It is not surprising to see many activities and learning experiences relating to Christmas this week! Christmas, like all celebrations and holidays, are an opportunity to slow down a little, reflect, and take the time to strengthen our relationships with family and friends. I hope you get the opportunity to do these things over the next few weeks and take a rest, especially from the screens that have been dominating our lives during term time.
We have been reflecting on the achievements of our students this week and you can celebrate these with us by watching our . You will also see some of our ‘new’ staff and students reflecting on their first two terms at ĢƵ, along with two fabulous musical performances; one from our students, with an alternative rendition of ‘12 days of Christmas’ and one from our staff with a rendition of ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ – both are great fun and will make you laugh and get you into the Christmas spirit! It is also that time of year when we say goodbye and good luck to our leaving students. You can also watch these 11 students also on the reflecting on their time at ĢƵ and completing their leavers’ candle ceremony – all of the very best on your new adventures and do remember you will always be a member of the ĢƵ family.
We will be closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation in Kathmandu during the holiday and adapting our plans accordingly. At this stage, we will be looking to run mock examinations and invite students onto campus in limited ways during Term 3. These plans will be communicated with parents during the first week back, which will hopefully commence in week 2. Our current Phase 3 partial return to campus date remains as the 1st February, 2021.
Have a lovely weekend, a lovely break and please stay safe.
Brian Platts
Principal
Recent and future updates
End of Term 2 Assembly and Celebration Assembly
As we wrap up 2020 and Term 2, our students and staff have put together these amazing videos. One is the end of term assembly and the other is the secondary celebration assembly. Please do watch these to get into the Christmas spirit!
School Phone Number Update
Please note that there has been a slight change in all of the contact numbers of the school (second digit of the numbers are changed with 4). Below are the updated contacts.
New Numbers: 5421794, 5431010, 5444291, 5448041, 5444442
Library Booking
The ĢƵ library is a great resource, which we are sure our community has been missing during recent lockdowns. We are aiming to offer families the opportunity to access library resources in the safest way possible over the next few weeks. The library will only be accessible by prior booking and those visiting must adhere to our safety protocols. Parents must book 24 hours in advance to visit the library and must book through the form to be able to visit the library.
Revision Guides
Well done to our Yr 11, 12 and 13 students who have been working hard throughout continuous learning on their GCSE and A level courses and are nearly ready for mock exams in January. Guides to what students will be examined on, along with useful revision resources, can be found here: ; ; .
Secondary Celebration Assembly
Please click the following to watch the Secondary Celebration Assembly. It is a highlight of our student’s amazing achievements this term, particularly in the areas of: challenge, confidence, creativity, community and compassion. Congratulations to all students on a fantastic term!
Community News
This week we will distribute 938 Christmas gifts to Hope Rising, Shree Tika, Mary Ward Lubhu and Jhamsikel, Disabled Service Association and Shramik School.
News from our Student Leadership
Hello ĢƵ! It is the last week of school and Christmas is approaching. We hope that everyone is in the Christmas spirit and ready to have a nice, relaxing break. We would like to congratulate everyone for, once again, successfully completing another term.
Prefect notices: This year our prefect team has been working on “Long term projects”. We are all working together and engaging on projects that focus on different areas of our school. One project that we are currently working on is our “Kindness and Behaviour Policy”. We want to improve our current system to make sure that we can better support students in their social lives and that our school stays a healthy and respectful community. We will be doing so by raising awareness about it in mentor time, PSHE lessons and host inclusivity sessions for students and teachers. We want to make sure that students feel safe and comfortable in our environment.
Teacher of the Week: This week’s teacher of the week is Ms. Griffin! She has been very engaging in activities that would cheer up students. She took time out of her week to organize an amazing performance for the end of term Christmas assembly for all of us to enjoy. Thank you, Ms. Griffin for all the efforts you put into our community!
If you have any suggestions for a future ‘Teacher of the Week’ please make sure you email us at prefects@tbs.edu.np. Tell us who the teacher is and provide a few sentences outlining all of the amazing things they do!
Weekly Prefect Challenge: Since Christmas is in a week’s time we have created a Christmas themed weekly fun challenge for you. This week’s challenge is ‘Where’s Santa’. If you do find Santa, try to make a copy of the image below, put a bright circle around Santa and email the picture to prefects@tbs.edu.np.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Early Years News
Our youngest students have been creating lots of Christmas craft throughout the week. Have a look at Kayleigh’s handprint snowman card, Bilashita Christmas tree and Lucie’s reindeer hat.
The Foundation 2 students listened to Christmas stories, sang Christmas songs and made Christmas decorations like Christmas trees, paper chains, reindeer hats and Christmas cards.
Key Stage 1 News
The Year 1 students have been writing letters to Santa, to share what they have done this year and tell their wishes. Santa clearly enjoyed reading all the lovely letters!
Year 2 have been making and evaluating Christmas wreaths this week- how lovely are Shaurya’s handprint wreath and Laksh’s and Anvi’s wreaths made out of foliage!
Lower Key Stage 2 News
Christmas has come to Year 3, who have been celebrating with a multitude of activities. In World Languages, they have been creating beautiful “Noël” scenes, labelling the objects in French. Meanwhile, an array of snowflakes have appeared on Seesaw in a dazzling display of geometry!
Year 4 has been doing some fantastic writing, creating balanced arguments all about….Christmas. Answering tricky questions such as “Is it better to give or receive Christmas presents?”, “Which is the best Christmas film?”, “If it snowed, would Christmas be better?” and “Should you celebrate Christmas if you are not Christian?”, they have shown great skill using paragraphs to make points clearly for and against an argument.
Upper Key Stage 2 News
What a way to end the term! We have seen the fantastic culmination of several projects happening in Years 5 and 6; going through Seesaw has been a real delight. Year 6 have been working hard on group projects about the American Civil Rights movement, showing their collaborative, creative and resilient sides as they work through scheduling meetings with one another and working together to put together presentations. We await the final results with much anticipation!
Year 5, meanwhile, have been finishing their construction of their Ancient Roman and Greek buildings – a true testament to how creative and resourceful our students are. Well done!
Key Stage 3 News
As we come to the end of the Autumn term, it is great to look back at what Key Stage 3 have achieved. Week in, week out Key stage 3 were churning out pieces of work that they should be really proud of. There were multiple different projects that were being completed across the performing arts, ranging from Vietnamese Puppetry to students creating their own Indonesian Gamelan, Film and Raga or Nepali Folk music. There were students, in Geography, investigating climate change and how it can affect our everyday lives. They looked into the different weather events that can occur due to rising temperatures and the severity of them as they become stronger. In Maths, there were the cross curricular links with Geography, by students measuring areas of colours on a range of different flags. It just demonstrates the vast scope these students are learning about and how it is getting them to make their own decisions and critically think about tough topics.
This week has been no different with the amount of spectacular work that is being produced. In Year 7 French, the students have had a Christmas theme to their work recently. Due to the necessity of getting their letters off to Santa in preparation for the 25th of December, the students were tasked with writing in French. Let’s hope that Santa and his elves understand what has been written!
The past week saw the “Virtually for you” ĢƵ performing arts assembly. It was fantastic to see students from across the whole school uniting together, whilst online, to create a spectacular show for everyone to watch. There were unique pieces that students had created in their curriculum lessons, to excellent solo pieces throughout. It was great to see so many students getting in the Christmas spirit and enjoying performing for the rest of the school.
Throughout Key Stage Three art, there have been some phenomenal pieces that have been created right across the key stage. It is so impressive to see how creative our students have been. Some of the topics they have been looking at are Mexican Dolls, observations of fruit and vegetables and classical roman architecture.
In Year 7 English, the students have been looking at the refugee crisis that is affecting the majority of the world. They have been writing meaningful speeches and having discussions that insight a great deal of critical thought and compassion towards a very difficult subject. They recently created a Jamboard that looks into what they have learnt over the module.
In Music and Performing arts workshops, there has been a great deal happening in the final week of school before Christmas. It was great to listen to the final projects that some students had created. To listen to Kinzal’s final Raga music piece listen . Also the students were tasked with a christmas performance challenge. There were some amazing festive responses that deserve to be shared, especially .
Adding to this, the year 9’s have been finalising their film music by using leitmotifs and tonality to create moods for a film. There were some fantastic ones which would be great for everyone to hear. and were fantastic.
Finally, it goes without saying that I wish you a very merry Christmas and a relaxed break over the next three weeks. Please remember to stay safe but enjoy your time with family and friends!
Our Student of the week goes to Fayaz in Y9. Fayaz has been throwing himself into a range of different things and completing them to the best of his ability. He gives 100% in everything he does and I believe this is the reason so many teachers have been so impressed with him over the last few weeks. So many positive comments have been entered about Fayaz and he produced a fantastic piece of Maths work on the areas of colours in flags. He is a prime student that is maintaining high standards of work even after spending so long online. Well done Fayaz and keep up the great work.
When asked for a piece of advice to give to other students, Fayaz said this:
‘When setting goals for yourself make sure they are doable to your situation and flexible if your situation changes’.
Key Stage 4 News
And it’s here! The last week of Term 2, and what a term is has been! The hard work, determination and resilience of our KS4 students never fails to cease me, and all of these qualities have been in abundance this term.
With this term drawing to a close, the Year 11 students are thinking about their mock examinations, which start in week 2 of Term 3. Their examination timetables will be shared with them after the holidays. Whilst it is important that all students spend time revising during the holidays, it is also important that they take some time off to rest, be with family, and if possible, spend time with their friends. On Monday, there was a useful session with Ms Williams to outline the structure of the mocks and to answer any FAQs. The importance of having effective revision techniques was re-iterated to students.
I would like to congratulate and thank the KS4 students who contributed towards the Performing Arts presentation. While it wasn’t quite the same as being in the school hall as in previous years, it was wonderful to see so many of our students performing; obviously having kept up with their music studies and practise since campus closure. Particular “thank yous” to the following KS4 students for their performances: Abayaa for her recital of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Meghna for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth, Krrish for his singing of “Hey Jude”, Thilini’s award winning performance of Medea and the IGCSE Music composers: Yang, Lhakyi and Aryan, and also to Yang for his beautiful piano recital of “Away in a Manger”.
Included in this week’s assembly, there was a section for KS4 celebrations for all of Term 2. You can see the presentation . Watch the assembly recording for audio-visuals.
In French this week, Year 10 students have been thinking about what would make their household greener. Here are some of their suggestions:
It may be the last week of term, but students have continued to impress their teachers. Here are a few of the comments from this week: Thank you to Meghna and Abayaa for attending our session to begin a diversity review of the ĢƵ curriculum. It is great to see students contributing to teacher learning in this way. Congratulations to Year 10 and 11 Drama students with completing your monologue coursework assessments. As for English, Mr Jamieson has been super happy with all of his Year 10 class.
Miss Howell has said that Niyanta did a great job with her Physics homework. She completed lots of questions and gave lots of detailed explanations. It is very impressive. Miss Howell has also said that Sarbodaya did a great job with his Physics homework. He completed lots of questions and gave lots of detailed explanations. It is very impressive. He also spent time plotting graphs on the computer. And in Psychology, Mr Piaf says that Meghna has made an outstanding contribution, coupled with self-awareness, in lessons. Added to these, she also has a wonderful sense of humour!
This week’s student of the week is Inseok (Isaac) in Year 11. He has received positive comments from many of his teachers including Chinese, DT and Geography. Here is what Isaac has to say:
This is now my 4th year in ĢƵ since I came to Nepal, and I really struggled a lot in studying for the last 3 years as I wasn’t fluent in English. It is important to study and work hard, but it is also important to do something that can relieve stress.
And now for something new!
We have been asking students for their recommendations for student of the month, and I am delighted to inform you that the students’ student of the month for December is…Yang! Well done, Yang!
Here are just some of the reasons he was nominated: He is hardworking; He puts a lot of effort into his work; He helps people to understand any difficulties; He takes time out of his own work to help others; He balances his social and private life very well; He has continued with extracurricular activities of basketball and playing the piano.
It is great to see Yang displaying so many qualities of the 5 Cs. Amazing work and achievements this term from Yang. Keep up the good work!
I look forward to seeing and hearing what our KS4 students will achieve in Term 3! For now though, I wish you all a very happy and safe holiday season, and for those of you who will be celebrating the festive season, “Merry Christmas!”
Key Stage 5 News
Congratulations to our Key Stage 5 students on an absolutely fantastic term. All of your teachers are so proud of how much you have achieved and how you have kept your motivation up despite online learning not being the ideal mode for us all.
I have had some really lovely conversations with you all this week and it is so nice to hear how you have been supporting each other.
I wish you all a fantastic holiday and a happy New Year.
Key Stage 5 Highlights
Students have emailed to suggest who they think deserves student of the week. There are two nominations below, which both highlight how you have been supporting each other with your studies.
Devansh Khetan has been nominated as he has helped another student through their maths and physics work this term. Well done DK!
Seoyun Sin has also been nominated because she has really helped others out in her classes. Students have been really impressed by the effort she puts into her work. Well done Seoyun!
Pad2Go
Arya in Year 12 is an ambassador of Pad2Go, which is an organisation that has created pad dispensers, educates students about menstruation and aims to fight the stigma related to menstruation in Nepal. Pad2Go has started a petition to remove the 13% VAT from the pads and is urging the government to label menstrual products a necessity. Menstrual products are still classified as luxury products in Nepal.
Please follow the here to sign the petition and contact Arya for more information.
Photography Exhibition
Congratulations to Rosin, whose photography has been featured on the virtual exhibition for the FOBISIA Building bridges Competition.
You can see more of the exhibition .
Class of the Term!
Every week Mr. Piaf shares how pleased and impressed he is with the effort and determination of his Year 12 and 13 Psychology students.
This week he was really impressed with Year 13 for arranging and leading Gift Wrapping research project with Year 12 and Year 11 classes. The students met last weekend to plan the event. Mr Piaf was so impressed with how motivating they were to their peers and how the sessions were both inspiration and and educations (as well as lots of fun!)
Santa was really impressed with all your perfect wrapping.
Student of the Week
This week’s student of the week is Shloka Rajbhandary in Year 12. She has been recognised by her teachers for her amazing effort over the past three weeks. She has caught up with and stayed on top of her tasks and has sought extra help outside of her lessons.
Shloka’s advice: “ Life can be extremely difficult sometimes, and you may even want to give up. But always, always remember what you’re doing this for. Keep working hard and it’ll soon be recognized. You got this!! Don’t forget to take breaks because you DESERVE it!”
Click on the image below for the latest FOBISIA Newsletter
This week’s student of the week is Inseok (Isaac) in Year 11. He has received positive comments from many of his teachers including Chinese, DT and Geography. Here is what Isaac has to say:
