Volume 4 26/6/19
Newsletter of International School Suva
Principal’s Report We are starting our Semester three-week break and, hopefully, all families are using this time for valuable rejuvenation, recreation, and relationships! This is a good time to re-affirm that ISS values the whole child and the key role of the families. Successful schools always seem to support parents and their family goals and to encourage students’ emotional and physical well-being as much as academics. At ISS we promote the Learner Profile and know that some of those student traits must be learned in daily life from parents and other influential adults. Learner Profile qualities such as being caring, open-minded, and balanced must be learned as much during term breaks and at home as at school! Before I go on, I have a couple of very important reminders for parents: 1.Remember that beginning after this break, students will need to bring their own lunch containers. For students who purchase canteen food, Styrofoam containers will not be used. Alternate containers may be purchased but will not be encouraged. Students also now have a good wash-up facility to clean re-usable containers before taking them home or storing them in backpacks or lockers. Our past practice of allowing containers that are not friendly to our environment is now finished and we all need to plan for better alternatives. 2.All parents should remember the new FRCA requirement to get Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) for their children. This is not something the school monitors or is responsible for, but we hope all of our families take steps to meet this new FRCA requirement to avoid any compliance problems. The requirement, to be specific, is that all children of all ages, even pre-school, must have a TIN. More information about this can be found at http://www.fwarc.org/pdfs/606.pdf. The whole school celebrated World Oceans Day recently. Secondary school students did many projects including beach clean-up, mangrove planting, and oceans issues awareness activities. The Primary Oceans Day had an outdoor festival that included many activities and parents. Students painted fish, attached toothbrush “baleen” on a whale, were photographed in a shark’s mouth using green screen technology, explored wave and tide activity using a wash basin, decorated biscuits, and participated in a dance contest.
Inside this issue:
Fun Day Poster
Fun Day Update
Primary Semester One
The Problem of Deforestation
Market Day Year 2
Design Year 8
Integrated Humanities Year 7
Integrated Science Year 7
Integrated Science Year 8
ISS Sailing Club
Year 8 Visual Arts
Year 8 Mathematics
In the last Talanoa, I reported the high school students’ involvement with Nasesara Village and their plastic-free stand. Since then, a group of ISS staff, including myself, and students attended a formal launch ceremony for the village plastic ban, and we enjoyed wonderful hospitality and community spirit. Nasesara Village is inspiring others to take similar measures to preserve the beautiful and important ocean resources we have. A group of Year 12 students are planning a visit to a Beqa Island village after the break to learn from and assist them. These activities are examples of students putting their learning to use in the real world with applied learning activities.
As many of you know, the school is very full with record enrolments. Construction of added building space that will provide improved classrooms and meeting space continues with the four-story J Block project. Behind the scenes, that building is taking shape more each day with the bottom floor now visible and work on the next floor beginning. ISS still has a few very old and less-than-adequate facilities that are gradually being replaced with better spaces for learning. Watch for more information about this important improvement. School resumes for students Wednesday, 17 July. Teachers will have two days of IB training prior to that, and we will be ready for an outstanding Term 3 and Semester 2. Best wishes to the whole ISS community until then! Steve Cathers, Head of International School Suva
Year 7 Design The voice of youth at World Ocean Day. MYP Corner School Production Uto Ni Yalo Extension Program
Visit to the Le D’Entecasteaux
Year 12 Camp
World Ocean Day HS
Quotes from Year 10 Camp
Fiji National Swimming Championships
Upcoming Events
Term Dates