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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

30 Apr 2016 Issue 48

At the beginning of Term 3, IPC and Art teachers and students were busy making preparations for the IPC

exhibition on AHIS Open Day on 16 & 17 April 2016. It was an excellent platform for the students, especially

the student ambassadors, to showcase their talent and skills that they have acquired in IPC. A section of

the hall was reserved to exhibit the foot prints of the school over the past five years. It was a very

informative and nostalgic display of the events and activities we had organised for the students since the

commencement of the school in 2011. We hope this documentary will remind us of the times we shared

in AHIS.

Austin Heights’ Got Talent 2016 Final concluded on 22 April 2016. Each participant in the final put up a

very good show for the students, teachers and parents who attended the event.We congratulate the

winners for their exciting and excellent performances. As for those who did not win prizes this time, they

are welcomed to participate again next year.

In the academic field, the Year 6 and Year 9 students sat for their respective Checkpoint Tests at the

beginning of April. These tests provided valid indicators of the students’ strength and weaknesses in the

three subjects, namely English, Mathematics and Science. The results provided a guideline for their

preparations in respect of their progress to the next level in Year 7 and Year 10 respectively.

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Open Day – IPC Exhibition

In conjunction with the annual Open Day, Austin Heights International School organized an IPC exhibition.

IPC provides a holistic environment in which students are able to explore the world through group

participation, innovation and cooperation. They develop as independent learners who are trained to think

out of the box. The exhibition was held on 16 and 17 April 2016 at the school hall. The exhibition showcased

many of the students’ works ranging from 3 to 12 years old.

As IPC was taught in a thematic way, all the displays that were showcased were based on the themes that

were taught: Shopping, Homes, We are What We Eat, Celebrations, Buildings, From A to B, Fashion,

Chocolate, Dinosaurs, Airport, Inventions, Saving Rainforest, Go with the Flow, Making the News, Growing

up and Space Explorers. Amongst the popular features this year were the activity booths. There were

sandwich-making booth, chocolate-making booth, boat-making booth, clay models depicting the

developmental stages of a human baby and the most popular of all, the space stimulator. The student

ambassadors showcased their talents and abilities, and demonstrated their knowledge by promoting and

explaining the IPC learning outcomes to the parents and guests. They were eloquent and confident. This

is what IPC in Austin Heights International school is all about: a fun, exciting and holistic education. Parents

and guests were visibly impressed. We really appreciate their many encouraging and positive comments,

and hope that they will continue to give us their support in years to come.

Ms Tan Joo Lee

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Open Day – Art Display

Austin Heights International School had its fifth annual Open Day on 16 to 17 April, which featured plenty

of the beautiful artworks from Year 1 to 11 at the school lobby. Much attention was focused on the works

of Year 10 students’ photomontage and Year 11’s works for their IGCSE Art Trial Exam.

The Year 10 students also had an exhibition on printmaking which garnered much attention from both

parents and children alike, receiving much praises for their originality of the works done. Printmaking is the

process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. The printing was carved on linoleum and

subsequently printed on rice paper. Children were invited to try out the printmaking process and they were

very much intrigued by it, having lots of fun doing it.

The printmaking exhibition led by Jeslyn Tan

[10S] and Lee Jia Yi [10S].

Children having fun in trying out the printmaking

process.

Mr Chino Tan

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Open Day – Colouring Competition

To spread the brightness of colours, the Colouring

Competition was held on 16 April 2016. “We’re One

Family” was the underlying theme of the competition.

There were three categories: Category A (5-7 years),

Category B (8-10 years) and Category C (11-14 years).

The competition was organised as one of the events on

Open Day. It offered the children a platform to explore

and promote creativity through colouring. The young

artists had two hours to complete their colouring work.

All participants demonstrated their talent and creativity

in the competition. They were enthusiastic in their

passion for colouring while proud parents offered

encouragement and support from the side line. The judges were greatly impressed and winners were

selected based on the following criteria: effectiveness of design, creativity, neatness, colour combination

and overall effect. The winners were then awarded trophies, certificates and Austin Heights Water Theme

Park entrance tickets by Dato’ Steve Chong and Datin Low Peck Tim. The 15 consolation winners were

also given certificates and tickets. The positive responses from everyone rendered the event a complete

success.

Ms Nur Ilyana Binti Mohd Zaini

CATEGORY A:

Champion Sim Ming Qing

1st Runner-Up Du Yi Chen

2nd Runner-Up Benedict Tan Wei Bum

CATEGORY B:

Champion Bang Nai Sheng

1st Runner-Up Leong Yu Jie

2nd Runner-Up Chan Bi Er

CATEGORY C:

Champion Teyo Jia Lin

1st Runner-Up Kam Zhi En

2nd Runner-Up Lawrance Tan Wei Lun

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Open Day - AHIS’s Journey In the Past Five Years

Based on Holistic educational philosophy, AHIS has

strived its utmost best to nurture its students in various

aspects including academics and non-academics in

the past five years. Emphasising on students’ studies

is always the priority of AHIS; nevertheless, the school

also believes in grooming the students to excel in

different fields to enable them to do better in the future.

Thus, a lot of activities are organised and conducted

throughout an academic year to provide a platform for

its students to fully participate besides focusing on

their studies. Activities held annually are Festive

Celebrations, Charity Drive, Fun Run, Sports Day,

Swimming Gala, International Day, Austin Heights’ Got Talent, Educational and Field Trips (local as well

as overseas) et cetera. Besides being fun-filled, the students get to learn new knowledge and showcase

their potential in every single activity planned for them to take part. This fully illustrates the perfect school

life of AHIS.

Open Day - Academic Pathways After IGCSE

A Talk by Mr. Ng Kim Huat

On 17 April, as part of our school Open Day, we invited Mr.

Ng Kim Huat, CIE Country Director for Malaysia and Brunei,

to a seminar for our Year 10 and Year 11 students and their

parents. As a Cambridge representative with over 20 years’

experience with the Ministry of Education in Malaysia, he was

the perfect person to inform our students about the value of

enrolling in Cambridge A-Levels, and to answer their parents’

questions about the options for future studies after IGCSE.

Mr. Ng began with a briefing about the value of Cambridge

A-Level certifications, and provided detailed information on

their worldwide recognition as an entry qualification for

tertiary studies at universities both locally and abroad. He

also explained the difference between AS and A Level, and

how the two certifications would benefit our students. He then

gave a detailed list of the A Level subjects offered by

Cambridge, as well as showing some statistics providing

support for the growing popularity of Cambridge A-Level

exams amongst students worldwide. Interestingly, he

showed that Malaysian students have scored significantly higher marks than the global average in A-Level

exams over the last few years.

Finally, Mr. Ng answered questions from our students and parents, leaving them confident that Cambridge

A-Levels are well-recognised globally as one of the best pre-university certifications, and that our students

will be well-supported as they embark on this exciting new phase of their academic careers.

Ms Shan Taryn Ambrose

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AHGT Final

Our grand finale, Austin Heights’ Got Talent 2016, which was held on 28 April 2016, was a blast. Parents

and students brought along their banners and glow sticks to give their full support by cheering for their

favourite contestants and the atmosphere in the main hall was exciting and nerve reckoning. All finalists

did their very best and left their fates to the hands of the judges. The panel of judges comprised Mr Suresh,

Ms Chang, Ms Marjorie and Ms Shan, assisted by our tabulator Ms Priscilla. They faced a challenging task

of judging the performances according to a strict judging criteria which was used from the beginning of the

audition.

The competition kick started with the primary category

where we had a variety of performances such as piano,

solo dance, group instruments, duet singing and Ukulele.

The crowd was ecstatic in showing their full support to

our young talents.

The Secondary category started with a bang by one of

our group dance performances who called themselves

‘CASM’. It was followed by the other secondary

contestants with their exciting performances and the

most memorable one was a melodious ‘Gu Zheng’ performed by Joey. While awaiting for the judges to

tabulate the scores, everyone enjoyed an outstanding guitar performance by our former Austin Heights’

Got Talent winner Fadhil Tobriso and a group singing performance by several talented teachers.

Ms Meera Perumal

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In the Primary category, the 2nd runner up was won by a piano duet performed by Sakurako and Yuichiro

Suzuki (siblings), the 1st runner up went to Koh Kai Xuan who performed a modern dance and the

Champion Trophy was awarded to Fion Liu Yi Sin, who stole the stage by performing a Bollywood solo

dance, receiving loud cheers and applause.

In the Secondary category, the Champion Trophy was won by the Year 11 dance group who called

themselves ‘ZERO’. The second place was grabbed by ‘CASM’ dance group and the 3rd place was won by

a piano performance by Lee Zhao Yong from Year 9. Certificates of participation were given to all of the

participants.

We would like to take this opportunity again to congratulate all winners and participants for putting in lots

of efforts participating in this event.

Fion Liu Yi Sin Koh Kai Xuan Sakurako & Yuichiro Suzuki

1st 2nd 3rd

ZERO Group CASM Group Lee Zhao Yong

1st 2nd 3rd

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Year 6 Cambridge Primary Checkpoint Test

Cambridge Primary Checkpoint is a diagnostic testing that helps learners. It gives a comprehensive

feedback on their strengths and weaknesses in each subject. The subjects offered are Literacy, Numeracy

and Science.

Primary Checkpoint tests are usually conducted at the end of Cambridge Primary. The tests are marked in

Cambridge and each learner receives a statement and a diagnostic report.

There were seventy-three candidates from the school who sat for the Checkpoint this year. It was held from

12 till 14 April this year. They sat for the subjects as stipulated by Cambridge.

Year 9 Cambridge Checkpoint Test

We are pleased to announce that this year’s cohort, who recently sat for their Checkpoint tests, has shown

that their level of maturity has improved by leaps and bounds this year. Sixty three students from Austin

Heights International School sat for their Checkpoint this year. We now await the results with bated breath

and we are confident that this year we will see great results from our Year 9 examinees.

We wish to take this opportunity to thank the Year 9 teaching staff who put in huge efforts and offered extra

classes to ensure that the students had the best possible chance to do well in their exams.

The Checkpoint test in Year 9 is of great importance and value to both the parents and students alike.

While the results are not counted in any way towards the IGCSE final grade, it offers a wonderful insight

into the student’s current understanding of the main core subject areas. This information is invaluable in

helping our students, together with teachers and parents, to identify their areas of strengths going forward

into year 10. The results are never absolute in deciding what subjects a student will take, rather it offers a

guide and allows all the stakeholders, who have invested in their children, to make informed decisions. We

as a school have a vested interest in these children and their progress and success are ultimately our

success.

To this end, we would like to again thank our students for their hard work, our teachers for the extra time

and efforts put in, and indeed you, the parents, too, without whom none of the above would be possible.

Star of the Month

The following students have been nominated as the Star of the Month.

April

Balasuriya Viswanathan (9A)

- Diligent & consistent in his studies

Aaron Cheah Xin Ee (9U)

-Good attitude & responsible student

Chong You Jine (9U)

- Attentive & committed in his studies

Tan Hour Thien (9U)

- Diligent & consistent in his studies

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KEY DATES FOR THE TERM

Date Event

1 May 2016 Public Holiday (Labour Day)

2 May 2016 Holiday in Lieu

3 May 2016 Book Character Day

12-15 May 2016 Year 6 Graduation Trip

16 May 2016 Teachers Day Celebration

28 May 2016 International Day & Family Day