Newsletter. Principal s Diary. Dates for your Diary. Shakespeare Productions ROCKS! Easter Term, 23 March St Joseph s Institution International

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1 St Joseph s Institution International Elementary School Newsletter Shakespeare Productions ROCKS! Easter Term, 23 March 2018 Dates for your Diary Mon 9 Apr Tue 10 Apr Wed 11 Apr Fri 13 Aprl Mon 16 Apr Wed 18 Apr School Holiday 26 March 6 April Summer Term Commences Kindness Week G3 Celebration of Parent Virtues Workshop ES 10 th Birthday School Celebration during the day ES 10 th Birthday Poetry Week Parent Virtues Workshop Mon 23 Apr Book Week 2018 Tue 24 Apr Wed 25 Apr Thu 26 Apr Sat 28 Apr G5 & G6E Maths Eary Years Book Swap Parent Virtues Workshop G6 Field Trip G2, G3, G4J Book Swap G4A, G5, G6 Book Swap Frieds of Jesus Camp & Mass Click here to read Br. Larry s Lasallian Reflection Dear Parents, Principal s Diary There has been an overwhelming response to ticket sales for our 10th birthday celebrations. Already over 390 tickets have been sold to the parent community with another 100 being taken up by staff and families. With a limit of 600 on offer I would urge you to buy your tickets sooner rather than later. As I wrote in last week s newsletter it will be an evening of fun and celebration as we look back over our journey to date and to look forward with great optimism at the future of our school. Tickets cost $25 for adults and high school students and $15 for elementary aged children. This includes a buffet style meal and the many games and activities on offer. The children s ticket also includes one serving of a food item from the food truck. The ISH promises to be transformed with carpet, tables and balloons. Wine will be on sale at very reasonable prices so please no BYO. To purchase tickets please follow this link. We enjoyed two outstanding evenings of entertainment on Monday and Tuesday this week with the staging of Shakespeare Rocks. The children in Grade 5 put on an annual show and they never fail to impress. Our virtue this week is joyfulness and this was evident in abundance during the show. The children showed such confidence and courage and have provided themselves, and us, with memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you to the parents who have written to us with praise at the quality of the show and to relate how much their children enjoyed the experience. Please see the link inside the newsletter for the Rewind episode. I must congratulate everyone associated with the show! Putting on a production of this magnitude takes a huge amount of time and resources and I would like to particularly acknowledge some of the main contributors. Firstly the class teachers who have played a far greater role in preparing the children this year including the choreography of movement on the stage. Mrs Main and Mr Tan have been awesome as usual and the quality of singing and acting was mature beyond their years. Finally, we cannot put on a show like this without parental involvement. We had a core of willing helpers who transformed our hall into a tudor building and made the costumes. We handed out eleven bouquets of flowers to these dedicated helpers after the performances. One parent in particular needs acknowledgement and that is Mary Summerbell who worked tirelessly over many months and sat through multiple screenings of Shakespeare in Love to ensure the costume and set were authentic. Thank you so much!

2 Principal s Diary Continued It has been another enjoyable and successful term here at SJIIES. The learning journey of the children continues at an impressive pace and in a broad, holistic way. Thank you all for your continued support. I would like to wish you all a happy and holy Easter and a restful holiday. Kevin Hannah Principal, Elementary School News from the Principal s Desk Kevin Hannah Move to One Calendar We held two information sessions this week for those families affected by a potential move to one academic calendar starting in January On Wednesday evening we spoke to the parents in Grade 4 August about transitioning their children to a January calendar in January On Thursday evening we spoke to parents on either side of this cohort whose academic journey is not affected in any way but pastorally will incorporate these children. Ultimately this means that none of the children in this group will need to be accelerated at the end of Grade 5 and only spend a term in Grade 6. A survey has been sent out to those parents and a decision will be taken and communicated next week. Easter Egg Roll What fun was had by the children in the Early Years this morning as they participated in an egg rolling activity on the banks of the field. This activity started with Mrs Tan reading the children the Easter story of the death of Jesus and being laid to rest in his tomb with a rock rolled across the cave entrance. When the ladies came the next day the rock had been rolled away and Jesus body was gone and they were spoken to by an angel. The children then took their egg they had decorated and rolled it down the hill to great amusement and laughter. Kindness Week After the holidays the first week back is Kindness Week. During this week we aim to keep Kindness simmering across the school. One aspect of this will be bare trees displayed at the pickup. The children will be getting tokens in their class to give to the other children or for the children to use to acknowledge Kindness in each other. These will be added to the trees and we will over the week watch Kindness grow in SJI International! During library sessions, Ms Siti will be reading books linked to Kindness and there will be a kindness theme during art lessons. We all enjoy focusing on kindness and this is a week that brings this virtue to life in a visible way. 2

3 Elementary School 10 th Birthday Party Only 100 tickets left, grab yours today! 3

4 sjii.tv sjii.youtube Carl Rayner & Antony Grigson 4

5 Poetry Week 2018 Amy Malone April is celebrated as Poetry Month in schools around the world and here at SJIIES we will be celebrating with Poetry week from April 16th-20th. Walking around school you will notice a few poems dotted about for children to read and respond to. Please do stop with your children to read and share these together. Poetry Postman Every day a golden mystery poem will be delivered to each class by an unknown Poetry Postman (or Postwoman) - the children love collecting these poems and waiting to see who will be delivering the poem for that day. Poetry Picnic We will be hosting our first Poetry Picnic recital on Thursday 19th April. If your child feels inspired to recite a poem, please sign them up here by Friday 13th April. Children can recite a published poem or write one of their own to recite. Your child will have the chance to practice their recital with a teacher during Poetry Week, then will be joining us for the picnic in the Chapel playground from 12:20-1 pm. Children will be bringing their own lunches to the picnic. Kindness Week Carole Newbery / Kindness Week Team 5

6 Book Week Amy Malone 6

7 Spotlight On Sport Peter Vassbotn The first week back after our break is the last chance for ACSIS Track and Field Tryouts. Once again we hope to send a strong team to the ACSIS finals set for Sunday, May 6th. Good luck to all those coming down to the upper field at lunch recess on Mon/Tues./Wed. We are short of kids in the 10U & 11U age groups so if your child wants to have a go have them register by seeing Mr. Joshua at the ES Office or by asking their PE teacher. Come and Join the GIRLS FOOTBALL FIESTA! SJI International and AIS are teaming up with CUFA (Cosmo United Football Academy) and the UFL (United Football League) to host the inaugural GIRLS FOOTBALL FIESTA in an effort to promote and expand girls football here in Singapore. We are working together to try to get MORE GIRLS PLAYING FOOTBALL here in Singapore and the Football Fiesta will bring together girls of all ages in a fun and friendly 'girls only' event. There is no cost to this event as CUFA are providing free coaching for the festival. Dates: Sat. April 14th; 3pm - 6pm at Australian International School Sat. May 12th: 3pm - 6pm at SJI International (Upper Field) Parents must register their child in 2 ways: 1. Register with CUFA by ing your daughter's name and DOB to Olliver Marx at info@cufa.com.sg 2. Register with our PE dept. below so we know who is attending from SJI International: Register HERE for Sat. Apr. 14th at AIS Register HERE for Sat. May 12th at SJII If you have any questions about the Girls Football Festival please contact Mr. V in the PE Dept. We hope your daughter can join us in these special celebrations of GIRLS FOOTBALL. 7

8 News from Spotlight On Sport Continues House week and Tug-a-War by Sarah Thank you to the students for their wonderful display of enthusiasm and house spirit in House Week. It was a wonderful opportunity for our HUG teams to plan, organise and lead the activities. There were ping pong balls flying all around, sponges being tossed, scavenger hunters running around the school and minute to win it challenges being hotly contested. Thank you to the HUG team for their creativity and the diligence in organising the activities. Tug-a-War was a rousing afternoon of chants, of heave hoeing and lots of fun. Thanks to the teachers for joining the HUGs in the final pull of the day and to Grade 1 for joining the fun. 8

9 Lasallian Reflection Enabling students in a Lasallian community to learn how to learn, and to learn how to live, empowering them to become people of integrity and people for others Enter to Learn Leave to Serve 9

10 Walk along God s path. Saint John Baptist de La Salle Catholic Assembly - Saint Joseph, our patron Catholic Assembly on Thursday was held at the chapel in honour of Saint Joseph. Children learnt why our school is named after the Saint and of Saint John Baptist de La Salle s devotion to him. Our prayer leaders Juliana, Emerald and Ines from Grade 6E DMu confidently led parts of the paraliturgy centered around Matthew 2 :13-15 ( Escape to Egypt) and we all learnt why the Church honours Saint Joseph as the just man. A man who practised all the virtues and who lived his life for others; Mary and Jesus. We are all encouraged to go to Saint Joseph who will intercede for us. A good way of remembering to do this is knowing that Joseph means God will add. So God will add to our humble petitions when we go through good Saint Joseph. At the end of Assembly, prayer cards to the Saint were distributed to children. Catholic Corner Catholic Assembly, Lent and Easter Events Simone Tan Hot Cross buns in catechism classes As next week is Holy Week, children in catechism classes were given hot cross buns to remind them of Good Friday, the day on which Jesus poured out his life and love for all of us. The cross on the buns remind us of Jesus cross which he lovingly embraced and challenges us to think about picking up our crosses in our lives with love. The peeled fruit reminds us of the spices used to embalm our Lord s body before he was laid in the tomb Assemblies At Friday Assembly on Holy Week and Easter, Ms Tan explained where we are in the Church s liturgical calendar and the upcoming Eastertide which lasts 50 days from Easter until Pentacost on 20th May. We watched a video on the Easter Story and learnt about how Christ s resurrection shows God s victory over death and evil. We have sure hope in God s promises of eternal life. In the Early Years Assembly on Tuesday, the children also had the opportunity to learn about Saint Joseph. Early Years Easter Celebration by Alison Morias What a joyful morning we have had learning about the Easter Story together! The children learnt about the significance of the cross on top of hot cross buns (and got to sample them!) and participated in Egg Rolling using eggs that had decorated in class. Egg Rolling is a Scottish tradition which symbolises the stone being rolled away from the tomb of Jesus. 10

11 Catholic Corner Continues 11

12 Virtues Corner Carole Newbery This week s virtue was JOYFULNESS. What gives you JOY in life? I'm going to fall back on a quote from C. Forrest McDowell to start this because it really spoke to me when I first read it. Joy is a powerfully simple stepping-stone to inner peace. It can measure the degree of our faith in goodness and hope. Without joy life can appear to be a tragedy; with joy and a sense of humour life may appear to be more like a tragic comedy. Always find a way to give to others the joy you feel inside. Without inner joy, all our feelings are determined by what is happening to us. When things are going well, we feel glad. When things are going wrong, we feel bad. Without JOYFULNESS, when the fun stops, our happiness stops. When we are joyful, things still happen to us, some good and some bad. If we are joyful, deep down we stay calm and serene. We look forward to things changing for the better. When good things happen to you, enjoy them fully. When sad things happen, let the sadness come and then let it go. Find the gift in what is happening - Is this a way to become stronger? Something new to learn? What is JOYFULNESS? JOYFULNESS is being filled with happiness. It is a peaceful sense of well-being. Joy is inside us all. It comes from appreciation for the gifts each day brings. Joy comes from when we are doing what we know is right, and when we laugh and see the humour in things. Joy is the inner sense that can carry us through the hard times even when we are feeling sad. Signs of Success: You are practising JOYFULNESS when you Look inside for happiness. Enjoy whatever you are doing. Appreciate the gifts in your life and in yourself. Find creative ways to enjoy your time. Have a good sense of humour. Feel an inner peace even when things are tough. I am thankful for the JOY I feel inside. I enjoy my work and my play. I appreciate the gifts this day holds for me. For some of our Grade Ones, JOYFULNESS was the feeling of excitement for the exit point to We are what we eat where they learnt to make sushi, a healthy salad, playing a food group game and learning a food rap. For the Grade 5s, JOYFULNESS (and a little bit of nervous energy!) was in the performance of Shakespeare Rocks. I think this JOYFULNESS was also shared by the audience too, watching their confidence, courage, commitment and excellence when they performed. For me, personally, the JOYFULNESS I experienced was having parents offering their expertise to help time and again, year after year, in our sushi making exit point. (See photo) These lovely ladies offer their help every year and invite new mums to join their group. building strong bonds within their community, finding creative ways to enjoy their time. 12

13 Virtues Corner Continues 13

14 Elementary Parents Support Group Anna Cyriac 14

15 Environmental How long does it take trash to decompose? The Green Team Earth Hour - March 24, 2018 (Saturday) pm pm Starting as a symbolic lights out event in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour is now the world's largest grassroots movement for the environment, inspiring millions of people to take action for our planet and nature. On Earth Hour s tenth anniversary on 25 March 2017, an unprecedented 187 countries and territories across seven continents came together to take an urgent stand for climate action. This year millions of people will again unite to protect our planet and future generations from climate change. Join Singapore in switching off the lights during this years Earth Hour

16 Whole School News The High School Arts faculty and more than 110 students are buzzing with excitement as this year's Musical Production of Oliver gets well underway. Three Art CCAs involving over 40 students are collaborating together on the set design, which incorporates a Steampunk crossed with Victorian London theme. A backstage crew of 20 students are preparing stage logistics, soundscapes and props. 12 Music students from Grades 9-11 have formed the "Oliver Orchestra" and are tirelessly learning hundreds of pages of music. And of course the Cast, 45 students from Grades 7 to 12, who since January have come together every Wednesday and Friday afternoon to rehearse scenes, learn dances and sing songs in harmony. Once again SJI International is incredibly fortunate to be able to present this year's Musical in the Singapore Drama Centre for three evening shows. This stunning venue seats 570 audience members and gives our students an amazing and authentic theatre experience. Tickets available from High School Reception. 16