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NEWSLETTER

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INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BUCHAREST

April 2014

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INSIDE THIS EDITION: The PTA organised an informal dinner on Monday, 31st March, 2014 in Hilton Hotel. The turnout

was amazing and all parents and teachers had a relaxing time in a nice setting, good food and

company. It was a great opportunity to meet old friends, speak with the teachers of your child/children,

change opinions and enjoy a lovely evening. It was a successful event and we will try to plan more of

these type of events in the future.

Georgeta Clarke

PTA Chair

PTA Dinner

firSTep 4 PTA Dinner

Donation to Pretuieste Sanatatea Assoc8Anti-Bullying and Inclusion Week10

Google Success Story11

8ISB Vocational Surveys

14 Ernst and Young Romania

9Book Week

16 Maths and ICT Week

11Geography Field Trip to Constanta

18 Istanbul Football Trip

19 Table Tennis Tournament

24 Chess in Bulgaria

26Bronze Medal at INEPO-Eurasia Olympiad

25Checkpoint, IGCSE and A-Level Mock Exams

28Staffing News

13 KS3 Interhouse Competition

Gala Culturala Romano-Turca6

20 Turkish Olympiads

International Fair27

12Interschool Football League

14Carol Davila University Visit

15ISB Internship Programme

17University Trip - London

22Tree Planting

23CIE “Top of the World” Award

24Cambridge Basketball CupExams

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ISB is qualified for International Project Olympiads

Mihaela and Oana willrepresent the team of Romania at

Genius Science Olympiad in Oswego, USA

ISB Year 10 student Boer Ionut and Adrian Nicolae from ICHC were qualified to participate in I-SWEEEP

International Sustainable World Project Olympiad in USA,one of the toughest science competitions in the world.

We wish Good Luck to all our students!

Lu and Nicolas will participate at Dreamline International

Desing Olympiad inAnkara, Turkey

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Students from Lumina Schools all around Romania had been preparing tirelessly for the Romanian Turkish Cultural show

named “Gala Culturala” for months. They were very excited to show their performance on 12th of March 2014 at Sala Palatului. 4000 people applauded the great performance of 350 students.

Gala Culturala serves as a cultural bridge between two nations. Students performed their talents in singing, reading poems and dancing. Among our honourable guests were the Vice Prime Minister of Romania, the Minister of Education and several other high ranking Romanian authorities, several representative of Turkish Parliament as well as ambassadors from 22 countries. We would like to thank all our teachers and students and non-teaching staff, who made this beautiful night possible.

Romanian-Turkish Cultural Gala

Our Show took place in Sala Palatului for more than 4000 spectators

ISB Secondary students performed Rhythm Dance ShowSpecial thanks to the presenter of our show,

Ms. Andreea Marin

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Donation to Pretuieste Sanatatea Association

During the Autumn Fair ISB students, coordinated by the Students Council and Prefects, have raised, through the activities they have organized, 3200 lei that was donated to the Pretuieste Sanatatea Association.

Mrs. Georgeta Nyvold, representative of the Pretuieste Sanatatea Association, met with Mr. Sinan Kosak, Secondary School Principal and was handed the money which is being used for a variety of noble purposes including help for children with cancer.

Last week was excellent for ISB. It was Book Week! There were several events organised for

the ISB students to enjoy the greatness of books.One of the best opportunities for the “book worms” in ISB was the book swap. Students brought books that they read and they got a voucher in return for every book they brought. Then, they were given a selection of books to choose from. All they had to do was pick a book and give one voucher in return. It was a very nice way of sharing books! The next event was for the confident spellers. Each year group had one person chosen from its team (red, yellow, green, blue). There are three English groups so there were three from each team per year group. These people were then gathered up in the theatre. One person from each time went in

front and spelled the words that they were given in front of a huge audience. The fact that there are many people watching you added an extra pressure. The one who managed to spell all the words, eliminating all the others, won. It was fun!Now, the most stunning event was the Character day (Friday). Students dressed up as a book character and came to school. All of them looked wonderful! There were witches, a cat in the hat, Katniss Everdeen, princes and many other characters. The students enjoyed this event the most because it was a kind of non-uniform day. To sum it all up, books made your life better, much better

By Selin Ersoydan (Year 8S)

Book Week

ISB Career Counseling Service is offering two different types of vocational survey for its

students to help them give the best decision before choosing their options for IGCSE and A Levels. The two types of the surveys will be first offered to our year 9 and 11 students before they choose their subjects for the following year. However other students can also register their name to take any of the two surveys.Lumina University Vocational SurveyThe survey prepared by the Lumina University and the Educational Inspectorate of Bucharest, District 2 will be offered to all our students free of charge and it is aiming to give them a general idea about their characters and some advices for their career path. It consists of 7 questions and the language of assessment is English.

Yourway Vocational SurveyThe second option is the vocational survey for which ISB collaborates with Yourway Life Career Counseling for a professional assessment. There are 380 questions which will be given in English in an online environment to our students. There will also be two sessions with the psychologist to have an interview with the parent and the student. One of the sessions will be before the assessment and the other one while the evaluation of the assessment. This assessment will also be offered in English and at the end students will receive an internationally recognized 3-4 pages report. The cost of the survey is 120 euro + vat and for registration please contact the Career Counseling Service (ahmet.dundar@isb.ro)ISB Career Counseling Service

ISB Vocational Surveys

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Geography Field Trip to Constanta

Early in the morning of April 1st, 4 students from the ISB joined 2 students from the

British School to undertake important fieldwork to help prepare them for their final exams which are fast approaching. Our first stop was the coastal resort of Mamaia where students created a beach profile and investigated the local area by creating a bi-polar matrix. Students also created a land use study by plotting the building type onto a local map and spent time creating a pedestrian and traffic count. We also took photos of the offshore

coastal defence reef that is part of the sea view in Mamaia.Students then travelled to the coastal city of Constanta to have lunch before creating a comparison study of the 2 sites. We also analysed the range of unique coastal defence methods, including large scale rip rap. After completing this study we travelled the long journey home. The trip was a success and we hope that it becomes a regular feature on the ISB calendar.

ISB Career Counseling Service hosted the head of branding of Google Romania at our school on the 14th of February. The students enjoyed a presentation hearing more about the technological

brand, the Google success story and also head some inspirational stories. Students were able to learn more about how to reach at some levels in a multi-national company such as Google

Google Success Story

On 10-14 February the SEN Department has organized the “Anti-bullying and Inclusion

week”. One of the aims of this week was to help students expand their knowledge over interpersonal differences and the way in which they can be used to build positive and sustainable relationships, help them increase their level of tolerance in relationship to those around them. Another aim was to raise awareness over bullying and the form which it can take so we can teach students about ways to prevent and respond to it. To achieve this aim, we had several activities organized across the year groups. We had an Anti-Bullying poster design competition for KS3 and exhibition of the best works in the gallery. Another

activity was an extraordinary assembly for year 7 where we’ve had guests from a Blind School and a Sign Language interpreter talking to the students about the ways in which both blind and deaf people communicate and learn. On Friday we’ve had a PSHE lesson designed according to the topic for KS3 and a presentation for KS4 and 5 about assertiveness as positive way to respond to bullying. Also on Friday morning we had a breakfast for parents where we did a presentation about the support that them as family can offer children when they get bullied and to raise awareness over relatively new forms of bullying, like cyberbullying. The feedback for the activities was generally a positive one and it gave us a lot of new ideas for next year.

Anti-bullying and Inclusion week

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Interschool Football League KS3 Interhouse Competition

All ISB football teams competed in the Inter school league competition during this term

against British School of Bucharest, International British School, Cambridge School, InSPE and Mark Twain.The U11 team has been excellent and has won all their games. They are currently top of the league. Although the U9 team is very young and has, at times, struggled, they have excellent football skills and captured the spectator’s attention and admiration during their games.The U13 team lost only one game and that made

them train even harder during winter time. They have promised to bring a trophy to ISB!The older and more experienced teams, U15/Open are always making the commitment for training on Friday afternoon. They won their games very easily and are eager to play more games and to compete in other football competitions.Their training is led by our committed coaches, Mr.Jonh Murphy, Mr.Ahmet Dundar and Mr.Oytun Pekel who, beside their lessons, find the time to keep ISB football players ready for any competition.

The Key Stage 3 Interhouse competition took place between 17th of March and

3rd of April under the supervision of the PE Department. Each year group participated with all 4 house teams in football and basketball games during lunch time.The games were hard-fought, fast-paced and exciting throughout with amazing scores. In the boys final year 9 green team defeated year 7 red team and although it was a difference

of age and physique, the determination and passion for playing showed that those differences do not matter. The girls’ final was dominated by year 8 green team, but the year 7 red team showed excellent skills and a good strategy throughout the game.Congratulation to all participants on a competitive and entertaining inter house tournament!

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ISB Internship Programme

ISB Career Counseling Service is proudly announces that a pilot internship

programme has been launched for 2014. By this program we are aiming our students to obtain practical experience of certain carrier paths by job shadowing in some multinational and national companies. So far there are some companies which we agreed on collaboration and we are looking forward to adding other companies as our partners in this project. The companies which we have agreed with so far are:

Adidas (in the areas of finance and accounting);

Ernst& Young (in the areas of finance and accounting);

Double Tree by Hilton (in the areas of hotel management);

Te-ma Romania (in the areas of sanitary materials production).Students will later be announced of the application procedure and selected students will be able to attend their internship during the summer of 2014.

Carol Davila University Visit

On the 8th of February, 11 of the year Key stage 5 students, supervised by

Mr. Ahmet and Mrs. Sebahat visited the University of Medicine and Farmacy: Carol Davila. Students saw the rooms they will be studying in if they do apply there. George, a student in the last year of medicine explained the requirements and the procedure of applying to the University he studies in. They took a look at the amphitheaters, the library and the practical work of the students in the first year who were practicing for their upcoming exams, and took a quick tour throughout the campus. It was a wonderful experience and they enjoyed it.

Rama Bikbachi (year 13)

18 of our Economics and Business Management students visited the Ernst & Young Romania on the 21st of February. Students had a chance to experience a working environment such as E&Y’s

and gathered more information regarding the planned internship collaboration between ISB and E&Y. They also acquired some essential information and practice on team working skills.

Business trip Ernst and Young Romania

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University Trip - London

Internet Scavenger Hunt was one of the

most popular activities during Maths and ICT

Week

The International School of Bucharest (ISB) annual Mathematics and ICT activity week

kicked off on Monday the 9th of March with a Sudoku contest hosted by Mrs. Cigdem from the Mathematics department. Throughout the week we had many activities and contests accumulating in the ICT Internet Scavenger hunt (Mr. Turgay and the ICT Dept.) on Thursday afternoon and the IQ league (Mr. Oytun) and fashion show (Mrs. Mihaela, Mrs. Marilena, Mr. Oytun) on Friday afternoon. We also had many other activities such as the speed-typing contest (Mr. Orlin) and the Quick Calculate contest (Mr. Bekir) and many more. You can find the list of winners below.The purpose of the activity week was

•To develop the students knowledge and enjoyment of mathematics & ICT•For the students to enjoy maths & ICT together•To develop the students awareness of links between maths, ICT and other subject areas•To have a chance to try new things •To develop thinking skills•To raise standardsWe are confident that all our students enjoyed the week and had a chance to learn more about Mathematics and ICT. We hope that next year is just as successful as 2014 and maybe we can extend our activity week to our parents.

Thank you for your time,The ISB Mathematics & ICT team

20 students from Year 12 and 13 enjoyed a 5-day trip to London, with the purpose

of visiting various universities according to their career choices. They visited many top-notch universities such as Imperial College, Kings

College and UCL. Students also took the time to complete some sightseeing and enjoy the lovely weather. They also had the chance to meet with some of ISB Alumni who are currently continuing their studies at UCL, LSE and Imperial College.

Maths and ICT Week

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On 20th-23rd March the under-13 and under-15 football teams participated in a

football tournament hosted by the Fatih College, Istanbul. Both of our teams achieved 3rd place. Besides the tournament students also enjoyed their time having breakfast on the bank of the

Bosporus at Kale Café. They also enjoyed seeing the historical part of Istanbul where they also had the chance to taste traditional Turkish ice cream. In the evening they relaxed completing various activities in Funlab.

Key Stage 3 students had a great time during their table tennis tournament which took

place in November 2013. More than 40 students competed in order to get a place in the final. All players showed their skills and passion in each game they played.

Boys and girls from all secondary school supported their favorites till the last game. The winners gained house points and also amazing prices which will keep alive the memory of their success.

Istanbul Football Trip

Table Tennis Tournament

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International Turkish OlympiadsOur students Selin Ersoydan (year 8), Melike

Katirci (year 9) and Ruveyda Aki (year 10) have participated in the 14th Annual Turkish Olympiad bringing home gold medals in the first language category, out of 70 students.

The awards ceremony took place at Rin Grand Hotel where all Turkish teaching schools in Romania attended. We would like to congratulate our students.

We are proud to mention that our students have qualified to represent Romania in the

International Turkish Olympiads which will be held between 29 may and 15 June.

Following students achieved a great success in the exams that were taken between 15 and 16 February.

In reading and comprehension:

1. place : Selin Ersoydan2. place : Ruveyda Aki3. place : Banu Travacı

Mention : Melike Katırcı

In reciting poems :2. place : Lamia Çemç

3. place : Melike KatırcıMention: Vildan Travacı

3 Gold Medals at the National Turkish Olympiads

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One of the key roles of education at ISB is preparing students to become

internationally-minded people, able to contribute to solving global issues.On Saturday, November 16, 2013 a group of KS3 students from ISB together with their families and their Science teacher – Mr. George, helped many other volunteers to plant 5000 oak trees in Comana National Park (40 km away from Bucharest), on a beautiful sunny autumn day, perfect for doing

field work.The students took this opportunity to promote a healthy life style, increase respect and care for the environment they live in and made their own contribution to reducing pollution, global warming and acid rains. Everybody worked hard, but enjoyed a lot the day and transmitted their message to other children to join them in future environmental field activities.

Tree Planting

International Fair

The International Fair was a success,

attracting parents, alumni, diplomats, and other friends of Lumina Educational Institutions from more than 40 countries, and providing great cultural and social interaction for the participants.

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Between 21-22 March, Zoltan Ozsvart and Uros Veselinovic, year 8 students, participated in

the International Chess Tournament held in Sofia, Bulgaria. The tournament was organised by the Bulgarian Chess Federation and Private School Drujba. There were over 350 contestant and ISB team achieved commendable results. Congratulations!

The Under 13 Basketball team participated on 5th of March in the competition organized by

the Cambridge school, the players achieved 3rd place in the 2014 Best Cup. With only 7 players able to play on that day, ISB managed to do well

and to show one more time that beside skills and strategies, that teamwork is the key of success.Well done boys and keep up your training!

Every year the examination students at ISB have their mock exams and every year students often

ask the question ‘why do you have to do them?’ and every year the staff at ISB responds in exactly the same way.

ConsolidationMock exams give you the chance to consolidate all of the information that you have learned on your course so far. The first part of any course is always an introduction to the theories and ideas within the subject, and these principal theories provide you with the tools you need to develop through the rest of the course. Mock exams give you a chance to check that you understand everything you have covered so far, and see how it all fits together.

Check students are on the right trackMock exams can help students find gaps in their understanding and identify your weaknesses. More often than not questions will come up in your mock exam that you have no idea how to answer. This is a good thing (as much as it might not seem so at the time!), as it makes students more aware of the level of knowledge that they need to have for the real exams.

Get feedback from tutorsMock exams provide a really good opportunity to get some feedback from teachers. Even though the tutor speaks to students in class every day, and marks

homework every week, they won’t have a complete picture of student progress until after the mocks.

Work on exam techniqueSome student’s buckle under the pressure of exams, others can’t deal with the eerie silence, and some just don’t do time limits! Mocks highlight any problems that students might have with exams, and give the chance to overcome them in time for the real thing. Finally, the more you get used to an exam situation, the more comfortable you will feel on the actual day.As much as students might hate the thought of mock exams, they are the best thing that can help students get ready for the real thing!

Our Mock exams started in the first week of March and lasted for 2 weeks. They were administered on the 3rd floor and I think everyone concerned would suggest they were a success. As with all exams there were successes, failures and surprises. This is the nature of exams and thankfully, the results will indicate the areas and subjects our students need to concentrate on. I know that the excellent results achieved by out students in the mock exams will be surpassed by the real results we will receive in August.

Best regards,Stephen Willoughby

Key Stage 4&5 Coordinator

Cambridge Basketball Cup

Checkpoint, IGCSE and A-Level Mock Exams

Chess in Bulgaria

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The International School of Bucharest was successfully represented at the 2014 INEPO/

Eurasia Project Olympiad in Baku. Winner of the gold medal in the Lumina First Step Competition, “Food Test Taste” project made by Rama Bikbachi and Fatma Karaca under the supervision of their Applied Business teacher, Miss Marlena Pintilie was highly appreciated both by the jury, participants and visitors. The project is both interesting and attractive and it was presented in an interactive way. The colorful, meaningful posters and the professional presentation made by Rama and Fatma transformed the Romanian stand in the most popular one of the competition. The idea of the project of living a healthy life in a clean environment based on our tasting capacity was successful and appreciated as being the start for deeper, multidisciplinary research. INEPO/Eurasia Project Olympiad was also an extraordinary opportunity for all participants to become familiar with an evolving economy – Azerbaijan and Baku, the capital famous for its oil industry, a city with amazing new buildings mingling with historical monuments, a city genuinely preoccupied by the environment. It was amazing

to see students from 51 countries, speaking one language, that of caring and being actively involved in protecting the environment. Environment became a strong link for the participants, because at the end of the 4 day’ competition, all the participants felt that we are all part of the same planet, the Earth and that one of our goals in life is to contribute to a cleaner environment. The ISB team was awarded the bronze medal. It is an important success because we have to take into account the fact that this year there were representatives from 51 countries from all over the world! Many countries participated with more than one team, so the competition was really high. As recognition of the value of the ISB team, the INEPO/Eurasia Project Olympiad, the organizers invited ISB to participate with three teams next year! Congratulations Rama Bikbachi and Fatma Karaca!

Marlena PintilieHumanities Teacher

Bronze Medal at INEPO-Eurasia Project Olympiad

CIE “Top of the World” Award

Alexandru Georgescu achieved an exceptional result in the Cambridge examination in June

2013, and he is recognised with a Cambridge Top in the World award for AS Travel and Tourism.Our student obtained 81.9 from a maximum of 100 points available for Paper 1 which is a written paper testing the core content of the syllabus. For paper 2, a coursework project which involves planning and managing a travel and tourism event, Alexandru obtained 41.4 out of 50 marks available.

With a total of 123 out of 150 points available for this subject, Alexandru obtained syllabus grade A and he gained the highest mark in the world for the Cambridge International AS Travel and Tourism.Congratulations for Alexandru Georgescu and his teacher, Mrs. Marlena Pintilie.We hope that students from The International School of Bucharest will be encouraged in their future education and careers by this recognition of their academic success.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BUCHAREST

At this time of year we are busy talking to staff about their plans for the future. We have many staff renewing contracts for next year but sadly we have to say goodbye to several of our teachers who will

be moving on to new schools in September. From primary Mr Alex Kane, Ms Sarah Senghendo, Ms Sarah Foster will be moving on. From secondary Mr. Trevor Knight, Ms Gordana Pirie, Mr. Ross Ellison, Ms Sorcha Sills, Ms Rebecca Grocott and Ms Marlene Pintille will be leaving. We thank all these teachers very much for their hard work and commitment to the students and their contribution to ISB. We will miss them very much and wish them all success in their new schools. Although it is always unsettling for students to say goodbye to their teachers we would like to reassure you all that moving on and gaining experience teaching in different schools is a normal and healthy process providing teachers with the opportunity to further their professional development . As we look forward to next year I am pleased to be able to inform you that our recruitment campaign this year has again been very successful. All our teaching positions have been filled and the teachers recruited are all highly qualified and experienced in their relevant courses and subjects - Primary curriculum, IGCSE and A level. These teachers will be joining us next year:

Staffing News

Darron Gray Geography and Travel and Tourism

Rhiannon BucklandYear 3

Andrew LawrenceEconomics and Business Studies

Vikki PeallYear 2

Liz HoyleEnglish

Ian RobertsonHistory

David BucklandSociology andGlobal Perspectives

Vicky SeeshaanNursery

Sos. Gara Catelu, Nr. 1R, Sect. 3, Bucharest, Tel. 021.306.95.30, email: info@isb.rowww.isb.ro