What a fabulous way to end Term 1. The focus on mental health and wellbeing has not only reminded us as to what is most important but has unleashed so many creative and challenging projects right across the school. This is indicative of the whole term where our students have continued to demonstrate and maintain such high levels of engagement and enthusiasm, resulting in such positive learning outcomes. Please take time to read and find out about these projects and these achievements in both this newsletter and our end of term assembly. If you haven’t already seen our wellbeing video featuring our students, staff and parents, which ‘kicked off’ Wellbeing Week, .
Thank you to those parents that contributed to our Q and A information session yesterday; this was indicative of the collaboration, support and collective wisdom we have in our community which always puts our children first.
Earlier today, you must have received a separate communication from me regarding an update on our proposed date to enter phase 3 of a partial return to campus. Please do take time to read this and contact me directly with any subsequent comments or questions .
It would be fair to say that everybody deserves a well earned rest during this term break. Can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Dashain and please stay safe and well.
Brian Platts
Principal
Recent and future updates
End of Term Assembly
Please do watch our here. We look forward to seeing you all after the break. Stay safe everyone!
Wellbeing Activities for Dashain
It is really important that we all maintain our wellbeing throughout the two week break. You can access these two important resources that provide you with different types of activities that you could engage in over the holidays: ; and .
Great Himalayan Trail Challenge
Please refer to the poster and watch thefor details!
Use this form to tell us how many kilometers you have walked.
Early Years News
Our youngest students are all set to celebrate the Dashain holiday, they made beautiful kites and learned a few words related to Dashain like tika, jamara and ping during their Nepali lesson.
The F2 students did various activities related to the topic ‘Health and Wellbeing’. They looked at personal hygiene, healthy eating habits, exercise to stay fit and other wellbeing activities. Have a look at Matthew doing the tree pose and Jeongwong showing her healthy rainbow snack.
Key Stage 1 News
The Year 1 students have been doing lots of different activities to take care of their wellbeing. They shared their yoga poses, made obstacle courses together with their family members and created beautiful nature art while enjoying the outdoors.
This week the students of Year 2 have had their exit point for the IPC topic Treasure Island during which they shared all the wonderful things they have learned. This is all Romeo’s great learning! The students also made a Jar of Smiles for when they are feeling sad, look how smiley Sofea’s has made her! To add some more smiles and laughter look at Ari and Balark reading in unusual places.
Lower Key Stage 2 News
For mental health and wellbeing week, Year 3 have been delving back into the world of Forest School to complete a set of screen-free outdoor and indoor challenges. From mud pies to rainbow photography (making a photo collage containing every colour of the rainbow) and from rock painting a mini village to creating their own dens, it is clear that an immense amount of fun has been had!
Year 4 have been completing an impressive array of activities as part of mental health and wellbeing week. From weekend walks to colouring and nature art to stunning mandalas and delicious (healthy!) cooking, it is wonderful to see the creativity and confidence that is being developed to nurture their own wellbeing.
Upper Key Stage 2 News
Year 5 have been running through a programme of mindfulness activities across this week, seizing the chance to get away from their screens and to establish routines to keep their brains healthy. Body scans, guided drawing, colouring and focused mindfulness tasks have all featured in a welcome break from other studies.
Year 6 have been in a reflective mood this week, thinking in turn about staying active, being creative, monitoring time spent online and maintaining healthy minds. Each day they have produced videos with examples and instructions for each of these areas that support our overall mental health.
Key Stage 3 News
It is the final week of term and what a week it has been! A huge congratulations to all of the students of KS3 for staying so focused all throughout this first term. It has been difficult. There have been ups and downs. But, they have demonstrated how strong they really are and just kept on going in these uncertain circumstances. It is fitting that we finished off the term with Health and Wellbeing week with the students already displaying key skills such as resilience and compassion. Each day the students have been sent a well being activity to complete to help them to focus on themselves and take their minds off of a computer screen for a while. It is important that over the holidays students continue these different activities to help them rest and recuperate, ready for another term in two weeks. I would like to wish everyone a happy Dashain holiday and look forward to another extremely successful term in a couple of weeks time.
Although it is the last week of term, the standard of work has not dropped at all. In Y7 and Y8, the students have been looking at how they can manage their time successfully. They created their own prioritisation matrix that looked into prioritising different tasks depending on when they were due or the scale of the project that was to be undertaken.
In Geography, Y8 have been continuing to study their work on Earthquakes. This time they were looking at specific case studies and, in particular, the Nepal Earthquake in 2015. They looked at the effects that the earthquake had, the locations that were affected, the strength of it and even drew diagrams where the event took place. Some of the work was fantastic and it really depicted the full extent the earthquake had on Nepal.
Adding to this, was the culmination of the Y8 Commedia dell’Arte project they have been doing for the last 8 weeks. After making their masks last week, the students were tasked with using them and performing a Lazzi for their assessment. A Lazzi is a comedic routine with Lazzi deriving from the italian word Lazzo, meaning joke. It is clear to see from these pictures that the students really got involved in this project and were thoroughly enjoying creating their own routines.
Also, the students have been looking at how sound travels. They were tasked with creating their own musical instruments and creating a video explaining how different sounds are made through them. Below are a few snapshots of the instruments that were made.
The Student of the week goes to Lise (Y9)! Every week, Lise’s name seems to pop up in the positive comments, which is fantastic. In Drama, Lise’s Monologue assessment was incredible and it is great to hear that in Geography she has made a real impact. Two of the 5 C’s are compassion and community and she has been showing these in her social interactions. She has demonstrated that she cares as much about other people’s views in the conversation as much as she does her own. Moreover, her quality of work across a wide range of subjects has been phenomenal! Well done Lise and keep up the amazing work.
When asked for some advice Lise said this:
‘Help and support others. Online school can be complicated to deal with because we don’t get to see people as often, but I know my friends, teachers and family made it easier for me by always trying to help me or supporting me, which helped me progress and challenge myself’
I hope everyone has a very enjoyable and relaxing holiday, and I look forward to the next term at ĢƵ.
Key Stage 4 News
Finally! You did it. The teachers did it. Your parents did it! We have made it to the end of Term 1. And what a term it has been! A really big massive thank you to everyone in the ĢƵ community for your hard work and constant support. It couldn’t have been done without this collective effort, which I have witnessed in so many ways, and so many times, this term.
KS4 have now had their PTCs for this term, and I would urge all of you to take on board comments from teachers, and make strides towards any improvements that have been suggested. Also take satisfaction in the positive comments! Everyone should take some time off this holiday, but Year 11s, you must also remember that your mocks are not actually that far away…I won’t scare you too much, but it is important that you work on a revision timetable and spend a bit of time every day revising for your mocks. Perhaps more than any other year, you really need your mocks to show your true abilities!
As promised last week, here are the links to Year 11 students looking at how love turns everyone into fools in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. They have been playing Olivia, emphasising the foolish elements of her character. Shivanshi’s impressive at-home staging. We’re cringing for Olivia. And we love Olivia casting a soft toy pig as Cesario!
With it being Mental Health and Wellbeing week, KS4 students have been thinking about mindfulness (pun intended!), and Shridha has produced an insightful (again, pun intended!) presentation about the benefits of mindfulness. Check it out .
In PE this week, students have been designing ultimate frisbees. Maybe they could try out and finetune their designs over the Dashain break!
Some teacher highlights this week have been Shashwat’s attitude to learning in Psychology with Mr Piaf: “After being given feedback on how to get a higher ATL grade, Shaswat has regularly sent me videos on the lesson content that he has searched for and vetted. He is showing himself to be a responsive and mature learner. The rate of development of him in psychology is inspiring.”
In MUN, Ms. Eudes has been impressed with Fahad, Meghna, Abayaa, Vani, Shridha, Lakshana, Sharvi, and Ayush who have shown great commitment to MUN club as an extra lesson (and extra homework) every week for the past 4 weeks.
In French, Year 11 students have been turning themselves into nutritionists to provide their friends with a health check; looking at positive and negative aspects of their diets and giving them advice on how to improve their diet.
This week’s student of the week is Thilini in Year 11. Despite being in a different time zone and having to get up very early for lessons, Thilini has consistently arrived to lessons on time, and has often been the first to arrive! Here is what Thilini has to say: As a first year of Continuous Learning, I think it’s going really well and it’s all thanks to our teachers. Studying is definitely complicated now though as we have twice the workload. I really recommend taking a break when you’re doing homework, prioritise, and do assignments you are confident in first. Also, I would say don’t procrastinate (but I do sometimes!) I understand that staying motivated is complicated especially for those who are still in quarantine, so I’m sorry, but honestly, just do what you enjoy, whether it’s reading, singing, sports, or in my case binging series and cooking”
Personally, I would like to thank students, parents, teachers and mentors. It has been a phenomenal first term and everyone thoroughly deserves a holiday. Happy Dashain!
Key Stage 5 News
Congratulations on getting to the end of your first term! It has been a difficult one but I am so proud of each and everyone of our students.
University Applications
A quick reminder for Year 13 students to keep their mentors up to date with their plans and attend the relevant information sessions. You will be sent information through your email and the relevant Google Classroom. If you are unsure of your deadlines or would like further application help, remember to schedule an appointment with Ms. Hemelik.
If parents have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me; ahemelik@tbs.edu.np.
Financial Times work experience Advocate program
Congratulations to all the students completing their applications to represent ĢƵ for the Financial Times Work Experience student Advocate program. All the applications were all fantastic, but the final students selected are Devansh A, Devansh K and Anju. This is a fantastic opportunity (as well as a great addition to your CV and university application), where you will develop communication skills by representing the views of students to the Financial Times and promoting the advantages of reading the Financial time to friends and teachers.
I applied for this role because it’s a great opportunity for me to enhance my communication skills and become the voice of the other students to represent their views and ideas to The Financial Times. Anju
I applied to become a student advocate because I believe I will learn many things such as proactivity, teamwork, public speaking and networking and time management skills. It would give me exposure to a new field too’ Devansh A
I want to become student advocate as it’s time for me to start taking responsibility and action to better the lives of students in any way possible. I am also passionate about representing ĢƵ on a global level’- Devansh K
Fabulous work this week
Amodini has been working really hard in French this term. She has made fantastic progress with her written language and completed this in less than two hours on redesigning Patan square. Well done, Amo.
Year 13 Economics : Ms Van De Kaa was extremely impressed by every student when they completed their flip learning challenge. Each group taught their sections well, provided well explained examples and were able to answer and correct any questions that were asked.
Mamuk: Has made great progress in catching up on some missed media tasks this week and has gained some great photoshop skills along the way!
Devasri, Devansh, Seoyun, Roisin, Rohan, Ishika:Great commitment to MUN club as an extra lesson (and extra homework) every week for the past 4 weeks.
Meena:True dedication to her studies despite the challenges that life presents. Great work!
Year 12 Media students:All three magazine proposals for AS Media coursework promise really exciting publications for a young Nepali target audience.
Year 13 Biology students:It has been a pleasure to teach this group they have shown a keen interest in the subject and have completed all tasks to a really high standard.
Roisin:Has been nominated for student of the weeks many times this term, she has shown consistent approach to learning and positive cooperative attitude. Well done!
A message from the Creativity Prefects
Hi everyone! We hope you are having a good week. This is just a reminder of the continuation of our Photo Compilation Project where we are collecting pictures of lockdown experiences. Especially since it’s Dashain break and you may be making new memories during the free time, it would be great if you could send either me or Eshaan some pictures that you took! You can also send pictures from earlier this year as well; we wish to compile all the pictures to make one wonderful collage, and we encourage you to contribute and be part of it!
Vibek has settled into studying at ĢƵ seamlessly and his teachers have all commented on his fantastic work ethic, participating in lessons and submitting a really good standard of work. Mr. Melhado has even commented that Vibek has been wonderful helping him become acquainted in the school.
Vibek’s advice:
“When we think that we’ve been beaten, that is the time when we truly have a chance.”
In order to achieve/perform to the best of our abilities, we challenge or test ourselves from time to time. This may come in the form of solving mathematics problems to even household chores such as cooking and cleaning. It is only after numerous trials and failures that we arrive at the solution. We must not give up until we have given it all, for that is how we get the solution to our problem.
I applied to become a student advocate because I believe I will learn many things such as proactivity, teamwork, public speaking and networking and time management skills. It would give me exposure to a new field too’ Devansh A
