As previously mentioned our Tournament of the Minds (TOM) team won the “Social Science” section at the Hong Kong regional tournament held in May, 2012.    The team is made up of Sophia Openshaw and Anastasia Hale (who are both now at Island School), Natasha Mather, Imogen Hamp, Aurora Corrado and Daanyal Ebrahim (Peak School).   Calypso Paisley, another team member from May, is unable to go as she now attends school in the UK.

The team is off to Perth in October, just before the Mid Term break, to represent Peak School and Hong Kong at the Australasian Pacific Final where 12 teams from Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore will be competing.  As I’m sure you can appreciate the cost to do this for the children and families involved is high.  As a school we will be fundraising to show our support for the team and to also help reduce the cost a little for the team to go.

The first fundraising activity is a “dress casual day” to be held next Friday the 14th of September.  We invite all students to wear casual clothes on this day and to make a small donation towards the team.  Your support will be gratefully appreciated.

Below is an article located on the ESF website which highlights just how well our secondary students are performing at the IB Diploma level.  As you can see from the table below ESF students are scoring significantly higher than students elsewhere (please click on the table below to enlarge).  With the reported demise of the GCSE (based on reports out of the UK) in the coming years more and more international schools are apparently turning to the IB Diploma for their secondary students.  It is very reassuring for our students and their families that the IB Diploma is now well established in our ESF secondary schools at a time where other options will reportedly be going through significant changes in 2-3 years time.

“ESF schools have continued to out-perform schools worldwide in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma examinations 2012. The six ESF secondary schools (including Renaissance College operated by ESF Educational Services Ltd.) entered a total of 779 students for the full IB Diploma. While final results are still being analysed, ESF students have achieved better results than their peers worldwide.

“This year’s results are the best to date for ESF. It is fantastic to see improvements this year in different areas. Over 190 students have achieved 40 points or more, an increase of 9.7% points from 2011, and the average points scale has risen by more than one whole point. I congratulate both students and staff for their hard work,” said Chief Executive Officer Heather Du Quesnay. “While we are still analysing the details, the overall picture is very positive. Everyone should be very proud of their accomplishment.”

12 students achieved the maximum 45 points. They include Cindy Ling, Hedy Man, Queenie Chan, Rupert Phillips and Edward Tam, all from King George V School, Calvin Po, Anahita Sharma and Ronald Yip, from South Island School, Deep Vaze and Hanlin Tsien from Island School, Yi Ning Lui from West Island School and Sarah Chan from Sha Tin College. Twenty-nine students received 44 points or more. Last year, only 125 students worldwide achieved the perfect score. The average score of ESF students has increased to 35.5 points from 34.3 last year. There are also more than 100 students achieving the prestigious Bilingual Diploma[1].

In the IB Diploma students choose six subjects, for which they can be awarded a maximum of seven points each. A further three points can be earned from an extended essay and a Theory of Knowledge course”.

 

As a school we reinforce to children not to believe everything they read on the internet.  A message I thought I would reinforce with you by sharing a recent article in “Time” Moneyland.  It was actually sent to me by a parent of the school and I thought you would also appreciate reading about this.  The article entitled “Why you shouldn’t trust positive online reviews-or negative ones for that matter” raises some serious issues around some very popular and highly trusted sites including tripadvisor.

If you rely on online reviews to book your holidays etc you may benefit from reading this article.

To read the article click HERE.  In particular interest to me was the section called “9 reasons why you shouldn’t trust online reviews”.

Researching iPad applications recently unearthed two very popular free iPad apps.

Scribble Press

The first free iPad app is English based.  This app is proving very popular as it is easy to use and great for helping children develop their writing skills through the use of ICT.  It is fun for all ages and comes with a range of templates and ideas.  It’s winning all sorts of awards so it must be good!

Minds of Modern Maths

The second free iPad app is strongly linked to maths.  This is aimed at those that are really passionate about Maths (isn’t everyone) and for thoese that want to learn more about the history of numbers.  Aimed at upper primary, secondary students and adults this app tracks back through the centuries to reveal how numbers and maths has shaped the lives that we live today as well as highlight the people who helped make it happen.