Volume No: 2001-02/045

Date: 1 March 2002

Dear Parents

Chinese New Year Dinner

Last Friday the PTA organized a Chinese New Year Dinner for families and friends of the school. By all accounts the Hyatt Hotel put on a delicious meal and everyone had a very enjoyable time. The dinner raised RM11,000.00 for the school FOBISSEA teams. A special thank you to all the PTA members for organizing this event.

FOBISSEA Games: Secondary Dept

For the first time in the school’s history we will be sending a team to the FOBISSEA Games for Secondary Department students. This is to be held in Penang from 6^th – 10^th March. Mr Dickinson will be leading our team, and this is comprised of Kevin Hughes, Johnson Hew, David Ling, Eric Doi and Kevin Chiu. We wish them every success at the Games.

School Reports Home: Primary Department

School reports for pupils in the ELC and Primary Department will be sent home on March 8^th.

Primary Department: NFER Assessments

Pupils in the Primary Department will be involved in a series of assessments next week. The Reception and Year 1 pupils will do the Middle Infant Screening test, whilst the Year 2 – 5 students will sit assessments in English and Mathematics. We have intentionally kept these assessments low key as they are merely a warm up for the National Curriculum Tests that will be taken next term by the pupils.

PTA Annual General Meeting

The PTA has postponed its Annual General Meeting till the Monday 1^st April at 8.00am in Library.

School Annual General Meeting

A reminder that the school will be holding its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 13^th March at 7.30pm in the school library. All parents are encouraged to attend this as it is vital that a quorum is met at this meeting.

FOBISSEA Games: Kota Kinabalu

Kinabalu International School will be hosting this year’s FOBISSEA Games for primary schools on 22^nd – 26^th May. We have nine schools competing at these Games. There will be some 250 competitors and 200 teachers and parent supporters. All of the teams will be staying at the Sutera Harbour Resort. These games will involve athletics, swimming and soccer competitions.

Our pupils are already involved in preparation for the Games, as they are training in after school clubs and during PE lessons. If there are any parents willing to act as officials during these games, please contact me as soon possible.

Slide Show on Sweden

Mr Frederik and Mr Mike gave a very impressive slide show on Sweden to the school. Next Wednesday will be their last day in school. I would like to thank them both for the work they have done for the school during their stay. They have helped teach in classrooms as well as coached soccer teams and taught swimming. We wish them every success in their future careers.

Soccer Teams Success

Our school soccer team played against Likas SIB and won the match 4-2. This was an excellent result and reflects the improvement our players have made over the last year. I would like to thank Mr Dickinson and Cigku Mutang for organizing the game.

Year 4&5 Guest Speaker

Year 4 & 5 hosted a visit by Mr Balwant Singh who spoke to them about the history of Kota Kinabalu as part of their topic of study. Mr Singh is a well known sports personality in Sabah and has a wealth of knowledge on the development of Kota Kinabalu. I would like to thank him for the time he took in speaking to the class.

Volunteers to Make Sports Bibs

We wish to make some sets of sports bibs to be used during team games. We seek the assistance of parent volunteers to assist in making these. If anyone is willing to do so, please see Ms Dennis.

New School Hats

The school PTA has designed a new school hat that is more to the liking of the students, particularly the older ones. These will be available next week for sale in the office at RM20. Next term, it will be compulsory for all students to wear either of the school hats that are presently available. They will not be permitted to wear any other hat.

Sick Children at After School Clubs

We have had a few incidences whereby pupils that have been away from school due to illness have arrived later in the day to join in after school clubs. For the well-being and health of all the children, if a child is away sick, they should not be brought into school for clubs.

Red House Book Club

Leaflets have been sent out yesterday and parents are given until next Thursday 7 March to place their ordering, with payment to the school office please.

Please note that the school will need to reach a target order of £250 before we qualify the 15% on freight charges (norm at 30%), which has already been built into the cost of the book.