orally before writing it down. This allows them to ensure the sentence is grammatically correct and makes sense.
- Finally, they re-read what they had written to ensure it made complete sense and identify any errors they may have made.
P5 & P6: Sharing the Planet
P7 & P8: Abilities & Opportunities
For the Unit of Inquiry (UOI), the students explored ways of expressing themselves by assessing their situation, using their abilities, making the most of the opportunities, overcoming difficulties and achieving their ambitions. The students also investigated ways to use their skills and talents to make a difference to others as their ACTION. The key concept was connections, where the students looked at the idea of ‘needs’ and thought about how people overcome social and personal difficulties, such as poverty and low self-esteem.
The students learned how to use language to describe and realise their personal ambitions and abilities and, having done so, defined ways in which they could use their abilities to help others. The language focus was on literary devices including similes, metaphors and onomatopoeia. They used these devices to compile creative narratives in P7 as well as letter writing and procedural writing in P8.
Exploring Migration: P8 Students Dive into Understanding Challenges, Risks, and Opportunities
The Journey Begins: Unpacking Migration
In our current unit of inquiry, our P8 students are embarking on an exploration of migration, guided by the central idea that "Migration demonstrates a response to challenges, risks, and opportunities." Rooted in the Transdisciplinary Theme of "Where we are in place and time," our students are delving into the intricate concept of migration, a phenomenon that has shaped and continues to transform societies and individuals worldwide.
P8 learners interviewed Ms. Diana, a teacher who migrated from Colombia to China.
P8 learners interviewed Mr. Luis Carlos, a teacher who migrated from Venezuela to Laos.
P8 learners interviewed Mr. Kris, a Stonehill parent who migrated from Sri Lanka to Denmark during the Sri Lankan civil war in the 1980s.
Empathy in Action: Interviews and Expert Sessions
The culmination of our inquiry sees our students selecting individuals from the Human Library and conducting interviews. These conversations have been quite insightful, and it has been a pleasure to see how our young students navigate through the complexities of migration. Expert sessions with Ms. Stella, our MYP Music teacher, who shared her personal journey of growing up in Kenya and the profound role of music in her life as a migrant, further enriched their understanding.
Secondary School
Navigating Transitions
Transitioning between educational stages is a pivotal journey for students, marked by excitement, challenges, and growth. We recognise the importance of seamless transitions, ensuring the students navigate these shifts with confidence and readiness.
Transitioning between educational stages is a pivotal journey for students, marked by excitement, challenges, and growth. We recognise the importance of seamless transitions, ensuring the students navigate these shifts with confidence and readiness.
For our primary school graduates entering middle school (P8 to M1), middle schoolers transitioning to high school (M5 to D1), and finally, high school seniors moving to university, we have tailored transition cycles that guide their academic voyage.
Secondary News
Secondary Mathematics
A WHOLESUM YEAR
The M1 students used maths skills to analyse and synthesise their conceptual understanding in the Science interdisciplinary unit on Space. They inquired about the system of measurements that helps us identify relationships in the physical world. They extended this into action as Service by presenting their IDU research work to the M2 and P8 students. On the occasion of Pie Day, the M2 students calculated the value of Pi using circular items available in the classroom.
The IB approach to teaching and learning centres on developing ATL (Approaches to Learning) skills. It is crucial to offer students opportunities to apply these skills within specific subject areas. The M4 Math Standard 2 students were engaged in a class task that allowed them to utilise these skills in practice.
The M5 Math Std 1 students celebrated Pi Day on 3.14 and explored the Archimedes recipe of Pi.
In D1 AASL-2, learning became more exciting when students took over the role of a teacher and explained some of the questions on the ongoing topic to their peers.
In D1 AI SL, the students embarked on a statistical journey, linking statistics with various fields.
They explored data types, outliers, misleading data, population, and investigated sampling methods.
Utilising posters, they shared their findings in groups, sparking lively discussions amongst themselves.
The M4 enrichment students were exposed to topics on geometrical transformations and tessellations. They explored the properties of transformations, types of transformations, and properties of tessellations. The students were assigned groups and given a task on Desmos to create their own tessellations.
As a starter to their Internal Internal Assessment, the D1 AASL students were given an introduction to pattern finding in Mathematics. This was done through a past Mathematical portfolio. Most students could not identify the pattern. However, after initial hints, they managed to get some idea about what is expected in the Maths IA.
A total of forty-eight students from M4, M5 and D1 took part in the Pascal, Cayley and Fermat Competitions held on Feb 29th by The Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, Waterloo. The selected M2 and M3 students are gearing up for the Gauss Competition on May 16th with these practice papers.
The top three M4 students in Pascal are Rignesh, Hayeon, and Akhilesh.
The top three M5 students in Cayley are Hayato, Jimi, and Sanghyun.
The top three D1 students in Fermat are Arnav, Adithya and Shraavya.
Language Acquisition
The D2 students had their last Language class this month and some of them mixed culture and reading comprehension.
The M5 and D2 students are working towards their final examinations. The students are participating in revision activities and games and the parents are trying to support them. However, some of you who don't speak the language may be unsure about how to effectively prepare for an examination. What are some key strategies to help them succeed?
Most importantly, get sufficient sleep, exercise and stay positive. Have confidence in yourself and your language skills and don’t hesitate to ask any questions to your language teachers who are eager to support you.
Boarding News
Fostering a Sense of Belonging
This fortnight our focus has been on fostering a sense of belonging within our boarding community.
The concerted efforts of our Boarding Council and dedicated staff have been pivotal in orchestrating various group activities, facilitating meaningful connections among our boarders.
On April 5th, we came together for our annual boarding dinner, to celebrate the year gone by and bid farewell to our graduating Class of 2024. Emotions ran high as heartfelt speeches, including those from our esteemed Founder, Jitu Virwani and from Joe Lumsden, Head of School, making it a special evening. It was undeniably a night to be cherished. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the D1 students, boarding staff, and Mr Elvis for their meticulous organisation of the event. Additionally, a sincere appreciation to the facilities team and Chef Arjun and his team for the delicious meal.
On the 9th of April, the Boarding Council organised a 5-a-side intra-house football tournament. It was great to see exemplary teamwork and invaluable lessons in leadership and sportsmanship among our students.
Furthermore, our collective commitment to community service was demonstrated through participation in the Puttenahalli Lake clean-up, led by Ms. Shelley on Sunday.
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