Nurturing Global Minds

Happy New Year and welcome to the first edition of ‘APS News’ for 2016! We would like to extend a special welcome

to all new parents and students who joined us in January. We hope that your children have settled in well and are

thriving in their new school environment. It has been a busy start to the year, and we are delighted to share with you

some of the wonderful activities that have taken place, both in and outside of school. We are sure you will be

impressed with how much the students and teachers have managed to achieve within a relatively short space of

time… As we take a break for Chinese New Year next week, we would also like to take this opportunity to wish

everyone within the APS community a joyous celebration. We hope you enjoy some quality time with your families

and friends, and we look forward to seeing you back in school on Monday 15 February 2016. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

APS NEWS

Issue 4 Dec/Jan 2016

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APIS Swimming Gala 2016

This month we held our annual Swimming Gala for APIS. It was great to see so many parents attend the event and

the atmosphere was really something special. The support was fantastic, although we were worried at times of

parents falling into the pool! Staff also played their parts, with a huge amount of support and effort on show during

the day. There were some great performances during the event, particularly when Choi Seungbeom in Year 11 was

challenged to an impromptu race by Simon Clement D'cruz in Year 3. Choi found Simon’s strength and speed too

much to handle and, with rousing support from the crowd, Simon managed to finish first!

Huge congratulations to Yellow House, the overall winners of the event, as well as all members of the community

that were involved. A special thank you has to go to Ms Michelle and her team for all their hard work in organising

such a great event. For all pictures from the day, please check out our Facebook page.

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For all our pictures from the Swimming Gala, please visit our APIS Facebook page.

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APIS Website

This month we have made some changes on the APIS website.

Under the heading ‘Life at APIS’, you can now access our new

‘Live’ Academic School Calendar’. This is a fantastic new tool

where all ECAs, Exams Dates, Events and Activities are

uploaded. You can add this to your own calendar on your

mobile phones and laptops by clicking on the icon below,

situated at the bottom right hand corner of the calendar.

This will now make it much easier for you to see what’s

happening each day, week, month and year and allows us to

update you instantly, giving you complete access to school

events and activities.

You will also find under ‘Life at APIS’ our new School

Timetable, which gives you a clear breakdown of our start and

finish times, lesson breakdowns, ECA and CCAs.

The final tab we have added to ‘Life at APIS’ is Term Dates,

which consists of the original calendars, showing all our term

dates and holidays at a glance.

We hope that you find all this information useful.

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Our very festive

classrooms by

our teachers

and students.

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The Musical MUD with Y7 & Y8

Below is some feedback from our students about their

trip.

The show was amazing. It felt like they were

actually communicating with me. It was the

best show I ever went to. – Q’ra.

I liked the way they included the audience in

some parts, I also liked that they asked

volunteers to go onstage and make music

using instruments. – Talha.

The acting, dancing and singing were amazing.

I really enjoyed it. The props were also good.

– Shazmine.

I liked how there was suspense and dramatic

parts in the show – it made it more lively and

interesting. – Tara.

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Tournee Francophone

Last month, our Year 8 and 9 French students had the great honour to be the first students ever to be welcomed, as a class, to both the Lebanese and French Embassies. They also made a visit to the Alliance Française, where

teachers were very proud to see our students taking part in a variety of activities. Last but not least, everybody enjoyed the French buffet at Café Lionel, where plenty of food was served from different regions of France. Some

students were even lucky enough to get to bring some food home!

The best way for us to tell you how much the students appreciated this educational trip, is to let you read some of their comments:

Lara 8A: The thing I liked about this trip is that I learned some French culture which will be useful next time if I ever go to France or Lebanon. Second thing is the food. It tastes

so goooood.

Arjuna 8A: I liked the buffet because I love food and it was so delicious! I also liked how His Excellency the Ambassador of Lebanon shook my

hand! I was absolutely thrilled and I loved this French trip.

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Pictures from the Tournee Francophone school

trip

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Duke of Edinburgh Award

Leaders Programme

On the 30th and 31st of January, five representatives from APS took

part in a 2-day training programme to become Award Leaders for the Duke of

Edinburgh Award scheme, which we will be launching in our schools in the near future. The

Duke of Edinburgh is a world leading youth achievement award, bringing together

practical experiences and life skills to create committed global citizens and

equipping young people for life. Since it was founded by HRH The Duke of

Edinburgh in 1956, over eight million people have participated in the Award, in

over 140 countries. In Malaysia, the Award has marked 15 years and continues its

outreach to youth. Nearly 100,000 Young Malaysians are undertaking a Service,

Physical Recreation, Skills and Adventurous Journey, at either Bronze, Silver or

Gold levels.

Well done to all five staff who graduated the training with

flying colours. We’re all very excited about this development

and more details about next steps will follow shortly. For

further details, please email Ms Michelle at

michelle.jane@apis.edu.my.

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38th SEA Forensics Tournament

Preliminary Debate rounds at KTJ

A huge congratulations and well done to all the students and staff involved in the

South East Asia Forensics event on 29-30 January. APS was represented by a total of four teams: one from APSS (S5

students: Dina, Ali and Audrey) and three from APIS (details below). It is testament to the hard work and dedication

of both participants and coaches that the team managed to perform so admirably in their first debate competition.

What follows is Ms Daniela’s report from the event:

“…Although I am extremely tired,

I could not end the day without

informing you about our school's

participation in the SEA Forensics

Tournament 2016 Preliminary

Rounds: We made it! Not only

have we received the award for

Best New Comer but we also had

one of our teams (Mustaqim

(Y11), Ammar (Y11) and Kendrick

(Y10)) classify in 6th place (the top

5 positions went to the event organizers) staying only 1 point behind the 5th after winning 3 out of the 4 debates

they were involved in. Our other 2 team (Brian (Y11), Aishah (Y11), Jie Xi (Y11), Ze Ming (Y10), Yeop (Y10) and

Ram (Y10)) also did very well. It is important to keep in mind that this is the first debate tournament that they

have participated in. Please do congratulate our students and keep on cheering for them as the Finals will be at

the end of February. Finally, we cant forget the teachers that have dedicated so much of their time to help me

prepare our students: thank you, Ms Nina, Ms Holly and Ms Amina, we would not have gotten this far without

you…”

Thank you to all involved in mentoring and coaching the students and congratulations again to all the students and

staff involved. Well done!

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Announcements

APIS Principal

We are delighted to announce that Mr. Neil Clayton has been confirmed in his role of Principal at Asia Pacific International School (APIS). Most of you will have met Mr. Neil in person, and be aware of his outstanding contribution to the school over the past year. He is keen to push forward with many other exciting new initiatives and projects to improve the school further. He welcomes feedback from parents and has made great strides in enhancing communication and engagement via his Weekly Messages.

Congratulations to Mr. Neil and we look forward to his continuing commitment and energy in leading the school from strength to strength…

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APIS ECA and CCA Timetable

All our ECAs and CCAs are now in place and most students

have chosen the activities and are already enjoying them. Ms

Suhanti has worked very hard organising all of this and

introducing some new activities for you to try.

You can find the full list of activities and timetable on our website under ‘Life at APIS’. If you have any questions regarding APIS

ECAs and CCAs please email Ms Suhanti at suhanti@apschools.edu.my.

We would like to thank Ms Suhanti for all your hard work and long hours spent meeting with vendors, organising the rooms

and communicating with our community. You have done a great job

Here’s where you can find all the information on our website: www.apis.edu.my

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APIS useful dates for February 2016

01/02/2016 APIS Y9 options briefing APS Seminar room 3pm-4pm.

05/02/2016 APIS Chinese New Year celebrations.

08/02/2016 – 12/02/2016 APIS Chinese New Year holiday.

15/02/2016 APIS students return.

15/02/2016 – 26/02/2016 APIS Mock exams Y6, Y9 & Y10

19/02/2016 APIS Y9 options form given to students

22/02/2016 – 04/03/2016 APIS Mock exams Y11

At the end of last term, we displayed all APIS Lost and Found in the Lobby. This process worked well with many items being reunited with their owners.

We will continue this process at the end of each term. However, we would like to remind everyone to put names on their children’s belongings and ask them to come to Reception and check if they ever lose anything. We already have several gym

kits and lunch boxes and we are only 3 weeks into the term….

Thank you to Anita for washing and donating unclaimed items from last term. It was very kind of you.

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Useful contacts for Asia Pacific Schools (APS)

Telephone number (+603) 7847 1000

Fax number (+603) 7847 1001

Website

www.apss.edu.my for Smart school enquires

www.apis.edu.my for International school enquires

Official Facebook pages are…

APIS - Asia Pacific International School (Malaysia)

APSS - Asia Pacific Smart School (Malaysia)

Asia Pacific Schools

Twitter APS_MALAYSIA

Tumblr Principalsmessagesapis2015

ClassDojo for primary only up to Y5, all parents are given their own unique login details.

Please email me with details of any events or activities you have organised or if you have your own pictures you have taken in

school: samanthacalcott@apschools.edu.my

I am also available to visit classrooms and take photos if you wish.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ms Sam.