28 Aug 2020 | by Valerie Cornelissen
Did you know that originally, our first day back to school was meant to be the past Wednesday, 26th of August? And here we are, already going to our fourth week! The International Secondary branch is once again in full swing. The students are mostly all back into their routine of online learning, handing in assignments, and participating. We have managed to overcome the odds and provide quality education amidst these challenging times and long distances: Bravo parents, students, and teachers!
Within the past 3 weeks, we have had a successful Parents' meeting with the Homeroom Teachers, elected almost all of our GEB representatives, delivered most books despite the quarantine, and set in motion the routine that will help bring success and growth to our students. We have established a clear communication line, which both parents and students are actively using, and sent out weekly lesson plans to help prepare each student for the upcoming week.
In the same tone, we have received our IGCSE results and are proud to announce that we obtained a success rate of 95%. Our candidates did extremely well and we are delighted for both them and our teachers. IBDP now shares the same success passing rate with their revised and approved grades and we are proud to say that the International Section at GESM is doing very well!
The exam calendar will be released next month in September, providing you with the dates for all major assessments in each subject. I would like to remind you to please look out for the weekly planning sent out every Friday to the emails you have provided our Admin with. They contain all the lesson plans for the upcoming week, as well as an update on what is happening each week in the International Secondary branch. If you aren’t receiving these emails, please let me know.
To avoid extra costs on parents, our GESM administration has decided to reach out to each family and ask which material is needed per family. If students already have old notebooks that they prefer to continue using for the same subject, perhaps you would opt to keep those rather than begin with a brand new one? Here is what is needed per grade level:
Grade 6i:
5 lined notebooks (blue) English, History, Geography French, German
2 squared notebooks (red) Math, Science
1 Art sketchbook (green) Visual Art
Grade 7i
5 lined notebooks (blue) English, History, Geography French, German
2 squared notebooks (red) Math, Science
1 Art sketchbook (green) Visual Art
Grade 8i
5 lined notebooks (blue) English, History, Geography French, German
2 squared notebooks (red) - Math, Science
1 Art sketchbook (green) Visual Art
Grade 9i
2 lined notebooks (blue) English, German
2 squared notebooks (red) - D. Awards, Math
Please note:
Human Bio students who are taking Human Biology would need one additional squared notebook for this course and one lined one less. { in other words, 3 squared and 7 lined}
Options:
French/ Visual Arts/ CS 1 notebook per choice, not for Visual Arts
Geography/ History/ Music 1 notebook per choice, not for Music
Human Bio/ Economics 1 notebook per choice (lined or squared)
Grade 10i
6 lined notebooks (blue) English,
4 squared notebooks (red) -Math, Chem, Bio, Phys
Options:
Business/ Music 1 notebook, not for Music
Physics/ Geography 1 notebook per choice (lined or squared)
French/ CS 1 notebook per choice (lined or squared)
History/ Visual Arts 1 notebook per choice, not for Visual Arts
You have until next Tuesday, 1 September to inform Ms Jung (fjung@gesm.org) if you would like to receive less or no notebooks, otherwise the above mentioned list will be sent to your homes and billed accrodingly.
I'd like to thank you all for your cooperation and support. We can only truly reach these heights when everyone does their best to help one another. Together, we have achieved amazing results, against these demanding odds. Again, Bravo and Thank You!
Take care and stay safe everyone.
Valerie Cornelissen
Head of International Secondary