Volume Twenty Eight

Issue Three

September 9, 2011

Message from the School Head, Roy G. Crawford

Our NISC Vision: Inspiring ethical, respectful and compassionate global leadership.
I want to thank all of you who attended the NISC annual family picnic last weekend. It was a wonderful event and I hope you had a good time, enjoyed the food and our sense of community. A special thank you to Ms. Margie who made the vast majority of the arrangements. 13 September at 6:00 PM is the Annual General Meeting for the Parent Group. The main order of business will be to review the PG Constitution and to elect a PG Steering Committee. Please try to attend. It is the responsibility of parents to organize and run the Parent Group and the AGM, but I am quite willing to help organize the event. Parents who would like to assist with the AGM, please email me immediately at roy_crawford@nisc.edu.kh. Campus Security: I hope all of you have your security badges from Ms. Bopha. They are now required for you to come on to campus. Parking: Traffic is moving much more smoothly and safely through the parking area. Thank you for your patience and cooperation. Publications: Within the next month, we will be unveiling a new Mekong Messenger design and format being created by ICT teacher Mr. Maciej and his students. In addition, we are dramatically redesigning and updating our website. Please be looking for these exciting new communications. PYP Authorization: Lastly, next week is our very important PYP Authorization visit. See the PYP article in the Mekong Messenger. Congratulations for the great PYP working being done by Ms. Natalie, Mr. Rob and all our PYP teachers and TAs. As usual, thank you for trusting us with the very important job of educating your children.

We like to recognize and acknowledge the accomplishments of our students by sometimes placing pictures of them in NISC publications or on the Web. 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.

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Quarter 1 Progress Reports

Progress reports for the first quarter are coming home today, Friday, 9 September. This is a good opportunity for you to check in with your student and ask how things are going. Students in grade 12 will receive feedback from their teachers in four areas: academic performance, class participation, academic effort, and behavior. Asking specific questions about the progress report can help focus your discussions and give your child specific areas for improvement: What is the area you want to focus on for improvement? Why? How does your academic performance match your plans for the future? How do you contribute in a positive and meaningful way to class discussions? Are you giving your best effort in all of your classes? Does you effort match your plans for the future? How does your behavior contribute to achieving the NISC vision of respectful and compassionate leadership? How are you preparing yourself for your plans for the future? How does your progress report show this? Student in grades 7-11 are receiving feedback on the seven areas of the Approaches to Learning: organization, collaboration, communication, information literacy, reflection, thinking, and transfer. The students are encouraged to use the progress report to reflect on the areas where they are strong and on areas for improvement. They use reflective questions such as: How do I organize myself and my school work? How can I work with others to achieve my goals? How can I better communicate what I have learned? How do I access and evaluate information? How have my reflections help me become a better learner? How do I use planning tools to come up with better ideas or solutions to problems? How are the big ideas in the different subjects connected? Progress reports focus on the student as a learner, rather than specific academic results, to allow students to reflect on their own learning style and performance. If you have questions about your childs progress report please contact the teacher directly. Grades for Quarter 1 will be distributed at the parent conferences on 13 October 2011. More information and a schedule of conferences will be coming home at the beginning of October. Mr. Steve Paterson, Upper School Principal

Intentions and Communication

International schools have what seems to be a unique challenge, communication. It is a challenge but not so unique. It can be hard for most of us to have to call someone and share information about someone they care about deeply. Example: I need to call you and let you know that the child you love dearly is struggling with math. You need to know. I need to pick up the phone and call you. We might misunderstand each other. These issues happen all the time at schools around the world even when the parents and the school speak the same language. Not so unique. The language issue can certainly create an even greater challenge for communication, one we must work through. In a world of complication I would ask that we really make this issue simple. We can solve this issue with the following plan: We must clearly understand our Communication INTENTIONS. When we contact home, we do so because we want what is best for your child. Always. When we contact home, we respect your mother tongue and the language spoken at home and will do our best to communicate in that manner. If we do not, please let us know what language would be best and we will try again. If we make a mistake, understand the mistake was made because we were trying to do what is best for your child. When we contact home, we understand that your experiences with schools can be quite diverse from amazing to awful and we will do our best to understand your point of view. School today is very different in many ways to when you were in school, from discipline to class groupings, things have changed. It might sound silly but, we must be fearless to call home and school as much as we would like. We must put the language issues and our experiences out of our mind because we understand our intention. Nothing, languages, and/or experiences, should stand in our way of our communicating. We are not afraid because we understand each others intentions, when we contact home or school we do so because we care about your and our child. Relentlessly Positive, Robert W. Cody, Primary Principal

Counselors Corner
This week, Counselors Corner discusses how much sleep students need in order to be successful at school. When students dont get enough sleep, they are less able to pay attention or remember new information. Many parents know that toddlers and preschoolers need a lot of sleep. These children are growing so fast and are so active that it seems reasonable that they need 11 to 14 hours of sleep a day. What many students and parents find surprising is that teenagers also need a lot of sleep every night in order to be healthy and productive. Students between 10 and 17 years old need between 8 to 9 hours of sleep (and some students may need even more). Teenagers and Sleep Many parents wonder why if teenagers need so much sleep, they dont go to bed earlier. The answer is simple, hormones. For many teenagers the same hormones that are making them grow taller and bigger, also make them feel wide awake at midnight yet very sleepy when it is time to get up and go to school. What You Can Do First, assess your own individual needs and habits. Establish consistent sleep and wake schedules, even on weekends; Finish eating at least 2-3 hours before your regular bedtime; Create a regular, relaxing bedtime routine such as soaking in a hot bath or listening to soothing music begin an hour or more before the time you expect to fall asleep;

Create a sleep-conducive environment that is dark, quiet, comfortable and cool; Exercise regularly during the day or at least a few hours before bedtime; Avoid caffeine; Stay away from bright lights (including computer screens) for the hour before bedtime;. Light signals the brain that it's time to wake up; Most importantly, make sleep a priority. For further information, please see: http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/howsleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need Mr. John Nash, NISC Counselor

Student Council - Upcoming Events

NISC 3 on 3 Soccer Tournament The annual NISC 3-on-3 indoor soccer tournament is fast approaching and will be held on 17 September 2011. Teams of 3 or 4 are urged to register as soon they are organized. All upper school students are encouraged to participate in this sporting competition. See your class representative for a form, complete it and return it to them to register. Take note that the registration DEADLINE is 14 September and the registration fee is $10 per team. There are four categories: Middle School Boys, Middle School Girls, High School Boys and High School Girls. The games start at 8.30am. Finish time will depend on the number of teams participating. The NISC Card The Student Council members are busy preparing to unveil the new NISC Card. The official launching date for the NISC Card is Monday, 3 October 2011 and pre-ordering of the cards begins on the 19th of September, 2011. On Thursday, 22 September 2011 the Student Council will be holding a kickoff event to explain the details of the card and its benefits. NISC students, parents, staff and the Northbridge Community are invited to the cafeteria to learn more about the exciting new NISC Card. Look for invitations coming home soon! For more information about the NISC Card, see any Student Council member. Niche Tham, Senior Class Representative

Primary P.E.
Primary PE The past Units for each Grade group in the primary school have been learning about Health Related Fitness. The students discussed why exercise is important to maintain a healthy body for later life and how diet can affect the way our bodies grow. School-aged children dont grow as quickly as infants or teenage children. However, they still have high nutritional needs but fairly small appetites. When preparing breakfasts, lunches and dinners we need to make sure they are rich in nutrients and energy. If we help our students and children with sensible and health orientated food choices it can influence their future food habits and reduce health problems. Planning meals on a weekly basis establishes good eating habits. It also helps ensure you and your child have a range of food bases from all the main food groups. It can be hard to create varied meals, but it makes it more exciting and interesting for you and those eating. Burgers and chips are fine occasionally, but not for every meal. Good Energy We all know school children are full of life and need space and energy to utilize their liveliness. However, increasing numbers of kids are becoming overweight. This is due to too many calories eaten and not being active enough to use up the extra energy. If you think your child is putting on too much weight, don't make a big issue of it. Instead, encourage physical activity in whatever form (football, volleyball, walking the dog, cycling, swimming), try to do it with them as a role model as well as spending quality time with your child. Base meals and snacks on the five main food groups, and limit fatty and sugary snacks. An overweight child still needs a nutrient-packed diet that provides all the essential building blocks for growth and development. Encouraging healthy eating should ensure children maintain a healthy weight. The whole family eating healthy will provide good role models. I would like to let you know about our 3, 10, 21 Club and our new PYP Basketball Club! As you will have seen in the ASA timetable our students and staff are training to take part in the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon. We have been working hard and are looking forward to completing our targets of 3 kilometers, 10 kilometers or 21 kilometers at Siem Reap on Sunday 4th December. Training is every Tuesday evening for students and Wednesdays for staff. Our new PYP Basketball club is Wednesdays after school from 3:00 until 3:55. It is for Grades 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. It is for both girls and boys and will be coached by our senior students and myself. We are excited about this club and I am hoping we will have enough interest from our students to take part in some inter school games and tournaments against other local international schools in Phnom Penh. In the new year this club will change to a T-ball club with the same opportunities for the same grades. I hope these tips for nutrition and opportunities for activities are helpful to you and our NISC students. If you have any questions or would like more information please email me ruth_oconnell@nisc.edu.kh.

NISC Athletics
Middle School Girls Basketball - NISC 10 ,Hope 0 Last Fridays matches saw a resurgence of Junior Girls Basketball with local competition against Hope, a team NISC has traditionally struggled against. The girls started very strong against the visiting team, securing a convincing 10-0 victory. The NISC girls and the coach were excited about their performance and the victory has now given them much needed confidence. Many students put in outstanding performances and the preparation by athletes and coaches was clearly evident. Middle School Boys Basketball - Hope 18, NISC 10 The boys were keen to repeat the feat performed by the Naga Girls, but the quickness and determination of the Hope Boys did not give the Naga Boys any room to close the early Hope lead. It was a good learning experience for the Boys, who are determined to improve on their first game result. They have put the defeat behind them, focused their practices on improving and are ready for the next game coming up on 9 September at Hope. Please refer to page 6 for all upcoming NISC sports competitions.

International Peace Day

International Peace Day, September 21st, was first created by Jeremy Gilley in 1981 and sanctioned by the United Nations (UN) in 2002. The days purpose is for all people of the world to stop fighting for one day. There are many conflicts around the world; a famine in Somalia, a natural disaster struck Japan, suicide bombings in Pakistan and Afghanistan. There has been civil war in Afghanistan since 1919. With a pause in fighting on September 21 st, disadvantaged children can be vaccinated, families can be reunited and people can encourage this movement towards peace. This day can save many lives and celebrate the goodness within us. On September 21st, the NISC community will recognize this important day by involving students in a variety of activities, such as soccer matches, the creation of a peace banner, and singing so our students can come together and show kindness and peace. On September 21, nobody should be discriminated against or fight. Everybody should be nice to each other, show kindness, smile and treat others with respect and love. We dont want our community to have any conflicts on International Peace Day. Please support us on this significant day - Make your day a peaceful one by treating others with kindness, smile when you pass a stranger and show your family and friends how much they mean to you. Please feel the peace in your mind and encourage others to do the same. By: Eun Jin Kim, Myung Seon Kim, Grade 8

NISC Library Now open on Saturdays - 8:30am to 11:30am New After School Hours - 3:00pm to 6:00pm

Lunch
Monday, September 12 - sandwich bar, cabbage soup, stir fried chicken with basil, Singapore fried noodle with shrimp, steamed rice, bread pudding in vanilla sauce, lemon tea Tuesday, September 13 - vegetable soup, green chicken curry, fried egg with saom leaf, steamed rice, fruit slices, lemon tea Wednesday, September 14 - sandwich bar, vegetable cream soup, lasagna, butter vegetables, fried rice with sausage, ice cream, lemon tea Thursday, September 15 - sandwich bar, garlic soup, steamed fish with soya, fried beef noodle, steamed rice, bread pudding, lemon tea Friday, September 16 - sandwich bar, tom yum soup, stir fried pork in oyster sauce, steamed rice, fruit, lemon tea Monday, September 19 - sandwich bar, beef broth, sweet and sour fish, pho noodle with beef, steamed rice, banana, lemon tea Tuesday, September 20 - sandwich bar, chicken broth, sausage curry, vegetable tempura, steamed rice, Khmer dessert, lemon tea Wednesday, September 21 - sandwich bar, butter vegetables, beef balls in tomato sauce, margherita pizza, garlic bread, ice cream, lemon tea Thursday, September 22 - sandwich bar, steamed bokchoy in oyster sauce, sour chicken soup with banana blossoms, sweet and sour pork, steamed rice, fruit, lemon tea Friday, September 23 - sandwich bar, butter vegetables, beef stroganoff, stir fried chicken with ginger, mash potato, bread pudding, lemon tea

Dates to Remember
September 13, Tuesday - Parent Group Annual General Meeting September 14, Wednesday - Early Learning Parents Meeting September 17, Saturday - Student Council Soccer Tournament September 21, Wednesday - PYP Parent Support Night; Peace Day September 26 to 30, Monday to Friday - PChhum Ben, no school October 13 to 14, Thursday to Friday - Parent Conferences (October 13 - half day only) October 18, Tuesday - Board of Trustees Meeting #2 October 21, Friday - Cultural Festival October 24, Tuesday - After School Activities #2 begins October 27 to 29, Thursday to Saturday - MRISA Senior Volleyball, SSIS October 31, Monday - Kings Birthday and Coronation; no school November 3 to 5, Thursday to Saturday - MRISA Junior Basketball November 4 to 5, Friday to Saturday - MRISA Leadership Conference November 10 to 11, Thursday to Friday - Water Festival; no school

SPORTS SCHEDULE
Junior Basketball
Friday, 9 September Tuesday, 13 September Tuesday, 20 September Tuesday, 11 October Saturday, 22 October NISC v Hope @ Hope NISC v ISPP @ ISPP NISC v Logos @ NISC NISC v ISPP @ NISC Tournament boys @ Hope; girls @ ISPP NISC v Logos @ Logos

Tuesday, 1 November

Senior Volleyball
Thursday, 15 September Thursday, 20 September Saturday, 8 October Thursday, 20 October Monday, 24 October NISC v Hope @ Hope NISC v Hope @ NISC Tournament @ Logos NISC v Logos @ NISC NISC v ISPP @ ISPP

Northbridge International School Cambodia

P.O. Box 2042, Phnom Penh 3 Kingdom of Cambodia Phone: Fax: E-mail: (855-23) 886-000/ -006 (855-23) 886-009 info@NISCambodia.com