Great learning! Great teaching! Great fun!

Highlights of the Year 5 IPC learning using the unit MISSION TO MARS:

Living in Space

ENTRY POINT

The children engaged in a range of ‘astronaut training’ activities, using their gross and fine motor skills.

KNOWLEDGE HARVEST

What do we already know about Mars and space and what do we want to learn?

The children created their own Knowledge Harvests and shared their questions.

EXPLAINING THE THEME

Giving the children the BIG PICTURE about their learning in the unit MISSION TO MARS!

ART

• To be able to use a variety of materials to express their observations

The children linked their Maths and Art learning to make papier mache planets to scale.

SCIENCE

• To know about the nature and effect of gravitational force
• To be able to identify the effects of gravitational forces
• To be able to identify the direction of forces

What other forces might be in action on Mars? The children investigated gravitational force and were challenged to devise a test to allow their Mars landers to descend to the surface safely.

• To know about the relationship between the Earth and the rest of the solar system
• To be able to gather evidence from a variety of sources

The children collaborated in pairs to research and record their new knowledge about different aspects of Mars and its place in the solar system. They shared their Tour Guide to Mars presentations with their peers and answered any questions.

• To be able to gather information from a variety of sources.

The children engaged in a video conference with Josh Richards, a candidate for the Mars One Mission. They asked him questions about why he wants to go on a one way mission to Mars and used what they learned to create their own Mars Treaties.

• To be able to conduct scientific investigations posing scientific questions
• To be able to choose an appropriate way to investigate a scientific issue
• To be able to make systematic and accurate measurements from their observations
• To be able to explain and justify their predictions, investigations, findings and conclusions

How can water at the poles of Mars be cleaned to drink?

The children designed and carried out simple investigations to find ways to clean water.

EXIT POINT

The children enjoyed sharing their presentations and their MISSION TO MARS learning with their parents.

Great learning! Great teaching! Great fun!

Highlights of the Year 3 IPC learning using the unit WHAT’S ON THE MENU?:

Globalisation and economics

ENTRY POINT

Year 3 transformed their classroom into a healthy cafe and other classes and teachers visited the cafe to order and enjoy the food and drink on offer.

KNOWLEDGE HARVEST

What do we already know about the food that we eat and how it is produced and prepared?

EXPLAINING THE THEME

Giving the children the BIG PICTURE about their learning in the unit WHAT’S ON THE MENU!

SCIENCE ENQUIRY

• To know about the effects that light, air, water and temperature have in plants
• To know about the function of the leaves
• To be able to classify plants according to their features

The children investigated the different plants growing in the school grounds.

GEOGRAPHY

• To know how the nature of particular localities affect the lives of people
• To be able to communicate their geographical knowledge and understanding to ask and answer questions.

The children visited a local market to research the food that is produced locally. They had the opportunity to taste some of the local produce that they hadn’t tried before. Back in the classroom the children considered the benefits of eating locally produced food and whether it would be an advantage for restaurants to offer fresh food and ingredients from the local area.

ART

• To be able to use different materials and techniques appropriate to the task.

The children demonstrated cooperation and collaboration to make and decorate 3D volcanoes.

GEOGRAPHY

• To be able to use geographical terms.
• To be able to use secondary sources to obtain geographical information.

Throughout the unit, the children learned a lot of new geographical knowledge and vocabulary and were able to use the vocabulary in context. In their research, using a range of secondary sources, and record tasks they became more able to use geographical terms to describe different aspects of earthquakes and volcanoes.

Extending their learning about food production the children collaborated well to keep the production line going in their own ‘bean factory’.

SCIENCE & ART

• To know about the principles of nutrition
• To know about the effect of diet on the human body

The children investigated life in Roman times and used their enquiry skills to ask questions about pictures to find new knowledge. They enjoyed dramatising scenes in the streets of Pompeii before the eruption of Vesuvius. They linked this drama to story writing, using the story Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balit.

When learning about healthy foods the children enjoyed using vegetables to create their own art.

SCIENCE & ICT

• To be able to gather information from simple texts
• To be able to find and use stored information from a variety of sources
• To be able to use ICT to support and present their learning in other subjects

The children have cooperated well in their online research throughout the unit.

EXIT POINT

The children enjoyed sharing their learning with their parents.

On Monday, the 7th of September 2019, Surabaya European School held its annual Athletics Day. This year, the event was held at Lapangan Thor Gelora Pancasila. Throughout the day, the students of SES had fought their way through their mild exhaustion, while teachers had taken on the challenge of supporting and demonstrating activities to the children. Some of these activities included javelin, shot-put, high jump and sprints, along with several other athletic activities. The parents, teachers and students had all successfully faced the ultimate challenge: the scorching hot weather. With the sun beating down on the earth at a whopping 34ºC, those participating at the Athletics Day were drowning in their own sweat. As the event came to an end, it was announced that the Komodo team had come in first place overall, however, everyone was a winner. This very successful event would not have happened without the hard work and integrity of the SES community.

At the end of the event, the students were provided pizza for lunch. The teachers were also given some doughnuts from SES parents as belated Teacher’s Day treat. Even in the blistering heat, the teachers enjoyed their surprise dessert and received them with gratitude evident on their faces. All the students left after the event and had a well-deserved rest after their exertion.

Reported by Reynard and Aiko

Please visit our our photo gallery for a full selection of photos.

We had great fun here at SES during our Literacy Week which took place from 29th April to 3rd May. Students and staff took part in a wide range of activities, all designed to engage our students with books and to encourage a love of reading. Some of these activities were:

We- Designing a ‘Book Door’ for the classroom to represent the cover of a famous book. Year 9 won the secondary competition for the most creative design with a magical door opening into Narnia for ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by C.S. Lewis.

We- A Treasure Hunt around school where primary had to answer a series of questions generated by QR codes and secondary decoded posters which symbolise a range of famous novels. Year 10 girls gained the most correct answers and so won the prize for this competition.

We- The ‘Who’s Reading’ match the person to the book competition, which was displayed on the Library windows, was enjoyed by all students, with Nihaal getting the most correct answers.

We- Students prepared their own presentations on their chosen hero and performed these to their classmates.

We- Older students and younger students were matched up and read together in a range of lessons.

We- Parents kindly came into school to read with different classes.

We- Staff took part in ‘Book Mastermind’ competitions in assembly and lunchtime, students proved their own knowledge in lessons with 20 questions to answer in 2 minutes.

We- Students from Years 5 and 6 performed the brilliant ‘The Case of the Missing Parts of Speech’ song for primary students and parents, which was followed by the primary teacher’s Book Mastermind on ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar.

Year 5 and Year 6 students proudly presented an intriguing musical drama, The Case of the Missing Parts of Speech. Students played the roles of Detective Hargraves and his trusty bloodhound, Hector, Professor McMertrue proper and common nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, interjections, prepositions and conjunctions. They sang a song to describe each part of speech. In the drama, the parts of speech worked with Detective Hargraves and his intelligent bloodhound, Hector, to figure out what Professor McMertrue had lost. At last, they figured it out. She lost the common noun, glasses, and finally found her missing part of speech. Students did a wonderful job singing and acting in this fun, lighthearted play that helped them learn each part of speech. Well done, Year 5 and Year 6 students! 

Year 5’s assembly was based around the theme of, ‘Morning Routines’. It took place in the new and unfamiliar environs of PGFC Meeting Room 1 and all went down on a fine, clear morning in late April. The students of Year 5 each performed their specific roles to great effect. The overall objective was to share some the most helpful morning routines that have aided them to get in the mood for learning.

Things got off to a rocky start due to a certain teacher who did not check to see if his trusty, old Macbook could receive wifi in the new location. Thankfully Ibu. Tatik was on hand to solve the problem.

Our hosts, the glamorous and eloquent twosome, everyones favourite twins, ‘Ean and Emily’ got us under way by welcoming us. They went on to say what we were about to see, who it would be performed by, and also provided an insight as to why we use that particular routine.

In the first demonstration, Vicky and Phillip showed pose and grace in their execution of the,’Salutation to the Sun’. Not only did they go through the entire exercise without single error but managed involve the audience members too by inviting them up on stage.

The following exhibition was delivered by Matilda, Ricardo, and Jeremy. In this they gave a guide as to how one uses breathing to induce state of relaxed attention. The threesome went on to show a breathing exercise that required team cooperation. This allowed parent, students, and teachers to take part and show us how they collaborate.

We ended our assembly with the sextet of; Chanelle, William, Orion, Joo Ha, Vench, and Lintang. They gave a full and unaided display of, ‘Brain Gym’. The entire assembly joined them in this, and lent a festival type atmosphere to the whole event.

From my front row seat, I can tell the reader that it was a, ‘lit’, ‘woke’, and even perhaps, ‘savage’. I hope next years’ Year 5 can be even better than what I witnessed that day.

It was a bright, clear Tuesday morning when a group of people dressed in strange clothes and costumes.  Many of the smaller people were holding hands with adults.

My mind was racing with curiosity.  Who were these strange characters and why were they carrying books??  I decided to report the strange sight immediately to the management of the school.  

Imagine the sigh of relief when we all realised that it was World Book Day… and all the children and staff had been encouraged to ‘dress up’ as a book character!  

The children all met in their classrooms before parading through the school to the meeting room for Ms Nicky’s assembly.  The secondary students gave wonderful performances with performances and readings from a range of different works including Shakespeare.    Aiko also read out her own composition which was well received. Children from Elementary demonstrated their skills by reading from their favourite books,  the audience demonstrated their pleasure by a wonderful round of applause.

On return to their classrooms, the children in each class took part in  – THE BIG READ. Everyone in the school read a chosen book for an extended period of time without interruption.  The class was the quietest place to be during this time. Wonderful!

Following lunchtime, Students from secondary visited Year 5 and 6 in Primary, whilst Year 4 students visited Year 2’s and Year 3 visited Year 1’s.  They all shared and read books together. It was a great opportunity for the older students to pass on their learning as well as reminisce about their early days in school.  It was also a positive experience for the younger pupils to experience sharing literature with older peers.

The morning of the 27th of February 2019 was an eventful one.  It was time for the Year 3 assembly – a once in a lifetime event… for the Year 3’s anyway.

The children waited for silence and then showed how talented they were and performed the following:

a) A role play explaining the importance of the different food groups – Amazing!!

b) A Poetry Performance entitled “5 A Day” – Brilliant!!

c) A series of monologues from each child talking about their favourite fruits. Nice!!!

d) A dancing and singing performance with well coordinated choreography. Smooth!!

All in all we had a great time showing everyone how fab we all are and the children thoroughly enjoyed showcasing their knowledge to the audience.

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.