TOUCHB A S E TOUCHB A S E - The International School Of Penang

TOUCHB A S E A S ETOUCHBA fortnightly newsletter for the Uplands School community - Friday Sept 11th 2009, Term 1‘Merdeka!’‘Merdeka!’‘Merdeka!’2009 MERDEKA ASSEMBLY AT UPLANDS (1 MALAYSIA!)The Uplands Multi-purpose Hall may not be as spacious and grand as Stadium Merdekawhere on 31st August 1957 Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj declared his country’sindependence from British rule. Nevertheless, the resounding cries of “Merdeka! Merdeka!Merdeka” which filled the School Hall on Friday 4th September 2009 were a lively reminderthat the Independence spirit is still going strong.Our Merdeka Assembly was attended by the whole School: students, teachers and – alwaysnice to see – some of our parents. It soon became something of a flag-waving and happilycelebrating extravaganza. More inside...To what?Find out onpage 7Download your colour copy of TOUCH B A S E - www.uplands.org

Commencing with all presentstanding as a show of respectwhile the National Anthem wassung, the assembly was an entertainingvariety of history, songand dance.Students Zachary Iqbal, Nicole Tan and Tan Hui Min told us some interestingfacts about the history of Malaysia and the impact of Merdeka up to thepresent day.In 2009 the chosen theme for independence celebrations is “1 Malaysia,Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan”(1 Malaysia, People First,Performance Now).It was then the turn of Enna Chow, a young lady witha confident singing voice, to give us a rousing renditionof her “Gemilang”. A presentation of prizes forour Merdeka competition winners (for details see below) preceded the singingof “Malaysia Gemilang” with the whole School singing and waving flagsand, as a finale, the Head Boy and Head Girl of Uplands in National Dressleading us all with those ever famous cries of Merdeka.After we viewed a video clip of a spirited performance of the “Satu Malaysia”song, all present were treated to a feast of dancing. The Malay Zapin wasorganized by Sharifah Katreena Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail, while forthe Chinese Fan Dance we have to thank Ms FayCheng and her six girl students. Finally two ofour young Indian students, dressed attractivelyin traditional greens and purples, performedtheir dance thanks to the organization ofBindiya Lakshmi Ragunath Reddy. It was a greatway to enjoy the splendour and richness of thecountry’s multi-cultural heritage.Thanks go to all who contributed to making this assembly such a success. Tothe parents who expressed their interest to be involved or invited we expressour gratitude for their help and much appreciated moral support for thestudents who performed so well.At the end of our celebrations a lady approached the writer of this article andsaid that she thought she may have been the only person in the School Hallwho had witnessed first hand the 1957 Merdeka in Malaysia while at schoolhere. Can you guess who this was? (A clue – she is one of Uplands teachers).Poster prize-winners: Aisyah (Year 10); Sha Ling (Year 8); Justina (Year 10).Essay competition winners: Genevieve (Year 13); Regina (Year 10); Zi Koon(Year 9).ANOTHER VERY SUCCESSFULEXAMINATION YEAR FOR UPLANDSWhen the global statistics are released, Uplands is confident that its examination results will be, onceagain, well above the world average.In the International Baccalaureate (IB) over 89% of candidates obtained the full Diploma. The averagegrade obtained was 5.47 out of a maximum 7, while the average points score was 34. A total of sixstudents scored over 40 points, the highest score being 44 from a possible maximum of 45. One ofthese six happy IB students visited the Campus last week to tell her teachers that she had succeededin obtaining a place at St Edmund Hall Oxford to read Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. We wishher, Jasryn Ng Sui Wei, and all our Class of 2009, congratulations and good fortune wherever they goin the future.The Cambridge International GCSE/Edexcel examinations produced equally pleasing results: 88.1%of candidates scored Grades A*- C, the subjects with the biggest number of entries, Mathematics (68candidates) and English 1st Language (65 candidates), enjoying success rates of 94.1% and 87.7% respectively.Ten subjects, with a combined total of 82 candidates, including History, Foreign LanguageFrench and Chinese, enjoyed 100% A*- C. Congratulations are especially due to the ten students withstraight A*’s or A’s across all their subjects at IGCSE!Jasryn receiving her graduationcertificate from Dr Horsfall.Her 42 IB points take her to studyBiochemistry at one of the UK’stop universities.Hello all,Welcome back to School! I hope you have all had a great break. You may have noticed that TouchBase has a new cover andpage design. I hope this new look presents you with a more streamlined and easier to read newsletter. TouchBase will continue asa ‘window into the School’ through which all readers can share stories and experiences of life at Uplands. Contributions from thewhole School community are welcome, especially write-ups on whole School events, experiences on School trips and Residentials,special projects and charity work; tell us or show us your group or individual achievements outside School; charity or comminity workand initiatives; even classified advertisments are given some space on the last page. Please send your words and pictures to me at:bram@uplands.orgIncidentally, I was really happy to see that there is now a ‘TouchBase Writing’ ECA on offer this term by Ms. MacKinnon once again,fantastic! I hope it is a great success and I look forward to publishing stories by these budding writers over the coming School term.In the meantime, I hope you enjoy readingTOUCHB A S TOUCHB A S EEBram Tan,EditorPage 2

BOARD BOARD Talk TalkIt seems no time at all since it was the end of year assembly,and everyone was saying their “goodbyes” before embarkingon their holidays. Whether you travelled overseasfor all or part of that time, or stayed here in Penang, wehope everyone had an enjoyable holiday and would like toextend a warm welcome to new families and staff, and anequally warm “welcome back” to all returning families andstaff members.Traditionally, the end of year holiday is a quieter time for school Governors,and like parents and staff, some Governors take the opportunityto travel overseas to visit family and friends, or simply enjoy abit of a break.School holidays do not, however, mean that everything comes to astandstill for six or seven weeks. On the contrary, during the ‘holiday’,the school campus becomes a hive of activity as there is a rushto get work done which cannot reasonably be carried out during theregular school year. An example would be work carried out in therecent holiday period to improve science facilities – both in terms ofspace and fittings. It would be impossible to have done this in normalterm time. In spite of promises from contractors, and the greatesteffort from school staff and Governors alike, deadlines are not alwaysmet. We are aware that not everything was in place as it was expectedto be at the start of term. We apologise for this and hope you will bearwith us. We can report that everyone involved is doing everything intheir power to ensure that any outstanding work is completed as soonas possible. This has been, and continues to be, a very busy time forthe Governors who sit on the Building and Development Committee.The Trustee Committee (TC) has also been very active. Several potentialnew Governors have been recommended for their expertisein education and business. TC members followed up by contactingthese individuals and determining that they have both the interest/desire to sit on the ISP Board and of great importance, the time to bean active, committed Governor. Subsequently, the candidates werecalled for interview. At this juncture, we cannot comment further asTC recommendations need to be presented to the full Board for approvalbefore the outcome is made public. We will therefore keep youupdated on our progress in the next Boardtalk column.You’re Talented!ZACHARY IQBAL- Year 11TC members are also busy working on upgrading guidelinesand policies which relate to the governing body. This workwill be ongoing, and one of the areas currently receiving attentionis the updating/drafting of Terms of Reference forthe Management Committee and its sub-committees. Forclarification, the TC does not make decisions for the Board.The TC operates on the basis of consensus decision-makingwithin the committee, and will ultimately make recommendationsto the Board. It is the full Board that will have thefinal say.The new academic year has only just started, and as always, is a bit ofa hectic time. This is particularly true for families and teachers new tothe Uplands community and perhaps to Penang as well, as they striveto become familiar with, and comfortable in, a new environment. Thenext couple of weeks will be even busier than usual, particularly forDr Horsfall, staff and Governors, with the CIS re-accreditation teamdue in mid-September. Again, we ask that you please bear with us asit does take a bit of time for people to “settle in” and to iron out anyprocedural hiccups.A final note: as is standard practice, the Trustee Committee, the ManagementCommittee and associated sub-committees were re-electedat the Board meeting immediately after the OGM on July 1st 2009.Anyone interested in knowing who sits on the various committeesand sub-committees of the ISP Board can check the school website fordetails, under the heading “Governance”. Additionally, it should alsobe noted that both the Staff Forum Representative and the PTA Chairaddress the Management Committee immediately before the monthlymeeting. This allows the Management Committee to receive valuablefeedback from both the teaching and parent bodies.Feedback on this column is welcome. Comments/suggestions can besent to our email address boardtalk9@gmail.comSusan Leefor and on behalf of the ISP Board of Governors.Zac is a well liked student at Uplands. A vibrant personality as well as anenjoyment of studying marks him out as a Student of Talent. He has beenpassionate about computers since he was little. He loved computer games andused computers to help him withhis school work.In Year 6, Zac’s parents foundout about Informatics, a computer course that ran twice weekly for 2 hours.Zac was a little hesitant at first as he was still young but once he started, therewas no stopping him.“I knew that I really liked computers so much that I would eventually choosethat as my field, my occupation.”In November 2006, Zac completed his Diploma in IT which covered programming,theory and computer business. He then commenced his advancedDiploma in IT but unfortunately Informatics closed down. Despite this, Zac continuesto be passionate about computers. While doing the course Zac also didhis open water diving and during the holidays he got his black belt in Aikido. Inaddition Zac is a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).His IT teacher, Mr Towers says, “Zac excels at all IT activities. He gives 100% of histime and effort when working on an assignment and usually presents a piece ofwork that supersedes the requirement by a significant margin. His knowledge is deep and wide ranging. He is a model student,and his work is always of an exemplary quality, to which other students aspire.”Uplands is happy to be able to celebrate our students’ achievements and successes. Zac, congratulations for being a Student of Talent!Zac and his mother, Rosie were interviewed by Mrs Nield. If you or your child has done something to be proud of please email MrsNeild so that we can share and celebrate our students’ successes at: sneild@uplands.orgPage 3

Uplands Environmental Societyand EM Mudball consultantsOn the Thursday, a special ‘green day’ was declared and studentswere encouraged to come to School in any clothes they wanted aslong as they were green!EnvironmentWeek 2009Late last term Uplands held its Environment Week from Monday15th June to Friday 19th June. As it is every year, EnvironmentWeek was organized by the Uplands Environmental Society – UES.The group, headed by Design Technology Teacher Mr. Weatherly,organized various Green activities to raise awareness on the urgentsituation on the environment facing us all.have been doing over the previous year.‘Green’ activitiesand initiativeswere run everyday of the weekwhich started witha full assemblydedicated to a presentationon thedamage humanscause to this planetand what the UESUES members also sold small plants potted in recycled drinksbottles and special water retaining gel granules. They were quitegood as desktop plants and many were sold. Students created acomplete wall hanging covered in their own coloured hand printsthat when finished became a piece of art and a symbol of theirparticipation in Environment Week.With help from Golden Sands which runs their own EnvironmentalProgram too, students of all years were able to get their handsdirty making ‘Effective Microorganisms Mudballs – EM’. After makinginto balls, the mud is dried till hard and then thrown into anearby river at theend of the week.Confused? Hereis an explanation,EM Mudballs arespecially made withtreated mud thatcontains live bacterial(good bacteria)cultures mixed inwith a source of foodfor the bacteria such as sugar, when made into balls and dried thebacteria grow and multiply inside the ball a bit like mould doeson bread, when thrown into a river the bacteria is carried to thebottom and is slowly released by the mud, like a pill releases itsmedicine after being swallowed, then the bacteria, by organic reactions,break down harmful chemicals in the river water and helpto reverse the effects of water pollution, it may sound incrediblebut it really does work! Special thanks go to Mr Balan and co. fromGolden Sands, Mr & Mrs Nishioka and Rose Ng from Globiz Technolog,not forgetting all other students and staff who took part in theEM Mudballs project.Pictures.Left: Selling pottedplants.Above Right: Gettingstuck in, makingmudballs.Right: The mudballsdrying before beingthrown into river.Higher Education NewsSeveral changes are afoot this year for Uplands students looking toward higher education. For the first time this year there will be a SATpreparation class run in the school by a group of enthusiastic parents. Uplands will also host for the first time the PSAT (Practice SAT) onOctober 14th. Registrations closed for both on September 1st but there will be further opportunity in following terms to join.A new university and careers space is being created on the first floor where students will be able to drop in, ask questions and researchthrough the variety of materials available.September and October are busy with our first university school visits for the year - HKUST (9 Sept), UBC (14 Sept), Regents College London(16 Sept) Le Cordon Bleu (29 Sept) and Temple University Japan (9 Oct). We encourage students and parents to keep their optionsopen by attending as many of these presentations as possible.With some shuffling in positions Mr. Klar will this year take on responsibility for all college applications as well as aspects of careers. Hecan be contacted via reception or email at nklar@uplands.org Mr Cadman will continue to advise students where possible.December 1st is the new deadline for both UK and US general applications so we encourage our Year 13 cohort to get on the applicationpath as quickly as possible.Nic Klar, Careers AdvisorPage 4

A Message from the PrincipalMany teachers, parents and students arrived back to Uplands in August to find a campus they did not recognise due to the attachment often temporary ‘portacabins’ dominating that part of the car park adjacent to the Art and Technology areas. They are not pretty, as manyhave already observed, but they have fulfilled two needs that the School has felt for some time, namely better Science facilities and moreclassrooms. In the last academic year there were several times in the secondary timetable when there were simply no classrooms free, givingthe time-tabler and the teachers no flexibility and allowing no room for what has been a steadily-growing school.Provisions for ScienceAs a teacher of sciences I am acutely aware that they are an expensive activity, at least when taught through the desirable route of real empirical sciencerather than those of ‘white-board’ science. Any school with at least some British origins should be firmly committed to to the proper teaching of sciencesthrough real experimentation, but the facilities we had last year (one excellent ‘large’ lab, two reasonable ‘medium labs, and two unacceptable ‘small’ labs)did not allow the proper operation of all our practical classes. I have already spoken, and written, about the increased importance we have given science inthe middle school curriculum, with more time and a balanced curriculum where all students will continue all three sciences until their sixth-form choices. Butthese changes would be of lowered value without equally improved facilities across the sciences so, during the last term of last year, the Board of Governorscarefully considered and accepted my proposal to improve our science facilities. As the short-term possibilities of our compact site are quite limited, the onlyoption available over the summer break was to hire the portacabins as extra space for the Senior Library and IT Room 1, and to convert these two rooms, asthe only sufficiently large rooms we possess, into new science rooms. At this point I need to acknowledge the flexibility and tolerance of all those who haveconsequently moved their rooms, namely Mikk Towers, Rosie Sebastian, and Sharlotte Bernard, without whose sacrifice this greater good would not havebeen possible. I also must acknowledge all the work, over the ‘vacation’, of the Buildings and DevelopmentCommittee (Leigh Pratt and Bibi VanGemert), the entire Management Committee, andof course Kingsley Charles and his entire team in Administration. Although some terrible weatherand a few unforseen problems have, as always, delayed completion I do think it is remarkable thatLeigh, Bibi, Kingsley, and our contractors have managed to squeeze so many improvements intojust a few weeks!And the improvements are not only in the sciences. Although one might think moving the SeniorLibrary to temporary classrooms was a downgrade, we took the opportunity to reorganise ouravailable resources to consolidate our library space into one large, dedicated reading roomcomplete with a handful of workstations for internet access plus a large ‘Media Room”, controlledby the Librarian, which is bookable by classroom teachers to support their subjects. Although thecampus has had two IT rooms, mainly for the formal teaching of IT, the times when these werebookable by, say, a biologist or economist have been limited, so this is the first time we have aroom of workstations dedicated to support work in other subjects.Reorganisation of Office SpaceOutside of direct teaching resources, we took the opportunity to revise and rationalise some of our office accommodation. The re-modelledend of Block B now houses six newly-created rooms, in three of which you will find pastoral heads (Craig Skinner, Nigel Whittlestone, andJohn Cadman, along with two parental meeting-rooms, space for secretarial support and space for archiving files. It may look the sameas you approach from the bus-stop but, inside, you will find it very different. On the academic administration side we also made changes,enlarging the offices below the Principal’s area to house key curriculum staff (Phil Neild, Isabel Davis, and Geoff Newton, plus secretarialhelp). Visitors to the school will now also find Alexis Kerr in that same geographical area, Alexis having moved from last year’s administrative/teachingrole in the Junior School to a similar role in the Senior. Alexis has been appointed as Academic Administrator and, in additionto her classes, she will be helping to organise many of our internal events, as well as assisting the SMT with calendar issues, supervising allECA’s in the school, and coordinating the CAS activities for our IB students. So, for visiting parents the choices are now simpler and the walkingshorter: for curriculum matters plus all ECAs visit the Academic Offices, while for non-curriculum matters you hardly have to leave thecar-park: in both areas you should find the help you need without trekking around the School.BoardingOur other main area of building and decoration work was among the Boarding Houses. We have 20 boarding students as we go to press andthose Houses accommodating this group were updated and decorated to make life even more pleasant for those long-term guests. On thehuman-resources side of Boarding we sadly lost Anna and Miguel as Houseparents, Anna deciding to concentrate on her pastoral duties inthe School by taking on the Head of Year 7, but Miguel maintains his links with his work last year as Boarding Assistant. Miguel will be supervisingmost of the day-time activities that need to occur in the Houses when Carol Marshall is away teaching, and also helping with manyadministrative tasks, such as visas and weekend activities for the boarding students. Carol and Rohan therefore remain our only house-parents,but the School has already begun recruitment for the vacant Heads of Boarding, a position that will not necessarily entail academicteaching activities but will, we hope, allow the greater development and promotion of our boarding facilities.New StaffAs described in the last issue of Touchbase, we were very eager to welcome the latest batch of recruitsto the teaching staff in August, not least because they seemed to be a tremendously well-qualified andinteresting group of people. I think I would be universally supported by existing staff if I said that wehave not been disappointed: from their initial dramatic performances, co-ordinated by Randy Moss duringtheir induction week, to their performances during a dramatic first week of school, they have takenall the novelty and uncertainty of a new job in their stride with extreme good humour and professionalism.I certainly look forward to seeing the impact their presence will have in the School, both in theirformal roles and as part of the wider community of teachers, parents and students. In addition to the listof new teachers described in the last issue of Touchbase, we have some late arrivals, partly due to staffleavers, and partly due to changing elective and timetable requirements. The first is that we welcomePage 5

A Message from the Principal, continued.Martin Alderson, a British teacher of Mathematics who arrived from Malawi at short notice due to the late decision of Nick Cramp not to return to Malaysia.I know that students are going to find Martin an enthusiastic addition to the Mathematics Department and an interesting character outside of it - not manypeople I know have cycled from New York to Oregon! The second is Christine Yeomans, who arrives fresh from teaching in the UK, to teach some History andalso take over the timetable and examinations co-ordinator roles of both Alan Smith and Tony Webster. Christine has undertaken both these roles in otherschools so, in spite of some particular difficulties described later in this issue, the changeover in these two important areas of the school should be seamless.The relatively late notice of Joey Bao’s departure has left us still to recruit a teacher of high level Mandarin and Chinese Literature, a position that has alwaysbeen difficult to fill at Uplands, and I would ask the parents of affected students please to be patient while we go though the proper process of interviews andselection. Sadly this term we are losing Isabel and Sean Davies, who are moving to new positions in the United States, but Isabel’s IB Coordinator position willbe covered internally while Pee Tan See, familiar already to many in the community, will be handling Mr Davis’ class until December. I would also like to recordthanks here to one of our parents, Brian Kosko, for assisting with some of our mathematics classes for the first week.New PositionsWe have managed what I would regard as a flying start to the term with the help of the two new Deputy Principals, John Cadman and PhilNeild, and by the revised Senior Management Team of John and Phil, plus Nigel Whittlestone, Craig Skinner, Isabel Davis, Geoff Newton, andAli Nicholson. The start of a new school year is never easy, even worse when changes are being managed, and so the calm, businesslike approachesof John and Phil in dealing with the thousands of issues that necessarily arise is much appreciated. As these new teams work theirway through the organisation of the school I am sure there will be many areas where we will see the benefits of revision and we hope that,through the PTA, parents will continue to work with the School to review and implement improved practices. To place an early advert, I willtell you that the first phase of that could be attendance at the PTA-Teachers get together coming soon on Thursday 24 September, when youwill have a chance to talk informally to teachers and managers about any of your concerns or suggestions.TimetablingStart-of-year timetables in schools often do not work at the first turn of the starting handle. Students change electives, staff change over thevacation, co-ordinators revise their staffing allocations, and sometimes the supporting software just doesn’t work as you think it should. Forthese reasons some schools have a shake-down week at the start of the year when the timetable coordinator deals with all these unforseenproblems, one by one, until all the changes are accommodated and each student can find the right teachers, in the right rooms, at the righttimes. In simple schools, getting the timetable right first time is not a difficult problem. For example, some colleges and schools offering theIB force the student to choose between only a small number of ‘streams’ so, for example, if you are intending to study medicine, you will bestudying probably Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics at Higher Level and, if you are lucky, given some choice of your Standard Level subjects.The curriculum offered by Uplands in the last few years has been the opposite, with students asked to choose their electives freely and AlanSmith, coordinating the timetable generally, planning the elective ‘blocks’ around those choices where possible. I have written and spokenabout curriculum planning before, so you probably know my views and suffice it to say here that too much choice can lead to a great dealof unnecessary complexity. To give you a pertinent example: the 2009 Year 13 contains forty-three students, and the number of different IBsubject combinations among these forty-three is thirty-eight. In other words, almost all of our graduates will have a unique combination ofsubjects!Start of TermTo cut a long story short, our shake-down period for stable timetable this August has needed to be longer than expected, partly because ofthis complexity and partly because we were making changes in some parts of the school, for example a ten-day cycle and triple practicalperiods in Sciences, that have not been tested before. In addition we had the not inconsiderable problem that our time-table coordinator forthe last four years, Alan Smith, completed the schedules with the information he had in July, just before finishing his contract and returninghome to New Zealand. Discontinuity in the timetable job is something you desperately want to avoid in a school because, as my grandmotherused to say, “It’s always hard to pick up someone else’s knitting”, but that is what Christine Yeomans, our new timetable coordinatorhas had to do, reverse-engineering Alan’s schedules back to a form where she can begin to rebuild a modified finished product on the basisof our latest information. We have given ourselves an internal target of two weeks to get the schedules sorted, and in the meantime we areworking on a provisional schedule, but I am confident that the new timetables are going to deliver innovative and improved schedules forall our students in the secondary school, and I will be interested to receive any feedback from parents and students, one they have experienceda couple of new timetable cycles, at around the time of half-term.New Addition to CurriculumAs some of you may have seen, the school advertised in the national press over the holidays its intention to re-start an A-level programmealongside the sixth form IB programme. The reasons for this are quite simple: myself and the Board of Governors believe that no one academicprogramme at sixth form level is appropriate for every student. For some, the IB, with its constrained range of 6 subject areas, is ideal;and for others the A-level system, with its possibilities of specialisation, is the correct choice. As evidenced by this summer’s renovations, theSchool Governors have a vision of an enlarged School with improved facilities, and I would like to offer these facilities to the maximum numberof beneficiaries, whichever sixth form system they choose. The types of Y12 student we especially hope to attract by this expansion arethe specialists, those who want combinations of subjects disallowed by the IB scheme; for example, those who want three of the sciences,three of the humanities, or three of the creative arts, or those who simply do not want or need to study a language. Obviously other combinationswill be allowed after relevant careers counselling. What is absolutely definite is that, whatever the success of the A-level programme,the School will continue with the IB Diploma because, on the arguments above, that scheme is also the best for some Y12 students. As theSchool Board Chairman outlined in his notes to the OGM last academic year, the School is undergoing a review of the Junior (Years 1 to 6)curriculum, in order to assess whether that particular scheme in terms of both long term educational aims, and in terms of feeding in to ourSecondary School curriculum.Page 6

A Message from the Principal, continued.We will be undertaking that review during this special year of Accreditation so, no doubt, relevant recommendations and suggestions willemerge during that process, not only about our Junior section, but about the entire School. We begin that process mid-September,with afour-day pre-inspection visit by two visiting consultants, followed by a more extensive and intensive visit by a larger team later in the year.The process covers all areas of the School, including Board of Governors and the PTA, and I hope it will be an interesting and creative exercisefor the entire community.Lastly, the School is planning to change slightly its programme of regular Newsletters. We intend, in two weeks time, to begin a schedule ofelectronic-only newsletters, so we will end any paper distribution by sons and daughters. We hope that, in addition to reducing our environmentalimpact, the changes will also allow publication of more photos, and other features expensive or impossible to put on paper. We alsointend, after some feedback from the community, to publish a Senior and Junior Newsletter as one document, which seems to me a sensiblemove as so many parents have representatives in both camps.Dr John Horsfall, PrincipalUplands Ski Trip 2010Subject to approval by the Uplands Management Team wewill be running our 3rd annual ski trip to the Japanese Alpsin February 2010. The ski trip is open to Years 7-13 regardlessof skiing/snowboard experience, and will cost about7000 RM. An exact figure is not possible until we get thefinal price from the airlines. The cost of the trip includesflights, full board, ski and lift pass and all transfers.For further information please see Mr. Sparrow (Maths) inRoom C303 or come along to the ski meeting on Thursday17th September at 6 PM.Adrian Sparrow. Maths Teacher.CHARITY CONCERT ‘MAKING DREAMSCOME TRUE’ ON SUNDAY 11TH OCTOBER2009 AT OPEN UNIVERSITYSoroptomist International of Penang, in collaboration with Penang’scelebrated ‘Dolci Voci’ and Wawasan Open University will present a musicalevening in aid of the Pertubuhan Rumah Kebajikan Sri Cayaha PulauPinang Orphanage Building Fund.Sri Cayaha was started ten years ago by Kaliamma Tandathabani – Kali, adistrict nurse from Batu Maung – who was distressed by the heartbreakingplight of abandoned orphans and destitute single mothers.Kali decided to open her home and heart to these people in need. She wassupported and assisted from the beginning by her colleague Linda. Sincethen the orphanage has grown by leaps and bounds and is now home to75 children of all ages.The current premises have become far too expensive to maintain and arecramped. Kali invested the last RM30,000 of her savings to place a depositon a piece of land costing RM110,000 and with the help of Soroptimist, wasable to complete the purchase last year. Plans for the building have nowbeen approved and it is hope to raise RM 800,000 for construction.This concert hopes to raise funds towards achieving this goal.Tickets: Regular Ticket - RM50, VIP Ticket - RM100, Donor Ticket - RM500Contact for tickets and information:Puan Sri Sue Dhanarajan - 019 417 5081, sue.g.dhan@gmail.comKoh Tze Yin - Penang Passions - 012 488 7662, tze2218@gmail.comJudith Ellidge - 017 578 3965, judithellidge@yahoo.comMalicca Ratne - 016 490 3814, malicca@gmail.comPaulina Png - 012 409 0608, paulinapng@hotmail.comPuan Sri Sue DhanarajanOrganising Chairperson, Soroptomist International of PenangPage 7

Uplands’StaffAnnualDinner 2009at the ‘BlueMansion’On the 22nd of August all staffat Uplands celebrated anotheryear in style, the Uplands StaffAnnual Dinner and Lucky Drawwas recently held at the beautifulCheong Fatt Tze Mansion akaThe ‘Blue Mansion’, which wasbuilt by the Chinese tycoon in the1800’s.The famous venue was just perfect for a night of good food, music, dancing and fantastic prizes. Entertainment was provided by the LeonardDe Silva Band with guest singer Darsha. What’s more, additional Bollywood dances were performed by our own School electrician MrRamachandran accompanied by his colleagues and eventually joined by a partially disguised Dr. John Horsfall..The Staff Annual Dinner is usually timed to occur during the holidays so that all staff including those at boarding, etc. are free to attend. It isalso a great opportunity to welcome new teachers who have arrived in Penang one or two weeks earlier during the Summer holidays,it is a chance for all staff from every department to come together to meet the incoming teachersand also to touchbase with each other, especially before the term begins and everyone becomesbusy with their duties.My thanks go out to fellowStaff Annual Dinner OrganisingCommittee members,namely Ravita Kaur, LimChin Teong, Randy Moss,Geoff Harley and Sarah Neildfor all the help, support andsmiles. Further thanks goesto Mary, Kartini and Dianefor helping out on the nighttoo. Special thanks to UPTAfor setting up and runningthe bar. To all our supplierswho generously sponsoredthe 50 plus number of gifts!we really appreciate it.Congratulations must goto Ms. Mary Charles forwinning the Grand Prize - Aspecial ‘Surf Cruiser’ bicycle,generously donated by thesame sponsor of the recentUpland Round IslandCharity Bike Ride, CCIBicycles.Bram Tan, Marketing andEvents Page 8

HALF-TERM CAMP, 17-20 OCTOBER 2009,The UPLANDS International INTERNATIONAL School Of Penang SCHOOL (Uplands)Our Approach: Our mission is to provide the highest quality soccer lessons to boys andgirls of all ages at an affordable price. At our holiday soccer camps we use only the best coaches and facilities and empahsise personal improvement, teamwork and having fun!Soccer Camp Features• Boys and Girls aged 5-18• Expert Coaching of soccerskills by professionalcoaches• RM 380 per applicant withfamily and group bookingdiscounts available. RM350 forUplands students • Personal skills, teamwork,fun games and skillscompetition• Free football gift for allparticipants• We accept cheques, cash and*credit cards• To book your place please fill inthe form below and return toyour teacher*Credit cards accepted on the day only. No American ExpressThe timetable is 9am – 12noon each day. Please arrive by 8.45amFor more information please call Andy on 019 212 3533………….. Cut here and return this slip with payment to the address below address……….……belowApplicant’s Applicants Name: Applicant’s Applicants Age: Male/FemaleApplicant’s Applicants Address:Telephone Number:Fax/Email:Has your child attended Little League before? Yes NoHow did you hear about us? Poster Leaflet AdvertInternet Friends Teacher Our Staff (Please Name)Other (Please explain) Name of Participant:……………………………………..Name of Parent:…………………………………..Signature of Participant:…………………………………Signature of parent/guardian:………….………….Cheques payable to: Little League Soccer Sdn BhdPlease send return slip and payment to your teacher or post to:Little League Soccer Sdn Bhd, 116B, Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 KualaLumpurPage 9

faces of UplandsCyril Jagadasan has recently left the School after 8 years of service.His last post at Uplands was Transport Coordinator. This is a special ‘faces ofUplands’ to say goodbye and all the best to him.WallInfoPhotosBoxesActivities: Usually too busy ferrying students around to have a leisurepastime!Interests: I like singing and enjoyed performing as part of a band in earlierdays.About me: I have thoughly enjoyed my years at Uplands and particularly appreciatedthe time as Transport Coordinator because it allowed me to get toknow teachers, students and their parents well; to serve and help them asdifferent problems arose regarding their transport needs.I hope to continue to develop my skills further after leaving Uplands and maygo back into the Food and Beverage business, continue with transport or perhapssomething else.Uplands FundraisingCookbook - by UPTAUPTA would like to publish a fundraising cookbook to raise funds for the Uplandscommunity, but we need YOUR help!In order to make the book a success we need as many recipes as possible, be itan appetizer, main meal, dessert, baked goods, confectionery, or even your favouritejuice or cocktail! We are very lucky to have many different nationalitieswithin the Uplands community, that this cookbook has the potential to be fullof interesting recipes from all over the world! Ideally we would like each family,teacher and member of staff to contribute a recipe so that the community as awhole is involved. As an acknowledgement of your contribution, your name/swill be printed next to your recipe. Please also feel free to write a short note ofthe origins of your recipe to be printed in the book.Your contribution will be greatly appreciated with the funds raised going to thebenefit of the children at Uplands. To make it easier to collate the recipes forpublishing, please submit your contribution by email to PrimaryPR@Uplandspta.orgAs we have a deadline for printing , only submissions received on orbefore 30 September can be included in the publication, so please send yourrecipe as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.Thanking you all in advance for your support!UPTAClosing thought...“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”~ African ProverbThe International School Of Penang(Uplands)Jalan Sungai Satu, Batu Feringgi, 11100 Penang,MalaysiaTel: 04 881 9777 Fax: 04 881 9778Email: info@uplands.orgwww.uplands.org• TouchBase is published every Friday fortnightly during theschool year as a service to the Uplands community. Acolour PDF version can be downloaded from the Schoolwebsite: www.uplands.org - Go to ‘Events/ News’ andthen click on ‘TouchBase Newsletter’.• It is produced by the School, and is meant only forinternal circulation.• TouchBase is distributed to each family by way ofyoungest enrolled child of each family.• Contributions that benefit the Scool community arewelcome, Send your material via email to bram@uplands.org• TouchBase encourages any member of the UplandsSchool community to contribute to the publication.However, we reserve the right to edit or reject any articleor information.• For advertising enquiries, please contact the School.