In previous weekly newsletter we have focused on individual aspects of our broad and balanced curriculum. This week, we would like to spotlight on one of our 🔗 Key Priority areas: Brunei History and Culture. We understand that in our primary especially, our students are building an appreciation of ‘who they are’. We strive to facilitate an environment of inquiry for our students as they explore the interconnectedness of global and local communities and culture. Our aim is for all ISB students to have a detailed understanding of the history and culture of Brunei, whether that be their home or host country. This year, we are extremely fortunate that Pg H Dara Naqiah PPN Pg Hj Omar (Dk Honey) is leading an education research project with precisely this aim.
Over recent weeks and months, DK Honey has liaised with Legislative Council Members to arrange a visit for our Yr4 students, a fantastic opportunity to see how the Brunei Government is run. Most recently our Y3 and 4 students, had the opportunity to visit on a trip to the RBAF training institute, learning more about Brunei’s military and national security.
As part of her recent work, DK Honey has also shared a series of fascinating resources with students, staff and the ISB community which you may enjoy below.
This first short film takes a look at the opening of the Grand Mosque and marks the 53rd anniversary of the change of name of Bandar Town to Bandar Seri Begawan.
This second video features the inaugural speech by HIS MAJESTY SULTAN HAJI HASSANAL BOLKIAH MU’IZZADDIN WADDAULAH IBNI AL-MARHUM SULTAN HAJI OMAR ‘ALI SAIFUDDIEN SA’ADUL KHAIRI WADDIEN, SULTAN AND YANG DI-PERTUAN OF NEGARA BRUNEI DARUSSALAM and also details the official naming of the Temburong Bridge. Both fascinating insights into Brunei History and Culture.
In you want to learn more about Brunei History and Culture I would encourage you to follow DK Honey’s Travel by clicking here!
Look out for more updates as the year progresses into what will be ISB's 60th anniversary year. 6️⃣ 0️⃣ 🥳
MoE/MoRA Visit
It was a great honour to host a delegation from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Religious Affairs on the 1st November 2023. Both Ministries were extremely impressed by our high standards of provision, facility and community.
We look forward to hosting and welcoming more delegations and esteemed guests in the near future.
We continue to actively consult with the MOE and hope to be able to provide an Ugama integration plan in due course.
Should parents opt, we will provide Bruneian Muslim students provision/activities through till 3pm Monday-Thursday until further announcement. Other students will continue to partake in ECA and leave at 2:30pm.
Lunchtime Rangers! 🤠 🤠
Meet our new Lunchtime Rangers!
🤠 Year 4 : Na’ifah & Noura
🤠 Year 6: Dama & Sheera
🤠 Year 7 : Maryam & Yassin
The quality of applications were out of this world. Officially our new Rangers will start their new responsibilities from Monday 6th November. This week they will meet with the leadership team and be measured up for their new special hats.
All have taken a commitment to:
organise playground and lunchtime activities for students of all ages
work closely with the leadership team to promote the schools culture and ethos in the playground
be good role models
Barvember is back!
Isn’t it fantastic that Barvember is back! It is one of my personal highlights of the school year as throughout the month of November, we will have Y1-7 parents and children taking part in a series of Maths challenges. Barvember makes reference to Bar Modelling. The bar model is used to support children in problem solving.
Each day throughout November, we will be posting a new set of challenges (and answers) in Seesaw. You may submit your work to the activity set daily on Seesaw.
Reminders/Special Mentions
We are planning our ECA’s for Term 2. More details to follow near the end of November
Thank you for your support in ensuring the School Health Screening program (Health Assessments) were carried out smoothly
Next leadership-parental coffee morning – 17th November 09:00-10:00
BJSL Teeball Competition will be hosted by ISB Seria on the 28th November
You can always message our teachers on Seesaw!
Follow us on Insta https://www.instagram.com/isb_seria
EYFS – by Teacher Julia, Chio & Mrs Davies
The children as ever have been playing, learning and have had an abundance of opportunity to express their natural curiosity.
We would love to invite you to an EYFS Parent Workshop on the 15th November 08:00-11:00. The workshop will enable parents to get a better insight into what we teach and how we teach at ISB in the Early Years. The aim of the workshop is to foster a collaborative approach between ISB and parents by providing practical guidance.
Parents will have the opportunity following the workshop to come into their child's classroom where the Teachers and LA’s will facilitate some parent and children fun learning activities.
Year 1 - by Ms MJ
Y1 children started reading the book ‘Beegu’ by Alexis Deacon and discussed about various adjectives to describe the character’s feelings. As a class, they also came up with actions to retell the beginning of the story this week. They began to sequence the story by drawing important scenes in their own mini book. In Maths, children kept practicing making addition number sentences and finding number bonds within 10. Lastly, they had fun creating a Rangoli art using tissue paper to celebrate Diwali with our community!
Year 2 – by Ms Lisa
Year 2 have started their exciting topic about robots. They were all very eager to share their thoughts and opinions about robots and how they move and why they are created. This is going to be a fun next few weeks. In Math they’ve continued their journey of subtraction. They’ve used multiple ways, such as base 10 blocks and a number line to help them subtract. They also learned the very tricky way of skip counting to help them subtract.
Year 3 – by Mrs McCready
Year 3 started their week exploring an Egyptian tomb and discovering what artefacts can tell them about history. In math they have completed their addition and subtraction unit and dived straight into multiplication and division using their times table knowledge to help. The kingfishers have explored the features of biographies in English with a focus on notable characters in Ancient Egypt. Another great week!
Year 4 – by Mr Davies
Year 4 has been working on our Diwali day drama and dance. They especially enjoyed performing it to our special guest Mr Saheli. In Art we drew Rama and Ravana in a battle scene using special drawing techniques. In English we finished publishing our myths. They have studied area in maths by learning to count squares within shapes and looked at the ways humans can impact the local environment through deforestation and urbanisation in science.
Year 5 – by Mr Russel
The children are on a fun and exciting adventure in Temburong. They are building independence, experiencing ‘firsts’, being away from home with friends and taking their learning out of the classroom.
Year 6 – by Mr Ramsden
A great week back for Y6 after our mid-term break. Division has been the focus in maths and students have been getting to grips with the long and short versions. In English they have been looking at the rules for writing dialogue and applying them in their writing. Their book of the term continues to be 'The Explorer's' - they've reached an exciting point in the story! In Topic they are still investigating physical geography, this week looking at landforms.
Year 7 – By Ms Rebekah
This week in Math we have been using algebraic expressions to solve number equations using our function machines. In English we are working well through our Carrie's war reading and challenging our understanding with comprehension tasks. In Science we have started learning about chemical reactions and physical and chemical changes. In Art, we introduced charcoal as a new material to use, creating Henry Moore inspired art pieces. The highlight of our week was starting our big humanities group project of role playing the Yalta conference by researching the conference and it's significance. To do this we have identified the conference's objectives, agenda and outcomes and created our own roles, developed our characters and started writing our scripts.
Dariush Saheli Head of Seria Campus