Vice Principal's update

“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending”

Examination fever and farewells have been in the air since the beginning of May!!

The last attempt at SAT I and SAT II for this academic year was held on 1 May. Fourth May the IBDP examinations began in full steam and ended only on 24 May. I am happy to report that generally all IBDP papers went off well for the students. For the rest of the school it was time to revise and do their semester exams from 14 -20 May.

While all were busy preparing and then sitting for their examinations, on the sidelines,we had the KAC dinner, NHS dinner, staff farewell lunch and grade 10 graduation from the Middle Years Program to the IB Diploma Program, grade 5 graduation to the Middle Years Program, K-8 semester end picnics and the ES chapel recital.

Grade 11 IB Diploma students had their final meeting with their Extended Essay supervisors so that had all the information they need to work during their summer vacations. It was also time to get elections underway for the new student body and the closing assembly awards. The senior class completed the online graduations goals and IB Learner Profile survey as part of their reflections on their KIS experience.

The awards and closing assembly on 20 May wrapped up the semester for the school as at whole. However, it was followed by the Baccalaureate Service, graduation dinner and finally the Graduation on 22 May. It was time to celebrate, bid adieus and reminisce about their time spent at KIS.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the senior class the very best in their future endeavors. Also good wishes go out to the students leaving KIS from other grades. I wish to put on record my appreciation for the dedicated work done by the staff leaving KIS this semester. We will miss Mr Fisher for the leadership he has provided to this community for the last five years and for his warmth and concern for one and all. To all we say, “God be with you till we meet again”. You will be missed and you are most welcome to Kodai at any time…. rather sooner than later!

I am sure the KIS community is looking forward to a much deserved restful and happy vacation with their loved ones. I thank one and all for their cooperation and for working alongside to make KIS a great institution and a home for all of us! Lets us return in the new academic year with renewed vigor!

Kaisar Dopaishi

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Vice Principal's update

“When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music” – Kahlil Gibran

The penultimate month of the last semester began with its unusually fast paced- long weekend, seniors staying back to prepare for their mocks, Easter Assembly, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter dawn service at St Peter’s church followed by breakfast at Benderloch, chapel service and Easter lunch.

After the long weekend the senior class got busy doing their IB mock examinations, the review time closely followed and now the IB students are on independent study time when no formal classes are held. Extra help and revision sessions were also happening during this time - generally and specifically for those students who needed it on one on one basis.

Course registrations for the new academic year were done by the rest of the school. We had orientation sessions with students and advisers. Grade 11 IB students have started their initiation with the extended essay process and grade 9 has had an initiation with their Personal Project. The Principal and Vice Principal Honors list students were invited for a special luncheon separately; this was long overdue! Meanwhile we have invited students to apply for National Honors Society membership. The subject award assembly was held on 27 April 2010 both at high school and K-8 campus.

Apart from the above academic endeavors, our congratulations go out to KIS A team for winning the exciting and the well contested Kodai Soccer Open tournament which was held at KIS Bendy Field! Then we had Earth Day celebrations, IB Art Exhibition, Group 4 presentations which were based on the UN Millennium goals, Indian music concert, western music concert, NHS and Youthrise carnivals apart from the usual Social Experience activities. Moreover on Earth Day the senior class organized Staff Appreciation assembly which had its tinge of nostalgia.

The seniors were also excited about the last prom of their school year before they bid farewell to their alma mater while the grade 8 students had their final middle school formal before joining the high school.

Finally fifty staff members from the high school and the middle school attended a fruitful full day workshop on “How to Implement Critical Thinking in Classrooms”, conducted by Dr Philip Balcean which was well received. Dr Balcaen teaches in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Canada. He is an acknowledged authority in teaching critical thinking. Moreover, our PYP staff has had a two day off campus workshop for completion of the interdisciplinary program of inquiry.

The end of April heralds the approaching of the last leg of the semester which means only twenty days to go!

Kaisar Dopaishi

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Vice Principal's update

'However much we stumble, it is the teacher’s burden always to hope that with learning a boy’s character might be changed and so the destiny of a man! ’-William Hundert in the film- the Emperor’s Club

March is usually a busy month both from the perspective of academics and extra curricular activities. The end of quarter was marked by the usual focus to get the assignments and tests missed submitted before the grades are finalised. The day’s protest by the High School students meant readjusting the deadlines due to the loss of one teaching day. However, K-8 academics went off without any disruption in the Ganga campus.

The senior class was busy getting ready to submit their internal assessments in Math, Social Studies and Science. Also it was time to get all the CAS forms filled out and completed. The IB teachers had hectic work - getting the students to submit their internal assessments, correcting them, submitting the marks to the IB, getting the samples ready to to be sent off to their various destinations. The IB office was abuzz with ensuring all was on track and securing the last IB requirements in before IB mock examinations start after the long week end. One working day was declared as a non-instructional day - a ‘catch up day’ and it worked ‘magically’ to get all the IB students ready for submission of their final inernal assessments. Time management and multi- tasking are important skills which were put to use by one and all!!

The Vice Principal and the MYP Coordinators formed the self study group for IB Middle School program evaluation with the Heads of Departments. Meanwhile, the departments completed a section of this self study document which they were required to do within a two week time frame. The Careers & College office was also busy following up on applications made by the Class of 2010 to the different colleges and universities. Furthermore, we had university representatives come to KIS to make their presentations to our students.

In the midst of a demanding academic period came Field Day, All India Fresbee tournament, the Middle School play - Tom Sawyer and KIS returning from Ooty tasting victory in the cricket match with Hebron. A Rock Show took place, High School Formal, Canteen, other usual week end Social Experience activities and the additional and special Youth Rise programs.

As the month approached its end, we have just received the news that KIS received the NESA award for Community and Service at the Bangkok Conference which three of our teachers’ attended. Rati Gopinath the Head of Learning Resources had the honor of making a presentation on Special Educational Needs which focussed on how KIS deals with this issue.

The month of March was hectic, varied, challenging and had its challenging moments but through it all the KIS spirit prevailed - Unity amongst Diversity. I would like to thank the students and the staff for their hard work and cooperation to keep focussed on their tasks and priorities in all the flurry of other activities!

Kaisar Dopaishi

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Vice Principal's update

"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.” G.B. Shaw

We are well into the second semester with academics and activities building up the momentum!

On the academic front, the ‘staffing’ for grade 6-12 students is over, the interim reports have been sent and tests have started. The IBDP students have also completed their extended essays, world literature papers and the TOK essays. Most of the teachers are at the end of the IB course and the emphasis in assessments is on the higher order thinking skills. MYP grade 10 students have completed their Personal Projects which have been marked, standardized and displayed in the Personal Project Fair held on 20 February. Furthermore, we are ready to send the grade 10 MYP assessments samples for monitoring to the IB.

The K-5 teachers had a successful in house official PYP workshop from 25 - 27 February on "The Written Curriculum in the PYP" conducted by Barbara Galbraith. This is the second PYP in house workshop for the teachers and two teachers were sent to Mumbai for the PYP workshop. We are all set to embrace the inquiry based approach of the PYP.

Technophile Robotics Company conducted a workshop for staff and students across grade 3 to 10. We hope not only to build the robotics component in our technology curriculum of grade 3-10 but also to explore how we could use this knowledge to enhance inter disciplinary learning. We were also delighted to have among us Dr EW Rogers, Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA, Maryland, a KIS alumnus who gave a guest lecture to our grade 11 and 12 science students and generously sponsored a ‘one-time’ donation of $2000 for one student from KIS to attend NASA Space Camp in May 2010. Our congratulations go out to Cherian, Cyril Punnoose, of grade 11 who was chosen for this sponsorship by the science dept on the basis of a set criterion.

It was also a month of field trips such as girls’ hockey and music field trip to Ooty. In the very first All India IB Inter School Soccer Tournament – LIGA organized by Jamnabai Nursee School, Mumbai, the KIS soccer team stood first amongst the nine schools that participated while our girls were runners up! It was a joy and a pleasant surprise for the chief guest Zahid Khan, an alumnus of KIS to see our team in Mumbai! We are also thankful to our parents in Mumbai and the KIS alumni for coming to the sports venue to cheer and support our students! It was also time for Class of 2010 to go for their senior trip to Poovar Islands in Kerala. To all this add, ACT examinations on 6 February, our usual weekend social experience program, Fun Day at the K-8 Ganga campus, grade 7 and camps in Poondi, Christian Emphasis Week, Ash Wednesday, intramurals, canteens ………..

It s quite apparent that for KIS February isn’t the shortest month of the year!

Kaisar Dopaishi

Vice Principal

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Vice Principal's update

The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn... and change. Carl Rogers

The New Year 2010 heralds the beginning of the second semester of the academic year 2009-2010 for KIS which also means that it is the last semester for the Class of 2010.

There was a rather quick settling in time period for the new staff and students. By the third week of January we had SAT/PSAT classes and support classes in place for those who needed the extra attention. Students who are taking three or less IB certificates or those not doing IB this year are doing an extra requirement for KIS Diploma - Critical Thinking course. This course will not only give the students an extra 2.5 credits but the best essays will be put in our online journal and receive a certificate of merit. The IB students are busy completing their extended essays and are getting ready to meet the challenges of the IB deadlines. For the moment it is “extended essay season’ for IB students!

On 15 - 16 January grade 11 and 12 student attended the interactive seminars entitled “Science and Spirituality” conducted by Andy Fletcher. Andy is the President and CEO of Life, the Universe and Everything, Inc USA and is dedicated to working with international schools and communities, offering seminars on 20th and 21st century physics. Many interested staff members attended also. The seminars were intellectually stimulating and peppered with Andy’s wit and humor! These seminars were of special interest for students doing TOK, Critical Thinking, Science and Religious Education courses and were punctuated by the occurrence of the solar eclipse!

The weekend that followed had some of senior students (apart from the juniors) taking their final shot at the SAT examinations. This was followed by the Republic Day celebrations on the 26 January with its finale being the Social Experience department’s fund raising event – the carnival. Of course there was excitement in the air about the new menu in the Gymkhana also!

In the midst of this, we took time to fondly remember little Micah Daniel, student of KIS and son of our dorm parent Pushpa Lawrence, who passed away during the winter vacations. We need to continue to hold Sunder, Pushpa and their family in our prayers.

For the teaching staff, the semester opened with two full day professional development workshop on “Engaging All Students for the 21st century: Differentiation Strategies for Effective Teaching Learning” conducted by Susan Baum and Henry Nicols- Directors of International Centre for Talent Development, USA. This is the first time we have begun a semester with pedagogical workshops being conducted by globally acclaimed professional workshop leaders. In our MSA strategic plan Differentiation Instruction has been put down as one of the priorities and we are confidently moving towards developing and consolidating it. Susan and Hank also conducted 4 hour workshop for dorm parents. Both these workshops were well received. We were indeed blessed to have Susan and Hank among us.

From the 29 - 31 January twenty three KIS IB Diploma teachers went to Indus International School Bangalore to attend the SAIBSA Job Alike Session and had fruitful sessions sharing and exchanging ideas with their professional counterparts from different IB schools in India.

So we have begun the New Year with renewed vigor, hope and positivity!

Kaisar Dopaishi

Vice Principal

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Vice Principal's update

“Education is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money in that order; it is a process, a never ending one” -Bel Kaufman

The month began with completion of our “staffings” which was indeed a way of adding a nurturing element to the educational process. Two of our students sat for the IB November 2009 examination in Tamil B SL. Other IB students were busy completing their IB orals in German, Spanish and French. Alongside on 7 November we had a large number of students, especially from the senior class, sitting for the last SAT 1 and 2 examination. The extended essay supervisors met up with their students to tell them what research work they are expected to do during their holidays. The IB Coordinator collated together the holiday work set by the IB teachers and sent it to the students and the parents.

On the side lines we had the NHS talent show, gymnastics program, environmental science quiz, Christmas party for the elders staying in Corsock and Social Experience department using its new jeep to start its food distribution program along with its usual activities. Here it might also be worth mentioning that two of our students, Elena Dutt and Deki Penden who performed well in their Buddhism and Hinduism course were chosen to go for a week long program at the Tibetan Children's Village School, Bylakuppe in Karnataka State (see article included in this newsletter).

Time management and multi-tasking are important skills which all students at KIS need to learn while enjoying their weekends and pursuing their overall educuational experience!

Our Elementary School teachers started November off with an in-house IB workshop – “Making PYP Happen”. This of course has spurred them to get going with their Program of Inquiry and Unit of Inquiry. Interesting and enriching days are ahead for the Pre-K-5 teachers. Training of all the teaching staff by Rubicon Atlas in the use of the curriculum mapping followed. It goes without saying that staff were as usual busy with getting the exaination papers prepared and of course marking them before going off for a well- deserved holiday!

After the review days all got into the examination mode which was suddenly disrupted following the tragic accident that happened the previous week. However the students showed great resilience and strength of character in coming to terms with their sadness and moving on from it. It was decided to postpone the examination schedule and extend deadlines in order to facilitate the grieving process.

I would like to thank the students and the staff for their hard work, cooperation and their valuable contribution. We wind up yet another fruitful semester with a commitment to return with renewed resolve and determination to put in our very best while also recognizing ourselves in the larger context, that which is larger then the self.

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Vice Principal's update

Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence - Abigail Adams

Immediately after the long weekend the pace of academics became hectic… of course we have weekend activities such as the ‘Formal’ and Kodai Basketball Open Tournament to provide the balance! For the IB Diploma students it meant preparation and completion of English HL/SL and Hindi IB Orals. October was also the month when students from grades 9-12 took the PSAT and SAT examinations respectively, followed by the ACT examinations.

Alongside, college applications were being processed, especially the UCAS applications - filling of application forms, writing the college essays and securing the recommendation letters. The Careers and College office has its hands full as the Class of 2010 has 138 students making it the largest senior class in the history of KIS and the largest number to sit the May 2010 IB examinations.

The High School office was busy with “staffing” in order to ensure that all those who need keeping on track are being closely monitored. The online attendance of students is working well and is showing positive results in efficiently managing student attendance.

I am indeed grateful to the music department for working over-time in preparing the students for the RSM examinations. With the sudden departure of one of their faculty members, the department rallied together to ensure that our music students are well prepared for these examinations.

On the sidelines, our basketball teams are getting set to take part in the Ooty inter school tournament now re-scheduled to November. KIS came second in the recent Kodai Open Basketball tournament (see article).

Tectronics held an Interschool Robotics Junior competition in Bangalore and the KIS team came first in the southern zone category. Our congratulations go out to Min-Gyu Lee and Alan Alphonse for achieving this honor! We were selected to take part in the international school competition in Seoul, South Korea which we unfortunately could not attend. However, we do hope to do so in the coming year.

We also had a successful Atlas Rubicon Curriculum Mapping online core team training for the coordinators, VP and the ISM. Now we are gearing up for the all staff training in curriculum mapping next month. The English, Second Language and ESL departments have started their curriculum review. Especially this month our heads of departments and coordinators are very busy in the staff evaluation process. We are indeed grateful to Selvi Britto our new data base programmer for starting the Eforum on the Moodle platform and training the staff in this area. This Eforum is to be used for online learning and academic discussions. Our congratulations also go out to Marsha Joshi who was elected our NESA representative for 2009-2010 and to Anna Kagedal who will take over this responsibility in 2010-2011.

The busiest month of the first semester had its usual moments of tensions, pressures and the sense of satisfaction that multi tasking and time management has worked with varying degrees of success!

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Vice Principal's update

"Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been and look at what can be."

Marsha Petrie Sue

Structural changes in KIS academic life

On an administrative level the ES Coordinator is now referred to as K-8 Coordinator who looks after the day to day running of this section. At the Ganga campus we now have two curriculums in operation – Pre-K to 5 being PYP and grades 6-8 being MYP. Thus the follow up to this implied that we have the MYP Coordinator (Mr Graham Lambert) at Ganga campus and the Associate MYP Coordinator (Ms Mataji Sharma) at High Clerc campus. Further at the administrative level changes also needed to be affected from the budgetary perspective, discipline policy, staffing, scheduling, Library, IT and lab provisions. Five new classrooms, the expanded IT lab and staff lounge, the refurbished science lab and the extension of the kitchen and the cafeteria are a blessing in terms of attempting to make the K-8 section a self contained unit. We are thankful to the Council of Directors for assisting in the endeavor to continue to plan the building of the school’s infrastructure. The old Middle School block is now christened the Arts Block. It houses the English department with its 5 classrooms and a second IB recording room, two ESL classrooms, Health room, IT and Food Tech Lab, Classroom Music, Art department and RE department offices, each having two classrooms and an AV room. The MYP Coordinator’s office keeps an eye over the Arts Block and liaisons with the High School Coordinator’s office in the main quad.

Generally the KIS community is happy to have the additional space at its disposal. Now the High Clerc campus is having distinct departmental divisions. The main quad has Maths, Social Studies and TOK classrooms with department offices. All Second Language classes are in one area with their office space. The science and the music departments were already in separate units.

The shift of grades 7 and 8 to Ganga compound has generally meant that departments are able to have their own classrooms, thereby reflecting the subject areas and having proper space provisions for its resources. In most cases, teachers now have their own teaching spaces. All in all these structural changes have been positive though the transition does bring its teething problems which happily aren’t insurmountable.

Formulation of policies
After much deliberation and experimentation we have now articulated an All School Language and Second Language Policy. This is in keeping with the guidelines of the IB and the needs of the school. Furthermore, we have brought together a KIS Professional Development Policy document. This gives both a bird eye view and details with regards to what KIS offers by way of professional development and its aims and objectives.

IT matters
All classrooms in the High Clerc campus now have a LCD projector with a computer thereby facilitating effective integration of technology into the learning process. At the Ganga campus, by the end of this semester, most classes will also have LCD projectors. Recording of absences and tardies are now done online with the facility of automated messages coming from the Vice Principal’s office to remind the teachers in case they have not completed the online class attendance.

New thrusts and developments
SAT and PSAT classes

PSAT classes for grades 9 and 10 have started. Furthermore 90% of the PSAT and SAT classes have been put onto the regular schedule rather than taking place over the weekend as was previously the case. I am happy to report that there is a high level of enthusiasm to join these classes. For example in PSAT Math (grades 9 and 10) 92 students registered requiring us to streamline the numbers for those taking classes in the regular schedule and excess numbers being adjusted on Sunday after lunch. This semester PSAT / SAT Math and English preparatory classes have in total about 240 students. Two consultant teachers in Math and in English conduct these classes which, we hope, will also have positive spillover effects on Math and English standards at KIS.

With most of the PSAT and SAT classes being held in the regular class schedule, we have less study hall periods. Furthermore, some of these study hall periods are now being used to engage students in CAS activities, clubs such as the Heritage Club, Calligraphy, Robotics and Information Literacy.

Schedule matters
The two year IBDP Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Math Higher Level courses have seven periods per cycle as against six previously. This has helped in achieving the stipulated 240 hour requirement of the IB for these courses. In addition to the regular Math classes, two additional math support classes are now being provided to students who aren’t able to cope well in the regular classes. This initiative has been popular with the students and more so with the parents. It is our hope that with this additional Math support the students will be able to achieve better standards in Math. New courses added in this semester include Advanced Creative Writing, Auto Mechanics, Journalism, Art Application: Design and Architecture.

The IB Diploma Program

The initial excitement and nervousness associated with the first IB assessment is over with the final TOK presentation of the IB students held from 24 August to 1 September. The presentation by over 90 students was a time –consuming task but an enriching experience for one and all. The IB students are now moving on to preparing their first draft of extended essay and the orals in English and second languages which is scheduled in September and November
time frame.

The Middle Years program
As a build up to the follow up visit by the MYP Associate Regional Manager, the focus in July and August was to have more of Tuesday in-service devoted to MYP needs. On 3 September we had a successful consultation cum follow up visit by Ashish Trivedi, the MYP Associate Regional Manager from Singapore. We now await his report. This follow up visit has resulted in a better understanding of the implementation of the MYP and thus gearing us up for the program evaluation due in November 2010. After the follow up visit we had two days of MYP workshops conducted by Ashish which were attended by 23 MYP teachers and the two MYP Coordinators.

The Elementary School program
PYP updates: All PYP teachers are currently attending a semester long professional development session introducing them to both the Primary Years Program and Kagan Cooperative Learning led by Brian Nelsen.

Kagan Cooperative Learning + PYP – Balance for Transformational Teaching and Learning: Over the summer holiday Brian Nelson traveled to the US along with four KIS teachers from ES, MS and HS for one week of Professional Development in Kagan Cooperative Learning. They shared a short video of the Kombai School project with Dr Spencer during the Kagan Conference in Orlando, Florida and he showed interest in supporting it in form of research support and implementation of cooperative learning structures in the tribal village school. It is hoped that PYP when combined with the Kagan Cooperative Learning curriculum will provide the balance between social and leadership skills with the academic rigor of the PYP.

Service Learning at ES - Education for All: Last year at the end of April, the students raised $3500 dollars to help build a dorm and two additional classrooms for Kombai School. This summer Pastor Kim led a crew of builders to the completion of the new dorm and two additional classrooms. Without the new classrooms, the education journey for the 5th graders at Kombai School would have come to an end. The new classrooms provided the space for grade 6. We plan to continue to partner with this school by providing new classrooms each year so every student can finish through grade 10.

The ripples going out from KIS will continue to amplify as this place builds on its strong foundation.

Kaisar Dopaishi
Academic Vice Principal

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