uplands school weekly newsletter - term 1 issue 11 - 31 oct 2014

8/10/2019 Uplands School Weekly Newsletter - Term 1 Issue 11 - 31 Oct 2014

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To all in the Uplands Community,

This week we have started the process of updating theschool strategic plan. All stakeholders in the school(Students, Parents Teachers, Support Staff andGovernors) have been sent a survey to complete.

The survey covers many areas of school life and it hasbeen facinating looking at the initial results. We reallyappreciate everyone letting us know your views andopinions.

So far over 550 people have responded to the survey.The online survey will be open for one more week.Please take the time to complete your survey if you havenot already done so. Your opinions are very importantto us.

Your sincerely,

Matthew BristowPrincipalFollow us on Twitter: @ispuplands

Contents Page NoMessage from The Principal 1

Secondary News 2 - 4

Years 10 & 11 News 5

Uplands Roar 6 8

Year 7 History Trip 9

Primary News 10 - 12

Science at Uplands 13

Disco, Careers & Exams 14

UPTA News 15 - 16

School Calendar 17- 18


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Welcome back to the second half of Term One. I hope you all had a most enjoyable and restful break over

the half term holiday. Term One is always a long term and it is very clear that the majority of students havereturned to school this week rejuvenated and with a lot more energy. I hope this will last for the next sevenweeks until the Christmas Holidays are upon us.

On Monday morning, the prefects and I hosted the Secondary Assembly, which was focused around the IBLearner Profile . These are a set of ideals that are endorsed by the International Baccalaureate Organisation.These ideals are in place to help inspire, motivate and focus the work of school and teachers, uniting themin a common purpose. If you walk into the Uplands Cafeteria you will see some quality artwork, whichidentifies the ten Learner Profile characteristics

Inquirers Knowledgeable Thinkers Communicators Principled Open-minded Caring Risk-takers Balanced Reflective
http://ibo.org/programmes/profile/http://ibo.org/programmes/profile/http://ibo.org/programmes/profile/http://ibo.org/programmes/profile/http://ibo.org/programmes/profile/http://ibo.org/programmes/profile/


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The assembly began with a brief introduction by myself and was followed by a super performance on thecatwalk by ten of our IB PYP Year 6 students. As part of their summative assessment, they designed andcreated T-Shirts that reflected their enquiry on Fashion as a form of expression. The symbols, pictures andcolours were used to show aspects of identity. They also had to choose one learner profile, which theythought best described them. This is the first time in seven years that I have seen primary students performin a Secondary Assembly. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to commend them for beingtremendous risk-takers.

The Prefects then presented the ten Learner Profile traits and gave examples of how they believe they havebeen represented throughout their IB Diploma experience so far.

Following the presentation by the prefects, the secondary students were entertained by an excellent duetperformance by Alycia Saxon & Alicia Khong, singing a beauti ful rendition of, Brave by Sara Barielles; Asong about risk-takers. Congratulations to both girls for their wonderful contributions.

To finish the assembly we heard from a group of students, led by CAS students (Malaika Franks & Vicky Oh),the USC President & Vice President (Jasmin Dalsgaard & Kyling Saw) and the leaders of the Do SomethingSociety (Amit Atwal & Elias Ansari) who spoke about the amazing work they are doing for a Rohingya RefugeeKindergarten named The Good Start Learning Centre. The Rohingya are an ethnic group of people who hadto flee Burma. Unfortunately they are not recognised by the Malaysian government and therefore are notallowed to work or receive education. The students have chosen to work with this kindergarten to helpprovide the children with greater opportunities in life.


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Projects such as this and the other regular community service work completed by other Uplands students,truly depicts their efforts to foster the aim of the IB Diploma Programme in developing internationallyminded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help tocreate a better and peaceful world.

Please click on the following link to view the The IB Learner Profile at The International School of Penang(Uplands)

The Secondary Senior Management Team will be holding an IB Diploma Information Evening for all parentson Tuesday 9 th December in the new MPH in Block F. Please ensure you put this date into your diary if youwould like to learn more about this excellent pre-university programme, which sees Uplands students enterthe top universities throughout the world.

Have a great weekend!

Craig Skinner

Head of Secondary [email protected] http://blogs.uplands.org/hos/ Follow us on Twitter: @UplandsSecSch
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ib+learner+profile+at+uplandshttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ib+learner+profile+at+uplandshttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ib+learner+profile+at+uplandshttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ib+learner+profile+at+uplandsmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://blogs.uplands.org/hos/http://blogs.uplands.org/hos/http://blogs.uplands.org/hos/mailto:[email protected]://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ib+learner+profile+at+uplandshttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ib+learner+profile+at+uplands


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Welcome back to school! The Year 10 and 11s have been v ery busy representing Uplands in a number ofsporting fixtures this week. Congratulations to Oliver Rose, Terry Lu, Zaakir Patel and Jens Dalsgaard whowere part of the Senior Boys football team who won the PISAC league on Tuesday. For more informationabout the match and the season, please read the sports section of the newsletter.

In PSHE, over the coming weeks the Year 11 students will be looking at preparing for their mockexaminations which are held in January. The mock examinations will give students a very clear indicationof the grade they may expect to achieve in their final GCSE exams in the summer. The students will look atpreparing a revision timetable over the coming weeks to help them be as prepared as possible. If anystudent would like additional help in preparing for their exam, please encourage them to speak to eithertheir form tutor or myself as we would all be happy to help.

The Year 10 students will be looking at different types of motivation and how it affects their learning.Every student is motivated by different things and by helping to identify what these are, we hope to enablestudents to improve their performance in the classroom. There are many different articles and videosavailable for students to watch and read on this subject and I have posted some of these on my blog forstudents to watch.

The Year 10 mentoring program was launched today and students involved in this received letters outliningwho their mentors will be. The programme is designed to support each individual student and allow themto have a dedicated member of staff to help reach to their full potential. Students will be meeting withtheir mentors over the next week and we look forward to seeing the positive impact this has on thestudents. For more information regarding the programme, please contact me via e-mail at

[email protected] .

Good luck to all the Year 10 and 11 students representing Uplands in Phuket next weekend, I am sure youwill all do us very proud!

Iain DriscollHead of Year 10 & 11 and Secondary PE
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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This week has seen our Roar Sports teams return to school with a bang! Monday saw Uplands play hosts toFrancis HollandSchool from London,England. Travellingthrough Malaysia aspart of aNetball/HockeyTour, our U14 andU16 Netballers puton a greatperformance withboth of our ASquads provingthemselves morethan a match for theopposition. Played in afantastic spirit, this was a great opportunity for our Girls to play against unfamiliar opposition.

The U15 boys basketball teamtook on Dalat on

Wednesday in a PISAC

league fixture. The teamhave been making greatprogress over the last fewweeks and were lookingfor their first win of theseason. The boys startedbrilliantly and swappedbaskets with Dalat untilthe end of the thirdquarter when tirednessset in and a few mistakesallowed Dalat to pullaway. However, despitelosing 27-17, the boysplayed their best

basketball of the seasonwith some great quick

passing, fantastic defence, but most importantly, a great attitude towards not only their own team, but theopponents and the officials as well. The boys now play Tenby on Monday in their final game of the seasonwhich will also be their final test before heading to FOBISIA.


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O15 Boys and Girls Football

Congratulations to both our O15 Boys and O15 Girls Football teams for successfully defending their PSACLeague titles. Both have been crowned League Champions, both going unbeaten in the process!Tomorrow they are in action again with their PSAC Tournaments; Girls travelling to POWIIS and the Boyshaving home field advantage here at Uplands.

Phuket Football

Good luck to our Secondary Football teams travelling to Phuket next weekend for the 13th Annual PhuketSoccer 7s. This is a highlight of our Football Calendar, and having seen how hard our teams have beenworking during their training I am sure that all will have a fantastic time.

O15 Boys Mr ScullyU15 Boys Mr DriscollU13 Boys Mr SkinnerOliver M Joachim

Umar AmitJens TimJackson KengoJonah ShikharOng KevinMark Oliver RBryant JamesMahon JohnElias FaiqMino DerylJay Dennis

Di Ken AmandeepLeo EmmanuelDrake DanielJames

O15 Girls Mr HollisU15 Girls Mr MetcalfeU13 Girls Mr RoseVictoria AmelieCarson VeraMiguelle BekkyVanessa T MelinaZara HelenaSophie PattiHonami HannahSu-Lin MatthildeCharlyn EllaNikki AndreaJulieanne Vanessa GShinta SoniaJasmin Jia WenSophia Isobel Karen


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Swimming

Our Swimmers have been in action this week with a local PSAC Meet held at Uplands on Wednesdayafternoon. Some superb performances and for full results please visit our Roar Sports website:http://uplandsroarsport.webs.com/uplands-swim-squads

This weekend many of our Swimmers are in action in Club-Meets representing both Penang Swim Club andChinese Swim Club at the Kedah Swim Meet. Good luck to all involved!

National Honours!

This weekend we are very proud to also have one of our swimmersrepresenting his country at International Level. Matthew Poon, Y12, has againbeen selected to represent Singapore, this time at the FINA World Cup SwimMeet taking place this weekend in Singapore. This Meet features a whole hostof Olympic and World Medalists; Chad LeClos, Daniel Gyurta, Liam Tancok &Francesa Halsall to name just a few.

This is a fantastic achievement. The whole Sports Department would like towish Matthew the very best of luck.

Dean MetcalfHead of PE FacultyFollow us on Twitter: @UplandsSport


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Halloween Party

A fabulous time was had by all who attended our party last evening. The children, staff and parents really did anoutstanding job in creating fantastic, spooky costumes. A special thank you to the UPTA and parent helpers for theirsupport in contributing to a successful party.

Costume Parade Results :

Reception: Best Dressed Amelia Kemp Most Creative Branna SimpsonYear 1i: Best Dressed Estelle Cooper Most Creative David RyanYear 2i: Best Dressed Gregory Fox Most Creative TemmaYoshiaraYear 2s: Best Dressed Zi Xin Tan Most Creative Nanako AkimotoYear 3i: Best Dressed Mark Wee Most Creative Justin LiuYear 3s: Best Dressed Tyra Tan Most Creative Lara Ooi and Adam OBrien Year 4i: Best Dressed Harleigh Ryan Most Creative Zong Yao TangYear 4s: Best Dressed Aaryan Bhasin Most Creative Keira JordanYear 5i: Best Dressed Skye Watson Most Creative Maya YamashitaYear 5s: Best Dressed Angel Xu Most Creative Felix BristowYear 6i: Best Dressed Sophia Poulsen Most Creative Chris JantamaneechotYear 6s: Best Dressed Jesse OBrien Most Creative Aislinn HubbardParents: Best Dressed Mr. Bristow Most Creative Suzanne FreemanTeachers: Best Dressed Ms Sylvia Most Creative Ms TeddyLittlies: Best Dressed Pablo Martinez and Dennis Nielsen

Thank you to the Secondary Prefects for working collaboratively to judge the Costume Parade.

Primary Assembly

Year 3 children will host our primary Assembly on Monday, 3 November, beginning at 2:00pm in the foyer. The themefor our assembly is commitment. Parents are invited to attend.

Curriculum Evening for Parents

Earlier in the week you should have received information about the curriculum evening being held on Wednesday, 5November. The first session begins at 7:00pm, and session two starts at 7:45pm. Please return your responses toclass teachers no later than Monday as this will assist us in our planning. We hope most of you will take thisopportunity to understand better what learning looks like in your childs classroom.

Class Parent Reps

Each class in Primary has a parent class representative to act as a communication link between class teachers andparents. The parent reps for each class are:Reception Mrs. Gray (daughter Neve) , Year 1i Mrs. Watson (son Guy) , Year 2i Mrs. Teoh (daughter Joyce), Year2s Mrs. Lin (son Habib), Year 3i Mrs. Scherzer (son Markus), Year 3s Mrs. Mrs. OBrien (son Adam), Year 4i Mrs. Ryan (daughter Harleigh), Year 4s Mrs. Jordan (daughter Keira), Year 5i Mrs. Johnson (son Otto), Year 5s Mrs. Shinji (daughter Miyu), Year 6i Mrs. Poulsen (daughter Sophia), Year 6s Mrs. Hojbjerg (son Oliver).


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I Create RefugeesI am the nightmare in every childs dream I am the curse of a cruel witchI am the starvation of the poorI am the butterflies in a nervous stomachI am the putrid smell of deathI am the tears drowning a thousand faces

I am the bullet that aims at the heartI am the temptation to dishonestyI am the start of a warI am the contagious disease that spreadsamongst the peopleI am the monster underneath every childsbedI am the cause of migration

Chelsea - 6i

Migration

I am darkness in every lightI am the black in every whiteI am the cat that steps on the four leaf cloverI am the scream that is louder than laughterI am torture that created fearI am discrimination that created tears

I am the cross written on ticksI am diseases that make people sickI am the worry that overcomes joyI am child labour that ruins every girl and boyI am the moon that passes over the sunI am slavery that threatens people with a gunI am evil that conquers over goodI am poverty where people dont h ave anywater or foodI am wrong that distort rightI am war where people fightI am lies that are hidden inside every personI am the bullet inside every gunI am the frustration when people try to relaxI am the pirate who likes boat-attacksI am sorrow that even happiness cant heal I am the feeling that make people stealI am the madness, sorrow and hateI am the reason why people migrate

Chris Jantamaneechot - 6i

Hope. Freedom.Too much sea water.Not enough fresh water.Too cramped with other people.On the boat I hear water.On land I hear birds.No bed to sleep on.Just wooden planks.Drowning in my sweat.Hot sun beating.Sweat dripping.Sun blinding my eyes.Sun light beating.Pirates attacked.Blood dripping.Broken arm.Violence.Pirates stealing.Killing.Cant sleep properly at night. The boat deep in the water.A navy ship comes and helps.

Sze Liong - 6i

Year 6Poetry


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Migrationwater risk taker

hoping moving starvingscared worried confused excited

tired frightening hungrynervous wild animals

adventure Joyce - 6s

Migratingconfused worried

starving crying living

scared sad hopeless nervousTravelling

Charlize - 6s

Life

I wake up with the sun on my face.He wakes up to dust and smoke.

I go downstairs and have eggs,He goes downstairs with hunger.

I have a mother and father and brother,He has no happy family.

I have a new phone,He just has a house.

I go to school to see smiles from my friends,

He goes to see one person gone from school.

I can go wherever I want,He can't go anywhere.

I have a house with lots of things inside,He has nothing in the old house.

I live the good life,He lives the tough life.

But he is alive.

Max Johnson 6s

I amI am the black in the white,I am the bullet in the cannon,I am a hot dog surrounded by tacos,I am the leaf on the bamboo,I am a lace on a shoe

I am tired of war.I am going to migrate,

I am the pattern on the shield,

I am a reflection on the water,I am the free in freedom,I am of feather on a birdI am happy with the mountain in my soul.

Chen Hao 6i

Ali NicholsonHead of PrimaryFollow us on Twitter: @UplandsPriSch


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As many people are aware, it was all change in the science faculty this year, with four Uplands scienceteachers moving on and five new teachers joining us. I am very pleased to say that it has all worked out

splendidly and that we continue to be the best faculty in the school ( not that Im biased of course).

I am however, even more pleased to announce a recent promotion within thefaculty.Huzaifah Ameen Bin Darikin (Ameen) joined us over four years ago as a young andinexperienced science technician. Since that time, he has worked very hard toincrease his scientific knowledge and skills, as well as working at weekends so hecould save money to begin studying for a BSc. He began his studies two years agoand has impressed myself and the rest of the science team with his hard work,attitude and willingness to learn. I am very pleased to announce his promotion toSenior Science Technician. At the start of this academic year, he was very busycoping with the workload by himself and most recently has been training up a new

technician. If you see Ameen around school, do congratulate him on his well-deserved promotion.

On a related note, I am pleased to announce that during Retreat Week, Nadarajah a/lSelvaraju (Raj) from maintenance joined us as a scie nce technician. Both Ameen and Ihave been impressed with his enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Do also congratulatehim on his move.

Andy Cartlidge

Head of Science Faculty


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Tonight's the Night for the U.S.C Disco; SAINTS AND SINNERS

It has been a pleasure to watch the teamwork and support the Upper School Student Council have giveneach other in order to plan and prepare this term's disco. Named Saints and Sinners, this term it includessuitable decoration, a D.J, a cotton candy stall and the usual supply of tasty pizzas. For all students attending,they must be on the school campus no later than 7.30pm. The gates will be closed at that time and nolatecomers will be allowed in. During the evening if there is an emergency please contact the followingnumber; 0129753911 to speak to me directly. The students will be allowed out of the school gates for pickup at 10.00pm. Please ensure your child is collected promptly.

Lynsey Collis,USC Teacher Co ordinator

University and Careers For all interested parents and Year 10-13 students.

Tues Nov 4 at 12:35 (Room B105) University of Bradford, UK join the Admissions Counselor to discuss thismodern university that has a truly international student body with 150 nationalities represented. The focus

on employability and internships makes this an excellent spot to prepare yourself for the work-world. If notinterested in Bradford, come and ask questions about the Personal Statement or the UK in general.

Wed Nov 5 at 1235 (Room B105) University of Exet er, UK. This university is ranked in the top 150 universitiesworldwide , so come and hear why! Exeter is known for highly employable students and is a safe, student-friendly city with a vibrant culture.

Wed Nov 5 at 1235 (Room F206) Studying Medicine/Medical Sciences in the UK. Please help Uplandswelcome Jim Myton, International Officer of Exeter Medical School. Mr. Mytons session is aimed atinforming students regarding the Medical School application procedure and also options outside ofBMBS/MBBS.

Thurs Nov 6 at 1235 (Room F206). The University of Toronto, Canada; Mr. David Zatautas, the AssistantDirector of Recruitment at University of Toronto will be visiting Uplands to talk to interested students.Toronto is ranked #20 in the world and Mr. Zatautas is looking for exceptional students interested in aninternational education.

Bill MitchellHead of Pastoral/Universities & Careers Counselor

IGCSE, Edexcel and OCR Certificates for June 2014 Exam SessionNotification to all students and parents that IGCSE Certificates from June 2014 exam session have nowarrived and are available to be collected along with the transcript from the Curriculum and AssessmentOffice.Some students are still required to collect their Edexcel Japanese transcripts and all students are to collectthe newly arrived certificates from the June 2014 session.Finally, the OCR Media Studies certificates from the June 2014 session have also arrived and are availablefor collection.All documents have been scanned and saved for the School's records.Please see Onna in the Curriculum and Assessment office to collect your documents

Paul RoseHead of Assessment & Curriculum


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U11/U10 Football vs Tenby Friday 31 October 2014

O15 Boys PSAC Football Tournament Saturday 1 November 2014@ Uplands

O15 Boys PSAC Football Tournament Saturday 1 November 2014@ POWIIS

Year 3 to host Sharing Assembly Monday 3 November 2014

Parent Curriculum Evening Wednesday 5 November 2014

Phuket 7s fooball Tournment Thursday 6 Sunday 9 November 2014

Year 6 Langkawi Residential Tuesday 18 Friday 21 November 2014

UPTA Carols by Candlelight Tuesday 9 December 2014

Primary & Secondary Christmas Concert Wednesday 17 December 2014

Term 1 Ends at 12.00 noon Friday 19 December 2014

Boarding House closes at 12.00 noon Saturday 20 December 2014

Orientation Day for all new students morning Monday 12 January 2015

Boarding House re-opens at 2.30 pm Monday 12 January 2015

Term 2 Starts Tuesday 13 January 2015

Mid Term Break at 2.40 pm Friday 13 February 2015

Boarding House closes at 12.00 noon Saturday 14 February 2015

Boarding House re-opens at 2.30 pm Sunday 22 February 2015

School re-opens Monday 23 February 2015

Term 2 ends at 12.00 noon Thursday 2 April 2015


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Boarding House closes at 12.00 noon Friday 3 April 2015

Boarding House re-opens at 2.30 pm Sunday 19 April 2015

Term 3 starts Monday 20 April 2015

School closed Labour Day Friday 1 May 2015

Term 3 ends at 12.00 noon Friday 19 June 2015

Boarding House closes at 12.00 noon Saturday 20 June 2015

uplands school weekly newsletter - term 1 issue 11 - 31 oct 2014

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