Newsletter No 93 - November 2015

Dear Parents & School Community
Deepavali Assembly
We would like to wish our Hindu students and their families a “Happy Deepavali” ahead of the
festival next Tuesday. The School will also be closed from Monday 9th to Wednesday 11th
November and classes will resume as normal on Thursday 12th. The School held a Deepavali
Assembly today which started with lighting the oil lamp, followed by the story of Deepavali and of
course, students dancing traditional, modern dance performances. It was a delight to watch their
enthusiasm and excitement. Some students joined in the festivities by dressing up in traditional
Deepavali costumes. It would be great if the entire community embraced cultural events by dressing
up. Our Vision is all about celebrating with one another, our similarities, our differences. The
Administration Department and some parents joined in with the assembly too, thus bringing
together the School community. These celebrations are in line with our Vision “United World At
Peace – Through Education” as we encourage our students to celebrate and appreciate the
different festivities in Malaysia and around the world.
Open Day
Last Saturday was our Open Day at Meru Campus. Some
parents came from as far as Cameron Highlands and Penang
to see the School! The teachers from each section of the
School put up displays and interactive activities so visitors
had an opportunity to see what and how our students learn in
School. Visitors were able to try out activities and ask
questions from teachers and student involved. We wish to
thank all our staff, students and parents who came to support
this event.
Read Write Inc (RWI) Information Session & Assigned Workbook to Purchase
We had a great response from Years 1 & 2 parents for the RWI Information Session on Thursday.
It was held in the Library and approximately 80 parents were present. It was a most informative,
practical session. During the talk we explained that students would be placed into groups and
parents would be informed of which workbook to purchase from the Bookshop. We will notify you in
due course when the groups have been finalised. These groupings are not fixed and will be fluid to
cater for your child’s rate of progress.
Opera Concert by Japanese Musicians on Sunday 8th November – All Welcome
On Sunday, Tenby Schools Ipoh will be hosting a concert from visiting musicians from Japan who
will be performing a mixture of popular Italian opera arias and duets as well as Japanese and Italian
songs. We encourage our students and their parents to come experience this wonderful
performance. Admission is free of charge.
Health and Safety
In our drive to improve the health and safety standards in our school, we have completed the
following items in the past month:
The gates (which are now
set back from the road) to
the crossing between Block
A & Block B (PIC) have
been moved.
Railings have been installed
next to the slopes at the front of
Swimming Pool entrance and
also the Admin Building
entrance.
Railings around the Campus
have been given a fresh coat of
paint.
Hand sanitisers have been
installed in every classroom from
Early Years to Year 6 and KSSR
1 to KBSR 6.
Students are asked to sanitise
their hands 3 times a day; when
they come into the classroom in
the mornings, after break and after
lunch.
Students Taking Responsibility for their Actions
At Tenby, we encourage students to make sensible choices/decisions instead of relying on an adult
to do this for them. Regretfully, three students were involved with making poor decisions where they
entered the Canteen fridge area despite it being cordoned off after hours. As such, these students
suffered the consequences of their decision to do this including one that had an internal
suspension.
Security - Identity (ID) Tags, Photography/Video/Voice Recordings &
Primary Pick-Up Arrangements
You will notice signs around the campus asking visitors to wear their ID tags
and reminders to not to take photographs/videos or voice recordings without
permission. Please help us by wearing your ID tags visibly in School. We
need everyone in the community to follow the expectation so that we can
verify unauthorised persons on site. As we are safety conscious we will
challenge persons without visible authorised ID.
Primary students’ parents have been given a coloured piece of paper with
their child’s name and class on it. This is to expedite pick up at the end of the School day. Please
remember to place this on your dashboard prominently when entering the School.
Appointments with Staff
Please remember that staff are happy to meet parents with a prior appointment. This can be
arranged via e-mail to the respective School Secretary, telephone call or via the Student Planner.
Once classes have begun (even during registration time), teachers are expected to be focussed on
their students and should not be disturbed or interrupted.
Remembrance Day
On Wednesday 11th November, it will be Remembrance Day. This is a memorial day observed in
Commonwealth of Nations where since the end of the First World War we remember the members
of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty. World War I ended ‘at the 11th hour of the 11th
day of the 11th month’. Traditionally a minute’s silence is observed at 11:00hrs on this day. Let us
not forget those who have fought for our future.
Tenby Community Survey
Lastly, The Tenby Community survey will be sent out to parents next week. We value your feedback
so please try to find 20 minutes to fill in the survey. The survey is an online survey. If parents do not
have access to a computer, they may telephone the Office to make an appointment to use one of
the School laptops in Reception. We hope you will participate and give us your feedback.
As next week is a two day week, there will be no Newsletter published until Friday 20th November.
Enjoy the long weekend and Happy Deepavali again.
Jane Kuok
Campus Principal
Check out the fashion for the day…..
On the 14th of September, the students of KBSR 6 had their first project after their UPSR
examinations. The project was about the Seven Wonders of the World. Both of the
classes, KBSR 6A and 6B combined and all the students were divided equally into six
groups. Each of the groups were assigned one of the seven wonders through a lucky
draw. They had to build their given wonder using everyday household objects and
materials. Every group used clay in their structure. Structures were judged based on the
team’s creativity, teamwork, behavior and cleanliness. Group 4, known as “The White
Shining Stars” with their creation of the Pyramids of Giza emerged victorious.
Project on progress:
We’ll make this pyramid look fabulous!
This Golden Gate Bridge isn’t easy to make...
Taj Mahal under construction.
Measuring the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Happiness is in the air when you are constructing
the Great Wall of China
We’re working on the Machu Picchu
Here are our 3-D models:
Great Wall of China
Golden Gate Bridge
Taj Mahal
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Pyramids of Giza
Machu Picchu
THANK YOU!!
News from Tenby Early Years Centre Ipoh (TEYCI)
Parents’ Forum (Tuesday, 03.11.15 & Wednesday, 04.11.15)
Thank you to the parents who participated in the Year Group Forum. It was lovely to see you
there and the feedback from you was very positive. We explained that the purpose of the
forum was to answer queries from parents as well as to gather feedback on general matters.
Individual concerns regarding students or individual staff members should be directed at a
personal level to the school as we think that discussing individuals publicly would be
unprofessional. There was good communication and sharing between parents and the School
Leadership Team. For those of you who did not attend, a summary of the questions that were
raised and the school’s response will be emailed to you.
Deepavali Assembly (Thursday, 05.11.15)
The Deepavali celebration is just around the corner. Tenby Early Years Centre Ipoh, the
teachers as well as the children prepared many exiting activities in anticipation for the
Deepavali celebration this year.
The display boards have interesting Deepavali decoration and includes the children’s work.
Today was a very interesting day as we held our school Deepavali assembly. The children
worked hard alongside the teachers to put up performances that bring joy and meaning to
this celebration.
The Nursery children sang a Deepavali song in English while the Reception classes danced
to a song using rhythm sticks. The Year 1 students performed a role play on the story of
Rama and Sita. We had a wonderful celebration in school with children and teachers dancing
and singing along.
Wishing all of you a very ‘Happy Deepavali’ and may this occasion bring joy to all of you.
Classroom News
Toddlers – Little Dolphins & Little Nemos
Threading the beads.
Art session on fern printing.
Nursery - Little Tulips & Little Daffodils
The tastiest toast in town by Little Daffodils and Little Tulips… Yummy!
Would you like to taste some?
Reception - Little Davinci’s
We are going for a “Pattern Walk”.
Reception - Little Einstein’s
This activities are based on Read, Write Inc. Phonics on the ‘h’ sound in action.
Year 1A
Children are making a peapock for Deepavali ‘Art & Craft’.
We Are What We Eat
In Year 2 Blue, we have been continuing to learn about food
this week through our current IPC topic, ‘We Are What We
Eat’.
In Science, we continued learning about
the five main food groups and how it is
important that we have balanced meals
when we eat. We thought about why each
food group is helpful to us, but we need to
ensure that we eat the right amount of
each food group to stay healthy.
In groups, we looked at a typical meal we
eat for dinner and placed the foods into
the correct food groups. Then, we made
graphs to show which types of food we eat
more of at dinner time.
We have started to look at exercise and how we need to have regular physical
activity alongside eating balanced meals to stay healthy.
In ICT, we learnt about the importance of making plans before starting our work
on computers. We looked at some food posters and discussed what we liked
about them and what we didn’t like about them. Then, we drew our own food
poster on A4 paper. Each poster had to have a border, simple word patterns,
colours and exciting shapes.
Below are some of the food posters we have drawn:
Sarara
Shimizu
Nimue
Daniel Farish
Warner
Mogamaraju
We will start making our posters using Microsoft Word in our next ICT lesson.
In Art, we learnt how we can use food to make interesting pieces of art. We took some dough
and made some models of food. In our next Art lesson, we will paint our models and talk about
what we have done with our classmates.
Written by Mr Andrew Hamilton. Class Teacher of Year 2 Blue
Deepavali Artwork By Year 4 students
Chicken Briyani
by Praenaay of Year 9 Yellow
Roti Tissue
by Darlene of Year 9 Blue
Burger Set
by Norlisa of Year 9 Blue
Mee Goreng
by Ashley of Year 9 Blue
Fried Noodle
by Xin Yin of Year 9 Blue
Spaghetti
by Joel Year 9 Green
Wantan Mee
by Sean Year 9 Green
Poor Man’s Dinner
by Andrew of Year 9 Yellow
JSKL Football Competition
On the 31st of October 2015, our boy’s football school team ‘Tenby Titans’ went to the Japanese School of Kuala
Lumpur to play in a tournament with teams from Kuala Lumpur. Our squad of 14 players was the smallest in the
tournament and I believe that we played exceptionally well in the tournament.
We played a total of 5 games against very strong and fearless teams, they were not easy games. Even though we
lost our first match 1-0, to a very dubious offside decision we didn’t give up. In fact, it made us had even more
determination and teamwork that it helped us win the subsequent matches. Overall we ended in the medal
positions by finishing 3rd winning 2 games, drawing 1 and losing 2, which were to the 1st and 2nd place teams.
Our first time goal keeper Eamonn did an incredible job in goal. Our defence line's offside trap proved to be
organised and solid throughout and my partner at centre back, Irvin Lam, tackled well and stayed strong. Our
central midfielder, Li Jie did protected the defensive line and organised the midfield, plus he also assisted lots of
our goals. Our left and right back did a marvellous job as Khee Yaw assisted Nabil with a long range counter attack
clearance and Zul Irwan scored a halfway line free kick, as well as an assist to Rashwin's excellent headed goal.
Our CF, Rashwin almost scored a hat trick in one game, but a goal was ruled out for offside.
Our coach, Mr. Darren managed the team very well with lots of tactics and gave us a solid formation of 4-2-3-1 that
helped us in our neat and powerful counter attacking football. Everyone else in our team did a very good job and I,
as a captain, am very proud of my team. It was a long and tiring day of tournament football. I am proud to be the
captain and excited about our wonderful team and I know the squad of players are on the verge of great things
with a great team spirit and the tactical guidance and motivation from Mr. Darren.
By Danaraj
Sixth Form Higher Education Counseling Session
“Know yourself: What are you best at doing?”
Mr. Khoo Eng Sing, Corporate Trainer from INTI International College, Subang conducting his group dynamics session with
Tenby Sixth Formers
On 11th September, representatives from INTI International College, Subang, arrived at the footsteps of our school
to give a motivational session on “KNOWING YOURSELF: What Are You Best at Doing?” The aim was to help us
understand our strengths and know what kind of person we are. The session was spiced with typical Malaysian
humour and the trainers had a captivated Sixth Form audience.
The session started with us being given a sheet of paper, with all sorts of different activities. We were asked to tick
those we enjoyed. After that, our choices then determined what kind of personality we were supposed to have. We
were then introduced to the RIASEC code, which identified six different personalities. From our results, we were
showed the kind of career paths and courses we were supposedly best suited for according to the test outcome.
Badges matching our personalities were also handed out.
At our age, many of us are still unaware of what to pursue in our later life. This session was very beneficial and
informative, allowing us to get to know ourselves at a deeper level.
We wish to thank Mr. Khoo Eng Sing, the leader of the team from INTI International College, for the highly interesting and thought-provoking session shared with us.
by Shuan (Cohort 12, Sixth Form)
Identity
The Cohort 12 English Literature class is currently studying a
semi-autobiographical novel ‘The Namesake’ by Jhumpa Lahiri which,
presents a Bengali couple (Ashoke and Ashima) who moved from Calcutta to
America. As time elapses and Ashima’s first child is born, she faces misery and
hardships in having to raise Gogol alone without an extended network of family
support. Unaccustomed to the vast contrasts between the American and Indian
culture, Ashima is helplessly stuck in being forced to live in a country which is
completely foreign to her, a country whose culture she has no intentions of
adopting. Hence she confronts a massive sense of alienation and loneliness.
Her husband immerses himself in the American culture, whist appreciating his
own but their son Gogol, finds the Indian culture inferior to all things American,
rejects his heritage and loathes his name. The book explores the way our
identities are developed over time, and the impact of being a ‘Third culture kid’.
(TCK).
At times, it is a fairly abstract novel because there are complex Sociological
and Psychological themes being explored. However, we have been able to
take a realistic exploration of the novel because we were given a wonderful
opportunity to speak to a third culture kid (TCK).
Ms. Jane Kuok, our new Principal is a TCK born in England, but whose parents originated from Malaysia, and
Singapore but are also of Chinese origin. This is broadly similar with the character in our book, and we were keen to
draw comparisons between Lahiri’s view point and Ms. Kuok’s. She kindly allowed us to ask her some fairly personal
questions about her biography, and the following has been influenced by her responses along with Lahiri, and the
eminent Social Psychologists Erikson (1959) who specializes in TCK’s and identity development.
Erikson (2008) claims that adolescence marks a crucial phase in a person’s development as they go through a
process of establishing who they are within and who they are vis-à-vis society. Jensen (2008, P.4). This identity
development can often be a difficult process, especially for TCK. This is similar to the protagonist of the novel, Gogol.
Ms. Kuok was asked, like Gogol, if she too felt alienated from her parent’s country and culture. Her father is Chinese,
but she does not speak Mandarin. She said she wasn’t, and that when in Malaysia, she is often homesick for England
as she was born there. She said she has learned to appreciate her parent’s culture though and the different culture
of her husband. At one level, (TCK) knowledge of multiple cultures as well as attending international schools means
that many TCKs have a more sophisticated expanded world view (Fail, Thompson, & Walker, 2004) and this seemed
to fit with Ms. Kuok’s approach to her own identity. She presents herself as English, with an understanding of her
other cultural influences, and seems confident in who she is. This differs with the central character, Gogol in Lahiri’s
novel, as he is conflicted about his heritage, often feeling ashamed.
In the case of TCKs, there is the added factor of rootlessness (which is the main issue distressing Gogol). Ms. Kuok
has Malaysian and Singaporean ancestry but is detached from these countries, thus according to Erikson, her “home
is everywhere and nowhere because she is able to make a foreign place her home” (Erikson 2008) even if she
identifies with one of the 3 countries. She seems able to move between cultures and countries with ease, and this fits
with Erikson’s view that TCK adapt quickly.
When Gogol is at school, he sets aside his Indian heritage so that he can integrate and ‘belong’ to his peers to avoid
being singled out as ‘different’. We asked Ms. Kuok if she was ever bullied at school. Her response was an emphatic
“No”. This could be because she was a confident child unlike Gogol who is insecure about his identity.
Often TCK who grow up in the West demonstrate considerable confidence, in contrast those outside the
Western-sphere which strongly suggests Western hegemony plays a fairly dominant role in developing a positive
identity’ (ibid), and seems to reflect the attitude portrayed by Ms. Kuok, and in some of her responses.
Towards the end of the book, Gogol comes to a realization that his parents’ culture holds value and is in many ways
is much more sophisticated than the Western one and he begins to appreciate his parents’ heritage. He also
develops an awareness of his own cultural identity, and does not feel hostile towards it, but is rather proud of his
cultural diversity. He finally finds an identity he is at peace with.
It is apt that we are reading this book right now since we have Deepavali coming up which is a traditional Indian
cultural event not just for Indians, but for Malays, and Chinese too. Indians especially celebrate their festivities as it
allows them and their children to acknowledge who they are (Identity). In Malaysia, we see that it is positive, not
negative (like Gogol) to belong to such a range of divers rich cultural traditions. We hope that Ms. Kuok enjoys the
way we at Tenby celebrate this tradition too. Thank you Ms Kuok, and Ms Diane. Enjoy Deepavali!
Campus Principal Ms. Jane Kuok with the Cohort 12 English Literature students: Phoebe, Shih Liz, Lydia.