St Joseph’s Institution International
Elementary School
Newsletter
Prep 1
Fashion
Parade
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
Dates for your Diary
Mon 2 May
 May Day Public Holiday
Tue 3 May
 G5&6 Swim Gala
 Building Children of Character
Parent’s Workshop 2
Wed 4 May
 Prep1 Entry Point
 G2A&3 Swim Gala
Thu 5 May
 Prep2 Exit Point
 G1&2J Swim Gala
 Ascension Day Mass
Fri 6 May
 G4 Swim Gala
 First Reconciliation
Sat 7 May
 SJII Swim Invitational
Mon 9 May
 Prep2 Entry Point
Tue 10 May
 Building Children of Character
Parent’s Workshop 3
Wed 11 May
 Virtues Conversations & Coffee
Thu 12 May
 Mufti Day
 CU Meet Up
 EPSG EXCO Meeting
Fri 13 May
 Founder’s Day early closure
(Prep1&2 @11.20, G1-6 @12.20)
Click here to read
Br. Larry’s
Lasallian Reflection
Principal’s Diary
Dear Parents,
We talk about making our children lifelong learners and developing a love of the
pursuit of knowledge. This is something that I am passionate about and I was
pleased to be able to make the most of two opportunities last week to expand my
capacity as a Lasallian Leader.
The first of these was in Perth at La Salle College, who hosted their first Lasallian
Educators Conference for the district comprising Australia, New Zealand, Papua
New Guinea and Pakistan. Educators also flew in from many countries in our
region and we were joined by the Lasallian Superior General Robert Schieler who
gave a keynote talk. There were many useful sessions including on positive
education, the personal dimension to leadership and on the joys and challenges of
leading a Lasallian school. Many professional contacts were made by our team
and this will strengthen our ties with other Lasallian schools in the region.
I travelled from there to Melbourne and joined Steven Dalgarno and Chia Puay
Leng for the final part of the International Leadership and Management
Programme (ILMP). This is an intensive, twelve month course which explores
many aspects of leadership and driving learning within a school. It is run by
Fieldwork Education, the company behind the IPC, and as such has a focus on
student learning and how to maximise this. As part of our course we have each
been involved in a Personal Learning Project for the last nine months. This needed
to demonstrate an impact on our leadership and also an impact on student
learning. These were presented to our peers who joined us from many countries
through the region including Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.
There is something very special about gaining new knowledge and applying these
skills. As part of our course we were given the freedom to wander around Ruyton
Girls School where the course was being held for an afternoon and examine its
culture. This allowed us to speak with staff and students about their school and
also examine their facilities and displays and look for learning. We picked up ideas
as we moved around the school and these will help feed in to our development.
Vince Burke is embarking on the ILMP learning journey this week and we wish him
all the best in his studies and look forward to seeing the impact of this course on
the learning in the Elementary School.
Kevin Hannah
Principal, Elementary School
St Joseph’s Institution International Elementary School
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
News from the Principal’s Desk
Kevin Hannah
Character Education Workshop
My thanks go to Sally Baines and Andrew Bazzo for their diligence and commitment in holding the first of fourLibrary
virtues
workshops this week on Building Children of Character. We were able to accept a maximum of twenty people on to the
course and it is testament to the popularity of the Virtues project that we had a full house. These sessions continue for
three more weeks on a Tuesday evening.
Principal's Coffee Morning
The first Principal’s Coffee Morning was held this week with the theme of Learning Support being discussed. As well as
myself, Dee Blackman (Head of LS), Melanie Lyons (Counsellor) and Andree Dugal (LS teacher with a specialism in
dyslexia) also attended. We were also pleased to welcome John Cahill, Head of LS in the High School, to the morning to
hear about our developments and our vision for this critical area moving forward
G2 J CAT4 & Maths Briefing
A successful parent information morning was held on Tuesday for Grade 2J. Mrs Hazlewood and I shared information on
the CAT4 assessments and how we intend to use these as a school to improve the outcomes for the children at a class
and management level and how this information can aid you in understanding your child’s learning preferences. Mrs Chua
then continued the meeting by talking about Singapore maths and the use of the model method. Presentations can be
accessed via the VLE Group Page ‘School Presentations’.
Chinese 'Poem In Your Pocket' day
The confidence displayed by our children never ceases to amaze me. Four times in an hour I had individual children
come to my office and sing their Chinese poem to me! It was wonderful to hear and a testament to their enthusiasm for
poetry month. Thank you to all members of the team who have made April such a special month here at SJIIES.
PE Uniform
We are pleased at the appearance of the children in the House PE uniform. This kit was first introduced in June last year
and had a significant lead in time. From January this year it became compulsory for the children to wear this kit. We are
now at the end of April and unfortunately we are still seeing some children wearing the old white PE shirts to school.
I wish to clearly state that these shirts are no longer part of the uniform. We have a clear expectation that when the
children are at school they are correctly attired. Your support in this matter is most appreciated. As a reminder the school
uniform can be purchased online and will usually be delivered to the class the following day. The website is http://sjiiesuniform.myshopify.com/
Aunty Jamaliah Mufti Day
As communicated yesterday both schools are combining to raise funds for Aunty Jamaliah. As part of this we will be
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holding a joint Non Uniform day on 12 May. We are asking for a donation of $5 to take part but I would encourage you to
give more to support this member of our community who has suffered life changing injuries. The report sent out yesterday
via email can also be found in our VLE Group Page ‘Whole School Newsletters’.
Fukushima Project
In August SJI International will once again be working with children from the Fukushima disaster area providing them with
active and creative sessions. This project is run through Today is the Day and they are looking for host families to look
after a child or children involved in the programme. If you are Japanese speaking and are enthusiastic about being
involved please email [email protected]
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St Joseph’s Institution International Elementary School
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
Poetry Month 2016
Deidre Hazlewood
We have sadly come to the end our Poetry Month and have really enjoyed the daily poetry offerings from our Pop-Up
Poems and Postman Poetry delivery service! The Grade 2 Jan classes have added their own poems to their Poet-Tree
display. What a wonderful project to come out Poetry Month and our LA curriculum. Feel free to go up to the Top Floor of
Raphael Block to read these! Have a look at a few of the people that surprised classes with their daily dose of poetry.
Poetry Competition
Thank you for the children who participated in the whole school Poetry Competition. We had some wonderful entries
featuring the theme ‘Poems about Our School’. Some ideas and titles to give you a flavour of the entries were: Wildlife at
SJII, Favourite SJI Things, My School Day, Reading, My Class, Swimming, PE, Art and of course My Teacher!
Congratulations to the following children whose poem was selected as the winner from their category:
Prep 1 and Prep 2:
Suria (Prep2AKo)
Grade 1 and Grade 2: Alessandrea (G2DBa)
Grade 3 and Grade 4: Amelia (G3TCo)
Grade 5 and Grade 6: Stephia (G5SGe)
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Poem-in-the-Pocket Day Friday 29 April
Poem-in-the-Pocket Day was a special day for our children learning Chinese. On
Friday, our children had a poem or song in their pocket which they could share with
anyone they meet in school or at home. They collected the signatures of the
people whom they read to or sang to. Please spare a minute for your child to hear
their beautiful Mandarin - if they still have the poem in their pocket!
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St Joseph’s Institution International Elementary School
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
Sportlight On Sport
Peter Vassbotn
 It’s Swim Gala Week @ SJIIES… WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
 It’s ACSIS finals week for 11U Cricket; Biloxis (Netball) and 12U Track and Field. Good luck to all our
students!
Tryouts/Training in black; Matches in red; Special Events in Blue
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St Joseph’s Institution International Elementary School
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
Sportlight On Sport Continues
SJII Finish 4th in ACSIS Track and Field Championships
Once again our Track and Field excellence was on display at last Saturday’s ACSIS Junior School Track and Field Championships held
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at Clementi Stadium as we finished an impressive 4 place (combined boys and girls) among the 15 competing schools.
It was the first time that SJIES have hosted (10U/11U Meet) such a large sporting event and a huge thank you goes out the 20 strong
staff member team who ran the event with support of the other ACSIS schools.
The day was not without its challenges, the main one being the early finish to the 8U/9U event due to lightning. It was very unfortunate,
as many of the events were left incomplete with many of our students in medal contention. The situation really put our virtues to the
test, and overall our students dealt with the event cancellation very admirably despite the tremendous disappointment.
A special congratulation goes out to our STAR performer, Sage Wu. Sage won GOLD and SILVER and set a new ACSIS RECORD in
the 80M run. Well done Sage!
Team Result (Out of 15 Schools)
Girls Overall: 3rd
Boys Overall: 5th
Combined: 4th
MEDAL WINNERS:
Sage Wu
- Girls 11U 80m: GOLD AND NEW ACSIS RECORD
- Girls 11U 200m: SILVER
Savannah Keenan - Girls 9U Shot Put: GOLD
- Girls 9U Ball Throw: BRONZE
Maya Fitzgerald
- Girls 9U Ball Throw: GOLD
Tamryn Brown
- Girls 11U Ball Throw: GOLD
Katherina Behling
- Girls 10U 800M : BRONZE
Emilia Davey
- Girls 11U High Jump: SILVER
Oliver Phelps
- Boys 11U 80M – SILVER
Marcus Garcia
- Boys 11U Shot Put - SILVER
Owen Saryev
- Boys 11U High Jump: BRONZE
Nick Rathband
- Boys 10U Long Jump: SILVER
Will Santos
- Boys 8U High Jump: SILVER
Darcey Prendiville - Girls 9U High Jump: BRONZE
Alfie Travis, Matthew Allen, Mustafa Iftikhar, Aryan Mehta
- Boys 4 X 100 Relay:GOLD:
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St Joseph’s Institution International Elementary School
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
Children’s University
Andrew Bazzo
There was another great turnout at this week's Children's University meet up on Thursday morning. With the graduation ceremony
approaching quickly on Friday 20th May, there were a number of members discussing their current progress and calculating how
many more hours were needed in order to graduate. Final numbers for graduation will be assessed at our next meet up on Thursday
12th May.
One member who is close to graduating is Diane Chung from G3CTh . Here is what she had to say:
How long have you been a Children's University member?
I started last year in August.
What are some your favourite Restricted Learning Destinations (or CCAs)?
My favourites are Take a Bow Drama and Yoga. At Yoga, sometimes we get to play yoga games
and its really fun. The drama teacher is really funny too.
Have you ever been to a Public Learning destination?
Yes I have but sometimes i forget to take my passport.
How many stamps have you collected?
20.
What would you say to someone who might be interested in joining Children's University?
You can graduate if you collect 30 hours and you can learn a lot in Public Learning destinations.
Of course it is never too late to join Children's University. If you would like to find out more, please check out our VLE page or contact
us via email: [email protected]
Catholic Corner –
Let’s Pray for Our Children
Simone Tan
On Thursday morning, I observed a High School student spending a fair bit of time reading the messages
on hearts which some Elementary students had penned to show their love for Jesus. That prompted me to
take a closer look and it made me smile to see the sincere messages and promises by children. I
wondered what Easter promise I should be making to our Lord.
“God has given you so many graces.” St. John Baptist De La Salle
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On 6 May, 27 children from catechism CCA class will be making their First Reconciliation and on 28
May, they will be receiving their First Holy Communion, a most special time for the children and for their
families to rejoice.
Please join us in keeping these children and their families in prayer and Mrs Gizelle Pinto has designed a
beautiful work to help us keep the children in mind.
Whilst Mrs Pinto was working on the board, a few children gathered and asked her
what the bread and wine represented. One child pointed to the “trophy”, to which
another child answered that it was a chalice! Small but wonderful moments like these
make working in God’s vineyard most rewarding.
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St Joseph’s Institution International Elementary School
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
Virtues Corner
Kirsten Harvey
So how can we develop this virtue in our children?
What is Perseverance?
Perseverance is being purposeful and steadfast. It is sticking to
something, staying committed, no matter how long it takes or what
obstacles appear to stop you.
Why practice it?
Without perseverance, people give up on things easily. They don’t
keep their promises. When we persevere, people can depend on
us to finish what we start and to keep our commitments. When we
persevere, we stay friends even when the friendship is tested. We
don’t give up until a problem is solved.
How do you practice it?
You practice perseverance by committing to someone or
something. Choose your commitments wisely and then stick with
them. When you commit to a task, pace yourself, and be
persistence, doing it step-by-step. Stand by your friends even
when they aren’t much fun, or are having a hard time. When
trouble or doubts come up, be like a strong ship in a storm. Don’t
let yourself become battered or blown off course. Just ride the
waves.
This week, many of our children read the story of Sadako and the
paper cranes. It was a moving story about a child who never gave
up whilst fighting leukemia. Click here for the story. Many classes
then created their own origami paper cranes to remind them of
the virtue of perseverance. This could be a lovely activity for you
to do at home.
Children need perseverance to master new skills and just like any
other virtue, it requires understanding and practice. The golden
rule is to encourage the children not to give up when things get
tricky.
When you look at famous inventors, artists or scientists you can
see that they never gave up and as a result they achieved great
successes in their lives.
Elvis Presley ignored the advice that he should ‘go back to
driving a truck.’
Dr. Seuss was rejected many times before publishers accepted
his first book.
Orville and Wilbur Wright crashed many prototypes before they
created a plane that could fly.
The Beatles guitar music was deemed to be ‘on the way out,’
Monet’s art was mocked and rejected.
After Sidney Poitier’s first audition, he was told to stop wasting
people’s time and to ‘become a dishwasher ”
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because, ‘he lacked
imagination and had no good ideas.’
J.K. Rowling was told that ‘children's books never make any
money.’
There are two basic steps:
1.
We need to be mindful of specially chosen language
to show there is a connection between hard work and
success. ‘I am so proud of your maths result. All that time
revising really paid off.’
Or conversely, ‘You didn’t do very well on your maths test.
What can you do to get a better grade next time?’
2.
Set steps to success. Encourage your children to think
about the steps they need to take in order to reach their
specific goal.
‘I want to ... To reach that goal I will need to …’
Here are some video clips about perseverance for you to share
with your children: (click on the images for the video)
A moving video about how Derek
Redmond uses perseverance to
finish the race (you’ll need the
tissues!)
Nick Vujicic talks about his life living
without limbs.
And finally I will leave you with this
‘feel good’ Pixar animation, which
encourages us to get rid of the
‘Pink kink in our think’ and not to
ever give up. Enjoy!
Signs of Success
Congratulations! You are practicing Perseverance when you…
 Think before deciding to commit to someone or something
 Pace yourself
 Set goals and stick with them until they are completed
 Take one step at a time, remaining steady
 Don’t let doubts or tests blow you off course
 Stand by your friends and loved ones
What made these people bounce back after perceived failure and
rejection? Perseverance!
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St Joseph’s Institution International Elementary School
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
Elementary Parents Support Group
Dear Parent Community,
Thank you for your generous support and participation of the SJI Garage Sale.
Elementary School raised $680!
In total the High School and the
For next week’s Swim Gala Tuesday through to Friday, it would be a lovely gesture of thankfulness and appreciation if
you could help our tireless Café volunteers by sending in a plate of baked goods (cakes, muffins, cookies) for the
Café at the swim gala. Kindly email [email protected] if you would like more information or to let the café know what
you’ll be bringing. Please help us keep our school a nut-free zone.
Have a restful May holiday weekend!
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St Joseph’s Institution International Elementary School
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
Lasallian Reflection
Enabling students in a Lasallian community to learn how
to learn, and to learn how to live, empowering them to
become people of integrity and people for others
Enter to Learn – Leave to Serve
De La Salle Brothers.
Christian
Brothers.
Brothers of the Christian
Schools. La Salle Brothers. Who are
these men connected with our school
called “Brothers”, and what does it mean
when we say that St Joseph’s Institution
International is A School of the De La
Salle Brothers?
Many people, Catholics as well as those
of other faith traditions, have heard of
the Franciscans, the Benedictines, the
Dominicans, and the Jesuits. But many
people have never heard of the De La
Salle Brothers, unless they have been
associated with one of the Lasallian
schools as a student or parents of a
student. The groups mentioned are
sometimes referred to as religious
orders, and their members are called
religious. In this case, religious is a noun
– a religious is a man or woman who, in
response to God’s call, has made a
profession of the vows of the Church. It
has nothing to do with whether or not
they are devout, pious, or holy. The
usual vows of a religious are poverty,
chastity (celibacy), and obedience. In
addition to these vows, the De La Salle
Brothers profess an additional vow to
serve the poor through education.
In Singapore, there are four groups of
religious Brothers: the Brothers of St
Gabriel (Gabriele’s), the Marist Brothers,
and the Brothers of Mercy – in addition
to the La Salle Brothers.
When De La Salle brought together his
first teachers, and they ultimately
decided to form themselves into a
religious community, they made the
conscious decision to call themselves
“Brothers” to describe the quality of their
relationship with one another, united in
their commitment to the education of
children, but also to describe their
relationship as older brothers to their
students.
The official title of the
community founded by De La Salle is the
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian
S
Schools. (The letters FSC that often
follow a Brother’s name are the
abbreviation for the Latin version of this
title, Fratres Scholarum Christianarum.)
Through the years they came to be
known as the Christian Brothers.
Because a separate group was later
founded in Ireland, sometimes called the
Irish Christian Brothers, in many parts of
the world we came to be known as La
Salle or De La Salle Brothers. I suspect
De La Salle would not have approved of
such a title, but it does remind us of the
vision and mission that he gave to this
community that honours him around the
world as Founder.
Brothers are laymen, and as “lay”
religious they are not priests. Brothers
are never ordained priests because the
purpose of their ministry is not to preside
at liturgical services or to administer the
sacraments, but to educate their
students in religious and secular
subjects. De La Salle reminded the first
Brothers that they should see the child
Jesus in the faces of their students.
Through his profession of vows, the
Brother has decided to make such a
commitment in order to put all his
powers at the educational service of
these children and young people. This
is the mission and charism of the De La
Salle Brothers. The vow of service to
the poor through education compels us
to not only serve the poor directly, but to
make sure that students at schools like
SJI International come to know and
reach out to the poor and advocate for
those suffering from injustices. Some
groups of Brothers are dedicated to
other kinds of service in the Church, like
the Brothers of Mercy, whose ministry is
focused on healthcare.
The
Brothers
live
together
in
communities with other Brothers. In
Singapore there are eight De La Salle
Brothers, four in the SJI community at
Malcolm Park, and four Brothers in the
St Patrick’s community in the East
Coast.
Coast. In community the Brothers pray
together, share their meals with one
another, and seek to live with one
another as brothers.
Today there are about 4000 De La Salle
Brothers around the world.
Our
governance structure has us divided into
Districts, and in Singapore we are part of
the Lasallian East Asia District (LEAD),
which also includes Japan, Philippines,
Hong Kong, Thailand, Myanmar, and
Malaysia. The leader of the Brothers in
each District is called the Brother Visitor,
and Br Edmundo Fernandez is the
Visitor for LEAD.
The international
centre of the Brothers is in Rome, and
the worldwide leader is called the
Superior General. Br Robert Schieler,
presently Superior General, visited
Singapore and SJI International last
year.
At the present time we are two Brothers
at SJI International, Br Ignasius and me,
and we look forward to the arrival of an
additional Brother, Br Kenneth Martinez,
in July.
I invite you to visit the international
website
of
the
Institute,
www.lasalle.org to learn more about
the De La Salle Brothers and the
worldwide Lasallian family.
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St Joseph’s Institution International Elementary School
Summer Term, 29 April 2016
High School News
Hairspray – Tickets on Sale and selling fast
As you are aware, every two years SJI International High School puts on a
major musical production. This year sees our students performing in the
Broadway musical Hairspray, over three nights (Thursday 19th May, Friday
20th May and Saturday 21st May).
This year’s event is our most ambitious yet, with the performances taking place in the Singapore Drama Centre (a professional
performance space in the National Library Building see: www.dramacentre.com). This production involves over 100 students, both on
stage and in supporting roles, and in the live Orchestra and began for us in November last year.
Tickets for this exciting event went on sale on April 11th. Ticket sales have been very brisk, with just over 72% of tickets already sold.
We would love to invite you, our Elementary School Community, to come and share our performance of Hairspray.
Hairspray is a vibrant, fell-good Musical, full of comedy, dancing and up-beat music. We are confident that these aspects of the show
would be enjoyed by the full age range, however parents should be advised that there are references to the racial segregation of the
1960s and some language relating to this theme is used. We therefore advise that attendance of students in Grade 4 and below is at
parents' discretion.
If you have not yet bought your tickets, please do support our High School students in this production. To remind you: We have three
tiers of seating each night: i) Prime seats are available at $50 per ticket; ii) Stall seats are on sale at $35 per ticket; a nd iii) Circle 1 and
Circle 2 tickets are available at $25 per ticket. We have worked very hard to keep ticket prices as low as possible - hiring a professional
venue is very expensive in Singapore. Tickets can be purchased from High School Reception.
We would love to see you there.
Thanks for your support.
High School Arts Faculty
SINGALA II – 1001 Nights
An Arabian Extravaganza
For the Live and Silent auctions that will be a part of SINGALA II, the Committee is working hard to secure a fabulous array of
irresistible auction items. Last year the auctions raised a massive $300,000 – so our hopes are high that they will again raise a
substantial sum for our Scholarship fund.
Do you fancy a holiday in the Philippines? Where would you like to stay – Manila… Cebu… Boracay…
Come along and bid for one (or more) of the following, generously donated by the Shangri-la:
Makati Shangri-la, Manila
Two nights weekend stay in a Deluxe room with breakfast buffet for two at Circles Event Café.
Mactan Resort and Spa, Cebu
Two night stay in a Deluxe room for two persons with daily buffet breakfast at the Tides Restaurant.
Edsa Shangri-la, Manila
Two nights stay in a Tower Wing Deluxe room inclusive of breakfast buffet for two at Heat Restaurant.
Shangri-la's Boracay Resort and Spa
Two nights stay in a Deluxe room with breakfast buffet in Vintana Restaurant and roundtrip land and speedboat transfers from Caticlan
for 2 adult and 2 children below 12 years.
Shangri-la at the Fort, Manila
Two night stay in a Deluxe room for two, inclusive of breakfast.
Don’t forget to book soon: SINGALA II – 1001 Nights: An Arabian Extravaganza, Goodwood Park Hotel – Thursday 9 June at
6.45pm. We’d love to see you there!
For booking forms please go here
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