Year Group News
Almost there!
Another fortnight has flown by and, unbelievably, we are very close to the winter break! I know that many of you will be spending time with family and friends in your home countries and I know the year 11s are looking forward to the break after a busy term preparing for their IGCSEs. However, they must also remember that their mock exams are after the holidays and ensure that they are fully prepared; I will give more information about this below.
IGCSE Results Celebration
On 17th November we were delighted to welcome parents, staff and students from years 10-12 to celebrate the IGCSE successes of 2016. This was an opportunity for the year 11 students to be inspired by the successes of their year 12 friends and to listen to words of advice from some of our top-achieving students, Jasmine Tang, Amanda Cheng and Eric Chen. However, it was also a moment of pride for several of our year 11 students, who all achieved success in IGCSE exams which they took a year early and who received their certificates from Mrs Wallace in this assembly. Well done to Lovisa Lindquist, Josi Ebeling, Martin Barral, Gaia Becker and Simon Jensen for this fantastic achievement.
The Christmas Bazaar
The Christmas Bazaar is my personal favourite of the year here at NAIS Pudong, and we celebrated it this year on Sunday 27th November. As always, it was a delightfully festive occasion, with Christmas activities of all kinds, stalls selling gifts and cards, a range of delicious foods and drinks and of course a visit from Santa! Although the year 11s were not expected to help out on the stalls, as they are in a crucial year of their education, it was nonetheless great to see a number of them there enjoying the fun with their families and friends.
Mock Exams
As you know, the year 11s and year 13s begin their mock IGCSE exams as soon as we come back to school on Monday 9th January. You will have already received a letter about the arrangements, along with your child’s exam timetable. The students will be having a special assembly on Monday 5th December, run by Mr Majithia, our Exams Officer, during which they will learn more about the expectations for the mocks, and will also be having some study skills sessions in Guidance lessons over the next fortnight.
Please ensure that your child is aware of the importance of the mocks and that they are well-prepared for the challenges they will face. Students should be aiming to revise for at least three hours per day over the holiday period- of course with some days off to relax with their families- and will be given some strategies to help them to manage their revision time to make it more productive.
These exams are absolutely crucial for the students, as they provide the only opportunity for them to practice their exam skills before the summer, and for teachers to give feedback on their performance in an exam situation. We therefore ask that you try to send your children into school every day and only keep them off if they are really ill. Please help them to get plenty of sleep during the exam period as well, as revising late at night is unproductive and can impact on performance.
House update
The House System got off to a flying start this term with the opening ‘Teamwork Thursday’ house competition. Students across the Secondary School competed in many different team-based activities in which house point were awarded to teams who collaborated the best. Dao were the winners of this competition and led the leader board for about a week until the Dodgeball competition, where De house took the overall win that boosted them to the top of the leader board!
De also won the Internationalism Quiz that was run by the Senior Student Leaders, however it was Li house that pushed into the lead. Reason; well, it’s not simply the big competitions that put house points on the board. Students are constantly achieving House Points in class, in and around the school for good work, on an individual basis. These House Points are totalled every two weeks and added to the accumulator. Students in Li house were doing a great job inside the classroom and edged into the lead because of it!
De house soon pushed back into the lead with a win in the Perfect Pylons MIT competition. Though, once again, the battle at the top bounced back to Li after a big win in the Xmas card completion. After the count from Form Tutors this week though, it seems that De house have edged their way back to the top.
Who can predict what will happen next as students will battle it out for the best decorated Christmas tree in the house Christmas Tree competition. Over the next two weeks, students will have the chance to bring in their decorations and place them into the house box. On Friday 9th December, students will have 20 minutes to decorate their tree. The winners will be judged by Mrs Wallace, Mr Lawrence and the Senior Student Leadership team. Good luck to all! Here are the latest scores on the doors:
1st Place De 4529 points
2nd Place Li 4374 points
3rd Place Qi 4095 points
4th Place Dao 3913 Points
Dates for your Diary
Thursday 8th December: Christmas Carol Concert
Friday 9th December: CCAs finish for the term
Friday 16th December: Last day of term 1
Monday 9th January: First day of term 2- Mocks begin
Thursday 26th January- Mocks end
Friday 27th January- Sunday 5th February- Chinese New Year Holiday
Thank you for reading and for your continuing support of year 11. May I take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very happy and relaxing holiday period.
With best wishes,
Anna Whiteson, Year 11 Leader