Date: September 1st 2014

Our NISC Vision: Inspiring ethical, respectful and compassionate global leadership.

Issue: Eighteen

Featured artist: Piseth, Gr 5, "Cubist Sculpture"

NISC Joins the Nord Anglia Education Family of Schools

Message from the School Head, Steve Paterson

Who is Nord Anglia Education?

Nord Anglia Education is the

leading operator of international

premium schools. Nord Anglia

Education has 29 schools in China,

Europe, North America, the Middle

East and South East Asia. Many of

the schools teach the IB

programme.

What’s happened?

NBC have signed an agreement with Nord Anglia

Education to operate and manage the school, with the

existing school administration.

Why? What are the benefits?

Nord Anglia Education is the fastest growing IB

organization, with 18,500 students around the world.

Nord Anglia will bring experience, resources and

knowledge, training and professional development

which will benefit our teachers and ultimately our

students. NISC students will have access to Global

Classroom, an online network of Nord Anglia students

from all over the world. Global Classroom allows

students to debate ideas, share information and learn

from each other.

Nord Anglia Education has a program called Nord Star

which dedicates resources to community and service

programs, involving students, all over the world. There

are also an increasing number of Nord Anglia

Education student events around the world.

Why now?

Nord Anglia Education recognized NISC as a good school

with tremendous potential. As the school develops the

campus and the educational programmes we offer, and

as Cambodia develops its economy, this is a good time

for NISC to become part of a larger group of educators.

Being part of the Nord Anglia Education group is the next

step in our evolution as an international school.

What will change?

NISC will become a more international school with links

to other schools around the world. We can make our

teaching and service even better than they already are.

Nord Anglia Education is committed to improving

academic standards and results.

What’s happening with Northbridge Communities?

Northbridge Communities (NBC) remains in its present

form and will continue to manage the Community and

develop the remaining housing land. The school will still

share facilities with Northbridge Communities, and

catering services will still be provided by them.

Where can I find out more?

If you want more information on Nord Anglia Education

the website is a good place to start:

www.nordangliaeducation.com

We are very pleased to announce that Northbridge International School Cambodia has become part of the Nord Anglia Education global group of schools. We know that you probably have questions about this, and we try to answer some of them here. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to speak with Mr. Steve Paterson or Mr. Andrew Duke who is in school from Nord Anglia Education assisting with the transition.

W elcome to the 2014-2015 school year! This year at NISC promises to be a

great one as we join the Nord Anglia Education family of schools. In this

edition of the Mekong Messenger you will find more information on

Nord Anglia Education as well as updates on construction, the new NISC website and

safety and security improvements. As a school, NISC is relentless in our efforts to

provide the best education possible for our students. The improvements currently

underway and planned for the next few months are a reflection of that commitment.

As always, we thank you for choosing NISC and entrusting us with your children.

Welcome to Ms. Cherry Rose Barnuevo, who has

joined NISC as the school nurse. Ms. Cherry Rose is

an internationally certified registered nurse (RN) with

experience in a variety of clinical and educational

settings. We are very pleased to have Ms. Cherry

Rose join our team in providing the best possible

care to our students.

Congratulations to Sojung, who has been selected as a recipient of an EARCOS Global Citizen Community Service award. Sojung has been awarded $500 to continue her community service work.

EARCOS Executive Director Dr. Richard Krajczar said, “Your community service involvement is highly commendable, and as an organization that encourages student involvement and global-mindedness EARCOS wants to encourage your continued efforts with this grant.”

Would you like to recommend a teacher, a member of

staff or a student to appear on this page?

Please send your recommendation to info@nisc.edu.kh

Members of the Student Council visited the Cambodian

Children's Fund at the end of the last school year, to

donate $6000 raised by the 24 Hour Challenge. They

also distributed books they had collected for

classrooms.

See page 12 for news of this year’s STUCO activities.

We love to hear about the successes of our graduates and former teachers. We’ve set up the NISC Alumni Network on Facebook and Linked In to keep in touch with former NISC stars.

Construction Update

Construction of the new Early Learning Center and Hub

buildings continues on schedule with completion

planned for the first quarter of 2015. The Early

Learning Center is similar in construction to the

Primary buildings and will provide large, purpose built

classrooms for our youngest learners. The outdoor

learning areas and playground will give them plenty of

safe outdoor space to learn and grow.

The Hub building, containing a two floor library, central

administrative space and a parent café will become the

main entrance for visitors to NISC during the daytime.

The library promises to become the center, or “hub”,

of the school as we continue to develop our culture of reading. The parent café is intended to give parents a place

to meet, make new friends and relax when they come to pick up their children.

Safety and Security

ID Cards

The safety and well-being of our students is our primary focus at NISC. We have been working with our security

team, with feedback from Nord Anglia Education, to improve the security practices at NISC. You will see more

security staff and new procedures implemented over the coming weeks. Please support our efforts by wearing

you NISC ID anytime you visit the campus and insuring that your family caregivers do the same. Our security staff

will be asking you to sign in to access the campus and get a visitor badge if you do not have a NISC ID clearly

displayed.

To get a NISC ID, for parents or caregivers, please come to the NISC main office with a passport photo and copy

of your passport or national ID card and we will be happy to print one for you.

Driving and Parking

The parking lots are often busy spaces that can be dangerous if all drivers do not obey the rules. Please remind all

drivers to follow the posted signs and NISC security staff at all times. The parking lot is an extremely busy place in

the mornings and afternoons and we want to keep all of our

community safe.

In the interest of the safety of all our school community members, it

is NISC policy that any student driving onto campus MUST hold a

valid Cambodian driving license and be at least 18 years of age. A

copy of the student’s driving license must be given to the school

office.

Welcome to the new NISC website

In June 2014 NISC launched a new website with the

same address: www.nisc.edu.kh. The new NISC website

provides a wealth of information about our school to

current and prospective parents.

The website features a parent portal which give parents

quick and easy access to the relevant information. A tab

on the right of the home screen brings you to the

member area. The username and password for parents

has been sent home in a separate communication. If

you did not receive it or have misplaced it, please email

the school (info@nisc.edu.kh) to receive it.

The school calendar, links to Primary and Secondary

school sites, teacher pages, library links and lunch

menus are all just a click away in the parent portal. The

design of the website is intended to give more timely

and accurate information to parents and improve

communications.

Free and legal software

The International Society for Technology in Education

(www.iste.org/STANDARDS) has developed a set of

standards for learning in the digital age. These are now

widely recognized and adopted worldwide, and here at

NISC they are the backbone of our essential skills for the

use of technology in the secondary school.

Recently in a Grade 9 class we discussed Standard 5a

“safe, legal and responsible use of technology”, and how

this related to using illegal software. The students then

worked collaboratively to create a list of software that

could be downloaded for free (for either a Mac or Win-

dows platform) and which would allow our students to

“exhibit leadership for digital citizenship” (Standard 5d).

With the following, easily downloaded software on their

devices, Secondary students will be able to use their

technology creatively, effectively and legally.

Browsing

Mozilla Firefox

Google Chrome

Word Processor/Presentation

Open Office (word processing, spreadsheet, draw-

ing, database and presentation)

LibreOffice

Communication

Skype

ooVoo (group video chatting without cost)

Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader

Graphics

Gimp

Paint (Windows) or Paintbrush (Mac)

Technical Drawing

Sketchup

AutoCad (free student download available) Coding

Scratch

Game Salad

Please send feedback about the website or the Parent Portal to Abigail Gilbert, our Communications &

Marketing Director.

From the Primary School

It has been a wonderful beginning to the school year. Students are happy and learning! Classes are settled into the routines that promote both safety and learning for our students.

Home-School Partnership

A focus for our Primary School this year is to improve home-school communication and collaboration with parents. We believe that the success of your child’s education depends on the close and invaluable partnership between school and home. To improve this partnership, parents need to be know what their children are learning at school as well as how well they are performing. We will introduce some new ideas to provide parents with this information and to build stronger relationships between home and school. Here are some of the initiatives for the first month of school: Open School Evening: Thank you to all the parents that attended the Open School Evening event! We had a great turn out, approximately 70% of our parents came to these presentations. The purpose of this evening was to meet the teachers and other parents and to learn about the school curriculum. Hopes and Dreams Conferences: Thank you as well to all the parents who have attended these parent-teacher conferences. They are designed for teachers to learn about students from the parents and for parents to express their hopes and dreams for their children.

Class Websites and Weekly Newsletters: Starting Friday 29th August 2014, Primary School parents will be able to access their children’s class newsletter on the class websites. The class websites also allow parents to view curriculum documents for each grade level and the classes’ schedules and calendar.

How parents can access class websites: 1. Teachers send emails to parents every week alerting them that a newsletter has been posted. 2. Parents can go to the Parent Portal on our school website.

Math Individual Profile of Progress: At the end of each Math Unit parents will receive a copy of their child’s math test along with an Individual Profile of Progress (IPOP). IPOPs let parents know the Math unit’s goals and children’s level of achievement on each of these goals. The level of achievement will be based on how well children perform during the unit as well as in the test. More information about the Individual Profile of Progress will be send home shortly alongside your child’s first Math test.

Primary Parent Presentations: This year we continue Primary Parent Presentations on a range of topics. Presentations will be on Tuesday mornings in the Library. Our first Primary Parent Presentation this year will be facilitated by Shauna Cottrell, a literacy consultant who has been working with our teachers and students for the past year.

Primary Academic Focus for School Year 2014-2015

This year our academic school improvement focus will continue to be Mathematics and Reading. It is our goal to improve our students’ skills both in these areas of learning. We will fully implement Math In Focus, a Singapore Approach program, to improve our students’ Math Skills. To continue improving our students’ reading skills we will continue to fully implement “Readers’ Workshop”. Please attend the upcoming Primary Parent Presentation to learn more about the Readers’ Workshop.

What else is new in the Primary School this year?

After School Language Program: This year we have begun to develop an After School Language Program that offer students the possibility to improve their home language skills as well as learn new languages. So far we have Khmer, French and Chinese language classes and we are looking to expand our program with languages such as Korean and Spanish. Parents, if you are interested in teaching a language please contact Ms. Yuli, the After School Language Coordinator at: liu_yuli@nisc.edu.kh

Theater Arts classes: This year, students in Grades 2-6 will have the opportunity to participate in a Theater Arts class that will run for 12 weeks in a school year, once in a six day cycle. These classes focus on acting, singing, dancing, and performance.

Primary Assemblies: Assemblies are not new to the Primary School, but this year we will invite parents to attend, particularly when their children are performing. Assemblies will be every three weeks and will provide an opportunity for children to perform, to share the learning that has been happening in school, and to read a book to their peers.

From the Primary School

You are invited to

Primary Parent Presentation When: Tuesday September 9th

Where: School Library

Time: 8:00-8:45am

With Shauna Cottrell

From the Secondary School Principal, Ian Hunt

A warm welcome to parents and students and congratulations to the students from our

graduating class of 2014 who are going on this month to their chosen universities

around the world.

This is our first Mekong Messenger of the academic year so please take some time to

read the Secondary School articles that talk about some improved changes to our

programmes this year. We will have Secondary School parent information evenings

beginning next month—letters will be going home with your son or daughter and an

SMS notification will be sent closer to the date.

If you have changed your mobile phone number, please let Ms. Margie know by email so that we can update our contact details for school SMS notifications. We also remind you that our ‘ManageBac Parent Access’ is available for you to check your child’s assessment due dates, as well as their academic grades for each task. You can also monitor their class attendance throughout the semester. If you have not already registered for ManageBac, please send an email to Ms. Paulenne, our ManageBac coordinator who will provide access for you. I look forward to an exciting new year at NISC and seeing you at our parent information evenings.

In January 2014 the MYP Learning Space was launched to provide an additional supported learning environment for our students. The learning space takes place after school in Room 5101 and offers a quiet environment to help all students get their school work done whilst being supported by a teacher. Last year students that attended gave positive feedback and NISC’s own research showed an associated significant increase in the academic confidence of students who have English as a second language. For this reason the Learning Space is growing and will now run 5 days a week from 3:05pm to 4:30pm (4pm on Fridays). Educational research indicates that regular attendance to similar after school projects is key to associated increased student success. So please encourage your children to have a regular day each week where they visit the learning space and receive the extra support provided. Students will be supported with whatever work they have, but there will also be additionally themed days. For instance “Math Mondays” and “Tongue Tied Thursdays” for Languages. These are designed to provide more specific support and will be advertised on the Learning Space notice board.

Location: Room 5101 Time: Daily from 3:05pm - 4:15pm (Fridays until 4:00pm)

MYP Learning Space

Field Work in the Sciences: Grade 12 Trip to Kirirom On 23-24th August, the Grade 12 classes for Biology and Environmental Systems and Societies traveled to Kirirom National Park to undertake a variety of field work studies to complete their internal assessment requirements. The trip was a great success with some fairly interesting work being done in and around the ponds, streams and highland areas within the park.

Whether it was stretching out measuring tape for more than 100 meters to visualize the changing conditions with increasing altitude, or laying down quadrats to count plant species with varying levels of soil moisture, the Grade 12 students were masterful in applying the techniques learned through a year or more of formative work studying the NISC campus ecosystem. When applied to Kirirom, students discovered they had the capacity to differentiate between tree, bird, and vertebrate species. What will result are some wonderful examples of student work in the Sciences, lab reports which will gain many of the students high marks. With the students returning to school the last few days, time has been taken to compile the collected data into a more organized form, identify photographed organisms, and treat the data with statistical analyses that should yield some interesting insights when looking back at students’ hypotheses.

Diploma Programme Spotlight

Grade 12 The Grade 12 students have started the year with a fair amount of work to be completed in the evening. You should expect your student to bring home reading, past exams, internal assessments or other assignments depending on how far they have advanced in the Diploma Programme (DP). Try to support them by providing a quiet study area and nutritious snacks and meals to keep study efficiency high. The next several months will be their busiest time in the Secondary School, with the majority of internal assessments coming due. By the end of October, students will have completed internally-assessed work in Mathematical Studies, Physics, Biology, and Environmental Systems and Societies. The assessment calendar has been shared with students and parents, and this document provides good information for conversations centered on organizing nights and weekends for completing the requirements of the DP. Students that meet the deadlines set out in the calendar will be on track to achieve the full Diploma come May. One of the core components to the Diploma Programme (DP), the Extended Essay, has a significant checkpoint arising in September. The first full draft of the Essay must be submitted to supervisors by 29th September. This is a non-negotiable deadline as supervisor feedback on the first draft takes time and is critical to the improvement of the Essay. The final draft will come due in December, and students should begin to shift their time allocation from the Extended Essay towards their subjects as they focus more on the approaching exams. Also, presentations for Theory of Knowledge will be conducted in the first week of October. This means research and preparation must be concluded in September. Support for these presentations has been provided by Mr. Lance and Mr. Jeff, and it is the students’ responsibility to seek out preliminary feedback well before the presentation due date of 2 October.

Grade 11 The end of August marks the final days of course changes. Now students should find that their schedule of subjects is set, and they can begin to fully commit to their studies knowing the next two years of the Programme are ahead of them. While shifting between classes from September onwards is prohibited, adjusting the levels between subjects is a necessity at times in the Diploma. Students may find that their strengths in a particular subject area emerge later in the course, and the decision to switch from Standard Level to Higher Level (or the reverse) is a negotiation between student, teacher and Coordinator. As most graduates and current Grade 12 students would admit, the first months of a course can have a profound effect on a student’s standing at the end. Now is the time to stay organized, get into the habit of asking for support and/or feedback, and create collaborative learning communities with your peers. Without an organized network to provide a foundation for your studies, the next two years can be arduous and the results you seek may not materialize.

Grade 10 It’s never too early to consider the Diploma Programme, and Grade 10 is the gateway to success in the final years of Secondary School. The academic achievement in your Grade 10 courses will provide valuable information when placing you in DP subjects and levels. In addition, the Middle Years Programme helps to build a solid foundation of concepts, skills, and content that will support your inquiry and achievement in Grades 11 and 12. With subject selection for Grade 10 moving into the Fall, students will need to have a sense for those subjects they need to take and those they’d like to take. Talk with Mr. John, our university counselor, about universities or majors you’re considering post-NISC. It’s important to be aware of the university admissions requirements for the various schools and degrees before committing to take your six DP subjects. Make an appointment today and do a bit of research on a few of the places you could see yourself matriculating in 2017.

Today in the Diploma Programme

2-5 June 2014

Group IV Project

Physics/Biology

2-3 October 2014

TOK Presentation

Theory of Knowledge

11 October 2014

SAT Testing

Mid-October

Math Project

Mathematical Studies

SL

End October

Group 4: Lab Reports

ESS/Physics/Biology

8 November 2014

SAT Testing

10 November 2014

Simple Psychological

Experiment

Psychology

Mid-November

Economics Portfolio

Economics

1 December 2014

ITGS Project

Information

Technology

in a Global Society

6 December 2014

SAT Testing

8 December 2014

Extended Essay

8-11 December

Semester 1 Exams

Grades 10-12

19 December

Languages Group

Written Assignments

Korean A, Khmer A,

Mandarin AB, English

2014

1/2

and Written Tasks

English A, French B,

B, SSST

24 January 2015

SAT Testing

End January 2015

Musical Links

Investigation

Music

End January 2015

Solo Performance

Recording

Music

End January 2015

Group 2: Orals

Mandarin B, Mandarin

AB

11-13 February

Group 1: Language &

Literature

Language Written Task

Korean A, English A

11-13 February

Group 1: Orals

Korean A, English A

16 February 2015

TOK Essay

Theory of Knowledge

End February 2015

Maths Exploration

Mathematics HL/SL

2-10 March 2015

Group 1 & 2: Orals

Khmer A, French B,

English B

23 March 2015

Historical Research

Investigation

History

23 March 2015

Visual Arts submission,

workbook, statement

Visual Art

23-30 March 2015

Mock Exams

27 March 2015

Internal Assessment

Cover Sheets

27 March 2015

Group 4: PSOW

ESS, Physics, Biology

2 May 2015

SAT Testing

4-22 May 2015

IB Exams

End May 2015

CAS Exhibition/

Portfolio

Creativity, Action,

Service

6 June 2015

SAT Testing

Assessment Calendar for the Class of 2015

This year's Secondary Student Council (STUCO) consists of many dedicated and enthusiastic officers and honorary members. Our vision for the year 2014-15 is to create original events and to continue to organize annual ones that Student Council hold in the spirit of tradition. With the great contributions of the creative members, we plan to have Master Chef, Amazing Race, student garage sale, and several surprise lunch games. STUCO will continue to organize co-ed sports tournaments such as soccer, basketball and volleyball during the year. We will also have our winter formal event in December, spirit weeks during MRISA sports events and the Annual Student Party Night (ASPN) at the end of the school year. Opportunities to participate in some community service activities will also be provided to the students. Specific calendar dates are to be determined and we will keep you posted on that. STUCO has placed suggestion boxes around the school where the student body can express suggestions and feedback about making NISC a better place to learn. Together we want to create the best school year in a collaborative fashion.

Secondary STUCO 2014-15 By Sojung Ha, President

The STUCO officers

2014-15

The STUCO officers with the honorary

members

Counselor’s Corner

NISC’s Counseling Team: Ms. Rovack & Mr. John

Hello from your two school counselors, Ms. Rovack and Mr. John! We hope each student and their families had a wonderful school break. In this article we will introduce ourselves and explain how school counselors help students and parents. Ms. Rovack says hello:

Hi everyone! My name is Jannette Rovack and this is my third year as counselor at NISC. I am originally from Connecticut, on the east coast of the U.S. next to New York. I have worked in international education as a school psychologist or school counselor for more than 15 years in Europe, Asia and Africa: Holland, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Japan, Egypt and now Cambodia. I have a doctorate in Clinical Psychology, MA in Social Psychology and BA in Psychology. I‘m very happy to be here at Northbridge. I love to travel and am looking forward to traveling and learning more about Cambodia. Although Mr. John and I are happy to work with any student or parent, I will be working mostly with students in Grades EL-6. My office is located on the ground floor of the primary building, just on the corner. Please drop in and say “hello” any time.

Mr. John says hello: Hello to students and parents! I hope you all had a fun vacation. My name is John Nash and this is my fourth year as a school counselor at NISC. Before coming to NISC, I was the school counselor at both the International School of Dakar in Senegal and the American School of Yaoundé in Cameroon. My doctorate is in Educational Leadership and my master’s and bachelor’s degrees are in Social Work. My office is in the secondary building near the entrance closest to the playground. Although, Ms. Rovack and I are happy to work with all students and parents, I will be working mostly with students in Grades 7 – 12. I invite you to visit my office and say hello. I look forward to meeting you! What do counselors do? Counselors help students with anything that is preventing students from enjoying their time at NISC. We help students resolve conflicts with friends, teachers, and parents and teach students strategies to improve communication skills and navigate their social world.

Mr. John and Ms. Rovack help students with their transition to university. Mr. John helps 12th Graders with the university selection, application, and acceptance process. Mr. John also assists Secondary School students schedule university exams including the PSAT, SAT, SAT Subject, IELTS and /TOEFL exams. Parents are always welcome to visit Ms. Rovack’s and Mr. John’s counseling offices. Meetings with counselors are confidential. Typically, we help parents address concerns about children getting along with classmates and teachers, helping students reach their potential and/or private family matters. As you can see, counselors help students and their parents in many

useful, fun, and interesting ways!

Have a great school year!

@ Your Library

DATES TO REMEMBER:

September 9 - Primary Parents Presentation

September 11-13 - MRISA Leadership Exchange

@NISC

September 22-26 - Pchum Ben Holiday NO

SCHOOL

October 4 - Swim Meet @ NISC

October 9-10 - PYP Parent/Teacher Conferences

October 9-10 - MYP 3-Way Conferences

October 9-10 - DP 3-Way Conferences

October 15 - King Sihanouk Commemoration,

NO SCHOOL

P.O. Box 2042, Phnom Penh 3

Kingdom of Cambodia

Phone: (+855) 023 886 000/ -006

Fax: (+855) 023 886 009

E-mail: info@nisc.edu.kh

We like to recognize and acknowledge the accomplishments of our students by sometimes placing pictures of

them in NISC publications, on our website or our Facebook page. If you do not want pictures of your child to

be included in the school website or publications, please contact the school office immediately. Thank you.