18-Nov-2011 - Friday Newsletter - The International School Of Penang

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLYDear Parents,Friday School NewsletterTerm 1: Issue 10, 18 November 2011Today sees the last few meetings and visits of the CfBT Inspectors within the School, followedby some provisional conclusions delivered to SMT and Governors. The final, written reportwill reach us in a few weeks, after any necessary moderation by the "umbrella" organisation,which is the UK government agency OFSTED, and the report will also be available on theinternet once it is finalised. On the School's behalf I would like to thank the five Inspectors forall their hard work this week, and we look forward to hearing their advice on how to continueto improve Uplands to the standards of the best schools in England and Wales. Sometimes it ishard to listen to advice but the staff in the School have a great deal of confidence, both in theenormous experience of the CfBT organisation, and in their operation under the auspices ofOFSTED - which insists on absolute impartiality and independence from its contractororganisations. After reflecting on the conclusions of the Report, the CfBT recommendationswill help the Governors to frame the next School Strategic Plan, and help the School make anynecessary curriculum and staffing adjustments for the next academic year. More of these indue course.Each year we are proud to announce that Uplands students have been awarded the covetedCambridge International Examinations Awards for Excellence in their IGCSE or A-LevelExaminations. This year our level of pride, and our numbers of extraordinary achievers, ishigher than ever with a full seven students due to receive awards of distinction at a ceremonyon Thursday, 24th December. To put this in perspective, almost 10% of our IGCSE year-groupis receiving one of these competitive awards this year!IGCSE Best Across 8 IGCSEs Serena Jing Mei Hopkins Second Place MalaysiaIGCSE Design & Technology Jason (Jie Shen) Lee Top in MalaysiaIGCSE First Language English Joshua (Zhi En) Wong Top in MalaysiaIGCSE, Literature (English) Joshua (Zhi En) Wong Top in MalaysiaIGCSE First Language Japanese Momoko Tamayama High AchievementIGCSE Foreign Language German Leonardo Masero High AchievementIGCSE International Mathematics Aditya Rajagopal High AchievementGCE A-Level History Claire (Yee Chem) Hooi Top in MalaysiaAn award of a very different kind was won by one of last year's Year 13s last week when, aftermonths of tortuous auditions, photo shoots and elimination exercises, the search for the nextMiss Universe Malaysia 2012 came to an end, and Kimberley Ann Estrop-Leggett wascrowned the winner. The School is proud to add beauty to its long list of illustrious brains and,

having taught Miss Leggett during three weeks of Psychology cover, I can personally vouchthat she also possesses plenty of the latter quality. I have written to Geneva to ask them toinclude "Poise" in the IB-Learner Profile.Can any family that needs to buy uniform please note that the LM Enterprise School UniformShop in Tanjung Tokong will be closed between 19 and 27 December 2011 and also between 14and 29 January 2012. The LM Shop will be open on the following weekends: 31 December 2011(Saturday) and 07 and 08 January 2012 (Saturday and Sunday) 2012, between 11:00am and4:00pm.The UPTA wishes to thank all those who returned their slips for the Christmas Music Concert& Carols by Candlelight (Wednesday, 30 November, 6:30pm, Holiday Inn, Batu Feringgi) sopromptly. The deadline for replies has now has been extended until Monday, 21 November,and please note that the cost is RM20 per person (including students) for the Entire Event! Thisincludes some food and some beverages - amazing value due to the generosity of FatherChristmas! The UPTA will also be selling soft, and some slightly hard, drinks during theevening. Please pay on the night of the event and do not send any money to school.We all wish our U-10 and U-11 footballers Good Luck! in their tournament with SCIPS andDalat this afternoon, beginning at 3:30pm. Next Thursday, 24 November our U-11, U-10 & U-9swimmers meet SCIPS in the water, with a 3:30pm start and, on Friday 25 November, our U-9football team plays SCIPS, again with a 3:30pm kickoff. To all these events, as usual, the morespectators the merrier.Musicians in Years 1 and 2 will be participating in the Christmas Music Concert onWednesday, 30 November. They will need to be dressed in dark brown tops and similarbottoms, and must have a Christmas hat to be admitted! Please send your child’s costume toschool by Friday, 25 November (in a named bag) as paper buttons need to be added to thechildren’s tops.The Penang International Kids Storytelling (PINKS) Festival will be held Saturday, 19November , between 8:00am and 7:00pm, at Straits Quay.Have a good weekend,DR JOHN HORSFALLPrincipal &MRS ALI NICHOLSONDeputy Principal (Primary)