The J Twins and the Dead Silent Auction Sponsors

June Newsletter

Issue 11

Of Special Interest IB Candidates should note that, if they wish to re-take a subject in November… Grade 11 IB Art Students recently worked over a weekend….

Wednesday June 18th High School Graduation Ceremony

Interschool Swim Meet at St. Dorothy’s School…

The J Twins and the Dead Contents Michael retires

2

HS BBQ

2

IB Art

3

IB News

4

IB News

5

Elementary Grads

5

Middle School News

6

Interschool Swim Meet

7

AGM Report

8

Grade 10 Homeroom

9

Middle School Play

10

International Night

11

Events

12

2008 Prom

12

Scenes from the MS play…(more on page 10)

Silent Auction Sponsors A very special thanks to all the organizations that sponsored items for the Silent Auction especially those whose ‘logos’ are printed below.

Verdala a Newsle etter

2

High Sc H chool BBQ B T There was a High School BBQ Q at the end of the e year courtesy c o of the Hiigh Schoo ol teacherrs. Many y thanks for getting g this org ganized.

Verdala Newsletter

3

IB Ar rt Week kend

Ms Proudlerr Art Room entra ance

Congratulattions to F Francesca Fe enech –

G Grade 11 IB Art Studentts re ecently worked over a we eekend in the school premises. of first parrt The ay was spent Saturda down the moat, g with working the natural environment after in nvestigating the work of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist who works w primarily raw with n natural als. The project p materia produce ed some interestting and diverse d outcomes, each sttudent eting in interpre their unique way. These ranged from a large architec ctural form m by Sirus to t a varie ety of inventio ons by Hanna and Adam, while Vessy d a “watterfall” created

with w leav ves and s stones, Brrooke and F Fabio concentrated o on “structture and c contrast” in the v variety off “found” m materials. T The rest off the time w was spentt on an i intensive p period of w work on personal p projects, a chance t focus and to a have a school space for all a art! Students were a able to spend s an u uninterrupt ted time therefore a and a achieve m much in t terms of individual a develop art pment.

Sirus an nd image of former f British politician p Margaret Thatcher.

Broo oke building an inven ntion in natu ure.

c chosen as th he Prom Q Queen – and her King Adem Pa arlor (page 11) 1

Brooke e, Vessy, Ada am, Sirus, Fabio and Hannah H in th he moat.

Ad dam working g in a naturall c crack in Malttese stone.

Fabio working w on clay c figures

Vessy worrking on her furniturre project

Hannah wo orking on on ne of her 3 canvases

Verdala a Newsle etter

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IB New ws IB News - June J 2008 ade 12 IB candidates are re eminded that results are av vailable to can ndidates on-lin ne at http://results.ibo.o org Gra on the 6th off July. After the res sults have bee en issued I will be available e in Malta to d discuss options s such as enquiries upon re esults, re-take es, etc., from th he morning off the 8th of Ju uly. After thatt I can be conttacted via email ([email protected]) or SMS S text (356 6 9982 1192) over the sum mmer. Candidates should s note th hat, if they wish to re-take a subject in November, N I will w need to register them by b 29th July. Th hey will need to have settled fees f with the office before then. t In the last newsletter, n Grrade 11 deadllines were giv ven up to Octo ober of 2008. The 2008-200 09 deadlines have h been giv ven to students and emailed tto parents/gua ardians. Here they are again for your refference: 2008 June

Summe er vacation wo ork plan for the Extended Essay E (EE) Maths Studies Projject (MSP): 2-4 2 page state ement of task and plan. orld Lit. 1 Final drraft English Wo Approximately 90 hours of CAS co ompleted

May-June

Business Managem ment project (BMP):Start looking for po ossible busine ess and proble em to analyse.

July – Augu ust

MSP: Co ollect and/or generate g relev vant data and d information. BMP: Find a business s and get preliminary inform mation

Septemberr

First dra aft of the Exte ended Essay MSP: Su ubmit stateme ent, Introducttion, and data a for feedback. Languag ge A1 self tau ught (A1 ST) students s Title for World Lit essay Submit statement, in ntro, data, for BMP Review World Lit 1 BMP: Ha ave chosen bu usiness and re esearch questtion: hand in main m research h

October

A1 Self Taught topic summary, qu uotations, Theory of Knowledge e (TOK) first essay/presenta ation EE Revised draft

Sept-Oct

sis of data, evaluation BMP carrry out analys MSP: Data analysis. (Consult ( teach her as needed d)

Sept-Dec

BMP: Ca arry out analy ysis of data. evaluation. (If business is abroad this will have had to have h been don ne in summerr or done lates st over Xmas holidays.

Oct-Nov

BMP: work on first drraft ntments to dis scuss first draft of project MSP: Oct-17-24 Individual appoin

November

A1 ST first draft (early Nov) 12th) Deadline for first draftt (12th – 21st Meet with sup pervisor to dis scuss) MSP: (1 English B orals A1 ST final draft (Mid d-November) TOK oth her essay/pres sentation First Fre ench Oral 10th EE Final copy

December

Italian, Spanish orals s English A1 Oral Comm mentary English A2 formal com mmentary CAS sta atus reports (a approximately y 135 hours sh hould be comp pleted) r MSP:(3rd ) Deadline fo or second drafft BMP sec cond draft due e

2009 January

French,, Italian, Span nish orals t MSP:(7th ) Deadline fo or third draft (12 ( th – 30th po olish and complete final dra aft) Psychology Research Study English B oral MSP: Final draft in du uplicate (late January) English A1 2nd World Lit assignmen nt BMP: Ro ough draft due

proposa al.

Verdala Newsletter

IB B News s. (Continuued) Jan-Feb-Marr

Working on HL/SL matthematics porrtfolios

February

BMP: Beg ginning Feb ha and in first draft More French, Italian, Spanish S orals ond essay/pre esentation TOK seco English A A2 Written Ass signments Compute er Science Fina al Draft MSP:(6th) Final deadlin ne for submiss sion of 2 copies of project English B oral Lab portffolios for Biolo ogy, Chemistry y, and Physics s TOK othe er essay/prese entation BMP: End d Feb hand in second draft

March

Visual Arts booklets an nd workbooks examination Visual Arts exhibition/e I Spanis sh orals French, Italian, Maths Standard and Higher Level po ortfolios due English B oral French, Italian I Spanish h oral examin nations Final dea adline for CAS (150 hours)

May

IB Writte en examination ns begin early y May.

dents who are leaving Verda ala at the end d of this To those stud scholastic yea ar, thanks for choosing Verd dala School and the IB programme. Don’t D forget to o register as an a ex-alumni on the www.verdala..org website, and keep in to ouch.

Eleme entary y Gra ade 5 Gradu uation n

5

Middle School S P Prom

…

The Middle e School Stude ent Council brough ht its term of office to a clo ose with a well organiized evening o of fun. The bo oys impressed everyo one with theirr ties and jack kets while the girls embellished the cou urtyard with th heir beautiful dresse es. oup photos, th he BBQ was litt and After a series of gro the stu udents danced d to a selectio on of good mu usic. After that t everyone had a bite, th he dancing compe etitions ensued. Everyone was w dazzled by y the skill off our teachers s in picking up p a winner. Follow wing the crown ning of Sergei and Samanth ha as the pa arty’s prom kin ng and queen, we sat to wa atch some candid photos s from this past year. The night n ose with a dellicious chocola ate was brrought to a clo cake.

Congrattulations to alll who participa ated and good luck k on your move to o middle sch hool.

Verdala a Newsle etter

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Mid ddle Sc chool News N Tour of Fo ort Pembro oke

Who knows how many ttimes you hav ve walked ov ver the b bridge into the High school c campus thinking of going into a s school rathe er than a late n nineteenth century m military f fortification? A small group p of parents got to k know a little bit more abo out the h hidden secrets s of Fort Pem mbroke a couple of weeks ago. This b brought to an end a series of five e events that the Middle School o organized alon ng the year ffor the p parent commu unity. This was the f first time thatt we organized d such e events and we w believe th hat we s should run the em again nextt year. C Consequently, , we already y have m made some plans for ou ur first e event in Octob ber. If you hav ve any ideas about any events s that c could be organized or wa ays of h how we can make m these m meeting m more success sful, then d do not h hesitate to contact the e MS C Coordinator via e-mail ( (vismiddle@ve erdala.org)

Grade G 6 Soc cial Studie es Fieldtrip p

Th he visit to the e Mosque in Paola was the destinattion we all headed to a couple of weeks ago as part of the comparativ ve religions overed in soc cial studies. topic we co Greeted by y the Imam, we’ve w spent an interesting morning consolidating c what has been covered by Ms. Farrugia in class. The fun pa art was going g up to the Minaret, ho owever, some complained going up th he spiral stairc case as they thought we e will never re each the top – but we all made it.

Inter rnational Food F Lunch heon

A couple e of weeks ago the four middle school Second Language teacherrs presented us with a variety of fo ood and desse erts coming from Spain, France, Ittaly and a taste of Puerto Rico. e the studen nts ate so much Some struggled that teachers w with ging them into class. The T dragg follow wing day some of the stude ents were still talking about the food f they ate. Than nk

you

Simp pson,

Ms

Ms s

Giudice,

A Agius

and

Ms Ms

Xuer eb for mak king this ev vent anoth her

unforg gettable

o one.

Than nk you to all the teach hers that

helped

clean ning up.

Drama a Group F Following the success of a previous production, parents were invitted to attend another series of monologues m a and group skits perfo ormed by mid ddle school students who w formed part p of this after-scho ool drama club b since October la ast year. Ably direc cted by Barry Stott, 25 middle sc chool students s presented their work k in the Music c Room in front of an audience. T This was a perience for ea ach and great exp every one e of them. Tha ank you to all of thos se who have helped h in some way y or another to turn this into a suc ccessful eventt.

witth

serving

a and

Verdala Newsletter

7

Inte erscho ool Swiim Meet t Thursday May 29th thirty students atte ended an Intterschool Swiim Meet att St. Dorothy’’s School in Ze ebbug. chools particip pated and eac ch school was allowed to ha ave one stude ent Nine sc taking part in each event. e Events were for U/12 2, U/13, U14, & U15. Medals s were given tto the first 3 competitors c pllaced in each race and poin nts were ac ccumulated to o have overall winners for b both boys and d girls. Verdala placed 2nd in the girls’ competition c and the boys although a they y swam their best were pla aced ninth. Th his n impressive result conside ering that mo ost of the stud dents only atttend swim les ssons as part of the physic cal was an educattion program. he competitorrs and the plac ces gained by y the students s. Below are a list of th

Stroke F/C Boys

U/12 Alec Za ammit 2nd

U/13 3 Ulrik Horn H

U/14 4 Aliakse ei Kokoshniko ov

U/15 Lee Gau uci

F/C Girls

Mariam m Gadzhieva

Christtina Avdoshin na

Evita Otigbah O

Rebecca a Sjoberg

oys Breast Bo

Jack W Walsh

Dylan n McCormick

Floris Heidsma H

P Steve Portera

Breast Girls

Ana Me edinac 3rd

Matild da Sjoberg

Desiree e Schmid

Z 1st Aprille Zammit

s B/C Boys

Lorenzzo Gasperini 2nd

Nigel Eyton

Ben Brryant

Vasily Bogomolov B

B/C Girls

Clara Hultkrantz H

Evita Otigbah O 3rd

Emily Kirk K

Fly Boys

Alec Za ammit 3rd

Evelin na Khalm mirzaeva Ulrik Horn H

H Floris Heidsma

Lee Gau uci

Fly Girls

m Gadzhieva Mariam

Matild da Sjoberg 1 1st

Desiree e Schmid 3rrd

Aprille Zammit Z 2nd

Congratulations to tthe medal winners w and d thanks to o all the stu udents who o participate ed thus helping Verdala V gain n overall po oints. Ms. G Gera & Ms. Sanger

ECDL New ws Tw welve grade 8 students, two o grade 9 stud dents & 1 pare ent have sat for f the 7 modu ules of the European Computer Driving D License e over the cou urse of the 20 008 academic year. Of the above mentio oned only one grade 8 student has s not been gra anted the full certificate. Another grade 8 student who o entered Verrdala this quarrter has managed to o sit and pass 3 of the modules. Congratula ations grade e 8! Your resu ults are indic cative of you ur hard work k.

Comp puting a and PSHE E Projec ct This quarter durring computerr lessons Grad de 6 & Grade 7 have been learning Powe erPoint gaining g both theoretical & practical un nderstanding. To utilize theiir knowledge & skills they produced p a cro oss curriculum m PowerPoint presentation incorporatin ng a theme fro om their PSHE E lesson. Not only o did they produce an in nteresting visu ual mations and slide s transition ns but were ab ble to show th heir parents th hat they are becoming b demonstrattion using anim capable pub blic speakers. I would like to t thank all pa arents who accepted the inv vitation to see e their child in n action.

Ms. Sanger

Verdala a Newsle etter

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Ann nual Ge eneral Meetin ng Repo ort A numberr of significant reports were m made at the AG GM in April. Be elow is a summ mary of the maiin pointts that arose att the meeting. The Chairman, Michael M Trapn nell, reported on o a number of significant deve elopments in all sections of the Schoo ol: a a) b b)

c c)

d d)

e e) f f)

A new web-site had been b operational since Aprril 2007. This s is working well and contains informatio on about all aspects a of the e School and allows a parents s to print application forms s and other doc cuments if the ey decide to se eek admission n for their children. Investme ent in infrastructure include es – moving the Pre Kinde er play area to t the Elemen ntary School; the purchase of new furnitu ure for Eleme entary; interna al re-structuring to Elemen ntary construction of o a new stag ge in the Music Room; and d the rooms to create more space; the c refurbishm ment of the Tuck T Shop. Extra classes at 8am had been sta arted for the IB Higher Le evel classes which w has cre eated valuable additional class contact tim me. The teac chers who were offering this additional class were thanked for theiir work – Ela aine Gili, Ruth h Bradley, Ad dam Pleasance, Yeya Simp pson, Laurie Simpson, Marth hese Xuereb, Jill Kirkstadt,, Simone Brin ncat, Jela Pan ndya and Kata arina Sklenar. Technolog gy – the new w Technology Surcharge had generated funds to addrress several areas a with rega ard to improving technology y. A total of 18,000 1 euro h had been spen nt in all 3 secttions of the sch hool on keybo oards, monitors, laptops, software printe ers, licensing and on upgra ading computerrs. Lease – although a the new lease w was still not siigned the Lan nds Departme ent was accep pting rent at th he new level in ndicated in the e Lease Agree ement. Sports Co omplex – Outtline Planning has been gra anted for two o 5-a-side soc ccer pitches and a gymnasiu um. Full planning approv val was now being soughtt for the soccer pitches. The strategy is to construc ct the pitches first, and hop pefully by Sep ptember subje ect to permission, m as part of the fund raising g strategy for the gymnasiu um. The initia al estimate for the use them soccer pittches was 39,000 euro and 396,000 euro o for the gymnasium in she ell form.

The Headmasterr, Adam Pleasance, reportted on the following: a a)

b b)

c c)

d d)

e e)

College Counselling C – the new Colllege Counsellor has been in post for a year and the 24 students in Grade 12 have h all been through the process of advice and application proces ssing ently working with the 11tth Grade students to get them t with the Counsellor. She is curre cation process s. prepared for the applic Student Numbers N – fo or comparative e purposes sttudent numbe ers are always s calculated on o 1st st October. On 1 Octob ber 2007 there were 269 students regiistered – the highest since e the figure of 270 in 1997. Comparative e figures aparrt, there were 283 students s registered at the time of th he meeting. Staffing – new staff ap ppointed this y year, James Mistruzzi M – Gra ade 5; Bonnie e Richards – Grade G 4; Nick Dziadyk D – Sec condary English; and Victo or Debono – D Drama. Anan nd Singh who o has taught se econdary Math hs for 2 years s will be leaviing at the end d of the year to take up a new appointm ment at an intternational school in Vienn na. The HM tthanked him for his servic ce at Verdala and a wished him m well in his n new endeavorrs. Academic c Developmen nts include – a second section of Grad de 6 from Se eptember 200 08; a second se ection of Grade 4 from Ea aster 2008; Elementary E se econd languag ge instruction n will have incrreased instruc ction time fro om Septembe er 2008; and increase in secondary s science instructio onal time from m September 2008. 2 Physical reorganization r n will be necessary for the projected stu udent numbers s from Septem mber 2008. I particular the In t Headmaster’s Apartme ent, currently rented, will be converted into classroom ms over the summer. The loss of incom me from rent will be more than made up u by the extra students thatt the school w will be able to accommodate e.

The HM closed his remarks with w thanking his colleagues for their continued pro ofessionalism and dedic cation to the growth g and su uccess of the School S and its s students. H asked Sarrah Proudler to o report on th he IGCSE resu ults from the summer s of 2007. She indic cated The HM that 72% of the 16 69 subject entries saw stud dents receiving an A, B or C C. This is the highest result the ool has achieve ed since introducing IGCSE E in 1990. Scho H also asked d Laurie Simp pson to reportt on the IB re esults for the summer of 2007. He repo orted The HM that 78% of the candidates tak king the full D Diploma had passed. p The h highest record ded Diploma score s was 37 3 points. In all some 84% % of all subjec ct entries stud dents scored a 4 or more.

Verdala Newsletter

9

Fina ancial repor rt The e Business Manager, Charles C Zerafa, presented the Audited Acco ounts for 20 006-7. The ey showed a surplus o of Lm2732 after a all the e audit charges were applied. Iff the deprec ciation figure of Lm39 9,500 is tak ken into ac ccount the surplus wa as, in effec ct, Lm42,23 32. Parents wanting a complete e copy of th he audit report were invited to get one from m the Busin ness Office.. onfirmed th hat the aud ditor, MSI Craig C Samm mut and Co o were reap ppointed forr 2007-8. It was co

Fees fo or 2008-9 These are e annual fees in euro. 1. Pre-Kiindergarten

EU Fees 2215

Non-EU Fees 2330

2. Kinder – Grade 5

5130

5480

3. Grade es 6 – 8

5480

5950

es 9 and 10 4. Grade

5830

6410

es 11 and 12 2 5. Grade

5950

6530

ency Program mme 6. Reside

6760

6760

7. Techn nology Surcharge

60 euro p per family pe er semester.

Gra ade 10 Homero H oom Act tivitie es Grade 10 studen nts decided d to don nate their ffunds to ch hildren in a far less s fortun nate situ uation t than the emselves, in Eth hiopia. T They managed to rraise €570,, to contrib bute and d help with h education n, clean water sup pply and ba asic housin ng for families, and d especially y children, in some off the poo orest comm munities in Ethiopia. This T amount can achieve a so much, and will be taken dire ectly to the people who w nee ed it most by voluntary Malttese organization “Living Wa aters”. M Many thanks to Grrade 10 for their work w thro oughout th he year which will ben nefit suc ch a needy cause. Gra ade 10 w was honorred with the hom meroom award th his year in recognition off their work k in commu unity me of the ese include ed a activities. Som ncake sale, tombola, raffle, hot dog pan sale e at play prractice, football tournament, parent co onference café c and d chocolate e sale…….a and all before study period for their IGCSE I exa ams! Con ngratulation ns to them all.

Verdala a Newsle etter

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M Middle S School l Play

Ms Agius

Matilda

Desiree

Floris s

Tryg gve

Alex

Izzy

Patrick

Georrge

Sergejj

Samanttha

Rebe ecca

Jaap p

Verdala Newsletter

11

The Booste B er Club b Internation nal Nigh ht

Many, man ny thanks to o the Booste er Club for organizing yet another succe essful International Nig ght. The food was nt, the even nts were exc citing, and th he numbers attending excellen were att a record high. t best eve er International Night as s you can see e from the It was the selectio on of photos.

Wanted W

If any member m of the school s commun nity would like a ‘sm mall ad’ in the new wsletter please send s the details to the Schooll Offfice

"Can You Sing? ? Small close-harmo ony, ens acapella a wome group p looking fo or more voices!

ontact Jill Co 998 80 9435."

High h Schoo ol Prom m The High h School Students and so ome 15 stafff enjoyed the High Scho ool Prom at tthe Excelsiorr Hotel in Valletta. The e food was g great, the loc cation overlo ooking the harbor wonde erful, and the ‘spirited’ dancing d truly y able. memora Congratulations to: C Francesca Fenech – chosen as the Prom m Queen – and a her King g – Adem Parlor P

Verdala a Newsle etter

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Fort thcomiing Eve ents Dates for f 2008 8-9 Scho ool Year r mer vacatiion but ple ease do make sure that t you have h noted d when school Have a great summ m Pleasanc ce starts again after tthe summer – Adam 1st day of Sch hool (Secon ndary) 1st day of Sch hool (Eleme entary) Las st day befo ore Christmas 1stt day after Christmas Las st day befo ore Easter 1st day after E Easter Las st day of Sc chool

Mo onday 1st Se eptember 2008 2 Tuesday 2nd September S 2008 We ednesday 17 1 th Decemb ber 2008 Mo onday 5th Ja anuary 200 09 Friday 3rd Aprril 2009 onday 20th April A 2009 Mo Friday 19th Ju une 2009

THE 2008 PROM

ke a note off the first event after school starrts – Also mak Back to o School BB BQ is on Friday F 12thh September.

Verdala Newsletter

13

R Remind der

The e Verdala New wsletter is now n being de elivered via an a e-mail ma ailing list If you are not alre eady receivin ng this servicce, you may subscribe s a as follows:nk e-mail win ndow from th he e-mail acccount you inttend to regisster, type the e In a blan following:-

(To su ubscribe)….. [email protected] (To unsubscribe)… … newsletter-unsubscribe@ @verdala.org g A co onfirmation email e will be automatically generated and returne ed to you To confirm m this requesst simply rep ply to this me essage witho out altering th he subject lin ne (The reply's additiona al "Re:" is ok). If you do d not wish to t subscribe to this list pllease simply disregard th his message.  

NOTE! Microso oft Office 2007 7/Vista office documents sa aved as default on your hom me computer arre not compattible with Office 2003 (At School) S If you wantt them to be re ead at the sch hool “Save as .. . Word 97-20 003 Documentt”