LIANXI
2005-2006 ARCHIVE:
| ISA
MATHEMATICS PRIZE WINNER! |
Congratulations
to Kwan Hee Lee who will be travelling to
Hong Kong to receive his Mathematics Subject
Award on June 23.
Kwan Hee Lee came second overall in the Mathematics
Competition in the Hong Kong East Asia Region.
Well done! |
What a great way to start the holidays
- travelling to HK to receive an award! Congratuations!
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS - WAB WISHES YOU
ALL A SAFE AND HAPPY BREAK!
ISA
RESULTS CONFIRM WAB'S ACADEMIC STANDING
This year, WAB students in Grades 3, 5, 7 and 10
once again participated in the International Schools
Assessment (ISA). This is the second year that WAB
has had students take the ISA, a test of core academic
skills in mathematics, reading comprehension and
writing.
This is a standardized measure against the Program
of International Student Assessment, which is an
on-going worldwide OECD survey of 15 year olds’
proficiency in literacy.
The ISA is the only school-based test in the world
that has been specifically designed for and standardized
against a population of students from international
schools and confirms that international schools
achieve at a high level compared with all other
schools.
At WAB, we understand that our students are a diverse
and unique population and should only be compared
against students learning under similar conditions.
The ISA test helps us confirm the academic standing
that WAB is recognized for providing.
Overall, WAB is very pleased with its results this
year. Students at WAB are performing where we would
expect them to be. In many cases, they are performing
at a better level than many students from other
international schools that participated in the ISA.
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WAB PERFORMS AT OLYMPIC AWARD CEREMONY!
“We hope that hearing our students, all
from different nations, playing together as one,
you will be inspired with the spirit of the Olympics,
when the world can come together as one in Beijing.
Some fitting words from the official program
to describe a wonderful performance by WAB drumming
group ‘Drum Fusion’ at the award ceremony
last Friday, when WAB was officially honored as
a Beijing 2008 Olympic Education Model School
The ceremony at Beijing Yu Ying Middle School, attended
by representatives from other award schools and
government officials also featured performances
by local Beijing schools, including traditional
dance, choral pieces, and an ode to sport
WAB was asked to perform an item that was globally
relevant and representative of the international
community - one that highlighted the connection
between nations as personified by the Olympic spirit
‘Drum Fusion’ was chosen to bring
these themes to life. Just as the Olympics connect
the world through the common language of sport,
drumming is a musical element, which is significant
in all cultures around the world. The rhythm of
drumming is something that we not only hear, but
we feel - like the spirit of the Olympics.
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WAB AWARDED AS MODEL SCHOOL OF OLYMPIC EDUCATION
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of
the XXIX Olympiad this week announced that WAB has
been awarded the honor of Model School of Olympic
Education! WAB is the only international school
in Beijing to receive the award.
WAB will join 200 schools from Beijing in organizing
various educational activities, weaving the Olympic
spirit through the variety of curriculum, cultural,
and community activities at WAB. The award affords
WAB a unique opportunity to present a ‘window
on the Olympics’ to both the Chinese and international
communities.
WAB’s role as an Model School of Olympic Education
will enable us to demonstrate how an important theme
like the Olympics can be explored in a meaningful
way through an international curriculum. As an event,
the Olympic goes far beyond sporting endeavors alone.
Studying the cultural, economic and political dimensions
of the Olympics provides students with a rich context
for authentic inquiry. In addition, the award will
enable WAB to apply and develop our core values.
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NEW HIGH SCHOOL PROGRESS
With less than three months to go, the new High
School project is making great progress.
One of the exciting features of the High School
is the Koi Garden, a sunken lounge with natural
light flooding through the atrium roof above.
The Koi Garden serves as a gathering point, recreational
library and café and features a waterway
with goldfish that winds through the lounge and
reading garden.
The new High School opens on August 14, 2006. Everyone
is welcome to the Open House on August 12. The official
opening is scheduled for Saturday August 26.
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HEART RATES GO UP AT WAB! WABATHON RETURNS THIS
SATURDAY!
The annual Elementary School WABathon is on again
this Saturday February 25, with over 600 participants
dancing, jumping and cheering their way to greater
health and fitness! The event involves two hours
of aerobic exercises to promote active living for
everyone - it’s about taking part and having
fun.
WAB will donate all funds raised from the event
to Special Olympics East Asia, to provide new sports
equipment and enhanced training opportunities for
Special Olympics China athletes.
MODEL UNITED NATIONS
The WAB Model United Nations (WABMUN) team is currently
coaching student delegates for two upcoming conferences
- the COMUN Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka from
March 1-6 and the BEIMUN Conference in Beijing from
March 17-19. Participating in Model United Nations
is a fantastic experience and tests several aspects
of a student’s skills and personality.
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HOME LEARNING, STUDYWIZ AND MORE
In 2005, WAB invested in the Studywiz "Virtual
Learning Environment". This is a tool designed
to make digital learning intuitive and practical
for teachers, students and parents.
Planned for development over a number of years
to enhance the effectiveness with which teachers
and students could work digitally, fears of an
Avian Flu pandemic prompted an accelerated implementation
of Studywiz as part of a home learning contingency
plan.
WAB staff are aware that effective home learning
looks different for students of different ages
and can involve a combination of strategies including
hard (paper) and soft (digital) learning resources.
However, teacher response to the opportunities
presented by Studywiz as a tool exceeded expectations
and it became clear that teachers were interested
and motivated to explore the use of Studywiz beyond
the scope of home learning alone.
As a result, there are now many teachers and teams
exploring the use of this digital environment
as a part of daily teaching and learning.
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Spring Festival Fun
The WAB festive spirit was in abundance during Chinese
Cultural Week, culminating in a wonderful Temple
Fair and Whole School Assembly on Friday, January
27. Thanks to the many local artists and the China
Studies Department for all their hard work.
Bringing The Learner Profile To Life
How do we articulate the Learner Profile? This is
an issue that IB schools who offer the three IB
Programmes (Primary Years Programme, Middle Years
Programme, and Diploma Programme) are increasingly
focusing on.
The adoption of the learner profile by all IB Programmes
challenges school communities to bring this to life
- the attributes of being inquirers, thinkers, open-minded,
principled and to achieve the other qualities that
will, in the words of the learner profile ‘develop
internationally minded people who, recognizing their
shared humanity and shared guardianship of the planet,
help to create a better and more peaceful world.’
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Spring Festival Temple Fair at WAB
With its mix of traditional Spring Festival activities,
games and performances, WAB's annual Culture Week
and Temple Fair has become a model for Chinese New
Year celebrations at many international schools
across China.
Come along and help us celebrate the Year of the
Dog at the WAB Temple Fair and Chinese New Year
Assembly this Friday January 27. The Temple Fair
runs from 8.40am - 1.50pm and will close with a
special celebratory Chinese New Year Assembly at
2.15pm. WAB students, staff and Chinese experts
will lead the WAB Temple Fair with numerous activities
including dragon dance, jiaozi and lantern making.
WAB families are invited to join us for this very
colorful assembly to celebrate the arrival of the
Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dog! A great way
to start the Spring Festival Holiday! We look forward
to seeing you there!
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WELCOME BACK!
2006: YEAR OF THE DOG
Welcome to all new and returning students and their
families. We hope everyone enjoyed a good winter
break and is ready for another exciting term at
WAB.
As the Spring Festival is fast approaching, we remind
everyone that a special Chinese New Year Assembly
will be held on Friday January 27 at 2.15 pm in
the Elementary School Gymnasium, which is open to
everyone. This is a wonderful opportunity to join
with our Chinese staff in celebrations for the Chinese
New Year, which this year is the ‘Year of
the Dog’. School will close from January 28
– Feb 7 and will resume on Wednesday February
8, 2006.
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"Congratulations to the WAB 4 Team
- runners-up in the inaugural ACAMIS Kids’
Lit Quiz!" |
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THE OLYMPICS OF READING - THE ACAMIS KIDS' LIT QUIZ!
Congratulations to all students who participated
in the ACAMIS Kids’ Lit Quiz held at WAB on
Tuesday. This was the first time that the Quiz had
been held in China on a national basis and it was
fantastic to see the enthusiasm and literary knowledge
that students displayed on topics as diverse as
comics, dogs and Lord of the Rings.
The liveliest topic was ‘Music’, as
students were challenged to place the theme song
for ‘Dr Who'. The future certainly looks bright
for our avid readers and Harry Potter devotees!
Wayne Mills, Senior Lecturer at the University of
Auckland, and Founder of Kids’ Lit Quiz, helped
chair the event at WAB and was delighted at the
response. Mr Mills started the Lit Quiz program
15 years ago after becoming frustrated that there
were no school prizes awarded to students for excellent
reading ability.
“It’s
wonderful to bring readers together so that they
see that reading is not a solitary activity –
it’s the Olympics of reading! It’s not
a quiz for kids who can read, it’s a quiz
for kids who do read.”
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"Sweet sounds from the strings: Middle
and High School students perform at the MSHS
Music Showcase" |
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'PUTTING WAB ON THE COLLEGE MAP'
WAB Councellors, Jo Loiterton and Dr. Rob Wadeson,
recently attended the European Council of International
Schools (ECIS) conference in The Hague, Netherlands
- the largest gathering of international teachers
and counselors in the world.
The Conference was an opportunity for over 450 international
school college counselors and university representatives
from the UK, Canada, USA and continental Europe
to share the most current information on university
entrance.
As WAB prepares for our first graduating class in
2007, it is important to continue networking in
order to put WAB on the world university and college
map.
As part of a series of college visits this year,
WAB has already hosted representatives from University
of British Columbia (Canada), Monash University
(Australia), and University of Pennsylvania (USA).
Next Thursday, December 15, representatives from
the University of Nottingham (Ningbo, China campus)
will visit WAB.
Download Lianxi below:
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"WAB Director John McBryde addresses
ACAMIS China Studies Conference delegates
from international schools across China" |
'LEARNING THROUGH CHINA'
Chinese language and culture teachers from international
schools across China met at WAB last weekend for
the first ACAMIS China Studies Conference.
All participants shared a common goal: to improve
the integration of Chinese culture into the school
curriculum.
The Conference was an opportunity for teachers to
present practical experiences and exchange ideas
across different subject areas.
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"Middle School students enjoyed dressing
up as part of Middle School Spirit Day which
was a MS Student Council activity" |
'WAB’S NEW CORE VALUES'
We hope that when you walk through the doors at
WAB, you immediately begin to feel what things we
value as a school.
Of course, we value learning, and we value the richness
that being an ‘international’ community
brings to us - but what are the other values that
make WAB what it is?
For the past two years, the two WAB Boards (the
WAB Educational Foundation Board and the WAB Board)
and the Senior Management Team, in consultation
with students, teachers and parents have been reviewing
the WAB Core Values.
The review has been an attempt to capture our values
more succinctly so that all members of our community
can understand, remember and try to make them ‘living
values’.
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'KORKY PAUL CAPTIVATES STUDENTS'
Korky Paul, the illustrator of ‘A Fish Who
Could Wish’, and guest of the PTA Book Fair,
shared his skills with a captivated audience of
WAB Elementary School students this week.
Grade 3 students watched as Korky transformed
Kira Saarinen from Class 3J into a ‘Kira-o-saurus’
– a portrait of Kira as a pasta-loving dinosaur
with curly eyelashes.
In a series of workshops with the guest illustrator,
the students discussed his work and learnt new
drawing and painting techniques, including how
to draw a fish with magical powers.
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'WAB VIRTUAL REALITY'
This week WAB announced plans to create a ‘My
WAB’ virtual learning environment that would
maintain teaching and learning in the environment
of a school closure due to an Avian Flu Pandemic.
Plans to introduce the e-learning portal were
part of this year’s Annual Development Plan
and will now be fast tracked over the next two
months.
WAB has also arranged for a number of briefing
sessions to staff and parents to provide information
about Avian Flu and WAB’s contingency planning.
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'INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARK'
This week students in Grades 3, 5, 7 and 10 undertook
the International Schools Assessment (ISA) which
is managed by ACER and compares student achievement
in Mathematical Literacy, Reading and Writing with
that of those in other international schools and
is benchmarked against OECD countries worldwide.
WAB’s results in last year’s ISA were
very good and were reported to parents at the end
of last year. They are also included in the Annual
School Report 04/05 which was distributed to parents
last week. In the coming months, ACER will provide
WAB with 3 different reports: the School Report,
Class Reports and Individual Student Reports.
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'MSHS READING ROCKS CHALLENGE RETURNS'
Middle and High School students will be challenged
to improve their reading habit during the month
after the October break through English classes
and sustained silent reading times during all
classes as well as a variety of lunchtime activities
in The Red Scroll Library and other venues.
They will be encouraged to read books from our
library and their own sources and make recommendations
to their peers. These recommendations will be
collected and displayed each week. The classes
with the most recommendations will be awarded
certificates.
The students who recommend the most books will
be awarded book prizes. English teachers will
present book prizes to students who have challenged
themselves and improved their reading and met
their goals during the month.
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'CIS & NEASC COMMEND WAB AS ‘FLAGSHIP
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL’
This week WAB received advice of accreditation for
the additional Grades 9 and 10 from the international
accreditation associations CIS and NEASC. Grades
9 and 10 were added to the school after our last
accreditation visit. Letters from each association
provide very positive feedback on WAB – its
programs, staffing, teaching and learning, resources,
facilities, and administration. Accreditation is
an award of quality and also a process for ongoing
school improvement.
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'NEW SWIMMING PROGRAM LAUNCHED'
Following renovations to the swimming pool over
the summer months, we are pleased to announce
that the pool will re open after the October break.
This year we launch WAB Quatics, which will be
managed by our new Aquatics Coordinator, Lali
Jochmann. WAB Quatics includes our PE Aquatics
Program and the After School Swim Club and Competitive
Swim Squad.
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'THE VERTEX CLIMBING WALL'
The climbing wall is a new addition to our school
facilities and has been enjoyed by Grade 4 &
5 students and Grade 9,10 and 11 students during
PE classes. Soon our Grade 6, 7 and 8 students
will have the opportunity to try out the facility.
The climbing wall has been well received by all
members of our community and adds a great recreational
activity to our program.
'BRAILLE WITHOUT BORDERS'
Grade 5 students were given a first-hand insight
last week into a Lhasa-based school which is changing
the lives of young blind people in Tibet.
Kyila and Nyima Wang from ‘Braille Without
Borders’ spoke to WAB students about their
experience with blindness and how the program
had given them skills and opportunities that they
had never imagined possible.
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'HUB FEST!'
What a week! Whether it was scaling the ‘Vertex’
climbing wall or helping construct an origami
installation, WAB was buzzing last week with activity
to celebrate the opening of the new HUB Center
and ‘Ping Xin Yuan’ Peace Park.
The festivities began on Monday with ‘Drumming
and Acrobatics in the Park’ and continued
all week with a range of daily activities, such
as Chinese Crafts, Line Dancing, Skate and BMX
Expos, ‘Art in the Park’ - just to
name a few.
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