the kilmore international school newsletter · peter osborne and daniel schembri year 9/10...

The Kilmore International SchoolNewsletter

Issue 11, Friday 9th of November 2018

Duke of edinburgh CampConnections camp

A TKIS Community Publication

2 | TKIS Newsletter 11 2018

ContentSchool Messages 2

Student Activities 4

Important datesNovember

1 Year 6 Chinese Museum Excursion5 Mid Term Break – Pupil Free Day6 Melbourne Cup Day9 Newsletter # 11

November

10 Duke of Edinburgh Camp21 Drama showcase Year 3-8 Induction Day22 Year 5 Sovereign Hill23 Year 10 & 11 German Cooking Incursion Twlight Concerrt28 End of Semester Exams30 Newsletter # 12

Contact: Ms Imelda Lapthorne Email: [email protected]

Next edition: 30th of November

The Kilmore International School40 White Street KilmoreVIC 3764 AustraliaTel: (03) 5782 2211Fax: (03) 5782 2525Email: [email protected]: www.kilmore.vic.edu.au

The long weekend could not have come fast enough for some and it ended going far too quick!

We are now in the home straight and heading towards exams. We hope to release an exam timetable shortly however the same number of exams will be sat by both year levels as was sat in semester 1; 6 for Yr 10 and 5 for Yr 9.

Over the next few weeks, we encourage the students to do a few things.

1) Maintain their standards and do not become lazy. This involves effort in the classroom, maintaining school attendance and meeting school expectations.

2) Start an Exam Revision program. Do not wait for teachers to do something in way of revision in the classroom. Start doing something yourself NOW.

3) Be aware of what the last 4 weeks of school means! Habits can be broken or formed. Grades can be increased or decreased. Confidence can be built or shattered. Taking the positive perspective, we wish to finish off this year the way we hope to start next year; with Positive habits that build confidence.

Enjoy the last few weeks of the term but get yourself prepared for the exam period so that you can perform at your best.

Peter Osborne and Daniel Schembri

Year 9/10 Wellbeing Leaders

Message from the Year 9/10 Wellbeing Leaders

TKIS Newsletter 11 2018 | 3

Firsts and Lasts

It was exciting to see the Year 12 students sitting their final Language A and B examinations. Like anxious parents, we looked on nervously as they took their first steps away from us into the new and unknown, and their last steps with us in the Language classroom.

We saw students writing rabidly. We saw students thinking with fierce concentration. We saw shoulders rise higher than they had risen before as they inhaled more air than they had every done before only to see it exhaled slower than they had ever done before. We were there with them... as much as we could be.

And, when they were finished we were keen to speak to them, to find out what the papers were like and how they felt they went. And, with nervous energy they retold us of the many options available to them. Slight looks of bewilderment crossed their faces as they tried to remember the details of the last 90- 120 minutes- a trauma that they were quickly trying to suppress.

We then felt a wave of tiredness descend. A feeling no doubt, shared by all teachers once their subject examinations were finished. It is interesting to note how much we ride along with the students on this journey, how much energy and goodwill we invest in them as they walk through those examination doors. But of course, for students and their parents this wave of tiredness must be held at bay for another 2 weeks. A feat of endurance after 13 years of schooling. So close but yet so far.

As teachers we now look to our Year 11 students for whom, the pressures of Year 12, are quickly becoming reality. We see them start to rally with the recognition of the hard work and heady rewards that lie ahead. For them it is the beginning of the end. For the Year 12’s it is the end and we shall wish them well. We are all very proud of all their hard work, laughter, debate, philosophising, and of course, their wonderful words.

Sarah Mills

Acting Head of Learning - Language A


Duke of Edinburgh Adventurous Journey

Students embarked on the Duke of Edinburgh Adventurous Journey at Wilsons Promontory over 4 days from October 26th – 29th. These 7 students have been preparing this component of their Awards since the beginning of Term 4. Planning and preparation included: Choosing a location, route mapping with campsites, reading a map, organising gear and equipment, food groups and menu planning, packing a backpack and waterproofing.

Day 1:

The trip begun from Tidal River. Walked via Oberon Bay Walking Track (7.6km). 1st night - Oberon Bay.

Day 2:

Walked to Telegraph Junction and onto Little Waterloo Bay for lunch via the Waterloo Bay Walking Track (16.2km). 2nd night - Refuge Cove.

Day 3:

Walked to Sealers Cove to cross at low tide by 9:30am, then continued on the Sealers Cove Walking Track to have lunch at Windy Saddle. Took the shuttle bus from Telegraph Saddle Carpark (16.6km walking, 3.5km bus). 3rd night- Tidal River.

Day 4:

Walked up Mt Bishop via Lilly Pilly Gully Circuit (7.5km).

(Little Waterloo Bay)


(‘Which is the tallest mountain?’)

Students were able to experience one of Australia’s most beautiful and iconic national parks with stunning coastal scenery, rugged mountains and an abundance of native flora and wildlife.

Both Mt Taylor and Ms Dalton enjoyed the expedition and commend the students on their determination and perse-verance to complete a wonderful trip.

Sarah Dalton

Duke of Edinburgh Coordinator


Year 11 Exam Time Table Semester 2 2018


NOTES:

Each examination has a five minute reading time, if more than one paper is being sat as part of the exam there will only be a total of five minutes reading time.

1 History / Geography student clash, Marina Sato (Will sit History on Tuesday morning)

2 Economics / ESS students with clashes, Olivia Pezzopane and Mary Lias (Will sit ESS Tuesday morning)


Our next big event in the TKIS Music Department is the Showcase Concert:

Friday, November 23rd, top oval, 7pm – 9pm.

Every student who takes Music will perform a piece as a member of their class ensemble, which has been rehearsing for this event all term. We will also see work from the Choirs, Bands and Acorn Orchestra, plus the Bollywood and Korean dancers.

Bring a blanket, chairs, eskies and umbrellas/sunscreen/hats/parkas as required - the weather could do (and has in the past, done) anything! There will be coffee and a baked potato van for the peckish. Join us for this lovely finale to the year, enjoy the fragrant Kilmore evening and support our enthusiastic, talented musicians.

Catherine Stringer

Music Coordinator

Music News


Congratulations to Tkis K-Pop dancing Groups

Hooray K-Pop dancing groups!!! Outstanding results in the Korean Performance Contest 2018!

Our K-Pop dancing groups (boys: Darius Park, Ryan Huang , Terry Ma, Leo Chen, Sean Kim, Even Zhang, Harry Huang / girls: Minjin Kim, Rachel Lee, Joycelyn Zhang, Annmaria Baiju, Peo Osborne) participated in 2018 Korean Performance Contest. Boys’ team has been awarded the first place (certificate, a guitar & $200 voucher) in youtube category of the 2018 Korean Performance Contest organised by the Korean Education Centre – Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Sydney. Congratulations to all.

The following link is the students’ performance. Please enjoy our students’ glamorous choreography.

Boys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km9q0f3EwIA

Girls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7hR0hE-ZiY


Hooray Project N!!! Outstanding results in the Korean Performance Contest 2016!

Our famous dancing group, Project N (Serena, Shannon, Olivia, Amy & Lauren) participated in 2016 Korean Performance Contest. They have been awarded the Third place (certificate & $200 voucher) in the Year 7-12 performance category of the 2016 Korean Performance Contest organised by the Korean Education Centre – Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Sydney. Congratulations to Project N.

The following link is the students’ performance. Please enjoy Mr Koo’ awkward acting and Project N’s glamorous choreography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiVuMGwqHEA

Daniel Koo

CAS Coordinator

Our K-Pop boys dancing team applied for 2018 Korean performance contest and Darius Park, Ryan Huang (yr 12), Terry Ma (yr 12), Leo Chen (yr 12), Sean Kim (yr 11), Even Zhang (yr 9), Harry Huang (yr 8) are selected and invited one of the best performers at the final contest for 2018 Korean Performance Contest. Our girls dancing team also applied for the contest but they didn’t make the final. (Minjin Kim Y9, Rachel Lee Y10, Joycelyn Zhang Y9, Annmaria Baiju Y9, Peo Osborne Y9)

Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km9q0f3EwIA

Girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7hR0hE-ZiY


Connections CampOver the first week of the September school holidays (24th to 27th September), international students from TKIS par-ticipated in the Connections Camp at YMCA Lake Dewar Lodge in Myrniong. The camp was led by Ms Philippa Kirwan, Director of Student Wellbeing, together with a team of 5 teachers and our School Psychologist, Ms Melder.

"The diversity of cultural backgrounds and experiences of our students is one of the greatest assets of our school. The Connections Camp provided an opportunity for students with very different life experiences to strengthen relation-ships while participating in sporting and academic activities. The camp gave voice to their differing understandings of the world and provided opportunities for them to share their personal lived experiences, which helped students con-tribute to the TKIS identity while also developing their own sense of self."

Ms Philippa Kirwan

Indeed, what used to be known as the “International Students Study Camp” was renamed the “Connections Camp” to highlight the camp’s role in modelling a “Values-centric, student-centred” approach to holistic education. Students were constantly exposed to three key concepts, “Connections, Perspectives and Relationships” in the course of the camp through various activities. Questions such as “What does being an IB school mean?”, “How do we introduce IB concepts to Middle School?” and “How do we engage Middle School International students?” guided the design of this camp.

The vision of the camp was to enable students to undergo a cycle of reflection throughout their camp experience to encourage holistic learning and development. The aim was to start introducing IB-specific terminologies and ideas into the camp so that students attending the camp start developing an understanding of what the IB DP entails.

The three concepts were explored using an integrated and interdisciplinary learning approach. At the end of the camp, students were expected to create a capstone art project representing the learning they had gleaned throughout the course of the camp.

The teachers were instrumental to the overall cogency of the camp as they designed learning experiences that hark-ened back to the three key concepts. Mr Tobin Connell and Ms Isabelle Case helped students distill the importance of cross-cultural communication skills by basing the learning experience around the inquiry question “What makes a good conversation?” Discussion followed about why human connections were necessary in today’s technology rich world, and how impactful on our mental health these ‘conversations’ were. All the students recognised this as one of the most important facets of their lives and took up the challenge of trying to become a better, more active listener and engage others in a thoughtful and productive conversation. A structured and safe environment was created for students to practice these skills with peers whom they did not usually interact with. This experience provided an opportunity for students to make new connections within their International student community.

Ms Mei Yue facilitated a learning experience where students discussed social taboos in their cultures and produced a drama and dance segment to consolidate their learning. Students had the opportunity to decide how they could cre-atively present these ideas to their peers while thinking deeply about their own socialised behaviours. The learning experience gave students the opportunity to explore different perspectives.

Mr Kenny Ong facilitated two Science-based lessons on “Connections” and “Perspectives”. Students engaged in a STEM-related machine building exercise with LEGO for “Connections” and then reflected on their experience working with their peers as well as the importance of each connection in their machines. For “Perspectives”, students explored concrete ways of perceiving things differently, from the macro to the micro, from the obvious to the imperceptible; using scientific apparatus such as the microscope, prism and lenses. Students then had the chance to reflect on how these concrete concepts were analogous to their lived experiences. An example was how students learnt the concept of the eye’s blind spot through an activity, and then reflected on their own “blind spots” in their perspectives to issues in life.


Similarly, Ms Melder facilitated a group “story-telling” session where students had to piece together a larger storyline using the limited information given to them. Each pair of students were given one picture from a series of pictures. They were then tasked to find out from other groups a verbal description of their pictures. Using this information, they had to make judgments about where their own picture could be placed in the storyline. This activity allowed the stu-dents to concretely explore the impact of narrow perspectives and limited information. Although the students were surprised at how different their storyline was as compared to the actual storyline, the activity was very well-received.

Throughout the time on the camp, students were challenged with activities, both physical and mental that required resilience and fortitude. Whether it was daring to step off the platform of the flying fox, high above the gorge, or simply allowing themselves quiet and reflective time, the students embraced the activities wholly. The students faced up to difficulties, working as a team and ensuring that the ‘team’ was successful and that this success was more important than personal achievement. It was truly fantastic to see the teamwork develop and blossom in groups of disparate students who did not know each other before the camp. Inclusion, celebration and enjoyment were key components


of these activities.

Another key thrust of the camp was to encourage authentic and honest conversations about diversity, especially when the context of TKIS as an international school is taken into consideration. Invited facilitators, Shawn Andrew and Farid Hamid, helped students understand the impacts of stereotypes and societal discrimination and used multiple peda-gogical approaches to help students unpack what it means to live in a diverse society. These programmes were part of a pilot programme to ascertain their suitability for scalability to the larger TKIS student population. It is hoped that the findings from this pilot programme could be used to justify the application of the Victorian Government’s Community Harmony Grant, part of the Victorian Community Harmony Programme. This programme was designed to enable Vic-torians to build social cohesion and community harmony through preventative initiatives that address the root causes of social disharmony and racial, ethnic and religious intolerance.

Feedback from various stakeholders of the school has often mentioned “diversity” and “multiculturalism” as our key strengths. The application for this grant provides TKIS with an opportunity to continue fostering a strong sense of belonging in students, whatever their religion, ethnicity, skin colour, or cultural identity, through the creation of op-portunities for them to build relationships with one another leading to increased understanding and respect for our common values and interests.

Throughout the camp, students were tutored by Ms Lynda Allen to create their capstone art projects based on the three key concepts. The projects were then presented to the rest of the participants where students explained the ra-tionale behind different design elements in their project and how these related to their learning throughout the camp. The art projects were then exhibited during TKIS’s recent Art Show.

“After the camp, we clearly knew how important the word “Respect” is through the exploration of the three key con-cepts, “Perspectives”, ”Connections” and “Relationships”. Our art project depicted the different cultural representa-tives in our group and it presented a variety of perspectives that exist in our international school. Meaning to say, we would like to bring out the value of everyone being respected and connected.” Alexis Nguyen

“You, I, He or She as individuals are not the centre of the universe but the centre of the universe is “Us”. I will not use the word “change”; you do not have to change yourself to be with someone but I will use the word “adapt”. If you understand yourself and others, that is perfect!” Aom Isarakarnkul

Kenny ONGHomeroom Curriculum Coordinator


Debating News

Thirteen students from Years 7 and 8 have signed up for the Debating Association’s Junior Secondary Program. This program is an introduction to debating and is designed to provide training in the basic skills and structure of debat-ing. In addition to the training sessions, the program gives students an opportunity to participate in three 'friendly' inter-school debates. Two weeks ago our debaters participated the first of these three debates on the topic ‘That all female athletes should have the same pay and conditions as male athletes.’ Both Year 7 teams represented TKIS very well and were complimented by the judges on the high standard of their speeches. The affirmative team consisting of Ryan Haque, Harrison Hill and Jasmeet Singh won their debate against Catholic Ladies’ College while the negative team, consisting of Jack Exell, Maddison Ling and Aarushi Sodhi lost by only one point to Reservoir High School. The next debate topic is ‘Emojis reduce our ability to communicate’.

Ryan Haque’s Speech for the Affirmative Team

Topic: All Female athletes should have the same pay and conditions as male athletes.

Good evening adjudicators and opponents. Tonight the affirmative team will be arguing why female athletes should get the same pay and conditions as male athletes. Before I begin my arguments, I would like to define a few terms in this topic. When we talk of ‘Conditions’, we refer to standard of the venues where the athletes play and the training facilities provided. ‘Athletes’, refers to sportsmen and women who play professionally.

The gender pay gap between male and female athletes is quite significant. For example, the top female volleyball play-er, Zhu Ting (pronounced shoo Ting), is paid half of what her male counterpart, Simone Gianelli, is paid. Furthermore, female volleyball players only receive 170 thousand in prize money while men can win 1 million. Another example, in in tennis. Roger Federer earned 64 million USD while Serena Williams earned around 27 million USD in 2017. The affirmative team believe this gender pay gap in sport in very unfair to the female athletes and that sports clubs should be required to pay female athletes the same as men.

In tonight’s debate, I will be making three points in favour of giving female athletes the same pay and conditions as males. Firstly, women athletes deserve to paid as much as men as they train just as hard, if not harder than men. Sec-ondly, if they are paid the same as men, female athletes will be able to dedicate their time to their sports rather than


having to take on other jobs. And thirdly, girls will be encourage to take up sports when they see women are equally respected as men in sport. Our second speaker will be making 2 points: Firstly, he will argue that female athletes should be paid the same as males because of the growing interest in women's sport and secondly, he will explain how wom-en’s sport needs to get better media coverage in order to finance the pay rise.

So let’s start on my points. First, female athletes deserve to be paid the same as males because they train just as hard as the men. Scientist agree that female athletes work hard if not harder than their male counterparts to achieve an absolute target – especially in sports such as tennis and cricket. They expose their bodies to similar, if not higher risks of injury, which could potentially be career ending. For this reason they should be paid the same as men.

Now onto my second point. If they are paid the same as men, female athletes will be able to dedicate their time to their sports rather than having to take on other jobs. Some female athletes are paid so little that they need to work at another job in order to make a living. This takes them away from their training and can hinder their progress. Take, for example, the Queensland netball team, the Firebirds, who won the ANZ Championship. They are very popular. In fact, at a Firebird’s game no seat in the stadium will be empty. But these best netballers in the nation are not paid enough to be able to make that their fulltime profession. The players must juggle regular work with training, having everyday worries such as paying bills and getting time off work to travel. If they were given equal pay to males playing a similar sport, think how much more these women could achieve in their sport. Now moving onto my third point. We believe that girls will be encourage to take up sports if they see sportswomen earning the same as men. It is important for young girls not only to see the incredible achievements of female athletes, but to see that they are respected. How can this be the case if female athletes are paid much less than men? What does this tell our young women and girls? It tells them that women’s sport is not important and that sport is not for girls. For these reasons, the affirmative team believes it is time that female athletes were rewarded with the same pay and conditions and males. Thank you.

Angela Gower

Debating Coordinator


Throughout Term 3 and 4, six selected TKIS students participated in the Resilience Across Mitchell Shire program, aptly referred to as the RAMS program. This was a program developed by the School Focused Youth Service across Mitchell Shire. The purpose of the program was to improve participant’s emotional resilience through training sessions, as-sisting participants to understand what this means and develop their personal capacity to cope with challenging life events. The program consisted of four different sessions with external trainers from Rivers and Rangers Emotional Resilience Training. Each session aimed to increase self esteem and self confidence through physical activities such as high ropes and wall climbing. Through participating in the program, the students involved have been able to identify and develop their personal strengths, assets and their own leadership potential.

Here is one participant’s account of his participation in the program:

I am an 8th grade international student at The Kilmore International School. During the second semester, I was selected and enrolled in Ram’s activities. The Ram event was organized by several different schools. I feel very honoured to be selected because only one Chinese student participated.

The Ram’s activities are divided into four parts and each session is located at a different place. Through each session, I learnt a lot of new skills. For example, the first lesson improved my judgment and self-control by doing various card games. In the second lesson, we learnt how to encourage each other through the zip line project. In the third lesson, we overcame some of our fears by touching various types of animals (we touched lizards, frogs, Small crocodiles, pythons and other reactions and teamwork spirit.

Through these activities, I have been exposed to a lot of new things. I have met people from different countries and played games I have never played before. From these experiences, it has taught me a lot about life. At the same time, I also found out what I did not do well, and tried my best to make changes.

Finally, I am very grateful to the school for giving me this opportunity to attend this event.

Ethan Guo Year 8

RAMS Program

Nicole Melder

School Counsellor and Student Psychologist


Whittlesea Agricultural Show 2018For the second year running, TKIS has entered a selection of Art and Creative Writing pieces into the Whittlesea Agricultural Show. The quality of the student’s work was once again completed to a very high standard. It is exciting to see our school represented in the local community and the students who were able to attend the show were thrilled to see their classmate’s and own work on display.

Year 3 Awardees:

Jessica Dahiya 4th Place – Collage

Year 4 Awardees

Darcy White 4th Place – 3D ConstructionCaiden Xing 3rd Place – 3D ConsutructionMia Walters 2nd Prize – 3D ConstructionMatias Edmonds 1st Prize – 3D Construction

Year 5 Awardees

Elizabeth Kan Highly Commended – 3D Art

Year 6 Awardees

Hana Khodabocus Commended – 3D ConstructionAmelia Knight Highly Commended – 3D ConstructionSasha White 6th Place – 3D ConstructionClaire Gallagher 5th Place – 3D ConstructionVictoria Sullivan 3rd Place – 3D ConstructionMaya Sakr 2nd Place – 3D ConstructionAmber Meuwissen 1st Place – 3D Construction

A special mention to Amber Meuwissen who also won Best Primary Exhibit in 3D Construction!


Georgina Garner

Head of Houses


TKIS Boarders Celebrate HalloweenOn Friday evening the 2nd of November a Halloween celebration was held with karaoke, music, party games, food and drinks, it was great fun night, enjoyed by all the students and the staff.

Enjoy our photos.


TKIS Family FairOn Saturday the 20th of October TKIS hosted a Family Fair to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the IB and also to raise money for the Cambodian Kids Foundation.

The day started off very wet and cold! However, by noon the sun came out and students were able to enjoy the rides, The Cha-Cha and Bungee Tramps were crowd favourites. The Animal Action show was first class and had many children (and adults) queueing up to pat a variety of creepy, crawly and cuddly animals.

Everyone enjoyed the variety of food from Turkish, Chinese, Indian, Aussies BBQ and Vietnamese. The fairy floss was very popular too!

It was great to see a number of TKIS Alumni join in with the celebrations.


Imelda Lapthorne

Dean of International Students

the kilmore international school newsletter · peter osborne and daniel schembri year 9/10...

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