The Year 5s gave us an entertaining and educational presentation of myths and legends using an ‘Asia’s Got Talent’ format. They did a great job and all the students should be proud of their performances.

We learned more about the ‘Felita’ Waste Management system with a brief talk given by staff from Komunitas Sahabat Bumi. Students and parents were able to ask questions about how organic waste is transformed into liquid and solid fertilizer.

Mr Phil showed us how anki software can help supplement learning and revision by creating flash cards to help you remember vocabulary or facts about any topic you wish. Anki is available for free for PC, Mac and Linux operating systems, and for android phones and iPhones. https://apps.ankiweb.net/

Our Community Service projects and IGCSE Global Perspectives work was celebrated by the Year 10/11 students in two short video clips. It was amazing to see the good work that we have done and are continuing to do with SD Negeri Sambikerep 1, a local primary school, and various charities. We have bought and donated sports equipment and stationery to SD Negeri Sambikerep 1, provided Food and Clothing for Yayasan Abdi Asih (AIDS) and Yayasan Alit (Street Children).

As usual, many children received certificates and awards for their achievements across the curriculum. This included several of our primary students who participated in the spelling Bee at SNA, Surabaya and achieved second place overall. There was strong competition and they should be commended for their efforts. Miss Liza and Mr Coffey accompanied the children to both meetings at Singapore National Academy.

We were entertained and informed by the Year 6 students who gave an impressive presentation concerning the sources and uses of water and related matters. This was the exit point from their IPC unit ‘Water for Everyone’. It was an action-packed performance which included drama, music and a video presentation which covered the following topics: Water Conservation – Ecoman Play, The Water Cycle – The Water Cycle Song, Water and Human Health – Facts about the importance of clean water for human health. Water Pollution – The problem of water pollution and ways we can contribute to solving this problem.

Water Purification – They completed two experiments related to water purification: Using a still to purify water and using a water filter made of gravel, sand, activated carbon and a filter paper in order to filter the water. Waterborne Diseases – Students explained about various waterborne diseases and the problems that occur when people live far away from a water source. They also studied the world-wide problems caused by droughts and floods. They used maps to draw water-stress zones.

Miss Shovi’s computer animation club members shared some of their latest projects with us. This was enjoyed by the audience and it clearly showed the skills learnt during the ASA. During the assembly we also awarded certificates and gave an update regarding the House Point totals. Another enjoyable assembly! We look forward to the next one.

A group of 10 SES secondary students played a friendly volleyball match against students from Surabaya Intercultural School. The students, led by Faizan and Tammia, had been practicing rigorously weeks before the match. The match was close in the first set which SES narrowly won 26-24. The second set was dominated by SES. More friendly matches between SIS and SES will be arranged in the future.

On Saturday, 9^th December 2017 SES’s newly formed Swim Team entered a Friendly Swim Meet held at Surabaya Intercultural School. The students had been training very hard for the two weeks prior to the meet and everyone did very well, smashing the personal bests. Special mention goes to the following students who finished one or more of their races in the top 3: Alex, Langit, Evan, Regan, Kyul, Jessie, Erwin, Zian, Kelly, Kathleen, Morgan, Michelle, Ollie, Chan Kyu, Viggo, Madalena and Matthieu.

A team of 30 SES children from years 2 to 6 took part in a Cross Country competition held at Sekolah Ciputra. There were over 200 children racing on the day. Everyone did their best and some of the SES students even came home with a medal. Special congratulations to: Langit, Mischa, Rachel, Regan, Vicky,Ji In, Daniel, Ollie.

On Tuesday, 17th November 2017 children from years 5 to 11 took part in a friendly Water Polo competition at the Pakuwon Family Golf swimming pool. The competition was fierce with each house team looking to gain some valuable points towards the overall score. In the end Baya claimed first prize.

On Saturday, 11^th November, Surabaya European School hosted a Seven-a-Side Soccer Tournament. The tournament comprised of round robin matches, a third and fourth playoff and a final, with trophies for the winners and runners up in each age group. In total we had 15 teams entered from 8 different schools. The day was a great success and very enjoyable for the parents and students involved.

SES had a team entered in both the Under 9 and Under 11 age group and a mixed team with SIS in the Under 13 age group. The Under 9 SES team took home first place whilst the Under 13 team finished second. The Under 11 team also did very well against some tough opposition. Each of SES’s teams had a large number of girls involved, which was also positive to see. We look forward to hosting next years competition again.

Special thanks to our generous sponsors Darmo Hill Apartments, Hotel Tunjungan, Evian, Bara Coaching, Avian Paints, Kopi Kapal Api and Lentera Media.

This year the theme for Science Week was Light. This actually covered many different interesting branches of Science. How light behaves (reflection, refraction and colour), the human eye and optical illusions, cameras and photography, solar power, and ultra-violet light.

Throughout the week each Primary class focussed on an aspect of light that was relevant to their curriculum.

Then for one lesson they came to the science lab to see some experiments and demonstrations of light. We made some photographic paper by painting silver nitrate solution onto paper and then we put stencils over the paper while exposing it to uv light. This gave us silhouettes of the objects on the paper. We also looked at how different objects glow (fluoresce is the scientific word) under uv light, including our fingernails and teeth. Even scorpions glow under uv light!

We also looked at how we can make glass objects appear invisible if we put them in the right liquid, in this case vegetable oil. Because both substances bend light in similar ways (a property called refraction), the glass will be invisible in the oil.

There were several other cool experiments that showed different properties of light, but I always like to go out with a bang so I used a laser to burst a balloon. The science here is interesting because a white balloon won’t burst as the light is reflected off the surface, but if you paint a black spot on the balloon and aim the laser at that, then it absorbs the light, heats up, and BANG! The balloon explodes.

I really look forward to Science Week each year as I get to play with cool new science toys and discover new experiments to show the students. It’s a great way to get them interested in Science and to feed their curiosity about the world around them.

During Literacy Week our secondary students participated in a Readathon, a sponsored activity to read as many books as possible during the week to raise funds for Abdi Asih.

Additionally, students then had to write a review of one of the books they had read, developing evaluative and non-fiction writing skills in the process.