Our Principal Writes - Nord Anglia Education

Our Principal Writes
"If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he
would go mad or become unstable without knowing it."
Herodotus
A quotation from Ancient Greece this week and Herodotus, who is widely regarded as ‘the father of history’.
This is because he was probably the first historian to really critically evaluate sources before arranging them in
a systematic chronology. As a result, his views on any number of things are of huge relevance and for today
his thoughts on relaxation are surely more appropriate as we move towards the mid-term break.
It is probably wise to reflect on all the hard work that our children have done this term, all the lessons, the
events, the clubs, the sport, the meetings, the music and the homework and reflect that it is probably the
right time to recharge and get themselves ready for the next half term as they all undoubtedly deserve it.
However, none of our children do this without the support of their parents and my thanks to all of you who as
parents always ensure that your children are able to do all of the above. We know just how hard you all work
in ensuring your children are prepared for the challenge of life in a high-achieving school.
Even though you probably don’t get to switch off as your children during the holiday; do try to find some time
to relax yourself during this half term break!
My thanks for your support as always
Stephen
Senior School News
I can’t believe that the first half term is over already although I have to say that I am looking forward to a
short break!
The week before last saw some of our Key Stage 3 students take part in an exciting opportunity where they
got to meet and receive coaching from former Samoan international rugby player Lome Fa’Atau. All of the
students seemed to really enjoy the experience and got a lot out of the time they spent with Lome.
Last Friday was yet another wonderful after-school concert where our students got to showcase their
musical talents. Thank you so much to all of you that support these concerts. It is really important for the
students to get to perform in front of an audience and I am sure that you will agree with me when I say that
we really do have some talented individuals. I look forward to seeing you all at the next concert after half
term.
Our senior assembly this week celebrated poetry week. We got to listen to some of our students reciting
their own poems around the theme of ‘light’. I have to say that I was really impressed with how creative the
students have been. Some of the students also learnt a poem to recite by heart which in front of your fellow
peers is a very brave thing to do.
Many of the poems are on display
outside of Mr. Nelmes’ classroom if
you are in the building and fancy
having a quick read.
I would like to wish you all a
wonderful half term break and I
look forward to seeing you when we
return on Monday 2nd November.
Best wishes,
Caroline Troughton
Head of Secondary
Primary Parents Evening
We look forward to meeting with you and your children on Tuesday 3rd November &
Wednesday 4th November between 16:00 and 19:00. The meetings are designed to
be student-led so it is important that your child be present to lead discussions that
reflect on their effort and progress as well as focus on how they may further enhance
their learning. Children in Early Years classes are not expected to attend these
meetings.
Please note: Clubs for Key Stage 2 will be cancelled on these days.
Please made your bookings online through Moodle by Sunday 1st November at 23:55.
Thank you.
Vikki Alden
Early Years Halloween Fun Day
On Thursday the Early Years children had their Halloween Fun Day. The children and the staff came to school
in fantastic costumes and began the day with Halloween themed activities in their classrooms. In Pre-Nursery,
the children made pumpkin seed pumpkins. Nursery children were busy making paper plate pumpkins and
glass jar ghosts. In Reception, the children were decorating the pumpkins they had brought from their
Pumpkin Farm Trip. The parents sent in some
delicious food which the children shared for
snack. After the outside playtime, the fun
continued with a Halloween music lesson with
Miss Sheonagh and a disco in the theatre. We
saw some fantastic dance moves! What a
fantastic Halloween Fun Day!
Today being the last day of this half term, I
would like to take this opportunity to thank all
the Early Years staff for their hard work, the
children for being such great students and the
parents for their continuous support.
Have a lovely holiday, everyone!
Miss Eliška
Head of Early Years
School Charities for this Year
Over the past few weeks, the primary and senior school students have been voting for the charities they
would like to support this year and over the coming years. The students were presented with four options:
the two charities that we supported last year and two new charities. The voting has now finished and I am
pleased to announce that this year the school will be supporting:
1. Seeway Tanzania
2. Children's Home and School New Straseci
It was a tough decision for the students as we have been supporting the Uganda scholarship programme
and Krč orphanage for a number of years. All of the students that we have sent to school in Uganda have
their scholarships completely paid for so they will be educated for the full six years. Krč orphanage receives
donations from many other companies within Prague so I do not believe that they will lose out. We will
continue to keep our ties with Krč orphanage and welcome them into our school for their regular visits as
we have done for many years.
Below is some information about the new charities and what our funding will go towards.
Seeway Tanzania
This company was set up by two ladies in Tanzania. They have
opened an orphanage, they work with a local school and they help
the local community with building goat sheds so they have a
source of income.
We work with this company when we go to Tanzania for projects
but the money we supply is limited and only used for projects
when the schools go from November – February.
They would like money to support supplying mains electricity to
their orphanage which only has the use of solar panels and a small
generator. This would enable them to have a fridge freezer, bright
light bulbs to enable studying, outside lighting for safety and light
in the evenings.
Children’s Home and School New Straseci
They provide educational, social, and physical care including food, clothing, equipment and materials to
children and young people (aged 3-18) that cannot be raised by their own families and cannot be adopted.
There are 24 children living in three family groups.
Our support would pay for continuing education courses, leisure activities, psychotherapy and a
playground for the younger children.
The money raised from the PSP events throughout the year goes towards the school charities so I hope that
you will support these events as often as possible.
I would just like to say a big thank you to you all for your support with the previous charities and I am sure
you will be just as generous with the new ones.
Caroline Troughton
Head of Secondary
Granny's October 2015
Last weekend new Duke of Edinburgh students had the opportunity of experiencing our traditional training
weekend at a pension in Roudny, Český Ráj, more commonly referred to as “Granny’s”. I, along with other
Year 12 classmates helped the DofE staff Mrs Kobzova, Mr Suchan and Miss Gulliford to prepare the new
Silver and Bronze students for the challenges which the adventurous journey encompasses. These include
map-reading skills with grid references, filling out route cards, and often vital first-aid training.
The map-reading and navigation skills were very quickly put to the test, as they had to find their own way
from the bus stop at Mala Skala through the forest up to Granny’s. After a short break and a lesson on how
to plan a route card, we walked up to Frýdštejn and then up the look-out tower. The new students did very
well at this. One commonly finds that on these hikes, teachers will be the most unhelpful people there, as
they will simply follow the group led by the trainees! They ask “Are you sure that this is what you planned?
Shouldn’t you be checking the map?” but won’t say “You’re going the wrong way” unless there is a train to
catch or it’s getting dark. From an outsiders point of view it can be quite enjoyable to watch the group walk
in the wrong direction, only to realise 1km later that they need to go back!
The first aid training here at Granny’s is renowned for its practical applications,
as can be seen in some of the photos. While Mrs Kobzova and Mr Suchan get the
“special effects’ ready, the new students get a theory lesson in first aid. They
answer correctly and calmly in this relaxed situation but once the “injured”
showed up, the difference in performance was quite spectacular!
Nevertheless the experiences gained from all the hard work do pay off, when it
comes to the final expedition and then actually receiving the Duke of Edinburgh
award.
Jakub, Year 12
This week students in Years 1 – 8 have had the opportunity to take part in the World Education Games. The
World Education Games is a global online event which is held annually in October, the event was originally
World Maths Day, but it has been expanded to include World Literacy and World Science Day too. The first
event in this format was held in 2012 with nearly 6 million students from 240 countries and territories taking
part. The World Education Games are run by the global e-learning provider 3P Learning, the creators of
Mathletics, Spellodrome and IntoScience. The winners of each year group in our school were.
Year
1
2
4
5
6
7
8
Position
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
Mathematics
Amelie Newby
Marek-Lev Kuganek
Alan Patek
Ovanes Koliyev
Gabriela Zachovalova
Frantisek Ondrich
Hubert Szykula
Jan Zapletal
Elouan Santrain
Arthur Chumak
Nicholas Mesicki
Ivan Bartonicek
Jakub Skyslak
Liam Radford
Sasa McKee
Lilly Alden
David Livshin
Olga Polyakova
Jessica Lee
Evgeny Sharogradskiy
Hye Bin Nam
Spelling
Amelie Newby
Overall
Amelie Newby
Isabelle Newby
Madhusri Josyule
Szonja Engeleitter
Neyam Habib
Isabelle Newby
Madhusri Josyule
Szonja Engeleitter
Milena Sergeeva
Jakub Skyslak
Nicholas Drakopoulos
Lilly Alden
Olga Polyakova
Rashteen Siddique
Jakub Skyslak
Milena Sergeeva
Nicholas Drakopoulos
Lilly Alden
Olga Polyakova
Rashteen Siddique
Congratulations to the winners in each year group, and to all the students who took part in the event.
In Year 4 Mathematics Hubert was not only just the winner in the school he finished 71 st out of all the Year 4
students in the world. A truly amazing achievement and one worthy of a very special mention!
My thanks also go to Mr Alden for promoting this event within the Primary School, and for producing all the
winners’ certificates, and to Mr MacGregor for ensuring that all the students had access to the competition.
Year 10 teaching in Primary
On Wednesday, Year 10 French students visited the
Year 1 classroom to teach them some French. During
this session Year 1 students could learn numbers,
animals, colours or days of the week.
The Year 10 students showed excellent initiative in
planning their session and activities whilst Year 1
students were great and enthusiastic learners.
"I really liked teaching Year 1 French. I would maybe
want to do that again". Behruz
" Je pense que c'était amusant et intéressant." Ivan
"Mercredi, j'ai visité l'année 1. Je pense que c'était bien mais trop court." Jachym
"I liked playing with the children. I've never seen kids who are so clever, especially a little girl with an
amazing memory. I would like to do it again." Sara
Booking clubs on Moodle
As you may be aware, we have had some technical issues arise with regards to the booking of clubs on
Moodle for next half term. Booking portal is now open. All parents are requested to make new bookings for
their children; your child’s bookings for this half term have now been removed. However, external paid
clubs that have been signed up to for the term will remain unchanged.
If you have any problems or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] .
My best regards
Vikki Alden
Austrian Ball - Thursday 21 January
We would like to invite parents to the Austrian Ball which is taking place on Thursday the 21st of January at
the Žofín Palace. This is an exclusive opportunity to visit this beautiful venue, listen to some great classical
music and even practice your ballroom dancing skills. Several EISP students might be taking part in the
opening of the Ball!
“The festive opening of the Austrian Ball will take place
in the Large Hall, in which our grand orchestras will
ensure a perfect atmosphere for the entire evening. At
the buffet selection, you will find a range of Viennese
delicacies from “Würstel” to “Tafelspitz.” At the
neighbouring Taittinger Champagne Lounge, you can
enjoy a glass of Champagne and tapas.
The Discotheque in the Small Hall with its hot beats will,
as always, be very inviting. Last, but not least, you
absolutely cannot miss the Wiener Café Bar, an original
combination of a traditional Viennese Café with a
modern cocktail bar.”
Click here to find out more about the event.
Parents can either purchase a ticket for CZK 1600 to stand or pay extra to sit at a table. We estimate a total
of approx. CZK 3200 to sit at an EISP table. Student tickets are CZK 200. If you wish to attend the Austrian
Ball and sit at a table please contact Joyce Rogers on [email protected] as soon as possible so
we can secure tables. A deadline will be set for the payment later.
PSP Halloween event
The next big PSP event is only 2 weeks away – the Halloween Night on the 7th November from 4 – 7pm.
There is a lot to look forward to – great food (including a vegetarian option), fun games, Arts & Crafts, and
fireworks! Tickets cost CZK200 for adults and CZK100 for children and they are now on sale. You can
purchase them in main reception or in the playground around pick up and drop off.
We are still looking for volunteers who can help us prior or during the event. The volunteer sheets are in
main reception (on the notice board) so please do sign up if you can help, even half an hour is
great! Alternatively, we can also arrange this via email – I can send you the list of activities for which we
need helpers and you can email me back to let me know what you want to do and at what time.
Thank you in advance!
Katka ([email protected]) and the PSP
Coffee Morning this week
Many thanks to our Korean families for a great Korean style breakfast!
Global Orchestra - DVD now available in our libraries
Yes, we're still full of information about the Global Orchestra from July. This week we received the official
DVD of the concert. The selection of music for this concert was a great mix of popular and classical music
and I recommend the recording to all. For this, we have put a copy of the DVD in the library so it is freely
available to all students and families.
Nord Anglia Juilliard Performing Arts Programme
We are looking forward to our upcoming visit with the senior curriculum developer from Juilliard, Andrew
Roitstein who will be visiting our school on the 9th-11th November. Parents will be able to meet and chat
with him on our Coffee Morning as well as in a special after school concert which will be moved to Tuesday
10th November instead of the scheduled 13th November.
EISP Instrumental Programme
We are happy to announce the beginning of our voice lessons with teacher Sarka Coleman after the
holidays. If you are interested in these or any other instrumental lessons with our teachers in piano,
clarinet, recorder, guitar, violin and drums, please contact Mrs Donaldson.
Social media
Please do listen to our examples of students performances on our soundcloud page.
New this week : Year 2 performing Frere Jacques on the keyboards
https://soundcloud.com/cartseisp/frere-jacques-year-2-2015
Frere Jacques Year 2 2015
soundcloud.com
Year 2 performing Frere Jacques in 2 parts as
part of their keyboard skills work.
We also have our twitter account and there is a short video of our Early Years students singing their
Hallowe'en song this week.
https://twitter.com/eisp_music/status/657272433796390912
music eisp on Twitter
twitter.com
“Hallowe'en's coming to EISP. Early years'
favourite Hallowe'en song to start off their
Hallowe'en disco. Boo!
https://t.co/cTonedNmEG”
Sheonagh Donaldson
Music Leader
Primary Library News
Here are some of our new arrivals in the Primary Library:
- Echo / Pam Munoz Ryan
- The factory- made boy / Nostlinger Christine
- The first moon landing / Clements Gillian
- Shaun the Sheep movie DVD
- The Boxtrols DVD
Would you like to check your child's loans? Access your child's account online via
http://library.eisp.cz/oliver. To obtain your password, please email us at [email protected]
 If you would like to see more of our new books, Library updates and Library activities, please visit
our Facebook page at EISP Primary Library and EISP Senior Library
Senior Library News
Here are some of the new books & DVDs in your Senior Library
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Young Sherlock, book 2 (Red leech) and book 3 (Black ice) / Lane, Andy
Metro 2034. Book 2 / Glukhovsky, Dmitry
Where she went / Forman, Gayle
Mesopotamia / Steele, Philip
The world's wife, Carol Ann Duffy : notes / Duffy, Carol Ann, Green, Mary
Wild DVD
The Kite Runner DVD
…..and many more.
To display all the new books please go to our online catalogue http://library.eisp.cz/oliver
‘Like’ our Facebook page to receive updates about new books and events
https://www.facebook.com/seniorEISPlibrary
EISP STARS
Marcell 1F
Volkan 1F
Szonya 4J
Kaan 5G
George 5G
Toby 3D
Misa 3D
Jana 4J
Mila 4J
Matyas 1D
Paolo 3D
Eva 3D
Pakteen 2TL
Alan 1D
Risa 3D
Jonas 3D
Cheng Yin 3D
Oliver 4J
Madhusri 4J
Isabelle N 4J
Tamara 4J
Alexey 2TL
Caterina 2TL
Asia 4J
EISP CERTIFICATES
Pre Nursery
Cecilia - for being an amazing dancer at our Halloween disco.
Nursery
John - for trying hard to do things right and for accepting the views of others.
Elias - for trying hard to follow instructions and respecting the teachers requests.
Reception
Theodore - for having a positive attitude to learning and being a risk taker about trying new activities.
Yi Liang - for being enthusiastic about completing his work activities.
Year 1
Afsoon Tohiri - for fantastic artwork
Marcell Engelleiter - for his ever present smile and football kit designs.
Alan Patek - for his enthusiasm for school.
Kautic Arora - for being an enthusiastic digital leader.
Year 2
Pakteen - for fantastic reading this week.
Nazar - for amazing topic work about the oceans of the world.
Gabriela - for amazing work in computing this term.
Zeki - for writing a great poem about 'Sweet Things'.
Party piňata