The Weekly Bulletin of

Stonehill International School Volume 6, Issue 77

22 September 2017

FEATURED STORIES

Science in the Secondary School

Oto talks about his Group 4 Project.

A new year heralds new beginnings, bringing with it three new additions to the Science faculty – Ms. Aditi Ramanathan, Science (MYP); Ms. Bindu Balakrishnan, Biology (MYP and DP); and Mr. Adam Esiyok Environmental Sciences and Societies (Diploma Programme). The academic year started with the Back-to- School Day where D2 students showcased their Group 4 projects. They explained their exhibits to parents, teachers and students from other grades.

IMPORTANT DATES: SEPTEMBER

23rd P6-P8 INVITATIONAL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT 27th – 29th SCHOOL CLOSED FOR DUSSEHRA HOLIDAY

OCTOBER 2nd SCHOOL CLOSED FOR GANDHI JAYANTHI HOLIDAY

5th P3 FUN SOCCER MORNING 5th - 7th ISACI SENIOR TOURNAMENTS IN HYDERABAD & DELHI 6th - 7th BIG BAD BLUE SWIM MEET IN CHENNAI 6th STONEHILL COMMUNITY DIWALI PARTY

CONTENTS 01/ FEATURED STORIES 05/ MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF THE SCHOOL 06/ PRIMARY NEWS 08/ SECONDARY NEWS 13/ BOARDING NEWS 15/ PTA NEWS

HIGHLIGHTS Science in the Secondary School Diwali at Stonehill P2 Essential Agreement University Visits Boarding News PTA News

THE TIGER

Mayank (left) and Seyed (right) explain their projects to an audience of parents and their peers.

Group 4 is an interdisciplinary activity in which all Diploma Programme students must participate in. It is a collaborative activity where students from different Group 4 (experimental sciences) subjects work together on a scientific and technological topic. This allows for concepts and perceptions from across disciplines to be shared in line with aim 10, which is to 'develop an understanding of relationships between scientific disciplines and their influence on other areas of knowledge'. The umbrella topic for this year’s Group 4 Project was Sport and Health. Some interesting topics of investigation were ‘Chemical Composition and Efficiency of Energy Drinks’, ‘Placebo Effect’ and ‘Effect of Exercise on Lungs’, among others.

Mayank (left) and Vinicius (right) conducting their Group 4 Project experiments

This year is fast becoming the year of innovation in Green Technology, with DP students proving themselves to be caring global citizens. D2 Physics students, while learning the topic of energy production, organised an energy symposium where they presented the advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources through debate and discussion.

Students participate in the Energy Symposium.

D1 students have just started to settle into their classes, and are in the process of exploring the magical world of science through the lens of the Diploma Programme. MYP science classes are bustling with activities. The budding environmentalists of Ms. Aditi’s M1 class, as part of the study on Ecology and Ecosystems, set out to investigate the area outside their science classroom. Imagine their surprise when they discovered mini ecosystems in their neighbourhood!

M1 students go exploring!

Using simple materials, M2 students decided to investigate the lung capacity of the girls and boys in class. Not much of a surprise as to what they found but they sure had fun while they were at it!

M2 students- Take a deep breath and Exhale!

M3 Physics students analysed electrical conductivity of different materials and were quite enthusiastic to see the small light bulbs glow in different circuit combinations. ‘Potterheads’ (fans of the fictional series Harry Potter), had an exciting revelation as to how energy transformation is related to ‘transfiguration’ in the world of Harry Potter!

Create a spark and light that lamp!

Students of Ms. Bindu’s Biology class had an opportunity to look at their own cheek cells using a compound microscope, and measure the actual sizes of cells.

Students exploring the microscopic world

Ms.Maitreyee Banerjee HoD Science

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL At Stonehill International School, we provide a holistic education, with emphasis on rigorous academics, technological innovation, sports, and arts. Stonehill students benefit from enhanced opportunities in each of these areas, and this comprehensive education prepares them very well for university life and beyond. Recently, the Educational Leadership Team met with the Whole School Technology Coordinator, the IB Curriculum Coordinators, and the ICT teachers to define and develop the concept of “technological innovation”. What is it? What does it look like in the curriculum, in the classroom, and in after-school activities? How can our students and staff become immersed in opportunities for technological innovation outside of school? What resources do we need to remain on the “cutting edge” of technological innovation? And how will we know if we are succeeding? At Stonehill, we have collaboratively defined “technological innovation” as using technology to redefine learning and providing the opportunities to developing technological solutions for innovative ideas.

We believe this definition embraces two aspects to technological innovation: innovation through the use of technology as well as using technological tools to bring innovative ideas to life. In the first aspect, innovation through the use of technology redefines learning—technology is not an “add-on” to existing pedagogical practices; rather, teachers and students alike re-imagine learning and teaching from a technological base. In the second aspect, innovative ideas are not limited to existing technology—we can create the technology needed to implement our ideas. In today’s technological age, we at Stonehill believe and live our mission statement--that we have an obligation to provide stimulating, engaging academics integrated with enhanced opportunities for technological innovation, sports and the arts. Wishing you a pleasant weekend. With best regards, Dr. Beverly Sortland Head of School

PRIMARY NEWS

Diwali at Stonehill

The Stonehill community will be celebrating Diwali on Friday, 13th October from 1:00 – 2:45pm. Students from the Primary School will be performing from 1:15 – 1:45pm and students from the Secondary School will perform from 2:00 – 2:45pm. One of India’s biggest festivals, Diwali is celebrated to honour the return of Lord Rama (a Hindu god) from his exile of 14 years; there are also various other stories associated with the festival. During Diwali, it is traditional to buy new ethnic attire since it marks the beginning of a year of prosperity. Students and staff on this day are encouraged to wear traditional/ethnic Indian clothes. Typical Indian attire for children is – salwar kameez, or lehenga/ghagra choli for girls, and kurta with pyjama for boys. These types of traditional attire can be bought in most local stores, as well as various brand stores in malls. Here are few images for your reference.

It has been Stonehill’s tradition to participate and celebrate local traditional culture, and we invite you to join us for this celebration in your ethnic Indian best! Ms. Raji VK Host Culture & Hindi Teacher

P2 Essential Agreement

In P2 we have been learning what it means to be a good friend. After a lot discussion we thought about what the most important things to us are that make a good friend. These important key words have been used to create our Class Essential Agreement.

It is always nice is when good words and intentions are put into action. This is what happened when Akshara and Jessica saw one of their friends sad during playtime. They took the time to sit with their friend and make sure that she was ok. They both won a Caring awards for being very good friends.

Mr. David Gostelow P2 Class Teacher

Important Upcoming Primary Dates

• Wednesday 27th September - Dussehra Holiday starts • Monday 2nd October - Gandhi Jayanti - National Holiday • Thursday 5th October - P3 Fun Soccer Morning • Friday 6th October - Big Bad Blue Swim Meet in Chennai (Swimming Squad) • Monday 9th October - P8 Residential Field Trip • Friday 13th October - Mid-Semester Reports Published • Friday 13th October - Diwali Mela at 1:00pm • Monday 16th - Friday 20th - Diwali Holiday • Monday 23rd October - Non-Student Day - Accreditation and Evaluation Self-Study Day

SECONDARY NEWS

Personal Project Workshop for Parents

On Thursday Mr. Jitendra Pandey, MYP Coordinator, held a presentation on Personal Projects for M4 – M5 parents. The presentation was very informative, with most doubts cleared for the twenty parents who attended the session. There will be more such presentations to help parents understand how the Secondary School and the MYP/DP curriculums work; information regarding these presentations will be provided in the Tiger and blogs. The next presentation focuses on Introduction to MYP, Haiku, and ManageBac and is scheduled to take place on Monday, 25th September from 8:00 to 10:00 am in the Secondary drama room.

Concerns or Issues Regarding Students If your son/daughter has any problems at school please contact their Homeroom Teacher or the relevant Subject Teacher directly in the first instance, and then the Head of Department or appropriate Coordinator (MYP or DP) if required.

Family Vacations and Holidays Parents are not encouraged to withdraw children during term-time for vacations. Parents are also asked not to ‘leave early’ or ‘return late’ in order to extend scheduled school holidays. In cases where students will miss routine classes because of voluntary absence, the school does not provide extra work for them to take on vacation. The school is sometimes asked to ‘authorise’ absences during school time for family vacations or other trips. It is not the school’s policy to do so. If a student’s attendance falls below 90% during the year (without extenuating circumstances), parents will be asked to attend a meeting with the Principal. The school reserves the right to request students to repeat the year if attendance is lower than 90% by the end of Semester Two, as stated on page 36 of the Parent- Student Handbook.

Dussehra Break The school will be closed for Dussehra holidays from Wednesday 27 September to Monday 2 October. Please enjoy the Dussehra festivities in this region of India. Have a good weekend. Warm regards Narendra Mehrotra Secondary Principal narendra.mehrotra@stonehill.in www.stonehillsecondaryprincipal.blogspot.in

University Visits for DP Students

August and September are usually busy months for DP students as they make final decisions on the list of universities that they need to apply to. To help them make informed decisions, a number of university visits to the school were organised. We have had admissions officers from Santa Clare University, Rollins College, Chapman University, University of British Columbia, North Eastern University, Australian National University, UCL, Temple University, California State University, Hult International Business School, St. George University, Wilfrid Laurier, Georgia Tech, Manipal University and Memorial University representing the USA, UK, Canada and Australia.

These visits helped students to better understand the details the academic programmes of each university. Another benefit of such visits is that in their interactions with our DP students, the admissions officials were able to give them information on campus life, student body, life in the towns/cities the universities are located in and so on – allowing students to make decisions based all elements of living and studying abroad. Ms. Manpreet Kaur DP Coordinator

First Assembly Organised by the 2017 – 2018 Secondary Student Council

Yesterday, the Secondary assembly took place with the introduction of the new Student Council. It was followed by a series of announcements which included the upcoming Diwali Mela, followed by the celebration of various student achievements and interesting presentations – here’s a look at them: Five MYP students brought home the winning trophy for the short story competition conducted by the British Council.

DP Psychology students presented an interesting depiction of how the brain works when it is addicted to drugs.

An inspirational TED talk on the importance of reading was shown, followed by a lively quiz conducted by Shashank (D2), who kept the audience on their toes with his teasers. To celebrate the UN International Day of Peace, the assembly ended on a high note as the choir, led by Ms. Evelyn, sang a beautiful rendition of the song ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon. This was a poignant choice of song as it delineated the need of the hour which is peace for all. It was heart-warming to see how the entire audience sang along, once again underscoring what the world needs today. Ms. Preethi Menon Student Council Coordinator

BOARDING NEWS

Last Thursday evening, we took our Boarders to the Bel St. Café at Sahakar Nagar. This has now become a tradition, which is in its fourth year. This year, for the first time, two buses were required to get all boarding students and staff! The space in which we take the photo is becoming too small for our growing boarding community, making it a challenge to take the traditional group photo.

When we began Boarding in August 2014, the majority of boarding students were Weekly Boarders. For 2017 – 2018, the Weekly Boarders are 25% of the Boarding student population. The world trend (UK, Australia and USA) is that weekly boarding is growing in the larger cities due to local parents and students making the decision to opt for the advantages of less daily travel, student/ staff support and sports training/use of facilities after school.

Boarding Weekend Activities

Deciding on activities for Boarding can prove to be a challenge for all Boarding schools. Some schools employ recreation officers to manage specific programmes for Boarders. Full use of facilities is often provided for Boarders with supervision, to avoid the issue of boredom. Programmes are developed to provide activities but this too can be problematical when catering for diversity in age and gender, availability of activities, cost and travel time. The population of boarders and the number of duty staff are also significant factors. Boarding can offer a mixture of compulsory, non-compulsory, on campus, off campus and varieties of activities to create a happy medium for all. Stonehill has and still is, facing these challenges when it comes to providing a weekend and after school activities programme, tailored for its boarding students. Currently, the Boarding students, led by the Boarding Student leaders help plan the activities for each semester in collaboration with the House Parents. It is expected that the students participate in what they have helped design and to provide feedback in order to understand what works and what does not. There are limitations but the Stonehill Boarding community is working together to provide the best possible Boarding Activities programme for its residents.

Weekly Boarding

If there are any parents of Day students especially those who are in M5, D1 or D2 who may be contemplating taking up the option of Weekly Boarding for 2017-8, please feel free to contact me at any time: Email: john.busenschutt@stonehill.in Mobile: +91 7026612412 I would be happy to make a time to show parents through the Boarding Houses and to discuss the advantages of Weekly Boarding.

Important Dates for Boarding Families Dussehra/ Gandhi Jayanti:

• 27th to 29th September (Academic School Calendar) and 2nd October (Academic School Calendar)

• Boarding closes from 4:oopm Tuesday 26th and reopens from 4:00pm Monday 2nd October • Travel details to HoB: By Monday 18th September

Diwali/ PD Day

• 16th – 20th October (Academic School Calendar) and 23rd October • Boarding closes from 4:00pm October 13th and reopens from 4:00pm Monday 23rd October. • Travel details to HoB: By Monday Friday 6th October

Best regards, John Bussenschutt Head of Boarding

PTA NEWS

Stonehill International School

Tarahunise Post Jala Hobli Contacting the School: Bangalore North 562157 India Admissions Ms. Rishika Ganapathy T + 91 8043418300 Primary School Ms. Nijika Bhardwaj + 91 8043418318 Secondary School Ms. Saathi Vinay M + 91 9008307684 Transport Mr. Rahul. I E info@stonehill.in Head Nurse Ms Charlette Macdonald