Issue No. 006, 9th December 2011 - The Alice Smith School

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From the Principal Roger Schultz As we fast approach the end of Term 1, it is pleasing and satisfying to reflect on such a positive start to this school year. Our calendar has been overflowing with events that extend and enrich the school experience for so many of our students. The willingness and capacity for us to do this is a credit to the talents, efforts and commitment of our staff and in their belief in providing a broad, challenging and fulfilling learning environment. If you have not been yet been to see the upper school performance of “The Trial”, then don‟t miss the final show on Saturday night. What a great way to bring the term to a close – excellent performances from the cast, with terrific support from all those behind the scenes under the wonderful guidance and mentoring of Mr Dowle and Ms Gillman has resulted in a fantastic production. Congratulations to all involved. It has been another busy couple of weeks in sport. Our U15 FOBISSEA team performed well in the games held in Bangkok over three days last weekend. Thanks to our team coaches and supervisors; Mr Potter, Mr Donovan, Ms Dickens and Mr Moore. There were also many swimmers participating in ISAC and ISAKL galas here in KL last Saturday. This weekend many are competing again in Bangkok to conclude a busy swimming programme for Term 1. Thanks to Mr Bromley and the coaching team for all their work with our swimmers. Our KLASSMUN last weekend involved over fifty delegates from GIS, Nexus, KTJ, Fairview and KLASS. We hope that all participants benefited from this interactive learning experience through the study and discussion of global issues. Thanks to our MUN student leaders and to Ms Hewes for coordinating the conference. Saturday, 10 th December 2011 Swim Meet (10 th - 11 th Dec) Monday, 12 th December 2011 Activities sign-up for Term 2 closes Tuesday, 13 th December 2011 Year 11 PTSC at 4.15pm House Assembly Christmas Concert rehearsal Wednesday, 14 th December 2011 Combined Christmas Concert at 6.30pm Thursday, 15 th December Scott Mufti Day Christmas Assembly Combined Carol Service at 7.00pm St. Mary‟s Cathedral, Merdeka Square Friday, 16 th December 2011 Year 13 full report issued Progress report 2 issued End of Term 1 (school dismissal 12noon) Saturday, 17 th December 2011 Term 1 break (17 th Dec - 4 th Jan) Thursday, 5 th January 2012 Start of Term 2 A-level Options return Monday, 9 th January 2012 Sports team trials (all week) AS re-sits starts Year 11 mock exam starts Target setting (9 th - 13 th Jan) Wednesday, 11 th January 2012 AGM, Primary Campus at 7.30pm Friday, 13 th January 2012 Bath Robotics visit at 9am Selangor Age Group Championship Swimming (13 th - 15 th Jan) Newcomers Coffee Morning at the Primary Campus, 8.30am On Friday, we welcomed our new scholars for this year at a short ceremony. My thanks to Sue Bamford and John Collins from the Council of Governors who presented the scholarships to our four selected candidates. We congratulate Narmada Kali Vanan, Yongqun Lai, Clarissa Ching and Sharmaine Quake on their selection and wish them well as they commence their studies in the Sixth Form with us in January. We are also pleased to announce our Year 11 Bursary Award recipients for this year. Our sincere congratulations to these students: Sabiha Ahmed (English), Elliot Fricker (Mathematics and IT), Aisyah Ahmad Abir (Science and DT), Shaaeram Mahboob (CEA), Zuriel Zariman (MFL), Astrea Kumaradas (Humanities and Social Sciences), Jack Rock (PE) and Gabriel Tseng (Discretionary). Year 13 full reports and the second progress report for this year will be available at the end of next week. The Year 11 PTSC is also next Tuesday and with the mock examinations approaching, we hope parents will take this opportunity to follow up with the teachers. There are two wonderful Christmas events to round off our term next week. I hope to see many of you at the school‟s Christmas Concert on Wednesday and this is followed with the St. Mary‟s Cathedral Service on Thursday evening. Thanks to our music staff for all their time and efforts with the performances at this busy end of the school term. A final reminder that our school day finishes at 12.00noon on the last day of term. For internal circulation only 9 th I would like to take this opportunity to extend my best wishes to you for a safe and happy Christmas season and I wish you good health and success for the new year. December 2011 KLASS Times I page 12
Use of Baseline Data at the Secondary Campus By Trevor Spence Assistant Principal - Development This is the third and final article on the use of baseline data. In the first article, I explained how the Computer Adaptive Baseline Tests were used to improve our understanding of your child's potential and learning needs. In the second article, I explained how such data provided us with a value added measure of the school's effectiveness. In this article, I will explain how this is all linked together in something we call - pupil tracking. Pupil tracking is an umbrella term for a range of activities that go on within the school that could equally be described as keeping an eye on your child's progress. It is a process in which tutors, teachers, departmental heads, assistant and key stage leaders, Assistant Principals and even the Principal are all engaged in at different levels. A tutor and teacher will, for example, keep an eye on each individual child's progress, department heads will track a class' progress, while assistant and key stage leaders will watch the progress of particular students who are causing us concern. At the core of pupil tracking is the establishment of targets for each child and establishing ways of measuring progress towards those targets. These can be academic targets, but they can also be personal development targets. Here I am concerned with academic targets. At the start of each year, the teacher will set two targets for each child, the end of year target and the end of key stage target. The CABT provides a prediction that, alongside prior data, the expected rate of progression and the teacher's own judgement, is used to inform these targets. To this is added the KLASSfactor, ie. the expectation that every child has the capability of achieving their maximum potential at the Alice Smith School and therefore needs to be set a target which is ambitious but achievable. In simple terms, this means that the child's target will often be a full level or grade higher than the CABT prediction. At this point, we now have a starting point and an end goal set for each child. Before proceeding to explain what happens next, further explanation of the rate of progression is needed. As an example, let‟s consider the rate of progression at Key Stage 3, ie. from Year 7 to Year 9. Data from the UK shows us that the normal expected rate of progression is 2 levels over three years. As each NC Level is divided into three sub-levels, then this can be considered as 2 sub-levels a year. For example, a child may start on a 4c in English and therefore be reasonably expected to be at 4a by the end of Year 7, 5c by mid Year 8 and so on. What happens if we decide to be ambitious and aim for three levels of progression over the Key Stage? Now the child needs to make three sub-levels of progress in each academic year. In other words the same child from the example above would need to move from a 4c to a 5c by the end of Year 7. We now have a KLASS rate of progression that is ambitious and challenging, to both child and teacher. Of course a child's learning rarely moves in such a linear fashion. Rather there are plateaus where the child's level of understanding remains on the same level, followed by sudden bursts of progress as things begin to click, this can be further confused by dips as a child faces a new challenging task. This is why it is important to keep the long term goal in mind, not get upset about occasional setbacks as long as the overall picture is one of progress. So what happens next? Over a six week period, some teaching and learning goes on, a range of assessment methods are used to measure the child's progress and this progress is plotted against the child's target to see if the child is making the necessary progress. Every six weeks this tracking is reported to parents through the Progress Report. Where the child is making the right amount of progress, the teaching and learning can be considered effective and can move on confidently to the next challenge. Where the progress is so great that the child is leaping ahead then the learning is clearly working very well but the teaching may need to adapt to raise the level of challenge. As students can often excel in a specific part of the course, we wait to see a consistent pattern before raising the level of challenge by setting a higher target. Where the child is not making the expected progress, then the teaching and/or learning is not being effective for that child. The teacher looks at the individual learning styles of that child, considers the child's level of motivation and reflects on the teaching methods used in order to identify a way to address this issue. The teacher may, at this stage, look for parental support in tackling the issue, particularly where it is a case of motivation, but is more likely to be tackling this in class. Where a poor level of progress is being made concern is shared between the parent, the teacher and others, like the Head of Department and the tutor. Intervention strategies are planned and the child's progress is watched closely until things improve. Through such pupil tracking, we can ensure that each child is appropriately challenged and provided with the support necessary to help them overcome such challenges. Infused with an appropriate level of ambition it can help the child and teacher maximise potential and thus achieve the school's mission. For internal circulation only 9 th December 2011 KLASS Times I page 13
Page 1 and 2: In this issue... P2 Breaking News -
Page 3 and 4: Community and Charity Thailand Floo
Page 5 and 6: Christmas Music Events next week By
Page 7 and 8: From the A Great Outcome from the C
Page 9 and 10: September 2012 intake for Pre-schoo
Page 11: Primary Campus Library By Barbara R
Page 15 and 16: PSHE Day By Tobin Connell Assistant
Page 17 and 18: Kenya 2012 By the Kenya 2012 team
Page 19 and 20: KLASS MUN - con’t By 4.30pm, ever
Page 21: Primary Campus Sporty Girls Registr

Issue No. 006, 9th December 2011 - The Alice Smith School

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