Volume No: 2004-05/18

Date: 25 February 2005

Dear Parents

The school is abuzz this morning with talks and plans for Charity Week next week. I am very happy that so many of our children seem to have taken this to heart and barely an hour goes by without a student proposing a money raising activity. We have tried to focus our attention on some key events during the week without stifling individual enterprise altogether. All proceeds from Charity Week will go to Room to Read’s programme in Sri Lanka , where they are rebuilding schools with the help and support of the local communities. For me, this last phrase, “with the help and support of the local communities” is the key to their success. If the local communities are fully involved in the planning and rebuilding, they feel a sense of ownership and pride and have high incentives to maintain the charity supported initiative. This may sound obvious, but those of us who have worked in the developing world are very aware of the millions of dollars that have been poured into projects that have simply been allowed to fall into disuse because they have not been maintained by the communities for which they were built. The most effective projects are often the simplest. Schools are at the heart of all communities and will make a real difference in the process of rebuilding tsunami-shattered lives. Please support Charity Week in any way you can and encourage your children to do the same. I shall also be very happy to accept individual donations should you wish to contribute personally to the fund.

Room to Read’s website address is www.roomtoread.org  They have so far

·         Built 110 schools

·         Established over 1,500 libraries

·         Published 33 new local language children’s books

·         Donated over 500,000 books

·         Established over 45 computer and language labs

·         Funded over 950 long-term scholarships

·         Affected over 500,000 children in Asia

Accompanying this letter is a Primary Newsletter that includes, amongst other things, details of the primary fundraising events. Please read it carefully as there are a number of points that bear repeating!

Secondary Charity Events

Monday – Friday        

      PS2 Games in the library at lunchtime

Monday          

      Futsal Marathon, 2.00 – 6.00. This will be a gruelling test of perseverance – but hopefully an enjoyable one as well. Use of the pitch has been generously donated and we are incorporating the normal Futsal times into the marathon.

Wednesday     

      Basketball shoot out, for which there will be a trophy (lunchtime).

Thursday        

§    Cake Sale (break time and possibly lunchtime)

§    Spelling Test for the Sponsored Spell

Friday 

      Sponge the Teacher (lunchtime). Yes, your teachers are willing to get very wet for a charitable cause!

Cake Sale

Cake sales are planned on two days next week – primary on Tuesday, secondary on Thursday. Details of the primary sale are on the primary newsletter.

Secondary Cake Sale – please give any contributions to Mrs Anuar Ghani, in her room, first thing on Thursday morning. We welcome individual cakes and biscuits or larger cakes that can be cut up and sold by the slice.

Clubs

Can I please remind all parents that secondary clubs finish at 4.10 and that students should be picked up promptly. We have had quite a few forlorn figures in the playground recently.

The same applies to Futsal on Monday evenings. Games finish at 6.00 and students really do need to be collected at that time.

It is very unfair on staff, who give generously of their time, if they have to wait for late pick-ups.

Mandarin Classes

Jenny Lim, our teacher of Beginners’ Mandarin, has now left us but we hope to have a new teacher in place by next week. Mandarin classes will, therefore, continue as normal, however, days are changed to Mondays and Fridays instead.

Please see the attached invitation from the PTA for dinner on 5 March!

Sports Day

Early warning that we are moving the start of Sports Day forward to get as much done as possible in the relative coolness of the early morning. Sports Day takes place on 8 March and will start at 8.00, instead of the traditional 8.30. Students will need to arrive at 7.45. We hope events will finish at around 11.30 and, as usual, there will be no further school that day. Further details will follow next week.

Football Match – Girls & Dads vs Boys

This long-awaited and fiercely competitive match will kick off at 5.00 today at the Archery Field.

Finally, a report on last week’s match from our eagle-eyed and obviously classically educated reporter on what should have been a return match to avenge KIS’s 6-2 drubbing at the hands of SMK Likas …

The opportunity for revenge was beckoning. But as the clock approached five, there was no evidence of the opposition and it seemed that  K.I.S’s reputation had sent fear throughout Likas and its neighbouring kampungs. Luckily we had enough players and parents to mount an exhibition match. Straws were drawn, teams were formed and battle commenced. Quickly the B team established dominance with the subtle blend of youth and experience of Marsh and Hamilton senior proving too much for the fragile A team’s defence.  Leak, still having difficulty shaking off an old ma jong injury, tried to ignite his team’s creative fires but, unfortunately, the powder seemed damp. At half time the B team had established a four goal cushion and all seemed lost for the A team.

Nelson at Trafalgar, Montgomery at El Alamein, or even wily Danish hydro-engineer King Canute could not have bettered the A team come back, this turning of defeat’s cruel tide. They grasped the game by the scruff of the neck and dominated the second period. Soon the teams were level with Sunil Parmar proving to be a solid centre forward possessing the balance of Nijinski allied to the combativeness of a raging bull. He bagged a hat trick to bring scores level. The A team should have run out winners but the honours remained even. Special mention to Gavin Hamilton who served up a performance that belied his lack of years.

Best wishes – and please support us next week!