The Tiger, November 24th, 2023
Head of School Message
On Friday, December 1st and Saturday, December 2nd 2023, Stonehill will be hosting a Professional Development workshop called ‘The Learning Hub’.
This two day workshop is an opportunity for our teachers along with colleagues from other schools to attend sessions that focus on developing understanding of key aspects of IB pedagogy.
We hope to be joined by about fifty teachers from Bangalore and other parts of India, during the two days.
For the workshops, we are bringing in a renowned educational consultant. Tania Lattanzio runs a consultancy called Innovative Global Education and is based in Singapore. She works with schools around the world and runs sessions that are particularly tailored to the needs of IB teachers.
It is much simpler for teachers to teach content-heavy courses that assess knowledge acquisition and retention. Assessment practices are straightforward (mainly quizzes and tests), and teachers can more easily see which students have struggled to learn which parts of the course. Quantitative data can be gathered and analysed fairly easily to create action plans to address areas of concern.
Teaching in an IB programme is much more complicated. As the IB focuses on deep understandings and performance-based assessments, it’s more difficult to provide precise feedback to students and parents on areas to focus on. There is more subjectivity in assessment tasks, and it’s not always clear what kind of differentiation is required to ensure all students get the support they need. As learning focuses on conceptual understanding, it’s also sometimes difficult to isolate exactly ‘what was learned’ in a particular lesson - the whole learning process is far more vague than that.
During The Learning Hub, we hope to gain valuable insights from Tania on how to approach these challenges of running the IB programmes and teaching in this way. Alongside the workshops Tania will be running, we will also have a number of our teachers presenting workshops on a variety of topics. Hopefully, the two days will prove to be a positive experience for all who attend.
Please don’t forget that Friday, December 1st will be a holiday for students. We hope to see many of you for the 15 year celebration party in the evening.
Joe Lumsden
Head of School
Whole School News
Stonehill's 15th Year Anniversary Celebrations!
We are thrilled to invite you to Stonehill's 15th Year Anniversary celebrations!
Please join us for a memorable evening fun, food, music and dancing. Your presence will make this evening special.
Friday, 1st December, 2023
6 pm onwards at
Stonehill International School
Kindly RSVP HERE
Congratulations, Akshaya!
Congratulations to our Visual Arts Teacher, Akshaya Moses, for winning two silver and two bronze medals and qualifying for the Nationals at the 24th Karnataka State Masters Swimming Championship 2023 held at the Vijaynagara Aquatic Centre in Bangalore recently. What a fantastic achievement!
PTA News
Primary School
The Transformative Power of a Stonehill PYP Primary Arts Education
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Before you read my article, please close your eyes and think of some Visual Art, a Dance that you like, or some Music that you are deeply fond of. Eyes open? OK, then please read on…
In the vibrant world of primary education, fostering creativity and holistic development in children stands as a paramount endeavour, integral to our Stonehill Mission. The Visual Arts, Performing Arts, and Music play pivotal roles in shaping well-rounded individuals. They provide our Primary Years Programme (PYP) students with a myriad of benefits that extend beyond the classroom.
Visual Art is a gateway for the minds of learners to express themselves, explore their imagination, and enhance their cognitive skills. Through drawing, painting, and crafting, your child will develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and attention to detail. Visual Art lessons also encourage problem-solving and critical thinking as your child will need to decide on different materials and techniques to use or apply. The Visual Arts also serve as a powerful means of communication, enabling students to convey emotions and ideas visually.
Performing Arts, including Drama and Dance, contribute significantly to your child's social and emotional growth. Engaging in theatrical activities fosters teamwork, communication, and empathy. This, in turn, helps your child to become caring and confident citizens. PYP students learn to step into the shoes of different characters, promoting perspective-taking and an understanding of diverse viewpoints. These actions help your child to become a member of, and promote, an internationally-minded community. Drama and Dance also provide an outlet for self-expression, boosting confidence and self-esteem as your child can perform in front of their peers. You can see how excited the children are at Diwali celebrations, or during Community Time.
Music, with its universal language, holds a special place in primary education. As leaders, we play music in the morning as we believe it affects our mood in a positive way. Exposure to music enhances auditory processing and memory skills. Learning to play an instrument or singing in a choir instills discipline, patience, and perseverance. Beyond these cognitive benefits, Music also fosters emotional well-being, allowing your child to connect with their feelings and develop a sense of empathy towards others. It provides a channel for self-discovery and also helps in the cultivation of a lifelong appreciation for the Arts.
The integration of Visual Art, Performing Art, and Music into the PYP curriculum creates a dynamic learning environment where your child is not only academically enriched, but also nurtured as a creative individual. These artistic disciplines stimulate curiosity, imagination, and a passion for lifelong learning. In addition, they contribute to the development of essential life skills, including communication, collaboration, and emotional intelligence.
If we, as educators and parents, recognise the transformative power of the Arts, we will help play a crucial role in shaping a generation that is not only academically proficient but also creatively and emotionally intelligent, ready to face the challenges of the future with confidence and resilience.
Peter Spratling
Primary School Principal
PYP Coordinator
Arts in the PYP
We are excited to invite you to our Arts Fest next week, which is a celebration of creativity and talent. The event promises to be a showcase of various artistic expressions, including sessions on Visual Arts, Music, Drama, Dance, and more.
Arts in the PYP exemplifies learning through inquiry because of the emphasis on the creative process. Stonehill’s programme of inquiry provides a relevant and authentic context for learners to create and respond to the Arts. They have opportunities to identify and reflect on “big ideas” within and between the arts strands, the programme of inquiry, and other subjects. The Arts support the acquisition of essential knowledge and skills, the development of conceptual understanding, the demonstration of the attributes of the IB Learner Profile, and taking action. Visual Arts, Dance, Drama, and Music provide opportunities for learners to:
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develop proficiency as dancers, actors, musicians and visual artists
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acquire audience skills such as listening and viewing responsively
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interpret and present their own or others’ works to a range of audiences
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evaluate the different roles of artists in society such as to entertain, provoke debate or challenge views and perceptions
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create and critique choreographed performance, plays, compositions and artwork using a selection of tools and techniques
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express feelings, ideas, experiences and beliefs in a variety of ways
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improve coordination, flexibility, agility, strength and fine motor skills.
What do we want students to know in the Arts?
Two common strands - creating and responding - have been identified that apply across the different art forms and define the critical artistic processes.
RESPONDING
The process of responding provides learners with opportunities to respond to their own and other artists’ works and processes, and in doing so develop the skills of critical analysis, interpretation, evaluation, reflection and communication. Learners consider their own and other artists’ works in context and from different perspectives in order to construct meaning and inform their own future works and processes.
CREATING
The process of creating provides learners with opportunities to communicate meaning, develop their technical skills, take creative risks, solve problems and visualise consequences. They are encouraged to draw on their imagination, experiences and knowledge of materials and processes as starting points for creative exploration. Learners can make connections between their work and that of other artists to inform their thinking and provide inspiration.
Exposure to and experience with the Arts opens doors to questions about life and learning. The process of making and appreciating arts is gratifying and encourages learners to continue creating throughout their lives.
Zita Joyce
PYP Coordinator
References:
IB Primary Years Programme, Arts scope and sequence, International Baccalaureate, 2018
PYP Counsellor
Helpful Hints for Improving Your Child’s Social Health
One of the most common issues parents often come to me with is about how to help their children make and/or maintain friendships. Not every child is confident at starting conversations and not every child is automatically wired to share their toys, either right? While we often focus on ensuring the physical health of our children, we sometimes don’t realise the importance of their social health too.
Here are a few ways you can work towards this goal with your child:
Watch and Learn
Take a good look at how your child interacts with others. Listen to how they talk about their buddies. Do they find it tough to start a conversation? Are they different at home versus outside? Do new faces or group activities make them anxious? These observations will help pinpoint where they might need a little extra help.
Lead by Example
Kids pick up on everything we do. So, show them how it's done! Everyday moments are perfect teaching opportunities.
Practice Makes Perfect
If your little one gets jittery starting or continuing conversations, practice together. Role-play different scenarios. Suggest topics they can chat about, and even try out sentence starters. It might just be the confidence boost they need.
Be Their Cheerleader
Once you've figured out what interests your child, offer your unwavering support. Maybe drop them off a bit early at school so they can chat with their friends before the crowd swarms in. If they're into music or sports, a few one-on-one sessions before group activities can help them build rapport with their teacher or coach.
Acknowledge the Effort
Focus on progress, not perfection. When you see your child making an effort to improve their social skills, give them a big thumbs-up and praise their specific efforts.
Socialise, Socialise, Socialise
To master any skill, practice is key. Arrange playdates or host a birthday bash for your child's friends. And don't underestimate the power of virtual hangouts in today's world.
Neeti Sarkar
PYP Counsellor
Primary News
Learning Spanish is Fun!
It is hard to believe that we are already in November! These past months have been filled with learning and a lot of fun! Setting up our routines was a keystone in the success of our lessons. It was great to see everyone, from P4 to P8, reflect and take action to build a successful learning community.
The Spanish students have shown enthusiasm for Spanish and great independence, sharing their understanding, skills, and knowledge on Toddle and in class. They have developed their communication skills, both speaking and writing. The students also used the evaluation checklists and rubrics on Toddle to help them develop their learning goals.
In different grades, we have had conversations about our emotions and how we react to them. We have learnt to introduce ourselves and have written descriptions of our families. We have exchanged information about our cultures and where we come from, finding out things we have in common and what makes us unique. We have also talked about how people collaborate in our community, by having small and whole-group discussions and sharing opinions. We sang songs together and shared presentations to explore the concepts and central ideas of our units.
Secondary School
To make learning more engaging and meaningful, teachers link classroom learning to real life applications and provide students opportunities to express their understanding in many ways. Events like Mosaic run by the Business students, Science Bowl by the Science enthusiasts and the most recent being the Fibonacci Day hosted by the Maths department.
It's fascinating to consider how mathematical concepts are being expressed through poetry, in Rangoli creations, and problem-solving within a quiz/puzzle format.
As the trimester came to an end for the M1 and M2 students, they were given a chance to showcase what each of them had learned in their Art, Drama, and Music classes.
University Visits
In the past three months, approximately 80-100 university representatives have visited our school, providing valuable insights into their institutions and courses. These visits greatly benefited our students, offering a clearer understanding of each university. Some universities even held masterclasses and sessions for parents.
Our application process commenced in early October, and to date, we've completed applications for three cohorts. Additionally, we've received offers from several universities for our students, with more expected in the following months.
Our students continue to make us proud in the field of Sports. Our High school girls’ and boys’ football teams have left to represent Stonehill in the Phuket tournament. This week, our High school boys’ and girls’ basketball teams won against Oasis International School.
Secondary News
Secondary Arts
M1 Students Excel in Drama, Visual Art, and Music
In this article, the Arts department would like to shine a spotlight on our M1 students who have demonstrated remarkable talent and dedication in the fields of Drama, Visual Art, and Music.
Every twelve weeks our students get an opportunity to take each Art subject. Here is how this trimester ended…
M1 Drama: Crafting Compelling Narratives
The M1 Drama students recently completed a unit on Melodrama, showcasing their storytelling skills by writing and performing their own shows. The performances were a testament to their creativity and willingness to step into the world of exaggerated emotions, heroes, and villains.
M1 Visual Art: Nature Studies and Art Exploration
In the Visual Art studio, the M1 students delved into Nature studies, using minimal techniques to capture the beauty of the natural world. Their exploration extended to understanding and applying concepts from impressionism and post-impressionism, resulting in a collection of paintings that reflect their observational skills.
M1 Music: Composing with Personal Inspiration
The M1 Music students took a unique approach to composition by using the syllables of their names as inspiration. Using My Musecore, they learnt the basics of music composition, creating pieces that reflect their individuality. The music compositions serve as a testament to their exploration of self-expression through the language of music.
Individuals and Societies
Business Management
During this semester, the D2 Business Management students actively participated in classroom group presentations on the business tool, Boston Matrix. The students analysed the Boston Matrix Strategies of various companies such as Nike, Coke, Adidas, Zara, Toyota, etc. They got an opportunity to implement their ideas with real business organisations.
The D1 Business Management students took part in Mosaic, an annual student-led Humanities fest. Some students delivered presentations at the innovative product launch event and discussed various strategies employed by businesses.
Economics
The D1 and D2 students are engaged in real-life case studies to apply economic concepts such as scarcity, sustainability, choice and government intervention. Apart from the school providing multiple occasions to apply their learning (Mosaic event), case study analysis helps keep them up-to-date and informed about the world. BRICS and BREXIT are a few examples.
The students utilised various digital tools like Seneca and Revision Village extensively to enhance their learning experience. These apps enabled them to monitor the time they invested in crafting responses, be it a 10-mark or 15-mark answer. Here’s a data analysis of their work on Seneca.
The M5 students presented videos that depicted developed, developing and under - developed nations. Extensive use of terminology related to economic growth and development along with various characteristics specific to each nation are highlighted in each video. Here are a few links to the videos.
Gayle Stephens
MYP and DP Economics
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