On February 14th the six International Award students -Aiko, Madalena, Naaz, Neel, Shannon and Viggo- along with Ms Nicky and Mr Phillip went to the east coast of Bali to complete their Adventurous Journey (AJ). They had successfully completed their practice AJ near Yogyakarta in November and it was now time to do the real thing. We arrived late in the evening at a guesthouse near Taman Ujung and pretty much went straight to bed so we could be up in the morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the start of our hike.

Day One saw us hiking across rice paddies next to the sea. The views were stunning and luckily the only time it rained was in the evening at the campsite. It was very hot though and we all guzzled plenty of water during the day. At one of our stops, Charlie’s Chocolate Factory, we inherited a dog somehow. When we left after lunch he just followed us. We thought he would turn back at some point but he never did. He was a great travelling companion and the students named him Bobby. He ended up walking with us for the rest of the trip. We arrived at the campsite tired but happy at a good day’s walking in the beautiful scenery. The students set up their tents and then prepared their food.

Day Two saw us wake up having had not much sleep due to some inconsiderate camping neighbours being noisy until late in the night. However, the students were resilient and after a hearty breakfast we all felt a little more human and we set off once more (with Bobby, of course). This day’s walk was a little shorter but more hilly, and once again, it was really hot and humid. We finished walking at around 11.30am and we all had a chance for a shower and lunch before setting off for the airport. The students all worked hard and their navigation and campcraft skills have really improved since the practice trip.

All in all, a worthwhile experience for all.

On Thursday 31st January the children at Surabaya European School were treated to snacks at break time to kick off celebrations for the Chinese NewYear. The school was decked out in red and a wonderful group of mums were on hand to present a delicious array of snacks and ang pow envelopes to everyone. Following the three day break, snacks were again distributed on Thursday 7th February.  Our sincere thanks are extended to all who helped bring this colourful celebration to life here at school.

On Thursday 31st January the year 7 Tutor Group brought History to life by enacting an imaginary election for the King of England in 1066. The students spent two weeks preparing for the event by making costumes, weapons and preparing their speeches. Chloe who was master of ceremonies for the day and did a professional job in coordinating the proceedings which started with Naaz and Shannon presenting an excellent and informative review of our school’s impressive performance at the SCMUN conference last November. The main event was well received as Helen, Daniel and Reynard portrayed three rival warriors vying for the crown of England. Helen as the Viking Harald Hardrada was the victor and enjoyed her coronation by election officer Fullana in front of an enthusiastic audience. Thanks to everyone involved (especially Miss Shovi) for creating an excellent informative and entertaining assembly as the Year 7 showed how creative, talented and funny they are!

On December 5, all SES students starred in the Broadway Jr. Production of ANNIE. Those who wished to participate in the drama portion of the play prepared for the auditions at the start of the school year. They auditioned before the school management team and several teachers. From the time of their selection, students began learning lines and participated in drama rehearsals both during and after school. In addition to rehearsals for Drama students, all SES students learned the songs that corresponded with the show. In the end, students’ effort was worth it, as they participated in a wonderful production that they can be proud of. They shone brightly on the night of the show, acting with great skill and confidence and singing with pride. Everyone in attendance seemed to enjoy watching the school production, “Annie!”

On Monday 12th and Wednesday 14th November, the students of Surabaya European School celebrated Divali by sharing in snacks kindly prepared and distributed by a group of mums. It was pleasing to see so many of the children dressed in traditional clothing to mark the celebration. The school had previously been decorated by a hardworking group of mums in the lead up to the event.  It was lovely to celebrate the Festival of Light with our Indian community. 

A biathlon consists of a continuous two stage race involving swimming followed by running. On Monday November 12th, Surabaya European School held its second invitational biathlon. At the end of the school day staff, students and parents from SES, SIS and Sekolah Ciputra made their way to the SES pool to get ready for the event. The competitors were divided into age groups beforehand, with the Under 8s going first, swimming 5 laps and running 1 lap of the big field. The last group to go were the 12 to 14 year olds who swam 11 laps and ran 4 laps of the big field. Some of the races were only seperated by a few seconds. This was a new experience for a lot of the students but they took on the challenge with great enthusiasm. The following were the overall winners for each age group:

Under 8 Boys

1. Langit

2. Hazel (Ciputra)

3. Nathan

Under 8 Girls

1. Alex

2. Rachel

3. Kaum

Age 8-9 Boys

1. Isham (Ciputra)

2. Lintang

3. Evan

Age 8-9 Girls

1. Alamanda (SIS)

2. Nicole (Ciputra)

3. Kyul

Age 10-11 Boys

1. Chiqual (SIS)

2. Erwin

3. Reynard

Age 10-11 Girls

1. Isadorya (SIS)

2. Irish

3. Kathleen

Age 12-14 Boys

1. Ollie

2. Viggo

3. Mateusz (SIS)

Age 12-14 Girls

1. Michelle

2. Ava (SIS)

3. Aiko

The SES choir was invited to perform at the Artisan Market at Ciputra World Mall on Friday, 2 November. One hundred students, dressed in their red Annie t-shirts, participated in the performance. The students sang and performed actions to several of the songs from the Annie musical. All of the students did a fantastic job! We are looking forward to the performance on Wednesday, 5 December at the Pakuwon Imperial Ballroom. The time will be announced at a later date.

On Wednesday 31st October, 2018, many of the children at Surabaya European School arrived at school decked out in costumes to celebrate Halloween.  From ghouls to Go Jek drivers, princesses to pilots, a huge variety of elaborate costumes were seen roaming the halls.

On 30th November, the Year 9 and 10 students were invited to a workshop, led by Ms. Janti, who had previous experiences with some SES students. Firstly, we introduced ourselves and explained our perspectives towards home, which resulted in various responses. Subsequently, all 16 of us were divided into different groups in order to perform some tasks. Our first task was to create a mind map which included our opinions towards love, which- interestingly- also resulted in various responses. To conclude our session, we created posters of ourselves along with our strengths and weaknesses, which allowed us to reflect upon ourselves. Overall, many students enjoyed this session and are looking forward to another workshop.

On Friday evening, 19th October 2018, the clouds parted and an evening of gazing at the heavens awaited an eager group of Surabaya European School students and parents.  They were joined by members of the Surabaya Astronomy Club who had set up an array of telescopes and viewing materials. The team began the evening by projecting images of the Moon and shared information about crater sites, their origins and even the positions of lunar landings. The excited students and parents where allowed to view our Moon, Mars and even Saturn through the telescopes, while valuable information was passed on from the experts. Much excited chatter ensued and many images were captured through lenses onto smartphones for later viewing. The evening wound up with an exciting rocket launch by Mr Phil and Miss Diya.  We would like to thank the Surabaya Astronomy Club for their time and dedication to making our heavenly object appear just that little bit closer.  Don’t forget to put the event in your calendar for next year.

On Tuesday 16th October, 2018, the Surabaya European School Montessori to Year 8 children thoroughly enjoyed the YIPIYA performance by Michel, the French ‘clown’. He shared an extremely important message about saving our wonderful planet, Earth, from the damage done by humans who throw away used plastic. 

Throughout his humorous performance he used props recycled from used plastic items, such as bottles, flip flops and yoghurt pots. In the workshops the children had the opportunity to develop their performance skills and to creatively use the props.

Thank you to Michel for an informative and entertaining morning. 

On Saturday, September 28th, Surabaya European School had its annual Athletics Day at our new venue, Thor Stadium. With glorious weather upon us, and the sound of the Friday mosque, the SES students and staff made their way to the venue. Students participated throughout the day for the trophy of Athletics Day House Champion. This battle saw students participate in a variety of athletic events including high jump, javelin, shot put, hurdles, sprinting, long jump, triple jump and many more. The day was highlighted by the relay races at the end with the students competiting against the teachers and parents. The students’ team finished well out in front. Throughout the day the energy was high and the competition, though friendly in spirit, showed a strong desire on the part of all competitors to do their best for their team. The overall House Team winner was the Sura team with Garuda finishing second, Baya third and Komodo fourth.

The Year 4 children here at Surabaya European School excitedly demonstrated our creative curriculum by linking IPC/Science and English, as they enthusiastically performed the entertaining story of Funnybones. They showed their knowledge of the names of the bones in the human body in the X Ray Factor, and energetically danced a skeleton dance, to the delight of the children and the proud parents in the audience. Many thanks to Miss Riza for creating the realistic skeleton costumes. 

On Friday, September 14^th, the Surabya European School swim team, better known as the Aqua Tigers, took part in a Swimathon to raise money for the organisation Kopernika. This money will be used to buy basic shelter for homeless families and secure basic necessities for the displaced. Each child taking part tried to swim as many laps as they could in the 1.5hr time limit. The swimmers consisted of Year 2s all the way up to our Year 10s. In total the swimmers swam 2640 laps and raised Rp61juta. The distance that the team covered (87km) was more than the distance that it would take to travel by sea from Java to Bali and then Bali to Lombok. A special thank you to all the parents that helped to support this event and make it a real success. The following is a list of the children from Year 2 to 10 that took part:

On Friday 24th August 2018, the children of Surabaya European School celebrated Indonesia’s Independence Day with fun games on the school’s field. The children from Montessori, Primary and Secondary keenly sang the national anthem to start proceedings. All children were seen actively participating and getting wet in the water balloon toss, jumping or running quickly in the sack race, munching rapidly in the kerupuk eating race and running with determined focus in the marble race. The morning finished with the ‘tug of war’ competitions, with all House Teams pulling furiously to put their team into the lead. The morning’s overall winner was the Sura House Team.  All of the parents, children and teachers agreed that ‘participation’ and ‘fun’ were the main focuses of SES’s annual Independence Day Games.

On Wednesday evening, the 6th June, many of the children came back to school eager to watch a movie with their friends.  The Year 2s and 3s settled in to watch Moana, the Year 4s, 5s and 6s sat waiting for The Lego Batman Movie and the secondary students were keen to start The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The children all enjoyed their movies and some even sang along to the songs. The children were seen feasting on snacks provided by the Silver Screen Snacks team from Year 6.  A big thank you should go to the Student Council who organised and ran the event.

We had an exciting and emotional final assembly on 31 May, which was a great celebration to end the year. Children in Year 3 performed Adele’s hit Skyfall from the Bond movie of the same name. Our Y10/11 students gave a presentation with lots of memories from their time at SES. Many of them have been here from Montessori right the way through to now. Reagan gave a super and sincere speech thanking all the teachers and highlighting some of the milestones from his learning journey at SES. Our senior students also gave their teachers a group photograph as a souvenir.

Leaving students were presented with photo albums containing a variety of messages from their peers and teachers, as well as beautiful pictures. These are some wonderful memories and will be something to reflect on in future years. Some of our teachers are also leaving us and we wish them all the very best and our sincere thanks for their hard work and dedication.  We said ‘goodbye’ to Ms Odette, Mr Lawrie, Ms Chris, Miss Allana and Mr Nick. Mrs Cindy Reynolds presented a bouquet on behalf of the parents to the Principal and gave a short speech thanking him.

Our first Biathlon was a great success and students who participated were presented with certificates from this event. We had children from both Primary and Secondary taking part. We concluded with all the Primary children singing the famous Randy Newman song, You’ve Got a Friend in Me. It was a fitting and fun end to what has been a productive and brilliant year in the life of SES.

Year 4 enjoyed their class trip and planned their bus seats as soon as the trip was announced. They were very excited to be able to go inside the submarine at Monumen Kapal Selam and to see all the original dials, switches and torpedoes. They were amazed at the lack of space and the size of the beds and enjoyed squeezing through the hatches from one compartment to another. After chosing and enjoying a refreshing ice cream the bus took them to Gedung Siola. The children spent a lot of time investigating the different exhibits in the Surabaya museum and took a lot of care to sketch them in detail. Some of the favourites were the telephone, the school desks, the money and radio and the calculator. They enjoyed having a sociable lunch at the tables outside the museum before heading back to school.