Volume No: 2004-05/12

Date: 3 December 2004

Dear Parents

School has been very odd this week. We have not had a full complement of children on any single morning. The primary children were busy rehearsing at Sutera on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and on Thursday our secondary team flew off to Kuala Lumpur for the FOBISSEA Games. So, break times have been unnaturally quiet – even a little “eerie” as one student said to me!

The end of this week and the weekend see two major school events – the primary production and the Games. The primary children have worked hard to present The Busy Innkeeper and we are looking forward to a full house. As always, there has been a very busy back-up team of teachers, classroom assistants, office staff and parents: our warm thanks to all of you who have got the show together and made it happen.

The FOBISSEA team looked very smart in their new strip at the special assembly on Wednesday afternoon. Along with Mr Leak, they have also worked very hard to get fit and take their basketball seriously. Considering many of our students had no more than a passing knowledge of the game, the transformation over the last few weeks has been wondrous to behold. I have no doubt that both teams will play their hearts out and, whatever the outcome, I am sure a challenging and exhilarating time will be had by all.

FOBISSEA caps

A limited number of FOBISSEA caps are available at RM20 each. Mr Leak has the details.

Library Books

Please will all parents help us to chase up overdue library books. The library has improved vastly over the last eighteen months, both in its book stock and surroundings, and we all need to work to protect the books that we have. Please search those bedrooms!

From the PTA : Mufti Day

The PTA would like to thank all parents who contributed food for Mufti Day. It was a huge success and RM1750 was raised.

Children’s Home

There has been a splendid response to the appeal for families to sponsor the education of children from the Tambunam Children’s Home. A letter will be sent out to parents next week.

Next Week

Next week, the last of this term, looks all set to be another busy one, with only Monday and Wednesday being normal days. It looks like this:

The visiting Australian students are from Eastern Fleurieu school, where David Hankinson (ex-Head of KIS) now works, and are on a Sabah visit.

Talent Show

On Thursday night we shall be holding a non-competitive Talent Show at school. Starting at 6.30, this will be a good opportunity for our musicians, who have been working hard all term with Mr Albert, to perform for an audience. We are looking forward to a relaxed, enjoyable, low-key evening. Snacks and drinks will be on sale but there will be no charge for admission.  

Clubs & Mandarin

There will be no clubs next week. Mandarin classes will run as normal except for Friday, when there will be no class.

QCA & Data Protection

QCA is the curriculum body in England from which many of our practices and tests derive. We receive annually a letter from them concerning the Data Protection Act 1998. Under its provision, schools are required to notify children and parents that students have a right to know the data held on them by the school (and, in England, the local education authority). They do this in England by issuing what is known as a “fair processing notice”. We have to sign that we, as a school, will issue such notices, so this announcement is made, via the newsletter, to inform you of the situation and to indicate that we will indeed issue fair processing notices to all parents who specifically ask for them. Obviously, we are not an English school and we are not in England , so the relevance of all this is highly questionable. However, I have honoured my commitment by letting you know!

Free Toys Anyone?

Next term, Foundation 2 will be having a pretend toyshop in their role play area. If anyone has any toys from kiddie meals at KFC, Burger King or McDonalds that they are willing to donate, Miss Fox would be very grateful.

Sports Reports

Sadly, there are no sports report this week but I am sure Mr Leak will make up for it with a bumper crop of FOBISSEA feedback next week.

Best wishes,